A Day in the Life in Bangkok, Thailand
Follow me on a typical day that started bright and early. (Be warned - lots of TV watching ahead!)
5:03 a.m. It’s Wednesday, April 17, 2024. I wake up and given it’s been Thai New Year (aka Songkran) in Thailand the past five days, I realize the holiday is over and I have a lot of work to get done. This isn’t my normal wake-up time, which is usually between 6 and 7am most days. After starting to brew the coffee, I feed Mango (you’ll see her working her best pose later in the story) and think about what I need to get done today.
5:20 a.m. Normally I try not to start working right away but today I have an interview via zoom at 7 a.m. so I break my own rule and check email earlier than usual to make sure nothing came up and the zoom is still set to happen, which it is. I do see an email from an LA-based publicist on a different interview request and he asks if we can hop on the phone. I suggest in about 40 minutes so I can enjoy my coffee and wake up a bit more. Thankfully, since he said nothing was wrong and it was just easier to chat, I don’t worry that anything is amiss like the interviews are not going to happen or something along those lines.
6:00 a.m. I chat with the aforementioned publicist and, like I thought, all is good. Just coordinating timing for getting screeners, doing the interviews and then posting at the appropriate time. (Often, timing of interviews are very important whether they’re previews, post-mortem chats or just timing that is coordinated with the publicist based on airdates and sometimes what other outlets are also running stories. I always try to be as flexible as possible since as long as the interview(s) get done, I’m happy.) We hang up and I look over other emails, keeping several of them ‘marked as new’ so I can answer them later.
6:45 a.m. I’m on my second cup of coffee by now and even though video from the zoom interview starting soon won’t be posted, I want to appear less scary so I tame my bedhead and make myself look presentable. I also doublecheck that I have my questions ready (which I wrote up the day before). I think of two more questions to add in just in case there is time.
7:00 a.m. My zoom interview with Alison Brie begins. We’re talking about the Peacock series Apples Never Fall, which I watched and immediately pitched to an outlet since Emmy voting season is kicking into high gear and Brie gives a great performance in her role on the drama. We talk about Thailand for a few minutes since her reps must’ve told her I was here (which is why I asked for the interview to be late afternoon on the West Coast since that’s my morning) but once I hit RECORD on zoom, we chat for the next 25 minutes about her role on the show, working with Annette Bening and any challenging scenes she had. Alison and I have talked before so that always helps with some familiarity for an easy chat.
7:30 a.m. I’m hungry so I have a protein bar so I can keep working and get some emails answered before the day fully wraps up in Los Angeles. A little personal business needs to get done so I also start a load of laundry. Once that’s done, I say ‘good morning’ to Boyd, who has just woken up, and I go back to the office and follow up on some pitches I’d sent out, a few emails scheduling upcoming interviews and add to my calendar a few shows that I need to watch for upcoming interviews (I find adding screener time to my calendar helps me stay on top of the various freelance assignments I have going on).
7:50 a.m. I look at a new A.I. transcribing program called Alice since over the weekend I was reading colleague Andy Dehnart’s story on his website about a new A.I. program he’s using. I’ve been using the REV service for years but even using their reasonably priced A.I. transcription, I no longer get to expense those charges so I can probably save money if I just get my own app as long as the annual fee isn’t too much. I’m not in a rush so will try a few and see what works best and also check some reviews. (Unfortunately, my desktop and laptop are older so some programs/apps just don’t work without major upgrades. If you have a service you like, please let me know in the comments or send me a message).
8:30 a.m. This is Thailand and we’re currently in the hottest time of the year so I hang the laundry on the balcony to dry. It just honestly works better than our dryer and also saves on overall energy output. I then head back to the office to keep sending some emails as well as text with my brother in North Carolina for a bit before he goes to sleep. I also take some time to look over Instagram and catch up on the half dozen Words With Friends games I have going with family (my Dad and one of my sisters) and a few friends. Priorities!
9:15 a.m. I’ve been working for a few hours already so I know if I don’t make time for exercise soon, it will never happen. So I wrap up emails and head upstairs in our building to the pool, which is one of my favorite things about living here. I’ve had pools at previous places I’ve lived but never long enough to do proper laps. And with all the great Thai food and desserts, I need to be sure I’m burning calories!
10:15 a.m. Exercise time is over so I return to the condo and realize I’ve worked up an appetite so I make three scrambled eggs. Nothing fancy like my usual omelette but this will hold me over until lunch. As I eat, I remind myself I need to write this Substack post so I open up my laptop while eating and begin walking back through my day.
11:30 a.m. Boyd is working from home today but we decide to head out for lunch. After a quick shower, we’re planning to go to Good Noodle BKK for a little filming for our travel YouTube channel. We had shot some content a few weeks ago but I realized when starting to edit it over the weekend that it would be a better video if we actually purchased food and ate it on site so that’s the mission.
