Sunday, July 13, 2003

: Go to Big Buddha for Asalabucha Day (sp?), the first day of Buddhist Lent. We make an offering basket and are blessed by a monk, who ties saffron/pink string around our wrists and throws blessed water on us. Afterwards, we go home and shower, then we ride the bike back to Cosy Beach Resort, between Pattaya and Jomtien, up and down a steep, incredibly curvy road.

Fon, Peter, Not and I plan to eat at a small, family run seafood restaurant at the very far end of Jomtien Beach Road. However, as we start to go, the traffic is incredibly bad- seems everyone from Bangkok has come to Pattaya for the weekend. Rather than fight the traffic, Peter pulls into a small alley on the right hand side, just after the “Welcome to Jomtien” arch, where we park in a small, muddy lot. He explains that the family that owns the other restaurant also owns this one, so it’s probably as good. It is packed with Thai families. There is a long wait, maybe 60-90 minutes, before we get any food. It seems that they were unprepared for and overwhelmed by the crowds this weekend. We see foods that we ordered going to tables that were seated long after us. We eventually get some of the food we ordered and pay up (B460). It is now pouring rain. We get back to the Cosy Beach Hotel, where we left the motorbike and we ride back home in the rain, arriving soaked and laughing.

Monday, July 14: Today’s plan (Plan #1): Today, we will go to Bangkok to apply for a visa for Fon to visit the US. We figure a 2 hour ride to BKK, meet Mark and stay at his place on Soi 26/Soi Aree, have a short night out, go to the Embassy on Tuesday morning and know about the visa by Tuesday afternoon. I should have known that things would soon head south, be-cause now we have a plan and things NEVER work as planned in Thailand!

After a lazy start to the day, we head to the bus station to catch a bus to Ekaamai at 1:45, to arrive in BKK about 4:00, before the traffic gets really bad. I know, at this point, you can almost hear the demonic voice from the sky going, “Plan? What plan? Bwa-ha-ha-ha.” Unfor-tunately, ½ the population of Thailand is returning to BKK after the Buddhist holiday. The bus station is mobbed and the 1st available bus is 3:10. After sitting for about 40 minutes (it’s now 2:45), Fon tells me that the girl next to her is waiting for the 2:00 bus. I say, “You must mean the 3:00 bus”. “No, 2:00 bus.” Traffic is so heavy that busses cannot even get to Pattaya on time. Bad sign, because the really heavy traffic should be going towards BKK. Our bus eventually arrives IN PATTAYA at 4:00. We end up in the middle seats in the row of 5 in the back of the bus, but we steal the two seats on the right hand side and actually end up with 2 empty seats next to us (for about 20 minutes). The traffic back to BKK is indeed heavy and we arrive at Ekaamai in BKK at about 7:00! We take the skytrain from Ekaamai to Phrom Phong station and walk to Mark’s, where we settle in and shower. Mark suggests we eat out together. Dinner is at a small Italian restaurant called Fabio’s, about a 10-minute walk from Mark’s. Fon would have preferred to eat at the Isaan restaurant next door, Hua Lamphuang, but Mark had eaten there the night before. Mark goes out, we go to bed at 10:00 PM.

Tuesday, July 15: Today’s plan (Plan #2): Go early to the American Embassy on Wireless Road (Withayu), make the visa application, take a water taxi to Wat Pho for a massage and return in the afternoon to get the visa or the denial.

We get to the Embassy about 10:30 and find out that the visa applications can only be made between 7 and 9 AM. In addition, the Nazi at the reception desk tells us that the line is over 100 people long everyday and they cut it off around 9, so tough luck if you’re at the end of the line. I ask for both a tourist and a K-1 (fiancée) visa application. She gives me the tourist visa application and tells me that they can only give out the fiancée visa application between 1 and 3:00 PM (bwa-ha-ha-ha)! In addition, there is a $100 fee for the tourist visa, which can only be paid at a post office in provincial Bangkok! Ok, I figure we’ll get the photos, pay the fee, come back for the fiancée application at 1:00, go to Wat Pho today and return at 6:30 AM tomorrow to make the application. We get the photos done: white back-ground, full face for tourist and ¾ right side for K-1 (B250 each set). We eat noodle soup and then we go to Soi 4 (Nana) for the post office. I get a bad feeling when I see that the metal gate over the door is halfway down. As it turns out, this branch is closed (Bwa-ha-ha-ha). OK, we’ll find another post office, I’m sure. Turns out, they’re ALL CLOSED (Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha)! An extension of the two-day Buddhist holiday, I’m guessing because the first day was on a Sunday. Damn! Since the post office doesn’t open until 8:30 Wednesday morning, that means we cannot pay in the morning and get to the Embassy on time. That means it will be Thursday at the earliest before we can even get an application in (Demon: ROTFLHMFAO).

