THE PAVEMENT STRIKES BACK

I wrote shortly after arriving in Bangkok about the poor state of the pavements. Unfortunately a business colleague of mine was the latest victim early last week.
The gentleman had only arrived from India the day before. He is working on behalf on a UK college to boost its profile and attract students from Thailand. He'd picked up a copy of one of our magazines during his last trup here and opted to use it for advertising. I'd been corresponding with him for a couple of weeks and his arrival in Bangkok was timed to coincide with the first advert.
Anyway, he'd come to meet me in my office for the first time and on his way back to the skytrain the notorious pavements did their worst, and resulting in an afternoon in hospital. Thankfully it didn't appear as though anything was broken - but the doctor ordered two weeks rest and suggested he should return to India.
Being the nice guy I am, and given the fact that this guy - probably in his early 60s - had no one here in Thailand to help, I managed to use my limited knowledge of Thai to help him get to the airport and catch a flight back to Calcutta. He was very, very grateful and I now have an open invitation to visit him and his family in India anytime I want. (The fact that he also committed to six further advertisements is also a good thing too).
You've all been warned now. Bangkok is a visually stimulating place but you'll need to keep at least one eye on what's beneath your feet.