March 19, Lund
2 days ago I landed in Copenhagen in a SNOW STORM!!!! The thing I had gone to Thailand to avoid. And there has been hardly any snow all winter. Now it came.
The trip home was tiresome but uneventful. I hate to be in a hurry when I travel, going to the airport hours before I have to and so on. So - I took minibus from my BKK hotel at 6PM already, although the plane did not leave until after midnight. But I was also lazy - said yes every time I was offered wheel chair transport in the airports, so most of the time I sat idle instead of slowly walking long corridors. I was at the BKK airport Suvarnabhumi before 7, at the checkup counter when it opened at 9 something, handed in the luggage, and - was offered a wheel chair, so why not.
Once in a wheel chair the rest of the crowd think I am worse off than I am, a little bit more lenient at the security checks and so on - I was driven to the shortest queue all the time, when leaving Thailand it was via the diplomat passport check....., then the guy pushing the wheel chair knew every emergency bypass there was, unfortunately it also meant that he took me immediately as far away as I could get, and no time to have a last beer or coffee.....
On to the plane, and then waiting there for more than an hour until it finally lifted off, he waited for some air transport I think, and then entered the queue - 20 planes or so, always such a queue for departure, the pilot told to explain the delay.
Boring flight - I sat at the front, and was too sleepy to find out how to get up the small tv monitor, so at least I could see where we were. And then the tail bone started to hurt........ as it does when I sit too long in most chairs. I had to twist and twiggle for hours, and never slept really well. And it is a long flight - forgot how long but - left 01:30 BKK time and arrived in London around 6 London time.
In London I was of course met by a wheel chair....., 3 wheel chairs met us oldies, I think; when I came in the other direction I walked for kilometers in those corridors and did not want that at all again, as I was rather tired. And sure, that lady knew every single emergency passage, so soon I sat in a VIP lounge with other half-dead people, waiting for the last short transport, and I guaranteed that I actually could walk down the stairs at the end, and down a slope out to the waiting bus - that had civilized height over the ground, not half a meter like the airport buses in Asia, so I always needed extra special transport there. Do they expect half a meter of rain or what? I would not expect a plane to take off then.
Out to the final little plane, and 1.5 hours to Copenhagen - when I heard the pilot saying there was snow storm I started to miss Thailand.......
Things worked to the end, handicap car a bit on Kastrup, but the difficult part - to get the big luggage off the belt, for that the guy did not come along, anyway asked another guy there, so no problem, same on and off the train to Lund. And a mix of snowstorm and rain in Lund, I had sent SMS to Yui from Kastrup when the train left, so she found me in the station. Wet and tired, still I got a lot of kisses that I returned, then she dragged the big bag to the bus outside and up the stairs and home!!!!!
March 14, Bangkok, evening.
I know I know, you have desperately waited for more info of my adventures. But...., getting old and tired I have concentrated on surviving until coming home.
I came to BKK as planned, evening March 11, and everything worked according to plans, Thai style. There are ALWAYS trouble lurking around the corner so only knowing that, it is fine. And there are often good surprises too.
Looking old and decrepit helps a lot in the Orient - both in Samui airport and BKK airport, both newly built and renovated, so nobody finds their way, young guys quickly picked me up and put me in a wheel chair, and -ah well, sometimes I protest but had decided not to do it now, as it is working fine....... They find the way, they pass all checks with minimum trouble, they pick up the luggage for me, put it in the right place, and - in the end, drove me in that wheel chair passing a long long queue to the taxi stand...., just stopping in the front... Neat!
And the friendly taxi guy here in BKK even asked if he should switch on the taxameter huh! Normally they get irritated when I demand it :) After all that is the idea of the official taxi queue, to follow the rules. Remember when I came to BKK a few months back, a bunch of idiots stood outside offering "official taxi trips" costing 2-3 times the normal......
The last days on Samui were as they had been. I said byebye to my eating places - I have sort of alternated between the restaurant - a real one costing tourist prices so I could not afford to go there more than every 2-3 evening, for the rest I usually went to the grill lady at the corner, picking up 3-4 sticks of grilled meat, chicken asses, chicken wings, pork, fish balls..... I took some bad photos in the restaurant and hoped to return in a year with my wife.
Visar inlägg med etikett hibernation. Visa alla inlägg
Visar inlägg med etikett hibernation. Visa alla inlägg
2008-03-19
2008-02-19
Starting to pack
... in 3 weeks.... No, packing will not take many minutes, but I land in Copenhagen in 26 days so I fly to BKK in 3 weeks. Being handicapped means it is always a trouble to move, but once I do it, it is never that bad, especially in this part of the world, as I always get pretty good help from people.
Now I think more and more of what I miss here that I have at home. My wife of course......, and also many small details. Like a good work chair, have not eaten pig feet since Sweden!!!!! Broadband and not this slow jungle telegraph, where I have to pay every minute. Not a lot but...... 15 Baht an hour, but when surfing to find info about something, and every page can take minutes to get up, well.....
Now I think more and more of what I miss here that I have at home. My wife of course......, and also many small details. Like a good work chair, have not eaten pig feet since Sweden!!!!! Broadband and not this slow jungle telegraph, where I have to pay every minute. Not a lot but...... 15 Baht an hour, but when surfing to find info about something, and every page can take minutes to get up, well.....
And once home I will start to miss things here....., lots of people who have seen me around for 3 months, say hello and smile when I slowly pass by! Like my favourite restaurant, mainly for seafood, but of course they had everything else. The seafood was on display outside, 
but - ah well - some people have got "habits"..... Once a Swedish family from Blekinge settled at the next table, he VERY fat, she VERY fat, the son of maybe 5 VERY fat, the youngest daughter - ah well, not yet....
but - ah well - some people have got "habits"..... Once a Swedish family from Blekinge settled at the next table, he VERY fat, she VERY fat, the son of maybe 5 VERY fat, the youngest daughter - ah well, not yet....