12:10 p.m. We venture on the MRT (one of two train lines in the city - makes living here without a car so easy!) and take it one whole stop from our place to Union Mall where Good Noodle BKK is located on the basement level (amidst a food court that has a little of everything in terms of Thai food for a very reasonable price). With my trusty Iphone capturing video, I film Boyd picking out our ramen noodles and toppings, paying for everything and then cooking them at these little cooking stations that are super easy and very safe. Watch for the video soon on Travel with Jim and Boyd YouTube channel! (Subscribe now so you don’t miss a video!). We film each of us tasting our food and mine is hot so I start coughing and laughing at the same time. “Let’s keep that in,” Boyd says. Of course we will!
1:00 p.m. On Wednesdays, Boyd is vegan so we take care of our own dinners (though we’ll still eat together). Once he heads back to work, I don’t join him and instead venture outside of Union Mall where there’s a small local restaurant that has the best congee (aka, rice porridge). I order the pork congee for 55 baht (or $1.50) to take away and then I head back home via the MRT.
1:30 p.m. I get home and do some unglamorous tasks like doing the morning dishes, giving Mango a treat for just being cute (I mean, look at her!) and checking on the laundry drying on the balcony. (It takes forever for things to dry here given how humid is is most days but it will eventually dry).
2:00 p.m. My afternoons in Bangkok tend to be fairly quiet since everyone in the U.S. is asleep so it’s a good time for me to do some writing or watch things for work, which is what I do since I needed to catch up on the most recent episodes of Young Sheldon and The Good Doctor for upcoming freelance stories I’m doing. (Shoutout to Express VPN for working so great here in Thailand since - gasp! - Paramount+ and Hulu do not exist in Thailand!)
3:30 p.m. I don’t need an afternoon coffee every day but today I’m craving one. I could make a coffee at home like I did in the morning but decide to beat the heat and I walk to a small coffee shop called That’s Why around a block or so from our building where I get a delicious iced caramel macchiato.
4:00 p.m. Back home with my coffee (after taking a selfie enjoying it), I have some reading to do. I grabbed a freelance gig writing production notes for an upcoming new series but since episodes aren’t available yet to watch, the publicists sent me a script of the pilot episode to get a sense of the show. I read through the script once to get a sense for the show but intentionally don’t take any notes yet. I like to read through a script once without stopping to just get a sense instead of interrupting the flow with note taking. That’s what second reads are for!
Tomorrow I’ll email the reps to let them know I’m ready to set up some zoom or phone interviews with talent and EPs so I can write the production notes. My deadline is in a few weeks so it’s not a super rush but I know better than to wait when asking to set up interviews since they rarely happen as quickly as you’d like. (Yes, besides still doing show coverage and profiles, I’ve been doing some commissioned reviews and production notes. Thankfully, I’m keeping busy!)
5:00 p.m. It’s been a pretty full day that started earlier than usual so I decide it’s time to shut it down for the day. I’m not quite done with this post so will finish it in the morning and post so my U.S. readers can see it when they wake up. Boyd and I recently started watching Netflix’s One Piece, an extremely entertaining, fun live-action fantasy series that’s an adaptation of the popular anime/comic series I know nothing about. (Actually, Boyd has already seen it and is rewatching it with me).
6:30 p.m. We’re ready for some dinner so I heat up the congee I bought earlier in the microwave. Honestly, I’ll admit that it does not look like anything special but it tastes amazing…even moreso when I add a little Maggi sauce. What is Maggi sauce? “This savoury condiment, made with fermented wheat protein, is meatier, more complex and a little thicker than soy sauce. Ideally, you'd add it during cooking to infuse the whole dish (if making a soup or stew) but, like soy sauce, it's also great in a marinade or as a finishing touch.” (Thanks, Chatelaine, found via a Google search). In the photo below, it’s the brown liquid scattered around the congee and pork. It’s one of my favorite things to eat since moving here! I definitely don’t cook as much as I did in the U.S. but dishes like this that are easy to heat up and eat is the way of life here and I don’t hate it.
7:30 p.m. Once dinner dishes are done, Boyd and I watch one more episode of One Piece before shifting gears. If you saw an earlier Substack post of mine on the LGBTQ representation in BL series (aka Boys’ Love), you won’t be surprised that I’ve watched so many more series since Moonlight Kitchen. (Watch for a future post here where I rank the ones I’ve watched thus far.)
The latest one we’re watching together is Dark Blue Kiss on YouTube. The episodes are all in Thai with English subtitles so I can not only follow the romantic drama of the show’s protagonists but also listen to the Thai language. I often ask Boyd about a particular word I might hear in the course of the show since I am trying to speak more of the language and listening more intently. I’m actually starting Thai lessons in May so I’m excited to learn more and be able to speak more very soon.
9:30 p.m. I’m at the point where my heavy eyes and constant yawning are telling me only one thing so I head to bed where I typically watch a sitcom before drifting off. Mango is here with me, laying at the foot of the bed. (Sometimes she’ll stay there all night, other times she sleeps in other parts of the condo). Since I’ve been watching a lot of Sex and the City lately due to my rewatch, I decide to watch a Seinfeld on Netflix. It’s an early favorite (season 2’s The Baby Shower) and I’ve seen it many times so it’s OK that I fall asleep before the episode is done, right? I mean, I had a full day!
Jim- so enjoying following your journey. Just signed up for paid subscription. Keep doing what you’re doing - loving reading all. Good for you!!! Enjoy and thank you!!!
Love your life in any day and you too!