Life is fragile

I have a great Thai friend here whom I have known nearly all of my over nine years in Thailand.  He is my best friend, my community in Bangkok.  I look after him and he looks after me, each in our own way.  I do not think I would have survived here without him.  I will put it this way.  To live a life in a Bangkok you need at least one close local friend, someone who can mentor you and guide you along the way. 

Well my great friend has been sharing an apartment for eight years with an American guy.  Once again, they looked after each other in their own ways.  I guess that is part of life here.  In the last week, this guy returned home to the USA for good.  It was time for him to do so and off he went.  My friend was devastated to lose such a close friend and confidante.  So, at the age of 40, there he was this week in tears, wondering what will life be like without his great mate.  Life is fragile. 

In the same week, I went to Thai Immigration for my annual visa.  It is a long way to go and when you get there, you just follow the sign for aliens.  Yes, here I am named by the government as an alien.  So I get my queue number 45.  I wait five hours to be called up to desk 44.  There I am greeted by a most unhappy and unfriendly female Thai Immigration officer.  She takes my papers, goes through them and just says "Three months".  Internally, I collapse.  What is this?  Well, it turns out that the government has issued a new rule that affects my category for getting a visa.  Instead of a year, I now get three months at a time.  This means I have to go out to Immigration every three months to get a new visa.  What a pain!  But deeper than that, it makes me think about how I am seen here and how much my contribution to here is valued by Thai society.  It all makes me wonder.  Then I think how I will deal with this every three months as it is a lot of red tape.  I think about possible implications of this in my life here in general.  Truly, life is fragile.