August 9, 2023
Shopping and Chatting
A nice proper wind-down kind of day today. After the morning fitness class I checked out of the hotel, then put everything downstairs for temporary storage. Next I set off on the Tern bicycle to finish all my shopping. It was very convenient because everything I wanted was on Sukumvhit Road. The bike was much better than the BTS in this case, since I could make stops on the bike directly in front of all the stores
Next it was onwards to Probike where the goal was to pick up all the stuff that had been left behind and bring it back to the downtown hotel. I thanked the owners and the assistant for all their help and told them my trip was unfortunately coming to an end.
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Next I had to find a way to carry all that load on my bike while navigating busy congested Bangkok roads back to my hotel near the BTS. It wasn't easy, but it's just something you do. Now everything had been consolidated in one place. The hotel then helped me order another taxi to bring everything back all the way to the Sananwan guesthouse.
The next goal would be to do another inventory and find out how to sort and pack all this stuff for the flight out. It wasn't a terribly big deal
One of the first things I did when settling into the Sananwan again was to install an app that tracked screen time on your phone as well as features to set time limits. The very first thing it showed was an overview of the last two weeks of usage. What I saw was horrifying. I was in utter disbelief. "I don't spend that much time on the phone." Well I do, and the data proves it.
Right away I started putting the phone away more and more and noticed some immediate differences.
The first thing I noticed was just the sights and sounds of the Sananwan poolside. Then, while just chilling, the husband of the owner came over and we had a nice chat. None of this could have happened while staring at the phone.
The other thing I noticed is that many times my brain isn't really off the phone. I'm staring at it blankly, and totally in comatose state, just waiting for more replies on some chat app to come in. Hardly a productive use of time. So I just started turning off the phone and would only 'check in' when I needed to send or read something important.
After that I looked at all the usage data and set time limits on the most frequently used apps. These limits were not extreme to begin with, as I wanted to start with a reasonable goal based on the past.
Even so, this sudden change of habit and not looking at the phone constantly was like trying to break a drug addiction. That's when I knew that what the counselor said was 100% true: this problem is far more serious than we think. It will take at least a month to get this all under control.
If I find managing phone use difficult, goodness knows how hard it must be for teenagers who don't have the self-control. The only thing that works is to confiscate their devices and it's for their own damn good.
The next day, the Black Mistress was cleaned up with the bike shampoo. The plan would be to put that bike in the new bag and leave the shampoo bottle behind. Most of the morning was spent packing and making sure that all the items could be hand carried. Since Thai Airways gives a generous 30kg luggage allowance, there were no worries about the bike being overweight. In a worse case scenario, the items could always be added to my checked luggage if security gave me a hard time. But that was doubtful as I vetted all the items carefully first.
Next was more shopping. I remembered at the last minute that a new Lululemon shop had opened in Bangkok and were known worldwide for high quality women's sportswear so it was a good opportunity to shop for my wife. And why not, she's into group fitness too. So I was all set to take off on the usual motorcycle taxi, local bus, and BTS run into the city
Before I could even leave the guesthouse, a Japanese guy introduced himself who was a friend of the owners. He basically flies around all over the place and works for factories that the airlines need for cargo shipping. Having learned I worked in China he had a few things to say about the government. My usual strategy is to avoid telling people I work in China for this exact reason. Every single person I meet overseas will say something negative if they find out. Even I have to lie a bit, I will do so.
But the owners themselves had told him I was a famous white guy on Chinese TV. This is partially true, I've done side gigs. It then took a lot of convincing for me to explain to this guy that I really despised the Chinese government. He didn't believe me at first. What convinced him were my lockdown horror stories.
That conversation was timely as he was off on another flight somewhere. Then I headed off for my shopping which was a tremendous success.
Today's ride: 16 km (10 miles)
Total: 1,844 km (1,145 miles)
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