Wednesday started with a routine 3 hour bus ride back to Bangkok, where we planned to catch another bus to Kanchanaburi, home of the Bridge over the River Kwai, about 2 hours west of the city. The plan came together, but with a little more drama than we'd hoped. Once at the terminal in Bangkok we bought tickets to Kanchanaburi, boarded the bus and settled in. As we rolled out of the station, the stewardess tried to sell Melinda a ticket, which was fishy because we had tickets. She didn't speak English, but shooing people off a bus can be achieved in any language. Grateful we had not made it farther to the wrong destination, we grabbed our stuff and bailed off. That's when the real fun started. We headed back to the station to find the correct bus and then it hit me: In my haste to comply with the shooing, I left Superman's vest under the seat--I'd stashed it there to cool off for a minute. Now you know the red vest has strong sentimental value... However, it also carries my money, credit cards, passport and camera (including all the pictures I've taken so far and evidence that Melinda even went on this trip.) I freaked at the high probability that my identity, money, memories (and dignity) were headed down the Mekong, never to return. Instead of unleashing a murderous rage, M was very level-headed, and over the course of the next hour we talked to anyone who would listen about our plight, combing through the station staff for those who spoke any English. I would write info on my hand hoping what couldn't audibly be understood could be read. An official-looking dude in a glass box got on the case and called around on his walkie talkie but could not do much without Wrong Bus's number. Meanwhile, M was gesticulating wildly with a roving secuirty guard whose give-a-damn was a lot better than his English. With information from him and a stewardess on the next Wrong Bus to leave the terminal, M figured out we had boarded at slot 11, not slot 10. Slot 11's bus was #996 and Superman's vest was on it's way to buy street meat at the floating market. They radioed some more. A Thai passenger who spoke pretty good English then noticed our panicked faces and stopped by to see if he could help. He was able to talk Thai with the stewardess and security guard and finally said to me, "They found it. You ride this bus and stay with this stewardess". M shoved some baht in my pocket and away I went. M stayed at the station to check any buses that came back to slot 11. I rode about 1.5 hours then the bus stopped. A stewardess bearing a red vest got on. I threw my arms around her, which I'm sure she did not appreciate given my level of body odor at this point. I then checked the contents. Nothing was touched, it was all there. We all had a good laugh and I made them each take a thousand-baht note. After all, I couldn't keep this lucky day all for myself. About five minutes after I was reunited with my vest, the bus stopped abruptly and the stewardesses jumped off and started yelling to a bus across a traffic circle. It stopped and they pushed me toward it saying "to Bangkok". I ran over and jumped on and after another 1.5 hours, I was back in Bangkok and found M sitting in the same chair I left her in. We celebrated with the folks who'd helped us, forced a few baht on them, and pounded a few donuts. We found the right bus and got to Kanchanaburi about 8:30pm.
Rosemary
