LIGHT BULBS
Sitting in a room in Thailand when suddenly, the main light begins to go crazy blinking on and off at random.
It's only 9 PM so I go downstairs to find help. The only person initially around is a guy with no English. OK. By hand signs, I let him know there is a problem and signal him to come up to my room.
No, it's not like that you dirty bastards.
He takes a look at the light and begins playing with the controls for the fan.
Not kidding.
After he has made it abundantly clear that he doesn't know how lights work, I remember the name of the lady whose place it is and who speaks English. I repeat the name a few times until he gets the idea I want to talk to her.
We go find her.
Like most of the people in Asia, it seems that owning extra supplies is a foreign concept. There are no extra lights. Tomorrow, someone will be sent out to purchase one (1) light and stick it in.
Any time there is a problem, the only thing they will offer is to have you move rooms.
I try to explain that it will be several (probably six plus) hours till I go to bed and that I am working on my computer. She tells me I can go to the other room when I want to sleep.
I explain that I will not need the light when I am asleep but will need it while I am working (ie playing on my computer). This also seems an alien concept.
After checking with me a couple more times to make sure I wouldn't prefer to sleep in a room with a working light, she announces she needs to give her daughter a shower.
The original non-English speaking night guard guy made a show of looking for another light but apparently none is to be had.
This highlights the importance of a good public education system.
And foresight.
Light bulbs are not expensive - even here. Not having a few on hand is baffling.
Even when I was working in Georgia, I was the guy who initiated the 'hey, let's keep extra shit we will eventually use on hand' program.
We'll see if tomorrow I can get a new light. For now, I am using the bed reading light.
Which is still brighter than the 5 watt bulb I had in Indonesia.
Later, on Facebook, one of my brighter friends (Derek) asked why I didn't just request a light bulb be taken from a working room.
Then, I felt stupid and missing those 'critical thinking skills'.
Ah, well.
The next day, it got fixed. After I asked about it in the 'it had better get fixed because there are plenty of options for hotels in this town' tone of voice.
MISSIONARIES
As I travel the world, I sometimes run into missionaries.
Rather than trying to convince them not to believe what they believe ("A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still") I try to convince them to go to Islamic countries to preach.
"But we'll be killed!" they whine.
"Ah!" I retort, "But you'll then be a martyr and god loves those!"
I look at it as a win, win, win scenario.
They get to die and an their opinion go to heaven,
They get to die for something they believe in,
I don't have to look at their stupid faces any more.
PLANNING
Took some time out of my rigid schedule of staring straight ahead and drinking water to do some research on 'what comes after this town'.
So far, this town has been unfolding slowly for me. I am slowly finding some of the good things about it. No problem there, I have time. At first glance it reminded me a bit of the dread Hat Yai. With a couple of nice temples. But I'm still slowly exploring the city.
I may just spend most of my month exploring this area. I've got a decent room which is mostly (fucking construction in the mornings) quiet and it has all of the stuff I like in a room. Easy access to the outdoors to smoke, a small desk for the computer, even a fridge for storing my water.
I've not yet bought alcohol here though tomorrow it might be time to go find some. Honestly, I'm waiting to see if the eye dropper medicine of happiness can kill the fuck you conjunctivitis. It appears to be a stalemate. I have more eye droppers and feel confident that eventually I will win. (Note, this was written a couple days before 'Triple Punch' below...)
Two things make me happy that I've done a tad bit of research. First, while it is possible to get a 'visa on arrival' in Laos, you can't take the 'international bus' and go straight over the border. They don't wait. So, if I get a visa in the Thai town of Khon Kaen, it will presumably make things a bit easier.
I'm sure there are some good and worthwhile border towns out there - I've just never seen them. They are usually dodgy shit holes with multitudes of beggars and dodgy people. A bit closer to what the 'American' Wild West was probably really like as opposed to the movies.
This is especially weird in Laos because their capital city is the border town - Vientiane. So, it looks like my research may have simplified.
Not that there's anything wrong with that but I don't like carrying around all of my earthly possessions in them like some sort of freak from the movie Labyrinth.
The second reason I wanted to do a bit of research is to figure out what towns I've been to and not go back to them. They weren't very good for me first time around. I realize that things may have changed a bit in three to four years but honestly, they probably haven't.
The two towns I went to last time were Luang Probang and Pakse, according to my blog. Going to try to avoid those.
Reading up on Vientiane, it looks like they (Laos government) may not be thrilled with budget accommodation in the capital so I may just breeze through that. Also, I have remembered that the new year is coming up. I'm going to have to try to find somewhere extra quiet for that as people tend to go insane. Or maybe noisy. Not sure.
After doing some more research, it appears I will make a stab into northern Laos. A possible problem is that Vietnam doesn't have 'visa on arrival' for some damned reason. After last time there, do I want to go through the hassle of getting a visa beforehand? Not sure. Plus, they try to block Facebook. That's annoying and strange.
After all of the research, I'm not sure if I will be heading into Laos, staying for a month then returning back through Thailand or if I will be attempting to gain entry into Vietnam.
