Monday, November 25, 2013

Karong

Coffee. Real coffee is not an option.  At the store next to my hotel I found a convenience store that had over thirty varieties of instant coffee, all premixed with sugar and creamer.  I found one instant coffee that that was relatively unadulterated.  So I sit in the lobby of my hotel and plan the day.

I am having far more fun that it would appear based on my Facebook postings. Minor adversity has its humorous side and seems far more charitable than "I am on the beach, hope you poor bastards are enjoying driving through the slush to your cubicles." Here's your picture of the day. Would you?

If you took all the litter in Thailand and scattered it down a half kilometer of Bocas Town nobody would notice.

After my fish spa the woman dried off my feet with a towel that was still wet from the last person.  Yechh.

I need to get a lot of exercise.  Preferably some jungle trekking.  A brisk walk in flip flops is suboptimal and hiking boots are too hot and give rise to many weird looks.  Suitable shoes are readily available for a reasonable price, but damn, I am already carrying far too much stuff.

 Despite my inadequate footwear I took a long walk, returned to my room, changed and headed for the beach, which is just a few minutes from the hotel.  I doubt there isn't a beach front town on this entire island that isn't flooded with tourists.  The beaches are lined with comfortable chaise lounges with umbrellas for miles, three deep.  They are not isolated beaches in the jungle, but they sure aren't packed like South Beach in Miami.   An hour of swimming, several hours of reading, just chilling.  What to do with my stuff?  I was told to just leave it on my chair and that no one would disturb it.

 I really intended to go SCUBA diving but, well, I think I have reported on that.  I popped into a shop and inquired about a three day liveaboard but the woman knew nothing about it.  I asked her if it was possible to get real coffee.  She had no idea what I was talking about.  Presently she stepped out back and showed me a bag of locally grown organic coffee, real frigging coffee.  I offered her my undying devotion in exchange for a cup of coffee.  Well, her English was good enough that she actually understood what I said and made me some anyway.   She had the impression that Central America was a dark jungle that only produced sugar cane and cacao.  I tried to bring up my photo albums, but nothing came up. "You probably have pictures of naked people and they are blocked?" Really? I don't know what surprised me more, the assumption that my travel pictures were nothing but naked people or the fact that the number one tourist sex destination in the world would block such pictures. Two hours later I finally got around to booking my dive trip.

I bought some food, put the change in my pocket, took out my cell phone and walked down the street. Apparently I had had dropped some money in the process of taking out my cell phone, somebody picked it up and chased me down to return it.

Meanwhile, in the news:


Flooding in Phuket

Bangkok protests





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Sunday, November 24, 2013

Diving Fail

I was up at four in the morning.  Good thing as for some reason my alarm didn't go off at five.  I l eft the electronic key for the front door and the key to my room on the table as instructed and headed down the stairs with my backpack, daypack, computer pack and a drybag stuffed with things.  Oh shit, there are my boots, beside the front door, I almost forgot them.  I dropped my pack, picked up the boots and went out to drop my daypack, computer pack, drybag and boots. The door closed behind me.

Inside was my backpack.  After much banging on the front door the owner opened the door.  He must have been taking a dump as he slept in the hall at the base of the stairs but ten meters from the door and I had awakened him when my fifty pound backpack banged into his foldout bed as I made my way down the narrow hall.

I walked the short distance to the 7-eleven and waited to be picked up.  At six I called Lee, the guy through whom I had booked my  tour.  He would call the scuba dive company and asked when the driver would show up.   Somehow when he called back, I missed the call.  I called him again.  The trip was cancelled due to high seas.  Good thing that despite the fact that the brochure indicated that no refunds would be given in the event that activities were cancelled due to bad weather I insisted on a signed statement to the contrary on my invoice.   Lee told me he would meet me at the 7-Eleven and indeed he was there in half an hour, a bit groggy.  He  promptly refunded my 15,000 baht and agreed to drop me off at a bus stop.  I told him I wanted to go to Patong, but he told me that Karon is much more tranquil.  Sounded good to me.  My transport was a covered flatbed truck that was being loaded with fish and vegetables.

