There are 7 billion people on this planet who couldn’t give a damn, but I want to tell you anyway. I shall be away from the keyboard for a couple of days. I have to go to Laos. I’m off to see a few people I wished would give a damn: The staff at the Thai Consulate.
This is not really a complaint, though it could well be. My problem is not life threatening. It’s the price I have to pay for not being particularly wealthy. You see, being a foreigner choosing to live in Thailand, I am subject to having to have a visa allowing me to stay. There are many different types of visa depending on one’s circumstances. The visa I qualify for is ‘Non immigrant-O’. It has to be renewed every 90 days. (86 days in practise, as the expiry date always falls within Murphy’s Law, and ends at a weekend.) And I have to leave The Kingdom to renew it.
I treat the palaver as a holiday away from a lifestyle that is one long holiday. Vientiane is the capital of Laos. Besides being the smallest capital city in the world, it happens to be a very pleasant place. It is also home to the Thai Consulate; the downside of my vacation.
Like bureaucracies of all governments, Thai bureaucracy is no exception. The whole process I have to undergo needs a logical overhaul and a more caring attitude. I could go into details, but feel this posting is boring enough already. Save to say: Thailand doesn’t do logic, and if I don’t like it, I can fuck off back to England.
Westerners take it pretty much for granted that they can go anywhere in the world for the price of an average month’s salary, and be wherever they wish to be within 24 hours. Not so for most of my Thai friends, nor most other Asians.
I am therefore grateful for my heritage and do not complain when fucked around by the fucking fuckers that try so fucking hard to make my fucking life a fucking misery. See you in a couple of days when I can relax for another 3 months.
This is not really a complaint, though it could well be. My problem is not life threatening. It’s the price I have to pay for not being particularly wealthy. You see, being a foreigner choosing to live in Thailand, I am subject to having to have a visa allowing me to stay. There are many different types of visa depending on one’s circumstances. The visa I qualify for is ‘Non immigrant-O’. It has to be renewed every 90 days. (86 days in practise, as the expiry date always falls within Murphy’s Law, and ends at a weekend.) And I have to leave The Kingdom to renew it.
I treat the palaver as a holiday away from a lifestyle that is one long holiday. Vientiane is the capital of Laos. Besides being the smallest capital city in the world, it happens to be a very pleasant place. It is also home to the Thai Consulate; the downside of my vacation.
Like bureaucracies of all governments, Thai bureaucracy is no exception. The whole process I have to undergo needs a logical overhaul and a more caring attitude. I could go into details, but feel this posting is boring enough already. Save to say: Thailand doesn’t do logic, and if I don’t like it, I can fuck off back to England.
Westerners take it pretty much for granted that they can go anywhere in the world for the price of an average month’s salary, and be wherever they wish to be within 24 hours. Not so for most of my Thai friends, nor most other Asians.
I am therefore grateful for my heritage and do not complain when fucked around by the fucking fuckers that try so fucking hard to make my fucking life a fucking misery. See you in a couple of days when I can relax for another 3 months.