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May 2008 |
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Items in this color are just notes to myself and hopefully I will catch up on these sections as soon as the mood and ability is with me.
Hi, life has been a bit busy and for one reason or another I haven't posted much here for a couple of weeks. I am leaving on trip tomorrow (May 11th) to Laos to get a 60 day Visa for Thailand. I plan to dredge my memories of this month and get them on paper. I'll type them in when I get back on the 14th. The recent rice shortage was first reported as caused by a variety of reasons "rise in oil prices, global climate change and growth of bio-fuel industry" always included and usually one or two others that would vary from article to article. Rise in oil prices had to be included as it is certainly a contributor, bio-fuel had to included (through gritted teeth, I'm sure) as it is the major cause, and climate change is just face saver. For climate change to be a factor there would have to be rice crop failures, and the only rice crop failures, failed because those lands are now growing corn. Now as time goes on the variety of other causes seem to be vanishing and now climate change has been dropped from all but the American sources. Today it was nice to read an article that when touching on the subject simply spelled it out completely and simply: "With the benefit of hindsight, it has now become clear that the world food crisis was brought on, in part, by the misguided quest for biofuels, in which some major crops like maize, are converted into ethanol." It is rare that I get the media's help in saying I told you so. I just wish it wasn't at the cost of so many lives and for such a stupid reason as the continuation of the Global Warming scam. There is a term the Thai use: Butterfly. For them it means a farang (or a Thai I suppose) that bounces from girl to girl. In real relationships I have always (with the exception of a period I deeply regret in College that probably made me the way I am) been a one woman man. This may surprise some that know me, as I have also always (except when I was Kate who had a strong jealous streak and I didn't want to worry her) been a terrible flirt. Actually I was a very good flirt, but nearly everyone knew I was just playing around, and the few who didn't I explained myself rapidly when they too eagerly returned my games. Even when relationships died, I was not one to move on until I was completely over my feelings. On a few occasions that took years. Ooy and I are an arrangement. I greatly enjoy her company, but my feelings are more of protector than lover. I take pleasure from the idea that I am isolating her from other farang for her brief stay here in Pattaya, before she returns to the rice fields of Udon Thani. And she is an excellent companion. Now let's also remember that I still have very strong feelings for Tracy. So imagine my surprise, when on only my second visit to the masseuse Mai (pronounced 'My'), I realize that my flirting is not playful. I am seriously attracted to this woman. Her English is quite good, though she admits some times she just pretends she understands what I am saying. And she has that glint of crazy in eyes the lack of which is always a deal breaker. "I should warn you, I can be crazy" she actually says on my fourth visit. Some visits are one hour, some are two, I go for five days straight. We talk the whole way through each massage. She knows my story. She says I look like her sister's boyfriend (I see a picture and other than size and hair configuration we look nothing alike to me) both of whom have just returned to Seattle that day - visit four. Pompoeey might have been the first Thai word I learned. It means fat. But fat doesn't have that overtone of disgust it has in the states. Pompooey, fat, with Buddha like overtones. She calls me handsome, and manages to make me believe it. I've read stories of first timers being royally taken by the beer girls. If that is the situation here, it would be strange, as she knows I have nothing to take. On our third session I begin trying to arrange a day together. I persist through the fourth. Yesterday, she is somewhat quiet, her sister has returned to America. She misses her. She agrees to spending the next day together (Ooy is in Bangkok) I think mostly because I remind her of her brother-in-law. Also she is sad for me. As I type this she should be arriving in about an hour. I am giddy as a school girl. Honest emotion (mine) was the last thing I expected to find here. I wonder where the day will take me? And yes, honesty is my operating procedure this close to the other side, Ooy is aware of all of this (though I have omitted who so far) and I will keep my promise to keep her through the end of May regardless. And yes, Mia knows that. Mia, also knows of the website and can read English (though possibly not my mangled version of it) so I couldn't keep secrets anyway.
My trip is part of a package. This could have been done by train to Penang which would have been much easier on my physically and financially. But I would have had to handle getting to the train, changing trains in Malaysia (they are not connected), finding the Thai Embassy, filling out the paperwork, finding a hotel, finding transport to the hotel, getting back the embassy the next day and hoping I had filled out the paperwork correctly. With the package, I spend just under 10000 baht ($300), ride 10 hours each way in 9 passenger minibus (just like the Visa run and which I hope isn't full) and we are lead like sheep through the whole process. Just like the instant visa border runs, except we have to stay out of Thailand for 24 hours. Yup, their laws make no more sense than our laws do. I get back sometime on the 13th, and figure I'll need a day to recover. By the way, Pattaya is at the first bump of water closest to Bangkok on the map above. It seems like whatever I write as a plan the opposite happens. Not only did I not organize my thoughts and experiences while on my trip to Laos but my free time has become completely absorbed my a combination of factors, so not only did I not get all caught up on posting, I posted nothing while even more important events happened. I doubt I will ever get caught up, but having written that I am sure somehow that to will turn out to be wrong. So let me get the important things events at least mildly written down. Laos trip moved into it's place chronologically. I will finish soon really. I woke up about 4 am and could not fall back to sleep. I paced around the hotel room for an hour watching truly mindless and disinteresting TV, then took a shower and headed out into the city. I walked down to the beach, but it was pretty thick with drug dealers and fairly scary looking whores and even with the occasional street light I just did not feel comfortable in the dark. I had the this paranoid feeling i would get arrested for something I wasn't doing and didnt understand. This is a very real pattern in my life, I've done more than my share of wrong in my life, but when I get in trouble it is almost always for something I didn't do. I walked down the beach and across the street to McDonald's. Two more hours until they serve breakfast. Hamburger didn't sound good. Went to use the bathroom and found out while Mikey D is open 24 hours the Garden isn;t and that is where the bathroom is. Thankful of my large and patient bladder I continued down to South Road and headed down