Broke and Busted in Bangkok April 2011

Starting from Tuesday 12/4/11 when my son Chris dropped me off at the Sydney airport I had the 24 hours from hell.

Checked my luggage in and waited for the boarding call. The flight to Melb left over 40 minutes late and after a Stawell Gift run from the domestic to the international terminal, I just made the flight to Bangkok.

I' d checked my baggage through from Sydney, otherwise I wouldn't have made it.

The 9 hour 30 min flight went fine...I hadn't realised how exhausted I was from the last month or so, and I slept for most of the way.

Arrive Bangkok 9pm, and whilst waiting for my luggage I'm approached by airport staff to say (in Thai) " we;ve lost your luggage, we think it went to Singapore"

Great, all my clothes and toiletries are in there, for London as well, everything.

They give me a report, ask me to call them tomorrow and they'll deliver it to my hotel.

So, I get outside, it's getting late and I'm going to take the shuttle bus to Kao San Rd....the touts are telling me it's not running, heard that one before, and.....it's not running.

So I think, "what the hell" and take an overpriced unmetered taxi. This young guy takes off, we get onto the cloverleaf type bridge and he weaving in and out of the traffic like a madman. I tell him to slow down but he just say's " yes Kao San Rd"...I see he's doing 150 km in a 60 zone!

So, after taking me on dirt roads and shortcuts through building sites to get around the Bangkok gridlock we arrive.

He pulls over, everywhere are people blocking the road, thousands of them. I deduce from my map that Kao San Rd is somewhere through this crowd and we aint going to get there any other way but by foot.

So, I climb out with my laptop in one hand and my carry on bag in the other, put my head down and enter the combat zone.

It's Song Kran, the Thai New Year, the water Festival. The road is packed with young Thais, and to a lesser degree, mainly English Backpackers, all with buckets of water, giant water pistols and a gooey mixture of flour and water which is promptly pasted on to my bald head.

There is no way I can fight it as I struggle into Kao San Rd. Mike suggested I stay at D&D's aprox 100 metres down the road, I make the 100 metres but no sign of D&D's, and in a desparate attempt to save my laptop from drowning and my self from a prison sentence for GBH against several thousand thai's, I duck into an alley way, out of the madness and into a peaceful courtyard with a guest hotel.

They have only one room, you guessed it, a bed like concrete with hardiplank walls and a shared toilet and shower way down the hall.

I take stock, it's steamy hot here, and all I've got to wear is a pair of jeans, boots and a t-shirt. I go to the front desk to ask where the ubiquitous clothing stalls are, he meets my eyes with a blank stare...."elvry one close for Song Kran"

Great, I'm saturated and covered in this flour mixture...can't get into the shower, so I resolve to get something to eat. I duck through a lane way to the next street. It's just as crazy but up ahead I see traffic and make my way into a square that they've cordoned off from the revellers. I get some street food, think about what's going on and head back to my room and another drenching.

I completely forgot that in 2007 I caught gastro in Chang Mai, missed the last bus to Laos, and was stuck there for 6 more days.....everything stops for the New Year celebrations.
I am regretting coming here already, it hasn't felt right since I got off the plane and I really want to get out, I don't like it.

Well, back at the room I fall into a fitfull, exhausted sleep, even though the ceiling fan sounds like a 'Nam chopper and the bass from a club somewhere cuts through the bare thin walls and rattles my teeth until 5am.

I get up at 7, and hit the streets determined to find some clothes....2 hours later I've got a pair of thongs, a pair of shorts and 2 t-shirts. I head back and call the airport,,,they have no idea where my luggage is. Im determined not to stay in this hotel another night so I go hotel knocking and find one who may have a room available at 12.

The revelry is starting up again, as, bags in hand I try to stay on the sidewalk to get to my new home, but, they have no room.

I sit down and try to think this through, in fact I sit there for about 30 minutes as the storm rages just outside on the street. British boys and girls, all still tanked from the night before, are drinking already and the hordes are literally pouring into the street, there are thousands.

I know if I go out there everything will get saturated and floured again, but I can't stay here any longer.

I try and bust the crowd open like a rugby scrum but they just gobble me up. People are shouting at me, everyone's throwing water and flour and within 30 seconds I'm completely saturated again.

I'm trying to protect my laptop, I've got a bag in each hand and I'm pushing, twisting, head-butting ; anything to get out of here. I run into the biggest crush yet as 2 Lady boys have gotton on the top of a table and are grinding away to Thai pop that everyone seems to know but me. I almost can't get through but somehow manage.

I finally make it out to the street against the thousands that still pour into the precinct. It's taken me nearly half an hour to go 200 meters.

There's no taxi's around, so I grab the first guy on a motor bike, and,hanging onto my bags we head off to the Skytrain that will take me to the airport.

5 minutes down the road I suddenly know something is terribly wrong.

I can't feel my wallet in my bottom pocket. I yell at the guy to stop, I get off the bike.....my wallet with $4500 and all my credit cards...gone. The buttons undone....in that freakin' crowd!

So, here I am 1 week later in a peaceful Muslim area of Phuket called Kalim beach. It's about 4km from Patong beach but very quiet.

There's a surf break out front that I regularly see boardriders trying their luck, over a shallow coral reef. I found out that this is where the sewerage from Patong is pumped, so I don't fancy a swim here.

I'm still trying to get something out of Qantas/Jetstar. When I can get through to them (rare) they don't call back, they don't answer emails. They say if it isn't found by tomorrow, they will have to compensate me.

Thankfully, both Wayne and Jonathan sent me some money via Western Union as I was almost skint. You don't realise how much you depend on your credit cards till they are gone.
I can't access any cash, or my internet banking until my new card arrives, hopefully on Thursday.

Visa International were no help at all...I used up so much of my precious few baht I had left calling them and going through their complete process and they havn't even sent an email to me.

Try emailing an airline.....you can't.

So, I'm not doing very much as I need to keep as much money as I can in case the new card doesn't show up in 2 days...you could say I'm not particularly confident!

So, I've done a mountain of technical reading and thought and analysis.

I have developed a new system to take to London, and am working on a couple others.

I have come up with some pretty intersting stuff re Cycles/Lunar cycles and their effect on Human psychology.

It's been good, but I'm starting to get a little bored with little socialising going on.

I've found a place at Nai Harn Beach to stay for a week or so, just to give it a test run. It's beautiful down there...a 2k walk around a lake to the stunning beach. Had a body surf there Sunday.

I bought a really cheap pair of running shoes and am running daily and going to the gym 2 times a week....that's my budget!

So, at least my fitness is good and I can feel my muscles thickening....I don't know if it's the weather, the food or what but physically I seem to thrive in this climate.

So, I'll sign off for now....