Dealing with Problems

Tuesday, July 31, 2007--Bangkok

I really enjoyed the breakfast at my hotel here this morning as I usually do when I am here. It is one of the best I've ever had anywhere. They have 3-4 kinds of juices along with milk, coffee, and tea. They have about 4 kinds of breads with butter and various jams. They have a buffet that includes at least two noodle dishes, scrambled eggs, pancakes, French toast, sliced ham, weiners, fried bacon, some kind of potato dish, some kind of vegetable dish, salad items (such as sliced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, shredded cabbage, etc., with dressing choices), fresh fruits (melon, watermelon, and pineapple today), 3-4 kinds of cold cereals, and a cooking station where they will fry eggs, make omelettes, etc. Sometimes, they have a table with cakes and pastries that are left over from meetings the day before. I usually get the pineapple juice (since it tastes more "normal" than the orange juice which seems more like orange drink); start with a plate with scrambled eggs, ham, potatoes, one of the noodle dishes, sliced tomatoes, and chile sauce; then have a plate of 3 pieces of French toast with syrup and a big pile of fried bacon; and end with a plate of the fresh fruit and something sweet if there is a pastry or cake offered. By then, I am full and don't need to eat until dinner time.

I was at the dentist's office early. I intended to make a couple of stops on the way there, but today was still a holiday (something related to Buddha), so hours were changed or curtailed at many places. The dentist cleaned my teeth and recommended that I get two fillings in gaps where my gums had receded some. All of it came to a total of $61.50. Can anyone beat that in the U.S. (without going to Mexico)?

Speaking of costs, though. That price and all other prices here are about 20% higher here this year than they were when I was here last year. That's because the U.S. economy is so bad that the dollar has gone down and the Thai Baht has gone up that much in one year's time. The U.S. is going to reach the point where it can no longer lower the rate of its currency to try to shift its expenses to the manufacturing companies in other countries who are hesitant to raise the U.S. prices of their products. When we get to that point, it's going to be a big surprise to U.S. citizens. Either we will have HIGH inflation or the dollar will just collapse making putting us in the poor house and ending the U.S. period of economic predominance. We can only keep spending more than we have for so long; just like people spending from their savings, the savings will eventually run out and cause bankruptcy. I hope we can get a more responsible government which will learn to live within our means so that we don't have to face a financial/economic crisis while I am still alive.

I didn't want to deal with my problems, so I went to the cinema immediately after leaving the dentist's office. I saw a Taiwan film that has won awards at several film festivals called The Best of Times. The main characters were young men who were working for a gang leader and found themselves having to deal with uncomfortable problems and getting into trouble. At the same time, it showed how their home lives were disfunctional. One of the boys was a good kid who might have made something of his life under better circumstances. The other was a jokster who probably would have failed at almost anything.

I rushed to the Thai airlines office to start dealing with one of my problems when I got out of the movie. We spent about an hour working on my ticket before it was closing time. At that point, we had gotten 2/3 of my reservations made, but we ran into a problem with the flight from Seoul to Cebu not being in their computer. I told them I would do some more research in the evening and return tomorrow morning.

I rushed to the cyber cafe and found the flight. The problem was that they were not searching under the right airline. It was Asiana rather than All Nippon (which the previous flights I will take were on). While at the cyber cafe, I worked on other matters related to problems I need to solve: 1) Finding a hotel in Delhi where I will make a reservation, 2) getting information about hours that I can go to the U.S. Embassy here to try to get the lost paperwork recreated that is needed to sell my condos in Houston, etc. That cyber cafe does not allow printing, so I then had to go to another cyber cafe to print out the papers of the paperwork that I need to complete for the sell of my condos.

I was exhausted and hungry when I left. I went to one of the street stalls and ate a soup with rice noodles, chicken, and green vegetables. Then I went to the hotel and watched TV for about an hour before going to bed for the night.

Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007--Bangkok

I was up at 6:30 this morning to deal with problems. I went to breakfast at 7:00 (eating the same as outlined in my post for yesterday). I was out of the hotel and catching a bus toward the U.S. Embassy at 7:30. I got to the embassy just after 8:00. It took 1 1/2 hours of standing in line and waiting to get the forms notarized. And it cost a fee of $50. (My bank at home did it for free when I originally completed the copy that the title company lost.)

From the embassy, I walked fast for about 30 minutes to get me to the Thai Airlines office. It took another two hours to complete my reservation for my new around-the-world ticket. And I learned about a new rule I have never encountered limiting the number of stops in a single country to no more than 4; I had to cancel part of my plans in Japan because I had 5 stops in the original itinerary. When I left around noon, everything was set; however, they have to send it to a tax person who double-checks all the airline taxes to make sure they are right. I have to go back either later this afternoon or early tomorrow morning to get the printed ticket and to pay for it. The ticket itself costs about 107,000 Thai Baht, and the airport taxes come to another 20,000 plus Baht. So taxes represent an additional 20%. In dollars, the ticket with taxes for next year will cost me about $3850 this year--the most expensive of any of the ATW tickets I have bought before. But it probably would have been about $2000 MORE if bought in the U.S.

After leaving Thai Airlines, I went to the cyber cafe to deal with other problems. Since I couldn't get my planned Sunday flight to Delhi, I had to postpone going there until Monday. So I got online to make a reservation for another night at my hotel here. (Doing it online saves about 40% off trying to do it at the main desk of the hotel.) Then I went to another site to make a reservation for a hotel in Delhi so that I will have a specific place to go when I arrive late in the evening Monday. (Both hotel reservations will take about 24-36 hours to be confirmed, so I will have to wait to see if I have been successful with them. There will be more problems to handle if they don't work out.)

Although I have the new notarized document for the U.S., I did not try to send it today. I got an e-mail stating that the woman who originally received the first document is back in town. Maybe she knows where it is and can locate it. That would save a lot of money by not having to deal with delivery services for this new document. I'll wait a day and read my e-mail tomorrow before sending this one. I would prefer that they find the old document and use it. Then I would have the second document as security if it is needed sometime in the future. I didn't ask them to process two copies at the U.S. Embassy, because that would have cost another $40 above the $50 that I had to pay; therefore, I still am faced with the situation of having ONLY ONE DOCUMENT that could become a problem if it is lost. It would be nice if they found the original so that this new one would be the backup.

I was so tired that I went to the hotel and fell asleep for about 30 minutes. Then I watched part of a film until 3:00. I had to head back to Thai airlines at that time to finalize my ticket. We did that, and I headed back to the hotel getting caught in a heavy rain during the last block. I hadn't been back in my hotel room more than 1 1/2 hours when the phone rang. It was Thai airlines saying there was a problem with the ticket I had picked up. We had to re-work the schedule for my last stop next year--Phnom Penh. I was planning to come through Bangkok to get there. They had told me it would be okay. But a supervisor told them that if I came to Bangkok the ticket had to end. So over the phone we figured out that they could re-route me through Seoul to Phnom Penh and then from there to Bangkok to end the ticket. It cost me another 2000 Baht ($62) in fees and taxes. They were nice and offered to have someone come to the hotel tomorrow to exchange the tickets. But I told them I would rather come to their office so that I could get on with other tasks without wasting time waiting at the hotel. So, tomorrow, I make ANOTHER trip to the Thai Airlines office!!

In addition to going there, I will go to FEDEX to send the Power of Attorney form and to the United Airlines and Lufthansa Airlines offices to get seat assignments for my upcoming flights. I hope I can start early and get all of that done by early afternoon. If so, I will try to see another film tomorrow. Whether I see a film or not, I also want to go through the malls with modern furniture stores to see if I can get ideas for my new sofa and my dining table I want to buy for my condo in San Antonio.

If all goes well, tomorrow will be the last day for me to deal with problems. I should be free then for 3 days to enjoy the city before leaving Monday for India.

By the way, while here tonight to update the post to the blog, got confirmation e-mails related to the hotel reservations I made online this afternoon for here and in Delhi. That's two more worries out of the way.