Krabi is the first reasonably large town in a good week. As soon as I arrive, I grab a motorbike and ride around looking for laptop shops. What I don’t want is large displays. The prices are almost at European level. But I have no choice. I have to buy a new one now. Repairing the old one would take a month and cost the same.
After a good day of searching for the best deal, I decide in favour of an Acer Aspire. Keyboard: English with Thai. Up to five characters per key. Definitely a good reason to improve my blind typing. The laptop runs Windows Vista. Nice bollocks. You have to confirm four times to delete an icon in the start menu.
My new laptop has the old Thai plug. No problem, says my dealer in broken English, you can get an adapter in any electrical shop. Thais have a habit of smiling when they don’t understand something. After the fifth one I get aggressive. How hard is it to say “Sorry I don’t understand”? Ten shops further on I’m in a white heat but finally have my adapter.
It takes me a good day to transfer all the data and set up the programmes. Luckily, I had uploaded all the important installation files to Xdrive before starting my journey. After five days, I am finally a fully operational web designer again. Dear customers: I apologise for the delay. I’m working flat out on it.
For a few days now, a spammer has been using my info@ email address as the alleged author of his malicious works. I am currently receiving around 200 mails a day from angry or no longer existing recipients. My stomach is getting even more sour, and the Italian pizza diet, which we have all been on for a few days thanks to a good offer, is not helping.
All the stress of the last few days and the impending burial of my laptop are taking their toll on my health. I woke up last night, annoyed about mosquito bites on my elbow. But there weren’t any. On the beach, Tom discovers something like a raised shingles on my back. We go climbing on the beach, a lonely lagoon. The doctor diagnoses a severe allergic reaction in the evening. Bedbugs? 15 pills a day should help.
My good old Toshiba has been with me for 4 years and almost once around the world. Now it’s being buried. Buddhist. Homemade bamboo raft with laptop on top. Farewell note in the empty HD slot. Candle on the keyboard, Buddha on top, incense sticks around it.
Religious scholar Christiane has reservations about the rather religious funeral procession through Krabi. We defuse the situation by singing the theme tune from Star Wars. Thais want to shred the corpse, but are amused by what is probably the weirdest burial at sea that Krabi has ever seen. A fellow Thai invites us into his bar. We drink Krabi Paradise. Farewell!
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.