Today I did not want to get up. I almost missed the free breakfast at the hotel. I was supposed to get up and take a bus to the bus stop near Sam Ngao. Then Noi would pick me up and take me to school. She didn’t have any classes until 11:00am. I missed that. I guess I don’t really want to go to school. I guess that makes sense since I didn’t really want to go to school when I lived there either. I also didn’t want to deal with getting a bus at the Tak bus station since I had such an unpleasant time last time I tried to get a bus out of there. Eventually I made a new plan. I took the bust to the highway bus stop and Ging picked me up and took me to her new coffee shop. She looks so happy. I spent a couple hours with Ging and Tip there.
Then Tip took me to school. I got to see some of the students, but not as many as I would have liked. I got to see very few of the teachers. A lot of teachers had left for a seminar? Some of the students were making flowers out of ribbon and they helped me make one. Pat explained that you but coins in them and then give them to the boys who are just starting out as monks. I met the new western teachers. Apparently there was some issue with Robin so he is gone and there is a young Filipino woman teaching math and science now. Noi asked them if they wanted to join us for Loi Krathong and they said yes.
Noi really wanted to go to Sukohthai instead of Tak. If she is ok driving – it will be a late night for her, then it’s fine with me. I imagine it’s real pretty since it’s held at the historical park. It was real beautiful. There were so many people it was sometimes difficult to walk. There was no rhyme or reason to the floating of the krathongs, just put them in a lake when and where you wanted. There didn’t seem to be a program either, just food stalls, krathong sellers, people selling other stuff and lots of people taking pictures. The only time everyone seemed on the same page was when they played the King’s song. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stood still. We wandered around, took pictures, ate food and floated krathongs. If you make a wish before you float it, that wish will come true. Since it’s a super moon, the wish is definitely going to come true. I used the krathong that the hotel in Tak gave me. The wick on it was a rope. Within seconds, the krathong became the the floating sun. I could barely hold it long enough to smile for a picture and get it in the water. It might still be lit tomorrow morning. If the krathong didn’t kill me, the pork balls tried to. Once again, too spicy, tried to make my lips bleed. One of the vendors was selling bags of fish, frogs, and turtles. You can buy the bag and release them into one of the ponds. Since you saved their lives, you will get good luck, merit and a long life in return. What? They wouldn’t need saving if someone hadn’t taken them out of a pond to sell so you could save them.
Overall, it was a very beautiful night!
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
The bus is trying to be prettyBut it’s all broke downAt Ging’s new coffee shopCoffee shop kitchenSukohthai Historical ParkKrathongs for sale
I went to the Mae Sot bus station, got rushed onto bus that was just leaving with not ticket. This pissed off bus attendant lady. Why didn’t I have a ticket. How was I supposed to know what seat was mine? As she passed out the snacks, she purposefully skipped me. Once again I think about how everyone is constantly telling me that Thai people are the nicest people on the planet. I think they are just like all people on the planet, some are nice and some are not.
My hotel in Tak is nice. I spent most of my time on the computer trying to plan where I’m going in a couple days. Final decision – Indonesia – Flores Island for some diving and a day trip to Komodo Island.
Friday night, Noi came up to Tak to have dinner. She brought Pim with her. Pim wanted to go have Korean BBQ. Noi asked if I had ever had Korean BBQ before and seemed quite surprised when I said I had. She still doesn’t quite understand how big and culturally diverse America is. I think I can honestly say not one restaurant I’ve eaten in in Thailand would pass a US health inspection. This one was right up there. They put charcoal in the table, added a grill thing on top and gave you a teapot of a brownish liquid. I’m not sure if the liquid was water or oil. I’m hoping it was oil. You poured the oil in the bottom part of the grill thing and that became like a hot pot. Instead of ordering what you want to put on the bbq, you went up to a salad bar like thing. There were vats of raw meat and vats of veggies and vats of mystery food. You grabbed a basket and loaded it with what you wanted and went back to your table to cook. It was tasty. I didn’t get sick. I have hardly gotten sick here. After dinner we went to the river to walk on the bridge. Noi was on a roll and was just cracking jokes and heckling kids. Pim was doubled over laughing. I sure am going to miss both of them.
I have too much stuff. I decided to mail some more home. I dragged a bag full of it to the post office just to find the post office closed at noon and it was 1:00. When I got back to the hotel, the staff helped me find a box to put it all in. The next day I carried the heavy box back to the post office and managed to get it sent off all by myself! Hooray – small victory. I will probably make it back to the US before it will. So, if anyone wants to wear panda hats and play Mahjong with me, you’ll have to wait until February or March.