it away from the beach area. The sun was just rising. There were no tuk tuk's out yet and the only traffic was small stream of motorbikes, so I took the opportunity to cross South Pattaya Road which quite frankly I find intimidating in the full traffic of daytime. Just past the temple (which is on the original side of the road) I was approached by a Monk. He spoke to me in English. I am told both of these things are unusual. For me stopping to talk to anyone approaching me is unusual as they are almost all trying to sell me something or involved in some scam. But this was a monk and he opened with a line that caught my full attention "You are dying. It is not too late." Stopped cold by the correct assessment (many farang come here to die but that is still a hell of a guess) but also not sure I wanted to live longer, seeing as that pretty much meant starving to death when the money ran out. Still how could I not listen? But I kept both ears listening for the money grab. His composure was peaceful and slow, the complete opposite of the guy I thought of as monk-like near Royal Garden. He told me to eat vegetarian (now I really wondered if I wanted to live and had to chuckle thinking of what Tracy's reaction would be to me giving up my beloved meat,) to increase my blood flow (I did not ask how.) He said to eat royal jelly, as pure as I could get, and twice as much as they said to take. Ah, here was the money pitch! No, he didn't sell it, nor could he recommend where to get it "You must find my own path," he said really laying on the grasshopper jargon thick. Lastly he wanted me to drink wheatgrass every day. "Together these will cleanse your body and heal your mind" or words to that effect. I remember "heal your mind" verbatim because that hit me at the core. And no, he didn't sell wheatgrass either. I do not believe in mysticism, and in fact become scared that at some point my brain will decay to the point that I do. I went back to the room and worked on rational explanations. It is the morning of the 28th of May. I have not posted in what seems like ages. My mind and eye are relatively sharp today and I figured I would type on the blog all day. Then life intervened. A change I made on Mai's computer yesterday - when my mind was most definitely not sharp - broke it when the computer was rebooted. Some of my morning is taken up unsuccessfully trying to correct that. Also we promised Ooy (not same Ooy, Mai's friend Ooy, and German guy we would burn the pictures from the Sanctuary of Truth trip we took (don't worry I'll get to all this stuff) and I kept forgetting to get CDRs to put them on, so I decided that we should go straight to Carrefour and get some before I forgot again as German guy is going home on Friday. Once at Carrefour I had to take advantage of being there I had to take advantage of the fact that they accept American Express and doing some shopping. But I am home and in front of the computer at a little before noon and the fridge and cupboards are filled with everything I might need to counter any excuse to leave the room. My plan is to type until I my head is pounding too much to continue. I am unsure of whether to go back and add things where they belong temporally or just add them here. There advantages and disadvantages to both. Putting events where they belong makes them easier to find later. But people don't tend to go back to previous months or segments (this makes it easy to hide stuff) so a lot could be missed. And I think that answers my question.
On May 1st, I remember distinctly because the restaurant downstairs was closed as we waited for the bus. They had made jokes about going with us that I had not understood until I saw that the shop was closed for Buddha Day. Anyway on this day Ooy and I went to Nong Nooch. Its full name is the Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden and it modestly describes itself as "Paradise on Earth." For me it is another shot at recreating my experience with the elephant. The minibus arrives pretty much on time and takes quickly us to an office to sit in. Like most Thai tours we are told nothing, which just sit assured that whatever is supposed to happen will happen. And sure enough about twenty minutes later - after a few other minibuses have dumped more people into the increasingly overcrowded office - we are directed out and across the street to a full sized bus which slowly fills up and off we go on the 40 minute drive to Nong Nooch. As we approach the Gardens are host hands us all a map of the Gardens and rapid fires our itinerary: "we will start at the small animal exhibit and gift shop for 20 minutes, then we will walk along this path to the Elephant park and wait for the Tribal dancing show to start, then on to the Elephant show. You will the have 30 minutes to wander around the park. Then you will meet us here to leave." He then repeats this in two other languages. I look at Ooy, she looks as clueless as I do. My plan is to stay close to someone else from our group that looks competent and hope that they are. Once freed from the bus there are baby elephants, a small tiger and some monkeys all in a small area to petted and/or feed. Anything you are allowed to do for free, they photograph and try to sell you the photo. Ooy is very scared of the Elephants even the "babies." This is not an irrational fear, several people each year are killed by startled or psychotic elephants each year in Thailand. it used to be more before they outlawed letting them roam through the cities. But after a little cajoling Ooy gets up on one of the small elephants. I am proud of her and this is the one photo I buy that day.
I find one elephant that I like very much and we commune for as long as the situation allows.
Afterward our guide gathers us up and leads us on a merry jaunt through the many gardens, some of flowers, some of stone and some of water.
As we walked a very cute Japanese girl kept ending up in my shots and after a bit it became apparent to me that she was doing this on purpose. Whether she was flirting or just loved having her picture taken I am unsure of to this minute. Either hypothesis seems flawed as she had a rather good looking Japanese (I'm guessing) boyfriend with her who was also taking lots of pictures. Regardless I became happy to oblige her and starting actively taking pictures of her.
After the walk we sat for a bit and drank water waiting to be led to the Thai Cultural Performance. This room was crowded and hot from the body heat of hundreds of farang. It was interesting but the heat and some of the high pitched musical instruments made it somewhat uncomfortable for me. We tried to ditch early as the path to the elephant show was plainly marked but we were not allowed to pass until this event was over. Most likely the elephant show was already in progress for another group. Either way it was cooler off to the side here and I kept my fingers in my eyes. Our group had special seating for the Elephant Show. Unfortunately by the time of the Cultural Performance I had figured out how to work the motion picture feature of my camera and so don't have any pictures to show of either. The elephant show was fun. The elephants bowled and played basketball and road tricycles and all that circus type stuff. After that we had a half hour to wander around but we were both very hot so we just drank a pineapple drink and waited in the shade for the ride to come take us home. Turns out we were waiting in the wrong place, but our host found us.