All ordered CHICKEN, in this seafood restaurant, except the young boy, who ate some fat sausage. All had fat pommes frites to that.......
The restaurant kitchen all open along one wall. 
I am happy as long as I am happy both coming and going, but I am pretty sure this is my last jungle adventure alone.
2008-01-31
So - what is new?... Penang
It is January 23 and I have been working, no time for adventures. And possibly I have passed the time I do every winter lately - from when it is great fun here and to when it is hibernation and a wait for weather in Sweden to become bearable. Got unusually many medical problems too - should have stayed at home, but then I had been in a grumpy mood......
That means the irritation of primitive life grows, from bad chair to - ah well, an absence of interesting people to talk to here in Lamai. Only an occassional visitor like this one:
That means the irritation of primitive life grows, from bad chair to - ah well, an absence of interesting people to talk to here in Lamai. Only an occassional visitor like this one:
Or this one just crawling out of the hole:
And it is RUNNING, not jumping....
It IS more common by far to meet more interesting people in Bangkok and sit and talk in the evening! If I had not already paid the return ticket to BKK for March 11, I might have returned a month earlier. To blow that would cost 4000B, hmmm... On the other hand the rooms I know about there are rather much worse than this one to sit and work in, so I guess I will sit it out here as planned.
Penang Jan. 26, 3PM
Moved my ass for 5 days. I had to get out yesterday, the first half of my double tourist visa expired that day, and instead of doing as many in that situation - they leave at 6AM squeezed into a minibus, the driver drives like a maniac, the ferry at 7, then on to the Malaysian border, which is quite a distance, the people walk over the border and get stamped out, then go back in again and get stamped in, then full speed back home, ending up there late in the evening, sigh. Dangerous? Of course. I decided to do it the safest way when I heard that there was a new "cheap" plane between Samui and Penang certain days - so I paid 8500 Baht for that and came here yesterday evening. The small propeller plane, a Fokker 50, sounded like an old bus, especially at start - can not have been more than 20 passengers or so. These visa runs are incredibly stupid - there are immigration offices here and there, also one on Samui, and it should be enough to go there! They had also got rid of some dangerous traffic on the roads.
When I got a car to take me to the airport on Samui, the guy said hi! - it was the same one who had taken me and Yui to the airport 2 years ago..... I guess I am easy to recognize with my crutch. I had got the tickets in the same little travel agensy in Lamai and asked for a car to the airport so maybe they do not have so great variety, and the ordinary yellow taxis there seem to be mafioso all of them - refusing to put on taximeter. I talked to the guy about it - he said that occasionally people come from the mainland but everyone knows, and THEN they switch on the meter..... His wife and kid was also along, they would drive to Bangkok for a week of holidays.
At the airport, they were photographing a supermodel - far too tall and slim so I told a guy there that she looks like a ladyboy, katoey.... They have a special small car for us handicapped, to take us from the gate to the plane (instead of making the other open buses lower so anybody can enter instead of jumpint up), the model was sitting pretending to drive one of them, we took another - and when passing I ended up on the same film, so now I am famous in Thailand..... Sure I waved to the camera as all celebrities do!
I got up the steps to the airplane, I had seen how small it is when it landed earlier on the airstrip just outside the windows of the gate. MUCH smaller than Air Force One that Bush uses!
To the airport in Penang, the flight took 80 minutes, and that airport was bigger than I thought. I wonder how many people really live on Pulau Pinang, on the island. The building - lots to walk so a fun, rather fat Muslim gal of 23 with headcover, very talkative, enjoyed driving me around in a wheel chair - faster than having me walk - so we got into the Muslim country of Malaysia, then she continued to drive me, full speed, to a money changer where I changed Baht to 500 Ringgit, 10 Baht on a Ringgit so easy to count. Then to the taxi stand, they have fixed prices to a couple of different zones so one pays it there, I paid 36 Ringgit I think.
The taxi guy was friendly and drove me around - did not find any hotel on Love Lane with free rooms but then we ended up at Cathay Hotel,
must be more than a century old, from the old British times and they keep the style in many ways. 
The bathtub
and thermos look 75 years old... Unfortunately only aircon rooms on the ground floor, so I have to pay double what I had expected, 69 Ringgit per night, but ok, for five nights, 4 to go.....Yesterday, the Friday evening I came, I took a careful walk outside, hungry and tired, did not find anything that looked interesting - it is not a tourist area after all, walked back towards the hotel. The hotel guy had said one could eat opposite the hotel, thou it looked more like an entertainment place, full live Chinese music - but I looked and even if there was a small stage, there were a lot of small restaurants so I sat there for an hour or two with 4 chicken wings and a few beer. First I sat at a table near the grilledchickenwinggirl, a waitor came up and asked what to drink. We talked some later, he came here a year ago from Bangladesh to make big money and found it ok. I tried to chat with an old Chinese hag at the next desk, she asked a few things and then turned her back. Chinese seem to come in big groups or families most often, but she apparently only liked her own company.
And then I started to get wet. And then I started looking at the metal roof - tropical rain on such one is VERY noisy. Where I sat one piece was missing, and also at another place when I looked, and my umbrella that normally is in my red cloth bag I had put in the hotel room.... Ah well, only one thing to do, drink beer until it stopped. Carlsberg Special Brew, like Danish Elephant Beer. One could not guess it is a Muslim country. I had had beer in Egypt and Iran, but definitiely not of Carlsberg quality. I think Carlsberg was involved with Chang beer too, my favourite, but then some business problems.
