| | When preparing to travel in Thailand, find a Night Market where you can buy a collection of samurai swords. The best deal has all three blades and a stand for them that you can set up in a room where you have no room for the rest of your stuff that will be left behind in the move, including the three samurai swords you added to your blade collection.
I wasn't over the crankiness of the past week when I called the home office in Bangkok to find out my travel arrangements. Instead of going to Phrae, which is two hours from Chiang Mai, I am told that I am going to Roi Et. I look at the map of Thailand for Roi Et, and then settle into a depressive crash that will take a few days to recover from, but which will continue on a long shallow glide into the jaws of death itself.
Isaan comes from the name Ishana, the Hindu god of death and one form of Shiva. On the map, Isaan takes up the eastern 1/3 of the country of Thailand, and is bordered by Laos on the north and east, and Cambodia on the south. It is ten hours south of Chiang Mai by bus. There are only two temperatures in Isaan: hotter than the rest of Thailand, and shut up and drink your water. I just got home, and now I was moving further south than I was prepared for.
Thursday morning I bought my bus ticket to Bangkok. That night I packed my computer, cameras, duffle bag wtih some books, and two suitcases, then got a songtaew to the bus station where one suitcase zipper failed. I had fifteen minutes to get from one side of the bus station to the other, and I didn't have any tape. I got some help, loaded everything onto another songtaew, and made it from point A to point B, where I got my ticket. The songtaw driver took care of the tape and busted suitcase. We made it with a few minutes to spare. But my temper was shot. The anger I had at the busted suitcase elevated my stress levels that would affect me for three days.
I didn't sleep well on the bus to Bangkok. When we arrived, I had to take a taxi to a different bus station. At the other bus station things fell apart as I didn' t remember correctly details made at the travel agent's office the day before. My temper didn't want to be controlled, so it took some time to calm down. I placed a phone call, and found out that I was not going to the city of Roi Et, but the province. The city I was told to go to was Suwannaphum.
I got my ticket. I got help with the baggage. I got on the bus. I don't remember if I got any sleep on the seven hour bus trip or not. Around 2:30pm or maybe a little later, I got off the bus as the teachers I was going to work with got on the bus going to Ubon Ratchithani. The bombardment of questions from tuk-tuk drivers didn't help me make sense of the situation as I called the lady I was told to call. In a few minutes I got to where I was supposed to go, and I tried to relax. Around 5:00pm, three teachers I would be working with arrived, and we spent nearly an hour talking. Around 6:30pm, I took a nap, waking up around 11:00pm to use the restroom.
Friday I went to the school where I am to teach. I meet three students, and I am introduced to three student teachers, university students who are planning to teach English after they grauduate. After we finished at school they took me to a tailor's shop to have two shirts made. I also bought a guitar, since my other guitar is still in Chiang Mai. It was out of tune when I bought it, and I can't find pitch pipes or an electronic tuner in this town.
I called friends in Bangkok to see if they knew anyone who attended an SDA church in this area. I was given a number for a Filipino who lives about an hour from here. We weren't able to meet in Roi Et, since I didn't know where the bus station in this town was.
Saturday was a controlled crash that I managed to crawl out from. It just took a while. Strange city, no information, no map, nothing that was of a help to me. Just a lot of questions I didn't have answers to, and no meaningful Internet connection. Between Saturday and Sunday I managed to reset.
Sunday was a better day. i was rested, and spent some time with the husband and wife English teachers from South Africa. Things calmed down a lot for me that day. All that was left was to count down the hours to the start of school.
|
| | Posted 5/24/2009 5:13 AM - 15 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
