Tentative Travel Plans

Just the end of another weekend here. I'm still alive, still kicking and still waiting. I've been keeping a close eye on flight patterns and prices going back to the states. Prices seem to bounce all over the place. Not knowing when exactly I will have to go makes it nearly impossible to plan for, but I just try to watch the schedules as they fit to the needs I have. Here's what I have so far.

First of all, (due to deportation regulations) any flight I take cannot land anywhere in the kingdom of Thailand as a layover. That alone makes it a bit tricky, but I have found an alternative to flying through Bangkok down south.

Korean Air #668 flies from here in ChiangMai to Seoul, South Korea....and cheap! They only do it twice a week, but they do make the flight on Thursdays and Sundays. This flight number is pretty certain, and will most likely be my first step back.

Step two will be from Korea back to somewhere (anywhere) in the states. I will most likely be getting whatever happens to be affordable and available at the moment. That is the part that has my head spinning at the moment trying to find the flight numbers I might need. The three front runners on price alone at this point are Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Honolulu.

The one thing that I have to consider is that I will be hitting the ground running with maybe a few dollars in my pocket when I get back. Getting back in one piece is priority one. Priority number two will be finding work so I can stay that way. Honolulu is probably going right out the window due to the cost of living. So, most likely it will be L.A. or Vegas. Neither of which I am particularly fond of, but beggars can't be choosers. My chances of finding some work and making a little money are a bit better there.

Flight prices are ranging anywhere from $900 to $1,600. That is a HUGE divide. I can probably pull off the $900 flight, and have seen a few of those deals come and go already. As always, it's going to come down to the wire and what is available on the day I have to go. It's really driving me up the wall not being able to act on this and having the whole thing up in the air. For now, I just try to keep up on the latest info.

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Mental Preparation

As it begins to look more and more like I will be able to leave Thailand, I have made it a point to try and catch up on news and events back in the states. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake. Holy cow!!! The federal government is running out of money. The Justice department is running guns to Mexico. People are just randomly opening fire in skating rinks, casinos and car shows. Oh, let's not forget the Casey Anthony fiasco. What on earth is going on over there? I guess I'll find out for myself soon enough.

I do get some English speaking news channels here. The two I get most often are FoxNews and AlJazeera. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. It's pretty bad when I get better unbiased news from AlJazeera than I do from so called "fair and balanced" Foxnews. I guess I just see the world and especially America in a little different light these days. Just like anything else, it helps to stand back a little and get a view from the outside looking in.

As for my current status, I checked in with the courthouse again this week regarding the posting of the court documents and my judgement back to the local police who still have my US passport. The answer was the same "one or two weeks" that they have been telling me for nearly three weeks now. My contact at the US Consulate attempted to negotiate a planned exit, but was stonewalled by the local authorities. Once again, I just get to sit and wait. I am beginning to think my landlord is in cahoots with the court. I think she wants to make sure she gets one more month's rent out of me before I get shipped off and she can rent the place twice for one month. Yes, I am joking of course, but anything is possible here.

Depending on what flight I can get on short notice when the paperwork goes through, I may or may not have enough to get out. I am trying to stay optimistic, and am very thankful to all who pitched in to at least give me the possibility of getting out in one piece. There are still a few hoops to jump through here, and once I do get back then the real challenges begin. I was having an interesting conversation with some Thai friends the other night. They reminded me that for the price of a plane ticket to the states, you can build a small house here. Irony indeed.

That's it for me in the here and now. As always, be good to yourselves and each other out there.

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Gratitude, Appreciation, and Clarification

I have been a bit overwhelmed this week as friends new and old have rallied around to help get me out of here. It's been about a 50/50 split between the US and Thailand as far as those who have pitched in to help get me home. I am amazed and incredibly grateful on many levels. I want to reply to everyone personally who has responded and helped. I will get it done as quickly as I can, and hope you can accept this temporary statement. I'm currently basing my communications out of a small internet shop in the Chang Phuak district of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The PCs and keyboards are all in Thai, and many websites only display in Chinese, but I am making due. Hey, that's what you get for 30 cents an hour.

I have an appointment with the US consulate here on Tuesday thanks to some prodding from my good friend Pete back in the states. I should have a slightly clearer idea of how things might play out after that. The financial goal for getting a ticket out is getting closer and thanks to some sharp travel advice from some local fiends it may not cost as much as originally anticipated. It's still going to be a tricky piece of business getting all the pieces put together, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel now.

