The flight from SF to Hong Kong was not too bad. It was after 3 am Houston time when we boarded so by the time we had a meal it was well past bed time and I fell asleep easily. I had about 4 1/2 hours before I woke up. I watched the latest Twilight film and then tried to get some more sleep with some success.
Once in HK I headed for the Cathay lounge, going up the escalator and down again several times before I finally found it.
I nearly missed my flight to Bangkok. I was doing some work and looked at the time, realised I had about 20 minutes and packed up. I had not realised how far it was to the departure gate and that I'd have to take a train to get there. I was still on the escalator when one train left so that added a few more minutes to my time. When I got to the other end a girl was asking if anyone was for Bangkok and radioed ahead to say I was on my way. I was the last on the plane and they said my bags had been unloaded put they would try to put them back on. The flight itself was ok and too short for a movie but I watched an episode of top gear.
Both my bags were on the plane but it took a while before they came out. Then I was through the exit doors and looking for my driver. He was where I expected after last time holding up a sign with an approximation of my name. Fortunate, since they'd changed the driver again (for the 3rd time) and I didn't see the email with the new name and number till I got to the office. Rather than a staff driver in a 4 cab ute, I was in a 9 seater mini bus, the only passenger. I asked to stop at a 7-11 and got a sim card and some minutes. We then headed North and I was able to read for a bit and even got a nap in before waking with about 1/2 hour to go. I tried to ring Jim on his mobile and the office without success. However the driver took me to the office anyway. Jim it turned out was in Bangkok abut arrived later in the day. I talked with Pon and Amuwat, neither of whom I remembered from the last trip. There has been quite a few changes in personal in the last year including the loss of one of the field managers and a group of locals. The company has put in a middle management level of locals which is helping to get things sorted out.
However there were a number of people that I did know from previous trips and they greeted me with what seemed genuine affection.
There have been some obvious changes, since my last visit, which was just under 12 months ago. The 2 buildings at the office have now been joined together with the gap now containing another couple of offices. There are a number of new storage sheds as well. The office I used, which seemed to have been empty while I was away now has 2 people in it. The one across the hall has 3 desks instead of one.
At the hotel, the canteen has been glassed in and air conditioned. I also see that the pink house near the office is now occupied. It was mostly built when I came on my first trip nearly 2 years ago but worked stopped due to lack of funds, I was told. The River is low but not as low as last year and the potato field are ready to be planted.
I left the office about 6, just as the sun was setting. I had a steak for dinner and watched the news. I was trying to read the Sunday paper and fell asleep so headed for bed. I tried to ring Ed, one of the golfers, who was supposed to be here already but got no answer. I fell asleep before 8 and then got a call back from Ed which woke me up. He has booked me for Friday's game.
I slept through to 7:30 although I did have an hour awake around 4 am.
Wednesday 31st
I'd asked the driver to pick me up at 8 and it was about that by the time I finished my shower and got dressed. I had a quick breakfast and put out my washing.
The office that I used the last few times now has 2 people in it and generally there are more people in the office now. I was set up in the old operations room which will become a radio room later.
I was able to get the changes for the gas production made as well as extra fields that were to be imported from the new well sheets. I also wrote a new report and updated a couple fo others. At the end of the day I updated the live system and converted the data. I heade back to the hotel about 6.
I had another steak, followed by icecream and was starting on the blog when the phone rang. They were having a problem and wanted to go back to the old version. They sent a driver to take me back to the office. I couldn't find a recent version on either my PC or their server but it turned out to be a simple fix anyway, so I updated the server again and they seemed to be happy.
I tried to connect to the net at the hotel and briefly had google on screen before losing the connection. Ironically, I can send and receive emails at the office, upload via FTP but can't access web pages. I think its an issue with the DNS server but won't worry about it.
Unfortunately I missed the laundry pick up this morning and don't want to risk delaying my departure tomorrow because its not back, so I'll just have to get it done when I get to Pattaya.
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