After ten minutes we left, forty minutes after that we arrived.I got out and looked for a room, checking out places on my phone.  Really, any kind of room would do for one night.   Carrying a big back pack, three bags and a bottle of water a taxi driver insisted that I needed a ride.  I wasn't going to pay $6 for a one mile ride, it's an abusive rate.  I found some place on the internet and walked there.  It was nothing like it was described, but it was a room, a place to sleep for the night, park my bags while I got a lay of the land.

While I write this, this is being played at my hotel.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlwos543M4A I don't know why anbody thought this was a good idea.

Meanwhile on the news. Big protest in Bangkok. Yesterday, before the big protest.
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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Phi Phi Islands

Off to Phi Phi Islands, (read the link, really) for a well deserved day on the beach.  I was told to go to the 7-11 to meet the van driver.  There was one very close to my hotel and one on the main road several hundred meters from here. Which one?  The one with the ATM.  WTF?  They all have ATMs.

I told the guy who owns this hotel that I wanted to cancel early.  This place was nowhere near a beach.  I don't mind a walk through the jungle, but beside eight lane roads?  No thank you.  He told me it was not possible to refund the money.  I placed a cancellation request on the website and figured I would deal with it later.

The driver was a bit late. "Lot of tlaffic."  A french couple with a young girl were the only other passengers.

We drove down to Phuket Town to the ferry dock and exchanged our vouchers for four tickets, an outbound a return, a lunch voucher and snorkel equipment voucher.  Total cost for the day?  $1.000 (or $1,000 if you use decimal commas as is done in the US, $33 in U.S. currency.  Somebody took my outbound and return vouchers while the French couple only had their outbound tickets taken.  When I started to object, I was told that the French couple were staying on the island.  I didn't know that was an option, damn, that is cheap.

Five boats abreast, we left the pier and crossed over boats until we got to ours.  I started to take a seat but was directed to first class, which held about 300 passengers.  I would guess the whole boat would hold about a thousand.  After half an hour we set sail.  The skies turned grey, the water churned, sixty foot boats were tossed about and nearly obscured by the waves.  Our boat, well over a hundred feet started to smash down onto the sea.  Some people took delight, some laughed, some prayed and some vomited.  Others discussed a ferry that had recently sunk in Thailand.

I finished off one Agatha Christie and started another.  The ride got worse, or better depending on your perspective.  Finally they announced that the trip was being called off on account of sea conditions and we turned around and returned to port.  Boatload after boatload of people milled about, many sick, wondering what to do next.   I went out front to have a cigarette and called Lee, the guy I had bought the tour from. He was going to call the boat company and confirm and then call the driver to pick me up.  I returned inside, the driver located me and the rest of the party.  I asked the driver to drop me off at the tour company. I wanted either a refund or to book another tour.

He dropped me off at the 7-Eleven near my hotel.  I headed back out, found the bus stop this time and waited a short while for the "bus" a long flatbed truck/covered wagon affair with three long padded benches in the rear, running lengthwise.   I was handed a receipt for 10 baht and paid same.  I pulled out my phone and the mapping application told me that we were well past the tour office.  Shit!  I got off at the next stop  and walked around until I realized that I had erroneously created a waypoint on my phone when it didn't have a GPS fix.  It's amazing that is even an option.

I was hungry and stopped somewhere and had a small portion of some shitty cold Thai food for which I was charged 60 baht, then the price changed to 80 baht.  There was no menu, I had just pointed and was subjected to whatever charge they felt would be appropriate for the farang. (pronounced "falang") or foreigner.   I was going to continue on the bus until I saw that there were two routes served, 2 and 3 and that I had no idea where either went.   Ah, well, it's just a few miles, I could hoof it.  I walked past a  fork in the road. Any bus stopping here was surely going the direction I needed to go. This time the bus was a double decker airconditioned bus and the fare was 30 Baht.  It took a turn and I was no longer heading toward my intended destination.

It started to rain worse and I took shelter at another restaurant.  Bowl after bowl of curried everything.  I wanted a sample of each.  The little muslim girl smiled very politely and I sat down to wait.   She took a seat elsewhere.  WTF?  The food was already hot, I didn't want rice, just serve it up.  I tried again.  This  time I got a much bigger smile. Still  no service.  I downloaded a Thaii translator app and wrote request in English and translated it to Thai and showed it to her.  An evening bigger smile that lasted a long time.

