Yesterday was extremely uneventful.  I worked on tagging old blogs so hopefully they are more searchable.  I met a friend for lunch.  I sat by the pool.  I tried Tinder again.  One guy said he lived outside town and only had a bicycle.  So, he can’t take a taxi?  Tinder said he was only 6 miles from me.  Lame.  No one else responded.  It was a real hot day and the heat kicked my ass.  By the time I was done with dinner I didn’t even feel like getting a massage.  Sleep was the only thing that sounded do-able.  I did find this good pizza place so this was my second night eating there.

Today, after the sad breakfast that my hotel provided, I went in search of an atm, water and snacks for the bus.  It took a while to find an atm and google maps was useless in this endeavor.  After I got money, water and snacks, I went back to check out of the hotel.  There’s an atm machine right at the hotel.  If I had just looked left instead of right, I would have saved myself some time and frustration.  Got a taxi to the bus station.  Got a bus ride home.  It was more expensive than the bus ride up, but I’m too hot to bargain shop.  Maybe I’m paying more for air con that works on the bus.  Wrong.  I guess I was paying more for a bottle of water and mystery snacks.  One snack they gave me was a pastry with meat, carrots and something green in it.  The other one looked like a tiny hamburger bun with purple goo in it – taro?  I love taro so I was quite happy with that one.  It was a long (3.5 hours) hot bus ride, but the bus didn’t break down!

No one was able to pick me up from the bus stop so I had to take a motorbike taxi home.  I hate those.  Flying down the road 50 miles an hour on the back of someone’s motorbike with no helmet.  Not to mention it was so hot, it felt like my flesh might melt off.  Made it home safely.

I didn’t have running water when I left, but it seemed to be ok when I got home.  But now we are back to no running water.  I really don’t know if I can handle this.  I just want to take a shower, but I can’t.  I can’t flush my toilet.  I don’t want to cook because I can’t wash dishes.  I have a concrete tub in my bathroom, but the water doesn’t look very clean.  It has a film on the top of it and dead bugs in it.  I asked Q if he had water and he wanted to know if I needed water to drink.  I have that.  He didn’t seem too concerned about no running water.  Both he and Pat said they’d talk to the janitor tomorrow.  I was ready to pack up my suitcases and call it and go back to the US, but I can’t go anywhere.

When I had lunch with Rob yesterday, he was telling me how he loved living in Chaing Mai.  His apartment is nicer than where he lived in the UK.  He likes his job, has friends, and go places.  He was going to the gym to play badminton after lunch.  The main reason I decided against the Peace Corps is because I wanted a nicer lifestyle.  I might have had better accommodations or at least the same in the Peace Corps.  So, I question why I’m here?  Couldn’t I be learning the same lessons if I lived in a bigger city and loved living in Thailand?  Who knows.  I’m trying to be present with what is and it’s not difficult to stay present, but I do find that I still want there to be a reason or a purpose to all this or to know how it will all turn out and I have no clue.

Pictures – I did get a picture of the US Consulate yesterday when I walked by it again.  See below.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore