From the moment I arrived in Hatyai at about 8.00 am after a long 8-10 hours, I received an SMS for certain errands I had to do in Hatyai, of which one of them was to pickup my tourist guide license from the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand), and after bargaining with the tuk-tuk driver who thought I was a tourist just because I came out from the bus from KL, and finally convincing him that I’m thai..... they all try to rip off tourists here…. I told him I as a tour guide and I asked him about the tourist situation in Haadyai, apparently all the people I saw at the pudu station were at most 90 percent thai people who went shopping in KL or to visit relatives and so forth.
The other 10 % were most probably those die-hard fans of Hatyai, the so-called regulars…. Anyhow we were in a short but informative conversation and from what I gathered, hotel occupancy rates were at a low 5% ever since the bombings, but perhaps would pickup after the December elections, as such the Hatyai municipality is renovating their inner shopping districts similar to those in KL like the Bintang Walk, mind you, the tuk tuks aren’t too happy that they can’t go through certain zones now…
Before that.. I was much relieved after finally getting on the bus which was about 1 hour late (left about 10.20), I managed to get to the tour counter just in time thanks to Leong and Kah Fun… although we were caught in a traffic jam almost halfway through… the boost of adrenalin from the fear of missing the bus gave me the speed of Olympic champions… and the moment I arrived at the tour counter they sent me sprinting over to yet another counter which was at least 500 metres away, for the fear that I may still miss the bus…… I felt that I was in a relay course…. However I was grateful for the exercise for that would allow to enjoy a blissful rest on the journey back to Thailand…, not only that but it has been a most exhaustive weekend to say the least.
Anyhow after my errands in Hatyai were completed I stopped over at the Lee Gardens Plaza hoping to purchase that Gundam model kit I had seen the other day… fortunately for me, the shopping centre was still closed…. Fortunate because if I had bought it.. I would have no place to display it, plus the cost of the model could have paid one of my staff wages for half a month…
Its easy when you only work and live for yourself, but when there are other people who depend on you, the actual act of purchasing an item brings many different angles to mind, that is for myself… buying something involves considerable thought… firstly do I really need it? …. I come from a family who just likes to buy things and we have storerooms at each of our places filled with all sorts of ‘good’ junk from coffee makers, bags, blenders, toasters, cutlery, faxes, printers… things we just can’t throw away so we just chuck it in the storeroom… as such this creates a dilemma because personally I’m a very tidy person, but there are just so many things lying around… I must warn you. I live in a mess.. also because I don’t have the time to tidy things up… in my dream house my concept would be one of Spartan living……. Simple yet basic…. Believe me,, when you come to visit… you would understand…
So when I look at something for instance a nice shirt…. I wonder… who would see me wear it? Do I have to iron it? Is it really necessary?... the last thing I want to do is buy something and then have the trouble to store it… same goes with construction materials, we have roofing, tiles, paint, doors, frames, grills etc enough to build a new house just lying around in the storerooms, plus enough plates, bowls, pots, pans and glasses to open 2 new restaurants.
How did this come to happen…. well… the problem is that there are too many purchasing officers, everyone buys what they fancy, different managers like different themes, different designs, bedding etc. so when a new manager takes over the resort, they want to change everything, and the old items, they just get stored away, because its much to valuable to throw it away… of course certain things like clothes and bedding we don’t use, we donate it to my grandmothers church nearby……
Enough dwelling about my preferences and getting back to my return trip from KL, … upon my arrival in trang, I received another SMS which was the shopping list… its seemed that we were almost out of everything….. but as planned, I had my car parked near the railway station a few days before for this assignment. I just hoped the car started.. which it did… so in half comatose state I headed to Makro with the shopping list at hand.... the usual … onions, garlic, pineapples, chicken etc…. I was like a zombie just picking things of the shelf ….. It wasn’t that I was tired… it was just that so much had happened and I just needed to unwind and get my affairs in order.. plus I needed a shower as well….
Okay…. After all the purchasing and the long drive back to Haadyao…… I was greeted with 2 tickets to Bangkok leaving on the 22nd and coming back on the 30th. Apparently some students have downloaded games via the internet onto the computers and I have make sure this doesn’t affect the TOEFL exam preparations. So that left me with TWO whole days to check on my workers in Koh Mook (Mook Island) and the Farm. Travelling to Koh Mook usually takes one whole day and you have to spend the night there, only thing is I had another important pending assignment at the farm (the insurance surveyors) were coming to inspect our losses due to theft (apparently, electrical wires and farm equipment were stolen) and we are insured to a certain extent… this just gives me more tasks to handle, because now I have to file a police report at the police station etc.. etc…. we’re really regulars at the station.. for reporting the crime mind you, not creating it.
Meanwhile…. Still planning my events leading to my departure to Bangkok on the 22nd, I call my right hand man at Koh Mook to see if there had been any progress since I left a week ago… and he tells me that the building contractor who agreed to complete the workers house never came.. and I was to go there and arrange for a new person…. Knowing fully well that I will definitely not be able to make it for at least another 10 days or so.. I just told him I would be there soon and leave everything on hold… just keep cutting the grass and planting flowers…. The project at Koh Mook would just have to wait for now…
Sometimes I wish there was a few more of me so I can just get what I needed done… there are a lot of things expected and there is so little time…
You may have though that I was enjoying myself watching movies and such, I would say that this is true during the low season when it rains almost everyday… and you can’t do anything about it…… but these past few days into the high season… has been really exhausting and I don’t even have time to watch tv, yet alone check my email and update my blog….. this moment.. I just have enough time to write this so I can get it off my mind…..
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