I had typed in I would like a sample of everything, but no rice please. Which translated to ขอตัวอย่างทุกอย่าง แต่ไม่หน่อย.

 I approached A guy in the building next door spoke English and helped me out. He told me that the translation meant nothing.  It translates back to Thank you for example but there is no rice.  I told him I wanted a sample of everything, he told the girl and soon I was served a tray with eight little bows, each with two or three spoonfuls of wonderful Thai food with fish, chicken, beef and different curries.  I showed hThey were all very good, the man was kind of amused that I didn't find them extremely spicy. Actually, the flavor was very good and I found it not particularly hot.  I ordered a big bowl of the sour fish and finished it off.  The price?  50 baht for a heaping portion of a variety of Thai food.  That's less than 2 USD if you haven't been paying attention

Now, where the hell was the tour shop?  I called Lee and he told me that it was next to some place I would never hazard a guess how to spell.  I handed the phone to the kind gentleman who was helping me out and as it turns out, was the owner of the restaurant, I think and asked him to write down the name so I could search for it on google maps. R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N D-E-P-A-R-T-M-E-N-T S-T-O-R-E.  I googled it, it was just a couple of miles away.  Screw it, it was no longer raining, I needed the exercise and this would be easier than trying to figure out the buses without a bus route.

A big thanks to the man and I asked him to pose with the food and the server girl who promptly ran away when he told her what I was up to.  There a picture, geolocated yet.

A short while later I arrived at the shop, Lee greeted me warmly and gave me a full refund.   Now what to do?  I considered a three day jungle type thing, but it involved elephant riding and having seen how elephants are "broken"  I couldn't really do that.  Next, three days of snorkeling.  That looked awesome.  Wait? What?11 dives off a dive boat?  Sign me up!

The "bus" passed in front of the shop, I hopped on and headed back to the hotel.  I slipped the attendant a slip of paper with some Thai writing on it, telling him of my stop.  Fifteen minutes later I was at the bus stop closest to my hotel and walked back without misadventure.

Later it was time for dinner. I walked down and smelled something delicious.  The owner of the hotel wrote something down on a piece of paper and directed me to the restaurant.  I don't know what it was, but it was awesome. The tiny meal was not enough to sate me and I wanted something else.  The entire menu was written in Thai and there were no pictures.   The patrons were all Thai locals and I had fun with the giggling girls and the matronly shop owner.  For an hour and a half we interacted, them speaking not a word of English and me not a word of Thai.  What really kept me around was the music sixties American classics.  I had a phone app that I used  identify music I liked that I had never heard before.  Well it was time to pay for the best food I have had in years, the total? 80 Baht, less than three bucks.
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Friday, November 22, 2013

Bangkok to Phuket - The Hard Way

I've been tuk tuked and non metered taxi drivered into submission.


This morning I will walk to Sukhumvit station, catch a ride to Makassan, walk around, try to find the airport train, get my Kabar confiscated and then end up at the wrong airport.


A parting special thanks to the tuk tuk driver yesterday. That was enough giant Buddahs to last a lifetime. He reported that the Grand Palace was closed until 3 so he took me to stores that sold crocodile purses, teak wood boxes, all the things I really need right now. For his trouble the stores gave him cumulatively vouchers for 15 liters of gas. After the last stop, he was gone. Oh, the temple was open and closes at 3:30? Perfect, another trip to Bangkok, perhaps.


Where the hell was I and how was I to get back?


The adventure continues, details at 11.



I could grab a taxi to the airport for 500 baht.   That would be far too easy.  Why take the easy route when there are other options?

So, I checked out of my room, by leaving the pass key to the elevator and inadvertently $60 worth of Ghirardelli chocolate I had picked up in San Francisco, destined for no one in particular.

My backpack, at last weighing was 48.5 pounds, my day back 20 and my computer bag another 7.   I gained more than a few pounds in the last month, now I had another 75.

Down the street to the MRT, the underground railway down two flights of stairs. Past a metal detector, the marine fighting knife, designed for killing people, set off the metal detector but I wasn't stopped.

