Not a whole lot. I’ve been pretty grounded this past week just staying in and watching way to much Netflix or working. I do like to make it out to the park for some nice runs and workouts, though. I did make a couple trips for visas, and I had one good adventure to a rooftop.
My first visa related trip was to this massive government complex. It was huge with offices for about any government related endeavor you might be after. It took me a while to even figure out where to go to get my Thai visa extended. Then there was some photocopies of my passport and current visa that I need done and they told me that photocopies were done on the first floor. So I went to the first floor and asked a security guard who didn’t speak much English, but he told me to follow him to the 7th floor. On the 7th floor they told me that I could get copies done on the first floor…
After some more wasted time I finally did get my copies done and then I waited for an hour and a half and then got my passport returned with my extended visa. I can now stay another 30 days in Thailand, even though I only plan on being here two more weeks.
My other visa expedition took me to the Russian Embassy. I stopped by earlier in the week to ask a few questions. I was under the impression that citizens of other countries must apply for a Russian visa in their own country of residence only unless they had a work, retirement, or some special permission to stay in Thailand over 90 days. I don’t have any of that so I just wanted to check. I was told that I could apply there to get my visa!
With that surprise I had to put together my visa application. First, you have to pay $15 or so to some Russian tourism company to “sponsor” your travels to Russia. I did that and then filled out an online application. Then I “figured out” my flight in and my flight out of Russia as I have done for my Thai and Chinese visas. However, this time I also had to come up with a medical insurance document. They want you to have at least $10,000 of coverage or something like that when traveling in their country.
I do have coverage under my health insurance in the US, but they don’t have a nice tidy little form that shows coverage in Russia. Through my insurance you have to look for in network care or pay out of pocket and then submit a claim to be reimbursed. I have a $10,000 credit limit on my credit card so its practically the same amount of coverage, but I didn’t think the Russian’s would but that explanation. So I did the best I could to come up with some supporting documents from the insurance company and I hoped the lady at the consulate would be pretty lax about that policy.
Fortunately, things went smoothly and I’ll be picking up my visa on Friday! When I submitted it, the lady just looked like didn’t care at all. She didn’t ask a single question. She also only charged me $75 for my visa. The minimum price for a Russian visa of any type for a US Citizen is supposed to be $160. I think, since there are way more British people applying there than Americans, I got charged the British visa price. I’ll take that nice little discount!
“How much do you bench?” – “I’m up to 34 inch rims now!”
Working out at the park is always fun, especially since you always see something different. They have all these weight rooms, well I guess it isn’t a room, that are just out in the open air in the middle of the park. They feel pretty old school and there is everything from free weights and barbells to machines and weird contraptions and benches with tires for weights. It costs 20 baht (63 cents) for a day pass. So I enjoyed lifting weights there especially with the older Thai guys because they love joking around.
Most often I just go to an area with a lot of pull up bars and gymnastics like stations. There are often younger Thai guys built like Olympic gymnasts doing flips and tricks off of the pull up bars. That is always really fun to watch as they try to out do each other with their tricks.
Another fun thing about the park is the hundreds of old people doing Zumba type classes. There are also hundreds of people running laps around the 2.5km trail around the outside edge of the park. That’s always a run run to, just because there are so many people there running with you.
On Sunday, since I don’t have a church in Bangkok, I went and sat at the the spot pictured above overlooking the pond and listened to some church sermons for my Sunday worship. It;s nice just to relax and enjoy the atmosphere there.
On Saturday night, I went exploring with a friend I made to some rooftops overlooking the city. It was pretty adventurous, and for a while it looked like it might rain which was trouble since there were lightning rods all over that roof! But things tamed down and it was all good!
We stayed and watched the sun go down. It was cool to watch the city change from it’s day time form to a sparking city skyline right before your eyes as the sun dropped. Honestly, I’ve always had a healthy respect for heights, but challenging that fear really makes me feel alive. My heart was pounding most of the time, but I couldn’t help but smiling!
Next blog update should be about me narrowing down and figuring out some travel plans. I just got my taxes filed and my return isn’t as big as I anticipated so I’ll have to work with the budget I got. Until next time, God bless!