All the pictures taken at Nong Nooch can be found here. I have a long tradition of not doing much on my birthday. At first I was feeling the pressure of this being my final birthday. I felt I should do something special on my last birthday. But eventually I realized that I don't do much on my birthdays because I that is what I like. Nice simple days. The got off to a rocky start, something had gone wrong with my domain and this website was down. These things usually resolve themselves within minutes or hours but as I had not posted for a while I whisked off an email to everyone to let them know I was okay. I did toy with the idea of going to Khram's Marine and explaining to Eed - who speaks near perfect English - how to cook and serve a lobster. But the lobsters here are not New England lobsters, they don't even have claws of any size. And I remembered how disappointing Florida's rock lobsters are. These even warmer water lobsters would probably be less so. What is worse than doing nothing on your final birthday? Doing something that turns out badly. It turned out to be a nicely and weirdly serendipitous day. The day was overcast but neither humid nor raining. Perfect weather for me. My plan was to get a massage at Eden's Massage, but when I got there I didn't like the tone of the cashier (massage cashier is like the manager of a store back home) and I walk out. I walk aimlessly down Soi Boukow in the directory I don't know very well. I notice a used bookstore. There are only a handful of used bookstores in Pattaya and I have been to most of them looking for Fight Club. I find the locations of these stores online in the ex-pat forums. I skipped this one and a couple others because they were universally described as worthless stores. But now I am here, so I go it. The books are organized by author. This is good, most of them aren't. And there it is, big as day. Not just Fight Club, but Fight Club in large easy to read print, like it was waiting just for me. In large print it is only a couple of hundred pages long - this worries me a little as I would think with just what was in the movie it would need to be twice that size. But still it is here. An auspicious start to my birthday. Bagged book in hand I continued down the road looking at and reject massage shop after massage shop. I notice a rather attractive Thai woman in front a massage shop ahead and while cuteness is not a good way to choose a masseuse (in fact it is a lousy way as it is the elder ones that have the experience to give a great massage) but it was my birthday and fantasy was winning over practically. Then she crossed the road. Damn, guess she doesn't work there. But as I approached the shop she ran back "Hello. Welcome." And in I went. Her English was passable and I selected the Head and Shoulders massage. After a little bit of work on my shoulders she shoved my arm above my head and firmly manipulated below my armpit. There are, in my mind, three categories of masseuse. There are those that have learned by rote and can't vary their routine. The massage is always the same and can not be changed by comment or request. There are those that can and will modify the massage per your requests and suggestions. And there are those that can read your body and know what to do by what they feel and how you react to certain movements. I always know when I have found one of the last type when they go for this spot high on my side. It is a movement I can not duplicate myself nor explain to any one, but it removes the pain in my arm - at least for a while. At the end of the first hour I decided I wanted a second hour for my legs. By the end I felt peaceful and sleepy and free from pain. I know there were two more things, but damned if I can remember what they were. The only thing that didn't go perfectly that day was dinner. On the walk back I noticed a billboard for an Buffet at LK Metropole. The picture had, among other things, a very nice looking steak, one of the few things I have not had since my arrival in Pattaya. I decided Ooy and I would eat here tonight. It was okay. It had a small offering of sushi which was unexpected and quiet welcome. It had prawn and small weird lobsters, that were okay but would have been much better with butter and lemon. By the way, they don't have lemons here. They call limes lemons. The steaks are small and very overcooked. All in all an okay meal, but not a great final birthday meal. The rest of the day I think was rather magical in simple yet wondrous way. No complaints. This is a difficult concept to get across but it is important as it is a large but unspoken reason for my coming to Thailand. I'll have to come at this obliquely but bear with me this is important. I have to start with an analogy. You are alone in a rocket ship. You have suffered some damage and lost some of your resources. You have all of the data at your disposal. The math is cut and dried. Using your fuel, using all the oxygen in your ship and space suits, you will run out of oxygen before you get to the closest available source of more. There are some "slim" possibilities, ground control tells you. Perhaps a UFO will fly by and assist. Perhaps you will be hit by asteroid that rather than destroying your ship, will hit from just the right angle to give you the boost you need. Perhaps you develop a new form of space travel in the days you have left to you. End of analogy - I'll come back here soon. In 1980 I took my first economics class. I was lucky to take the class when I did. Back then economics was a science. A few years later Reagan started pushing trickle down economics. It is very hard to attack this, without exposing the entire flaw of consumer economics. But trickle down economics - the idea that helping business helps Americans as a whole, through jobs and thriving economy - goes against the very heart of liberalism. You can't empower people to help themselves and others, you must empower Government to help the helpless. And so, soon after, they changed the science of economics to various forms of wishful economics that we see in colleges and sadly even in business today. But I digress. I've always loved puzzles and the American economy was the largest puzzle that I had stumbled upon that was almost pure math. There were bigger ones, but the free will variables were too big to calculate in those. Long after college rightfully tossed my ass, I continued to study everything I could find on economics, sifting through the new nonsense that was being proffered and keeping an eye on the papers. One thing that became immediately apparent was that consumer based capitalism, while possibly the best mechanism in existence for rapid growth of a country, is also unsustainable. You simply can't do better than the previous year forever. Eventually everybody has everything, or all your resources are used up. You can stall for a bit playing games, like changing the style every year, or constantly tweaking the technology so things need to be replaced (think: album, eight-track, cassette tape, CD) and things like that. But there is a very real and unavoidable cap. There is almost the both the consumer and the producer are bound in this race. The consumer has to make more to be able to buy more so that the producer can make and sell more. And the consumer will always have to lead that race. Thus