My Trip to Thailand
Please bare with me as I continue to add to and edit my story as I have time. I will include pictures eventually too! Thank you!
Hello to all!
This is a short journal of my trip to Thailand for 11 weeks from March 10, 2013 to May 27, 2013 written while I was there.
Because of my interest in Thai Massage since late 2010 I decided to get my Thai Massage Certification this particular year as my own business here at Chaleureux Massage has been flourishing! I felt like I should go before it grows too much more. And when I found TMC (Thai Massage School of Chiang Mai) I knew it was the right place and the right time to go. I want to have rich and varied forms of massage to offer and support my current clients needs as well as the needs of new clients yet to discover Chaleureux.
Here is the link to the school I went to in Chiang Mai, Thailand:
http://www.tmcschool.com
Here is a link to the place I stayed in Chiang Mai:
http://www.greenhillplace.com/index.html
I had a "standard double" and it was very nice. I stayed here the whole time I was in Chiang Mai.
I will add pictures as I get a chance.
Sincerely,
Selina A. Krous L.M.P
Before leaving for my trip:
I encountered a little problem with getting my student visa as some of you know before going on my trip, but many did not hear about the experience so I will included it here as it was a good lesson.
Approximately 10 weeks before my scheduled flight I had applied for a 90 student visa using the instructions and the application form from the Thai Embassy in Washington D.C. and their website. There was only one thing I did not have to put on my application and that was the license number of the school I would be attending. I sent the package containing my visa and waited for a reply. The Embassy web page said it should take 9 days to hear back from them. After waiting until there were two weeks left before my flight I tried to contact the Thai Embassy but speaking to someone was difficult as they seemed to be very busy every time I called and I was directed to leave a message on a voice mail each time I called. Which I did but also continued to try to get through to someone.
Finally, first thing on a Thursday morning I got someone! The woman put me on hold for quite some time to look for my packet and when she returned she said I did not include the license number of the school. I said I did not have it and the school had not supplied that information to me and I was hoping it would not be a problem. She said she could not give me a student visa without it but she could give me a 30 day visitor visa. I told her I get that automatically if I fly in and that I wanted and needed the 90 day student visa. But she again tried to give me the 30 day visa. So I told her to please just send the packet back with my visa and I would take care of things after my arrival in Thailand. She said she would send it right away which I was very happy about and hoped she would not delay just in case my packet with my passport got misplaced or held up in the mail. It arrived a week later on Thursday evening with only a few days to spare before not being able to fly out on Sunday. But I finally did have my passport back and would be able to fly out on Sunday.
The other thing the woman had mentioned to me was that I had sent it to the wrong Embassy and that I should have sent it to the Embassy in California. However the only address that was given on the embassy webpage and that was on the form to download and print out from the Embassy website was the D.C. address. I just wanted to mention that for future reference for anyone thinking about getting a visa....just know that things can take longer or are not always how they seem they should be.
Thursday March 16,2013
And just so you know....I am one day or 14 hours ahead of you there back home. Normally it would be 15 hours but they do not do day light savings here.
We are presently in the capital city of Vientiane of Laos! And are planning on staying here until Friday night at which time we will fly back to Bangkok then take a bus over night back to Chiang Mai.
We arrived in Chiang Mai Tuesday morning after leaving Spokane on Sunday morning, got our guest house room, did a few errands, then went to talk to my contact at the school about what else I needed to do to get my Student Visa as she thought there would be more they could do after I arrived in Thailand, but it was not to be. I only found out they couldn't help any more then what they had with the letters of recommendation and acceptance from the school which they had emailed to me prior to my leaving the states. So she started asking some of the other staff of the school if they knew anyone who needed to get Visas after arriving in Chiang Mai. I was told I could either do border runs to Burma every 15 days or leave Thailand by air and go to another country and apply for the 90 day Student Visa. I did not want to have to take a bus and miss a day of school every 15 days so the staff quickly helped us book round trip tickets from Bangkok to here (Laos) using their computer. All the fights out of Chiang Mai were booked so we had to book a bus ride to Bangkok. Then we rushed back to the guest house and got our stuff, paid for one night even though we didn't get to use it and took a taxi to the bus station and went back to Bangkok over night to catch our flight here. That was on Tuesday and we arrived here in Laos on Wednesday late afternoon. People can only apply for a Visa at the Thai Consulate between 8:30 - 1200 Monday - Friday, and the next day you go between the hours of 1:00 - 3:00 to hopefully pick it up! So early this morning (Thursday) we went to the Thai Consulate that is right around the corner from our hotel...that is how we decided on where to stay. I just told the cab driver to take us to a nice hotel near the Thai Consulate! I had to have a room and it had to be all paid for before going to the Consulate and leaving my passport and application as the hotels require proof of a passport and in order to get the Visa I have to have proof of where I am staying with an address and a phone number on the application and then give my passport up to the Thai Consulate. So we walked to the Thai Consulate this morning going early to hopefully beat the crowd but there was already a line forming and groups of Laos men were there with their tables set up on both sides of the Consulate gates saying for 1000 baht they would help me get a Visa saying I had to fill out their form. People were paying the fee and filling out the forms but we have become quite savvy already and said "No Thank You!" And got into line with most everyone else and waited for the gates to open and let us all in. There were a few people ahead of us speaking English and I so I asked them if I should fill out forms out here or inside and they all said, "Don't fill out anything outside of the Consulate!!" That made us feel better about having said no! So the gates opened and I got a number and filled out a Visa form for the Student Visa. I was number 18 and after getting to the window I was turned away because they wanted a copy of the ID card of the person who gave me one of the letters of recommendation!!!! And I had to have a copy of the Laos Visa from my passport. Yes, I now have a Laos Visa also which is good for 30 days upon entering and was applied and paid for at the immigration office at the airport after we arrived. And then the lady said, "Be back here with all of that done before 12:00 or wait for tomorrow." Oh no!!! I nodded my head and feeling kind of lost the guy behind me said I can get a copy of the Laos Visa from my passport upstairs in the Thai building. So we quick went up the stairs stepping over the BIGGEST cockroach I've ever seen in my life! I thought the ones in Missouri or South Carolina were big! And found a guy upstairs standing next to a printer who knew why I was there and said one word....."Copy?" I nodded and he took my papers and passport from my hand and went right to the Lao Visa and copied both pages, looked at everything else and stapled it all together and said, "Is good, 10 baht." We paid and headed out to figure out how to get a copy of the ID card. We went down the street and saw a sign that said "print copies". We inquired within about making a phone call to Thailand and receiving a fax or email and getting it printed. They helped us make the phone call to the school but could not help us with the rest. They charged us $24,000 kip. I was able to reach my contact at the school and told her what I needed and she said she would email it to me soon. I said thank you and we headed back to the hotel to wait for the email. The time was now 10:30 and I had hated to mention it and ask for her to hurry, but I had told her that if I did not get the information soon, I would have to miss the flight tomorrow and would not be at the school until hopefully by Wednesday because the Consulate closes at 12:00 today! You see the problem is that I wouldn't know if I had the Visa until after 12:00 tomorrow (which was Friday) and then it would have been too late to apply again until Monday.