I slept badly as the aircon was fixed and put on far too cold - in the morning I asked them to shut it off. One hour later I started to be sweaty of course but time to go out for brunch - two corners away, a typically cheap open restaurant, Halal, so Muslim food but all kinds of people eating there, the table in front of me full of old noisy Indians, some Chinese - I ordered a coffee and bowl of noodle soup. The coffee the usual one one gets here, a big mug of quite black coffee of lower than Nescafe-quality, probably boilt but it is ok. The noodle soup was quite tasty, NOT like instant noodles..... Paid 4 Ringgit for it all. Wonder if I will stay within budget - that is, the cash I got in the airport. I remember room prices of 35 Ringgit, now I pay 69, taxi back to the airport on Tuesday - suppose it will be the same. I got 550 Ringgit or so, room + taxis 6 times 70, hmmm. If I do not waste any other money but I better get some more, hate to have empty pockets.
My old friend here, Poh Joo, that I met here in 1975 after starting to write in 1970, will come tomorrow and pick me up for lunch. Forgot when we met last, a couple of years ago, I remember that on one of my latest visits here we did not, otherwise we use to. Getting old both - you could try to find us on my old travel pictures from 1975, just to search and look for Penang.... What was she then? Now she has passed 50, time definitely goes...... So tomorrow morning I should try to use the ancient shower, only cold water, hmmmm. 12:30, meaning 11:30, my watch and computer still on Thai time.
Jan 27, 14:15
Home from the luxury lunch, Poh Joo had her brother along, was nice and quick..., also passed a bank so I picked up 300 Ringgit more, now I feel safe enough. Got some fish, stingray she said? Complicated to eat without instruction..... but tasty. Now naptime!
21:35
I was out at the Chinese eating hall opposite for 2 hours, had a chicken meal with bean sprout salad, soup, 2 beer. As 2 evenings ago suddenly the rain started to pour down, also some thunderstorm, but I have learned now where not to sit. Walked around but saw no pig feet as I remember I could get in Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur in a similar eating hall. Several stands with Thai food but I jumped over them thou they looked tasty.....
One old Chinese waitor served me the beer, he had sort of wise eyes. He saw the Buddhist sign I have around my neck, looked very carefully and said it was a very good one, it almost radiated.... I told him I had got it in Thailand 5 years ago from a friend. Then I told him I married a very special Thai girl recently, now in Sweden studying and then he said I got her because I had had that sign around my neck for 5 years! Hm, who can say no......
Jan 28, 18 BKK time,
Up from my nap. I had a long walk today, after the Muslim noodle soup I walked towards my old hangout at Love Lane, saw several hostels of that price class I remember, half my present price, but of course always difficult to know which one would be the most accessible for me and my bad balance. I also passed a farmacy and got some sterile compresses for my bad little toe and some antibiotics salve, should be enough until I am back on Samui in 2 days, where I have to go to a nurse/doctor for a checkup and a good dosis of antibiotics - when I had it a few years ago in Sweden, I got heracillin for several weeks. Then I do not think there was some external hole - now I suddenly saw a drop of blood on the stone floor in my room a few weeks ago but have no small mirror with me - should invest in one - that I used to have along, to see such damages. a week ago I saw some blood but sill not a red toe, started to use the sandal also in the room. ah well, did not look infected, but now just when I should fly here to Malaysia I saw it was a bit red, and there also came some blood. Which means the salve should do some good too - on the box of the tube they showed horrible foot sores and they said it is the salve many diabetics used.
I pay day by day in the hotel - today the bill was higher but I paid less than normal so I did not complain... I got a damaged 5-Ringgit bill, so they did not take it in the Muslim eatery, but they did in the farmacy, ha. Down at the end of Love Lane I sat to have a coffee in a dirty Chinese eating hole, where I have been several times, so I will go there for noodle soup tomorrow. Not much further off than the other place walking the back street that I found.
.
But first out to eat now soon, opposite the street again. NOT under a hole - last night there it came thunderstorm with the pouring rain too.
I just washed up a t-shirt and underwear - not that I have any detergent with me, but just a precaution so they do not run away - so they can hang and dry for a day before I put them in a plastic bag before going back "home", a t-shirt is WET after a walk. But NOW out to eat!
11PM, back. Had fried oyster omelet, never tried before but quite tasty so I will try it tomorrow again, now I ordered the medium size for 10 Ringgit, but tomorrow I think I take the biggest - now I had to take some side dishes of fish crackers and a few chicken wings afterwards to feel filled-up.
It is a very simple eating place, not at all for tourists so price is accordingly. Live music, tonight also some dancing. Chinese music on all the time, rather loud. The old waitor waited for me all the time after discovering me while a young pretty Chinese gal also poured up beer as soon as my glass started to be drained. Neat......
Coming home to the hotel one of the old Chinese guys gave me a hand to get in up the three rather steep steps, so I am well taken care of. Tomorrow too then off I fly. Have got some new experiences. That day the plane goes around 4PM I think, but I take an early taxi from the hotel, checkout at 12.
Jan 29, 13:20
Just home from noodle soup and coffee in a nearby Chinese place I simply had not seen before though I had passed several times - some old motor bikes almost blocked the entrance so I had thought it was a motor workshop or something......
The computer suddenly stopped working in the morning, just died! I tried to restart a number of times but nothing helped, so I spent 15 minutes realizing that now I had to go straight back to Bangkok to repair it. Then I looked up, remember I only have one plug here and the phone was charging...... So I switched and the computer started to run again......
