Saturday, August 1, 2009--approx 10:30am, Phuket.
Friday night, after blogging, I ended up at one of the upstairs bars on Khao San... where I was hit on by Nick from Holland (who looked like a blue-eyed Spaniard). What is it with Hollanders, I wonder? Anyway, he was so drunk, I kept having to repeat things like--my name--so I soon lost interest in the conversation. Never fear, though! A couple Aussies and I struck up a chat, and left the poor Spanish guy in the lurch.
At the same open-air bar where I'd hung out the night before, Marc, Cam (my grand father's name--yah!), and I watched the people on the street. So wrapped up were we in the night life, we didn't notice when a scraggle-haired woman sat at the next table. Suddenly, the rose-lady ran up to us, yelling "bag, bag, your bag!" Marc took off down the street, and chased Scraggle-hair. It was his bag. He did retreive it. Rose-lady witnessed many Thais slapping and kicking Scraggle-hair for her attempted theft. She told us with enthusiasm, but I didn't want to look. I felt a weird combination of sympathy and righteousness about the whole situation. After drinking more, Cam hired a tuk-tuk to drive us around.
Between the two Aussies, I watched strings of lights and heard unfamiliar voices whiz by. It was surreal and enchanting. I thought for a moment, "what if I don't go to Phuket?" I could just forget about going to school, getting the teaching certificate, and traveling around Southeast Asia. I could just cancel my flight to Phuket and stay in Bangkok. I could party, maybe find some place to bartend. I could forget about everything that brought me here in the first place. Then... then I could go back to the States and see about a boy.
But I couldn't. I wouldn't know how to face myself once the fog had cleared--once the light entered my room.
Back at the hotel, I had already packed, so I just changed and dragged my bags to the street to hail a taxi. I negotiated 300 THB (around $10. USD) for the ride to the airport. (This, by the way, is half of what the hotel would have charged me to book a taxi through them.) At the airport, I waited with other young people in line--all still tipsy--including two girls I had seen at the upstairs bar earlier that night.
Once at the counter, I placed my bags on the conveyer belt.
"These over 15 kilo," the attendant told me in broken English.
"How much is that in pounds?" I asked, intending to take things out until I was under 15 kilos.
She looked at me blankly.
"In pounds? How many?" I repeated.
She shook her head and pointed to another counter.
"You pay there."
At the other counter, I waited in the wrong line for 20 minutes. And, when I finally paid, it was 1,600 THB (around $50 USD). From this experience, I learned some things:
1) I need to learn the conversion from kilos to pounds.
2) I must get rid of as much stuff as possible before my return flight.
3) Since taking a domestic flight has different restrictions than taking international flights, I must be more aware next time. Or, I should take another form of transportation.
4) Going through checkin in a foreign country after drinking REALLY SUCKS!
I slept on the 40 minute flight to Phuket. Chris (director of the TEFL course in Phuket) met me in front of the airport with one of those cards that had my name on it. He put me in a taxi, gave me the money for the fare, and gave me a map to help the driver. I slept on the ride into Phuket Town. The driver took me to Roongrawee Mansion, my hotel and my home for the next four weeks. I was shown to my room at 10am, and slept until 6pm.
Friday night, after blogging, I ended up at one of the upstairs bars on Khao San... where I was hit on by Nick from Holland (who looked like a blue-eyed Spaniard). What is it with Hollanders, I wonder? Anyway, he was so drunk, I kept having to repeat things like--my name--so I soon lost interest in the conversation. Never fear, though! A couple Aussies and I struck up a chat, and left the poor Spanish guy in the lurch.
At the same open-air bar where I'd hung out the night before, Marc, Cam (my grand father's name--yah!), and I watched the people on the street. So wrapped up were we in the night life, we didn't notice when a scraggle-haired woman sat at the next table. Suddenly, the rose-lady ran up to us, yelling "bag, bag, your bag!" Marc took off down the street, and chased Scraggle-hair. It was his bag. He did retreive it. Rose-lady witnessed many Thais slapping and kicking Scraggle-hair for her attempted theft. She told us with enthusiasm, but I didn't want to look. I felt a weird combination of sympathy and righteousness about the whole situation. After drinking more, Cam hired a tuk-tuk to drive us around.
Between the two Aussies, I watched strings of lights and heard unfamiliar voices whiz by. It was surreal and enchanting. I thought for a moment, "what if I don't go to Phuket?" I could just forget about going to school, getting the teaching certificate, and traveling around Southeast Asia. I could just cancel my flight to Phuket and stay in Bangkok. I could party, maybe find some place to bartend. I could forget about everything that brought me here in the first place. Then... then I could go back to the States and see about a boy.
But I couldn't. I wouldn't know how to face myself once the fog had cleared--once the light entered my room.
Back at the hotel, I had already packed, so I just changed and dragged my bags to the street to hail a taxi. I negotiated 300 THB (around $10. USD) for the ride to the airport. (This, by the way, is half of what the hotel would have charged me to book a taxi through them.) At the airport, I waited with other young people in line--all still tipsy--including two girls I had seen at the upstairs bar earlier that night.
Once at the counter, I placed my bags on the conveyer belt.
"These over 15 kilo," the attendant told me in broken English.
"How much is that in pounds?" I asked, intending to take things out until I was under 15 kilos.
She looked at me blankly.
"In pounds? How many?" I repeated.
She shook her head and pointed to another counter.
"You pay there."
At the other counter, I waited in the wrong line for 20 minutes. And, when I finally paid, it was 1,600 THB (around $50 USD). From this experience, I learned some things:
1) I need to learn the conversion from kilos to pounds.
2) I must get rid of as much stuff as possible before my return flight.
3) Since taking a domestic flight has different restrictions than taking international flights, I must be more aware next time. Or, I should take another form of transportation.
4) Going through checkin in a foreign country after drinking REALLY SUCKS!
I slept on the 40 minute flight to Phuket. Chris (director of the TEFL course in Phuket) met me in front of the airport with one of those cards that had my name on it. He put me in a taxi, gave me the money for the fare, and gave me a map to help the driver. I slept on the ride into Phuket Town. The driver took me to Roongrawee Mansion, my hotel and my home for the next four weeks. I was shown to my room at 10am, and slept until 6pm.
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