Upon our arrival back at the hotel I tried to relax and sat out on the balcony that faces the very busy street out front and think of something else....I noticed a long line of some tiny ants and watched them for a while. I kept checking for the email to come in on my tablet and finally my husband and I started talking about plan two just in case it was needed. I would return today before 12:00 and apply for a 90 day Tourist Visa and we would wait no longer then 11:00. With 10 minutes to go I got the email and we quickly went downstairs in our hotel and used their guest computer and printer and printed off two documents and jogged back over to the Consulate....waited in line again to get a number and filled out another app for the Tourist Visa and attached two more Visa sized pictures (I had brought spares!) just in case we would still need to scrap the Student Visa app. I got #162 and sat down and we waited as the clock ticked on and by 11:30 my number was called. I went up and started debating with myself as to whether or not I should have included all the letters of recommendation stuff from the beginning as it seemed now it was complicating things. I know the staff at the school were really trying to help me but sometimes too much information is not needed and only complicates things and makes more opportunities for questions. But I don't know how all this works.....so I hand over my app and passport and the man behind the window looks it over once then twice, looking at each page and stopping each time at the letters. He rearranged them a few times....then he started to sign the bottom of the page and I thought I was going to be able to take a breath but he stopped and asked the lady next to him who I had first seen earlier, something in Thai and she replied and he said something else and she raised her voice and said something back. He took the staple out of my papers and took one of the letters out and handed it back to me then looking over everything again and pausing with his pen in hand over the spot he needed to sign and looked at the front page again. I am now thinking with a tear welling up in my eye...this can't be happening! What is red flagging this to him?! Finally he signs the paperwork and sends me to the inside of the building to wait my turn using the same number I was given earlier to pay my 2000 baht. With that paid for and receipt in hand we headed back to our hotel. We stopped at a local fruit market and bought a coconut a little pineapple and something that looked like a flower and had them as a snack outside in the garden area of the hotel. I have to admit I have shed a couple of tears fearing this may not end as I hope. I can still apply for the Tourist Visa on Monday but we will have to miss our flight tomorrow and rebook for Tuesday evening as I won't be able to get the Tourist Visa until then....if it is granted to me at all. The coconut was a lot different then how they are at home....the man had cut a hole in the top and put two straws in it for us to drink the coconut milk. It was good and the coconut meat was soft and good also. It was a challenge for my husband Del as we had asked someone from the kitchen for a knife...it was a long dull knife. So Del worked hard to get the top hole open enough that we could scrap out the meat with a spoon. The flower shaped fruit was like a soft apple in texture and tasted lightly sweet with a pear like taste. I should have taken a picture of it! And the pineapple was vine ripened sweet! Mmmmmm! The hotel we are at is called "Bouchadakham Hotel". We are on the third floor facing the front street. Our room is large with two twin sized beds put together which are almost a little softer then the floor....okay as soft as a rug on the floor. :) I don't know what they are made of but they look like box springs except that they do not have any springs or padding at all. I hope to find a softer bed in Thailand!! We have a safe in our room!! It is a wooden cabinet with a key so you can lock things up! Only when you open the doors you find out there is no back to the cabinet!! Del laughed when I showed him and said, "At least we have the key!" The shower is just a shower head over a corner in the bathroom or "toilet" as they call it here and in Thailand. The whole floor gets wet even with a trickle of water and the drain drains slowly so if you use conditioner....which I do the floor feels slippery afterwards and not very appealing to walk on. Oh! That reminds me! So when we were at the bus station in Chiang Mai getting ready for our over night ride we went to the "toilet" and there is no toilet paper! There was a lady sitting at a table out front of the bathroom entrance and had little neatly folded pieces of toilet paper she was selling! I ignored her going in thinking that was odd until I stepped into the stall which just had a hole in the floor and the floor was sticky and wet and smelled like urine and no T.P.! OH! It was hard to stand there and use that hole but it was going to be a long 9 hour ride! I was glad I was wearing my sandals as the soles were thick enough to keep my feet from getting wet from the standing water on the floor. Here are some facts about the money. One hundred Thai Baht is worth about $3.50 or 1000 baht is about $35.00...at least it is at this present time as it can change from day to day. And 7900 Lao kip (also called LAK) is worth about $1.00 or 79,000 kip would be about $10.00. So I paid $70.00 for the Visa and our stay here at the hotel was 1400 baht for two days...they take baht here also. We purchased our dinner for 30,000 kip or $4.00 for both of us. Now dinner was good...not spectacular, but good. Del had BBQ pork with rice and soup and I had roasted chicken, rice and soup. After dinner we got two bottles of water for 9000 kip. I wanted some chocolate and we did managed to find a small Snickers it was 7500 kip...and the box of Oats and Honey granola bars were 39,500 kip or $5.00. Things are higher in cost here in the stores compared to Thailand from the little we experienced while in Thailand. Okay so the traffic here is CRAZY! Mostly tuk-tuks which are little trucks with a covering over the top of the back and seats running down both sides and motor scooters but still there are a lot of vehicles. The streets are narrow but the people still manage to find 3 lanes of traffic on the two lane roads to pass each other!!! And the motor scooters are named right as they scoot between the vehicles right down the middle at times of high traffic passing vehicles and will be going in both directions!!!! Some with 2-4 people on them and the women will ride side saddle if they are wearing a skirt or dress. They carry their babies and small children ride standing up in front of the person driving. Some people do wear helmets but most do not. And you take your life in your own hands when crossing any street! Hold hands and make a dash or when the traffic is slow you can get out there and they will stop for you to run across. Most of the people ride on or in something here and very few are over weight being what most Americans would consider to be thin. The evenings are as busy as the day as everyone is out getting something to eat or talking