When I went out to find brunch two Chinese guys sat outside talking, one very friendly the other severely handicapped with two crutches. So the healthy guy said hello and started to talk, told me to sit down, he spoke good English, a retired teacher of English, told he liked to help tourists and had many Swedish friends - at least he mentioned one. He could fix everything...., Thai visas as some need, whatever - so I told I returned the following day, and he would fix a guy to take me to the airport. So we walked to the coffee shop that he showed , we exchanged cards and he said I could just call next time I came to Penang, and there he also met the guy who would drive me tomorrow, and he also seemed reliable enough, promising to come and pick me up at 12, for 30 Ringgit which was slightly cheaper than when I came. Coffee and shrimp noodles were fine. So then I walked around this block - rather big. And it is a hot day! I walked and just waited for the last corner to turn left, when I suddenly saw my hotel. I still do not know what happened to that corner! Must have been a very big bend there or something mysterious.
But now time to put up my swollen foot and rest for a while - thou I have the feeling the foot is less swollen and the toe less red today than yesterday. I walk more here than lately on Samui, guess I should walk more there.
Jan30, 09:51AM,
That is almost 11 Malaysian time and one more hour then I am leaving. Hope the guy comes.... Ah well - otherwise I just ask the hotel to call for a taxi to the airport. I have gathered the stuff, so just to put down the whole in the backpack and go.
Still plenty of time, the plane goes at 4, so I will sit for 3 hours or so in the airport but it is ok, hate to rush. Foot and toe looks fairly ok. I took a quick-shower, had planned to take a real one but when putting one foot in the ancient bathtub it slipped, so I said "nah, too risky today"..... Just poured some scoops of water over me. I have never found out if the shower is hot or cold - well, just when putting it on it is VERY hot, then it becomes cold, or almost so.... Now in the scoop I mixed from the hot and cold tap so it was about right.
2007-12-30
Dec. 30
I had a bad night. I went to bed a bit after sound-shutup-time, 2AM, took an extra pill for pushing the excess liquid from feet to that other thing ya know, which might have helped somewhat to make me run up to pee a number of times. Once I even shit...., thou normal consistency - food is pretty clean here and I have not had diarrhoeae since coming a month ago.
Then the bad hand started to pain. It did lots during summer before those three fingers became more or less numb choked by the Carpal Tunnel, at the wrist where they pass through a too small hole when those nerves swell up a little. The wrist will be cut up once I am back in Sweden, which they oughta have done before leaving - but Swedish hospital care might be mostly free but then it takes so much longer time to get access, sigh.....
Some leg pain is almost routine. I guess I am getting old.
I washed the noodle bowl and fork and threw them on the bed before jumping down from the toilet. Sat on the bed to put on my tight stockings to limit the swelling of the feet - and you can guess exactly what I sat on.........
So now up for coffee and noodles, Michael put in the head, then I got a call on my new Thai phone.....
From a friend, a funny girl I met a few times 3 winters ago. Always on the move, restless, she has a sister in Italy, and spent half a year there but did not enjoy it - and apparently no romance popping up, thou she does feel lonely and in need of somebody sensible. You might see her on my travel pictures from that winter if you know where to find them..... She is not really looking for a Farang, because she thinks they look down at Thai girl, but well...., she has not found any Thai guy she ever has mentioned either. Asia is crowded with nice girls who have not found a partner - especially among those who have had a closer view of the West, and seen the general philosophy here. That Western guys have the general idea of taking care of their girls while the Thai girls have the general idea of taking care of their guys. With all the variations obviously.
It can only expand the gene pool for the general benefit of humanity huh.
Now the young Thai girls have to learn that a majority of Farang guys only want to play until 40 while the girls look for something serious. While waiting for the Falang guys to grow up and mature, the gals should learn better English. Expressing feelings inter-culturally is a linguistically demanding feat!
I had a bad night. I went to bed a bit after sound-shutup-time, 2AM, took an extra pill for pushing the excess liquid from feet to that other thing ya know, which might have helped somewhat to make me run up to pee a number of times. Once I even shit...., thou normal consistency - food is pretty clean here and I have not had diarrhoeae since coming a month ago.
Then the bad hand started to pain. It did lots during summer before those three fingers became more or less numb choked by the Carpal Tunnel, at the wrist where they pass through a too small hole when those nerves swell up a little. The wrist will be cut up once I am back in Sweden, which they oughta have done before leaving - but Swedish hospital care might be mostly free but then it takes so much longer time to get access, sigh.....
Some leg pain is almost routine. I guess I am getting old.
I washed the noodle bowl and fork and threw them on the bed before jumping down from the toilet. Sat on the bed to put on my tight stockings to limit the swelling of the feet - and you can guess exactly what I sat on.........
So now up for coffee and noodles, Michael put in the head, then I got a call on my new Thai phone.....
From a friend, a funny girl I met a few times 3 winters ago. Always on the move, restless, she has a sister in Italy, and spent half a year there but did not enjoy it - and apparently no romance popping up, thou she does feel lonely and in need of somebody sensible. You might see her on my travel pictures from that winter if you know where to find them..... She is not really looking for a Farang, because she thinks they look down at Thai girl, but well...., she has not found any Thai guy she ever has mentioned either. Asia is crowded with nice girls who have not found a partner - especially among those who have had a closer view of the West, and seen the general philosophy here. That Western guys have the general idea of taking care of their girls while the Thai girls have the general idea of taking care of their guys. With all the variations obviously.
It can only expand the gene pool for the general benefit of humanity huh.
Now the young Thai girls have to learn that a majority of Farang guys only want to play until 40 while the girls look for something serious. While waiting for the Falang guys to grow up and mature, the gals should learn better English. Expressing feelings inter-culturally is a linguistically demanding feat!
