What I Know...
I've now been living in Thailand for over a year and, yes, I've learned a few things.
I know they say time flies when you’re having fun but it also flies when you move to the other side of the globe, try to get your freelance mojo back and, as of this past month, introduce a new kitten to your home where your 10-year old cat already lives.
But in living in Bangkok, Thailand since June 2023, I’ve learned a thing or two about life over here, experiencing the culture, learning the language and, yes, the food. It’s been an adventure and one that I’m glad continues every single day.
So here’s what I know thus far…
I know that Thailand now feels like home…since I feel like less of a stranger visiting a strange land and more like I’m now a part of it. A lot of credit for that goes to Boyd since he grew up here, is fluent in the language (more on my experience with that later) and he still has a lot of friends as well as family here to make us feel very welcome. Also, we have a lovely condo that is full of photos of family, friends and our pets past and present (Boyd is an artist so it’s his department to not only find the frames that look best but also arranging them). Home is where the heart is and I’ve found plenty of heart here in Thailand.
I know why I try my best to get to the gym and pool pretty much every day…because the food in Thailand is so damn good and, also, it’s easy to find. Before my first trip here in 2020 when I’d ask ‘where will we get food?’, Boyd always laughed and said ‘food is everywhere in Thailand.’ I didn’t quite grasp that fact until I got here and saw it for myself. Between restaurants, malls, markets, 7-11s, the small store front with a wok and meats and vegetables ready to cook or the guy with a small cart on the side of the street, Boyd, of course, knew what he was talking about. And if you like Thai food, I can tell you it tastes even better than anything you’re going to get anywhere other than Thailand. If you’re like me, the indulging can get out of control but I’m trying to keep an eye on what I’m eating more than I have been, Also, one food tip I’ll pass on for when you come visit, if you’re not keen on spicy foods, make sure you know words ‘may phet’ (that’s the phoenetic spelling and it’s pronounced MY PET), which means NO SPICY. Trust me.
I know that I tried Durian, the very stinky fruit recently…did I like it? Did I hate it? I’ll be posting the video soon! (But I can report back that it definitely does stink!)
I know Thailand has a thing about paper towels and napkins: Food may be everywhere but you can’t say the same about napkins and paper towels. It’s such a weird thing but so many restaurants, food courts and public bathrooms are very stingy (or just don’t have) paper products for wiping your hands and/or face. And if they do offer them, count yourself lucky if you get a decent one because many times there will be a cute little dispenser on your table with the thinnest, smallest piece of paper you’ve ever had in your life and it does absolutely nothing but fall apart the second it gets wet and you end up with little pieces stuck to your fingers. I now have some regular napkins in my backpack so if I really need one, I have it.
I know taking off my shoes at the door is a good thing: And not only because it keeps dirt or anything else on your shoes from being tracked into the home. It’s respectful to the home and the fact you do this at anyone’s home in Thailand is a part of the culture I fully embrace. (And, no lie, I do love that you don’t have shoe dirt tracked throughout the home!)
I know how to correctly pronounce Phuket: Hint: there’s no F sound at all even though it always gets a laugh when you say it that way. (Correct pronunciation: Poo-ket)
I know being part of a community is a good thing: I’ve always liked having a regular routine of grocery store, restaurants, coffee shops, etc and that’s partly because you start getting to know the people you see all the time when you go into these places and that familiarity goes a long way. Like Ake, the owner of a Thai restaurant down the street from our condo where we regularly pick up dinner and take home. Or the cute security lady by the MRT (underground subway) who always says hi to me and Boyd when we’re passing by. Or the Gourmet Market cashier who, after I spoke Boyd’s phone number in Thai to get our reward points recently, told me that my Thai is getting better. And Kiki, the barista who remembers my iced latte with oat milk order at the Terminal 21 Starbucks near my language school. I am proof that going places where maybe not everyone knows your name but one or two people do is an amazing way to start feeling at home.
I know how to count to 20 in Thai: Thanks to taking Thai language classes the past 3 months at the ALA Language School here in Bangkok, I know how to count even higher than 20. I’m nowhere near fluent in the difficult Thai language and I’m not sure I ever will be but I know I have surprised myself when a word comes to me naturally or when I watch one of our Thai BL series and I can pick our some words the actors are saying without reading the subtitles. Or now, when I listen to Boyd talk Thai on the phone or with a family member or friend, I can sometimes understand in a general sense what they’re talking about. I’ll be taking classes at least through January so we’ll see where I am at with the language then. For now, as a follow up to an earlier video where I counted to ten, I shot another one yesterday of me counting to 20! I did show this to Boyd who said I did very well except my tones on numbers 2 and 3 were off (I mistakingly used the falling tone when I should have done rising tone) but I now will make sure to never do that again! Enjoy!
I know being hot and sweaty is the norm in Thailand.. Even during this time of the year when it’s not its warmest, Thailand is still hot and there’s rarely a day with no humidity. Right now it’s the rainy season so temperatures are typically in the 80s and low 90s and it rains pretty much every day - sometimes for a short time, sometime for hours. And while the air feels very light right before or after a big storm, it won’t be long before the humidity starts creeping up again. It all makes sense, really, since Thailand is not directly on the equator but it’s also only about 1000 miles north of it.