I have been getting a few questions lately about my legal situation. Yes, it is a bit bizarre. I know. I will try to spell it out in simple terms. All the information is also here in my blog over the last few months as well. Some of it has been encrypted due to the fact that there was an ongoing court case at the time the posts were published. Now that the court case is finished, I can speak a bit more freely. I will do my best to answer the most frequently asked questions below.

Why were you arrested? I was playing a guitar in a restaurant with some friends. I was not being paid, but the simple act of utilizing a skill of any kind outside your home can be considered work under Thai law regardless of whether or not you get any compensation. In this regard I was technically working with out a permit and the police were within the law when they arrested me.

What were your charges? I was charged with working without a permit and not having a valid visa

What is the status of your case? CLOSED!!!! I entered a guilty plea on both counts. I was sentenced to 2 years probation and paid a fine. I paid the fine and promised to be a good boy for the next 2 years. Any problem with the police in the next 2 years gets me an automatic jail sentence.

Why are you facing jail time if your case is closed? I am facing jail time again simply because I cannot get home. Thailand is deporting me (kicking me out) for immigration violations, but they are certainly not going to give me a ticket back to the states. Thai law states that I must be returned to my "country of origin". I have worked hard to support myself here on this side of the planet, but the average salary of most people here is less than $200 a month. International travel is not much of an option for most.

Hope that answers a few questions, and as I stated before there is much more detailed info here on my blog. Those were just the most common, so I thought I would clarify them as best I could.

Tragic Day Around the World

With the tragic and violent events in Norway, Seattle and Texas over the last 24 hours, I am sadly reminded of how truly frightening this world can be.

Here in Thailand there has been a ongoing tragedy as well unfolding this week. Last week the Thai military lost a Huey helicopter in a dreadful crash near the Myanmar border in an attempt to extract 35 soldiers from a remote jungle area. All five personnel were lost. On Tuesday they sent in a Blackhawk to recover the bodies. It also went down killing all nine aboard. Today the third recovery attempt was made with a Bell 212 helo. It has gone down also killing 3 out of four crew members on board. Royal Thai Army Channel 5 (yes they have their own TV station) is reporting that the crashes are all weather or instrument related and insists that they were not shot down. Truly a sad series of events for these men and their families.

On another note, we have been getting new reports about human rights injustices in nearby Myanmar. Even with as difficult as things have been for me here in Thailand, it is nothing compared to what goes on just across the border a few hours away. I would certainly not want to be facing jail time there. Civilian prisoners there are now being forced to work as porters (human donkeys) during military operations, carrying heavy loads of ammunition and supplies without adequate food or shelter. Those who are unable to carry are used as human shields and mine sweepers. I've spent alot of time talking to the refugee population here, and have seen and heard some horrific stories over the last couple years. Makes me feel pretty lucky sometimes.

I do have some status updates on my own struggle that I will be posting as soon as I have more information. For now and as always, take care of yourselves and each other out there. The world is a pretty scary place sometimes.

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Hurry up and Wait

If there's one thing Thailand is good at, it is making you wait. We jokingly call it "Thai Time" here. It used to be annoying, but I got used to it after a while. This seems to be the only place in the world where you can show up 2 hours late and still be an hour earlier than everybody else. This has actually worked in my favor on several occasions here in this whole ordeal, but the waiting does get really old sometimes.

At the moment, I am allowed to walk the streets temporarily, but that is only because of the kindness shown to me by one very nice police officer. He knows I'm not a flight risk, and he does still have my passport after all. Once the court paperwork is processed, I will either need to have a ticket out or go back into custody. I have been trying to be proactive in staying updated and checking in on the status of everything. Today I made another trip out to the courthouse to see what the paperwork status was. Ordinary Thai people are lovely in the way that they never seem to want to say "no", give you any bad news, or tell you they just "don't know". They really are trying to "save face" and also make you feel better most of the time, but sometimes a straight answer is the best option even if it may not be what they think you want to hear.

Finally, word from the court clerk was that the documents are "Not Finished" and she doesn't know exactly when they will be. She did however give me a phone number to call direct and avoid the traffic to get out there every time I need to check something. At the moment, I am still trying to organize funds and a plane ticket back to the states. As soon as the paperwork does go through, I will be either deported or jailed depending on whether or not I can afford to get out. It's still a pretty tricky game. I will probably have only a matter of hours to book an international flight and get a police escort to the airport.

For now, I keep trying to stay current airline flight patterns and prices to find the best way out. It is a very specific set of circumstances that the local immigration police need to see before they will allow me to leave.