the build up of consumer debt is nearly unavoidable. In 1986 I laid out the future of the American economy as I clearly saw it back then. It wasn't pretty. And I was wrong. To go back to the analogy one of those rocks hit us just right. It was called the internet. It didn't solve the problem - the problem can not be solved it is an inherent flaw of the system - but it did open a whole new arena for consumerism and a whole new form of debt and it took globalization from a governmental only level straight to the every day Joe that was willing to struggle to grasp the new technology. And this pushed my dates forward twelve to sixteen years. But here in a nutshell is the point, the math is still cut and dried, just about everyone I know and love is going to die. By starving, by freezing, by riot or by fear. I see as clearly as day. I've seen it as clearly for over a decade. For awhile it was easier to live in denial, another rock will come and save the day. Nanotechnology will save us - somehow. Someone will do something. And I've watched 'someones' do nothing for a decade except actions designed to push the problem forward onto someone else's watch. And of course this also always make the problem worse. This is at its second core a money problem, and time compounds money. The internet not only fouled up my calculations, it gave me access to global information I never had before. I could check my ideas against more than one set of data, reducing bias, thus reducing error. It also expanded the puzzle from American economics to Global economics. And then I got sick, and it was harder to think, and so things had to be rechecked constantly, new ideas couldn't be as fully integrated or trusted as previously. So I watch the old benchmarks, and as each one passes it becomes harder to live in denial. It also becomes harder to warn my friends and loved ones. I was wrong before, it is much easier for them to ignore me, and conversely I see there is no longer anything they can do. Everyone I know is too poor to have the means to shift their economy. And there is at most four years left. In my heart, maybe Lorne - motivated by his family - can be clever and ruthless enough to survive the transition stage. I can picture him alive, everyone else and everyone around me in the States I see as dead. Yes, I'll be dead long before this. That does not make it any easier to experience daily. I move to Florida, and I am still surrounded by walking corpses. Never that close to that many people, I pull away even further. That something huge is coming will be obvious to anyone not willfully in denial by 2008, I tell myself. And I think that is unfolding as I speak. The Collapse is a two tiered thing. American hyperinflation begins by 2012 - I think sooner, but it can not go passed that point. The second tier is cheap energy - I hold out hope that technology may solve this one - when that is gone, this planet can support at most 2.5 billion people and that is almost a denial figure because it is probably actually less than 2 billion. Two other every three people dead - worldwide. So why did I go to the other side of the globe? all the reasons previously stated are still valid, but Thailand is in an excellent position to largely survive. They grow all their own food, and in fact are the larger exporter in the region. The grow all their own oil as well, and export some. While the tourist areas would suffer (I think) the country at whole could be in good shape. Assuming they aren't attacked by their starving neighbors. I don't think I knew most of the latter, at least not consciously, when planning this trip. But when I look around me, I don't see corpses here. There is a little more than a week left on my visa and I have still have not made a decision on what to do. So, on my birthday I think, I notice a visa place that contains both the magic words 'English spoken well' and 'Credit Cards Accepted' in large letters on the door. I go in and hard as it is to believe, the guy behind the desk actually does speak English well. I have a flier with me of the package deal to Laos. The flier did not come from his shop, but most of these places seem to call a third party anyway. So after we discuss my various options - I'm hoping there is a package that involves a train. Not only would trains be easier on me physically but they are very inexpensive here. But top priority is being walked through the system. I need serious handholding when it comes to dealing with any legal or political system. I don't have the patience for institutionalized insanity. It is bad enough when it is your own system, which I almost understand - but add foreignness to that and - well I want some layers between me and it. Not surprisingly there are no packages involving trains. So he makes the call for the package of being driven to Laos. I don't make the connection until I see the sticker on the back of my passport at customs, but this is the same company that handled my trip to the Cambodian border. For anyy ex-pats now following this site (you poor souls) I should give a plug to this company: Good Tour Pattaya 085-2874588. And for those of you, like me, that have had trouble finding a coordinator that speaks decent English here is a plug for him: Pang Hee Cheong: 0066 36-414214-5, 081-8436479). In eight days I will head for Laos on a three day trip. A few weeks ago I got an email from Shaun, saying the landlord while making no effort to sell the items I had given them in lieu of rent, was complaining that they were magically turning into cash and were threatening to kick Dan out early. This would upset the apple cart as Shaun who had previously had 6 weeks to organize and sell my possessions, would only have two. And Dan would have no where to go (although I am pretty sure he would have had no plan right up until the last minute no matter what the date was.) My business would have to close and I would have no more money coming in 6 weeks earlier than planned. I assured Shaun that that was just John's mood of the moment (he has a history of stressing out and getting flustered for a short time.) but that Jenny would not let that happen. So image my surprise to receive this email on April 11th:
Notice how they justify keeping everything and the security deposit that I gave them to make up the three months rent, despite the fact that the condition of the house is do solely to the fact that they rushed the process by 6 weeks. That house would have been spotless if Marilyn had been given a chance to get at it. But hey, they tried for eleven day right? I fired off an overtly covertly hostile email response and then worked feverously on this end to adjust my plans accordingly. In the end it turns out good it happened as I am now trying to live a few months longer than I previously projected (I'm shooting for November now) and those alternations have possibly made that financially possible. Still it galls me when I think of it sometimes. Trying to save your house in a crumbling housing market is one thing. Taking advantage of dying man while you do so is quite another. And knowing John, I bet that house is just sitting there still just barely worked on. Anyway, now I've vented that, life is too short to hold grudges and my mind is no longer sharp enough to get revenge the computer so back to why I brought this up in the