2007-12-26
Dec 23
I had a strange dream. After coming back to Sweden I will have a minor hand operation but in the dream it was a very large operation and I had been flying with a big group of people to do it, and there was also a professor who said he knew exactly where it was. Ha, we walked and walked, he knew the university but not its hospital in that faraway country, I got lost there, and ...... woke up in mess and confusion! Had to jump up to pee.
I wonder what people DO here? The obvious thing is to enjoy sun and bath - for people who can enjoy that. I like to be close to the sea for some reason, it also often means more interesting people to look at, but I am no swimmer, and my suntan I get by walking around.
Other people only SIT. Maybe with a whisky or beer bottle close at hand. Sometimes, occasionally, it can be fun to have a beer and gossip with a stranger, even if it usually is not that long-lasting. In those cases I normally only have a small beer bottle/can - for buying a big one I need book or laptop nearby. It is obviously much nicer anyway to SIT here, than to sit on a park bench with snow falling on the shoulders.
But the environment is fine for working! Disadvantage is the chair, clearly, but the environment is nice, food nice, weather nice, sitting with the door out open, with or without fan depending on temperature and mood. I will easily sit my time out here, another 2½ months, and get some stuff done. And then hope Sweden has started thinking of spring.
Hm I saw in the mirror a pretty girl looking in.....
Night session, almost 5AM,
I have it often back in Sweden, a long evening nap and then up at the computer for a number of hours. Here, I can actually hear a cock or two starting, have not heard them before, and it is down at 24°, brrrrr. Had to put on a t-shirt. Reading, writing. I answered a mail from my old Thai girlfriend 5-6 years ago. She has a tendency always ending up in trouble, trusting people too much. After our "affair", whatever, we remained good friends, then she rather soon married a Chinese guy from China, quickly made a baby, then he dumped her in China...... So I and a Dutch mailfriend of hers had to help her out and back to Thailand. The last 3 years she has been a few times in Holland, never said she loved that guy who is even older and fatter than me!!! - thou apparently he loved her, the jealous way. Now he is demanding a lot of money back from her - apparently he has made her sign a loan paper, apparently money that she then loaned to that same Chinese former husband - but without signed papers - and you can guess the result. Now she has to sell her house in Bangkok, give the idiot in Holland half the money, and herself move back to her home village, to start some little business with her brother there........ I hope she has at least learned not to trust foreign men.
Christmas Eve,
the important Christmas Day in Sweden - sunset now, and I better go to the restaurant in time, maybe many people this day?
It was rather normal one wonders where all the tourists are, there is space for many more. I had a fat slice of Tuna at the restaurant - no similaity to the Tuna one gets in Sweden, tasted more soft and fat.
The first time or two here in Lamai, it was more crowded and definitely no empty bars for sale, as now, but still there is building going on everywhere. Unfortunately - it is rather horrible how they have built up down at the beach, so one can hardly see the sea when walking the beach lane. I have remained in the center, I hear there are lots of newly built small houses further away that one can have for 10-12000 Baht/month, less if one rents one permanently. Then someone talked about down to 5000 B/month. The thought is nice - if one has the time and money to come several times a year.
It is Dec. 26 and I woke up by the constant sound of pouring rain, pushing down the temperature to 28, now at 11 it is rather sunny again. I have checked mail, read a while in a Fantasy book in the laptop, now time to work a bit on the old Skåne map I have in the computer, putting labels on places Linné visited during his trip there, some 250 years ago. The map is rather high-quality, scanned in high resolution, and compressed with DjVu, as the other 500 scanned pages, and one can put clickable labels there - so keeping the mousepointer over a label tells when he was there, and clicking will send you to that page in his book about the trip.
I had a strange dream. After coming back to Sweden I will have a minor hand operation but in the dream it was a very large operation and I had been flying with a big group of people to do it, and there was also a professor who said he knew exactly where it was. Ha, we walked and walked, he knew the university but not its hospital in that faraway country, I got lost there, and ...... woke up in mess and confusion! Had to jump up to pee.
I wonder what people DO here? The obvious thing is to enjoy sun and bath - for people who can enjoy that. I like to be close to the sea for some reason, it also often means more interesting people to look at, but I am no swimmer, and my suntan I get by walking around.
Other people only SIT. Maybe with a whisky or beer bottle close at hand. Sometimes, occasionally, it can be fun to have a beer and gossip with a stranger, even if it usually is not that long-lasting. In those cases I normally only have a small beer bottle/can - for buying a big one I need book or laptop nearby. It is obviously much nicer anyway to SIT here, than to sit on a park bench with snow falling on the shoulders.
But the environment is fine for working! Disadvantage is the chair, clearly, but the environment is nice, food nice, weather nice, sitting with the door out open, with or without fan depending on temperature and mood. I will easily sit my time out here, another 2½ months, and get some stuff done. And then hope Sweden has started thinking of spring.
Hm I saw in the mirror a pretty girl looking in.....
Night session, almost 5AM,
I have it often back in Sweden, a long evening nap and then up at the computer for a number of hours. Here, I can actually hear a cock or two starting, have not heard them before, and it is down at 24°, brrrrr. Had to put on a t-shirt. Reading, writing. I answered a mail from my old Thai girlfriend 5-6 years ago. She has a tendency always ending up in trouble, trusting people too much. After our "affair", whatever, we remained good friends, then she rather soon married a Chinese guy from China, quickly made a baby, then he dumped her in China...... So I and a Dutch mailfriend of hers had to help her out and back to Thailand. The last 3 years she has been a few times in Holland, never said she loved that guy who is even older and fatter than me!!! - thou apparently he loved her, the jealous way. Now he is demanding a lot of money back from her - apparently he has made her sign a loan paper, apparently money that she then loaned to that same Chinese former husband - but without signed papers - and you can guess the result. Now she has to sell her house in Bangkok, give the idiot in Holland half the money, and herself move back to her home village, to start some little business with her brother there........ I hope she has at least learned not to trust foreign men.