together. And the traffic doesn't slow down until very late and some drive without their lights!! Del and I were up by 4:00 am this morning and spent a little time on the balcony and enjoyed the quiet street watching 3 of the neighborhood dogs look for scraps. It is dirty here and walking through the back streets is eye opening to say the very least. Most of us are so blessed and spoiled as a whole in America. This morning around 6:30 am a long line of Monks dressed in orange robes came down the street. I had watched the people laying out little blankets or rugs and preparing for what looked like a meal and watched them pray over the food as it sat there on the rugs and blankets and wondered why they were doing that. Then here came a procession of monks. The oldest was leading and his robe was a different shade of orange. Some of these monks are mere boys. The monks stopped by each person and would be given some food. The monks would then place it in a big silver bowl that had a lid which they carried in a large bag as you will see in the pictures below. How interesting I thought. The monks would bless the people by singing or chanting something for about a minute or so. They continued down the street this way for a couple of blocks stopping at each place there was a person or people ready to serve them and ready to receive a blessing. I don't know if they come by in the afternoons and evenings too or if they just come out in the mornings. Everything is recycled here ...and they use things waaaaay past the point of which an American would consider to be useful. There are a lot of billboards and some of them are huge!! Most of them and the advertisements for products depict beautiful white Americans (white men and women). And that is true in Thailand also. I will write again soon as I do love to write. Tomorrow we have to check out of our hotel by noon and so we will have to take our luggage with us to the consulate building. I am glad we only brought a back pack and another small bag each! If I get my Visa we will be at the airport by 4:30 our time as our flight leaves at 6:35 to Bangkok then another bus ride to Chiang Mai. Del and I are not minding the heat or the humidity too much but it does make us have to drink a lot which of course means having to go to the bathroom a lot too! You can Google Earth our hotel and the Thai Consulate building we were at today. Otherwise we are both very tired but doing well and looking forward to having this all behind us so we can enjoy Thailand, and of course most of all, so I can go to school!
Tuesday, March 10, 2013
March 16, 2013 Saturday: Waking up at 4:00 am and not able to go back to sleep I sat up on our bed Friday morning and sent out a variety of emails letting family and friends know how and where in the world we were and to let everyone know about my Visa dilemma. I have been on a 4:00 am to 4:00 pm schedule now for a few days as my internal clock tries to figure out if it is day or night! Many of you know I am not a morning person at all but right now I am a very early morning person! But by the time 4:00 pm arrives I am ready to crash which is what time we crashed and went to bed the first day at the hotel in Laos which was Wednesday and did the same on Thursday also. Jet lag, sleeping in airports and buses really mess the internal clock up big time! Besides I could not sleep anymore as I was thinking about the Visa and just how it would all play out leaning more towards things not going the way I wanted. I think because I just did not want to put all my hope for it to be finished and then be turned away again for some reason. So as I wrote my emails I was also thinking about checking out a couple of other hotels we passed on our way to the consulate building and hoped they would have softer beds. I also wondered if having a real bed also meant more chances of bed bugs but I also decided I was ready to take that chance! Del was awake also and was watching the city wake from the balcony outside. He poked his head in and reminded me it was almost 6:30 and the monks may be passing by soon. I got the camera and went out onto the balcony to watch for them with him. Yes, people were coming out and preparing to serve them.
We spent a few hours watching the street below us and talked about how things are quite different here and soon decided it was time to get ready to eat breakfast and check out of the hotel because check out was at noon. We ate our breakfast there at the hotel having an omelet with a few vegetables tucked inside and toast and really black coffee that we added 3/4th of a cup of hot water to so that us light weights could drink it! Then we spent the last half hour of time before our check out time came in the hotel talking about our plans for the rest of the day depending on what would happen at the consulate. We really wanted to see some of the temples and museums before leaving the country but that would have to wait for another trip. However, if I did not get the Visa, we would have the weekend to do some exploring. The consulate did not open it's gates until 1:00 so we would go to a little coffee shop just down the street from the gates and wait there until it was time to go to the consulate building. We carried our stuff and I took pictures along the way trying to be discrete and courteous as we did not want to offend anyone. Anytime you walk anywhere you can expect to have tuk-tuks stop near you and ask to drive you and having our bags in hand made us even more of a target! But we just gave a smile and said no and continued to walk. They must of thought we were weird or too cheap because as I have said, no body walks here!
We really enjoyed our little date and the pretty mochas at the coffee shop while talking about what we would do for a living if we lived in Thailand for a while. I really like the fact that people can cook, bake or make things to sell without a lot of government intervention. Though I doubt American's would be able to have the same privilege. And of course I would want to do massage! I really enjoyed and appreciated Del's attempt to distract me with something chocolate!
Finally the time had come to find out if it was going to happen for me this day and we left the coffee shop to stand in line once more with the same people who had been there the day before. As we stood, there were tuk-tuks and taxis of all kinds everywhere! And a man in a lite pink shirt came up to us and asked very nicely if we would need a taxi after finishing our business at the consulate. We said no at first mostly because we had become programed now to just automatically decline unless that is what we are needing at the moment. But he asked again still being very polite saying, "It should take 15, 20 minutes to get Visa, I wait for you. You see there?" He pointed behind himself to a small van and asked us if we were going to the airport. I said yes, and he nodded and said his price but neither I or Del knew exactly what he said and nodded to him. He smiled and walked away from us. If I did get the Visa we would head directly to the airport and wait for our 6:30 flight there as we would have completed the task we set out to do and were anxious to get back to Thailand.