first place. With only a month to figure out his fate (and admittedly also under the added pressure of being isolated) went Dan got the news he went deeper into depression and stopped processing the orders for a few days. After that he was too far behind and went into overwhelm and stopped working. I can't remember why, but something about my Laos trip caused me to look into the JennyVision email account and I noticed that several weeks of mail had not been read and some titles were ominous sounding like "Where the hell is my package?." At first glance I thought the problem only extended back a week or so, but on closer look the next day I discovered it went back to April 11th. It takes most of the day to organize what has not been done. In all 124 DVDs have not been mailed, some of them as big as 12 DVD sets. It is now May 8th, I leave for Laos on May 11th, our business is being closed on May 15th when we have to be out of the house. At first glance that last part might seem to answer the problem, but I don't like to do business that way. And besides payment is through my credit card merchant, so it is possible that enough complaints could damage my credit rating which would really screw up my planning. My rating is teetering on the blink of catastrophe as it is. And I it takes over a day to reach Shaun, and I can't reach Dan. But I answer all the emails and post a message on the website. The story is bullshit, but it will buy some sympathy and therefore patience. I think about emailing all 124 people that are on the list but that is a lot of work, and it might just stir up the hornet's nest rather than calm the situation. Meanwhile I don't know if Dan is still at the house or what. I finally reach Shaun, who calms me down and takes the reigns. Dan is still there, just became overwhelmed, Shaun reports back to me. He will help organize him and get the stuff out the door. Once again I wonder what I would do without Shaun? Day after day, I check the gmail account looking for the telltale little stars that will show that some orders are being shipped. By the 11th, about half are out the door. When I get my email in Laos, I am told that all orders have been shipped. Two days to spare. Feels like a movie. On my fifth visit to the massage shop, Mai agrees to go out with me on her day off (I think this was May 7th). I remember much about being giddy waiting for that day but oddly little about the day itself. I remember we went to the beach and had a very quiet simple day and how happy she was with that. After that it was torture waiting for her next day off which was to be 10 days away. I made a deal with Ooy reducing her salary a bit and giving her every other night off. Ooy would leave around 10pm and Mai would arrive when her shift was over - either 11 or midnight depending on the night. We would lie in bed and laugh and giggle and tickle and tease and get very little sleep. Then Mai would leave around 9 or 10am and return to work, and Ooy would return around that time. I can imagine what the staff must have thought, but as David (the owner) said "they've seen it all." Ooy seemed happy, Mai and I were delirious and life was good. Ooy was a paid companion, Mai was a girlfriend. I had made promises to Ooy to employ her to the end of the month and it was important to both myself and to Mai (Thai culture takes a very dim view on poaching) that honor that obligation. At the end of May Mai would quit her job. Ooy would return to the beer bar for a month, before returning home to Udon Thani. A win - win - win situation it seemed to me. Mai was constantly expressing nervousness about hurting Ooy's feelings. I told her it was just a business arrangement and we had talked it out and everything was cool. A couple of times Mai stayed late, missing some work, and on one of those Ooy and she got to talk. Everything appeared fine. The trip to Laos went much smoother than I had expected. The minibus was about an hour late picking me up, and as the final person I had no choice in where to sit. It was eight passengers and two helpers and a driver. I had middle seat front, not the best spot for someone who needs extra legroom. They must have realized this too, because after the first stop, they switched me with the short Thai man to my left. Now I could get comfortable. Pete's sleeping pills worked like a charm and woke up at every two hour stop and went right back to sleep. The 10 hour journey seemed to only last minutes. We changed busses when leaving the Kingdom and crossed the wide river in the new bus after crossing through customs. At the Laos side we again went through customs and waited a long long time for another vehicle. I suspect the wait was due to mechanical failure (although they never acted like anything was wrong) because we were split into two smaller caravans. I was somewhat anxious about he fact that I had become separated from my backpack (it was in the other caravan) and soon we were transported to Vientiane and the Thai Embassy there. We stood in a non-moving line in the hot sun, passport and application (filled out for us, written in Thai and sign by us in blind faith) for a long time. I imagine that the application inspector had died and that the wait was while his condition was discerned from his usual attitude and he was replaced. After that the line started to move rather swiftly and soon I had reached the tarp covered part of the walkway which was all I really cared about - getting out of the sun. Soon I had reached the inspector, and he stamped my passport with barely a look in my direction. Two others of my group had been in front of me and they had been directed to the pay Visa line which also was long slow moving and in the sun. Our package had included the Visa payment so we were a bit confused, and though he did not say anything to me, I hurried to stick close to them. After standing in the new line for only a few minutes one of group leaders came and told us that we didn't have stand here in the sun. We got to stand somewhere else in the sun where there was at least refreshments and wait for the rest of our group to finish through the original line. Then we waited for the Caravans to show up and take us to our hotel. They had a breakfast (though it was now about noon) waiting for us and it was palatable, much like the breakfasts I found in the early weeks of Pattaya. The breakfast was in the hotel Lao like the brochure had shown, however the hotel we would stay in was across the street. It was very nice. Sloping Bathroom Sleep all day Dinner - 5 currencies - Tiger girls Sleep all night - up at 4am Walk to river. Closed but interesting market platforms Swedish Bakery Easier getting back across the border Khalua The driver home - solid rain. Now that I have my visa I feel comfortable to pony up for another month at the Diana-Oasis. This is the first place to stay that I have liked enough to extend my time at. I really like it here. Still I will probably find another place when this month is over, just to shake up my routine. We are told as children "Look at me when you talk to me." It is part of Western culture to look at those we are talking to. Even when someone is out of sight, we will look in the general direction of where we think they are. It took me a while to figure out why I had so much trouble figuring out if someone was talking to me, and I finally realized that it is not part of Thai culture. Constantly they look straight at me, while talking in Thai to someone else. Less common but still not infrequent, they look elsewhere while asking me questions or talking to me. It is these little things you never thought to question that really trip you up. Break Up with Ooy Why I feel bad Floating in pool Mai can't move in that day Moves in next day
