I was terribly remiss about writing in the month of October. Vacation. Flying. Returning. Re-settling. I will try to make up for it…

10.6.12-10.8.12

I know it may seem strange to some when I say “I’m leaving Thailand to go on vacation!” 

Keep in mind, I live here. Which means I have a routine. I go to work, I ride mini-vans, I eat, I sleep. Just like home. I can leave the area of Hat Yai and Songkhla to go on mini vacations, but it would be the same as leaving Fort Collins and going to Denver or Grand Junction for a holiday. It just doesn’t quite do the trick.

The anticipation of this trip nearly killed me. OK, maybe not nearly or even remotely caused me harm, but it felt like it. The last week was the slowest of the last four months. Mostly because I had absolutely, positively nothing to do at work. The students took their finals the last week of September. I graded all the exams. I entered all attendance and marks in the database. I did the extra database entry that they didn’t tell me I needed to do in the first place and finished Raf’s work since he had been sent to Krabi to fill in. And I still had nothing to do past Monday afternoon. But I still had to go to the school every morning (italics are my friend). On the plus side, it afforded me the opportunity to try out the wens to see if they could get me to school on time. I would like to not spend 6,000 baht a month on getting to school (now that Pat is gone, I would be covering 300 baht, five mornings a week). Luckily, it worked out. I do have to leave a little earlier, but that’s no problem. I wake up on my own by 5:00 or 5:30am anyhow. Which is ridiculous. Since the wen doesn’t go near my school, I had the driver let me off at Jiranakorn Stadium and I took a motorbike the rest of the way. Funny thing. If I say “Jiranakorn”, they won’t stop. But, if I say “Seven” (for the 7-11 across the street), they stop on a dime.

Then I take a motorbike over the bridge and down Raduthit to HIC. Glad I got the commute worked out and I don’t need to move in to Hat Yai.

But I digress. The trip.

Spencer requested a new backpack, so I got him one like mine. It worked out well. Even though I still had to take my camera backpack, it fit inside his new bag. My only conundrum is that I had to check the bag with my clothes in it. Couldn’t call either of the backpacks a ‘personal item’. I put my laptop in the new backpack with the camera, which was fine for this portion of the trip. On the way home, however, I would only have one bag. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to check it. I’m very leery about checking my laptop. I know how luggage gets handled.

The first part of the journey was getting from Hat Yai to Bangkok. One night in Bangkok (cue song). There was no playing of chess and it didn’t make me crumble, however. My flight out of BKK was at 6am the following day and took me on to Narita (three hour layover) and then on to Guam (9:30pm arrival). The place I stayed in BKK (Thong Ta Resort & Spa) was really close to the airport and had a free shuttle. These were the two main reasons I chose it. There was also free wifi and it was very quiet. Bonus!

I met up with Liz (Andrew Biggs’ Texan cousin) at MBK in Bangkok. We both had taken the same TEFL course online, but this was the first time we were meeting in person. We went for sushi, gabbed, and browsed around the mall. In case you didn’t know, MBK is seven stories with the movie theater on the top floor. They give you a five-page, double-sided directory when you enter. I would be revisiting MBK on my way back through Bangkok. Christmas shopping!

The flight to Guam wasn’t super terrible, except that with the time difference and the lay-over in Tokyo I didn’t arrive until 9:30-ish pm. I had them divert my bag when we laid over, having realized that it was checked all the way through to Kwajalein. There was no way I could have traveled on the 8th in second-day airplane clothes and without my toiletries. It was strange entering the customs area and seeing “Welcome to the United States”. At this point it also occurred to me that I wouldn’t be getting a new stamp in my passport. Damn.

I called my hotel for the shuttle after collecting my bag. That is when they notified me it would be $10 for the shuttle. This was not disclosed in the listing. I consented since I didn’t have much choice and waited for 30 minutes for it to arrive. Very humid and sticky even at 10pm. I was thoroughly unkempt when I arrived at the hotel.

While checking in, I noticed the sign on the counter that said I would have to pay $5 for one hour of internet or I could buy 10 hours (I don’t remember how much that was). This put me out because the free wifi in the listing was one of the reasons I booked the place. That and the shuttle that had not been listed as costing anything. Two strikes. I put in my wake-up call and requested the shuttle for the morning. Since I was taking it round-trip, it would only cost me $15. Do you know how far I could get in Thailand for $15?! I had hoped to get a good night’s sleep, but that was not in the cards. I don’t know if it was a live band or just a sound system (it sounded live) and I couldn’t tell you exactly where it was coming from because it was dark outside (probably from the restaurant on the property), but I was kept awake by reggae. Welcome to my personal hell. All I could hear were indistinct vocals and bass guitar thumping in to my room. When the band went on break, someone in their infinite wisdom decided to play electronic music. Very loudly. I laid awake for about an hour before I finally called the front desk to ask to be moved to another room. That was not possible as there was apparently no other room to move me to. In the end I probably got three hours of actual sleep before getting up at 5am to get ready for the flight. Strike three.

The next part of the excruciatingly long trip was to go from Guam to Kwajalein Atoll where Spencer was waiting. I was on an island hopper, so there were stops on Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae before I got there. Land. Take all your stuff out of the overhead. Stay on the plane or go to the transit terminal. Forty minutes on the ground before the next stop. Each island.

I was the only one stopping on Kwajalein. It is military, so no one except those with clearance can even get off the plane. There is no transit terminal. And I had the clearance.

Disheveled and exhausted, I finally arrived on Kwajalein Atoll with Spencer and plumeria waiting for me on the other side of the security fence.