The gates opened and we all filled into the courtyard and to a covered area where a ticket machine was. I took a number and headed inside to wait. Del went right into the building and sat down in the same seats we had when we went in the day before to wait to make our payment. I got number 48 and followed the others in front of me up the side stairs into the building and as we stood there for a moment I noticed the others in front of me had their receipts in hand also. Of course! I thought to myself, I will need to show my receipt! Before leaving for this trip I put together a binder of all my documents each in their own sheet protector and multiple copies of each and a few empty sheet protectors for receipts or whatever. So I quickly pulled out the receipt from the binder which I kept in a backpack that went everywhere with me because of the important binder of documents within.
Needless to say, I was very nervous and was feeling a lot of anxiety....but I tried to keep hope. I got inside and went to Del and sat down. They were already in the late 20s! The red digital numbers on the counter went through each number fairly quickly and the automatic recorded woman's voice would say each number in Thai. Her voice never stopped for long and sometimes not at all as the Visas were being handed out fast! I was so trying to be positive and happy.....as I watched the numbers draw closer to my number....42, 43, 44. Okay I thought, I will head up there now. We were sitting in the very back against the wall and my seat was at the end of the opening between two seating areas so I stood up and walked straight down the aisle towards the counter watching the numbers go up........45, 46, 47....50, 51...I quickly turned away and went back to my seat holding back the gush of tears that wanted to come. My husband tried to console me by telling me it was okay, they would still call my number eventually and to just be patient. I could not look at him and I told him I could not talk right now or I was going to lose my composure. We waited in silence as the numbers continued to go up and the room cleared. I wondered why. I just don't understand why.....and will they tell me why, I wondered. And when would they tell me I cannot have the Visa.
Finally there were only a handful of us waiting....I could not take it anymore and I stood again thinking to myself...."Is it possible the numbers just skipped?...It was my last hopeful thought as I made my way to the counter. When my turn came to be at the window, there, sitting in front of me was the same woman from the day before who had told me my application was not complete. I handed her my receipt and number, and in that split second my eyes saw the passports spread out neatly in front of her like cards from a deck of cards. She looked at my number and looked up at me with a happy yet questioning look as if to say...."why didn't you come sooner?" I looked up and pointed to the counter and shook my head. She smiled and reached to her left and pulled out a blue passport and handed it to me still smiling as if to say...."Here it is....what you have been waiting for!" I took the Visa from her and opened it....it was mine and there was the Student Visa I had wanted and have been waiting for since my first application in the states back in early February. I smiled back at her and bowing my head I said thank you and went back to my seat next to Del.
I had not made it back before the tears came and by the time I was sitting in my seat with my face in my hands the sounds of my muffled sobs came as I tried to quiet myself. It was too much.....this had been such a stressful and now so much more expensive thing for me, not to mention how emotionally and physically drained we both were from all this traveling and now I could finally see it was going to happen. I was going to go to school in Thailand for three months now and I would not have to worry about this anymore. And I had my coveted 90 day Student Visa. I would have settled for the 90 day Non Immigrant Tourist Visa if I had to reapply....but this is the one I really wanted on my passport! Del was so sweet and put his arm around me saying, "See my dear, I knew you had it! Now we can go back to Thailand and you can go to school!" I wiped my face and we gathered up our things and as we stepped out of the consulate building I looked up ahead of us towards the gates and there was that pink shirt! The taxi driver had been waiting for us to come out and now he would drive us comfortably to the airport. He waved to us and as we approached he took our bags and we climbed in. He even played some nice American music for us as we drove along. I wish I could remember what was playing but I was still in a daze and holding back more tears of happiness and exhaustion. I reached for Del's hand as we drove off and enjoyed seeing the different temples as we made our way to the airport.
We made it by 2:00 and had a long wait for our 6:30 flight. We were hungry and we were anxious for our return flight. If we were lucky, we would make it to Bangkok and catch a taxi to the Bangkok bus station in time to catch the last bus to Chiang Mai and be there by 7:00 am. The fight went quick as it is only a little over an hour flight even with a little detour around a massive thunder storm. It was quick a spectacular sight with the sun setting and the massive thunder heads and lighting in them! Looking back towards Laos, I could see the black dense cloud of dirt or smog that was always over the city while we were there...actually it looked like it was over the whole of Laos!
We arrived at the Bangkok airport and went outside to find hundreds of people waiting for cabs! It was Friday night and we couldn't believe how busy it was!! We got in one of the lines and waited as we made our way towards the cabs and the callers who would call out to us and then to a cab getting us together. Finally we were pointed to a cab and off we went! And let me tell you....You would think we were running from the devil as the cab driver drove like a maniac!! He was our worst driver yet! We were driving down the freeway at 130 kilometers at one point! That is almost 90 miles per hour!!!!!! Switching lanes, near misses with other vehicles and driving down the shoulders....on both sides of the freeway in the direction we were moving!!!! The freeway had 4 or 5 lanes each direction with the shoulders. We just sat there quietly and I held Del's hand so tight I had to be white knuckled! I had to quit looking at the dash and just thought....okay...so we will for sure get to the bus station in plenty of time! Then we ran into some really slow traffic....and what should have taken maybe a hour, took almost two. We were really beginning to worry! It was close to 10:00 pm as we were getting out of the cab and making a dash to the first window of one bus line. They were all sold....and so was the next, and the next. We checked 7 or 8 different lines and they were all sold out for Chiang Mai. The bus station was just as busy as the airport! The only thing we could do was to buy tickets for the first bus out in the morning at 5:30 am. It would be an 11 hour ride in a full bus and a long night in the bus station waiting for morning to come. It was a long night.....we were already tired and now very hungry. Water is easy to come by as it is sold everywhere but food on the run is a little harder and very expensive in the airports. And right now the only option was a 7 Eleven. Yep! They are everywhere! They can at times be just a few doors apart! Here in the bus station they are separated by the length of the terminal!
