The Expendable Spoon

When my friend Chris was leaving for his European backpacking trip, our friend Howard gave him a spoon to take with him.  I asked him why a spoon and here is what he said (as I understood it):

When we are young and just getting started in life we buy what supplies we can on our limited budget.  Cheap silverware, maybe mismatched plates from the thrift store, whatever we need.  As we get older, we are able to have more stability and maybe we graduate to a house, car, matching silverware.  So the old stuff gets thrown in the back of the drawer.  

But every once in awhile, we may have the opportunity to go on a trip or do something that requires packing a lunch and we need to take a spoon with us.  We don’t want to risk losing one of our nice pieces, so we grab the old forgotten spoon from the back of the drawer because it is expendable.  

We go on our trip, come home, wash the spoon and put it away, back in the forgotten recesses of the drawer.  Next time we need an expendable spoon, we grab that one again, and it comes with us on another trip, another adventure.  

Over the years, our nice silverware gets used, washed, and put away, but this old spoon gets to go on all the adventures with us, and after awhile, it starts to take on meaning.  We start to attach fond memories to it and it becomes more than the old expendable spoon, it becomes the adventure spoon.  

That’s why he gave our friend a spoon, to teach him that the ordinary can take on an extraordinary new life.  

As I reflected on that story, thinking what a great concept that was, he added: maybe some of us are like that, we are the oddballs, the expendable spoons, but we go on the greatest adventures.  

My friend is a genius.

(Clever spoon photo courtesy of Chris Domingo
Spoon story courtesy of Howard Martell)

Adventures in Air Conditioning

View from the window

My air conditioner at the first place I stayed in Chiang Mai, Thailand didn’t seem to work very well when I moved in.  At first, the temperature didn’t get below 85F.  I gave it a day or two and then I told reception that my a/c was not working.  They sent a guy up who looked like he was about 16 years old...

He stared at it for a few minutes...

Then looked at me and said “ok?”  

"Not okay!"  I showed him the thermometer. “See? it’s 30C, it should be 20C.”  

He stared at it some more...

and stood there, looked at me, looked back at it...

Finally he opened up the panel.  "Great," I thought, "we're finally getting somewhere."  

He finally took the filters out and washed them in my shower.  It seemed to work and that night it got so cold I had to turn it off!  Hallelujah!  

The next day it crapped out again.  I told the front desk.  They sent the tech up again.  

He stared at the unit for awhile...

Then he grabbed the remote, pushed the power button and "beep!" it magically came on.

I had no idea what he did, I swear I pushed every button on that remote, but it seemed to be working.  He handed me the remote and said "Ok?"  There wasn't much I could say, the unit was running so I said "ok, thank you" and he left.

That night, the air conditioner was still not working.  After fiddling with it, I finally figured out what was going on.  It would run for about 1/2 hour then turn itself off.  What that meant was I woke up every 2 hours sweating from the heat, turned the a/c on, cooled down enough to go to sleep, woke up two hours later sweating from the heat, etc etc.  By the third or fourth go around, I had a screaming headache.  

I went to reception the next morning.  I told them “you keep sending the tech, and he’s a nice guy, but he’s not fixing the problem.”  They said they will send a real tech from “outside” the next day.  Great, so that meant I was looking forward to another hot night.  I went to the mall to see a movie with a friend.  

When I got back to my room, from down the hall I could see multiple sandals outside my door.  I rushed in to see five workmen in my room, one standing on my chair working on the unit, the tech I had before, two sitting on the ground by the window from what I can tell providing moral support, and another walking around.  I said hi to everyone and sat on my bed and watched.  They showed me that there was a broken sensor that they replaced. That was finally the end of the a/c saga and I happy to say it has worked ever since!

Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos

Having the whole day to kill, last night I did some research and decided to go see Buddha Park, which is this park filled with giant sculptures of Buddha and assorted other deities.  It was a long ride out there, I wasn’t paying too close attention but I’d say at least 45 minutes.  It cost 5000kip to get in, thank God the mini mart had given me change in kip.  It was crowded and pretty hot and unfortunately the time of day meant the lighting really sucked.  Most of my pictures as first were just black, couldn’t see any detail.

After walking around for 5 or 10 minutes, my bowels decided to protest and I got a bad case of cramps and diarrhea (did I mention I’m also on my period?  Great time to be traveling).  I thought I was going to shit my pants so I frantically looked around for a toilet, almost doubled over in pain.  I asked the lady "toilet?" and she pointed to a sign way on the other side of the field.  I hobbled over there, and they charged 2000kip to get in, which luckily was the other denomination the mini mart had given me.  I hastily handed it to the little girl, who couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 years old, and hurried into the toilet.  

First glance, nasty, wet, and squatty potty.  Great.  I tried to find the driest spot on the floor I could and placed my back pack carefully on it, and balanced my purse on that, and dug out my toilet kit.  This consists of extra pads and wet wipes, which come in handy more than I’d like to admit.  

