Let’s start with a short small talk introductory: The weather in Chiang Mai is unexpectedly mild and cool due to the rain season. I even slept one night without fan support (eeehm…it is up to you how you interpret that, haha!). We had some days with temperatures below 20°C at night-time and only a bit higher at day-time; very convenient, but the high humidity made me sweat anyway, as soon as I rode my bicycle for more than five minutes.
Massage Course: Another successful announcement has to be made: I finished the 10 days massage course and received my certificate. As an authentic Thai certificate it has to contain at least one misspelling, grammar inconsistencies and layout flaws but I am probably the only one analysing the document that thoroughly. 😉
I will continue practising to become more independent from my course books. Once I am feel more confident I might try working on the Walking Street Market, held every Sunday on the main street in the walled city. It is a way for lots of massage students to get field experience and to make money at the same time – although the money is not my concern at all. For one hour foot massage I would earn 80-100 Baht. (€ 2.00 – € 2.50 / AUD$ 2.70 – AUD$ 3.35) The training was fun most of the time. Nonetheless it was hard work, physically and mentally exhausting. The first days, my teacher Daow and I practised in a 40% to 60% ratio. First she massaged me and explained every step. She pointed out to bestow consideration upon particular hand positions or muscles. Subsequently it was my turn to massage her and she provided me with some feedback: “Don’t press the bone, less pressure, change your working position, slow down…” . The following days the ratio changed to 5% to 95% in my favour. Six hours massage per day were tough. I suffered from backache and pain in the back of my knees. Sitting on the heels or on stretched feed was rather unusual for me and I couldn’t adapt to it within a blink of an eye. The problem to sit on the floor for a long time is an issue which most Farangs (people without a flat nose…to say it in simple words) have. Working on a desk chair for 8-14 hours per day and watching TV from a cushy couch does not prepare you well for learning Thai massage!
I did not only practise with Daow. My – more or less unskilled – hands had to deal with a massive +100 kg guy, a tall Russian girl, a young Thai guy, lots of tiny, fragile Thai masseuses and Daow’s sister. Whoever was around and available was told off by Daow to assist me as model. That was quite useful since different anatomies require different approaches regarding pressure and sitting positions. – All my victims survived and were able to walk out of the shop without help.
Hotel Stories: In general I was very satisfied with the service of my hotel – the staff always tried to comfort me and delegated my requests if they couldn’t handle them by theirselves.
And exactly here started things to become a bigger issue and to annoy me more and more. Internet connection is crucial for almost every tourist and in modern hotel, geared to Westerner’s needs I expect a reliable connection with an acceptable speed. The reality was and still is somewhat different. For an eternity of three days the network on my 5th floor was out of order. Every time if I or another guest complained, we were assured that a technician would come to fix the problem. Hours and days went by and slowly our patience dissolved into thin air. Not willing to hear the same excuses of the receptionist any further, four other guests of the 5th floor and me went to see the hotel manager. We made clear that the current status is unbearable and that we would not stay in the hotel if there wasn’t a quick solution to regain internet access. We got the promise that everything would be okay on the next day at noon. In fact, it was nearly 3pm when the network was finally fully functional. The upcoming days the connection blacked out from time to time and the speed was at lazy snail level. I helped myself by connecting to a weaker network signals of the 4th floor but this only worked occasionally. I complained over and over. After another talk to the manager it turned out that a staff member could fix the problem by simply pushing a button to reset the router. The response time for dealing with issues reported by hotel guests is definitely too low, unless the receptionists can figure out by themselves what has to be done.
Four days ago, the hotel faced a power cut in the afternoon. Nothing unusual in Thailand but the special situation was that only the hotel was affected. I was assured that after coming back from the market, everything would be okay. Of course it wasn’t. A team of electricians (or maybe just ordinary guys, you can never be sure…- I don’t trust any Thai claiming to be a professional on his field before he has proven his skills.) was refilling the transformer, mounted high on a pole in front of the hotel, with oil. Apparently it did not change anything. It was raining, I was tired and the inside of the hotel was almost covered in darkness. I set up a deadline and told the manager that I was going to check in at another hotel for the night. Without air conditioning, fan, fridge and any light, it was unreasonable to stay in my room with hot, sticky air. At first, the manager offered me a red cab ride to another hotel where I could stay for free but I was not keen on relocating to the airport plaza outside of Chiang Mai. I chose the hotel for its proximity to the walled city. I insisted on a refund for the night and persisted in the demand to look for an accommodation by myself.