MORE TO COME :)
This is a short journal of my trip to Thailand for 11 weeks from March 10, 2013 to May 27, 2013 written while I was there.
Because of my interest in Thai Massage since late 2010 I decided to get my Thai Massage Certification this particular year as my own business here at Chaleureux Massage has been flourishing! I felt like I should go before it grows too much more. And when I found TMC (Thai Massage School of Chiang Mai) I knew it was the right place and the right time to go. I want to have rich and varied forms of massage to offer and support my current clients needs as well as the needs of new clients yet to discover Chaleureux.
Here is the link to the school I went to in Chiang Mai, Thailand:
http://www.tmcschool.com
Here is a link to the place I stayed in Chiang Mai:
http://www.greenhillplace.com/index.html
I had a "standard double" and it was very nice. I stayed here the whole time I was in Chiang Mai.
I will add pictures as I get a chance.
Sincerely,
Selina A. Krous L.M.P
Before leaving for my trip:
I encountered a little problem with getting my student visa as some of you know before going on my trip, but many did not hear about the experience so I will included it here as it was a good lesson.
Approximately 10 weeks before my scheduled flight I had applied for a 90 student visa using the instructions and the application form from the Thai Embassy in Washington D.C. and their website. There was only one thing I did not have to put on my application and that was the license number of the school I would be attending. I sent the package containing my visa and waited for a reply. The Embassy web page said it should take 9 days to hear back from them. After waiting until there were two weeks left before my flight I tried to contact the Thai Embassy but speaking to someone was difficult as they seemed to be very busy every time I called and I was directed to leave a message on a voice mail each time I called. Which I did but also continued to try to get through to someone.
Finally, first thing on a Thursday morning I got someone! The woman put me on hold for quite some time to look for my packet and when she returned she said I did not include the license number of the school. I said I did not have it and the school had not supplied that information to me and I was hoping it would not be a problem. She said she could not give me a student visa without it but she could give me a 30 day visitor visa. I told her I get that automatically if I fly in and that I wanted and needed the 90 day student visa. But she again tried to give me the 30 day visa. So I told her to please just send the packet back with my visa and I would take care of things after my arrival in Thailand. She said she would send it right away which I was very happy about and hoped she would not delay just in case my packet with my passport got misplaced or held up in the mail. It arrived a week later on Thursday evening with only a few days to spare before not being able to fly out on Sunday. But I finally did have my passport back and would be able to fly out on Sunday.
The other thing the woman had mentioned to me was that I had sent it to the wrong Embassy and that I should have sent it to the Embassy in California. However the only address that was given on the embassy webpage and that was on the form to download and print out from the Embassy website was the D.C. address. I just wanted to mention that for future reference for anyone thinking about getting a visa....just know that things can take longer or are not always how they seem they should be.
Thursday March 16,2013
And just so you know....I am one day or 14 hours ahead of you there back home. Normally it would be 15 hours but they do not do day light savings here.
We are presently in the capital city of Vientiane of Laos! And are planning on staying here until Friday night at which time we will fly back to Bangkok then take a bus over night back to Chiang Mai.
We arrived in Chiang Mai Tuesday morning after leaving Spokane on Sunday morning, got our guest house room, did a few errands, then went to talk to my contact at the school about what else I needed to do to get my Student Visa as she thought there would be more they could do after I arrived in Thailand, but it was not to be. I only found out they couldn't help any more then what they had with the letters of recommendation and acceptance from the school which they had emailed to me prior to my leaving the states. So she started asking some of the other staff of the school if they knew anyone who needed to get Visas after arriving in Chiang Mai. I was told I could either do border runs to Burma every 15 days or leave Thailand by air and go to another country and apply for the 90 day Student Visa. I did not want to have to take a bus and miss a day of school every 15 days so the staff quickly helped us book round trip tickets from Bangkok to here (Laos) using their computer. All the fights out of Chiang Mai were booked so we had to book a bus ride to Bangkok. Then we rushed back to the guest house and got our stuff, paid for one night even though we didn't get to use it and took a taxi to the bus station and went back to Bangkok over night to catch our flight here. That was on Tuesday and we arrived here in Laos on Wednesday late afternoon. People can only apply for a Visa at the Thai Consulate between 8:30 - 1200 Monday - Friday, and the next day you go between the hours of 1:00 - 3:00 to hopefully pick it up! So early this morning (Thursday) we went to the Thai Consulate that is right around the corner from our hotel...that is how we decided on where to stay. I just told the cab driver to take us to a nice hotel near the Thai Consulate! I had to have a room and it had to be all paid for before going to the Consulate and leaving my passport and application as the hotels require proof of a passport and in order to get the Visa I have to have proof of where I am staying with an address and a phone number on the application and then give my passport up to the Thai Consulate. So we walked to the Thai Consulate this morning going early to hopefully beat the crowd but there was already a line forming and groups of Laos men were there with their tables set up on both sides of the Consulate gates saying for 1000 baht they would help me get a Visa saying I had to fill out their form. People were paying the fee and filling out the forms but we have become quite savvy already and said "No Thank You!" And got into line with most everyone else and waited for the gates to open and let us all in. There were a few people ahead of us speaking English and I so I asked them if I should fill out forms out here or inside and they all said, "Don't fill out anything outside of the Consulate!!" That made us feel better about having said no! So the gates opened and I got a number and filled out a Visa form for the Student Visa. I was number 18 and after getting to the window I was turned away because they wanted a copy of the ID card of the person who gave me one of the letters of recommendation!!!! And I had to have a copy of the Laos Visa from my passport. Yes, I now have a Laos Visa also which is good for 30 days upon entering and was applied and paid for at the immigration office at the airport after we arrived. And then the lady said, "Be back here with all of that done before 12:00 or wait for tomorrow." Oh no!!! I nodded my head and feeling kind of lost the guy behind me said I can get a copy of the Laos Visa from my passport upstairs in the Thai building. So we quick went up the stairs stepping over the BIGGEST cockroach I've ever seen in my life! I thought the ones in Missouri or South Carolina were big! And found a guy upstairs standing next to a printer who knew why I was there and said one word....."Copy?" I nodded and he took my papers and passport from my hand and went right to the Lao Visa and copied both pages, looked at everything else and stapled it all together and said, "Is good, 10 baht." We paid and headed out to figure out how to get a copy of the ID card. We went down the street and saw a sign that said "print copies". We inquired within about making a phone call to Thailand and receiving a fax or email and getting it printed. They helped us make the phone call to the school but could not help us with the rest. They charged us $24,000 kip. I was able to reach my contact at the school and told her what I needed and she said she would email it to me soon. I said thank you and we headed back to the hotel to wait for the email. The time was now 10:30 and I had hated to mention it and ask for her to hurry, but I had told her that if I did not get the information soon, I would have to miss the flight tomorrow and would not be at the school until hopefully by Wednesday because the Consulate closes at 12:00 today! You see the problem is that I wouldn't know if I had the Visa until after 12:00 tomorrow (which was Friday) and then it would have been too late to apply again until Monday.
