26/10/2023 - Running down a dream.

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?
                Morpheus:-  The Matrix 1999

    The next few days were mostly a continuation of the feelings experienced the night before, but on an amplified scale. Whichever part of Bangkok that I retread, my first impression was that everything was mostly consistent with how I had left it in 2019, but there was something amiss. It was like when you recall a particularly vivid dream that seemed to accurately portray a person, place or event at first, but soon you think about those bits that just don't tally up with reality. For me, having been away from here for over 4 and half years, I began to wonder how much of what I was remembering was an accurate portrayal, and how much was my subconscious filling in the blanks. 

Thankfully I had taken plenty of photographs over my previous stays, which went some way to backing up the accuracy of the particular details that I was remembering.

      It took me a while to get my head around the differences that I was finding out had been made. Extensive internal changes inside of the MBK and Siam Centre were thankfully not extended to the Siam Paragon or Terminal 21 Malls. The latter 2 locations were of particular use as upon arriving in Bangkok I had decided that many of the clothes I had packed to bring with me were not going to be suitable for the conditions I had put myself back into. The pair of replacement shoes that I bought on the first day was the item that I had planned on getting before I left the UK, but several t-shirts and short-sleeved shirts I felt had more than served their time. So far a total of 6 new t-shirts, 1 polo shirt and 2 short sleeve tops of a much lighter fabric type have been brought in as replacement. This may not be over yet. 

    I have caused myself a mild bit of frustration with my final packing choices before I left the UK, That nagging doubt that had plagued me in the final run-up, that I was not ready or more that I was taking too much had led to a few items being pulled out and discarded in the final hours before I left, despite my baggage weight being comfortably within my allowance. One of those things was a white USB-A to USB-C cable which specific trait was that it enabled my phone to fully charge up in just over thirty minutes. A particularly useful feature for travel I thought and one of the reasons I ended up going for this particular model. I did bring a different white USB-A to USB-C charging cable with me, but this is just a standard cable with no underlying party tricks. All efforts to track down a suitable replacement have as yet failed. The old Pantip plaza that used to be great for electronic devices is (as is maybe getting predictable by now) no longer.

This particular frustration though, may now have been given an end date
   

25/10/2023 - Settling back in (or not)

I'm not really used to suffering from jetlag, well not when travelling on a west-to-east leg at least. On this occasion however, it feels like I may be on the receiving end of a potentially brutal two-footed challenge. 

The flight had been long and tiring, and I had expected it to be as such when I booked them judging that the extra few hours flight time was worth it to try and claw back some of the extra costs I had been subjected to. Fortunately those hours passed by mostly event-free. and thanks to the added comfort afforded by exceptionally good performing noise-cancelling headphones, those 18 hours from Bristol to Bangkok only felt like about 20, thanks in part to a heart that felt about ready to pull a John Hurt in Alien on me (I may have become hyper-aware). The plane touched down in Bangkok at 12:15 p.m. Immigration was as simple and as straightforward as it could be and a short time later (when I had collected my overweighted bag from the carousel and picked up a local sim card accordingly), I was on the train from the airport towards the city centre. Here I  switched onto to the BTS (sky train) line, which then in turn enabled me to get within just a couple of minute's walk from my first hotel, which I arrived at dripping with sweat.

After sorting everything out at the hotel, I had a shower and headed back out into the heavy, overly humid evening air. Silom, a place that I first visited 10 years ago and had subsequently felt quite comfortable in, had changed. Some buildings had been knocked down or altered, with shops and landmarks that I once knew and recognised no longer existed in their once familiar forms. For the first time in a long time in that particular part of the city, I found myself becoming lost, with those absent navigation points leading on more than one occasion to me fully losing my sense of direction. One of the few things that I had left that had been resolutely reliable in the past (except in New Zealand, but there is probably a scientific reason for that somehow)

After getting some street food sorted (so good even when lost), I found my way back to the hotel, stopping only at a 7-11 store for some supplies for the fridge, enough to carry me over the next few days. Back in my room, I set about trying to write, either to make a start on an entry for the blog or reply to some messages that I had received over the past hours. Unable to keep my eyes open doing either, I gave in and embraced the cool night that was at the courtesy of the room's air conditioning unit. 

It may not have been silent, but in truth, it was close enough for it not to matter. 

