A Thai way of dealing with a mishap

When I was in Samui a few months ago with my fiance, something interesting happened... One day we grabbed a taxi to go down to the south of the island, where there aren't many villages or houses. The driver and his 'assistant' had been trundling along for quite some time among the coconut palms and makeshift settlements, while we were admiring the view.

Then suddenly, disaster struck! One of the tyres blew out, so the driver had to stop the car. After many years of experience with European taxi drivers, we braced ourselves for a stream of expletives and anger. To our surprise, the driver and his friend burst out laughing! They got out into the heat of the afternoon (at least 34 degrees) to start replacing the tyre, still roaring with laughter.

First of all winching up the tyre went all wrong, with the two guys plus my fiance all making efforts to get the wheel up. Then, just taking the tyre out of the boot seemed a massive challenge, prompting some Laurel and Hardy-style banging of heads and similar tomfoolery. Then putting on the wheel and tightening all the nuts and bolts. One nut was missing - the guys were practically crying with laughter until the found it again. The whole process was accompanied by giggles, snorts and guffaws. In no time, the tyre was back on, and we were all in the car with smiles twice as wide as before! So even an accident can actually make your days better...

Things you think are normal but actually aren't

After a while in Thailand, I've realised that some things I take for granted are actually quite weird from the European point of view. Here's a few...

• The girl working at Boots, who gives great makeup tips, is actually a guy


• For any given job, you may as well have at least three people doing it instead of one


• People give you really big smiles all the time


• There are traffic jams at random times, even at 3am. It takes half an hour to drive 100m.


• You can go out for a good meal at any time of night.


• ... but you can't drink legally after 2 am.


• There's no prime minister, instead there's a 'caretaker'.