Christmas Eve,
the important Christmas Day in Sweden - sunset now, and I better go to the restaurant in time, maybe many people this day?
It was rather normal one wonders where all the tourists are, there is space for many more. I had a fat slice of Tuna at the restaurant - no similaity to the Tuna one gets in Sweden, tasted more soft and fat.
The first time or two here in Lamai, it was more crowded and definitely no empty bars for sale, as now, but still there is building going on everywhere. Unfortunately - it is rather horrible how they have built up down at the beach, so one can hardly see the sea when walking the beach lane. I have remained in the center, I hear there are lots of newly built small houses further away that one can have for 10-12000 Baht/month, less if one rents one permanently. Then someone talked about down to 5000 B/month. The thought is nice - if one has the time and money to come several times a year.
It is Dec. 26 and I woke up by the constant sound of pouring rain, pushing down the temperature to 28, now at 11 it is rather sunny again. I have checked mail, read a while in a Fantasy book in the laptop, now time to work a bit on the old Skåne map I have in the computer, putting labels on places Linné visited during his trip there, some 250 years ago. The map is rather high-quality, scanned in high resolution, and compressed with DjVu, as the other 500 scanned pages, and one can put clickable labels there - so keeping the mousepointer over a label tells when he was there, and clicking will send you to that page in his book about the trip.
2007-12-20
Finally Internet to my room!
Monday, 08:30AM
Noodles with soap taste?????? Either that or I had not properly cleaned the plastic bowl, but I threw it, cleaned properly and now I have another pack. But that one with dark red cover, better avoid. The yellow ones are ok. Tasty but not too spicy - wonder what is written on them? It HAD been practical to learn to read Thai......
[Pic from a block away from my hotel in Bangkok - but easier to put here...]
Things are sort of stabilizing. Up rather early - 6 today, I had the fan on at its weakest over night, but do not really like the wind. So up, closed fan, opened door to get the fresh morning air and some bird song. I tried to sneak again in on the 10-minute net, got some mails down but could not send. The hotel girl I have talked to, will check about getting internet to the room and maybe come and tell me in the afternoon what will be. I got mail from them with what I expected - that they have bridges/amplifiers for 3500B they can put up to get better signal, and then pay per hour.
There is a Swedish restaurant the other side of this block I am told, Soppköket "The Soup Kitchen", where they also have free wireless internet, but I feel no desire at all for Swedish food so..... Maybe it is stupid not to check, maybe there I could get some variety of my usual morning of coffee and a pack of instant noodles - like some real noodle soup......
[From the famous Popiang, my usual hangout in Bangkok.]
Health? Slowly improving I guess, still some lid over the ears, but maybe a tiny bit better in one of them?
My routine - well, had a beach walk yesterday at 5PM, better than in the morning when it is totally empty, but still too early to pick up some spits of food along the pavement in some food stall, so today I will take my walk a bit later. Should go to internet - Soppköket??? For a coffee or something at lunchtime??? Michael, the Swedish guy, said it is open from early morning until 6PM.
Michael passed and ah well - sat talking in Soppköket for a few hours to a bunch of Swedish guys. Was ok enough for a change..... ฺ3 young guys passing quickly by, the owner, a Swedish guy who has lived here for 5 years, former high school teacher, got trouble with a new boss and moved here. A number of retired people, some because of age [too much], some because of health [too little], also one guy around 50, who worked here in the housing business, housing for Swedes who want to buy a bungalow or small house here. He is making something like 30000 kronor a month on that - told about his boss here, who - ah well - just had written 400.000 kronor of "expenses" on the company, so they were now keeping a close watch on him, on the other hand he was the one with all the contacts with the right persons that is absolutely necessary here in the Wild East.......
Back to the room, nap, out for a walk then dinner of prawn and mushroom salad - imm laew - full now! Hm, bar life outside, but I do not really register it.Still not lots of tourists, wonder how many there will be for Christmas.
I also passed the hotel, talked to the girl, she had called about internet for me, they should call back but still had not. Let's see tomorrow. That gal is nice, good English, the same age as my wife, got an English bf. I wonder what is wrong with the Thai guys - all Thai girls one meets, almost, prefers Western guys???
Rather tired but that is reasonable - at least I am at the best place to recover.
Dec 19, 10:30
Breakfast executed, coffee and noodles, surprise, surprise. Soon I will go out in the sun, down to 7/11 for a change, I remember they have a bit of different things compared to the MiniMart here.
Feel reasonable today, slept fairly well, back in Sweden I almost never sleep the night through but first a nap of 2-3 hours, then up doing things for a few hours. Here it has been very mixed, better with a siesta when it is hottest.
I paid for 60 hours of internet but still no amplifyer - maybe I will get it today, someone wanted to sell his for 500B, new, otherwise it costs 3500B.
14:00
I walked my round, found nowhere to sit and rest - the restaurant at the sea has invented high steps impossible for me to use. Back to 7/11, Yui called meanwhile. Early in Lund, but she felt lonely. Also got a can of Heineken so rested on the bench outside the shop with that, looking at pretty girls. I wonder - the authorities here must get a LOT of tourist money, not that one sees what they are used for. Put up a school for all the girls here with maximum 6 years of schooling, so they must go there 2 hours a day........
In front of me some small round bars, at the pavement a small temple to pray at, The biggest and highest of the bars - hm - in the top sits a normal Christian cross! Makes the tourists feel at home I guess.
