Mish Mash Tales...

I love storms. Especially electrical storms where you can just sit outside and watch the lightning. Of course it's not so much fun when you're actually stuck outside in the middle of one. Although on my adventurous walk home, I had a rather enormous grin on my face and kept guffawing about my crazy life....

J and I have pretty much decided to go back to Australia for a few years to live. Very easy to say, but putting that into action is quite the feat. Mountains of paperwork to work through, but the best part about applying for this visa in Thailand is that in this crazy ass country, if you want any of your original documents, you have to go to the original issuing office. There is no such thing as fax, post or email in this country apparently.

8 days ago, J arrived in Bangkok after a 17 hour minivan crushorama trip which took him 4 days to recover from stiff limbs and today, as we speak, he is on a bus going back 'home' for a 12 hour trip. Why does he have to travel over 1700km return trip so soon, you ponder? To pick up 2 pieces of paper. I kid you not. 1,700 kilometres people! FOR PAPER! Insanity. I can't even begin to tell of the drama vortex that is whisking us around in fluvial streamlets this week as it involves corruption, white lies, a midget, a wad of cash and a ceiling fan.

Oh, you're on the edge of your seat now aren't you?! To allude to the vortex... when Thai men reach the age of 20 they are required to go into a ballot to see if they have to serve in the army. Something about a red ball, you loose and have to serve for 2 years, or the black ball and you're free to go. Weeeellll, many a person (many a thousands of persons) in the country actually pay off officials to get out of the ballot...gasp, shock, horror, banish the thought of corruption in Thailand!! Well, yes, it does happen A.LOT.!! In order to serve in the army the minimum height is 160cm tall. If you're shorter, you can't serve. My husband is quite small (but not THAT small) and perhaps one day looooong ago, he may have been considered much shorter then he is now because no one actually physically measured them...and then there was that fan and the wad.. and that's all I'm saying about the matter!! Looong epic tales of woe anyhoo regarding the visa apps but tie in a bit of this story for a millispec of the details.

Back to adventure afternoon..I spent nearly 5 hours on buses today just travelling less then 20 km. The joy of Bangkok! One bus trip only costs 25 cents though, so can't complain about the price. The exhaust fumes on the other hand had me nearly retching. Advice to newbies in Bangkok...catch the air conditioned buses, it will add years to your life span.

Get this.. my trip from the Southern Bus Terminal to the closest bus stop to my place is between 12 -15 km, definitely not over. It took 3 hours for me to get home tonight. I left the terminal at 4.20pm and arrived at my door (~13 km away) at 7.30 pm! That includes the 15 minute walk in the torrential rain with lightning going off all around me also. The guffawing came when I turned into my street to find it a foot under water and traffic at a stand still. This flooding was the result of 3 hours of rain so I can't even begin to imagine what Bangkok is like in the rainy season.