Upon our arrival back at the hotel I tried to relax and sat out on the balcony that faces the very busy street out front and think of something else....I noticed a long line of some tiny ants and watched them for a while. I kept checking for the email to come in on my tablet and finally my husband and I started talking about plan two just in case it was needed. I would return today before 12:00 and apply for a 90 day Tourist Visa and we would wait no longer then 11:00. With 10 minutes to go I got the email and we quickly went downstairs in our hotel and used their guest computer and printer and printed off two documents and jogged back over to the Consulate....waited in line again to get a number and filled out another app for the Tourist Visa and attached two more Visa sized pictures (I had brought spares!) just in case we would still need to scrap the Student Visa app. I got #162 and sat down and we waited as the clock ticked on and by 11:30 my number was called. I went up and started debating with myself as to whether or not I should have included all the letters of recommendation stuff from the beginning as it seemed now it was complicating things. I know the staff at the school were really trying to help me but sometimes too much information is not needed and only complicates things and makes more opportunities for questions. But I don't know how all this works.....so I hand over my app and passport and the man behind the window looks it over once then twice, looking at each page and stopping each time at the letters. He rearranged them a few times....then he started to sign the bottom of the page and I thought I was going to be able to take a breath but he stopped and asked the lady next to him who I had first seen earlier, something in Thai and she replied and he said something else and she raised her voice and said something back. He took the staple out of my papers and took one of the letters out and handed it back to me then looking over everything again and pausing with his pen in hand over the spot he needed to sign and looked at the front page again. I am now thinking with a tear welling up in my eye...this can't be happening! What is red flagging this to him?! Finally he signs the paperwork and sends me to the inside of the building to wait my turn using the same number I was given earlier to pay my 2000 baht. With that paid for and receipt in hand we headed back to our hotel. We stopped at a local fruit market and bought a coconut a little pineapple and something that looked like a flower and had them as a snack outside in the garden area of the hotel. I have to admit I have shed a couple of tears fearing this may not end as I hope. I can still apply for the Tourist Visa on Monday but we will have to miss our flight tomorrow and rebook for Tuesday evening as I won't be able to get the Tourist Visa until then....if it is granted to me at all. The coconut was a lot different then how they are at home....the man had cut a hole in the top and put two straws in it for us to drink the coconut milk. It was good and the coconut meat was soft and good also. It was a challenge for my husband Del as we had asked someone from the kitchen for a knife...it was a long dull knife. So Del worked hard to get the top hole open enough that we could scrap out the meat with a spoon. The flower shaped fruit was like a soft apple in texture and tasted lightly sweet with a pear like taste. I should have taken a picture of it! And the pineapple was vine ripened sweet! Mmmmmm! The hotel we are at is called "Bouchadakham Hotel". We are on the third floor facing the front street. Our room is large with two twin sized beds put together which are almost a little softer then the floor....okay as soft as a rug on the floor. :) I don't know what they are made of but they look like box springs except that they do not have any springs or padding at all. I hope to find a softer bed in Thailand!! We have a safe in our room!! It is a wooden cabinet with a key so you can lock things up! Only when you open the doors you find out there is no back to the cabinet!! Del laughed when I showed him and said, "At least we have the key!" The shower is just a shower head over a corner in the bathroom or "toilet" as they call it here and in Thailand. The whole floor gets wet even with a trickle of water and the drain drains slowly so if you use conditioner....which I do the floor feels slippery afterwards and not very appealing to walk on. Oh! That reminds me! So when we were at the bus station in Chiang Mai getting ready for our over night ride we went to the "toilet" and there is no toilet paper! There was a lady sitting at a table out front of the bathroom entrance and had little neatly folded pieces of toilet paper she was selling! I ignored her going in thinking that was odd until I stepped into the stall which just had a hole in the floor and the floor was sticky and wet and smelled like urine and no T.P.! OH! It was hard to stand there and use that hole but it was going to be a long 9 hour ride! I was glad I was wearing my sandals as the soles were thick enough to keep my feet from getting wet from the standing water on the floor. Here are some facts about the money. One hundred Thai Baht is worth about $3.50 or 1000 baht is about $35.00...at least it is at this present time as it can change from day to day. And 7900 Lao kip (also called LAK) is worth about $1.00 or 79,000 kip would be about $10.00. So I paid $70.00 for the Visa and our stay here at the hotel was 1400 baht for two days...they take baht here also. We purchased our dinner for 30,000 kip or $4.00 for both of us. Now dinner was good...not spectacular, but good. Del had BBQ pork with rice and soup and I had roasted chicken, rice and soup. After dinner we got two bottles of water for 9000 kip. I wanted some chocolate and we did managed to find a small Snickers it was 7500 kip...and the box of Oats and Honey granola bars were 39,500 kip or $5.00. Things are higher in cost here in the stores compared to Thailand from the little we experienced while in Thailand. Okay so the traffic here is CRAZY! Mostly tuk-tuks which are little trucks with a covering over the top of the back and seats running down both sides and motor scooters but still there are a lot of vehicles. The streets are narrow but the people still manage to find 3 lanes of traffic on the two lane roads to pass each other!!! And the motor scooters are named right as they scoot between the vehicles right down the middle at times of high traffic passing vehicles and will be going in both directions!!!! Some with 2-4 people on them and the women will ride side saddle if they are wearing a skirt or dress. They carry their babies and small children ride standing up in front of the person driving. Some people do wear helmets but most do not. And you take your life in your own hands when crossing any street! Hold hands and make a dash or when the traffic is slow you can get out there and they will stop for you to run across. Most of the people ride on or in something here and very few are over weight being what most Americans would consider to be thin. The evenings are as busy as the day as everyone is out getting something to eat or talking