Saturday night I had dinner with Tip, her husband and kids, her mom and sister, Ging, Ton (the student that attended my monk classes) and a Russian lady. The Russian lady is Fai’s English tutor on weekends. I was excited to meet her until 5 minutes in when I realized she was going to talk my ear off to the point where I didn’t get to talk to my friends. She wouldn’t stop talking and she is not a happy person. After dinner everyone went home and I went to the river to see if any Loi Krathong activities were happening. They had the street blocked off and bleachers set up along the street. There were students sitting in the street forming words. I have seen this a lot (like every 15 minutes) on tv. People are forming words, or the King’s symbol or hearts or combinations and then taking photos. It’s kind of like mourning flash mob. Once again, it’s such an interesting thing to see nothing but black (and some white) clothing. It felt weird in the airport, but it was even more apparent here. Even the street vendors and shops have nothing but black. Everyone was in the bleachers or sitting on the sidewalk or standing, waiting for something. So I found a spot and waited too. Tip’s mom was there, saw me and handed me a candle. As quickly as I saw her, she was gone. Ok, now I’m a participant. I have a candle. Then groups of students started walking down the street like a parade. They had banners in front of each different group and the student all carried krathongs. A krathong is a floaty thing to float candles down the river. It might be a coconut shell or something made out of banana leaves. They are decorated with flowers or other beautiful natural materials. I saw some made of ice cream cones. Some were plain and some were elaborate, made to look like ducks or swans. There was a giant krathong on a flatbed trailer that came down the street too, but other than that it was just students, thousands of them. I saw no one from Sam Ngao, but I ran into Kru O. She’s the lady I met at the retiree’s ceremony a couple months ago. She introduced me to her husband and daughters. Kru O told me there were close to 5,000 students. More standing around, then we all lit t he candles, then singing, then standing around, more singing. Kru O gave me her krathong to float. I need to put fingernails or hair and 1 baht in the krathong, make a wish and put it in the river. The sight of 7,000 krathongs floating down the river at once was one I looked forward to. It was more like a line of krathongs flying down the bank of the river with maybe one in 50 still lit. It was still impressive to see, but not photo worthy. I didn’t see the giant krathong go. Not sure if did. I think they should set the whole thing on fire. It would be a floating bon fire.
Sunday night I went to the river again to see what might be going on. There was a decent sized market. There were people standing around with candles. There were announcements and singing. There was one group of students in the street. It was like a mini mini version of the night before. In the pavilion there were many giant krathongs on display. Tomorrow night is the actual full moon and main night of the festival. I’m curious what it will be like.
(c)All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Horse statue at hotel
Korean BBQKorean BBQ with Noi and Pim
Noi and Pim on phonesForming letters in the streetGiant krathongKru O and her husbandLighting candles
Banana leaf krathong
Last roti sai mai
Have an Awake 2016
This is a waffle with bananas, chocolate chips and caramel More giant krathongs
It was party time again at the Bamboo House. This is the third night in a row I got about 4 hours sleep. I should have changed hotels. I should have known that just because the hotel said the kids would be respectful didn’t mean they would. I no longer can function at this point. A minivan comes to get me to take me to Bangkok. I don’t really want to go by minivan. I have to pay for two seats because of my suitcase. But, still, if I had taken a bus it would have cost about the same amount for a taxi to the bus station and the bus. The minivan does not belong to some company that owns a fleet of minivans. This is definitely a case of “my uncle has a minivan….”. We get into the main part of town and the minivan driver stops, takes my suitcase out and puts it on the side of the road and tells me “out”. In the back of my head I know it’s ok, but I am not equipped with enough sleep to handle anything so I just start crying as he’s talking to some woman across the street standing with more people and suitcases than can fit in the minivan. How is this going to logistically work and why do I have to get out to make room for these people? The lady rushes over and tells me not to cry, it’s ok. Then they put me back on the van and we leave the other people standing there. I have no idea why I’m crying and still after all this time I have no idea how transportation works in this country. I wonder why all this “poor me” stuff is coming up. Once again, I’ve worked on this for so long and here it is again. I feel like I’m doing well trusting that everything in life will unfold just fine and then I feel like I’ve just gone backwards in time. The only thing I can do is just cry and notice that I’m feeling scared and uncomfortable and wait for it to change. It always changes. When we get to Bangkok, the van stops at a gas station and the driver says “Mo Chit”, the name of the bus station I want to go to. So, now my suitcase and I are back out and he takes me to another van. This van is more ghetto than the last. This time I didn’t cry. That van took me to Mo Chit. I was dropped on the side of the road with a few other people. Good thing I didn’t actually want to take a bus because I couldn’t see a bus station anywhere. There were a couple taxis and that’s what I needed so it didn’t matter that Bangkok’s largest bus station had gone missing. I told the taxi driver I wanted to go to Don Mueng airport. He kept asking me. I must have said Don Mueng 4 times. Then he called an English speaking friend so she could talk to me and double check. Yes, still Don Mueng.
