Mitsubishi Triton GL Megacab Pickup

Due to the onslaught of swine flu the school has been closed for the rest of the week as a precautionary measure. Into next week Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday are holidays to mark the beginning of Buddhist lent. So yesterday afternoon there was considerable euphoria among my students when they were told they would be having a windfall nine day holiday.I am not exactly sure what the extent of the infection is but there are a couple of teachers not at all well and I was told 50 students were absent Monday.

This worked out well for me as I was able to take possession of our new car. Quite a mad day really. First of all a dash down to Hua Hin just after 11:30h to return the rental car we have been using. I then got a van from Hua Hin into Bangkok arriving at about 16:30 and then a brilliant cabbie got me to the auction place in about 25 minutes.

So I picked up the new car with a minimum of fuss. I am really happy with it. It is a pretty basic model, no electronic mirrors or windows plus it is manual but it has everything we need. It does not appear to have any underlying mechanical problems. I drove it through rush hour traffic with plenty of stopping and starting, in fact a lot of idling in neutral and first gear and the thermometer did not so much as flicker, no smoke belching out everywhere, no strange noises, all well. Phew! That's all I want, a car that works. Now that I have driven the car I am leaning towards the view I got a good deal! The back bench plastic covering has not been removed, ditto the sun visors. It smells new and the clock says about 5,500 kilometres. A couple of scratches which I will check out tomorrow and maybe see how much a respray will cost.

I have to say I am pretty impressed by the company; they gave us the radio front, the remote and the car manuals, in Thai! I say impressed because I had heard some stories..... I have to say this is an extremely professional operation, if they are making money it is because they deserve to. I recommend Union Auctions.

So I am tired but happy and Luna likes the car too, so we are both happy. Just a small matter of driving it uninsured and untaxed but fortunately no accidents and no encounters with the Boys in Brown as we call them here. The ownership certificate may take a few weeks to come through so we may be a few weeks away from driving legally but I think we are going to be happy with our new wheels.