Thais, frightening

I think Thais like frightening people. We saw this in many ways today. First, when we woke up, the headline of the newspaper was about an enormous sinkhole appearing in a road in Bangkok, capable of swallowing cars whole.

Second, when I got to the office (after a taxi driver drove me in a very mellow, yet utterly terrifying manner) everyone delighted in telling me that I should have left for the airport half an hour ago, because of the terrible traffic and the four hour lines to get through passport control.

Third, the hotel spent ten minutes looking for our luggage, or (probably) nine minutes looking like they were looking for our luggage, then one minute to trundle it over.

Fourth - ah, lucky fourth - was our taxi driver to the airport. He almost ran over a motorcycle as we pulled out from the hotel, and the drive to the airport, although uneventful, always seemed to be creeping towards disaster.