Then a lot of time in the airport because I was early. Again, I’m in awe of how strange it is to see everyone in black. There’s no color anywhere. I see on Facebook all the fear Americans are having right now. There is so much fear and hatred, hatred coming from those that are complaining that Trump and Republican are about hatred. I see no posts from Trump supporters. Either they are keeping quiet, Facebook is choosing not to show me those posts, or all my friends are Democrats. It makes me sad to see so much fear and speculation about how horrible it is going to be. The actual truth is we don’t know. I want to stop looking at Facebook because all I see is unnecessary hysteria that helps create the separation that they are scared of. I want to scream at everyone and tell them to calm the fuck down. Oh, is this the real reason I’m crying so much? Is this why I’m feeling scared? I haven’t moved backwards at all. I’m feeling America. Damn it America, stop it, I’m on vacation here.
My airplane to Mae Sot was uneventful. I got to see the smallest snack ever made. The water bottle was so small that it took two sips to drink. But that’s ok because the bun in the snack box was no bigger than an inch in diameter. So, not much water was needed to wash that down. There was literally more packaging than snack. I had a wonderful taxi driver from the Mae Sot airport to my hotel. He talked my ear off the whole way. I stayed at the Hop Inn. It actually has a comfortable soft bed. This is the first soft bed I have experienced in Thailand. I got to eat dinner at my favorite café in Mae Sot – the one I took a cooking class at a long time ago. I love Mae Sot!!!
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
This door is why there were so many bugs in my roomBanana Roti with White Chocolate and Ice Cream, WhoaThe River KwaeCool Garden Restaurant in Kanchanaburi
I have heard nothing but amazing things about Kanchanaburi. I say meh.
I took benedryl my first night here to help me sleep through the party next door. I woke up to an ant infestation. I tried to explain to the staff that there were ants in my room. No one spoke English so I had trouble knowing if they understood my concern or not. I tried using google translate, but I never know if it worked or not since google apparently knows only a few more words in Thai than I do.
I did a tour yesterday. First we went to the bridge. I didn’t need to pay a tour guide for that since I just walked there the day before. Oh well. There were 6 other people on the tour. They were not friendly at all. I tried to make conversation, but it was painful. I miss my tour group from China. Everyone on that trip was fun, interesting and friendly. Of course, we spent 2 weeks together so that helped. This is just one day. After the bridge we went to the Erawan Waterfall which is why I booked this tour. It has seven levels. It takes an hour (took me longer) to hike to the top waterfall. It was so humid, my face was sweating. I enjoyed the exercise though. Half way up I was so hot, I wished I had brought my bathing suit. I didn’t because I thought I would just wade in the water and not actually swim. They had told us that we could enjoy the fish massage at the waterfall. Fish spa is where you put your feet in a fish tank and the fish eat the dead skin off your feet. I assumed this is what they meant by fish massage. I finally got to the top waterfall and was so excited to get in the water. I wasn’t even in to my knees before fish started biting my feet. These weren’t the tiny fish I had seen in the fish spas. Some were 6 inches long. Others were over a foot long. I screamed like a little girl. I am now torn between being so hot that I just want to be immersed in water and wanting to be as far away from the water as possible. The fish won. I decided that swimming was not an option and was quite fine not having my bathing suit. I could stand where the water was going over a rock and be fish free. I splashed water on myself to cool down. Overall, the waterfalls were very beautiful and I enjoyed sitting with my feet in fish free zones watching and listening to the water. After the waterfall, we went to ride a train on the death railway. We waited about 50 minutes for the train. While we waited, we could go see the cave near the train station. There’s a Buddha statue in the cave, of course. We rode the train for a half hour. If you are ever in Kanchanaburi, you can skip the train.
