I’m not sure why but it happens every time I go to Thailand: I become brainless. So I resolved to start off on a good foot.
Today I was up at 8 a.m., which for me is some kind of accomplishment. I could have rested on my laurels then and there. A bit of cleanup ensued. My 35 sq. metre serviced apartment on soi 22 Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, required some immediate re-organization. Make that organization, with clothing, shoes, odds and ends everywhere and anywhere.
I arrived from Tokyo late Friday night. Nothing to do but join a party already in progress at the Londoner on soi 33. Who can blame a guy who has been waiting eight long torturous months to return to the Land of Smiles.
Saturday involved checking out after one night at a soi 19 hotel and seeing if my apartment was ready or my reservation even given a moment’s thought. “No” to both questions. Surprised? Nope. However, it being the slow season, I got a place with a balcony. A must, as far as I am concerned. The manager showed me a nice place in the new wing but, no balcony, no deal. So they conferred with each other for 1 or 2 minutes and gave me my place. It’s 11,000 baht for a month, Internet included! (That’s $380 Canadian at this particularly unappealing currency juncture of 29 baht to the dollar..)
Time to reunite with the social scene and what a good time! That takes care of Saturday night and Sunday. I survived in reasonable shape, especially financially since some buds who I haven’t seen since last winter took it upon themselves to “take care of me.” Well, it did go beyond just buying me drinks.
Now, as you can see, that kind of activity could go for days and weeks and months. So back to Monday and need to steady the course, as the Brits would say.
I chose Bangkok for obvious reasons, at least to myself! Over the next month I have to do some exploring to see where I might live in Bangkok. But, and this is a mountainous BUT, I’m giving some thought to alternative sites and will visit the Pattaya-Jomtien area, which is cheaper to live and not far (2 hours) from the Big Bang. Somewhere down the road I will visit Chiang Mai (again) and Chiang Rai in the north. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Be it resolved: I will write. I am carrying out one promise. as you can see. At least five days a week, I plan to do some research, write this blog and work on other unnamed writing projects, including a related blog. Sorry, subject to be named later -- after much research. Yes, I’m putting this in print because I not only plan to do this but NEED to do this. Ya can’t do much with a mushy brain so you have to exercise it like anything else.
Be it resolved: I will keep up on the news, something I definitely lacked any interest in back home in Canada, what with no sympathy for local activity or any interest for that matter. (Hmmm, note to self: I have to go out and buy the local English papers.)
Be it resolved: I will do a better job of keeping up with my fave local (as in Thailand) blogs, especially Catherine’s “Women Learning Thai . . . and some men too.” Which leads me to . . .
Be it resolved: Take a more disciplined approach to learning the Thai language. You really can’t do that living in the tourist district of Bangkok. Yes, if I had the discipline, but I figure, with my laziness, I need to force myself by living in a real Thai neighbourhood. That ought to be hilarious grist for a few blog posts.
Those are some basic resolutions and probably enough to commit myself to, given some friends’ penchant for laughing at my plans.
And see how it’s taken me almost three days to finally put up a new post. That’s that slippery slope of brainlessness lurking in the background.
