Big Adventure - 17

Busy, busy, busy. Lots of new things to write about, but no time to write.

Tuesday 21 November 2006.
Back to Bangkok for another wasted day. Same drill as before - up at 4:45 to get the 6 am plane. This time though I see that they paid the equivalent of $120 each way - the same price as for the planes that leave at more humane times. Now I'm pissed I couldn't have gone later.

I told Kris I needed to go get the Apple store to look at my broken computer (that's another story) at 10 am, before I went to the office. He said no, they need me at the office at nine sharp to get going on my work permit and Visa. I went to the office for nine, planning to sit on my ass for an hour waiting for something to happen. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I only ended up sitting on my ass for 50 minutes, whereupon we (Gai and I) left by taxi for the work permit office.

The work permit office gave me an appointment to finish my application and get my permit on the 24th, three days from now. I assume that was the next available appointment. You can only GET an appointment by going there. Wow. Anyway, it will be no problem as long as I am in the Kingdom legally on that date. Of course I will not be, as today is the last day of the seven day extension granted on the ninety day Visa I got in Singapore 97 days ago, which was given so that I would have plenty of time to get all of this completed. So, now they will need to fly me back to Singapore (and pay the fine for my overstaying my 90 + 7 day visa), where I must spend two days getting another 90 day Visa, so that I can finish my application for a work permit. I figure I'll be back in Bangkok 90 days later, and then again 7 days after that, etc. The only silver lining is that we can apply for a Visa for Jacquie at the same time - as long as she accompanies me to Singapore.
Of course the folks at my firm doing the work blame all the mess on the unreasonable inflexibility of the Immigration office. We knew a week ago that I had to come back within seven days and why. So we waited until the seventh day. You've got to love the Thai efficiency.

So we got all of that nothing accomplished in the morning, and I was back at the office no further ahead by 11:45 am. No to Kris' lunch with client invitation so I can go get my computer looked at.

I did a recommended software update, and now it won’t start in Mac OS at all, even from a CD – only Windows. The genius at the Apple store thinks re-formatting the hard drive will fix it. I asked him why then it would not boot from the original CD (since you can do so with no hard drive at all if the computer is working) and he says that is puzzling. Yeah? Not to me. I take the computer and leave, no further ahead but no further behind. I will attempt further repair when Jacquie’s "new to her" laptop arrives – Bought on ebay from a guy in Australia. At least mine will boot into Windows, so while I find everything harder and slower to do, at least I have email and internet. So go ahead and laugh everybody – I am using Windows! Better than nothing, but only barely.

Driving in Bangkok - a game of inches. I believe that these guys would be excellent formula 1 drivers. When they got comfortable with trading paint they would be very impressive. On the freeway it is about the same as back home, in that there are some cars that go slow - though I have never actually been in one.

Central World has turkeys for sale on the Food Floor - about 3 bucks a pound. Jacquie is planning to have turkey for Christmas dinner. We already have a tree - a six foot fir tree growing in a pot - we are getting some mini lights and Jacquie is making ornaments with white shells, some ribbon and glue. I'll need to make my own eggnog I figure.

Back to the office. With no plan as to how, I am reassured that we will get all of this taken care of . I press and ask how and when.

I need to get to the airport for my 9 pm flight home, but I am instead waiting for them to prepare and print the paperwork needed to accompany the letter I drafted in the taxi back from the work permit office, all of which I must take to Singapore. I think and Kris agrees that going right away makes sense since the fine for overstaying my Visa is about $15.00 per day. They will book it for tomorrow (Wednesday) and confirm it with me in the morning. I finally get the stuff and hit only miner traffic, making my flight with 20 minutes to spare.

Wednesday 22 November 2006.
I am assured that flight booking info will be confirmed to me soon. Jacquie is at work (that too is another story) and waiting for me to confirm IF we are going, so she can come home early. We have both half packed just in case.

At 1:10 pm I can’t wait any longer and head off to pick up Jacquie just in case. At 1:15 I’m waiting with a hundred other people for the police to process my ticket for no helmet. Quite an operation. The fine was about 9 bucks ( a helmet costs 6) . I had to reassure the guy behind me in line that having it on the bike with him but not on his head would likely not be worth arguing. Thankfully they did not ask to see a passport or drivers license or ID of any kind, since I had none of those things. It will be less scary next time.

I turned back to get helmets, so we wouldn’t get two more tickets coming home (not surprisingly the road block was long gone by then anyway). Finally home, still no confirmation. Then Kris calls me and asks if I think we should go this week or next !!! I say it doesn’t matter to me, but the fine they will pay will be less this week. Okay, he decides we should go today. Again. Confirmation of flight finally arrives at about 3:20 – our flight goes at 4:35. Tickets are bought we are told; money for the hotel, etc has been deposited to my account – we will need to get and pay for that ourselves.

At the airport, they have no booking for us, so I must use my Visa (the credit card, not the right to stay in a country) and pay about $850 for our tickets. Then we arrive in Singapore – it’s 8 pm when we start walking from hotel to hotel with our increasingly heavy backpacks looking for a room. It seems they are getting more expensive at each place. By $450 per night we decide to return to the seems-like-a-good-deal-now $310 per night place, but they now only have a $480 room – the highest yet. The next cheapest – at $358 per night – is still available and we grab it. By now it has occurred to me that it would have been cheaper to do this next week, pay the fine but pre-book a hotel. Even $250 a night looks cheap now.

Friday 24 November 2006.
Short story conclusion: we had two wonderful days in Singapore at a beautiful hotel in an upscale room with lots of comps., and with only two quick trips across the street to the Thai Embassy we both got 90 day single entry Visas (the right to stay in a country, not the credit cards).

Oh, and we were one block from the Apple Store. I took my computer there Thursday morning, and in about 20 minutes the nice young man (probably not yet allowed in bars) had it working as good as new. No charge, no data loss. Sweet.

Saturday 25 November 2006.
Jacquie had planned to go in to work today to make up some lost time, but now has decided not to – she’ll go back Monday It seems she has decorating in her blood. She has a job offer to run the ‘Beautiful World’ Koh Samui showroom. They are a decorating company with stores in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Koh Phagnan and here on Samui, with a graphic designer and Interior Design team selling to large developers. She has agreed to try it for one month – till Mathew comes to visit – and help with inventory and merchandizing. Then she will decide if she will return to it in January or not. Already had a contractor on the island that I had met ask her last night (at a little wine and cheese we were invited to) to call him to talk. I think she will quickly be out billing me – if she wants. I think she is thrilled to again have a reason to get out of bed – beyond walking Sami on the beach and reading.

Jacquie did mention that the trip to Singapore was worthwhile from the perspective that the big city FULL of shopping made her more fully appreciate the peacefulness of our little island

I client of the firm, who also happens to be the landlord of this office – is here with his girlfriend (she would fit the mold perfectly if she was Thai – the fact that she is white gives it a Donald Trump feel ) and their two Golden Retrievers. Sami is enjoying the company tremendously, but by Sunday is looking a bit tired from all of the activity – he is a lot older than them.

Sunday 26 November 2006.
Finally, a chance to sit quietly and relax. I have written much of this while sitting on the beach in the shade of a coconut tree with my feet in the surf. Jacquie is beside me reading, and Sami is sleeping at our feet, half in the water and half covered in sand. Jacquie is going next door for a beach massage after Ja serves lunch. The busy week makes this all the sweeter. Perfection.