Last night I tried to rent a bicycle since my hotel was advertising bicycles for rent. No. No bicycles. But…..I can see them……they are right there. The lady typed into google translate – All broke. Really? 10 broken bicycles? Ok, walking is good exercise too. After dinner it was more party next door. I tried to get help, but no one spoke English. Finally, tired from lack of sleep and just frustrated I slammed my door and cried. I’m sure everyone could hear me crying because Thailand doesn’t believe in insulation or proper building materials. That actually put an end to the party. I should have cried hours ago. I tried to change rooms today, but there are no more rooms. They promised the kids would be quiet tonight. I thought about changing hotels, but I’m too tired and that sounds like a lot of work. Breakfast at this hotel is weird. It’s not a buffet and I don’t get to chose what I want. They just make it when I appear. Yesterday it was fried eggs, hot dogs and fruit. I didn’t eat the hot dogs. This morning it was fried eggs, french fries and fruit. Bless their hearts, they are trying. French fries are better than hot dogs.
I spent most of the day at a coffee shop and a restaurant trying to figure out what I’m doing after the 15th when I have no more plans. People don’t just sit around in coffee shops here so it was uncomfortable after an hour or so when they kept staring at me, but I stayed anyway. It was kind of like the coffee shop in Sam Ngao where the entire menu was different forms of sugar. The restaurant I went to was wonderful. It had a great garden out back. They put a fan on for me and they didn’t seem uncomfortable having me hang out for awhile. They have a free taxi service and offered to take me back to my hotel or pick me up later if I wanted to come back for dinner. I narrowed down the list of possible places to go after the 15th. I was leaning toward Fiji until I looked up flights. It would cost more and take longer to go to Fiji than to go back to America. That was the point where I gave up. I will have to search smarter later as I’m sure it’s possible for way cheaper. I think sites like Expedia assume I’m American and give me American prices. If I search through the airlines that fly to Fiji, I bet I’ll get a better deal.
Trump will be our new president. I really do not understand how this happened. How can over half our nation think he would make a good leader? You only have to listen to him for 5 minutes to see he has no idea what he’s talking about. Yet, half our nation doesn’t see this. What am I missing? So much of the world is living in fear. Fear breeds anger and hatred. Then add ignorance. This feeds the fear and it becomes a never ending circle. I think much of the world is caught in this circle, especially America and they have no idea. It’s the fault of the republicans, the Muslims, the black people, the Christians, the rich people, the Mexicans, – whoever is over there. Everyone is so busy pointing that no one realizes they are on the merry-go-round and they could just hop off. How am I supposed to support people to wake up when I’m standing next to the merry-go-round offering help, but no one hears me? (I know, my new magic tattoo.) How am I supposed to help people wake up when I keep finding myself back on the merry-go-round myself? I don’t know how I got there, but there I am. Last night my issue got resolved by slamming doors and crying – on the merry-go-round. Then I jump off. Oh, crap, how’d I get here again. Jump off. On. Off. In the past some of my best learning experiences came from me getting so worked up, creating drama and destruction everywhere I went, total meltdown or blowout and only then could I see the absurdity in it all. I had to take it to the extreme to see that what I believed wasn’t true, who I thought I was wasn’t true. After that, I can never go back to the old beliefs, but it was a messy uncomfortable process to get to the truth. So, as much as I think Trump was the wrong decision, I wonder, does it have to be like this? Do other people learn this way too? Does it have to be chaos before we will open our eyes and say “what am I doing – this is not true”? Are we doing that as a country? Does it need to be horrible before people will see how ridiculous our thinking has become? Then I also question, will it actually be horrible or will American life go on as it always has? Or, maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about….
I challenge you:
Ask yourself – are you on the merry-go-round? If so, are you having fun? If not, why not jump off?
How many times do you point the finger and blame someone else in a day?
See if you can make it through one week without turning on the news on tv. Then turn it on and see if you can feel how the news propagates fear.