During my beach walk a kid smiled up at me, and his mama said "hi Santa, got a gift for me?" I suppose my hairy face has a neutral position looking friendly.
Yui called shortly while I took my walk, hm, worried at 5AM? Yes, had been much better if she had been along. Working on our laptops. Having a bungalow - they are not expensive, one can have a decent one permanently for 5000B/month, the only trouble being that I cannot go there without motorbike. I wonder what it would cost to rent one of those jeeps? Probably more than the 4000B for a motorbike for a month.
I do not have to remind that there are 5B for a Swedish Krona, huh.
Hm, one of the pretty cleaning gals waved and smiled, but no comment about Santa..... I had some plans to go for shopping before my nap, then somebody opened the tap. Some calm, but then when I was almost on its way it poured down again, noisily, now it is sunshine.
Dec. 20, 10:45
Finally! Half an hour go two friendly guys came banging on my door, and now it seems the Internet is up at full speed! 1500B for the bridge, I had to configure and guess a bit, but now it seems fine! No, it did not work out of the box as suggested but - well - with intuition based on 25 years of computer experiences, no deal. Now I just have to learn to disconnect, as I pay for every minute..... Sending this, then disconnect!
Noodles with soap taste?????? Either that or I had not properly cleaned the plastic bowl, but I threw it, cleaned properly and now I have another pack. But that one with dark red cover, better avoid. The yellow ones are ok. Tasty but not too spicy - wonder what is written on them? It HAD been practical to learn to read Thai......
[Pic from a block away from my hotel in Bangkok - but easier to put here...]
Things are sort of stabilizing. Up rather early - 6 today, I had the fan on at its weakest over night, but do not really like the wind. So up, closed fan, opened door to get the fresh morning air and some bird song. I tried to sneak again in on the 10-minute net, got some mails down but could not send. The hotel girl I have talked to, will check about getting internet to the room and maybe come and tell me in the afternoon what will be. I got mail from them with what I expected - that they have bridges/amplifiers for 3500B they can put up to get better signal, and then pay per hour.
There is a Swedish restaurant the other side of this block I am told, Soppköket "The Soup Kitchen", where they also have free wireless internet, but I feel no desire at all for Swedish food so..... Maybe it is stupid not to check, maybe there I could get some variety of my usual morning of coffee and a pack of instant noodles - like some real noodle soup......
[From the famous Popiang, my usual hangout in Bangkok.]Health? Slowly improving I guess, still some lid over the ears, but maybe a tiny bit better in one of them?
My routine - well, had a beach walk yesterday at 5PM, better than in the morning when it is totally empty, but still too early to pick up some spits of food along the pavement in some food stall, so today I will take my walk a bit later. Should go to internet - Soppköket??? For a coffee or something at lunchtime??? Michael, the Swedish guy, said it is open from early morning until 6PM.
Michael passed and ah well - sat talking in Soppköket for a few hours to a bunch of Swedish guys. Was ok enough for a change..... ฺ3 young guys passing quickly by, the owner, a Swedish guy who has lived here for 5 years, former high school teacher, got trouble with a new boss and moved here. A number of retired people, some because of age [too much], some because of health [too little], also one guy around 50, who worked here in the housing business, housing for Swedes who want to buy a bungalow or small house here. He is making something like 30000 kronor a month on that - told about his boss here, who - ah well - just had written 400.000 kronor of "expenses" on the company, so they were now keeping a close watch on him, on the other hand he was the one with all the contacts with the right persons that is absolutely necessary here in the Wild East.......
Back to the room, nap, out for a walk then dinner of prawn and mushroom salad - imm laew - full now! Hm, bar life outside, but I do not really register it.Still not lots of tourists, wonder how many there will be for Christmas.
I also passed the hotel, talked to the girl, she had called about internet for me, they should call back but still had not. Let's see tomorrow. That gal is nice, good English, the same age as my wife, got an English bf. I wonder what is wrong with the Thai guys - all Thai girls one meets, almost, prefers Western guys???
Rather tired but that is reasonable - at least I am at the best place to recover.
Dec 19, 10:30
Breakfast executed, coffee and noodles, surprise, surprise. Soon I will go out in the sun, down to 7/11 for a change, I remember they have a bit of different things compared to the MiniMart here.
Feel reasonable today, slept fairly well, back in Sweden I almost never sleep the night through but first a nap of 2-3 hours, then up doing things for a few hours. Here it has been very mixed, better with a siesta when it is hottest.
I paid for 60 hours of internet but still no amplifyer - maybe I will get it today, someone wanted to sell his for 500B, new, otherwise it costs 3500B.
14:00
I walked my round, found nowhere to sit and rest - the restaurant at the sea has invented high steps impossible for me to use. Back to 7/11, Yui called meanwhile. Early in Lund, but she felt lonely. Also got a can of Heineken so rested on the bench outside the shop with that, looking at pretty girls. I wonder - the authorities here must get a LOT of tourist money, not that one sees what they are used for. Put up a school for all the girls here with maximum 6 years of schooling, so they must go there 2 hours a day........
In front of me some small round bars, at the pavement a small temple to pray at, The biggest and highest of the bars - hm - in the top sits a normal Christian cross! Makes the tourists feel at home I guess.
During my beach walk a kid smiled up at me, and his mama said "hi Santa, got a gift for me?" I suppose my hairy face has a neutral position looking friendly.
Yui called shortly while I took my walk, hm, worried at 5AM? Yes, had been much better if she had been along. Working on our laptops. Having a bungalow - they are not expensive, one can have a decent one permanently for 5000B/month, the only trouble being that I cannot go there without motorbike. I wonder what it would cost to rent one of those jeeps? Probably more than the 4000B for a motorbike for a month.
