Bangkok - sorta a holiday

Written by Elmo

Bangkok

Elmo missed out on Bangkok and Elmo is still unhappy about this. Not Joanna’s fault but Elmo was unlucky. Elmo chose not to go to the retreat with Joanna – getting up at 4am and not eating for half of every day for 10 days is not for little monsters.

But after the retreat Joanna was flown to Bangkok to an international resort, ehem, I mean hospital and a cyst was removed. It was benign but there was a bit of a fuss about it all and in total Joanna was in Bangkok two weeks. Mostly as an outpatient. In Aust such a visit would have meant a few days in hospital and none of you would have even really known about it. But when in a developing nation, flying over to the world class facilities in Thailand is how health insurance looks after expats

Joanna is fine now. Her favourite description about the trip is, “except for the surgery and stitches it was a great adventure!”

Which just goes to show she is rather silly. Monsters know that going to hospital is meant to be scary but instead Elmo is jealous as Joanna, once able to move about okay got to be a tourist and see temples, the palace and national museum and about a million art galleries. Elmo thinks Joanna might have exaggerated but the point is that Joanna did lots of arts and cultural things in the last few days when her wound was getting treatment but she lived as an outpatient so had freedom to explore. Elmo would have liked to see the artwork. Being Joanna’s travel mate for over 10 years now, Elmo has learnt to love art nearly as much as she does.

Elmo also has seen the dress and shoes she bought so as to go to the Thailand Cultural Centre for a orchestral concert that played traditional Thai music but with western instruments. Joanna would have looked real pretty in the outfit. Pity not much need to wear pretty shoes and dresses with sequins here in our dusty town.

So Elmo happy to hear Joanna’s travel stories but glad that next real holiday when Joanna plans to explore our northern neighbourhoods in Laos that Elmo gets to go. No staying at home ever again for Buddhist retreats either, just in case Joanna ducks over to have additional holiday time like she did in Bangkok!

Dust - red fine dust

Dust

So just how dusty is it here? I lived in dusty places in Aust and I have seen too many dust storms for my liking. In western NSW it was nothing to see a storm of dust literally roll towards us obliterating the horizon and visibility quickly becomes nothing. It then continues on its path. That race to close up a house as one watches the plumes of dust is unforgettable. Ahhh the sweet memories of living in country Aust!

This dust is completely different. It’s a pervasive persistent living with dust. Everywhere. The fine red dust is kicked up from all the unsealed roads in town as we walk, moto or drive cars about. The dust comes through our unsealed timber homes and settles on all. No exaggeration, a table can be wiped over and 20 minutes later a fine layer is there again. Lifting any item, comb, book, phone or whatever from a table top means seeing the imprint of the shape left on the table as the dust has settled around the shape. Very artistic at times but of course it sometimes saps one’s good humour living in this dust.

Sitting on my balcony here, I can see the dust flowing down the road in the wake of a moto rider. It is a mostly still day so at least the dust is not being whipped up and around today. Leaving a beer open and unattended for too long means you get a mouthful of dust. It pays not to look at the surface of a cuppa tea, as of course we drink all this dust. It’s the smell of dust that is most noticeable. Picking up the mosquito net too quickly for eg, when getting into bed releases all the dust and the smell always amazes me. And don’t even think about the impossibility of keeping dust out of beds!

Clean dust:

A comforting fact or myth told by all expats here, is that at least we are breathing in clean dust. A newcomer settles into their new placement comes along to their first Friday night social drinks and can’t help but mention their personal struggle with getting used to the red dust and people will chorus, “but its clean dust!” Like that helps get used to the red dust in one’s eyes, ears and nose!!

There are so few pollutants here and so few cars and the little 100cc motos are everywhere but in a tiny population of 17,000 the effect of vehicles is minimal. So as I ride through red mists of dust on my own moto I comfort myself that it is healthy dust!

At 5pm as we all leave from work, the dust is so bad that the main road through town looks like its dusk as the dust generated sits in the still air completely blocking out the sun. its nothing to be peering 5 metres ahead to see what is on the road and all because of the dust.

On my little residential road its not like that. Constant dust is blown about but not so visible. The signs of dust exist in that all trees are covered with red film on the side that faces the roads.

But I will never complain about the dust as the opposite that comes with wet season is the mud. And I never enjoyed the lack of mobility that comes with the mud. At least with dry roads for the 6 months of dry season, travel is easy. Well there are pockets of thick fine dust to scooter through but rarely will we slip over - just like 4WD in sand I think, except with 100cc. In wet season my work office is on the road considered the 2^nd worst track in town and so once the rains begin it is a slippery water logged slippery clay base. One week last wet season (April – Oct) there were 7 staff with major leg injuries – not from traveling to remote villages but just trying to get to the office!!! So I breath in all this dust happily as I remind myself that soon I will be struggling to stay upright on my little moto in ankle deep mud.

So who wants to come visit me … after such an enticing description?