Maybe I’ll find a new job and stay in Thailand longer, but it doesn’t feel like that is going to happen. I feel that my time living here is coming to an end. This has been a big part of my journey to awakening as I practice living in presence even when things are challenging. I decided to get a Sak Yant tattoo as a ceremonial experience of this part of my journey. A Sak Yant tattoo is a traditional Buddhist tattoo that has magic for protection, good luck, or some other purpose. A friend recommended the Sak Yant master I went to. I made an appointment with him a month ago. He isn’t a monk, but has learned from the monks as well as other teachers. It sounded cleaner and more personal than going to a temple to have it done. They have a package where I could have a translator as well as be picked up from my hotel so I paid extra for that. The translator picked me up at 8:30 and we didn’t get to the tattoo place until 10:00am. He chatted the whole time. He has a friend that wanted to watch me get the tattoo – she wants one, but is afraid. She met us at Ajarn Neng’s tattoo place. He works out of the front room of his house. When we got there I had to sit in the carport and wait since Ajarn Neng was still praying. The carport, like most places in Thailand, is dirty. It smells like pee. What have I gotten myself into? This is supposed to be one of the best Sak Yant masters in Bangkok. Am I in the right place? His assistant came out and gave me some incense to hold while I prayed with him to Ganesha. I had to repeat what he was chanting. I have no idea what I promised to Ganesha. Ganesha is a Hindu god. I cannot explain what he has to do with a Buddhist tattoo. Then I got to go into the house, kneel before the master and present him with a pedestal that had a bunch of fake flowers and and envelope with my money in it. After a brief conversation, he recommended the tattoo that I got. It will help protect me in my new business. It will make people want to support me. People will want to listen to me the way they want to listen to a bird sing. I decided that this was fitting as I’m learning to trust that life supports me. He suggested the right shoulder and as I was not set in what or where, I went with his suggestion. He makes the ink himself. He uses a long stick with a sharp point to do the tattoo. It’s amazing that he has any aim at all with such a long stick. Two people assist him to hold my skin tight. After the tattoo is done, he cleans it and then puts a sheet of gold leaf above it. He prays as he puts the gold leaf on. I believe this is also part of the process of putting the magic in the tattoo. He also anointed me with holy water like I had seen the monks do at ceremonies I had seen.
Now, I have rules to follow or the magic of the tattoo will be lessened. I think I can handle all of them except number 4. 1. Do not say any bad word to your parents and be grateful for them. 2. Do not use any chemical drug. Mushroom and Marijuana are ok. 3. Do not eat star fruit or Winter gourd. 4. If you have a chance to come to Thailand. You should come and worship the Waikru day(Master day) which organized once a year at Arjan Neng’s place. (The first Sunday of March). 5. Do not go under the hanging rope that hang the laundry. 6. No adultery. 7. Pray kata that Arjan Neng gave you 3 times in the morning.
After the tattoo, the translator and his friend drove me to the bus station. We drove forever (over an hour) and still didn’t even go halfway across the city. Bangkok is a huge city. They called the bus station and my hotel in Kanchanaburi just to get the lowdown on everything for me. They told me how Chinese tourists are not respectful of the Thai culture and he’d rather have tourists from other countries – he’s a tour guide too. When we got to the bus station, they came in with me and helped me buy a ticket. The bus station is huge. It had 5 or 6 floors and even had a mall. I would have been able to buy a ticket on my own, but it would have taken forever to find my way around. I was grateful to have their help. Hmmmmm…. is the tattoo working already?
I got to Kanchanaburi a couple of hours later. Instead of playing cheesy game shows on the tv on the bus, they played sad Thai music with videos of people mourning the King. For two hours. I don’t like my hotel. I miss the nice hotels I had in China. I walked to a floating restaurant for dinner. It was right next to the bridge or the river Kwae. It’s spelled Kwae, not Kwai. I thought it would be nice and relaxing to eat by the river, but the water in the river was dirty with a film of yuck on top. The food was way overpriced. I saw two bakeries on my way to the restaurant – one would have cake and that would make me feel better. No. Neither bakery had any baked goods. Maybe they don’t know what a bakery is. The room next to mine must have 8 people staying in it. They keep yelling, going in and out of the room slamming the door and shuffling their feet loudly as they go past my door, only to turn around and go back. Back and forth, back and forth, inside, outside, inside.
Yesterday was my last day at Phuket Fit. I gained weight – fat, not muscle and I was dehydrated on my check out stats. I think they had my food goals off a little, but my biggest goal was to try to get my body to want to exercise again. After over a year with no exercise, I was tired and unmotivated. So, I feel ready to go again. I was hoping to process a lot of my experiences over the past eight months, but that didn’t seem to happen or is happening in a different way or is partially happening. So more on that later as I figure it all out. I didn’t take as many pictures as I wanted of Phuket Fit, but a few are attached.
Today I had a lovely pancake breakfast with Lynne and James. I might have gained some more weight just from breakfast. I went to the airport early, because what was I going to do for two hours after hotel check out in the rain?