together. And the traffic doesn't slow down until very late and some drive without their lights!! Del and I were up by 4:00 am this morning and spent a little time on the balcony and enjoyed the quiet street watching 3 of the neighborhood dogs look for scraps. It is dirty here and walking through the back streets is eye opening to say the very least. Most of us are so blessed and spoiled as a whole in America. This morning around 6:30 am a long line of Monks dressed in orange robes came down the street. I had watched the people laying out little blankets or rugs and preparing for what looked like a meal and watched them pray over the food as it sat there on the rugs and blankets and wondered why they were doing that. Then here came a procession of monks. The oldest was leading and his robe was a different shade of orange. Some of these monks are mere boys. The monks stopped by each person and would be given some food. The monks would then place it in a big silver bowl that had a lid which they carried in a large bag as you will see in the pictures below. How interesting I thought. The monks would bless the people by singing or chanting something for about a minute or so. They continued down the street this way for a couple of blocks stopping at each place there was a person or people ready to serve them and ready to receive a blessing. I don't know if they come by in the afternoons and evenings too or if they just come out in the mornings. Everything is recycled here ...and they use things waaaaay past the point of which an American would consider to be useful. There are a lot of billboards and some of them are huge!! Most of them and the advertisements for products depict beautiful white Americans (white men and women). And that is true in Thailand also. I will write again soon as I do love to write. Tomorrow we have to check out of our hotel by noon and so we will have to take our luggage with us to the consulate building. I am glad we only brought a back pack and another small bag each! If I get my Visa we will be at the airport by 4:30 our time as our flight leaves at 6:35 to Bangkok then another bus ride to Chiang Mai. Del and I are not minding the heat or the humidity too much but it does make us have to drink a lot which of course means having to go to the bathroom a lot too! You can Google Earth our hotel and the Thai Consulate building we were at today. Otherwise we are both very tired but doing well and looking forward to having this all behind us so we can enjoy Thailand, and of course most of all, so I can go to school!
Tuesday, March 10, 2013
March 16, 2013 Saturday: Waking up at 4:00 am and not able to go back to sleep I sat up on our bed Friday morning and sent out a variety of emails letting family and friends know how and where in the world we were and to let everyone know about my Visa dilemma. I have been on a 4:00 am to 4:00 pm schedule now for a few days as my internal clock tries to figure out if it is day or night! Many of you know I am not a morning person at all but right now I am a very early morning person! But by the time 4:00 pm arrives I am ready to crash which is what time we crashed and went to bed the first day at the hotel in Laos which was Wednesday and did the same on Thursday also. Jet lag, sleeping in airports and buses really mess the internal clock up big time! Besides I could not sleep anymore as I was thinking about the Visa and just how it would all play out leaning more towards things not going the way I wanted. I think because I just did not want to put all my hope for it to be finished and then be turned away again for some reason. So as I wrote my emails I was also thinking about checking out a couple of other hotels we passed on our way to the consulate building and hoped they would have softer beds. I also wondered if having a real bed also meant more chances of bed bugs but I also decided I was ready to take that chance! Del was awake also and was watching the city wake from the balcony outside. He poked his head in and reminded me it was almost 6:30 and the monks may be passing by soon. I got the camera and went out onto the balcony to watch for them with him. Yes, people were coming out and preparing to serve them.
We spent a few hours watching the street below us and talked about how things are quite different here and soon decided it was time to get ready to eat breakfast and check out of the hotel because check out was at noon. We ate our breakfast there at the hotel having an omelet with a few vegetables tucked inside and toast and really black coffee that we added 3/4th of a cup of hot water to so that us light weights could drink it! Then we spent the last half hour of time before our check out time came in the hotel talking about our plans for the rest of the day depending on what would happen at the consulate. We really wanted to see some of the temples and museums before leaving the country but that would have to wait for another trip. However, if I did not get the Visa, we would have the weekend to do some exploring. The consulate did not open it's gates until 1:00 so we would go to a little coffee shop just down the street from the gates and wait there until it was time to go to the consulate building. We carried our stuff and I took pictures along the way trying to be discrete and courteous as we did not want to offend anyone. Anytime you walk anywhere you can expect to have tuk-tuks stop near you and ask to drive you and having our bags in hand made us even more of a target! But we just gave a smile and said no and continued to walk. They must of thought we were weird or too cheap because as I have said, no body walks here!
We really enjoyed our little date and the pretty mochas at the coffee shop while talking about what we would do for a living if we lived in Thailand for a while. I really like the fact that people can cook, bake or make things to sell without a lot of government intervention. Though I doubt American's would be able to have the same privilege. And of course I would want to do massage! I really enjoyed and appreciated Del's attempt to distract me with something chocolate!
Finally the time had come to find out if it was going to happen for me this day and we left the coffee shop to stand in line once more with the same people who had been there the day before. As we stood, there were tuk-tuks and taxis of all kinds everywhere! And a man in a lite pink shirt came up to us and asked very nicely if we would need a taxi after finishing our business at the consulate. We said no at first mostly because we had become programed now to just automatically decline unless that is what we are needing at the moment. But he asked again still being very polite saying, "It should take 15, 20 minutes to get Visa, I wait for you. You see there?" He pointed behind himself to a small van and asked us if we were going to the airport. I said yes, and he nodded and said his price but neither I or Del knew exactly what he said and nodded to him. He smiled and walked away from us. If I did get the Visa we would head directly to the airport and wait for our 6:30 flight there as we would have completed the task we set out to do and were anxious to get back to Thailand.
