I am sitting in my hotel room in Bangkok (the same I resided in six weeks ago), try to organize my trip to Auckland tomorrow and reprocess the things which happened to me in the last super busy week which did not feel like holidays at all. I swear, every very time I wanted to post on my blog somebody or something interfered. Leaving you guys without news for far more than a week was really bugging me.

Massage Course Continuation: After several calls and emails to both of my massage teachers I got more and more nervous. Katay told me on the phone that she would stay with her mother for a longer time and I had the certitude that I had to go on with Daow who had luckily notified me by email that her pink eye was cured. Our start was a bit jolty. She tried to teach me her way to massage because she disagreed with some ways shown in the books I got from Katay. I made clear that it was impossible for me to adapt to her style within five days so we would have to cope with the given conditions. I have to say we both managed that very well and finally I agreed to adapt to some of her suggested changes which made sense for me. P1120785 I practised every day apart from one and increased the former two hour lessons to four hours. To do the massage on the soft mattress in my apartment was suboptimal but decent. It had the advantage that I saved time because I didn`t have to change locations and could use my time more efficient when she arrived late. Summed up I am very thankful that I got the opportunity to practise so frequently and extensively with Daow at my last week in Chiang Mai. She is a very good teacher with comprehensive knowledge. I still need my books to give a massage but I feel already confident enough to use my new skills on somebody else than my teachers.

Restaurant Kitchen Project: Yes, I have finished the kitchen renovation project! Don`t ask how much effort and how close it was. The result far from perfect, caused a lot of worries but I am happy that I did not leave with a tarp construction finished at 80%. The company which should replace the sinks and repair some other stuff canceled the appointments made again and again, even the 100% promised scheduled date on the 24th of May. I was frustrated and Souriah was indignant, too. We quickly found another company for the 26th of May and 4 guys started working in the morning that day. – To keep it short(not really but at least the intention is there!) : The work they did was an insult and the sloppiest job I have seen for a long time. Some misunderstandings with Souriah who thought she could save money by letting them repair the old sinks instead of replacing them was another letdown for me. I wished I was able to speak Thai so I could have told these workers without third party translation what I thought of their work. Mr Nice Guy Sperling who should pay for the crap these incompetent guys had delivered turned from a humble and patient Thailand tourist into ANGRY SPERLING a relentless German quality controller  (at this time I would have been a useful addition of the viral “angry birds” game, disposed to destroy everything they had worked on) and some loud emotive discussions occurred. I don`t expect high standards but a 9-year-old child could have done better silicone joints. Screws were used where rivets were needed, sharp edges everywhere, and none of their fixing solutions was effective at all. I was not willing to wait until their silicone mess had dried because I had to demonstrate that the sink and dripping rail were already leaking again (for demonstration purposes I poured a bucket of water in the sink – as expected some water was immediately dripping on the floor, not into the connected plumbing) . The icing of the cake was that they asked 2.700 Baht for a one hour job without new sinks, poorly attached 0,5 mm aluminium cover for the work desk area around the sinks (instead of 5 mm aluminium already existing). The former company had offered more for 2.000 Baht. The list of complaints I had was endless: The plumbing under the sinks consisted of 2 separate flexible plastic hoses only instead of a stable plumbing installation with one hose leading to the drain, the down pipe of the dripping rail was not done (I would have been okay with a plastic hose there!) and silicone was used where welding was mandatory. The only thing acceptable was the steel construction of the new table adjacent to the sinks. Also the cutting back of the roof to fix the improper installation of the dripping rail was something positive to be mentioned. But altogether it did not balance out the hideous work they had achieved. This brigade of inaptitude will come back for some more work (installing a fume hood) in a few days. To not embarrass Souriah who will have to deal with the payment for these incompetent guys I gave her 2.000 Baht with the oral description how to explain to the company boss that Mr. Christian was not willing to pay the full price due to some of their useless repairs.

What about my own work? The implementation of the tent construction I had developed was a slow progress. Every night after the regular restaurant hours or earlier if no customer showed up we worked 2-3 hours and attached piece by piece. I don`t remember if it took 8 or 11 days/nights but the amount of white duck tape (it appears brownish in the pictures but looks a tad better in reality) we needed was likely enough to enable the shop owner to have a first class trip on an ocean liner. Again and again we had to buy new rolls of tape and rope. I tried to motivate the restaurant staff and their friends while working and indeed they were always supporting me without hesitation and offered me cold water and fresh fruits in the breaks. The language barrier became a problem now and then. I had  trouble to keep calm when I asked for a simple knife and they handed me over a saw, tape, a strip of wood and a pen. Everything except from the thing I wanted. Explanations of what I really needed were tedious and time consuming. The professional construction I had in mind had to be traded in more and more for improvisation and quick’n’dirty solutions. Souriah always tried to make me believe that this and that would be normal and sufficient in Thailand but of course she could not convince me. The whole point of starting this project was to cover the open area with a roof that lasts for many years. If the tape comes off already after three months and the construction is leaking it will be a clear failure in my opinion. Therefore I insisted on accuracy and diligence as much as possible. At my last night in Chiang Mai we worked until 11:20pm and mounted the last tent piece. The connection to the blue canvas blind adjacent could not be finished but Souriah replied that her cook Mr. Pung will finish that (he will probably just throw an old banner over the gap and fix it with wire! Aaargh!). One challenging part was to prevent that the water gathers on the tarp but is guided to the edges. I think we succeeded apart from the part we assembled at last. It has the issue that after a rain shower Mr.Pung will have to push from underneath to remove the puddle on the tarp. I am not happy with that but there was no time left to deal with this problem. Around the holes in the tarp (for the palm trunks) where the rainwater would enter I created collars made of duct tape forcing the water to flow around the holes. Maybe I will come back to Thailand in 2014 and do some rework then.

Besides the constructive work in the kitchen I have bought some decoration to make the restaurant look more comfy: postcards for the kitchen door, chain of lights for the street front and paper umbrellas which hang upside down from the ceiling. These additions make a big difference, will hopefully attract more customers and induce a more convenient dining experience.

Preview: Some more Singapore pictures need editing – this is the reason why I changed the order and post this more recent blog entry first!

Tomorrow I am closing chapter Asia and open a completely new one: New Zealand! Different language, mentality and food, more traveling and a temperature shock. I might need a warmer jacket and trousers but these secondary bits and pieces aside I am ready although terribly missing some of the people in Chiang Mai I call my friends now.

I look back to the past with a smile and embrace the future…neglecting the present – holy crap… 6:42pm and I haven`t eaten since ages (breakfast)! Must finish immediately otherwise I will be starving to death in my hotel room. 😉

Thanks for reading  –  Chris