Besides, my airline reservations were sketchy and I figured if something was amiss, I’d have time to fix it. I had a minor freakout when I booked the flight and the confirmation came from a company different from the airline. My confirmation came through with the note that I could not check in on line because the airline wouldn’t have my info on line. I could only check in at the airport in person. It also had the copy of someone else’s credit card attached to the confirmation. What? Then I reminded myself that everything works out exactly like it should. And if something seems unlikely in Thailand, it will work out exactly as billed no matter how unlikely it sounds. There is some sort of “that can’t work” magic in Thailand that makes unlikely things work. In any other country, I’d be buying another ticket today. I sat in a restaurant for a couple hours until the check in desk opened. I got in line to check in. There were about 30 middle aged or older Thai women in line. Is this the Thai middle aged woman airline? One lady made me go ahead of her and her friends because there were 7 of them and they didn’t want me to have to wait for them. So nice. Then the husbands started arriving – oh, the women go and wait to check in while the men do what? I checked in fine (duh – of course – magic) and now I’m waiting for my flight to board.
I might do some more blogs tonight when I get to Bangkok. I fly to China tomorrow. China blocks a lot of websites. I bought a VPN, but I’m new to this concept so we’ll see how it goes. But, if I don’t post for two weeks, I’m either having way too much fun or the VPN didn’t work. I hope China has “that can’t work” magic like Thailand does.
I haven’t written in awhile mostly because I don’t know what to say. A lot is going on spiritually, but I don’t know how to put any of it into words. So, that will have to come later after it’s done processing through my system.
On a more superficial level, I’ve just been working out and eating. There are a bunch of workout classes available every day, but I’ve been attending around three high intensity fitness classes a day. I’ve been having trouble getting out of bed in the morning so I’ve been sleeping more too.
It’s been an interesting meeting the people here. The staff is all nice and wonderful. Some of the guests are kind of snobby which I didn’t expect. Some of the guests are very nice though. Most of the unfriendly guests have left so it’s more pleasant now. Most of the guests are return guests and I can see why. This place is well run and provides something people need.
One night there was a trip to a night market. Since I love Thai markets, I went. I didn’t love this market. It was really for tourists. But, I’m on one of the biggest tourist islands so it makes sense. There was another night market trip the next night to a different market. I decided to skip it.
Loi Krathong is the lantern festival that I’m coming back for in November. It’s been canceled in Chiang Mai because of mourning for the king. The festivities were canceled in Tak, but they are still going to do the actual floating of the candles in the river which is what I wanted to see. So, I had to change all my hotel plans and pretty soon I need to figure out where I’m going to go after that. I would have skipped it altogether, but I still have a suitcase of stuff at Noi’s house that I need to get and a plane ticket to Mae Sot which is not refundable.
When I was diving in Samui I touched some coral with my knee and it turned all red. When I asked the divemaster what he thought it was he said “coral” as if it was no big deal. It didn’t look like a cut. It wasn’t until 4 or 5 days later that I noticed tiny scabs where the coral had cut me. Then about a week later it puffed up and turned even redder. Someone here suggested I go to the doctor right away because it was infected. I looked it up on line and it said to seek medical attention right away. Great. So I rode my motorbike in the pouring rain to the nearest clinic. The doctor gave me a cream. I asked if I needed an antibiotic and she said pointed to the cream. How is a cream going to get under the skin to the infection? I went home later and did a little homegirl surgery. I cut some of the skin away so that the cream could get in. I also used some tea tree oil and neosporin just in case those might be helpful. I’m pretty sure neosporin is the answer to most medical problems. Then I broke my no searching things on the internet after 10pm rule and looked at the coral cuts info closer. This rule was set in place for a reason and breaking it means no good sleep. I read that there are all kinds of nasty things in salt water and coral cuts often get infected and then if you see a dark line on your arm or leg you need to go to the emergency room for iv antibiotics. I woke up every few hours to check my arms and legs for dark lines. I have antibiotics my doctor gave me before I left Colorado in case of an emergency. I started taking those. It’s been a few days now and no dark lines, just an upset stomach from the antibiotics.
Yesterday I rode the motorbike around and went to two overlooks and a beach. We have been having a lot of stormy weather due to big storms in the Philippines. The wind was so strong it was blowing salt mist way up past the beach. The waves were huge. It was unfriendly for swimming which was good, because I didn’t feel bad that I can’t swim because of my coral cut. It was nice and relaxing to watch the waves crash and watch the sea move. I feel like just watching it reset something and I was more relaxed after. It was also nice to ride around and see some of Phuket. It’s more mountainous than I expected. I like it.
