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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