24/10/2023 - The long way around

I didn’t think that I was going to sleep the night before I left, but in the end I was just too tired not to, even if it was only for a couple of hours. I did however sleep with the light on and also set 7 or 8 alarms across several different devices to try and avoid missing the coach that was due to depart Bristol at 5:50 am, in order to make the flight out of Heathrow at just after mid-day. Sometimes I can, and have, slept through pretty much anything, probably due in some part to having a bedroom located above a busy pub during my preteen years in (with early 80s jukebox hits booming through the boards at night alongside the sounds of drunken crowds). In the over-tired state that I was in, my being unresponsive to any sound when under is always going to be a bit of a risk.

I had booked the flights just a few weeks earlier and had undoubtedly underestimated the amount of effort and stress that this latest trip was going to cause. Perhaps it was a delayed knee-jerk reaction to the various trials I have gone through over the last few years, stumbling through one final hurdle at the eye hospital as they (eventually) concluded that the condition of my right eye was no immediate risk. “We shall see you again in 3 months” the consultant remarked at the end of my latest appointment there. “Can we make it 6” I asked politely, I’ve been trying to get off of this damned rock since 2019 now without much success (or words to that effect at least).

The price of the flights themselves were much costlier than those on the last pre-covid jaunt of (2019), however it was the quotes for insurance that I was getting that I found to be pretty mind-blowing and totally unjustified, with initial prices hitting about the £4500 mark, These figures really did start me further questioning the feasibility of what I was doing, weighing up whether it was an idea that, with all the delays incurred and subsequent personal developments, was now just something that had gone past its sell-by date. Would I be better served cutting my losses before I got too deep into the travel abyss? My frustration is that the massively increased cost is mostly a result of the heart operation that was deemed necessary in 2022, but this is flawed logic if you kind of think about it. Of course, it isn’t flawed if you are sn insurance company that wants an excuse to squeeze more money out of people. Shortly after my heart operation (I need to clarify now don’t I!?!), the consultant at the hospital excitedly declared “But we have fixed you!” and ”we will next see you in about 25 years” when I said about feeling a little down and frustrated with everything, especially as I had put so much effort in previously in trying to stay fit and healthy against the diabetic backdrop. The hard truth is that I know the condition of my heart (I have the scar to prove it) and I know that it is in good condition and I will take the meds to prevent and potential further complications down the line, How many people out there don’t have the benefit of having that level of understanding? yet still I’m the one that insurance companies deem as as a higher risk? Should it not be the other way around, maybe?

Anyway, I booked the flight on October 5th, for departure on the 24th. This was almost immediately after I had received the all-clear to do so from the eye hospital. 19 Days might seem like a long time to prepare, but truly it didn’t feel that way. The last time I travelled away was back in 2019. Now it seemed that everything had become harder and more complex. I found an old list of things I had packed previously, but this time the list seemed to be twice as long, and with it my bag (when finally packed) felt twice as heavy. The departure date came around quickly and the night before left I was still trying to cull the contents to balance the weight and bulk between the luggage to be checked in at the airport and the smaller amount that would be taken into the cabin with me for the flight. My medication took up a sizeable amount (I couldn’t risk losing that in a lost luggage situation), and then there was the laptop, tablet, camera, spare batteries et-al that left little room or weight to spare. I woke up at 3:30 to get ready for an early off, but even then I still tried to rearrange everything again before I left, pushing my timings dangerously close to the limit. As I rushed to leave the house and close the door of the place where I had been living for the past 2.5 years for the final time, a most welcomed phone call came out of the blue. My uncle, an early riser by nature I think, was calling to see if I was away or if I needed a lift. I don’t think that I would have made that coach without him. It’s almost as though I have had previous!

With his help I arrived at the coach station with time to spare and boarded the coach to Heathrow. 2 hours later I arrived at the airport and entered the terminal, ditching the hoodie I was wearing alongside my waterproof jacket. I still felt like I was carrying too much baggage for where I was going, but I would have time enough to sort more things when I settled on the other side. But before that I had to get through check-in, get a coffee and a bite to eat and then endure one hell of a trip to Shanghai then back down to Bangkok. 

The long way around to try and claw back just some of the losses I had incurred, mostly due to being knowingly fit and healthy.