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June 15, 2004

Speaking “Ingris”


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Bangkok's Khaosarn Road, a mecca for tourists and vendors.

Journal and photo by Adam Burgess

The other day, Colin and I needed to get a shipment of 15 Land Rover tapes off to Las Angeles that we shot during the week Larry was out with us. We obtained an account number from Land Rover and made the call for a pickup from our hotel. Colin had talked previously to a woman there who said we needed an international number…so with this call we were armed with all that we needed. Colin read the number, I dialed. A simple process. A Thai woman answered and I told her I needed a pick up and that I had an account with DHL. The conversation went back and forth making little sense to me. Something like, “Go to post office, we only letters!” I couldn’t believe that DHL would only send letters, so I just handed the phone over to Colin. He had talked to them before, and he loves to speak “Ingris” in a loud broken language; he claims that they understand better. He was told the same thing, and he bellowed back, “Look! I have account! Number for DHL! You pick up package!” It got pretty heated for a while, with the New Yorker speaking broken Thai Ingris and a recipient struggling to make sense of him and the situation. Finally he demands, “Where you office? You, DHL. Where!?” “Receptionist!” the Thai woman screamed. “Yeah I know, where?” yelled back Colin. “You hotel, this receptionist,” she said again. Immediately after this I hear in a soft sweet tone, “Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry I thought you were DHL.” But the call had never made it out of the Reno Hotel...

Logbook for June 15th, Day 228
Start: Bangkok, Thailand
Time: N/A
N: 13* 45.000
E: 100* 30.000
Finish Bangkok, Thailand
Time: N/A
N: 13* 45.000
E: 100* 30.000
Mileage: 000
Notes: We're all on our own to get our work done here in Bangkok, so all of these entries are pretty similar. I will say that Justin made some headway on the media front with a meeting with Land Rover Bangkok today, and Nick made in-leads with folks who can help us get our vehicles through Myanmar, India, and China. Chanda, Todd, Nick, and Nancy took a tuk-tuk to a seafood restaurant for dinner, and Nick tried to poison Todd by ordering him the crab fried rice and passing it for plain fried rice. Todd hates all seafood. On the way home, our crazy tuk-tuk driver popped wheelies and drove like a Hell's Angel just for sport. We thought we were going to die. (N.O.)

Help support our cause: The LONGITUDE Expedition is the longest journey ever attempted with a focus on Parkinson's Disease. The Drive Around the World team aims to raise money for Parkinson’s Disease research by driving four certified pre-owned Land Rover Discoverys around the globe following lines of longitude. Readers are encouraged to pledge small amounts of money per expedition-kilometer via a pledge form that can be found on our Parkinson’s page by clicking here. 100% of donations received go directly to Parkinson's research and all who donate $10 or more will be entered into a raffle to win an expedition-equipped Land Rover Discovery.

Posted by Nancy Olson at 02:08 PM
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