30.03.2008 Meeting Karl...or not!

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30.03.2008 Meeting Karl...or not!

I found out that the best way to get down to the island where I was supposed to meet Karl was by night bus. Yesterday while on tour with Fabian I kept calling all sorts of numbers I had in order to make a reservation but no luck. Fabian said that I can just go to the bus station in the evening and buy my ticket on site.

Since I had not much to do, I decided to go to the hair dresser this morning. It's been ages since my last haircut and K told me that my hair looks shit so action needed to be taken.

First they shampooed my hair, rinsed it off, shampooed it again and then I got a wonderful head massage. After the conditioner the young woman asked me to sit onto the chair, looked at me and wanted to know how much longer I'd be in Thailand. I told her that I still had three weeks to go until my flight to Australia. Then she asked me if I was going to participate at Songkran. Songkran is the Thai New Year which only takes place mid April. And since I was still going to around of course I wanted to participate. No way would I miss that kind of cultural experience.

Another young lady came to brush my hair and gave me a nice neck massage. While she did that she started to ask me the same questions "how much longer are you going to be here?", "will you participate at Songkran? “ Then the head of the saloon came and started to cut my hair. Again, the same questions. All of a sudden she stopped her work, took her mobile phone and made a call, then continued with my hair cut.

A few minutes later an elder guy came in sat at one of the waiting chairs, talked to the ladies who worked there and then started to look at me. I didn't think much of it. All the hair dressers were occupied so he had to wait and whenever I sit in a hair salon I also like to watch people whose hair is being cut. Also I was used to being starred at by Thais by now. They are all crazy about (my) white skin. I can't really agree on that. I've been here for a whole month now and am still as white as a ghost.

All of a sudden he started to talk to me. Oh, and guess what the questions where! Here we go again I thought. But then he started to explain to me that he was the organiser of the contest and that I was really pretty and that he really wanted me to participate... I was confused and asked him what kind of contest he was talking about. He told me that there was going to be a Miss Songkran Beauty contest and that he really wanted me to be there.

All of a sudden it made sense. I understood that the ladies who worked there were supposed to let him know if they see a girl who could be a potential candidate and that's also why they asked me if I was still going to be here and if I'd participate. That was also what the sudden phone call was about and why he had just sat there staring at me for a while.

I didn't really have to think about it. To me it was totally clear that I would NOT participate in that. Having spent the past month in a country surrounded by skinny Thai girls had not exactly improved my self confidence about my body and also I do not think much of beauty contests. I have never in my entire life have had the urge to participate in the Miss Switzerland contest or whatever. I think their tasks are stupid and it's totally superficial. Modelling is a different story but beauty contest? NO!!!

The elder guy, who introduced himself as Chiaran, just kept talking that a big shopping mall would be my sponsor, that I wouldn't have to pay for anything, I'd get a professional make up and my hair would be done, I'd get a dress, shoes, the winner would get a lot of money... I kept telling him that I'm not interested. Would he have approached me on the street I'd just have walked away but I was in the middle of my hair cut and had nowhere to go. After the haircut I yet had to get my hair dried and he was still there trying to talk me into it.

After about half an hour of listening to him I finally gave in, accepted his card and promised to at least think about it. If he was that resistant he had to see something in me. Otherwise he could just have moved on to the next girl. Also I was eager to know what I'd look like all made up by a pro. What did I have to lose? No one would know me here and I thought that at least I'd get nice photos of me, which would be a nice memory. He had to promise me however that I didn't have to show a talent like sing, dance, juggle...

He seemed to be really excited about me and wanted to go and buy my dress with me straight way. I reminded him however, that I had not yet agreed and that I didn't have time now anyway because I was to meet a friend. So he decided to take my measures and then finally let me go.

I was just in time for my meeting with Fabian. Of course I told him what just happened. We lingered around the area where I stayed and I showed him an old sewer I had discovered who could fix the broken ribbon of his shoulder bag. She did a really good and extremely cheap job.

It was another extremely hot day so we went to Baan Sabai where we treated ourselves with a delicious fresh fruit juice.

After the drink he accompanied me to the tourist information where I finally got my own Bangkok map. I tell you, this city is so complex, a proper map is the key to pure freedom 😊 I used the chance to ask them about how to book a bus. They gave me the same phone numbers I already had but they still didn't seem to work. They told me what bus to take to the Southern Bus Terminal and told me to buy the ticket there.

When we left the tourist information I had a look at my phone and noticed that I had a missed call from an unknown number. I also got a text from that number which was from Karl. He had tried to call me to let me know that he was going to leave Ko Lipe and move on to Ko Mook the next day. That was good to know and last minute information since now I had to take a different bus.

Because I really wanted to catch tonight’s bus I decided to go to the bus terminal really early. Fabian accompanied me back to the hostel where I got my backpack and walked me to the bus station. There we had to say goodbye because we had to travel into different directions.

I arrived at the Southern Bus Terminal at 4 p.m. The bus was not going to leave until 8 p.m. but yet they told me that the bus was fully booked. The woman at the counter asked me to leave and come back the next day. I asked her if I could book the ticket somewhere and she just denied and said that I need to come back the next day. The bloody journey from Banglamphu to the bus terminal takes, depending on traffic, at least half an hour and I had no intention of going back to the hostel, go to the bus terminal the next morning just to buy the ticket then back and forth again... I told her that I wanted to buy the ticket now and she repeated that I needed to come back tomorrow. I asked her why I needed to come back the next day if I was here now. She had no answer to that and finally sold me a ticket for the next day.

When I got to the exit of the bus terminal I just took of my big backpack and sank on the floor. People were staring at me but I didn't care. I felt exhausted. I had tried to occupy myself all day because the bus was not going to leave until the evening, went to the hairdresser and then met with Fabian. And after I packed all my stuff and checked out all I wanted to do now was to finally meet Karl. But it was STILL not going to happen. It was hot, I was exhausted, and I felt sad. After some time of just sitting there without a plan I decided to give Fabian a ring. He was supposed to meet with a friend from work that night but due to language problems that didn't work out and he was available to meet.

First I had to go back to the hostel to check back in and leave my bag. They asked me why I was back and what went wrong. I told them that I didn't get the bus and had to stay another night. They gave me a voucher for a beer at the bar. I do not particularly like beer but I was so unnerved about the whole situation and felt like I couldn't stand the heat anymore that I went straight there and got a nice cold beer.

I felt tired and groggy on my legs. Maybe the beer wasn't such a good idea after all. Nevertheless I got up and met Fabian. We picked a nice restaurant from his guide book and started to look for it. When we got there we stood in front of locked doors with a sign that the restaurant had moved. We walked up and down the street and tried to find something else but no luck. Since we were starving we just decided to go to Mc Donald's and eat a shrimp burger. After dinner we had another look at the guide book and found a coffee place that sounded good and that we wanted to check out. We seemed to walk for ages but had to come to the conclusion that where that street used to be they just ripped everything down and build a huge complex. Although it was only 11 p.m. we were dead tired and the whole down town seemed to be shut down already. Therefore we took a taxi back to Thanon Khao San which is the main tourist street in Bangkok and apparently the only area where bars are still open that "late". We enjoyed yet another super tasty fruit juice and then it was time for each of us to go home and hop into bed.

What a day it’s been. I cannot say how grateful I was for Fabians company 😊

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Photos

After the hair dresser
Shit day, but at least my hair looks good ;)