The motorbike taxi driver, Sompong Panaputae, 25, was hired by Chan-Ya Koedbanthit to take her from where Bangla Rd meets Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd to a hotel on Phra Metta Rd, which runs behind Jungceylon, at about 10pm last night (Mar 3).
After dropping Ms Chan-Ya off, Mr Sompong returned to the top of Bangla Rd, where the motorbike taxi group that he works with (called a “win” in Thai) is based.
That’s when he noticed a small cosmetics bag sitting there still balanced on the motorbike seat.
Mr Sompong explained that he returned to the hotel where he dropped Ms Chan-Ya off and asked around in the hope of finding Ms Chan-Ya, but was unable to find her, and so returned to the top of Bangla Rd.
Within the hour, Ms Chan-Ya arrived looking for Mr Sompong, and soon found him and her bag – and money – thankfully returned.
“Thank you that such a lovely person returned my bag. Thank you – if I didn’t have that money back I wouold be eating Mama (noodles) for the next month,” Ms Chan-Ya said in a Facebook post this morning.
Mr Sompong is also a rescue worker volunteer with the Kusoldharm Foundation in Patong.
“I understand what this can feel like. I once lost B20,000 that was supposed to go towards my savings for an ambulance that I want to own and operate on my own,” he said.