Ut och resa!

Denna blogg har legat och vilat ett tag, som man ska göra med vilken åker som helst. Nu borde det gro bra här!

Innan skrev jag huvudsakligen om Mellanöstern men det får andra bloggar göra nu. Omväxling förnöjer.

Min nästa resa går till Thailand, där jag har varit sju vintrar det senaste decenniet. Det blir den första resan som sjukpensionär - ända sedan jag fick den första infarkten i balanscentrum i hjärnstammen har mina läkare fajtats med Förkränkningskassan (vars blogg verkar vara nere) och talat om för dom att det enda sättet jag kan fortsätta att arbeta i långsam fart, ett par år till, är om jag är sjukskriven under vintern, under den tiden jag riskerar halt väglag och därmed nästan ofelbart obotliga skador om jag försöker gå ut och handla mat. FK har enbart hånflabbat. Färdtjänst hårdflabbar verkligen hårt, trots 4-5 läkarintyg som i korthet säger att färdtjänst under vintern är en del av behandlingen. Att njurarna är på väg till dialys fick dem att flabba än mer. Nu, efter ett års totala trakasserier har det äntligen lyckats mig och läkarna att övertyga dem om att jag måste bli sjukpensionär. Underförstått av alla utom FK, för att jag och mina läkare ska få chans att sköta om mina återstående år, månader, veckor - på ett sätt som är lämpligt för mig.

I will just go out in a few moments, after finishing the breakfast beside the computer, that my lovely Thai wife has prepared for me before she ran to her Swedish course, to send my passport to the Thai embassy in Stockholm, to get a double tourist visa. We Swedes get an automatic 30-day visa at arrival in Thailand, which is sufficient for shorter visits. There has also been the "visa runs", where you go to one border in the vicinity, over and back again, and get another 30 days. I have done it often enough, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos.... Never tried Burma but I will wait a bit for that. Last year they changed the system so you could do that maximum 90 days, then you were not allowed into Thailand for 90 days. Why? Well - if you more or less live there or have some black job there or whatever, you are supposed to have the proper visa for that! The proper way for a longtime tourist is of course a tourist visa. 60 days, you can prolong it for 30 days within Thailand for 1900 Baht, then you must out and in. So I get a double one like that, I plan to stay somewhat less than 120 days, so I go out in the middle, probably to Malaysia as I plan to be down on Koh Samui.

How to go to Malaysia, Penang, from Koh Samui? Ah well.... There is water in between. The boats take 1-3 hours, except the night boat that takes as long as it takes, but people are supposed to sleep on the floor covered with dirty mattresses. I used that boat once when I came from Penang, and while the boat was ok, when I had to board it, they only had a narrow plank without anything to hold in, and with my lack of balance....... Almost as bad as a few winters later, when I took the 6-hour speedboat over Tonle Sap, half through Cambodia, from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. The had a LONG narrow plank up - a little money, or lookalike, walked backwads up the plank, holding both my hands to lead me up....... At least once in PP it was decent way to get off board, but I was obviously nervous all the way, sitting on my seat made for Khmers, who have half the size of ass as a Westerner. You can squeeze in twice as many people and it makes larger headlines when it sinks.


A test of including a link to youtube - I searched for films there about Samui, and found this from Lamai, where I usually stay. You can see pics from my latest stay at this link, and if you are smart enough you might find a lot more pictures around that link.

More links to youtube:





Hm, seems to work.

7 weeks left. What to finish? Ah well, should get vaccinations, have sick insurance for the first 45 days, from the home insurance, should fix travel insurance from this Australian insurance place for the rest. Also just booked a room for when I arrive in Bangkok, always nice to have it fixed, at this place.

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Extremely strange. This was published, I have not been here for a week and now suddenly it was only in draft and not published???