WTF? There is no Makasson stop.  The rail system map was nothing more than a horizontal line listing the stops.  There was no context for the city or other routes.  It wasn't a map.  Back up two long flights of stairs, down the street, up three flights of stairs, down three flights of stairs,cross a bridge over 8 lanes of traffic to MTS, up three flights of stairs to the overhead railway system.  They use different cards and one cannot transfer from one to the other.  I don't know.  Maybe one is private and the other not.  Maybe anything, it didn't matter. 

I stopped a European fellow and asked if he knew how to get to the airport.  He said he didn't know shit, but his wife did.  She directed me the long way with two transfers on, well, she pointed it out on a map that actually showed more than one line.   She gave me a roundabout way on the overhead.  I found Makasson. I was chatting with a half Thai girl I spent six weeks with in Bocas, she informed me that I was going to the wrong airport. I reversed my course of stairs again back to the original station, hopped on and went to Chatuchack, walked up two flights of stairs, down the street, up three more flights of stairs and rode the train to Phetchaburi, got out, found a bus and rode with 75 pounds of shit on my lap.  Tuck and roll time, the driver stopped near the airport and I got out in the street.  That's as close as he was getting.  Up the hill, enter a door, through a mall, up a flight of stairs, down a hall, down a flight of stairs, outside, up another hill to Terminal one.  Are we having fun yet?

 I ran my bags though inspection.  I have five lighters with me that I have carried through airports in Panama City, Houston, San Jose, San Francisco, Taiwan and now Bangkok.  Apparently they are not a problem anymore.  I used to carry matches, which they never detected.  My Kabar flew threw security again, without raising an eyebrow and I had hours to kill before flight time.

 A quick lunch of Peking duck served by a tall, thin girly boy with an amazingly deep voice.  In a frigging international airport, for the equivalent of $5.

 I boarded my 858 kilometer flight for which I paid $79 and paid no checked luggage charge.  My flight from San Jose to San Francisco was just about the same distance cost almost four times as much and they wanted $25 to check a single bag.

 75 minutes later we landed in Phuket.  Let the games begin!  I won't go into the half hour of haggling with taxi drivers.  Just fucking with them.  My first offer was 800 Baht.  I could have taken a shared van for 100 if I cared to queue for hours to save $25.   I had done my rite of passage for the day.  

Forty minutes in a spacious SUV, driving at highway speed we arrived at my hotel.  A Thai girl came out, bowed and admitted me.  I was instructed to take off my shoes and socks and place them by the front door.  Up to the room, it was fine.   Off to town.

I walked out the front door, down the street, around a corner and onto a major road, eight lanes wide.  There wasn't shit to see.   Three kilometers of walking and listening to traffic and inhaling exhaust?  No thanks.  A crazy bus drove by, a home built contraption I couldn't describe.  I had no idea where the bus stop was.  Not a taxi in sight.  Finally a guy in a scooter stopped and offered me a ride for 100 baht and handed me a size 6 helmet for my size 7 7/8  head. We soon came upon an accident involving at least two cars and three scooters and a minimum of one fatality.  The driver laughed and proceeded to drive in a manner described in the section "Never take a scooter ride." in then travel web sites.

I asked him to take me to a Thai restaurant in particular. I gave him the address.  He had no idea where that was.  Maybe if I had the address as
18 ถนนถลาง, ภูเก็ต, จังหวัดภูเก็ต 83000, ไทย instead of 
18 Thalang Road, Phuket Town, Phuket 83000, Thailand  he would have found the place.  He called the number listed.  It was no good, he handed me his phone, the message was in English.  "The number you have dialed is not a working number." Strange.

He took me to a KFC. I emphasized I wanted a Thai Restaurant.  He took me to a McDonald's.  I got off, paid him and walked for a bit, quickly found a place that suited my purposes, ate, drank iced coffee, which I love and is available everywhere and walked around without purpose.

Well, this is getting kind of long, I'll cut it short.  I booked something for tomorrow and after being pursued by a taxi driver for an hour took a ride back to my hotel. He really didn't know where it was and wanted to drop me off five blocks away.  I never would have found the damn place, had I not geo coded the location on my phone.
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Thursday, November 21, 2013

Bangkok

Tuesday

Tired,  didn't want to bother, took a "limo." 1000  Baht

Driver can't find place, calling owner.  

Driver banging head with hand.  I kept pointing out the place. 

To bed. Finally.

