Long Time No Talk

Got my VISA extended a month to May 24th. So, I will have to go to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) for about 10 days. I am going to treat it like a business trip and keep to the basics. Once I get back to Thailand, about June 4th, I hope to start doing some sight seeing. I want to take a first class train trip (with sleeper car), as well as some boat trips.

Going to the Immigration Center was interesting. They built a brand new one. But, it is way up north in Bangkok. I had to ride the sky train as far as it went and then take a long taxi ride. It took about half an hour for the taxi ride and I had no idea where I was until we got there. But, God was watching out for me. I had to wait for about an hour for my turn. The lady taking the documents was a bit surly with everyone. But, when I went up there she had this great big smile like I was her long lost brother or something. I messed up my application. But, she looked up the information for me and filled it in right. Wow!

Yesterday, I met a dude passing through Thailand for some games at MBK shopping center at a Starbucks. After a few games we decided to go to a gaming cafe after a meal. Since we wanted different food and he wanted to walk and I wanted to take a Taxi, we agreed to separate and meet there. I was about to order a Grab Taxi, but saw a taxi stand sign for the shopping center and decided to use that. Big, big, big mistake. The taxi driver didn't know where the cafe was and the Grab Taxi stopped working. We drove around for 20 minutes and I finally just had him drop me off when I thought we were close. I walked around for about 45 minutes in the 100 degree heat. The area was a very grungy industrial small shop area with no non Thais around. Finally, the Grab Taxi started working. I was very tired, so I just ordered a Taxi to take me home. Bummer. The month before I go to Nepal, I definitely need to start learning Nepali, at least the alphabet so I can pronounce any word I see, as well as some simple things like directions. Knowing how to talk to a taxi driver is essential.

Another thing one has to adjust for is the price of stuff. Imported stuff is more expensive. Labor is very, very cheap. So, cheese is expensive. However, delivery is cheap, whether it is people (taxis) or goods. MacDonald's will deliver 24 hrs a day for 40 baht ($1.15). They are delivered by motorcycle. My grocery orders from Tesco only cost 60 baht and they are delivered by refrigerated truck.

They have sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds just like in the U.S. They also have pumpkin seeds. These are big, as big as pumpkin seeds. I didn't know watermelon seeds had edible seeds inside.

Live and learn.

By the way, just saw packages of roasted silkworms in the potato chip and nut section. Want some?

Namaste From (halfway to) Nepal