Hillary is now saying "let every vote count!" as her slogan for staying in the race. Funny, it seems like most years the primary is decided by the third round, sometimes it is decided by New Hampshire. Why, didn't every vote have to count then? Not that I am complaining mind you. The longer she stays in, the greater the odds for a Republican victory. I just fear she is going find a way to cheat the rules and steal the nomination. Echoes of Gore's "We will recount these ballots until I win" speech ringing in my ears. The Sanctuary of Truth
There are little flier stands all over Pattaya. Rarely are they manned and when they are it is by someone that doesn't speak English well enough to be useful. Luckily the fliers are almost always at least in part in English. This is how I found the Elephant Park and Nong Nooch. It is also how I found several places that I didn't go to. After I find the fliers I check out them out on the Internet, both at their site (if they have one) and by what people have said about them. A couple of days ago I found a flier I had not seen before for the Sanctuary of Truth. They had a first class website, but no one else had heard of it. I decided Mai and I should check it out. We decide on Sunday, which is her friend's day off. Her friend's name is also Ooy, so I will refer to her as Ooy2 at least for this month. She brings along her current boyfriend, a German man named Tilo. Tilo is rather quiet, possibly due to his knowing very limited English, but I suspect a shy disposition. Thus I become the talkative one for this outing. Ooy2 and Tilo met us at the gate of our hotel. They called us just as we were finishing breakfast - first rate timing. Ooy2 and Mai spot an empty tuk tuk and hire it to take us there. It is off of Nuklua Road, not terribly far but well out of walking distance, even if we started from the Dolphin Statue.
A horse drawn carriage transports Mai and I to the overlook near which is the long stairway down the hill. From the overhang we can see the Sanctuary. We take a picture which came out postcard perfect (or at least I think so until I later see the shot Tilo took.) From here we walk down a long steep stairway that reminds me a lot of the stairs that lead down into the grottos in Progresso, Mexico. It is a hard walk just going down these steps. Some are sturdy, some are rickety. Railing is a rope; in some segments the rope is taunt in others loose. Like most of Thailand you have to really pay attention. I hope we don't have to climb back up these steps when this is over.
From here we walk along a path and stop to play with a baby elephant before continuing on and coming to a tree which has a stairway around it leading to a platform. From here we can climb onto the back of a huge elephant. You don't actually ride on the back of the elephant but on a seat strapped to its back. After climbing onto the seat, a bar is slipped into holes so you'd have to work to fall out. Regardless my fear of heights has never felt so justified. The elephant is lumbering on under the instructions of his mahout who rides on his head, and I am clinging to the bars in front and behind me for dear life as we rock up and down and side to side. And we go down a steep and remarkably thin path path down to a pond and around the water and over to the restaurant where the dolphin show will take place. All through this my leg is locked solid, my arms are rock solid and everything is getting tired. I'm proud and happy that I got on the elephant but I really just want the ride to end. I thought it was going to go 300 hundred feet or so to the Sanctuary but we looped around it and through the woods and around the lake. By the time we get off my muscle hurt. Thankfully we get to sit and wait for the Dolphin show to start.
Mai and I, Tilo and Ooy2, waiting for the Dolphin Show to Begin
I vaguely remember going to SeaWorld with Bob Crafts when I was a teenager - maybe younger. Mostly I want to swim or play with the dolphins. I know this is not going to happen. I have very little interest in the show itself. I spend most of my time trying to anticipate the action to get one or two good shots of the dolphins since the camera takes a couple of seconds from click to it capturing the shot. There are two dolphins. One is the bottle nosed variety that I am use to. I never much thought about the meaning of bottle nosed until I look at the other one. No nose, like a mini-whale with a weird mouth. The thing has a Hollywood monster animatronic feel to it. After the show you can go down to the animals for 50 baht. This I am interested in, however this whole event is hurried and choreographed. You are told where to stand, how to pose, the dolphin is signaled what to do. Turn, pose for camera, turn, kiss, shake hands, pose for camera. Bing, bang, bung - move along for the next guy. All day long they are pitching plates with photographs of us during the various activities. I have little interest in possessions, but the one of Mai with the bottle nosed Dolphin is especially good and I shell out the 200 baht for it. We watch the Dolphin show from the deck of an open air restaurant. We move inside it for a cultural performance. One of the dancers is striking. The pictures come out very dark. The music at one point switches to a high pitched fast paced theme that hurts me so I retreat to a table outside. The group follows and we walk along a stone path across the pond to another restaurant on the other side. I am not hungry but I enjoy a pineapple-watermelon iced drink while Mai, Ooy2 and Tilo have lunch. We are on the deck on the pond and it is peaceful and beautiful. They are bringing the food and drink from across the pond. Then 15 or so Japanese take the other table behind us. And they are loud, and I think back on Jaeb's attitude toward the Japanese, and on how many peaceful tableaus I have had disturbed by Japanese. I am beginning to share this bias. Two to three hours in, and I think we are finally heading to the Sanctuary. No. First we come to - well picture a shipyard for houses, a houseyard: a huge open air building where the adornments for the building are carved. Acres of it. The pieces are built in segments or panels. I remember thinking it would be more impressive if they were made in one piece, but we learned later that they were panels so they could form hexagons and curves and such. There are all kinds of machines. Most impressive is a lathe with a tree trunk on it bigger around than any tree I've seen in New England . And I'm lying on the cement surrounded by concerned workers and Mai is holding my head. Gradually confusion clears from my brain. The story I get is that some large tool (or I suspect a warning alarm for device) started and I just dropped and was out for a couple of minutes. Mai has explained to the Thai what the situation is and not to worry. I don't remember ever falling before. I wonder what the difference was?
