CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I SPENT my last night going out to dinner at a nice Thai restaurant in Nahkon Sawan with some friends. The people who ran the rehab facility and a Thai couple that lived next door. Nam, the wife would help out at the rehab and her husband who became my fishing partner. That day we had spent several hours at a fishing park outside of Nahkon Sawan. I landed fifteen fish between 5-7 kilograms each. It was a successful fishing day.
The restaurant had a live band that played both Thai and English songs. The singers were quite impressive. The male vocalist sound like a cross between Seal and Uncle Cracker. We asked him to sing some Rod Stewart and Eagles tunes that he did very well at, and the female vocalist sang some popular Six Pense and Celine Dion that was pretty good. Some real talent in that little town. The food was good and everyone but me had beer. Drinking club soda all night didn’t bother me at all. Especially when most people in the restaurant were having to get up every five minutes to use the restroom. I got to sit in one place and see what the rest of the people were doing through sober eyes. It was quite enjoyable.
The next day, and I was back in Nakhon Sawan waiting for my bus to transport me to Chiang Mai and then to Myanmar the next morning to obtain a visa. I was surprised the bus was only forty minutes late. I got in the bus on the upper deck and got into my comfortable seat to travel to Chiang Mai for six or so hours. It took something getting used to riding a bus or a train without alcohol to enhance the ride. It gives you a lot of time to do other things than doing hand to mouth arm curls with a can and running to the bathroom when you had to. I did like it though and kept my mind focused on the positive side. After all these yea