I organized all my pants and shirts and money belt and did my best to squat in the right place, hoping I would have good aim.  By this time my bowels were screaming at me.  I finally got into position and let loose.  Relief was slow in coming, but eventually I did the deed and cleaned up without making a mess, amazingly.  

I got all my pieces and parts put back together and looked at the toilet to see what kind of damage I’d done.  Amazingly, my aim was perfect!  I gingerly took the scoop from the bucket next to the toilet (eeewww) and hand flushed (yuck).  I re-packed my kit, picked up my gear, sprayed my hands liberally with antibacterial spray and, feeling much better, headed out to try and get better pictures of the statues.  

It was much easier to concentrate when I wasn’t in pain, so I actually got some decent shots.  Out of about 100, I got 5 really great Instagram shots and about 20 more that I just saved for myself.  I also got nailed by what looked like a four year old with a giant water gun. 

Happy New Year. 

Bali Mail Shack

I went to a shack labeled Post Office earlier today to mail a package.  I had a few things I wanted to send home but I decided to just send one and see how it went.  There didn’t appear to be anyone in the shack at first but I figured they were somewhere.  

I walked up to have a look around and there was a lady laying on a blanket on the floor behind the desk.  She jumped up and said "hello."  I said "I would like to mail a package" and I took a wrapped gift that I had bought for my sister’s family and laid it on the desk.  The lady dug around in a pile of plastic bags and came up with a very well used gift box or maybe food container.  Hard to tell.  

She placed the gift in the box and it took up less than half the space.  She started to put the lid on; she was going to send it just like that.  I noticed a smaller box underneath the desk and asked her if we could use that.  She said yes so I took the box this time, placed the gift inside and asked her for some newspaper.  She took a piece and began to fold it flat.  I took it out of her hand and crumpled it and packed the gifts in the box and put the lid on.  

She then took a roll of shipping tape and tried to find the end but couldn’t so she gave it to me.  I found the end and handed it back to her and she wrapped the entire box in shipping tape.  Good luck opening that, Liz! 

Then she took the package and weighed it on a bathroom scale, not a mail scale.  It was a very light package so of course it didn’t even register.  She asked me to tell her how much it weighed. It was hard to tell, but I made a guess. 

She called someone on the phone and spent quite a while asking them what the prices were and finally got off the phone and handed me a shipping label book.  She said to fill out the top portion with my information and the bottom with the recipient’s.  I filled it out and then she examined it.  

She pointed to the box with the return address and pointed to the box and said “for?”  

I pointed to the return address and pointed to me.  This is kind of hard to describe in writing but it was hilarious.  We had a conversation that went something like this: 

(point to return address) “FOR”

(point to mailing address) "FROM"  

Me: “no (point to return address, point to self) ME, (point to mailing address, point to box) SEND.”  

She pointed to the boxes on the page and said “FOR, FROM,” which was the opposite of what she told me to do.  

So I said “I’ll rewrite it.” She said “no, it’s okay!” I took the book from her, drew a big X through the box I had just filled out and re-wrote it the opposite way.  We went through it again (point) “FOR,” (point) “FROM.”  

At this point I started giggling and she did too. “Sorry, sorry, so confused!” she said.  I said “it’s ok” because really, what else could I say?  Then she gave me a sharpie and pointed to the box.  I wrote the address on the box, grateful that at least I had a better chance of it getting sent to the correct address.  I paid her and we smiled and said “thank you” and I went on my way.   

So Liz, I hope you get your package.  She said it would take about three weeks.  I saw a different “post office” on the way back to my lodge.  I think I will try them next time. 

Eek! A Spider! (another story from Bali)

True confessions: After my run in with the spider, I went walking down the street and saw that every other building is an accommodation of some sort.  So I started inquiring.  I found a place called TunJung Mas Bungalows that is the same price and the rooms are clean and the doors close properly, no huge gaps.  So I packed up my stuff and moved. 

This flower was blooming in a pot right on the busy street where my first hotel was.

Quick recap for those of you that weren't there for the epic Facebook conversation.  I checked into my beautiful but tiny little room in Ubud, Bali.  I was a little surprised because I had this picture in my head of what Bali would be like and I thought I was going to be in a quieter part of town but it turns out the place I booked is right on the main street and the town is super busy!  So I was a little thrown off by that.  But such is the life of a wanderer so I was determined to keep an open mind and explore where I landed.  Even though I felt very exposed, the grounds were absolutely gorgeous!  So after doing some walking around, I settled in for the night.  I woke up at 3:30am (as I often do - touch of insomnia) to find a huge spider on my door!  Not tarantula size, but about the size of my palm, quite big enough to scare the bejeezus out of me!  I grabbed my laptop and started writing status updates about it.  The nice thing about the time difference is that when it’s 4am here, it’s the middle of the day for Sacramento where I come from so all my friends were up and commenting.  (Status updates in red)

“OMG you guys it is 4am and I just found a giant spider in my room! Eeeeeekkkkk!!!!!”