It reminded me of when I use to build Unreal levels on Max's computer. You'd try to build large complex areas that were visible for as many other areas as possible. This place felt like that. We had a tour guide for the first 30 minutes and I kept wandering off distracted. I was far more interested in the structure than the explanation of the structure. I could have stayed there for several hours more, but Tilo and Ooy2 seemed bored. Back across the pond, it was short walk back to the stairs up the hill. I had hoped coming down that we would be coming back another way. No such luck. Up was much harder, but I suppose I can use all the exercise I can get forced on me. Even Mai is breathing hard when we get to the top. Mai and I, Tilo and Ooy2 at the Entrance to the Sanctuary of Truth We are trotted based one more elephant and offered
The elephants lifts Mai no problem. When it comes to me, the elephant is like "screw this, they don't feed me enough to put up with this." It makes a half hearted attempt to lift me and then gives up. Good luck getting a plate out of that. This area is where we are to wait for the carriage ride back to the ticket office. I can see the ticket office from here and see no reason not to walk the short distance. We pass a truly lovely seen created from a bright orange flowering tree surrounded by blue, red and yellow flowers. Simply gorgeous.
All the pictures taken at the Sanctuary of Truth can be found here.
It doesn't look like I will have to fly back to North America but if I did, I'd be looking for a way to afford to fly this way. You can't see it is this picture but there is a bed as well. The picture taker is obviously set up on it in this shot. Eden massage review Uploading the pictures and readying some of them for this page took most of the 28th. Yesterday I felt neither sharp nor social. I procrastinated on working on the website, largely ignored Mai and watched TV much of the day. Started to pull out of it around dusk and we managed to get some swimming in. Then we got a call from maintenance that our toilet was leaking downstairs and they wanted us to move into the apartment next door. I don't think it was the toilet that was leaking but rather that if you put one rather large person and one very teeny person into a very teeny shower that has nothing but a curtain separating it from the bathroom floor you are going to get a lot of water on the bathroom floor. This room is an exact mirror image of the other room. I couldn't help thinking though as we slowly brought our stuff over that it felt smaller. Later Mai would voice the same thought. I kept looking though and don't see how that is possible, but it definitely feels that way. I'm only here for a few more weeks or I would have them switch us back once they have sealed the floor in the old room. This morning however I awoke almost feeling like my old self. I was dragging a bit but the morning (afternoon actually, I've taken to eating a light meal in the morning from the fridge and then having a bigger meal at lunch time with Mai as she has here first meal of the day. This allows us both to maintain our usual meal patterns and still eat together) super coffee took care of that. Mai has a lot of errands to run today including talking to her English teacher about continuing her English studies. I've been pushing this idea, as I think it will be very helpful to her when I am gone. I figured I would go run a few errands myself and then come back here and type this (which as you can tell is what actually came to pass.) My errands were simple but I actually remembered them all and was only thwarted on one of them. The first stop was the pharmacy where I got my final medicine renewed. HCTZ was the only medicine I had not had to replace since as I had been Thailand. On the internet I had looked up and written down the 14 names that HCTZ is marketed under around the globe. It turned out to be sold as itself just not abbreviated, Hydrochlorothiazide. They had it and it was dirt cheap, about 18 baht for a two month supply. I think that's about 30 cents a month. They didn't have potassium pills but said I could get them at Royal Garden. From there to the bank. 18,000B cash advance off MasterCard. 7000B of which is added to the bank account and looking at the updated passbook I see one of the transfers from PayPal has finally been completed - 9 days start to finish. Next across the road and down the soi to the barber shop. I shave when my beard starts to annoy Mai's skin. That was this morning. Seems to be about a week's growth. Some one is ahead of me having his hair scalped. This has only happened once before and last time I went and had my feet done and then came back. This time, he looked almost done so I waited. Face smooth as a baby, I proceed two doors down to the lady that does my feet. I could probably have this done every other time I get shaved but for a 100 baht why risk forgetting. I worry about my large toes a bit as they get sore from time to time. Since I have started having this lady work on this weekly they no longer hurt. I'm at the farthest point out now, and start heading back toward the hotel. I occurred to me when I passed the Boakoaw Express Post that having a post office box might make it possible for me to receive mail. Usually it takes at least four days from first thought to action, but here it only took the time for a shave and foot work. Three hundred baht per month and it only takes a few minutes to process the paperwork. Here is my new address:
I know I am in Thailand through at least August 10th. After that it was only a stop for fruit and water and carrying them back to the hotel. Mai should be out for at least two more hours so I will try to stay focused and back enough of the month to post all this. The cooling fan in my laptop is gone. That should be a simple fix but I am reluctant to let anyone touch it until I have a complete backup on Mai's laptop and I have not been willing to take time away from anything else to work on this. So if I don't keep the fan blowing on it, it overheats and shuts down. This can't be good for the hard drive. I wanted to get a little fan that could sit on the table behind the laptop and would come on when I turned the power strip on. So after trying a few equipment shops in the local markets we headed off to Carrefour. Oddly, all they had was large fans. I did buy a mouse for Mai's laptop so I don't have to work with the dreaded touchpad and few knickknacks. After which we went over to the food section. I don't remember much about what we got but I did notice for the first time the huge barrels of rice of many colors.
