Year of the rat, Bangkok
The Year of the Rat, February 2020
Bangkok this weekend – primarily to get three jobs done; that, plus get a break having sat in the garden to keep an eye on the workmen doing stuff on the house. Like all day, every day.
So, stayed on Soi 13 in a small hotel where there is limited parking. You have to inch your way round the hotel single file, then when you want to get out, they have to push-move the three cars in front of you. Not a lot of room for manoeuvre.
So, Saturday morning, one of us has to drive to Minburi, the other to Ekkamai which is just round the corner. I’m still in the room but get a call to tell me the car is stuck. I come down and see that it is well and truly stuck in gear and with the steering lock on. Plenty of blinking lights on the dashboard. After faffing around for a bit, we dial Honda emergency call-out. They bring a low-loader to take it to the Honda dealer on Rama IV. The recovery vehicle can’t fit in the hotel access. We somehow have to disengage the gears and push the car out into the street (having first moved the three cars in front of it). When looking under the bonnet to see if the battery was alright, a rat jumped out. Suspect number one!
The Honda dealer confirms that the rat has gnawed through the electrics. They think the whole unit needs replacing (the loom) as it is impossible to tell the full extent of the damage, but it is a bank holiday weekend and they will need to contact the insurance company first, then wait for the loom to be delivered – can we leave it with them for two weeks? ‘Erm no, not really. In the end they say we can take it to a Honda dealer nearer home. So, we have to hire a motorway low-loader (4,500 baht).
Off we go. Arrive at the dealer at 7.30pm (this has taken all day) – it is closed, with a gate across the entrance. Eventually we find the guard who opens up. The loader whirrs into action so shelf lowers the car ready to push it off – it is jammed – it won’t budge, stuck on the guy’s truck. He is starting to get agitated as he wants to go home. So, we call out Honda emergency again. Guy arrives on a motorbike and says, your battery is dead (the handbrake is electronic and stuck in ‘on’). Luckily, he has a battery and jump leads on his bike, so yippee, we get the car off the truck. Finally, get a taxi to go home at 9.30 pm – so, a cool twelve hours from start to finish. Will the insurance pay out for a rat attack?
We then had to go to Honda on the Tuesday morning to explain what our car was doing on their forecourt. The insurance, ‘Oh, you should have called us before hiring the motorway low loader. Company policy…’ The Hotel, ‘Well, we can’t admit liability for costs caused by the rat (not our rat), but we can offer you a free night…’
You know when you see holiday traffic and there is a car on the back of the low-loader, with the family sat in front with the driver? They look very glum, with their holiday ruined and all; and you are thinking, ‘Glad that’s not me’. Anyway, that was us.
Year of the Rat, eh? Aptly named.
Bangkok this weekend – primarily to get three jobs done; that, plus get a break having sat in the garden to keep an eye on the workmen doing stuff on the house. Like all day, every day.
So, stayed on Soi 13 in a small hotel where there is limited parking. You have to inch your way round the hotel single file, then when you want to get out, they have to push-move the three cars in front of you. Not a lot of room for manoeuvre.
So, Saturday morning, one of us has to drive to Minburi, the other to Ekkamai which is just round the corner. I’m still in the room but get a call to tell me the car is stuck. I come down and see that it is well and truly stuck in gear and with the steering lock on. Plenty of blinking lights on the dashboard. After faffing around for a bit, we dial Honda emergency call-out. They bring a low-loader to take it to the Honda dealer on Rama IV. The recovery vehicle can’t fit in the hotel access. We somehow have to disengage the gears and push the car out into the street (having first moved the three cars in front of it). When looking under the bonnet to see if the battery was alright, a rat jumped out. Suspect number one!
The Honda dealer confirms that the rat has gnawed through the electrics. They think the whole unit needs replacing (the loom) as it is impossible to tell the full extent of the damage, but it is a bank holiday weekend and they will need to contact the insurance company first, then wait for the loom to be delivered – can we leave it with them for two weeks? ‘Erm no, not really. In the end they say we can take it to a Honda dealer nearer home. So, we have to hire a motorway low-loader (4,500 baht).
Off we go. Arrive at the dealer at 7.30pm (this has taken all day) – it is closed, with a gate across the entrance. Eventually we find the guard who opens up. The loader whirrs into action so shelf lowers the car ready to push it off – it is jammed – it won’t budge, stuck on the guy’s truck. He is starting to get agitated as he wants to go home. So, we call out Honda emergency again. Guy arrives on a motorbike and says, your battery is dead (the handbrake is electronic and stuck in ‘on’). Luckily, he has a battery and jump leads on his bike, so yippee, we get the car off the truck. Finally, get a taxi to go home at 9.30 pm – so, a cool twelve hours from start to finish. Will the insurance pay out for a rat attack?
We then had to go to Honda on the Tuesday morning to explain what our car was doing on their forecourt. The insurance, ‘Oh, you should have called us before hiring the motorway low loader. Company policy…’ The Hotel, ‘Well, we can’t admit liability for costs caused by the rat (not our rat), but we can offer you a free night…’
You know when you see holiday traffic and there is a car on the back of the low-loader, with the family sat in front with the driver? They look very glum, with their holiday ruined and all; and you are thinking, ‘Glad that’s not me’. Anyway, that was us.
Year of the Rat, eh? Aptly named.