Four frigging hours of sleep.

Kivia?  Really? Awesome.  She is in Chiang Mi and coming to Bangkok to see me.

Laundry 360

Order some business cards.

Eating food at roadside stands. Really good lunch for just more than a buck.  Man I packed on some pounds eating American portions.  Got to get back to trekking and swimming.

Bought a three day rail pass and went to next station to get a SIM card. For 490 Baht I got a sim card and unllimited internet for a month.  That's about $16.  In San Francisco they wanted $25 for a card and $50 for a month.  The mall is enormous, stores are clustered based on the goods they sell, that makes comparison shopping easy.  No room for anymore stuff anyway.  What is this???

Unlimited sushi for 340.

I shouldn't have.  Really.

A girly boy on the left, a woman selling fried insects on the right and a guy with a brochure for two women bath, shower massage and as many happy endings as one wants for 1,500 baht, or 50 bucks. I am 100 feet from the front door of my hotel. Where do I get a coffee?

Whores every 10 feet, some of them really cute. Girly boys everywhere. 

For all the people, this place is pretty civil.

Three o'clock. Time for bed.

Wednesday

ATM won't give me money contact bank - Friggin' Chase

Nobody has change for 1000 baht. Exchanged US and Taiwanese money.

Took train to end of line looking for a river sewing machine stores, casket manufacturers, whores and buddhist monks anything else here?

China Town.   Junk wares, strange foods.


A restaurant selling broiled shark fin f0r 3000 baht a gram ($100)

Taxi 60 to station, it wasn't far, but I never would have found it.  Never found the river either.  Gotta hire a guide and taxi and train around.  I don't want to go on a tour.

4:16 stopped by cop for littering a cigarette butt. I showed him the butt still the palm of my hand. I had discarded just the ash.  He bowed and apologized
mutton masala  for dinner, awesome, 300

Thursday

It's six in the morning.  This was just cut and paste from my Evernote app on my phone.  Kivia has decided to join me in Phuket rather than go onto Myanmar.  She's pretty damn good company.  I really should get some sleep, but I will stop down at the 7-11 and buy some strange things to eat.

Don't know how I am going to kill the day.  I'd like to go to the Grand Palace
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Sunday, November 17, 2013

Taiwan

Will I ever post about California?  Probably not.  So, here is the short version, I visited my son and my sister and her daughter came to visit us in San Diego.  We spent a day at Torrey Pines, a day in La olla and they returned.  My son Mark had to work for a couple of days and I spent one day in Balboa Park and the next one in Old Town.

Then I headed to San Francisco to see my brothers two daughters in Walnut Creek and headed out to the airport.   There, the skinny without any interesting information.

Monday was spent on a plane.  Between the flight duration and all the time zones it was Tuesday morning before I got off.

The flight to Taiwan departed 5 minutes after midnight.  My bag checked in at 48.5 pounds.  Another pound and a half and I would have had a hefty extra wet charge.  You get two fifty pound checked bags, two big bags for carry on and a computer without charge.  My fourteen hour flight was $445 dollar. My $285 one hour flight entitled me to no free checked luggage.

Whatever.  The 747-400 was filled to capacity but there was plenty of room.  China airlines didn't space the seats such that they could jam in several more rows.   A TV, USB charger and an outlet in every seat. Prompt, efficient flight attendants, good meals.  Not a bad flight.  Fourteen hours in coach and it wasn't bad at all.

There was no line at immigration and it took less than a minute.  Never even slowed down at customs.  My big bag was checked all the way to Bangkok.  I quickly exchanged $40 for 1138 NT$, (New Taiwan Dollar). I headed out the door, without a plan.

We arrived before five.   What to do?  I had a wonderful breakfast of something, stuffed for $5 at an airport. I'll never know what it was.  It was easy to find a bus that took me to Taipei for 140NT, about $5.   I asked some people on the bus to tell me where there was an interesting part of town to get off.  We rode through town, a city of four and five story buildings on the streets and twelve to fifteen on the avenues if I name them in a Manhattan fashion. Half an hour later they indicated that this stop was good and got off.  I had coffee at one shop, then  another.