William Buffet is some times referred to as the richest man in American and some times as the richest business man in the world. The modifiers are important, there are richer royalty out there. But for people that amassed their own fortunes he and Bill Gates have been jockeying for the one and two spot for years. Not that I imagine he cares a bit about such titles. What interests me about Mr. Buffet is that he is a man that made his money by never hiding his head in the sand, by always seeing things for what they were even if that idea were against the grain for him. In other words he didn't modify the data to fit his world view, he modified his world view to fit the data. And he has, rightly, become famous for bailing out of trends before they crash (usually just as others are finally getting on the wagon.) He also believes that there is enough money for all of us, and constantly doles out advise or answers questions - honestly and fully. He does not guard his secrets. So just as I watch the price of Gold as an indicator of the levels of fear and uncertainty in the global economy, I watch the actions of Buffet for trends. In 2003 Buffet was very loudly promoting buying the Euro and getting out of US currency. Now in a recent article he advises investing in Euro based businesses.
As I have been predicting that the Euro and perhaps China's currency will be the two survivors in the coming economic meltdown, I see this as just one more indicator. You almost never go wrong listening to Warren. Here is another example of the Schizophrenic (wow, I spelled that right) nature of Thailand. Here is a nation whose major asset it tourism, and whose chief tourism lure is sex. As prostitution is illegal in Thailand it is difficult to get accurate number, but an editorial in 'The Nation' made a good case for that statement. But because public displays of affection, bare skin and pretty much the rest of Western life is at odds with the basic Thai way of life outside of Phuket, Pattaya and Bangkok, they go to great lengths to counter this image. The slightest shot of a nipple is censored from cable TV. I notice that on the English channels swears are uncensored in English but the Thai translation disappears briefly. Interestingly guns and knives are censored when the business end comes into direct contact with another person. I had more examples in mind, but unfortunately not on paper. But here is the law that started this section. Sex toys are illegal in The Kingdom. And this law appears to actually be enforced. Vibrators, dildos - nothing like that is for sale anywhere. And while I can't find an English translation of that law, it must be pretty broad because nothing you could turn into a vibrator can be found either. Now admittedly, there wouldn't be much of a call for a real massager in a country where you can buy an hour massage for $3. But it does strike me odd that pleasure for men is readily available yet pleasure for women is not only outlawed but such laws are enforced. I did find hand held vibrating pad sold as free with purchase of 10 pack of AAA batteries (oddly the pad took AA batteries). With a little creativity I should be able to modify this into something useful. May 30th, I catch up on much of this blog while Mai is out setting up English class. She will be going two hours a day weekdays at 2pm. I will use this time to not get so far behind on my postings. As this is the hottest time of the day this will work out well. Tonight I ask her where she would like to eat, and she surprises me by not saying "up to you." She picks a Thai place directly across from the market near R-Con. Like most Thai only places, I am handed a menu with well over a hundred items and then the waiter just stands there while you look over this. Today I'm willing to just let him hang there, I'm going to take a good look at this menu. I eventually decide on Egg Flower Soup, having no idea what it is. It could be close to egg drop soup or it could be whole eggs and ground up flowers. You never know here. It turns out to be close to neither. I can taste but not find the egg. It is not thick like egg drop soup but rather broth like. Then crispy style noodle, soggy from the broth, onion and such. I add salt. I've gotten use to using lime instead of salt for the most part, but the salt was just sitting there and the lime wasn't. It was very good. I had been worried it would not be enough food; I didn't even finish it. Mai had a plate full of clams that were something between a quahog and a mussel, in what looked like a mildly spicy coconut sauce (her description, I am still a might squeamish about clam type shellfish here. Afterward we went a couple of blocks to check out another place to live. It has been Mai's job to locate another place that we will both like that also has all the basic requirements. Mai had a friend that had lived here once. For the street it is on it is surprisingly nice. Less of a kitchen (no microwave, toaster or kitchen sink) but a lot more overall space, a shower that won't flood the bathroom, and a really nice balcony. The room is cleaned daily - only twice a week here at Oasis. Slightly cheaper and tons of amenities in the building (laundry service, massage, minimart and shave - and that is just what I noticed checking out a couple of rooms.) and they take credit cards. Also the pool is always open - no closing just as it gets useable. Still, I've learned it is what you don't think of that can trip you up. The mattress could seem okay, but actually really suck. The TV channels could be all non-English. The Internet could be for crap. There might be extremely fluctuating water pressure (and therefore temperature.) The walls could let sounds of the all night party that is Pattaya into your bedroom. The air-conditioner might not be up to the task. All these things and more I have experienced just in my time here. So if I am going move, I'm going to try the place first. After all I like where I am for the most part. But I am getting a bit bored staying in the same spot for two months. And while this new place is still in the same old area, it looks to be a bet different and in some ways better. So I rent one day, this Sunday, and we will stay and give the place a good looking over.
|
I
leave for Vientiane, Laos tomorrow night - May 11th. The 10 hour hour
drive coincidentally takes me straight through Ooy's home town of Udon
Thani.
We
are dropped off at the ticket office. The entrance fee is 500 baht per
person but that is only if you just want look around the Sanctuary. Add
Elephant Ride, Dolphin Show and Cultural Dance and it is a still
reasonable 750 baht per person.
Finally
we are at the Sanctuary of Truth. I took lots of pictures. But words and
pictures both fail to describe it. It largely catered to the Hindu gods.
the
chance to pose with or be lifted by it. This is free, which means they
will try to push a plate on us later, you'd think they'd learn, I've
rejected about twenty plates so far (then again I bought one.)