The gates opened and we all filled into the courtyard and to a covered area where a ticket machine was. I took a number and headed inside to wait. Del went right into the building and sat down in the same seats we had when we went in the day before to wait to make our payment. I got number 48 and followed the others in front of me up the side stairs into the building and as we stood there for a moment I noticed the others in front of me had their receipts in hand also. Of course! I thought to myself, I will need to show my receipt! Before leaving for this trip I put together a binder of all my documents each in their own sheet protector and multiple copies of each and a few empty sheet protectors for receipts or whatever. So I quickly pulled out the receipt from the binder which I kept in a backpack that went everywhere with me because of the important binder of documents within.
Needless to say, I was very nervous and was feeling a lot of anxiety....but I tried to keep hope. I got inside and went to Del and sat down. They were already in the late 20s! The red digital numbers on the counter went through each number fairly quickly and the automatic recorded woman's voice would say each number in Thai. Her voice never stopped for long and sometimes not at all as the Visas were being handed out fast! I was so trying to be positive and happy.....as I watched the numbers draw closer to my number....42, 43, 44. Okay I thought, I will head up there now. We were sitting in the very back against the wall and my seat was at the end of the opening between two seating areas so I stood up and walked straight down the aisle towards the counter watching the numbers go up........45, 46, 47....50, 51...I quickly turned away and went back to my seat holding back the gush of tears that wanted to come. My husband tried to console me by telling me it was okay, they would still call my number eventually and to just be patient. I could not look at him and I told him I could not talk right now or I was going to lose my composure. We waited in silence as the numbers continued to go up and the room cleared. I wondered why. I just don't understand why.....and will they tell me why, I wondered. And when would they tell me I cannot have the Visa.
Finally there were only a handful of us waiting....I could not take it anymore and I stood again thinking to myself...."Is it possible the numbers just skipped?...It was my last hopeful thought as I made my way to the counter. When my turn came to be at the window, there, sitting in front of me was the same woman from the day before who had told me my application was not complete. I handed her my receipt and number, and in that split second my eyes saw the passports spread out neatly in front of her like cards from a deck of cards. She looked at my number and looked up at me with a happy yet questioning look as if to say...."why didn't you come sooner?" I looked up and pointed to the counter and shook my head. She smiled and reached to her left and pulled out a blue passport and handed it to me still smiling as if to say...."Here it is....what you have been waiting for!" I took the Visa from her and opened it....it was mine and there was the Student Visa I had wanted and have been waiting for since my first application in the states back in early February. I smiled back at her and bowing my head I said thank you and went back to my seat next to Del.
I had not made it back before the tears came and by the time I was sitting in my seat with my face in my hands the sounds of my muffled sobs came as I tried to quiet myself. It was too much.....this had been such a stressful and now so much more expensive thing for me, not to mention how emotionally and physically drained we both were from all this traveling and now I could finally see it was going to happen. I was going to go to school in Thailand for three months now and I would not have to worry about this anymore. And I had my coveted 90 day Student Visa. I would have settled for the 90 day Non Immigrant Tourist Visa if I had to reapply....but this is the one I really wanted on my passport! Del was so sweet and put his arm around me saying, "See my dear, I knew you had it! Now we can go back to Thailand and you can go to school!" I wiped my face and we gathered up our things and as we stepped out of the consulate building I looked up ahead of us towards the gates and there was that pink shirt! The taxi driver had been waiting for us to come out and now he would drive us comfortably to the airport. He waved to us and as we approached he took our bags and we climbed in. He even played some nice American music for us as we drove along. I wish I could remember what was playing but I was still in a daze and holding back more tears of happiness and exhaustion. I reached for Del's hand as we drove off and enjoyed seeing the different temples as we made our way to the airport.
We made it by 2:00 and had a long wait for our 6:30 flight. We were hungry and we were anxious for our return flight. If we were lucky, we would make it to Bangkok and catch a taxi to the Bangkok bus station in time to catch the last bus to Chiang Mai and be there by 7:00 am. The fight went quick as it is only a little over an hour flight even with a little detour around a massive thunder storm. It was quick a spectacular sight with the sun setting and the massive thunder heads and lighting in them! Looking back towards Laos, I could see the black dense cloud of dirt or smog that was always over the city while we were there...actually it looked like it was over the whole of Laos!
We arrived at the Bangkok airport and went outside to find hundreds of people waiting for cabs! It was Friday night and we couldn't believe how busy it was!! We got in one of the lines and waited as we made our way towards the cabs and the callers who would call out to us and then to a cab getting us together. Finally we were pointed to a cab and off we went! And let me tell you....You would think we were running from the devil as the cab driver drove like a maniac!! He was our worst driver yet! We were driving down the freeway at 130 kilometers at one point! That is almost 90 miles per hour!!!!!! Switching lanes, near misses with other vehicles and driving down the shoulders....on both sides of the freeway in the direction we were moving!!!! The freeway had 4 or 5 lanes each direction with the shoulders. We just sat there quietly and I held Del's hand so tight I had to be white knuckled! I had to quit looking at the dash and just thought....okay...so we will for sure get to the bus station in plenty of time! Then we ran into some really slow traffic....and what should have taken maybe a hour, took almost two. We were really beginning to worry! It was close to 10:00 pm as we were getting out of the cab and making a dash to the first window of one bus line. They were all sold....and so was the next, and the next. We checked 7 or 8 different lines and they were all sold out for Chiang Mai. The bus station was just as busy as the airport! The only thing we could do was to buy tickets for the first bus out in the morning at 5:30 am. It would be an 11 hour ride in a full bus and a long night in the bus station waiting for morning to come. It was a long night.....we were already tired and now very hungry. Water is easy to come by as it is sold everywhere but food on the run is a little harder and very expensive in the airports. And right now the only option was a 7 Eleven. Yep! They are everywhere! They can at times be just a few doors apart! Here in the bus station they are separated by the length of the terminal!
MORE TO COME :)
