Day 3 in Chiang Mai Thailand

I wake up and and brush my teeth and take a piss. I think this is the routine for most all Americans. Before I head down stairs for breakfast I decide check my email and it's there I find out about a upcoming charge from eBay that I do not know about nor do I owe them any money. I feel panicked. I try to log on to my bank account. I can't. I'm unable to authenticate myself and my computer. Before leaving home I reformatted my hard drive and I had my iPhone stolen by the asshole valet at the O'Hara hotel. This is not good. 

I need to call the bank, like right now but I have no phone. This is a dilemma. I go down stairs and try to communicate my need to make a collect call to the staff. They try to put me through right then and there to no arrival. They advise I go to the TOT office, a local telephone company. I hop in a tuk-tuk and take off.

Getting there is not so easy. Apparently it's a bit off the grid for typical tuk-tuk drivers.

When I get to the TOT office the people inside could not be more helpful. They are wonderful. I have nothing but nice things to say about TOT. First I needed to buy a calling card for 100 baht, ($3.25 US). With calling card in hand the customer service folks at TOT go out of their way to use one of their office phones and dial the number for me. When the phone starts ringing they hand it to me. I get through to the banks world wide contact. After I convince them I am Chip Knight and not some impostor in Thailand trying to rip Chip Knight off they help. I am given a code to enter on my computer that will solve my problems.

I hop back in the tuk-tuk (nice guy willing to wait for me) and we head back to the guesthouse. That part works out well. I go back upstairs and into my room. I log on to the banks website. Now I can deal with the issue of the unauthorized charge but it does not work out. It's a big fucking mess.

The problem is with the bank. I was given the wrong info. I go back down stairs and out to the street where I find another tuk-tuk driver willing to take me to the TOT office (again). It's the same routine times two.

It's at the TOT office I am asked out by one for the customer service reps and she's cute. All I can think to do it give her the name and number of the guesthouse I'm at and my room number. I'm still operating in a fucking jet lag filled fog. I should have given her my email address. Dummy.

Of course I forgot the fucking calling card and had to buy another. I get the bank back on the line and finally get the issue resolved. It took all day and this is how it works here. Everything takes a day. That's all I had the strength for the day. I ended up back up stairs and cried myself to sleep again. What the fuck am I doing in Thailand? How did I get here?