Cutoff

The following was written 7-10, in the reception area at the guest house in Pai

12:10PM Whatever knocked out the power last night must have snapped a few other wires, too.

I checked out of the guest house this morning at 11:30AM, leaving my pack in the back room. The first internet cafe I stopped at said the connection was down. So I took the long way around town and had my usual lunch at the burger joint. Alaska’s cell phone wasn’t working – “no network,” it said. Across the street at the used bookstore, I browsed every English title they had. Nothing jumped out at me for a purchase, so I was gone in about 30 minutes.

Then it was back out into the heat, walking back down the street to the internet cafe I stopped at yesterday. (Or was it the day before? Yesterday, I think.) The high speed connection there was out, but they still had working, if slow, dial-up. A few minutes of that – before I had a chance to save any of the posts I was typing – the dial-up went down.

For the past hour or so I’ve been sitting here in the open but shaded reception area at the guest house, reading and sucking on pineapple juice. It catches a nice breeze.

I keep forgetting to buy more pens. Running low on paper, too. I saw a nice hand-made journal at a gift shop across from the coffee place earlier. Perhaps I’ll wander down there and buy it.

It’s still too hot to attempt a walk to the Wat outside of town – or anywhere not within a few blocks of here, without a destination promising air-con or a fan.

Think I’ll go back to reading now. Maybe the internet will be back in another hour, maybe not.