The manager borrowed a torch for me so I could get my bare necessities and sleep one night elsewhere. When I made my way to my room the first time, and back to the exit, it was a bit scary – like walking through a ghost house at night. The emergency lights in front of the lift only lit up the staircase, not the long aisles of every floor. Unfortunately the emergency lights of the 4th and 5th floor didn’t work at all and I had to touch to maintain orientation. Slowly I felt the way to my room, remembering that I had to open the second door to the left. I imagined that in case of a fire or another reason requiring a quick evacuation, such an emergency precaution failure could cost lives. I was embarrassed and did not stop to make the staff and the manager’s aware of that until I got the confirmation that the emergency lights had been repaired.
Once i had exited the building, I exchanged telephone numbers with the hotel manager and agreed on 10pm as his last chance to inform me about the return of the electricity and the 100% operationality of the internet since I wasn’t buying the technician’s statement. He betokened, the power box would be replaced within one hour. Who would be amazed that I was right with my prediction? Ultimately, about two hours later at 10:15pm, I received the manager’s call. I had waited a bit longer with the booking on purpose because I preferred to sleep in the room where I had settled down already for weeks.
The entire happening was really embarrassing and my thread of patience is now more likely to snap if further issues occur. No worries – I am still acting friendly and polite but I point out things which annoy me right away instead of keeping calm and being too shy to report inconvenient occurrences.
However, the breakdown of current spiced up my all-day-life and fills my treasure box of travel stories. …Always look on the bright side of life…
373 days of living abroad: I wanted to publish a résumé “One year of Traveling” eight days ago but procrastinated it for several reasons like internet connection trouble, tiredness and, I confess: pure laziness.
If I look back and recapitulate the ongoing since I left Germany on October 18th in 2012, it is nothing less than astonishing. Yes, I was ready for a new start on the other side of the world but I never had imagined a fraction of the stuff which happened to me. I am positively overwhelmed by the sheer diversity of plot life held ready for me.
Although I had often had to change and to modify my plans, I perfectly achieved one of my main goals: to push myself out of the comfort zone, to improvise, to catch opportunities as they arise, to make new friends and above all: to enjoy the freedom to do what I like on every effing single day. It is not easy to discipline yourself if you don’t feel the urgent pressure of getting a job right away. It is tempting to hang out and to do nothing. Fortunately, I am blessed with the drive to be creative, to evolve my personality and to be a helpful for others.
In consequence, I can honestly announce that I am very happy with my life! No doubt, that leaving home was one of the best decisions I have ever made. The life style of traveling was regarded by me as undesirable in the past. I love camping and being forced to cope with limited resources – but only short-term. To stay over a long period of time in hostels, to live in a small room in a share house for a half-year and to reside in a hotel room for weeks – was something I wouldn’t have chosen deliberately. Now, I like to countermand my former sight and admit: I don’t miss anything and feel great. Oh,wait, that’s not correct: occasionally I do miss something: my ergonomic work desk including my stylish HAG Capisco office chair, a big computer screen, a wave-shaped natural keyboard to avoid repetitive strain injuries and my digital piano.
If the price for becoming more worldly-wise and to explore some of the most beautiful places in the world, is to relinquish the things mentioned above, I must say: it is a real bargain! 😀
At last, I’d like to say Thank You to all readers and followers of this blog which has not only become a public diary for me and my personal photo platform but also an evident proof of my achievements. Writing for and posting on this blog had a big influence on my journey. Your encouraging comments as well as my urge to share stories and pictures with you were often the reason to go out for night photo shootings, to hurry up finishing DIY projects and to undertake adventures which I reckoned to result in a good yarn. Without this blog I probably had spent more time playing computer games, surfing on Youtube and watching TV.
Stay tuned – and don’t forget: It might be exciting to read stories which happen to others but it is so much more rewarding and fulfilling to realize some of your own ideas spinning around your head. Get up and move your lazy ass! Surprise yourself by taking initiative! …why are you still here?? GOOOOOOO! …And please let me know what you were up to. I will enjoy leaning back and read your stories! 🙂
Chris
Besides the “regular” travel pictures, I have posted some experimental shots, taken in my hotel room when it was raining outside. I couldn’t motivate myself to research jobs to apply for. Alternatively I thought that taking pictures on my bed might be a good contrast to all the landscape stuff I usually do.
Another day, I tried to photograph the rain drops splashing on the parapet of my balcony. The light conditions were poor and I was inexperienced with this kind of photography. I struggled to get the manual focus right. The high shutter speed I needed required a high ISO value, leading to nasty noisy pictures. Problems, problems, problems. – To compensate the lack of image quality, I was forced to be more creative in the post processing with Photoshop. After all I am pleased with the results and glad things didn’t went as smoothly as I wished in advance.