Best Taxi in Thailand: A Police Truck! [Season 1, Episode 24]

Full Show Script [top secret] Evo: If you're following our blog, you've probably read the account of our ride in the back of a cop truck on my birthday. Never a dull moment with us, right? She: And chances are, you thought Evo was adding a few embellishments to the tale. Well... not this time. He really couldn't, because we recorded the whole thing. Evo: And we're sharing that recording with you today. No, this isn't us just narrating the blog post. This is the live event as it unfolded, annotated for clarity. This should kick the whole "living vicariously through us" experience up a notch. She: Let me set the stage: We'd been in Thailand for about a week or so and on a whim decided to take a two-day trip to a little island off the coast before the rainy season truly kicked in. Somehow, after missing our ferry ride, we wound up in the back of a police truck. Confused? So were we... [Act 1] She: She's not a cop. But it does seem like she has a way to get us to the island. Evo: So now I've just handed over 500 baht and am waiting for change. 400 baht is about $13 bucks U.S.. In theory, I'm going to get 100 baht in change and two tickets to a ferry. A ferry that, we were told just 15 minutes ago, had already departed. And now, we're told it won't leave for another 15 minutes. She: To top it off, we weren't sure what shape the transport to the dock would take. Water taxi? Bus wagon? A deathwish ride on a motor scooter? None of the above, as it turns out. Here's what happened after we got our tickets: She: Yep, back in the back of the same police truck. There must not be a lot of crime in Ranong, if the cops are busy acting as free shuttles to wandering foreigners on their way to Koh Phayam. [Act 2] Evo: By now, things were getting a little surreal. Not only for us, but for the people of Ranong. Ranong, Thailand doesn't see all that many tourists outside of the occasional glimpse of those here for live-aboard dive tours. And all of them have been gone since April. She: With the exception of a handful of people here teaching English, there aren't many expats calling Ranong home especially during the rainy season. So this reaction wasn't really a surprise. [Act 3] Evo: And as you can hear... we made it. But before we got on the ferry, we needed to thank our official escorts. Evo: Kop khan, if you haven't figured it out, means "Thank you". Being male, I add "kep" to the end of my sentences. Sheila adds -- or should be adding -- the word "kaa" to hers. In Thai, words don't have gender, you do, and you temper your sentences with one of those two modifiers. We're not perfect at it, but we're getting better. She: We're getting better, kep.  Evo: Don't start She: Meanwhile, back on the ferry, something struck us as... odd. [life vests] Evo: Those very helpful cops -- Royal Thai Police, as it turns out -- the ones that had just given us a ride in the back of their truck, were quite safety-minded. They handed out life jackets to everyone on the ferry. And this isn't some little boat. There were probably 30 people on this double-decker ship, and they made sure each of us took a vest, and strapped it on. Safety first, I guess? [recovery] She: Luckily, we didn't get a chance to test Evo's theory. We made it to the island just fine, without having to use our safety device. Evo: And more importantly, we had a great early Thailand adventure story to tell. We're here for three more months, so we should be able to gather many many more. If we're not thrown in jail. Or die. She: Coming up, scenes of flirting with death from next week's show, but first... Evo: Thanks to everyone who's been playing along with our #ShEvo games. We're not producing the type of podcast that gets heavy interaction from our listeners, so we appreciate those who made the effort. This week, we're mixing it up a bit, though if you want to keep Tweeting or Instagramming with the #ShEvo hashtag, I won't stop you. But this week, what we'd...