20070716

070716 Thaikarl - Visa? what a waste of time and money!

friends,

Tok and i went to the US consulate today for her tourist visa "interview".  when we finally walked up to the window, the first thing the girl asked was I her fiance.  it was obvious that the answer was NO! from that second on.  she didn't look at the papers, didn't even ask Tok any questions.  $100.00 for the visa fee, transport and hotel in bangkok, and all these papers filled out, copies made, pictures taken etc.  i am so completely annoyed with our goverment, and the people behind them that have supported our "immigration system" bah! i don't even want to talk about it anymore.  maybe later.

i booked a flight from Bangkok to Vancouver B.C. for early august.  i would feel really bad leaving the family behind with all this work to do and the uncertainty about Mama's health.  put the ticket on credit card.   costly, but whatever.  scraping around trying to borrow a few hundred here and there for living expenses for us for my extension...  it appears i will have plenty of work when i return, so things will smooth out nicely within a short time.

meanwhile, we are in Bangkok, which is always a thrill for me.  since the visa thing tanked, we're going to relax a day, then wednesday i have to take a special "visa-run" bus to cambodia, leave thailand and turn right around and come back in to get another 30 days in the country.  bus leaves at 5:30am and returns that night.  lots of bus-riding time in the nexe couple of days, as it's another 6 hours back to the country home.

6:00pm. they are playing the thai national anthem on TV. time to stand up.  8:00am and 6:00pm.  the anthem is quite short.  the joke is, "how could you win a battle against thai soldiers?" answer:  "play the national anthem.  they will all stand up and stand still.  bang-bang-bang. we win"

onward!

nukhun and Tok

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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/

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