Today I took another field trip. When I was looking for fun things to do near here, I found a rum distillery that gave tours. I have drank a lot of rum over the years, but didn’t know how it is made. It was a small distillery and the tour was interesting. The rum was real good too.
I have two more days of fitness camp and then travel back to Bangkok and then off to China!
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Abandonded (except dog) building next to hotelNearby beach isn’t much of a beachSelf surgery
Another view from my hotelDistillery BarDistillery grounds
I arrived in Phuket in the evening. Whoa, it was a long drive from the airport to my hotel, the Blue Rabbit. It looked like my hotel is the only thing around. Across the street is an actual abandoned building, not one that looks abandoned. There were two very nice ladies waiting for me. One carried my very heavy suitcase up to the third floor. I felt bad. They both were very talkative and helpful. The room is the nicest hotel room I’ve seen in a while. Yay!
Yesterday I started at Phuketfit with an orientation of the facilities and a fitness evaluation. About half the people there are trying to lose weight. They have a weight loss program, a detox program and a fitness program. I joined two of the workout classes and did yoga after dinner. So far the food has been good, but the portions are quite small since most people are counting calories to lose weight where I’m trying to pack in more calories and more protein to help rebuild muscle. Overall, I’m very impressed with the place and glad to be doing this although it hurts physically and financially.
Today I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed. They have exercise classes all day so I don’t need to do the first one in the morning anyway. I did three exercise classes today and I’m so stiff and my shoulders and left knee don’t want to work right. I cried during the last class. I expect there will be more crying as the 10 days go on. Or not.
The King of Thailand died yesterday. The country will go into mourning for a very long time. I want to write more about it, but I should not so you can watch the new or look for news on line if you want to know more.
I got back to Bangkok in the evening. I don’t like my hotel. It smells like mildew. I was lucky enough to be able to cancel my future booking at this hotel, but not tonight. I only picked it because it was close to the airport. The next morning I flew to Samui. I’m looking forward to spending some time relaxing on the beach and some time with my friends from Singapore. My hotel in Samui is kind of disappointing too, but it’s clean enough and right on the beach so no need looking for a new place. Still, three hotels in a row, come on…..
I saw a dive shop near my hotel when the taxi brought me from the airport. We are near Tao and I’d heard they had the best diving in Thailand so maybe there can be good diving in Thailand. Samui and Tao are islands kind of near each other (1 hour by boat). Plus, the idea of being completely covered in water sounds like heaven right now. I went by the dive shop. They are going to Tao tomorrow – great! It was expensive. Why is this sport so expensive?
The diving was just as bad as in Krabi. It’s official, diving in Thailand is not good. I know a four dive sample selection is hardly scientific research, but it’s enough for me. Everything was covered in a light brown blanket of ook. I have no idea what the ook is, but it looks slimy and yucky. There were hardly any fish. The people I dove with were nice so that’s some consolation. And I was covered in water for a couple hours and that was wonderful. Two of the ladies that we dropped off after diving were staying at a fancy hotel. The guards wouldn’t even let us in until they had run a camera under the van to check for scary things. I bet the resort was $800 a night. It was definitely cost more per night than I made last month. The stark difference between that resort and mine was comical.
We went on an all island tour the next day. The tour itself was meh. But, we decided it would be Judy’s birthday and we would post pictures on facebook of her birthday day and see if any of her friends figured out that it wasn’t. It made for a day of laughing so hard your stomach hurt. It also provided for many fun photos especially after we got the pointy Vietnamese birthday hats. The tour took us to many Buddhas, of course. The tour highlight was grandmother and grandfather rock. Grandfather rock was plain to see, but we never figured out grandmother rock. Later, a post card showed us what we didn’t find. I’m including a picture of the post card because I had to see it so I think you should have it burned in your memory too. Really? Genitalia shaped rocks are a tourist attraction? “Come to Samui and see the big Buddha and genitalia rocks!” After lunch we saw a mummified monk. We decided he wasn’t real. Then when we read that he wasn’t actually mummified, but that his body just didn’t decompose after he died, so they put some sunglasses on him and stuck him in a glass box. Well that must be real then. There was a waterfall that was so far from a waterfall that I’m not even posting a picture of it. What Thailand tour would be complete without sad elephants being misused for tourism? I will not post pictures of them either. That evening we went out for “Judy’s Birthday” dinner and live music after.
