Saturday, December 4th, 2021
7:10 a.m. Room 305, Centra Hotel
Mae Sot, Thailand
My day yesterday continued and went along pretty much as it started, and I didn’t get nearly as much done as I’d hoped. I just never came to grips with anything. I blame much of that on this room and in particular on the poor Internet connection. I can’t even remember now when that one YouTube video finally finished uploading. I think it was about five in the afternoon, which means that it took about 27 hours. And I had to keep my phone on and running and uploading that entire time. And it was confusing. The video would be listed as being 87% uploaded, but then the next time I checked, it would have dropped down to 77%. This happened all the time. And I would get constant error messages saying that there was no Internet connection at all, and it wasn’t clear whether the upload had been cancelled or would resume. And the same thing plagued me all day long as I tried to upload some photos. The jobs would time out as the Internet came and went, and I’d have no idea which photos had finished uploading and which hadn’t. I got so frustrated and irritated that I couldn’t work steadily. And when I tried to track down information online for my videos and for planning my trip to the north, websites would or would not load depending on the Wi-Fi. I got so angry and frustrated. I kept thinking it would have been better to stay in my room at the Phannu. At least I wouldn’t have wasted a day. The Phannu is a low budget place, but at least the Wi-Fi works, the lights work, and there are electrical outlets near the bed. Little things like that make a big difference. Plus, it is right downtown in my old neighborhood, and it’s possible to just pop out onto the street on foot and grab some food. I might end up moving back there today. I’m certainly not going to extend my stay at the Centra. I’ve got to get out of this place. I’ll check to see if there are any really good deals available online. But if not, I’ll just go back to the Phannu.
Another problem with this room is that it is connected to an adjoining room with a door. That wasn’t a problem my first afternoon and night, because the room remained empty. But yesterday, some people moved in. And they are so noisy. I guess they are just normal people, but all people seem noisy to me. They do all the normal things humans do, like have conversations, laugh and shout, and watch TV late until late at night. And they slam doors. This is what nearly all normal people do. And with that door connecting our rooms, I could hear everything, and it was distracting. I had to sleep with ear plugs. And they appear to be part of a large group spread out over several rooms. I say that because someone from their group had clearly been assigned to wake them all up for breakfast, and this person went up and down the hallway outside banging on all the doors. Apparently, the banging on doors didn’t work, because after that, I heard all the smartphones next door start ringing. I’m guessing those were wake-up calls. And now I hear screaming and crying children. I hate having that door connecting our rooms. At some point, someone tried to open the door, and I was in my own little horror movie as I sat here on the bed watching that door knob turning back and forth, and back and forth. I waited breathlessly to see if the door would suddenly pop open. And all the people in this large group kept forgetting which room was theirs, and all day long, people tried to open my main door, thinking that it was the door to their room. My room no longer felt private and secure. I felt like it was being invaded from all sides.
In an odd twist, I saw that someone in a Mae Sot Facebook group posted a question asking about the Wi-Fi at the Centra Hotel. This person has to do some kind of online test, and she wanted to check into a nice hotel to do it, and she mentioned that the Centra had a reputation for having poor Wi-Fi. I was happy to reply to her question and confirm that the Wi-Fi here is terrible. I told her that the Centra would be a very poor choice if she needed a good Internet connection. To my surprise, another person staying at this Centra Hotel in Mae Sot also replied to her question. This other person said that she’d been staying at the Centra for a few weeks, and she praised the hotel. She said that the Wi-Fi had been fine, but then she agreed with me (by name) that the Internet had been unusually bad for the last few days.
I was fighting with the conditions in this room so much yesterday that I never once left it except for breakfast. I felt like I just didn’t have the time to take a break from my work. I didn’t go into Mae Sot at all. I didn’t even use the pool. I stayed in this room for the entire day and night. And yet, I still got nothing done.
Breakfast was fine, by the way. Not being a food expert, I don’t have much to say about it. They served breakfast in quite a large room, and a full buffet was spread out along one wall. There was a wide variety of dishes and drinks and fruit. There were all the standard Western breakfast items. And then you could also get a lot of Thai dishes. There was even an egg station. A young man was there, and he would whip up fried eggs, scrambled eggs, or an omelette on the spot for you. If I had to be picky (which I will be), I didn’t quite enjoy the length of the room. The problem this introduced is that I had to make several lengthy trips back and forth from the buffet to my table. This dining room just happened to be facing the rising sun to the east, and powerful sunlight was pouring through the windows over most of the tables. In order to find a table that wasn’t being blasted by hot sun, I had to move quite far into the back. And then I found myself walking back and forth constantly. I made some toast, and then I had to walk all the way to the table to put the toast down. Then I walked back to get roast potatoes and rice and sausage on a plate. I had to walk the full length of the room. By that point, my glass of orange drink was empty, and I wanted more. That involved another long trek back and forth. Then my omelette was ready, and I made another trek. Every time I wanted seconds of anything, I had to make another long walk. I know that the tone of the place doesn’t quite match the idea of using trays, but I kept thinking that I wish they had trays available. The problem is that I only have two hands, and I couldn’t carry all the dishes at once. That’s why I had to make so many trips. Every food item goes on a different plate. Not being an octopus with eight limbs, I therefore had to make constant revolving trips from my table to the buffet. It would have been better to move down the buffet line with a tray and pile everything onto the tray at once.
