The Streets of Bangkok.

What happened that night on - The streets of Bangkok?

I have always said in the past that Bangkok, Thailand was even safer than my own neighborhood back home in America. I had always felt safe while walking around Bangkok in the past, even late at night.

I had an interesting experience while walking down the sidewalk late at night in Bangkok on my last trip there during the summer of 2017 that just may cause me to rethink that statement.

I was going back to my hotel at about 11:30 p.m., that’s 23:30 for those of you not on American time keeping standards. The skies were getting dark, and it was starting to rain as I went to the sky train to get back to my hotel.

As I was riding the BTS Sky Train back to my hotel it started pouring down rain outside. You could hear the thunder and pouring rain loudly from inside of the sky train. The sky train stop that I was getting off at was about a 15 minute walk back to my hotel at a leisurely pace, or 10 minutes walking briskly. I could see a taxi ride in my future when I get off at my stop.

I exited the sky train as it pulled to a stop at the station near my hotel. The rain seemed to slow to a light drizzle as I got off at my exit. Even though a taxi ride back to my hotel would have cost very little, I decided to walk back instead. There were many buildings along the way with overhangs that I could stand under if it started up again.

I could see that the storm already passed through the area. There were puddles all over, but it was not too flooded to walk back. I thought that if I walked quickly back to my hotel, I could make it there without getting too soaked, so off I went.

The walk back was along a route that I knew well after walking it many times over the last seven years. I knew the area like the back of my hand, and was quite complacent during the walk back to my hotel. When you walk the same route over one hundred times it becomes so common place to you that you don’t expect anything out of the ordinary to happen on your journey.

It was late at night, and I seemed to be the only person on the sidewalk as I walked down a side street leading to a main road. There wasn’t much traffic, but what little there was, was coming towards me as I walked hurriedly to my hotel. I just looking at the sidewalk in front of me as I continued walking.

I heard a motorbike horn which caused me to focus my attention over on the road. I looked over just in time to witness a near collision on the wet road. I watched a car go over the yellow line, and nearly hit a motorbike. The motorbike was forced to swerve to avoid a collision, and lost control of his bike. The rider went down on his bike as it slid across the slippery wet asphalt.

There was nobody else there except the two of them, and me. I was only about 10 meters away, and wanted to check on the motorbike rider to see if the person was okay. I don’t know what I could have done other then run to the main road to get help, and hope someone spoke enough English to understand my intentions.

Luckily the driver of the car did the right thing, and put his hazard lights on, pulled over and went to check on the motor bike rider. While the driver was getting out of his car the motorbike rider had already lifted his bike back upright. The motor bike rider then reached into his jacket, pulled out a gun, and fired off a round. I watched the driver go down, and he seemed to try to crawl under his car for safety.

The motorbike rider then looked over at me, and could see that I saw the whole thing. He then fired off another round, and rode off down the street. The driver of the car got back into his vehicle as the motorbike rider left the scene, and quickly followed him down the road.

I continued walking down the sidewalk thinking about what I had just watched. It was definitely a gunshot. I own several guns, and know the sound of a gunshot, and it was dark enough outside to see the muzzle flash as well. I am guessing it was a smaller caliber, maybe a 9mm

The motorbike rider must not have been hurt too bad if he got back up, and fired off two rounds from a gun. The driver got back into his car, and chased the motorbike, he must not have been injured from the shots that were fired.

It was only a few minutes before a police vehicle came down the road with its red and blue lights flashing. I am guessing that the driver called the police, since everybody has a cell phone these days.

Everyone seemed fine, and I didn’t want to talk to the police if I didn’t have to. So I just continued walking down the dark empty sidewalk as if I didn’t see anything. I came upon a street light attached to a metal pole as I continued walking, and gave it a firm slap. I felt the pole against my hand, and heard the slapping sound which somewhat reassured me that I was still alive, and not killed by the second gun shot that was fired.

I had to stop by the Seven Eleven store before going back to my hotel. I needed a beer, or six after that. Back at my hotel, I drank my beer, and thought about what I had just seen out on the street before going to bed.

That is the only time that I saw something like that happen in Bangkok. I am sure that it was a onetime thing, but I know that it did happen. Is it going to stop me from staying in Bangkok again in the future?

NO WAY!!! I love it in Bangkok! If you ever have the chance to visit Bangkok you will too.

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