The bay we were staying on was shallow. You could walk for hours and never see water deeper than your waist. So, I bought a raft and floated around for part of the day. That day was a close to relaxing and doing nothing as I know how to do. That evening we found a lovely restaurant with bean bag chairs on the beach and happy hour drinks. Two bars over was an acoustic guitar player with the most wonderful voice. After about two hours we got up and went to watch him. The last day was more floating until it was time to go to the airport. Two sweet ladies from the hotel took me to the airport in their pickup truck. The Samui airport is ridiculous. When you get there it’s like a posh outdoor mall. I don’t even remember going through security, but I’m sure it happened. When you get to the gate, its an open air pavilion with uncomfortable but trendy seating. There are cats everywhere, it’s sweltering hot, but they have free snacks. I sat in front of one of the portable air conditioners with my free popcorn and pineapple juice and tried to pretend I didn’t feel horrible. Then you get on small trams that look like you are a Florida theme park and they trams take you to the plane. Of course on the plane, it’s so cold I have to put on long pants and a hoodie with the hood up. I’ll take the cold over the hot though. I’m looking forward to the next 10 days. I’ve signed up for a fitness camp so I will just be eating healthy food and working out for 10 days.
So my plan to relax and spend some time on-line researching potential jobs didn’t work out. But I did enjoy spending time with Judy, Andy and Ivan and laughing so hard my sides hurt.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Enter a captionEarly morningEnter a captionEnter a caption
Dive SpotEnter a captionEnter a captionLooks like a giant carrot farmEnter a captionWhere is Grandmother Rock?Enter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionOh, I lied, this is the waterfallLook! A Buddha and StairsA dragon with flowers on its tongueEnter a captionEnter a captionFemale Giant?Enter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionEnter a captionBeware Bag Necklace SnatchingGrandfather RockEnter a captionSomeone’s dinnerMummy MonkPostcardJudy’s “Birthday” dinnerEnter a captionBean Bag Beach BarScrambled eggs with cheeseEnter a captionEnter a captionEnter a caption
I stayed in this cool hotel in Chiang Mai. I booked it because it was right next to the airport, had a coffee shop and was made of shipping containers. I have a friend that owns a company that makes houses out of shipping containers so I was excited to see a hotel with this concept. It was a great concept. But in effort to make the place look cool, they kept the restaurant open to the hotel section. If I opened the door from my room, I was looking directly at tables in the restaurant. Even with the door closed, it sounded like I was sitting in the restaurant. It was a very popular restraint and every table was full all night long. So, going to sleep early so I could get up early and well rested for my flight was not happening. Then they didn’t have a shuttle and were not willing to call a taxi for me so I had to walk 3 blocks to the nearest road to get a taxi. The coffee shop wasn’t open in the morning. The hot water didn’t work. Great idea, poor execution. They should have just had a kick ass restaurant and skipped the hotel part.
The Chiang Mai airport is so easy. No lines. My bag was overweight and they didn’t say anything. Security did take my deodorant though. Getting there wasn’t easy. I was literally next to the airport (could see the runway) and had to walk 3 blocks in the other direction to get a taxi. Then the taxi went 15 minutes in the wrong direction to drop someone else off. I swear it took 25 minutes to get back to the airport.
Flying into Kuala Lumpur, the ocean was an unnatural green, not the pretty pale tropical green it should be. It looked like radioactive waste. In places it wasn’t green, it was brown like a Colorado river in flood. I had originally planned to scuba dive, but then scrapped that plan when I realized all the scuba places were a 4-8 hour drive away from Kuala Lumpur. Now I know why they are so far away. Still between the weird water and the acres and acres of palm farms, it was a beautiful strange new world to land in. The highway is big and clean and at first glance everything seems to be much cleaner than Thailand. I bought a SIM card in the airport so my phone will work here. It seemed to be working, but on further inspection (in the cab, not in the store) it’s not. Yay technology. We drove past the city on the way to Genting Highlands. It’s a huge city. Genting Highlands is a tacky looking ridiculous casino at the top of a mountain. I found it when I was looking for jobs in Asia. I thought it would be a hoot to check it out and if I like it, maybe I’ll try my hand at dealing cards again. The road to Genting Highlands is very steep, steeper than most places in Colorado. The entire top of the mountain is covered in casino, hotel complex, and mist. Just driving through it is a maze of tunnels, high rise buildings and construction. If I had been driving, I’d still be driving in circles lost.
Rraine Drops 