Scooters everywhere.  There was a lot of traffic, but little commotion.  No horn honking, no visible exhaust from the cars, the air was very breathable.  Street vendors offered food from tiny improvised stalls and most of it looked quite good.   Coffee and more coffee.  Finally I stopped at a shop.  Yup a coffee shop.  I needed to use the bathroom.

The two girls that worked behind the counter started to giggle.  Then more people came in and some asked for my signature.  OK.  Who did they think I was?  Apparently some guy who does nature shows on TV.  I sat there for a while, signing autographs and posing for pictures and headed out to Tapei 101 and took the worlds fastest elevator up to the observation deck.  With the aid of an English self conducted tour device I learned a great deal about Taiwan.


Notes

 easy through immigration and customs breakfast soup rice with sauce something else $5 

Exchange some 40 dollars got 1138 Mt

140 for bus to Teipei

10 to 20 story buildings in the financial district. Eight to fifteen lane streets

23 for a coffee

55 for lunch

People in respirator masks

500 people on scooters five lines accross made it through one green light

Free coffee signing things

Piss threes story McDonalds

500 for top of tower

Superimposed images blue invisible guy hokie shit

Set off metal detector don't care

3.1 billion NT$ software park.

13 km tunnel through fault lines and underwater springs


Bus driver,all the manufacturing jobs moved to mainland china, now they just make cell phones and TV's and write software.
 Notes: The guy who climbed mount everest.
Made it through five flights with five cigarette lighters on each flight in my carry on.

Tourists must be rare, everybody treated me like royalty.


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Thursday, November 7, 2013

Facebook Groups

Puerto Viejo
Comite de Seguridad
UPDATE: Popular Puerto Viejo nightclub Johnny’s Place closed indefinitely following weekend...
www.ticotimes.net
The Tico Times - Central America's leading English language news source.
Like ·  · Follow Post ·  · Yesterday at 1:36am

Bocas Open Forum

Roxy Demaurex Balemm
Hello!!
So today 4 Israelis (ofcourse) stole 2 bed sheets from mondo when they checked out today.. I got back my bed sheets from them after chasing them to Hotel Las Brisas ( where they are currently.. ) the girl told me cold faced that they have no sheets.. ofcourse i stand up straight and demand my bed sheets...so I will paste their information for you guys to pay attention on these THIEVES!!!

Rowan Snashall M8732060
Liron Seliktar M183386...See More
The Panama Hostel & Hotel Network
  • LETS CHECK THEM OUT BEFORE THEY CHECK IN!.. This group is for all Hostel and Hotel members in Panama.. lets post any weird situation with our guests so we are all aware of evrey situation that may p...
  • 48 members
Unlike ·  · Follow Post · November 2 at 3:52pm
  • Annemarie Holwerda rox your awesome!
    November 2 at 4:04pm · Like · 2
  • Roxy Demaurex Balemm hahaha thanx mami linda
    November 2 at 4:06pm · Like · 2
  • Yorlenis Deprintemps Aquí Vino Una Muy Arrogante, Estoy Segura Que Era Ella....
    November 2 at 5:16pm · Like · 1
  • Rene De la Iglesia Cuando van a poner el letrero que se prohibe la entrada a isrraeltas!
    November 2 at 6:30pm via mobile · Like · 1
  • Lauren Ziemski Stealing sheets? Ridiculous
    November 2 at 7:29pm via mobile · Like · 2
  • Roxy Demaurex Balemm Hahaha I know
    November 2 at 7:34pm via mobile · Like · 1
  • Iza Tamas Do people have no shame these days? Sheets? Really?!
    November 2 at 9:18pm · Like · 2
  • Gary Yopack ... 4 Israelis (ofcourse)... ? Exactly what are you implying?
    November 3 at 10:43am · Like · 1
  • El CR Come on Gary, you know what it means...
    November 3 at 5:45pm · Like · 1
  • Gary Yopack Sorry El CR, I don't know what she meant and neither do you as you did not make the original statement.
    November 5 at 12:16pm · Like
  • Shannon Thomas the racism on the page sometimes is disturbing. sorry you had bed-sheet-thieves to deal with, while their actions were rude and uncalled for - I'm not sure the racism is necessary... just saying, and not only in reference to this post or this particular nationality. in a place where everyone still likes to appear to live off of this "one love" mantra it sure seems it is only love for people most like themselves. i'm glad you got the sheets back, but I would like to invite everyone to consider separating bad actions or bad people from their race, class, nation or religion.
    November 5 at 4:07pm · Like · 5
  • Gary Yopack Well said Ms. Thomas.
    November 5 at 5:17pm · Like
  • Tom O'Flaherty Respect due Shannon...
    18 hours ago · Like
  • Joan Bergmans What ROXY means has nothing to do with Racism but with respect....As a business owner myself (and many others) i have an endless list of being treated without respect and even being threatened by people from Israel. I did read a lot about their culture to try and understand their way of talking and negotiating but it's hard not to judge when they keep on acting disrespectfully towards me, my friends and family.
    17 hours ago · Edited · Like · 6
  • El Joules same here... it's just ridiculous how rude they can be. There's no comparison with any other nationality. They are by far the clients who make the most havoc, steal, insult, destroy property, etc. 