Of course, now Fon is hungry, cranky and has sores on her feet from walking. We cancel plans for Wat Pho because of her feet and return to Mark’s, where we shower, change clothes and cool off. We head out early evening, after bandaging Fon’s sore foot, and walk around the lower Suk area for a while. Eventually, we eat dinner at Soi 7 food court. We walk home, watch TV for a while and go to sleep early.

Wednesday, July 16: Today’s plan (Plan #3): Wake up early, pay for the American visa at the post office, take a water taxi to Wat Pho and get a massage.

We wake up late and head over to Soi Nana to the post office. Again, confusion- there are long lines at every window and no signs on the windows seem appropriate for what we want. We walk around a corner and there are more windows. Walking down a bit further, I see a small sign that says “US Visa 4300 Baht”. .......os! It is supposed to be $100 USD or the Thai equivalent. At this week’s exchange rate, that should be about B4150. OK, it’s only a difference of about $3.75, but it’s the principle of the thing. We pay, get our receipt and go. Total time: about 90 minutes. It’s now around 2:30- too late for Wat Pho.

Fon tells me that she is out of clean clothes. We shop for new shoes for her (B500) at Rob-inson’s. She also tells me that she only brought 2 shirts, pants and underwear, so we also shop for these. She gets a shirt B150, bikini B50 and jeans B500. We return to Mark’s, shower, change and Fon does laundry in Mark’s machine.

Around 7:00, we go out to Mark’s pool tourney at the Moon Shine Bar, at the Washington Square Beer Bar complex off Soi 22. I make a good connection for V there and talk to one of Mark’s team-mates, Paul, who suggests two things for the American visa application: one, to get a French visa, to show intention to travel with Fon and two, to take a short run to Malaysia or Singapore, to show that she can leave the country and return. Sounds good.

We eventually wander over to Thip Top restaurant on Suk between sois 22 and 24 and have a great meal, then head home for another early bed night.

Thursday, July 17: Today’s plan (Plan #4): Get an early start, go to the French Embassy and get a French Visa, then take a water taxi to Wat Pho for a massage.

We get up early, get a good map and lookup the location of the French embassy. A stroke of good luck- it is located right near the Oriental Hotel, on the Chao Phrya River, so, after the embassy, we can jump right back on the water taxi and be at Wat Pho in about 15 minutes. Really looking forward to the massage. We take the skytrain to Saphan Tahksin, then grab a water taxi (B6) to the Oriental Pier. After wandering semi-lost for a bit, we find the em-bassy. Lucky us- there is nobody else there making a visa application today!. So far, so good! After clearing security, we approach the woman at the desk and ask for the visa application. She laughs (bwa-ha-ha-ha) and tells us that everybody comes to the French Embassy to ap-ply for a visa for France, but one actually needs to go to the French Consulate on Sathorn Road (but of course!), about a B300 ride in today’s traffic (bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha).

So… we take the water taxi back to Saphan Tahksin, then take the skytrain to Chong Nonsi station and from there, walk the three looong blocks to the French consulate. After clear-ing security, we go inside, where there are about 50 people waiting to be served. We imme-diately take a number from the number machine. Number 5050. ****- they are serving num-ber 5020 now. There are no signs or anything to indicate the procedure. There are 6 win-dows, windows #2-4 are marked “depot”, window #5 is marked “…de acueil”, window #6 has no sign and window #1 has a sign in Thai. After waiting about 10 minutes, Fon speaks to a Thai person, who tells her to go to window #1 for paperwork.

She returns from window #1 with a single form, in English, marked “Shengen Visa Form”. I find out later that “Schengen” is a coalition of 15 European countries. A visa for any one of them gets you into the others- you make the original visa application in the country where you will be spending the most time. The countries include France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Holland, all of the Netherlands and others. Fon says that the form has to be filled out in English. I spot some other people filling out the form. They all have a direction sheet, which Fon didn’t get. She goes back on line #1. She comes back with the directions, which are written in Thai and French. I wait in line 1 and ask for directions in English- “Sorry, only French and Thai” (bwa-ha-ha-ha). I get the form filled out, using my 6 years of high school French and 2 years of college French. Everything is OK, except where Fon has to sign her name in English. She doesn’t write English very well, just learning, so I write her name for her and she copies it onto the appropriate line.