And I know this is a silly quirk, but I also find it annoying when a hotel has 4-star pretensions, and they adopt that measure where wait staff are constantly hovering to whisk away plates the moment you appear to be done with them. This is considered something that classy restaurants do. Yet, it bothers me. I can sense the wait staff monitoring my meal and waiting until the moment I have the last bite of toast, so they can come and remove my toast plate. And I end up feeling like I’m under scrutiny the entire time. And as I went back to the buffet, I’d return to my table to find that various plates had vanished while I was gone, and yet I wasn’t quite done with them yet. And the wait staff would come up to me while I’m eating and indicate this or that plate to ask me if I’m done with it. And this, added to the constant trips back and forth, made the whole meal a somewhat irritating affair. But I guess that is just me and my quirks.
One interesting experience from yesterday is that I downloaded the special Mor Prom app. This app was developed by the government of Thailand to put everyone’s covid-19 status in one convenient place. I hadn’t bothered with it mainly because no one ever asked me about my vaccination status or for my vaccine certificate or vaccine passport. And, like most websites and apps developed by the government here, it appeared to be riddled with glitches.
But when I told a friend of mine about how the Centra asked to see my vaccination certificate, he suggested that I download the Mor Prom app. That seemed like a good idea because digging into my documents pouch to find the paper certificate takes time. And having all this information on my phone would be easier, and I think it is what people in Thailand are expecting. When they ask to see my vaccination certificate, they are assuming that I will just hand them my phone open to that app. I decided to give it a try, and despite some wrinkles, it worked out.
The main wrinkle was that I kept getting a series of error messages as I tried to install the app and register. And the errors and other relevant information was all in Thai. I didn’t know what the error was. But through trial and experimentation, I got past the error. And the problem seemed to be that I had both Wi-Fi and Mobile Data turned on on my phone. I don’t know why that is a problem but it is often the case that in order for any kind of message to reach my phone number, I have to turn off Wi-Fi. I’ve never really understood this, to be honest. But once I turned off Wi-Fi, the error message disappeared, and I got a confirmation code sent to my phone number as a text message. Once I entered that confirmation code, the app installed properly and I was able to register with my 13-digit ID number.
That 13-digit number is the key to the entire system. All of my covid-19 information is connected to it. Once I’d registered, I was surprised at how extensive the app was. All of the information from my two trips to the vaccination clinic were included in the app under various buttons. It’s quite extensive. There are separate buttons for Vaccination Records, Covid-19 Test Results, Covid-19 Vaccine Certificate, Post-Vaccination Symptoms Survey, ATK/RT-PCR Results, Moh Prompt Station Near Me, Digital Health Pass, International Certificate, and Vaccination Dashboard. The information is as detailed as showing the lot number for my vaccine and even the exact date and place and time each dose of the vaccine was given. There is a mix of Thai and English throughout the app, but the most important sections are in both languages. And, so far, I haven’t experienced any glitches with it. I’m glad I downloaded the app. It’s been an interesting experience, and I think it will end up being useful. There is just a small feeling about how weird it is. There is just the tiniest hint of losing personal liberty as the government is classifying me according to my health status.
On the very front of the app, on the first screen, before you even click on any buttons, there is a box that says “Vaccinated.” That’s the first thing you see. And being in this category affords me certain privileges, such as being able to get a room at the Centra. If that box read “Unvaccinated”, I’d be in a different, less privileged category. And though I don’t see a specific section that tracks my movements, I’m assuming that one of the permissions given to this app is the ability to monitor my physical location. There is one button that shows a type of online maps pin. It is supposed to show me the nearest “Moh Promt” station. I’m not exactly sure what that is. When I click on it, it takes me to a website that shows a map with my location. And there is a kind of red X in a box on the map. I assume that is the Moh Promt station nearest to me, but I don’t know what that station is for.
And at the very top, there is another map pin icon. When you click on that icon, it allows you to check-in and log your current location. I just did that now to test it, and it is telling me that I have to turn Bluetooth and Location on on my device to access check-in. I’m assuming that means that permission to access the device’s location is not automatically given. Perhaps I would have to deliberately give the app this permission if I wanted to. I’m a bit reluctant to do that because Tak Province is still considered a type of Red Zone. And I’m planning to leave the province by scooter soon and go to other provinces. And by voluntarily logging in my locations, perhaps I’d just be creating problems for myself that I don’t want.