DAY IN THE LIFE
I've been working on pushing myself to walk a little further every day. From the looks on the faces of the people where I stay, I might have pushed a bit hard today.
When I came in limping (arthritis in my foot) and crying (conjunctivitis) they began poking at my legs and talking in Thai. Since they speak no English, by signs I tried to assure them I was OK. They tried to assure me I am not.
But, aside from the body breaking down a bit, I feel fine.
But as the late great Hunter S. Thompson said, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
A DIFFERENT DAY IN THE LIFE
Getting triple punched today.
My eyes (conjunctivitis) have gotten worse.
In Asia (and parts of eastern Europe) your first step is not to the doctor, it is to the pharmacist. Mine doesn't speak English but she did advise me to start a course of antibiotics and move my dosage of eye drops up to the 'oh fuck' level. So I'll be on that for a few days. Since my eyes are moving into the 'sensitive to light' phase, that means I'll be staying closer to my lodgings.
My foot hurts so bad I'm keeping an eye out for a cane. Since my umbrella which I sometimes used as a cane got stolen. As pretty much all Asians are shorter than I am, their umbrellas are shorter. Unless I develop a much more pronounced hunch than I currently have (we're talking Igor here) I'm going to need a longer cane or stick. Keeping my eyes open for a place that sells canes as that is much less threatening and unusual than carrying a stick around.
And my ass seems to have gotten set to - as the Vietnam era military would put it 'spray and pray'. Hence, I am taking my A.S.S. (anti shit stuff) pills.
The classy, luxurious travel is mine! Love it.
The people who run the guesthouse seem confused that I would opt to sit in my room rather than do what other tourists do. Though I dislike the enforced inactivity, I feel bad enough that I dealt with it today. Hopefully, tomorrow I can go wander around some.
COSTS
Room with a bed and a fan, about 300 baht.
Room with a bed, fan, writing desk, AC, fridge, about 500 baht.
Street food, about 100 baht.
Cheap restaurant, about 200 baht.
Fancy restaurant, about 400 baht?
Water, 20 baht.
Beer, 50-60 baht.
Sitting in a room in Thailand when suddenly, the main light begins to go crazy blinking on and off at random.
It's only 9 PM so I go downstairs to find help. The only person initially around is a guy with no English. OK. By hand signs, I let him know there is a problem and signal him to come up to my room.
No, it's not like that you dirty bastards.
He takes a look at the light and begins playing with the controls for the fan.
Not kidding.
After he has made it abundantly clear that he doesn't know how lights work, I remember the name of the lady whose place it is and who speaks English. I repeat the name a few times until he gets the idea I want to talk to her.
We go find her.
Like most of the people in Asia, it seems that owning extra supplies is a foreign concept. There are no extra lights. Tomorrow, someone will be sent out to purchase one (1) light and stick it in.
Any time there is a problem, the only thing they will offer is to have you move rooms.
I try to explain that it will be several (probably six plus) hours till I go to bed and that I am working on my computer. She tells me I can go to the other room when I want to sleep.
I explain that I will not need the light when I am asleep but will need it while I am working (ie playing on my computer). This also seems an alien concept.
After checking with me a couple more times to make sure I wouldn't prefer to sleep in a room with a working light, she announces she needs to give her daughter a shower.
The original non-English speaking night guard guy made a show of looking for another light but apparently none is to be had.
This highlights the importance of a good public education system.
And foresight.
Light bulbs are not expensive - even here. Not having a few on hand is baffling.
Even when I was working in Georgia, I was the guy who initiated the 'hey, let's keep extra shit we will eventually use on hand' program.
We'll see if tomorrow I can get a new light. For now, I am using the bed reading light.
Which is still brighter than the 5 watt bulb I had in Indonesia.
Later, on Facebook, one of my brighter friends (Derek) asked why I didn't just request a light bulb be taken from a working room.
Then, I felt stupid and missing those 'critical thinking skills'.
Ah, well.
The next day, it got fixed. After I asked about it in the 'it had better get fixed because there are plenty of options for hotels in this town' tone of voice.
MISSIONARIES
As I travel the world, I sometimes run into missionaries.
This is a stock photo I found on the internet. I don't care enough about missionaries to take their picture. But it does show them in their uniform. Because people who have never heard of Jesus don't go to hell for not believing in him (how could they?) it is best to slay these people on sight.
Rather than trying to convince them not to believe what they believe ("A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still") I try to convince them to go to Islamic countries to preach.
"But we'll be killed!" they whine.
"Ah!" I retort, "But you'll then be a martyr and god loves those!"
Another happy soul gone to Heaven! (If this shocks you, please look again at the title of this blog entry and realize you have only yourself to blame. Also, I just found this on the internet. No idea if it is real.)
I look at it as a win, win, win scenario.
They get to die and an their opinion go to heaven,
They get to die for something they believe in,
I don't have to look at their stupid faces any more.
PLANNING
Took some time out of my rigid schedule of staring straight ahead and drinking water to do some research on 'what comes after this town'.
So far, this town has been unfolding slowly for me. I am slowly finding some of the good things about it. No problem there, I have time. At first glance it reminded me a bit of the dread Hat Yai. With a couple of nice temples. But I'm still slowly exploring the city.
