....that lets you get a divorce in 2 hours, start to finish, as long as your identification papers are in order. Done as of yesterday, for those who keep track of these things.
So just hours later, already on the bus to return home, one of the bus tires blows out and everyone who was sleeping (myself included) wakes due to the noise. Less than 30 km later, the bus pulls into a tire repair facility for the particular bus company we are using. Don't know enough Thai to discover if this is coincidence, or they just have so many repair facilities that you're always close to one. Do know that the word 'repair' in the business title is quite misleading....
It's actually 1 am when this occurs, and for the next 90 minutes I'm blessed to watch a man use a sledgehammer and pick to remove the shredded carcass of the old tire and put a new tire on the wheel. No fancy machines that remove the old rubber with the touch of a button here. It's not until he stands the tire up (it stands about 4 feet tall, bus tires are big after all) that I realize the rubber he has just installed is missing the outside tread, a good 2 inches wide, for about 1/3 of the circumference of the tire. It's gone, but you can't see inside the tire, it's still airtight. For now. There's a crack in the sidewall that's big enough to put my little finger in. So we're not getting a NEW tire, just a DIFFERENT tire.
But I'm pleased to report we managed to travel the remaining 4 hours to Bangkok without further incident. I'm writing this in the Taipei airport, waiting for the last air leg of the trip back. Can't say I'm excited to go home, I miss Thailand again already. But there's always next summer to look forward to. My stepdaughter has asked to come to the US for a vacation. Maybe next May, when the Thai schools are closed.
I'll fill in more details for any who are to ask. Yes, things are percolating with my Thai neighbor across the street. We didn't spend alot of time together this trip, she's scared to death of what Lena might do if we are found out, and if I do end up making this a serious relationship we will probably have to move to Mae Sot (big downside there, that's the town on the Burma border being overwhelmed with refugees today due to the current repression). But that might also offer the chance to help some refugees. Who knows what opportunities lie ahead for those who aspire to help others?