Category: Thailand 2019

A long-ish weekend was exactly the spur I needed to break out of the recent rut.

Mid-way through my 3rd month here at the Wiang Walee, the same four hotel room walls are beginning to lose their charm.

And although Ban Chang isn’t the glamour capital of Thailand, it provided the escape I needed.

So why Ban Chang? It’s close, about 40km away, and is within the same Rayong province. This is important because it means the trip doesn’t need to be reported to Immigration. Had I travelled outside the province I would have needed to report my movements to the Thai Government, which is now enforcing the 40-year-old TM30 statute which tracks foreigners’ movements.

It’s a baby-step back toward honing my travel chops, in preparation for a trip further afield next week, when teachers take paid holidays. I’m not sure yet where I’ll head, but it’ll likely be in Thailand.

That’s because the plan right now is to leave Thailand for Vietnam on or around November 1.

Another minor reason for Ban Chang was its Expats ‘market’. But in contrast to the usual sprawling & bustling football-field-sized Thai markets, this was a small bathroom-sized shop. It’s expensive but among my purchases were a tin of Salmon. Nowhere else in Thailand have I found tinned fish of varieties I like without the marketers packing it full of sugar.

For the record, I stayed at the Suchanan Hotel & Spa for 700 baht. Comfortable bed, good balcony and view, good location, and good service. Maybe I struck them on a bad night, but the internet connection kept dropping out, which was maddening for someone trying to work online. Still, I’d probably go there again.

I discovered today that there are upsides to being in the Back of Beyond.

One of which is that hard-to-come by medications can be cheap as chips. Or not.

Metformin

Two examples of the former are Metformin, which is sounding like the new anti-ageing wonder-drug.

At least, Harvard anti-ageing researcher David Sinclair has copped to ( on Joe Rogan ) taking it daily. In his new (audio)book, Lifespan, Sinclair casually mentions that it is available only on prescription ( for diabetics ) in most countries, but is freely available over the counter in some places, such as Thailand.

As some will know, I need all the help I can get in the anti-ageing department. So 15 minutes after hearing this, I was on my scooter down the road to the nearest chemist. Ten minutes and 30 baht later, voila.

GABA

The other med which also seems easy to get is GABA, a (legal in most places ) psychoactive pill which promotes stable and relaxed moods and emotions. I ordered this around 10 years ago in New Zealand without a problem.

But the second ( and third ) time it was stopped at customs. We can’t, after all, have happy and relaxed people. The last time, I got a nasty letter from Customs warning me that I’d be prosecuted if I tried again to import it. I didn’t.

Smoking

In the ‘impossible’ category, though, are nicotine patches, which can’t be had here for love or money. OK, maybe for money – a lot of it. Around 800 baht, so I hear, for a few patches, and only in larger cities.

Smoking is widespread here. It’s common to see blokes on motorcycles chugging away on fags. My guess is that smoking is a money-spinner for the Government, which is thus reluctant to subsidise something to help stomp it out. Case in point : vaping is illegal – they haven’t yet figured out how to tax it.

… doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

It’s an old line, but it fits. A colleague found this Friday on a high-profile jobsite;

That’s my job, in case you missed the point. And, they’re hoping to replace me with two teachers. And there was me thinking that the long hours I was putting in to cope were all down to inexperience and ineptitude.

Maybe a little, but managing 400+ students over 15 different classes, and six different year-groups is not trivial. Of course, many teachers do it, but some probably have years of experience, and are working in their home countries.

So I’ve had enough of the grind. Just today finished totting up course marks over those 400 students. It should be time for a breather, and so it is for many teachers at work.

But, with the axe handing over my head, I now have a dilemma. Do I cruise and wait for it to fall? And hope the school honour the notice specified in the contract, or pay in lieu?

OR, do I pull the plug myself, and head for greener pastures in, for example, Vietnam?

I’m looking, but for all I know the decision may be taken out of my hands tomorrow. Watch this space.

There’s a chill in the air as I make my ritual trip down to the “Se-When” ( 7-11 ) for my morning Espresso.

As before, Google claims it’s 26 deg C, but it feels more like the 20s. I like it.

A small mobile city recently delayed my entrance to the school of a morning.

It was a case of truth being stranger than the fiction of the movie Mortal Engines

For those who haven’t had the privilege, here’s that movie’s plot summary. Cities are mobile monoliths on wheels. The larger ones swallow the smaller. The mayor of the city ( Hugo Weaving ) of London is marauding about swallowing everything it can in a bid for world domination.

So when the school hired a fleet of buses to move students to wherever, it felt the need to hire the mobile cities above.

It’s anyone’s guess what these cost, but it’s a fairly safe bet that they’re paying top dollar for the above cities, complete with gargoyles and decorations.

And never mind any consideration of a budget, or the state of the roads. By the latter, I mean that many of the roads here could be mistaken for alleyways back home. They’re narrow, uneven, often paved with cracked concrete and bumps aplenty.

Which means that the monsters above are about the least practical form of transport one could use for Thailand roads.

But never mind all that. It’s the same syndrome as a former ( Indian ) flatmate who owned an Audi, but couldn’t afford to buy gas – appearances count for more than reality.

One day he ran out of gas at home, and tried to jump-start the car. It was an automatic.

For the first time since the June 18th bike accident, I took my carcass for a ‘run’.

And belying the Sympathy Chorus from the local stray dogs, it really wasn’t that painful.

Maybe it was chow time at the nearby monastery ( circa 5pm ), and the strays were harmonising with the bells.

Maybe they were singing for their supper. It’s more than likely a regular occurrence. Rayong is a little like Hunger City – 70,000 people-oids, and maybe half as many stray dogs.

These  dogs aren’t the mangy specimens you might expect – they’re lean, muscular, survival machines. You could go 10-pin bowling with their balls. They’ll be out in force at dawn, likely because that’s when the roadside stalls fire up their bbq’s. During the heat of the day, they’ll be lying around in gangs under the nearest shade. Come dusk / dinnertime, they’re back on the prowl.

Oh, and the run?  Not too bad for the longest effort since the accident. No pain. I’ll be under 50 mins for 5k in no time….