I rarely see a Thai person eating alone. Instead of asking me what's up and inviting me into her room, my friend's way of greeting me when I knock on her door is by peeking around the door frame asking if I am hungry and want to get some food.
There is no specific meal for Breakfast, Lunch or dinner. They eat whatever meal they want. Fried rice for breakfast, noodles for lunch and soup for dinner, or the opposite way around. My friend did tell me I shouldn't eat Som Tam (green papaya salad) for breakfast because it is too spice, I should have some bread first. I haven't seen any crusty, chewy, hard baguette style breads here, unfortunately the western influence has only brought white bread.
They don't eat with chop sticks or use a knife. Unless you're eating steak in a western style restaurant, you will be served with a fork and a spoon. Thai people eat with their spoon in the right hand, and the fork in the left.
Monday, August 1
Monday, July 25
So what's different?
One thing I might not get used to is Thai logic. I'm sure there are lots of logical Thai people out there but I'm having a hard time finding them.
Example 1: Highways are built so that if you want to merge onto another freeway you have to go 5 miles the wrong way and make a U-turn to get to the freeway you want.
Example 2: There are no garbage cans yet everything is served in a plastic bag, styrofoam box, or comes with a plastic wrapped straw, fork or spoon.
Example 3: Where there are sidewalks, there are no side-walkers. Sidewalks are also simultaneously bike paths, yet there are no bikers... So who does occupy the sidewalks? Motorcycles.
It’s not uncommon to see Thais drinking water or iced tea out of plastic bags and 7/11 literally is the every-corner store (I can see 3 from my window alone). I’m need to invest in some reusable dish ware soon. A summer foreign exchange student from Hawaii told me, “first you get rich, then you worry about the environment” speaking about Thailand as a developing country. I’m not sure that makes sense to me.
They rarely have sidewalks here and the motorcycles and cars are fearless. I don't think they have the saying that pedestrians have the right of way. I enjoy walking around, most of my adventures have been in transit to destinations. It is interesting -if smelly, dirty, and congested- to see the streets of my neighborhood. Raw meat markets where people grab what looks like livers and hearts out of bins next to grains, vegetables and the neighboring trinket stand.
People don't walk much around here. One local explained it this way: “It’s too hot, you know? We Thai people like to take the bus or, you know, the taxi I think because this weather, you know? You walk somewhere and then too tired to do anything there and have no energy to do anything because you too hot and tired, you know? It’s better just take a bus because it’s cheap and fast, you know?” Fast, they are. I haven’t mastered the bus system but I have learned how to jump on a moving vehicle.
Example 1: Highways are built so that if you want to merge onto another freeway you have to go 5 miles the wrong way and make a U-turn to get to the freeway you want.
Example 2: There are no garbage cans yet everything is served in a plastic bag, styrofoam box, or comes with a plastic wrapped straw, fork or spoon.
Example 3: Where there are sidewalks, there are no side-walkers. Sidewalks are also simultaneously bike paths, yet there are no bikers... So who does occupy the sidewalks? Motorcycles.
It’s not uncommon to see Thais drinking water or iced tea out of plastic bags and 7/11 literally is the every-corner store (I can see 3 from my window alone). I’m need to invest in some reusable dish ware soon. A summer foreign exchange student from Hawaii told me, “first you get rich, then you worry about the environment” speaking about Thailand as a developing country. I’m not sure that makes sense to me.
They rarely have sidewalks here and the motorcycles and cars are fearless. I don't think they have the saying that pedestrians have the right of way. I enjoy walking around, most of my adventures have been in transit to destinations. It is interesting -if smelly, dirty, and congested- to see the streets of my neighborhood. Raw meat markets where people grab what looks like livers and hearts out of bins next to grains, vegetables and the neighboring trinket stand.
People don't walk much around here. One local explained it this way: “It’s too hot, you know? We Thai people like to take the bus or, you know, the taxi I think because this weather, you know? You walk somewhere and then too tired to do anything there and have no energy to do anything because you too hot and tired, you know? It’s better just take a bus because it’s cheap and fast, you know?” Fast, they are. I haven’t mastered the bus system but I have learned how to jump on a moving vehicle.
Monday, July 18
I should probably write my first post now
Tomorrow I will have been in Thailand for a week.
Last Tuesday I arrived at the airport with my dad's words ringing very untrue in my head, "just walk outside and get a taxi." No, not exactly. You can't just walk outside Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok and 'get a taxi.' I waited for my two suitcases after passing through a relatively short line at customs where I got my $175 multiple entry visa stamped - at this point I can't imagine ever having the guts to travel further than I already am, but I hope it will come in handy later. I grab a wheeled push cart from the stack and load up my suitcases, weekender and purse. I decide to take an escalator -flat but in the shape of a camel's humped back- down to the ground floor while trying to keep my 50LB suitcases on the cart - I failed.
After asking several traveller's booths where to find a metered taxi I end up at the tourist police counter where someone who speaks a bit of English brings me outside. I show him where my friend's apartment is by pointing on my hand drawn map; he conveys my directions to the cab driver. Everything seems to be going well. The taxi driver is eager to practice his English, asking me many questions, spouting facts about Thailand, and singing along to out of date American pop songs on the radio. My friend's apartment is only 30 miles from the airport and we've been driving for about two hours. It turns out the driver does NOT know how to get to 3J court - the little apartment my friend is staying in.
I have always thought taxi drivers know their way around the cities they drive in best, but in Bangkok, they don't, it seems like no one does. The majority of taxi drivers come from the poor northeast and speak the least English; if you are going further than a few miles radius, you better be a good back seat driver. After a seventeen hour flight and a three and a half hour taxi ride (several pay phone calls and deep breaths included) i'm standing on solid ground.
Last Tuesday I arrived at the airport with my dad's words ringing very untrue in my head, "just walk outside and get a taxi." No, not exactly. You can't just walk outside Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok and 'get a taxi.' I waited for my two suitcases after passing through a relatively short line at customs where I got my $175 multiple entry visa stamped - at this point I can't imagine ever having the guts to travel further than I already am, but I hope it will come in handy later. I grab a wheeled push cart from the stack and load up my suitcases, weekender and purse. I decide to take an escalator -flat but in the shape of a camel's humped back- down to the ground floor while trying to keep my 50LB suitcases on the cart - I failed.
After asking several traveller's booths where to find a metered taxi I end up at the tourist police counter where someone who speaks a bit of English brings me outside. I show him where my friend's apartment is by pointing on my hand drawn map; he conveys my directions to the cab driver. Everything seems to be going well. The taxi driver is eager to practice his English, asking me many questions, spouting facts about Thailand, and singing along to out of date American pop songs on the radio. My friend's apartment is only 30 miles from the airport and we've been driving for about two hours. It turns out the driver does NOT know how to get to 3J court - the little apartment my friend is staying in.
I have always thought taxi drivers know their way around the cities they drive in best, but in Bangkok, they don't, it seems like no one does. The majority of taxi drivers come from the poor northeast and speak the least English; if you are going further than a few miles radius, you better be a good back seat driver. After a seventeen hour flight and a three and a half hour taxi ride (several pay phone calls and deep breaths included) i'm standing on solid ground.
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