Tai mai?

Mai tai

(not Thai)

I heard about a place to stay—a really nice, big house in a neighborhood a few minutes from town, for 1500B more than I pay here.

Took something to get there. Yesterday, I sent a text to someone who knew someone, and this morning I missed a call from a number I didn't recognize. It was the house owner, who wanted to know when I could be there—4:30. Okay, just call her. Well, what about this morning, she had to teach then? Sure, how about 11:00. Great, call her before I leave, she's over in Rachanburi past Robinson Ocean.

Robinson—I know that place, so Rachanburi I'll find.

Call her at quarter of, and she's shopping so it'll have to be another time. Maybe six? Or, she'll call me in a few minutes.

How about I meet her at noon? Great. Her shop at Rachanburi? Ummm.... How about the 7-11 across from Robinson Ocean? Perfect. Call before I leave.

I get there at quarter of, sip from what was supposed to be a Coke Zero but gives me an instant sugar headache, and call up at ten after. She's on the way, just be a minute. Quarter past, some kid walks up to me and says, “Come this way,” then turns and walks off. Little creepy following him to a car.

A nice, older lady waves me in—retired English teacher who keeps up an EFL studio.

And the place is gorgeous—two car port, three bedrooms, four bathrooms, large living room, mud room, dining room, patio kitchen, outdoor gas wok and microwave. Fully furnished, with a massive carved armoire upstairs.

Downside: it's just over twice what I expected to be paying, a 6 or 8 K drive from town, and I will be swallowed like an eyedropper of coffee.

Problem: where I'm staying now is the next best option. Nakhon does not have condos or apartments, just hotels/converted hotels, shop houses (shop on the ground floor, bedrooms up above), and these newer houses in sizable mubans. So I can stay in a converted hotel room or double the rent and live in a really nice house. The question is what I'm missing while in a “mansion” room here in town: having a kitchen, dresser, desk, separation between sleeping, eating, working areas. But I can walk to anywhere, my commute is a matter of seconds, and it's easier to budget in exploration. Out of town, it would be easy to create my sacred space and my hidey hole, but harder to get out socializing or to take a weekend trip or go for a spa—both of which I look forward to.

Any thoughts out there, internet land?

I left campus to explore some living options, but had the foresight to look across the road at a black pillar of cloud—“Es no bueno” said the old mafioso, looking at a similar cloudburst-to-be dropping from the Alpi. I made it to my place almost dry, and about a minute and a half before the sky opened. After just over an hour—an extremely hungry one since I missed lunch on campus—the heart of the storm moved in. Visibility dropped to about a block around the time lightning struck the building. Quite an eye opener, and I wasn't even an electrical device.

Another hour and a half and things cleared out, but it was amazing to watch the street absolutely fill up with water, the world at large disappear, and lightning light up a daytime sky.

PS: the fun part was watching everything clear up until I was about three klicks from town, and then losing the debate with myself whether it's better to go faster and get it over with or slow down and not get quite the pummeling. No winning that one.