Well, it was so hard leaving Koh Phangan that I ended up missing my bus for Bangkok on Thursday morning. I took the next bus and arrived back in Bangkok last night. It is equally hard to leave Thailand but I have just discovered that I have unfinished business here and the Universe has conspired to make it impossible for me to leave for at least another 2 weeks. Here's what's happened...
After booking my flight to India for Monday 6th, I realised that my Indian visa has expired and it takes 7 working days for a new one. Add to this the forthcoming Thai and Indian public holidays and I can't leave until at least the 15th October. However, my Thai visa expires on the 10th. So I've cancelled my India flight and on Monday I'll go to Thai immigration for a 15-day extension. Then I'll hand over my passport for the India visa application which should be through on the 15th.
In the meantime, I'm hanging out in Bangkok for a few nights which I'm quite happy about. Bangkok has the very surprising effect of making me feel completely relaxed. Despite being right in the centre of the bar/backpacking district, I am able to unwind here and manage to sleep really well. I think it is, conversely, the noise and anonymity that somehow chills me out. Maybe it's also because I don't feel like I'm missing out on much if I stay in and read/sleep as the bars here don't really appeal to me. Whereas on Koh Phang Nan I wanted to be out all the time and was addictively drawn to the beach/pool/moon/after parties which went on constantly. Which was not particularly healthy and I started getting the strong feeling that I needed to leave the islands. So, here I am chilling out in Bangkok. Which is wonderful because...
Two of my friends are arriving tomorrow! Mike is flying out from London. I met Mike in Morzine where I went skiing last Christmas and he saw that I was in Thailand on Facebook and got in touch. And Lughaidh, from Ireland, whom I met in Vietnam just after I received the news about my gran. I couldn't have asked for a nicer person at a difficult and potentially lonely time. Lughaidh was literally the shoulder to cry on, a role he performed admirably while I bawled into my Witbier at The Lousiane Brewery where we ended up spending most of our time in Nhatrang. He even continued to be wonderful after I nearly killed him by running him over with a Hobie on the day that I decided we'd go sailing in memory of Babitchka. Admittedly I probably should have hit the Witbier after the sea but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
So I'm really excited about seeing them both and in the meantime I'm reading and sleeping a lot. If anyone's interested, I can recommend Private Dancer, by Stephen Leather. It's about an English guy who falls in love with a Thai bargirl / dancer and shows an interesting multiway take on the different cultures told from the perspectives of the different characters.
The other reason why I now understand that the Universe wanted me to stay in Thailand a little longer is that my sister-in-law (whom I've only met once) and nephew (who I've never met) are both here, in Northern Thailand. Just when I've got a) two more weeks here with no plans and b) am finished with the South. So I'm going to enjoy Bangkok for the weekend, enjoy catching up with reading, sleeping and my two lovely friends before doing my visa stuff on Monday and heading out to the countryside for a family visit, maybe next week. This in itself will be a fantastic new experience as Pon, my sister-in-law, is from a remote rural village and I haven't as yet had any 'real' Thai exposure.
Well, that's all the news for now. I'm going to head off for a stroll in the glorious afternoon sunshine and get my laundry done before having a bite to eat. I hope you're all well and happy and look forward to your emails (hint...hint!) Love Lx
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