I Thought I Would Be OFFLOADED But I Was Wrong!

 

To me, travelling isn’t a waste of time and money at all. I’m from a third world country and hundreds of thousands of people from my country travel abroad every year to work. I would say that travelling abroad is like priceless ’cause you meet new people, you speak English outside of your country if English isn’t your first language, you fly in planes and experience things that you never experienced in your motherland. It doesn’t matter which countries you’ve been to or where you are in now, as long as it’s another country it’s priceless. Many people get old and leave the world without any international travel experience and I feel bad about that for some reasons. Well, sometimes shit happens. It’s like trial and error. Before you travel, you gotta check your financial resource and find out whether you’re strong enough to live away from home.

The thing is, many aspiring travelers get offloaded by immigration. This thing frequently happens in countries like Romania and Philippines.  But Philippine immigration is like the strictest immigration in the world I would say as far as letting Filipinos travel abroad is concerned. Sometimes it’s  just like hard to figure out why the officers do this when international travel should be for all. There’s like tons of blogs about the rights and duties of immigration officers. And we all know that it’s their job to protect us. Anyway, I don’t want to rephrase the content of those blogs so I’m just gonna talk about my own travel experiences.

It was mid 2015 when I traveled abroad on my own for the first time. I had been to several countries when I was very little so I  was sort of like confident to kind of show off my new virgin passport to the immigration at Clark International Airport cause I thought they would see my travel records in the past. I thought I wouldn’t have any issues at all but I was wrong. The aircraft was departing in less than an hour when I got to step forward to the immigration counter. I was interrogated for a bit and was advised to stop by the immigration office first. I was advised to show the officers my financial resource that was basically my online teaching. By the way I’ve been teaching  English online for ages. I was made to log into my PayPal account. The officers saw and understood my financial condition. After the bloody long time of consideration, I was told to dash off to the aircraft. The plane was almost ready to push back to KL when I made it to the departure lounge. The passengers were boarding and the lounge was almost clear. I made it to the cabin. I was like freak out during the screening process. I thought I would be offloaded and left behind but I was saved by the bell.

Now, I’m in Thailand but still I can’t get over my experience at Clark International Airport. It was really horrible. I used NAIA for my Thailand flight. I was like less scared and more confident during the interview with the immigration officer. I made it to the departure lounge straight away but the woman I met at the check-in area and who was supposed to be my co-passenger didn’t.

I dunno if this horrifying thing also happens frequently in many countries like many countries. One thing I know is, if you’re a traveler, you gotta dress like a traveler and you should be able to  kind of support yourself while you’re away from home.

Why I Left The First School in Thailand I Taught At

I took off to Udon Thani at 7 o’clock in the morning. I was advised by  Nion (my agent) to catch the head teacher at the arrival lounge of Udon Thani Airport. I enjoyed the flight so much ’cause the cabin was filled with astonishing artificial fog coming out of the air conditioner. It was magic. I was so delighted.

Udon Thani

I touched down in Udon Thani in less than an hour and caught the head teacher straight away. We drove to Nongbualamphu for like one and a half hours. I realized immediately that my agent lied when she told me that I’d be working in Udon Thani which is like a small town that has a bit of  everything that people need. The truth was, I was expected to teach in the very far district of Nongbualamphu which is a tad rural place in Northern Thailand. If Nion had told me the truth, I wouldn’t have accepted her job offer in the countryside. We stopped by the supermarket to get some stuff I would be needing for my first week. I was like OMG when I found out that I could only go to the centre of town every weekend. I could’ve flown back to Bangkok because of disappointment. I imagined what the work place would be like. I gave the benefit of the doubt anyway. We made it to the campus at around 4 o’clock.