I know that I like Thailand’s overall vibe: Thailand is a Buddhist country and there’s much to be learned about the Buddhist way of life even in a bustling city like Bangkok. You’ll see temples and buddhas everywhere and seeing a monk or two walking about is not an unusual sighting. But even though Bangkok is a modern city, there is still a deep current of spirituality and respect that is always present. One thing I see all the time reminds me of when Boyd talks about choosing to “walk in the middle” in terms of how you deal with things in everyday life. That basically means to avoid the extremes of self-gratification on one hand and self-mortification on the other. It’s because of this belief (among many) that Thailand is the Land of Smiles and you’ll come away from a visit thinking about how friendly and kind everyone is here as opposed to the more frenetic energy that I’d feel living in places like Los Angeles or New York City.
I know people are more alike than we realize. In my Thai language class, my fellow students are from Taiwan, Italy and several from Myanmar. While the majority of people in the class are there for visa reasons (like me since the class satisfies education visa requirements to stay in the country), we all share the same idea of just wanting to live a good life. We want to eat good food, have people around us we can love and trust, have as few worries as possible and, as I found out recently, many of us were excited to see the new Deadpool Wolverine movie. From talking to them over the past few months, I’ve found we share our desire for better jobs to help afford the life we want, we all miss family and friends who are far away and you mention someone like Taylor Swift and everyone just loves her. In short, we may not have grown up the same or even all the same beliefs, but the simpleness of what we all want is also what bonds us together.
I know I miss my oven... Given the heat here, people tend to eat out or pick up food on the way home, which is why ovens aren’t standard here and don’t automatically come with a rental or property you may be buying. Stoves are standard and there is an oven in one of our building meeting rooms (where people can have cooking parties or just use the stove because, like me, they don’t have one). The few times I tried to use it for baking cookies, the stove just didn’t bake things right which could very well be in me making a mistake in converting Fahrenheit to Celsius. Instead, I’ve been getting more creative with our air fryer To get around that, I’ve been getting more creative with our air fryer and actually using a lot of the recipes that I’ve found and saved from various food accounts on Instagram. Just this past weekend I tried cooking an egg inside the middle of a bagel (see photo below) and for dinner I made marinated chicken breasts. I’ve also done pork chops and hard boiled eggs recently in the air fryer! All these foods ended up tasting delicious and since I use the paper filters with the air fryer, clean up is a breeze!
I know I love Thai BL series … I knew about BL (boys’ love) series before moving to Bangkok but once we landed here, Boyd and I quickly started watching so many of them. The first one, Moonlight Chicken, continues to be my personal favorite (so much so that I wrote about earlier this year) but I’ve watched so many others. Each one is typically about 12 episodes and here in Thailand they can be found on a local channel but also on YouTube (on the GMMTV channel) with English subtitles. They vary from ones that are more dramatic like Moonlight Chicken or Last Twilight but then there are more comedic ones like A Boss and a Babe or one of our recent watches Cherry Magic 30. I love that being gay or bi or whatever is never a plot point and the majority of people accept whomever is coupling with who. You’ll still get some characters trying to understand sexuality but the bigger message is that love is love. And besides the guys always being cute, these pairings become hugely popular not only locally but all over the world. In fact, we saw that one popular couple, Tawinan Anukoolprasert (aka Sea) and Jitaraphol Potiwihok (Jimmy), are even going to be in Los Angeles soon making a fan appearance. Another favorite pairing is Thitipoom Techaapaikhun (New) Tawan Vihokratana (Tay) so here’s is the trailer for their recent show, Cherry Magic 30.
I know keeping up with U.S. movies hasn’t been hard…Big titles come to Thailand regularly so I don’t feel like I’ve been missing out when it comes to the theater offerings. Boyd and I have already seen Twisters and Deadpool & Wolverine and plan on I’m planning to see the horror film Longlegs (I’ll be going solo since Boyd doesn’t do horror) and we’ll both see Fly Me to the Moon, which opens here this month. Western films are shown here in English with Thai subtitles though though you can also find some screenings that are dubbed in Thai with English subtitles. (If you follow me on Instagram, you also have seen that I love posting Thai movie posters of U.S. titles like the one below for the upcoming Borderlands.) I’m not only sticking to Western films, though, and have also gone to see a few Thai films like How to Make a Million Before Grandma Dies (if you get a chance to see it, please do! It’s so moving and has a universal message about family). I also saw a comedy called Love You To Debt starring Vachirawit Chivaaree (aka Bright, who you’ll know if you’re a fan of Thai BL series) that was so much fun and more moving than I expected!
I know I miss people and places from the U.S.. Hiking in Runyon Canyon, In-N-Out burger, the Old Fashioneds at the Henry on Robertson are just a few of the places and things I think of when I think about places I miss. Of course I miss my friends and family, too, and FaceTime or chatting on What’s App or Facebook Messenger has become a must to keep in touch with people. I believe it’s more about getting older than moving away but my number of truly close friends had gotten smaller over the years (I noticed it even before the pandemic) but it’s been relatively easy navigating time zones for a phone call or FaceTime. (In fact, I just FaceTimed with my Dad in Florida this morning when it was evening for him). And, getting back to places I miss, I’ve been really missing Las Vegas lately. Boyd and I would go a few times a year since it was such an easy trip from Los Angeles but it’s now been over a year so I’m jonesing for some slot machines and will be trying to build that into my next trip to the States.
I know that you’re ready for more of Miso’s story…I heard from all you cat and animal lovers about my recent post detailing our adoption of Miso so I’ll be posting Part 2 soon with the unfolding story of trying to integrate a kitten with a 10-year old cat in our Bangkok home. It’s been an adventure, that’s for sure!
Until next time…