6.2.12

I was right. Today was a better day. Much.

Woke up early and finally finished watching Quantum of Solace. Knew that Ying was planning to pick us up at around ten to go to the zoo and the beach. None of us were too keen on going. They seem to feel the need to escort and entertain us constantly. I think we all just wanted a day to be able to relax and explore and do our own thing.

Patricia needed to get on the internet to take care of changing a flight that was scheduled for next week. I needed to get a cell phone as I still hadn’t gotten one and I think that was adding to my feeling of isolation. If I wasn’t with the teachers, I had no way of getting hold of them. When Ying arrived (with our driver and four children in tow), we (tried to) let her know that we needed to find a cyber cafe, gaming center, internet cafe, public computers, whatever you want to call it. She took us to LiWiWat. I was still not feeling very well. We made a plan to rendezvous in the arcade on the 4^th floor at noon. Patricia went off to try and find a cyber cafe. Tom wanted some KFC followed by Dairy Queen. I just tagged along with him.

Side note: KFC. Fast food isn’t in Thailand what it is in the States. Yes, you still order at the counter and take your food to your table. BUT, they have attendants to get you things that you may need and they have stations that provide real plates and flatware. There is also typically a hand-washing station, since napkins aren’t really a thing here.

Eventually, I just went up to the third floor by myself and found a counter selling cell phones. Found a basic Samsung and SIM card. In total including about 115 minutes? About 860 baht. That’s about $27.16. Nice. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done for cheap. It doesn’t store the phone number in the phone anywhere so Tom wasn’t sure what his number was. You have to store your number as a contact if you need to find it at some point in time. Or call someone and have them tell you what the number is. Which is what happened here. I already had mine memorized. But I stored it in my phone anyhow. Got Tom his number and then found Patricia and had her call me as well. Ok. I would now be able to get a hold of them if I needed. I was already feeling much better.

When Ying came round, we were all still in need of public internet access with computers (as none of us had our laptops on us). It was like pulling teeth to get across what we needed. Driving around in the car, she kept calling Khun Tip (which we repeatedly asked her not to) to translate what we needed. Still didn’t get the meaning across. She called the boyfriend of a friend (blessed American accent!) and he told us that there should be plenty near the universities. Finally, Patricia showed Ying an address to be dropped at so she could meet up with a Thai friend she had made the night before who spoke very good English and was meant to be taking her around to look for apartments. We were dropped off in front of the Buzz Stop. A bar owned by an Irishman. Tom went off to have a massage and Pat and I met up with her friend, Bee. We told her what we needed and she was able to take us right around the corner to a place where we could use the internet for 15 baht an hour. Hallelujah! It was packed with children who save up their allowances and then spend the weekend on the computer playing the newest online video games with their friends. There happened to be one computer open. Patricia’s need was the most pressing and she basically just needed to send an email with her number to her travel agent. Then she was off with Bee and I took over her computer. Unfortunately, it was about midnight/1am back home and Spencer wasn’t logged on to chat. So, I shot off an email or two, checked my website (didn’t have my drive to upload anything), updated my Facebook status, responded to some comments and then headed out the door.

I noticed that this place was right next door to Great Fun English Language Center. That would make it easier to find again. I was around the corner when I realized that I had left my plastic bag with my phone charger back at the computer place. As I was leaving for the second time and walking past the school, one of the Thai teachers/administrators walked out and started chatting me up. What was I in Songkhla for? Where was I from? Oh, you are teaching? How much are they paying you? Basically, she was trying to recruit me off the street. Her name was Anne and she spoke wonderful English. We talked for a while, she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and I told her that I would probably be back to visit her in the future.

I wandered in (what I hoped was) the direction of the ocean. It was a hot day and

I had not had the foresight to put on sunblock. I tried to stay on the side of the street that had “shade”. Unfortunately, once I started walking east, there was no shade. I happened to be able to make my way to Samila Beach. This is where we had lunch on Thursday. And it was covered in tourists. Thing is, there were only about five people in the water. We found out earlier that the Thais just don’t really go swimming. If they go to the beach, they are literally going to the beach, not the ocean. Well, I’m not Thai. I didn’t go swimming, as I didn’t have my suit with me, but you better believe I was in that water up to my knees. It was delightful. Decided that I would need to take Patricia and actually go swimming on Sunday. Figured it would do her a bit of good to get in the water and relax. I waded along the shore, found some cool shells, took some pictures and then decided to head back to our house. It was getting on 3pm and the rain was coming in. I actually had perfect timing, as it started to rain while I headed for the tuk-tuks. I told the driver my address and he said 40 baht for one person. I said no problem. He asked if I wanted the sides put down to block the rain. I said that I was fine and to leave them as they were. The rain felt glorious.

Got to the house, had a rinse, watched a movie (Angels & Demons) and wrote. Once I finished the movie and finished writing, I headed out to locate a cooler of some sort. Wanted a way to keep some cold stuff in the house so I wasn’t always having to buy one bottle of water at a time. Just wanted a simple Styrofoam job. No such luck. They didn’t have them at 7-11 so I wandered around the area to try to find one with no result.

Heading back to 7-11, I made a wrong turn. I’m used to living on a grid, so I figured this road would take me back to the street that 7-11 is on. Nope. I ran across a few different packs of dogs who regarded me with indifference. One pair was situated on top of a pile of unmixed concrete just having a nap. Encountered a couple of very nervous chickens (the chickens here are skinny and can fly) hanging out on a giant pile of old, split coconut shells. Next up was a pack of wild pigs. Fortunately, they didn’t have tusks and were far enough to the side that I didn’t seem to pose a threat. There were some shanties made from scrap wood and metal at the back of the property that the pigs occupied. Some women were washing clothes in the “lake” behind their shanties. At this juncture, I could see the end of the road ahead and it didn’t connect to anything. Guess I would be turning around. It wasn’t dark yet, but I realized that I had been clutching my purse the entire time even though there was no one around. I turned down the first street that led back to civilization. It had some of the largest and most opulent houses I have yet to see in Thailand. In between some absolute shacks. The contradictions here are never-ending.

Side note: call to prayer. This area is split pretty evenly between Buddhist and Muslim. Which means that at 6:30 there is a call to prayer over various loudspeakers. I hadn’t yet heard itsince I had been in the south. Either I wasn’t paying attention or I was asleep or indoors where I couldn’t hear it. Regardless, my wrong turn landed me in a quiet area and promptly at 6:30pm I was able to hear the call. It was beautiful and, since I could hear more than one, it was interesting to hear the different voices. The wrong turn wasn’t so bad after all.

Made it back to 7-11 and grabbed some orange Fanta, water, wafer cookies and a croissant sandwich. A boy about ten kept coming up to me and asking me something while making a shape like a ball with his hands. I told him I didn’t understand, but he kept coming up to me while I was walking around and while I was standing in line to check out. I still have no idea what he wanted.

Back at the house, I ate my croissant sandwich (I had bought two for breakfast and only eaten one, so I also ate the other for dinner) and watched the A-Team.

Patricia eventually returned home and had found some nice, furnished apartments in Songkhla around the area that we had been dropped off earlier. With A/C. And wi-fi. Yay! Tom and I were going to check them out on Sunday.

Good. We may have found our newer-new home.