    If they're traveling in a group, many times we prefer     to say we're booked instead of taking the risk of being fucked... 

    I'm not saying every single one, but LOTS of them are assholes... how can one distinguish a nice person from a bad one? It's difficult, isn't it?

    Why is it like this? I really don't know... but there is obviously something very wrong with how many Israelis are brought up...

    I'm sure many people who work tourism here can come up with a very long list of things they've personally witnessed that are simply outrageous...
    17 hours ago · Like · 6
  • Shannon Thomas Alright, I was certainly not trying to start a war over any particular nationality or point fingers at any one person (sorry to have chosen your particular post Roxy, was just making a point) but I still stand my ground that it is pointless and useless to focus on any person's particular background unless you plan on just barring them from your business- which may not be so helpful after all. I also work in tourism in Bocas and did so for many years in Costa Rica - and while I have not particularly had any recurrent issues with Israelis, I have had many issues with other nationalities or races that I will not mention here - because I don't see how it is helpful to me or others. What is helpful is stand up to difficult people, as Roxy did, and to know how to demand respect and be respectful in return. You may not agree with me, but I am very tired of all of the different sorts of racism etc that I have witnessed in Bocas thus far (worse than anything I experienced in years living in the southern US, Africa and other countries of Latin America) and so my invitation stands to those who also find it limiting - to try to be move beyond it whenever possible...
    16 hours ago · Like · 3
  • El Joules cheers to that!
    16 hours ago · Like · 1
  • George Jackson ... And lets not get started on the Argentines!
    15 hours ago · Like · 4
  • Alex Magee Shannon, calling a black man 'black' is not racist, its a statement of fact. Stating that a nationality is by and large disrespectful of people who don't have the same passport is not racist either. It is also a statement of fact. I don't understand why this means that automatically Israeli people will be banned from businesses? It annoys me how many politically correct watchdogs prowl facebook waiting for the chance to pounce out and cry 'racism' or 'sexism'. Now I am not saying that these are not issues, i am simply saying that we seem to live in an atmosphere where people are unable to talk about such issues for fear of being labeled a racist.....
    15 hours ago · Like · 4
  • Fiona Mann how are we supposed to know who they are if their origin isn't mentioned, the whole point is to alert people in business of trouble makers, be they white, black or pink....if she'd said these English guys stole the sheets would you cry "rascist" then? ...See More
    13 hours ago · Like · 6
  • Renay Hallman AGAIN, thanks for the entertainment. Way to take something way to far. JEEZ!! My favorite tenants were the Panamanians from PC that tell you they are 4 but are 7 because they don't consider children and nannies people!! HAHA!
    13 hours ago · Edited · Like · 3
  • Roxy Demaurex Balemm I think Fiona Mann just answered what I wanted to write or reply to this post!! That's why I hate sometimes writing on groups !! Everyone is so sensitive and not even that, sensitive is good but, the way of over reacting , dramatizing and twisting words!! It quite impressive !! Anyways !! Thanks Fionna and the rest that understands the context!! Shalom everyone! 😊
    12 hours ago via mobile · Like · 5