We figure out that we now can wait on line for any window #2-4. We wait for about 15 min-utes, cleverly avoiding the line that has a Thai guy holding a handful of about 10 Thai visas and forms. We get to the window and the woman tells us that we are missing the paperwork that tells where we will be staying. I explain that I haven’t made reservations anywhere be-cause we don’t yet have a visa. She explains that you need a letter from someone in France or a written confirmation from a hotel (bwa-ha-ha-ha).

Ok, we leave, get two motorbike taxis, which roar down the wrong side of a small soi (Soi Suan Phlu, the same soi where immigration is located) with us to an Internet café. I log on, go to hotelcity.com and make a reservation for two for 4 days in Paris at the end of August. I also print a copy of my bank statement, just in case it’s needed (turns out to be a smart move). We also make copies of Fon’s land and house titles, her ID card and her bankbook.

It is now 11:30 and we know that the consulate closes at noon. Back on the motorbike taxis, roar back to the consulate- now 11:40. The guard will not let us in- “pit duay nii” (closed now). BWA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAA. I remember the number that I took from the machine when we first arrived. I show it to the guard and tell him that they told us to come back. He checks the date on the ticket and lets us in! We wait for about 10 minutes at window 2 and the woman takes our paperwork, clips it together, takes my money and then gives us a slip of paper showing that we paid the 25 Euros (B1190, about $26 USD) and a phone number and tells us to call the next day. Finished!

We decide to go out tonight with Peter and Not to a Thai brew house, named something like Tawang Daeng (?). No admission fee. I have no idea where it’s located. The brew house is great- a variety of music, some good stage shows, good food, good drink, packed with Thais. Peter has reserved a table, up front and in the center, but we arrive a bit late (~7:45), so we’ve lost the prime seats. After an evening of fun, we take a taxi home about midnight.

Friday, July 18: Today’s plan (Plan #5): Get up early, get the visa at the French consulate, take a water taxi to Wat Pho and close the week with that massage that I’ve been craving.

We get up late and go to the French consulate at about 10:30. We take a number and sit and wait for about 20 minutes before Fon takes my suggestion and asks at window #1 about whether she was approved or not. She comes back and tells me that we have to return Mon-day. Why? “Not have paper, come back Monday”. This can’t be happening! I find out that she needs another copy of her bankbook. I take her bankbook and walk into the consulate com-pound, go to the media center and make a copy and return. She takes the copy to window #2. Here, I have to write a statement outlining our relationship, where we plan to go, why and what is my proof of money. I point out the statement I’ve printed from Bank of America from the ‘net. The woman wants to see my bankbook; I explain that we don’t use bankbooks, so she settles for a copy of my credit card. She is nice enough to make the copies herself. After this, we sit and wait again. We get called to window #6 for a brief interview by a fe-male consulate officer. What is our relationship, how long have we known each other (I say 6 months), what do I do for work? Do I have a letter from my employer? <Darn> No. She re-plies that she wants to be fair and that even the French have to show a letter from their employer to bring a guest over for a few days. I point out the recent $10,000 deposit from my employer. I also point out the numerous trips that I’ve taken to England, France, Spain and Morocco over the last 5 years and the 5 trips that I’ve taken to Thailand in the last year, in an attempt to convince her that I’m not a welfare case. Fon gets asked what she does for work and how long we’ve known each other. She blows both questions: “have shop”, which I interpret, and “before 3 months”. I point out the title deeds for Fon’s house and property. The officer says something like, “Papier du domecile?” Somehow, she missed that one, too! After all is said and done, the officer tells us to call back next week. I explain that we’ve been trying to do this for 5 days and would like to return to our home in Loie. She says OK, call back at 4:00. We go back to Mark’s, wait and call at 4:00. The consulate is closed, says the answering machine. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAA…

Mark and I make tentative plans to go to Cambodia in about 2 weeks. Fon and I take a taxi to Ekaamai (B58) at 4:30 and catch the 5:00 to Pattaya, which gets us in at about 7:30. Re-turned home by moto taxi (B60).

Note: Visa was granted on the following Monday!