I think what I like best about this city is that it is not overrun with tourists. Because they have less sex tourists (and pedophiles) here than some of the other Thai cities, they don't have a shitty attitude toward tourists.
I may just spend most of my month exploring this area. I've got a decent room which is mostly (fucking construction in the mornings) quiet and it has all of the stuff I like in a room. Easy access to the outdoors to smoke, a small desk for the computer, even a fridge for storing my water.
I've not yet bought alcohol here though tomorrow it might be time to go find some. Honestly, I'm waiting to see if the eye dropper medicine of happiness can kill the fuck you conjunctivitis. It appears to be a stalemate. I have more eye droppers and feel confident that eventually I will win. (Note, this was written a couple days before 'Triple Punch' below...)
Two things make me happy that I've done a tad bit of research. First, while it is possible to get a 'visa on arrival' in Laos, you can't take the 'international bus' and go straight over the border. They don't wait. So, if I get a visa in the Thai town of Khon Kaen, it will presumably make things a bit easier.
I'm sure there are some good and worthwhile border towns out there - I've just never seen them. They are usually dodgy shit holes with multitudes of beggars and dodgy people. A bit closer to what the 'American' Wild West was probably really like as opposed to the movies.
Or, this extremely old TV show which most of my readers are too young to remember being on TV. Yes, this was better than the movie poor Will Smith gave up doing the Matrix (yes) to do. And less giant mechanical spiders.
This is especially weird in Laos because their capital city is the border town - Vientiane. So, it looks like my research may have simplified.
Not that there's anything wrong with that but I don't like carrying around all of my earthly possessions in them like some sort of freak from the movie Labyrinth.
About how Logan looks after being on a bus for a long damned time then forced to carry all his shit through town looking for a room.
The second reason I wanted to do a bit of research is to figure out what towns I've been to and not go back to them. They weren't very good for me first time around. I realize that things may have changed a bit in three to four years but honestly, they probably haven't.
The two towns I went to last time were Luang Probang and Pakse, according to my blog. Going to try to avoid those.
Reading up on Vientiane, it looks like they (Laos government) may not be thrilled with budget accommodation in the capital so I may just breeze through that. Also, I have remembered that the new year is coming up. I'm going to have to try to find somewhere extra quiet for that as people tend to go insane. Or maybe noisy. Not sure.
Staying in or next to a 'party place' or one with construction is like...
After doing some more research, it appears I will make a stab into northern Laos. A possible problem is that Vietnam doesn't have 'visa on arrival' for some damned reason. After last time there, do I want to go through the hassle of getting a visa beforehand? Not sure. Plus, they try to block Facebook. That's annoying and strange.
After all of the research, I'm not sure if I will be heading into Laos, staying for a month then returning back through Thailand or if I will be attempting to gain entry into Vietnam.
DAY IN THE LIFE
I've been working on pushing myself to walk a little further every day. From the looks on the faces of the people where I stay, I might have pushed a bit hard today.
When I came in limping (arthritis in my foot) and crying (conjunctivitis) they began poking at my legs and talking in Thai. Since they speak no English, by signs I tried to assure them I was OK. They tried to assure me I am not.
Walking around, I feel a bit like a pirate with a peg leg. But mine hurts.
But, aside from the body breaking down a bit, I feel fine.
But as the late great Hunter S. Thompson said, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
A DIFFERENT DAY IN THE LIFE
Getting triple punched today.
My eyes (conjunctivitis) have gotten worse.
Sadly, in my lifetime, cheap cyber eye replacements will not be available.
In Asia (and parts of eastern Europe) your first step is not to the doctor, it is to the pharmacist. Mine doesn't speak English but she did advise me to start a course of antibiotics and move my dosage of eye drops up to the 'oh fuck' level. So I'll be on that for a few days. Since my eyes are moving into the 'sensitive to light' phase, that means I'll be staying closer to my lodgings.
My foot hurts so bad I'm keeping an eye out for a cane. Since my umbrella which I sometimes used as a cane got stolen. As pretty much all Asians are shorter than I am, their umbrellas are shorter. Unless I develop a much more pronounced hunch than I currently have (we're talking Igor here) I'm going to need a longer cane or stick. Keeping my eyes open for a place that sells canes as that is much less threatening and unusual than carrying a stick around.
And my ass seems to have gotten set to - as the Vietnam era military would put it 'spray and pray'. Hence, I am taking my A.S.S. (anti shit stuff) pills.
The classy, luxurious travel is mine! Love it.
The people who run the guesthouse seem confused that I would opt to sit in my room rather than do what other tourists do. Though I dislike the enforced inactivity, I feel bad enough that I dealt with it today. Hopefully, tomorrow I can go wander around some.
COSTS
Room with a bed and a fan, about 300 baht.
Room with a bed, fan, writing desk, AC, fridge, about 500 baht.
Street food, about 100 baht.
Cheap restaurant, about 200 baht.
Fancy restaurant, about 400 baht?
Water, 20 baht.
Beer, 50-60 baht.
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