Just Don't Think About It...

This blog was actually written on Friday, September 18th, however we have not had any internet access in the dorm since then either. Or water for a short time there... But that's another story all together! I seem to have "tricked" the internet into letting me use this site and am crossing my fingers and toes that it lets me post this!!!

UPDATE: My ankles have finally returned to me! I’ve chalked their return up to one of two things. First, they were mad at me for abusing and overworking them but then got over and came back, or I expelled that much fluid over the last 12 hours that my body just sucked it from wherever it could. More on that later. The good news is I no longer have cankles and look like a normal person again!

I also want to apologise if these postings are a little long-winded. I’ve decided that it’s better for me if I write as much as I can because, let’s face it, I’m getting old and my memory isn’t what it used to be! If I write a lot, it’s all recorded somewhere for me to read when the Alzheimer’s kicks in! And if you don’t like it, well, too bad really.

So we left yesterday (Thursday) for our beach break in Hua Hin which is about 3 hours away from our dorm by bus. We had found that we could catch an air-conditioned bus from Bangkok so we all made our way there to find ourselves on a bus that was from the 1970’s at best. And not even close to being air-conditioned. Suffice to say, we were pretty hot and sweaty when we finally arrived. For those of you, like me, have never heard of Hua Hin, it’s a coastal town that is famous for its night markets and known to be one of the favourite holiday spots for the Thai royal family. To make a long story short, we had lunch, wandered around, checked out the markets, had a cocktail or two and then made our way to sit on the beach and have a few drinks before heading back to the hotel around midnight. Around 4 a.m. I woke up violently ill. Shakes, vomiting, the works! So today, while everyone else spent the day at a beautiful beach, I became well acquainted with the bathroom and a rubbish bin. Lovely.

In between contorting my body into positions a gymnast would be proud of while writhing in pain and mad, panicked dashes to the toilet, and watching last weekend’s AFL matches (thank you Australia Network!) I started feeling majorly sorry for myself. I just wanted my bed, in my bedroom at home, my mum and my dog. Pathetic, really. So to snap myself out of it, I grabbed my notebook (thank you Mila!!!) and came up with the following lists (you will notice that a few of these are interrelated):

Observations About Thailand/Thai people:
1a – Thai people giggle a lot. Especially when they can’t understand what I’m saying. They don’t actually try to work out what I’m saying, they just giggle. Even the men.
2a – Thailand has an almost obscene amount of restaurants, food stalls, 7/11’s, cafés, coffee stands etc. I can’t quite work out if most of them sell the same, or similar, products and therefore, how they make any money and stay in business.
3a – There also seems to be a large number of petrol stations about the place.
4a – Thai people have a corn fetish. You can buy it on the cob from a street vendor, in bread, as a yoghurt or ice cream flavor, even in milk form!
5a –Some Thai people seem to be somewhat captivated by the way some of us “farang” (foreigners) look. Especially if we have blonde hair, or blue eyes.

Things I Love About Thailand:
1b – The fact that I can get a meal anywhere, anytime, for around $1.00 (see 2a).
2b – The ever-present state of total chaos. Cars driving on the wrong side of the road, people cramming into buses until there is not one spare inch of space etc.
3b – The kids! (see 1c!!)
4b – Premade Milo’s that are just so damn good frozen!

Things I Am Being Forced To Accept But Will Never Understand:
1c – Why I think Thai kids are adorable. I don’t like children (I don’t want to hold your baby) but for some reason, kids here just have to smile at me and I want to hug them. It’s quite unnerving for someone like me.
2c – The rat that is apparently living in our kitchen and the gecko that is living in my room. There is absolutely nothing I can do about either of these things, I don’t get why they’re here, and I just have to suck it up. It is things like this that have created our rule of “just don’t think about it”.
3c – That at any given moment of any day my nostrils can, and will be, assaulted by some kind of offensive odour. Like dried shrimp. Or some unidentified stench that just comes out of nowhere.
4c – The seemingly enormous gap between socio-economic groups. One second you have a brand new BMW or Audi driving past, the next it’s an entire family crammed onto a dodgy looking motorbike that may or may not have been used in World War II.
5c – The crazy manner in which people drive (see 2b!). Call me crazy, but I just don’t think it’s entirely safe to be driving a bus from the dark ages in the middle of two lanes, while going at least 120 kilometres an hour and talking on your mobile phone. And surely if you’re a cab driver who goes so fast that you’re occasionally airborne, you should probably be driving a car with seatbelts.
6c – The amount of attention that my lily-white skin, reddish hair, and blue eyes seem to get. Flattering at times, creepy at others. I understand that I am incredibly pale; however this in itself does not give you permission to stare, take photos or point. All of which I have experienced. I would be interested to see how people here would react to an Albino…
7c – How air-conditioning can mean one of two things: a barely-working system that is several decades’ old, or freezing cold. There is no middle ground.

Anyway, after making my little lists, I decided it was best to head back to my dorm to wallow further in self-pity at my run of bad luck (stolen phone, allergic reaction to anti malarial meds, idiot immigration officer at the airport who stamped my passport incorrectly meaning I have to take a trip to the Immigration Office in Bangkok next week, getting sick and not being able to go to the beach etc). On the bright side, I can have full use of the laundry facilities tomorrow and not be caught up in the rush when everyone else gets back! Therein lays the silver lining!

Loving and missing you all back at home!!! xoxo