I do not have to remind that there are 5B for a Swedish Krona, huh.
Hm, one of the pretty cleaning gals waved and smiled, but no comment about Santa..... I had some plans to go for shopping before my nap, then somebody opened the tap. Some calm, but then when I was almost on its way it poured down again, noisily, now it is sunshine.
Dec. 20, 10:45
Finally! Half an hour go two friendly guys came banging on my door, and now it seems the Internet is up at full speed! 1500B for the bridge, I had to configure and guess a bit, but now it seems fine! No, it did not work out of the box as suggested but - well - with intuition based on 25 years of computer experiences, no deal. Now I just have to learn to disconnect, as I pay for every minute..... Sending this, then disconnect!
2007-11-25
Caught a Cold, damn.....
I have hardly had a cold this year, have not met a lot of people after all, but NOW... I was out shopping Friday, after my evening nap I started to feel a sore throat! Now Sunday, tomorrow I go - good that Yui packed most of the stuff yesterday, so just making a check today so I have not taken anything I do not need - but the real necessary stuff like the medicines in the little backpack. That, the laptop and some junk food for the waiting in the airports.
I have some shrimp cakes for breakfast, not tried that before. She found a packet in the Asian food shop in Malmö, so I got it now with a sauce of fish sauce, chili and garlic, very tasty! The shrimps smaller than the usual one gets here in Sweden but not quite as small as the jumping shrimps one eats in Thailand, where you have to hunt them with the chopsticks.
Evening, the progress of this cold, ah well, woke up from my nap coughing, immediately Yui wanted help to translate a bit of Buddhism to English and Swedish and I got headache again. Well, she had made a translation to English, her English is ok but up to writing reliigious texts, while I tried to avoid making it sound too Christian. She sent one version to the monk residing in the temple here out in the countryside, and got some suggestions back - he knows English well enough and has been here - 2 years or so.
I have some shrimp cakes for breakfast, not tried that before. She found a packet in the Asian food shop in Malmö, so I got it now with a sauce of fish sauce, chili and garlic, very tasty! The shrimps smaller than the usual one gets here in Sweden but not quite as small as the jumping shrimps one eats in Thailand, where you have to hunt them with the chopsticks.
Evening, the progress of this cold, ah well, woke up from my nap coughing, immediately Yui wanted help to translate a bit of Buddhism to English and Swedish and I got headache again. Well, she had made a translation to English, her English is ok but up to writing reliigious texts, while I tried to avoid making it sound too Christian. She sent one version to the monk residing in the temple here out in the countryside, and got some suggestions back - he knows English well enough and has been here - 2 years or so.
2007-11-24
Going in two days
Saturday morning, we slept late. Then we took a few pictures - I was off shopping yesterday, earphone with mic to bring along, a half-liter water boiler for coffee and noodle water, and a small table tripod for the camera. Always thought I should get one, so we just tested it - works!
I am the one with the spots in the face... When I was to the skin doc, for a yearly checkup after the malign melanom I cut away 2-3 years ago, he checked all spots in the face, nothing threatening, but as I was anyway there, he used the freeze spray to kill them with frost - so once it has healed and fallen off I will look as well as new! Wished I could do the same with the stomach.
I am the one with the spots in the face... When I was to the skin doc, for a yearly checkup after the malign melanom I cut away 2-3 years ago, he checked all spots in the face, nothing threatening, but as I was anyway there, he used the freeze spray to kill them with frost - so once it has healed and fallen off I will look as well as new! Wished I could do the same with the stomach.
So - when we were at the archive Wednesday we were nicely celebrated, the web design company of the family Haglund... The Landsarkivarie talked about this new project - the boss of my old work place that takes care of all old documents from southern Sweden, has the duty to preserve them the next thousand years, and also make them accessible for people who want to study them. And to save on the wear and tear of the original documents - this way to do research and have all of the material online and not only registers of them, as is usual, was considered a bit of a first. Culture personalities, historical researchers, especially those doing research about Linné, and also the present-day representative of the family of the man who had written lots of corrections and additions to the Linné Travel in Southern Sweden, both the book and the notes 250 years old, was there. He had lent the book to the archive for scanning. The following day they wrote about the event in SDS, the biggest daily paper in southern Sweden. http://sydsvenskan.se/skane/article281512.ece
You can find it also in my server http://arqivariet.no-ip.info where lots of other historical documents reside.
The consequences are of course that we will hopefully get more similar jobs in the future - it is Yui's company and I am inofficial consultant, as I am retired because of my bad health. 50 years of diabetes and kidneys on the way to dialysis DOES make my body tired, but as long as the brain has not collapsed, I am allowed to use it, no?
Later in the day - we have packed and double-checked the medicine I have to bring along, More than half the little back-pack only for that - it starts to be worn so should buy a new one, a step bigger, in Bangkok. I am ot gonna put the medicines in the big travel bag - things there I CAN lose, but the other one I want to watch all the time.
You can find it also in my server http://arqivariet.no-ip.info where lots of other historical documents reside.
The consequences are of course that we will hopefully get more similar jobs in the future - it is Yui's company and I am inofficial consultant, as I am retired because of my bad health. 50 years of diabetes and kidneys on the way to dialysis DOES make my body tired, but as long as the brain has not collapsed, I am allowed to use it, no?
Later in the day - we have packed and double-checked the medicine I have to bring along, More than half the little back-pack only for that - it starts to be worn so should buy a new one, a step bigger, in Bangkok. I am ot gonna put the medicines in the big travel bag - things there I CAN lose, but the other one I want to watch all the time.
Prenumerera på:
Inlägg (Atom)