After I wrote my first status update, I looked at the door and it was gone!

“Ok, so I looked up from my computer and he's not on the door any more. What's worse, seeing a spider or not seeing a spider? Oh Sh*t, he's on my desk now!”

“I called the reception guy and he came in but now we can't find it. All I can think of is it's behind the bed. Aack!”

The reception guy tried his best to find it but in the end he failed.  

“So I've got at least two hours to hang out with my arachnid friend until sunrise... There's no way I'm going back to sleep. I'm sure I'll get used to it but it's only my first day so I'm freaked out!”

I sat in the center of my bed in the middle of the room until sunrise.  Finally a bird started singing and I felt better, knowing the worst was over.  I still shuddered to think that spider could be anywhere!  So after breakfast I wandered down the street and decided to find another place to stay.  

This sweet little gecko took up residence in my second hotel and kept me company.  I loved having him there!

It wasn’t just the spider that made me decide to move.  It was a number of things that all added up.  First, the location,  imagine buying a cheap storage shed at Home Depot that hasn’t been put together properly and so has big spaces in between the doors.  Now put it on Howe Avenue (for non-Sacramentans, a very busy street) and try to live there.  That’s what this place felt like.  Even though they have done their best to create a beautiful oasis, the fact remains that you are sitting right on the street.  I read the reviews and I think I just lucked into getting the worst room.  There are other rooms further back with better features.  But when I asked to change rooms they said there was no availability.  The spider was just the cherry on top and with the way that room was constructed I knew there was no stopping a hundred other critters from coming right in.  The staff was really nice about trying to help me out but in the end they could not solve my problem, so I tried to be as gracious as possible when canceling my reservation.  I paid a small cancellation fee - uderstandable - and packed up my things and moved to my new place.  

This was a common sight in the area I was staying.  You really had to watch where you walked or you could seriously injure yourself!

I felt better in this place knowing the door was pretty airtight.  It had this fantastic shower which was on rocks, kind of like an outdoor shower but totally screened in so I was confident no spiders could get in.  I unpacked and went out to explore the city.  I came back later that afternoon and took a shower, which was an interesting and fun experience!  I went out again to find some dinner and when I came back, to my horror, there were giant ants making their way en masse from the shower into the bathroom!  Seriously, they were easily 20mm long and fat!  We used to have red ants like that in Carmichael so I knew those suckers wouldn’t die easily.  I killed all the ones in the bathroom but five minutes later there were just as many!  I looked online for natural remedies and made an ant-killing concoction of water, tea tree oil, peppermint oil, and clove oil and sprayed the heck out of everything!  My room smelled amazing but it didn’t seem to deter the ants.  I dumped a bunch more clove oil in but it destroyed my spray bottle.  So I finally went down to reception and told them the situation and said I’d like to change rooms to one with an inside shower.  They asked me if I would let them clean it first and see if that solved the problem.  I said ok and minutes later had three staff guys in there looking for ants. They said “there aren’t that many” and I said “that’s because I already killed them all!”  They came in with some kind of pesticide and sprayed all over the shower which killed most of the ants but made the whole bathroom smell like pesticide which couldn’t have been healthy for me to breathe!  I told them I would stick it out for the night but would probably still want to change rooms in the morning.  

I did love all the statues and creative creatures there!

I spent a very nervous night not knowing what I would find every time I opened that bathroom door!  I did make it through the night and woke up with a fresh bite mark on my foot.  At 8am I went down and requested a room change.  This time I have a room with an inside shower and a good fitting door.  I dumped the rest of my concoction on a towel and pushed it up against the gap at the bottom of the door and saturated cotton balls with tea tree oil and clove oil and placed them by the door and in the bathroom.  I was a nervous wreck as night fell, hoping I wouldn’t have another freaky bug battle!  I didn’t get much sleep but by about 2am I hadn’t seen any more bugs I finally started to relax.  I do have the cutest baby gecko which makes me feel more comfortable.  Why do I love lizards and hate spiders and ants?  I don’t know, but it’s how I am.  As of this writing it is 6:30am the next morning and as far as I can tell, I am still bug free.  It’s not that I expect to be completely bug free all the time; there were plenty of bugs at the first place I stayed (the Elephant Safari lodge) but they made sense.  A couple of ants which came out of the fruit tray they brought in, the occasional spider.  This was not a man-eating spider chasing me around a tiny room or an army of determined ants forging their way toward me.  I have learned a few valuable lessons from this experience.  I definitely look for clean rooms with tight fitting doors when I book lodgings.  I am much more interested in learning about essential oils now and plan on expanding my collection.  At 2am all alone in a room in a foreign country it helps to have some essentials oils to concoct remedies for problems.  I am optimistic about this new room; third time’s a charm I guess, and I am looking into my next move to hopefully something less bustling and more like the Bali I was hoping to find.