Roberto van Heijningen
OK, so we all get conned at some point in Bocas... But, this new con artist is not a local, and told me last week, and I quote: "Roberto, a man is just as good as his word", well he proved what he is this morning....
Like ·  · Follow Post · November 5 at 11:47am
  • Joe Bonerigo and who is this man ?
    November 5 at 12:31pm · Like
  • Joe Bonerigo one word... Denuncio
    November 5 at 1:35pm · Like · 1
  • Monique Born Sorry this happened to you Roberto. There are unethical people everywhere 
    20 hours ago · Like
  • Chris Maesel o.k. he will get no more customers from tiotoms Guesthouse!
    18 hours ago · Like · 1
  • Chris Maesel and i will tell this to all my other friends or hotel owners to do the same
    18 hours ago · Like · 1
  • Cookie Evans Who is this guy please inbox me. Thanks
    17 hours ago via mobile · Like
  • Cookie Evans Thanks
    17 hours ago via mobile · Like
  • Ginette Bariteau I'll clear up the situation for everyone. The guy Rob is talking about is Arron Schille, a friend of ours, and we were the ones who presented Arron to Rob & Deb. My husband and I have been involved with the purchase of Scuba 6 since the beginning and we can honestly say there is 2 sides to this story. For you guys to take at face value such a serious accusation without knowing any of the facts is not only unfair it is irresponsible. As soon as the first person asks, I will post a bit more publicaly right on this page, I don’t need to hide behind PMs
    12 hours ago · Like
  • Joe Bonerigo Do tell...
    12 hours ago via mobile · Like
  • Joe Bonerigo That's me asking
    12 hours ago via mobile · Like
  • Ginette Bariteau This is how the story started. Arron asks Rob to show him his financials which is an important thing to do when buying and trying to assess the worth of a business you are thinking of buying. The financials show the purchase of assets such as a computer and educational material necessary for any dive shop to be functional. Well Arron arrives and Rob takes off with the computer saying it is his. Then instead of leaving all the edu material as reflected in the financials, Rob tells Arron if he wants them he’ll have to fork out an additional $2500!!! And that was only the beginning. Things overflowed when Arron woke up one day with a capitain that flat out refused to sign a contract because he had been jilted by Rob and would not be jilted again. Rob had gotten caught by caja/seguros and in order to baill his butt out Rob asked the capitain to lie to caja. To make a long story short, capi lied, capi got jilted, Rob passed Go and collected the $$$ Now the capi new Rob was selling the business and had warned him he would not sign any more contracts. How convinient of Rob to have ‘forgotten’ to tell Arron his capi had warned him months before Arron’s arrive that he would never again sign a contract. Now everybody living here knows how that can get you into some deep shit. Especially when it’s a dive shop and your caja problems is with your captain and who has the boat
    12 hours ago · Like
  • Roberto van Heijningen WOW Ginette Bariteau how wrong can you get??.... Of course there is always 2 sides to a story, but the things you are saying are just misinformed. The boatcaptain "Roberto" wanted to stay on with Arron as we asked him to do so. (as you know VERY well, ...See More
    9 hours ago · Edited · Like
  • Ginette Bariteau No Rob, there is not 2 sides to a story, there are 3. Yours, Arron's and mine in the middle as an impartial witness and your long drawn out response proves my point. I will not waste my time by answering your twisted bullshit excuses for washing your dirty laundry in a public forum, trying to make people believe you are totally innocent and work very hard on trying to ruin a person's reputation using PMs to hide behind - this is totally unacceptable. And if you don't want people butting in don't post publicly. End of story.
    about an hour ago · Edited · Like
  • Roberto van Heijningen OK Ginette: First of all YOU choose to go public not me. Second, none of the responses I made are "twisted bullshit excuses" but actual facts and just stated on this public forum, because YOU started making accusasions, based on half and misinterpreted information on this public forum. I am not the one trying to ruin someones reputation. I am only telling what is true. I do not know how you can be impartial when you clearly take a side without even having heard my side of the story. I will gladly tell you this first hand, so you are welcome to come over. Better yet, Pls be impartial and lets sit the 3 of us. You, Arron and me. Arron can talk, I can talk and you can be the mediator and impartial witness. Lets say tomorrow at 10 am my place?
    about an hour ago · Like

Cassie Pomianek-powell
It is Tuesday morning. Be careful with the ATM again. Just went there, said we got our money but we didn't. Still came out of our account. Third time now!
Like ·  · Follow Post · November 5 at 10:59am near Bocas del Toro
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