Thai immigration in Mukdahan

Our university sent us foreign teachers to Mukdahan yesterday for our annual visa renewals. Until now, we had been using th immigration office in Nong Khai, but the last time we visited for 90-day notice, they told us that the Mukdahan office was becoming the top office for the Isan region and that we should go there from now on. So the seven or eight of us rode out on a bus accompanied by 26 Chinese exchange students who are studying Thai in China at various universities and are on a program here for a year. 30+ visa applicants are enough to crowd any immigration office, and it was shocking to see how understaffed the Muk office was. Everything took a long, long time. It’s unreasonable to blame the people (the underlings at least) working there because they’re as trapped by the system as we are… It was hard watching other applicants* come and wonder where to queue up because the waiting room side of the counter looked like the escape scene from The Killing Fields.
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What saved the day was my colleague finding a well-run expat cafe (expat customer, not proprietor) a couple doors down from immigration -the name of the place was Good Mook. Good coffee, pate on crispy French bread, and bottles of Beer Lao… It was a great place to relax and wait for all the students to get processed, until the tiny little immigration office closed at 4:30.
We got back to our university at around 9:00 PM. By the time I had a bowl of noodles with another colleague and went home, both wife and baby were sound asleep.
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* Some of the other applicants included one of Nam’s Japanese teachers, and my next door neighbor (who also works at Nam’s school, MSU – Mahasarakham University.)

Day 2 Update

Max’s lungs are apparently sounding much better. The blood tests point to a bacterial, rather than viral, infection. This is good news because it means all the antibiotics going into him weren’t just to piss him off (he caught me on the jaw with not one, not two, but three Tiger Uppercuts with his cathetered and bandaged hand when I held the oxygen mask over his face this afternoon).
He is here for a three day course of meds and observation, which seems to be a WHO standard adopted in Thailand.
He is sleeping now and I’m writing my exams outside on a large balcony at the end of the hall.
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At around noon, a physical therapist came around with a gaggle of nurses and performed a series of percussive strokes with a cupped hand to Maxie’s back, and then to his chest. This loosened up some phlegm and fluids, so the gaggle of nurses and Nam pinned Max down and the therapist performed suction with a small tube to his mouth and nose. It was hard to watch him choking and sobbing, but the results were immediate and effective. He slept, well, like a baby for a long time after this session. Actually, we’re waiting for them to come around for another one right now.

Maxie’s Hospital Stay Day 2

There’s something hugely wrong about sleeping on a hospital sofa. The body rejects it, the mind rejects it.
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The catheter in Max’s arm had to be replaced this morning (to his other arm, actually) because it partly worked it’s way out last night and we had it removed to facilitate ease of motion. He cried a lot less than he did yesterday, because he was still very sleepy. I had to hold him down today, though, and it wasn’t fun. In the end, though, it was all good and he was smiling again five minutes later.
Uh oh it’s time to give him the inhalants via oxygen mask…
UPDATE: OK,he complained a lot but didn’t throw a tantrum like yesterday.
The hardest part about today is going to be when I go home to make some finals for next week. It’s too quiet without the baby.