1. No layovers in Thailand which means no cheap re routes through Bangkok from here in the North. I may have to get bounced through Korea or Taiwan again.
2. Final destination in the USA

From there they couldn't care less what happens to me. I'm still not sure where in the states I might get dropped, but it looks like it will probably be the western half because it's closer. Likely possibilities could be Seattle, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. It's all a matter of what's available and what I can afford when the time comes. I'll be arriving without much more than the clothes on my back and a couple bucks in my pocket. About the same as when I got to Thailand nearly two years ago. But hey, if I can pull that off here in Southeast Asia and still be alive two years later, I think I can handle it.

Ticket to Nowhere

I really didn't imagine myself being able to post from here in Thailand again, but after all the strange stuff I've seen here, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

My court case is finished. I entered a guilty plea on all counts, and was sentenced to a fine and two years probation. I paid the fine at the courthouse, and was turned back over to the police who are still in possession of my passport. It all sounded too good to be true. That's because it was. As I suspected and have written before, my case is being handed back over to the immigration authorities. They will be detaining me for deportation.

In the midst of everything, I have had a few strokes of good luck. First of all, I am able to write this message today because the paperwork has not yet been processed. The local dept policeman who I've dealt with through this whole ordeal has been a pretty decent guy. He told me that he could keep me locked me up until the paperwork was done, but chose not to. He also told me that he appreciated my promptness over the last four months in showing up every time when asked. So, I have at least a few days of freedom before I go back behind bars for a third time.

Now on to what will happen in the next few days once all the court paperwork is processed. In a case like mine, Thai law says that I must be deported to my "country of origin". They certainly aren't going to foot the bill, and I don't exactly have the kind of money laying around for a ticket out. I've got about enough for a bus to Burma, but certainly not enough for an airline ticket around the world. At the moment, I have two options. Buy a one way ticket to anywhere in the states, or submit myself for an indefinite lock up till I can.

I've tried to explain this time and time again both here in my blog and emails at various times over the last couple years. Some people get it. Some don't. Yes, it's a kinda screwy system, but it's what I'm stuck with.

So, here's what I need:

A big pile of money to buy a one way ticket to the U.S. (yeah right..just a little joke). On they day they call me in, I will need to have a paper ticket in hand bound non-stop for the US. If I have that, I will get a police escort to the airport and they will put me on the plane. Without that, it will be back to the shackles and it could take months or years before I get the chance again.

Seriously though, at this point my only hope is going to be the US Consulate here, and this is where I do actually need some assistance. If they are able to get me out and ship me back sometime in the coming months or years, they will need a delivery address and contact person on the other end. So, who wants to take a special delivery? Please email me with your current information if you are willing and or able ASAP so I can get the information to the Consulate before I go back in sometime in the next few days.

So, there you have it. I'm happy to have the court case finished, but dreading the idea of leaving everything behind that I have worked so hard to get only to be dropped penniless into one of the most expensive countries on the planet. Such are the breaks, but we just take what we can get I suppose.

As always, take care of yourselves out there and each other. Tomorrow is always still just a mystery.

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Final Blog Post

The time here is getting short. Very short. I have done my best to upload what files I can and make arrangements for what few things I needed done here before I am taken back into the custody of his majesties finest. I have notified the US Consulate here as to my current status. They thanked me for the update, wished me luck, and said "have a nice day". I didn't expect anything more than that. I do have a little help with the translation and interpretation details tomorrow. It's not ideal, but between my Thai and their English we will have to make due. I just want to make sure I have an understanding of things as they play out in the coutroom.

It doesn't look pretty, but in the grand scheme of things, it hasn't looked great for a long while. I'll see you all on the flipside of somewhere. Exactly where that will be, I still don't know. Thanks for the memories everyone.

To all those who I've met along the way: I was honored to have you met you and shared a small piece of my life you.

To all those I have recently managed to re-connect with: It was also an honor, and I deeply regret the circumstances surrounding the regained connection.

To all future readers: Please do not read this blog and it's archives and get any ideas about future plans for yourself. The path I have taken on this journey has been most dangerous, difficult and even life threatening. It has been fraught with heartache, disillusionment, and despair. Yes, I made some incredible and profound progress in understanding myself and the world around me, but the emotional, physical, and mental price has been immense. This price has nothing to do with money. You pay for it in blood, bone, muscle, scars and tears.

For all the thoughts in my head, I have little more to write about at the moment. I have volumes that I would like to speak, and only a few minutes and paragraphs to put them down to words. I wish all of you the best. Take care of each other out there, and most of all, be true to yourselves.

Signing off indefinitely,
Matt - Expat-Matt