I was really unhappy because my agent lied to me. The campus was beautiful and my room was simple and nice. However, the area where the school is located was worse than I imagined. I was like ” I wish I hadn’t accepted the offer. ” I felt like I was like in the middle of nowhere especially at night. I was given the line ID of the toktok (tricycle) driver so I could ask him to pick me up from the campus on weekends. I would’ve spent a lot of money on the driver’s tip if I had stayed in Nongbulamphu for a longer time. I was given a room for free but I paid for every single meal I had. I would’ve made 18000 THB if I hadn’t left the school. Yes 18000 THB monthly. What a joke yeah? I’m a Philippine passport holder so I couldn’t complain at all. I left the school anyway. I quit like three days after I got my non-immigrant b visa (non-b). I was like the new definition of broke. I paid 3500 THB for the visa application process with the help of Meesuk Travel  (Visa Run). To be honest, I wasn’t really going to quit until something came up. Well, I just had a 3-day holiday in Bangkok after I got my visa. I had the nerve to show off my wounded face at the embassy in Laos.

Yes. I had injury on my face. The water in the campus had been so violent to me. It was contaminated with sand and small stones. I did my best to take care of my face but I got injured anyway. I was like “what a horrible place”

After my 3-day stint in Bangkok, I decided to make it back to Nongbualamphu. I was on the bus which was going to run at 2 pm and would arrive in Udon Thani at 10 pm. I messaged the head teacher and let her know that I would need her to pick me up from the terminal but she was like “I’m in another province now”. I was like “what?” I messaged my Chinese colleague to let her know that I would be needing someone to pick me up from the terminal but she was like “I can’t travel to Udon Thani at all and my friend who has a car is not around.” So I turned to my head teacher again and let her know that I would need someone to pick me up from the terminal. She advised me to just spend a night in Udon Thani until the first bus to Nongbualamphu is ready to load passengers. And that would have been in the morning of the following day. I was so upset and I got more than upset when I found out that there was a bus going to Nongbualamphu from Morchit leaving at 8 pm that day. The thing was it took me like 3 and a half hours to travel to Morchit from the place where I spent my 3-day holiday. I was never told about this alternative bus. I was only told that I would always need to take 2 buses to get to Nongbualamphu and vice versa. I didn’t choose to wait in the terminal for ages. I was so upset as in like upset. I didn’t make it back to Nongbualamphu.

 

My Arrival in Thailand

 

My first two weeks in Thailand had been terribly exhausting. I took off from Manila at around 6 o’clock in the morning and got to KL at around 9 o’clock for my connecting flight.

I had to wait 3 hours for my connecting flight. And finally got to Bangkok at around 3 o’clock in the afternoon Thailand time.The immigration area was horribly crowded. There was like tons of folks from China arriving to Thailand. And the area was a mess like I didn’t know if I could get out of the airport and stuff. It was unforgettable. I met a nice Indian lady from Malaysia and we made it together to the arrival lounge after 3 hours. We got out of the airport at around 6 o’clock.

Now, you’re probably wondering where I headed to. I went off to teacher Thomas’ (TJ), a Filipino bloke who lives somewhere in Samut Prakan. I met him on SWD facebook group. I had been talking to him before I took off from Manila.  He was nice. He just broke my broken suitcase haha. He picked me up from Samrong Station (BTS). I was so confused. I was like Ohh. Could I really put my trust in this bloke? I didn’t check in at the hotel where I had had a reservation. It was a pay later reservation, though. I thought I would save a lot of money if I stayed at the bloke’s. So I just gave the benefit of the doubt. We took a Songtew to his. My suitcase handle got totally destroyed. I was told to turn in 1700 THB to him right after we got to his. His place was nice. I caught a glimpse of the every day scenario in Thailand. He showed me the Salat or Talat (market) in his area. His place was cozy. I really liked it.

He was very supportive but I wasn’t really happy for some reasons. So I decided to move to another place after two weeks. I went off to teacher Lyka’s,  a Filipino woman who lives somewhere in Pathum Thani. Also, I met this person on SWD facebook group and had been talking to her before I took off from Manila. She was nice and kind. She helped me get my own room in the apartment building where she lives. I stayed there for like two weeks.

I was happy cause I had the privacy that I would covet. The room was nice and cozy and I only paid 1100 THB.

Now you’re wondering why I left the apartment. Well, I received a call from an online agent whose name is Nion. I was immediately deployed to a school in northern part of Thailand. I was very grateful.