I went down to the lobby at 4:45.  One of the night guys was asleep on a bed behind the desk and the other was on a lobby couch.  I felt bad about waking them up, but the one on the couch hopped up and grabbed my bad and took it out to the taxi that was already waiting for me.  I think the Vietnamese people are easy to anger and have short tempers, but when they smile or are helpful, it feels so much more sincere than the Thai people.  My flight back to Bangkok was uneventful and it was the shortest wait I’ve ever had to get through immigration anywhere.  I said goodbye to Annaliese.  I felt a huge relief as I did.  Not that I was relieved to say goodbye.  She is a sweet fun person, but I realized I had taken on some of her energetic stuff (everyone has stuff).  With all that I am learning and the big wall I am coming to with the disintegration of identity, I think I took on some of her fear, making mine feel larger, a trick of the ego to keep me in fear so I won’t move forward in this process.  I know other people that feel the energies going on around them so strongly that it is overwhelming and they sometimes don’t know what is them and what is others.  I never use to think I did this, but now I’m realizing I do sometimes.  It just comes in more subtle and I don’t realize I’m taking on other energies right away.  When I do, I’m able to drop it quickly.  The relief I felt today was when I let her energies go and some of my fear went with it.

With a bit of difficulty, I found the bus to Jomtiem which is a couple hours south east of Bangkok.

Jomtiem is a beach area near Pattaya.  Pattay is a big beach destination for old white men and people wanting to get away from Bangkok.  When I first moved to Thailand one of my co-workers put me in touch with his brother-in-law, Chris.  Chris lives in Jomtien.  He was a huge force in keeping me sane when I first moved to Sam Ngao.  I would often call him after school when it was the middle of the night in the US.  I just told him I needed to speak and hear fluent English and it would set my brain right.  He’s a sailor and told me he’d take me sailing if I ever made it to Jomtien so I decided this would be a good place to relax between Vietnam and Krabi.

The bus dropped me off and I walked a couple blocks to the restaurant Chris was meeting me at.  It was nice to put a face to the voice.  I managed to eat a half a sandwich.  Yay!  He recommended an apartment complex nearby that rents rooms and has a pool so we went there.  There were several high rise buildings with plain looking apartments and a big pool.  On the bottom floor of each building is a row of plain looking businesses, Thai restaurants, small bars, places renting rooms and other things.  We went into one of the places renting rooms and booked a room for me.  It’s not the nicest place, but it’s on the 10^th floor.  The rent was cheap enough and I have to pay for water and electricity when I leave.  I think I’d rather have a hotel, but I think this will do for 4 days.

I had told Chris I was sick and asked if there was a doctor he recommended.  He has and ear infection so he said he’d go with me.  We walked into the clinic and I told them what was going on.  I talked to the doctor for a while.  Her English was difficult to understand, but she seemed to understand me better.  She asked a lot of questions, took temperature, looked in my throat and nose.  She told me it wasn’t Dengue fever as if I was nuts to ask.  She said I’d be burning up and red if it was.  Then I got called back in for an injection.  The nurse put 4 or 5 things in the syringe.  I have no idea what was in the shot and I don’t much care.  Then she gave me a bag with 7 different drugs.  She gave me instructions on how to take them, but not what they were.  She said one was an antibiotic that would help with the sinus infection and stomach problems.  Again, I don’t much care what the drugs are if they work.  It all didn’t take long and cost me about $30.  Much cheaper than the US, but way more expensive than Sam Ngao.

After the clinic, Chris dropped me off at the apartments.  I went and got a foot massage at one of the places in the building.  It might have been the best foot massage yet.  Then I went to the pool and just sat in the water.  Finally, I was immersed in water.  The water was way too warm, but it was wonderful anyway.

I need to pay for wifi at the building and found out too late to pay.  The office was closed.  So, I ventured out for dinner and hung out in a sports bar until they closed, just posting blogs, putting more money on my Thai phone, making phone calls and catching up on email.  I ate a whole personal pizza.  I feel tired, but so much better.  Thanks mystery injection.

I found out earlier today that my mom’s husband is in the hospital.  He can’t keep food down and now isn’t very coherent.  I talked to mom tonight and she is ok, all considered.  I didn’t ask when he went to the hospital, but I can bet it was around the time I was in Hanoi processing about her.  I wonder why our medical system thinks radiation is a good alternative to cancer.  Most people I’ve known that had radiation died of radiation complications.  Why don’t we just try to make people more comfortable and let them go of cancer?  How did pumping someone full of poison become the solution to not die of cancer.  I guess it works for some, but I still think something is terribly wrong with our medical system.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore