I have decided in all good conscience that I should pay the thousand dollar Vodaphone bill, Idealistically they should not have let it go that far but if they had cut me off sooner I would have had more trouble getting the emergency cash – it cost me a thousand dollars to get a thousand dollars – ah the irony. Of course most of the expense of the phone bill is because of that useless woman “Tracey” from the ANZ but I’m trying not to think about that or it will just put me in a bad mood. So my only recourse now is to hope that the insurance will cover it. It should but that brings up another dilemma, it seems for reasons I am still unsure of, the police will not hand out my report which is necessary for the insurance claim, Argh! Mun goes to the station each day only to be told to “come back tomorrow”. There is no point in me going as they do not speak English. I have put it in the back of my mind so far not wanting to think about it but today I will begin to investigate all of this a bit more thoroughly. I start with some enquiry emails to the insurance company – oh how I hate corporations.
After some time on the net I go to Annes for coffee and then to the Coffee Bean for my morning bagel. Here I decide on which direction to explore today. I have covered most of the north and west of District One so today I start walking east. I hit the river and if I were to turn north I would arrive at the Embassy in about two kilometres so south I head into unknown territory. There is nothing here, just the freeway Nick and I took to leave for the Mekong last year and a few local warehouses and mechanic shops. It looks like an old area and part by part the old buildings are coming down and huge apartment buildings are going up, even more so across the river. I forgot to bring my bag which is a pity, the walk would have been better with my MP3 player and without my real camera the photos are fairly average from the iPhone.
A wacky looking church across the river - Christian crosses but Asian Architecture.
After a while I end up on the main road coming up from the south back into District One. I stop in at a shop where I see for the first time since I have been here – after shave. That’s right, I’ve been looking for it for three weeks but apparently it is not a common item here.
Back into the block I go for a massage, I slept on my neck wrong and for whatever reason my back is a bit sore. Trang is in and she works her magic, one hour later and I feel fantastic, they are also still discounting me a small amount. I peruse a used book shop but nothing stands out, I must find something soon, I feel naked without a book. Interesting to note that “Luke Rhinehart - Diceman” and “Jack Kerouac - On the Road” are the most common books in the shop and with the street sellers. There is also a lot of Harry Potter, Bill Bryson and that stupid “Twilight” series.
After lunch at Zoom café I head back to my room for study and a nap. The school has TXT me the pages for my two classes tomorrow but unfortunately I haven’t been given the books for them yet so that means two things, One - I can’t study or prepare and Two - they must be a class I haven’t taught before so school should be interesting tomorrow.
After dark I head to Thi Bar for a warm up beer or two and to see the band again. Tonight I meet Gregory the “band leader”. He’s the drummer with the sweet voice who looks like Cee Lo Green. There are three of us in the crowd for the first set so I stick around for the second set until a crowd of Japanese come in and I slink out, I just don’t get Jazz, though to be fair they do mix it up with more contemporary standards and they are good - but two sets is all i can take.
It’s a still clear night, not too humid but just sweaty enough. I head up to Annes for some Paella, buy a new book from my book lady – she couldn’t find the ones I asked her to get so now I’ll be reading “Nick Hornby – Polysyllabic Spree”. I finish my last beer just as Foo turns up with my cigarettes and I head back to my room with all the usual offers along the way of Marijuana, Heroin, Opium, Ecstacy, Cocaine and of course - pretty girl massage, “me make love vely good” (that’s not a type-o).
