Wow what a day, am completely warn out. Here is what happened.
- 645am woke up in my Bangkok Hotel
- Quick shower and dress then took my bags down to the lobby. 1 bag of about 70lbs, 1 bag of about 50lbs and 1 knapsack of about 30lbs, about 150lbs total.
- Got a taxi to take me to Mochit bus station, I had a ticket for a 815am departure on a VIP bus to Mae Sot.
- Arrived at the bus station around 740am, little traffic, taxi fare 83 baht.
- Loaded the bags onto the bus at around 805am, departed at 815 as scheduled.
- Long bus ride of 8 hours 15 minutes, often winding, often slow, sometimes a bit dangerous. We stopped at about the 4 hour 30 minute mark for a washroom break and a bowl of noodles (included in the ticket price, along with a blanket a big seat, water, a cookie and a bun).
- Arrived in Mae Sot with a at 430 pm. Had a headache and a bit of motion sickness from all the winding driving road stuff.
- Telephoned Khun Noy, the man who drives me around in Mae Sot.
- Khun Noy took me to the apartment I had found online. I had communicated 2 days earlier with the manager of the property via LINE messaging. She knew I was coming in advance.
- Khun Pui (apartment manager) showed me 3 rooms, one on the first floor, one on the 4th and one on the 5th. I liked the 4th and 5th best. The 4th floor room was not clean yet so I took the 5th floor room. The room cost 3500 baht ($133 CAD) a month, plus power and water, it should run about 7000 baht a month ($266 CAD), maybe cheaper.
- I did all the paperwork necessary, paid my refundable 5000 baht damage deposit minus a cleaning fee of 500baht.
- Khun Noy carried up the 50lb bag, I did the knapsack and 70lb one at the same time. Here is a note for future reference, DO NOT carry100lbs of baggage up 5 flights of stairs again Gerry!! I almost died with that effort, my right arm is still sore. Was OK until floor 4, floor 5 did me in.
- I asked Khun Noy if he would drive me to the Lotus store so I could get all my household living supplies then come back in 1 hour after I purchased everything, to drive me back to my apartment, he told me he would.
- Went to Lotus and bought around $186 CAD worth of supplies. Bedding, pillows, towels, toilet paper, water, food (all kinds), dishes, forks/knives/spoons, a one burner electric stove, clothes, soap, drinks, batteries, extension cord, etc etc etc.
- Got back to the room with all the supplies just before they locked the front gate (that happens at 7pm). Paid Khun Noy for his driving and help.
- Hauled everything up 5 flights of stairs, it took me 3 trips.
- Started to unpack, broke a glass pot lid (DAMN!), cleaned up the mess. Put away the food, took a shower, cooked some eggs, and corn.
- Set up my computer, the free WIFI here is fast, thank goodness.
- Had a supper of boiled eggs, corn, cold pork, bread, water, bananas. Wrote a long long blog about what I did today!
- 1040pm now.
I still need to make up my bed, hope the bedding fits, and unpack all my bags, camera gear, film making gear. I will take tomorrow off work and make my new home beautiful. The plan is to go to the dump the day after that tomorrow for the first time. I also might be getting a motorbike from Khun Noy, The going rate in the shops I think is 200 baht a day, I might be able to rent his automatic bike for 100 baht a day.
AM EXHAUSTED!!! Here are some photos from this long and difficult day. I will sleep in tomorrow. Almost ready to start photographing and doing my movie. All this planning, all this work and the real work is just beginning!
- 645am woke up in my Bangkok Hotel
- Quick shower and dress then took my bags down to the lobby. 1 bag of about 70lbs, 1 bag of about 50lbs and 1 knapsack of about 30lbs, about 150lbs total.
- Got a taxi to take me to Mochit bus station, I had a ticket for a 815am departure on a VIP bus to Mae Sot.
- Arrived at the bus station around 740am, little traffic, taxi fare 83 baht.
- Loaded the bags onto the bus at around 805am, departed at 815 as scheduled.
- Long bus ride of 8 hours 15 minutes, often winding, often slow, sometimes a bit dangerous. We stopped at about the 4 hour 30 minute mark for a washroom break and a bowl of noodles (included in the ticket price, along with a blanket a big seat, water, a cookie and a bun).
- Arrived in Mae Sot with a at 430 pm. Had a headache and a bit of motion sickness from all the winding driving road stuff.
- Telephoned Khun Noy, the man who drives me around in Mae Sot.
- Khun Noy took me to the apartment I had found online. I had communicated 2 days earlier with the manager of the property via LINE messaging. She knew I was coming in advance.
- Khun Pui (apartment manager) showed me 3 rooms, one on the first floor, one on the 4th and one on the 5th. I liked the 4th and 5th best. The 4th floor room was not clean yet so I took the 5th floor room. The room cost 3500 baht ($133 CAD) a month, plus power and water, it should run about 7000 baht a month ($266 CAD), maybe cheaper.
- I did all the paperwork necessary, paid my refundable 5000 baht damage deposit minus a cleaning fee of 500baht.
- Khun Noy carried up the 50lb bag, I did the knapsack and 70lb one at the same time. Here is a note for future reference, DO NOT carry100lbs of baggage up 5 flights of stairs again Gerry!! I almost died with that effort, my right arm is still sore. Was OK until floor 4, floor 5 did me in.
- I asked Khun Noy if he would drive me to the Lotus store so I could get all my household living supplies then come back in 1 hour after I purchased everything, to drive me back to my apartment, he told me he would.
- Went to Lotus and bought around $186 CAD worth of supplies. Bedding, pillows, towels, toilet paper, water, food (all kinds), dishes, forks/knives/spoons, a one burner electric stove, clothes, soap, drinks, batteries, extension cord, etc etc etc.
- Got back to the room with all the supplies just before they locked the front gate (that happens at 7pm). Paid Khun Noy for his driving and help.
- Hauled everything up 5 flights of stairs, it took me 3 trips.
- Started to unpack, broke a glass pot lid (DAMN!), cleaned up the mess. Put away the food, took a shower, cooked some eggs, and corn.
- Set up my computer, the free WIFI here is fast, thank goodness.
- Had a supper of boiled eggs, corn, cold pork, bread, water, bananas. Wrote a long long blog about what I did today!
- 1040pm now.
I still need to make up my bed, hope the bedding fits, and unpack all my bags, camera gear, film making gear. I will take tomorrow off work and make my new home beautiful. The plan is to go to the dump the day after that tomorrow for the first time. I also might be getting a motorbike from Khun Noy, The going rate in the shops I think is 200 baht a day, I might be able to rent his automatic bike for 100 baht a day.
AM EXHAUSTED!!! Here are some photos from this long and difficult day. I will sleep in tomorrow. Almost ready to start photographing and doing my movie. All this planning, all this work and the real work is just beginning!
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| After a long tiring day my new bed with new sheets awaits me |
