Life in Bangkok

Life in Bangkok has been incredible.

Walking the streets and alleys of Bangkok is like nothing I have ever experienced. How best to describe? The air is beautifully warm but mostly feels dirty. The streets are lined with carts and stalls, selling interesting things like fried grasshoppers (although I must say these fried insects do smell appetising). Walking down these streets you are forever dodging motorbikes and push bikes, swerving in and out of people and dogs, while trying to take it all in. You will find amazing make-shift dwellings in the tiniest and quaintest of alleys.

Along the river on which I am staying, there is a fantastic and terrifying walkway. It is like a tunnel going over the river, on either side there are small rooms where people are living. The floor has been roughly constructed from bits of wood. As you walk along it you can see the river below you and can feel it rocking and breaking beneath your feet, which was the terrifying part. As I walked through this small, confined walk way, I felt like I was intruding on someone's home, there are Thai people and dogs sitting out side of their homes watching you as you walk through.

Coming out of that walkway, I felt just as intrusive as I came upon a gorgeous temple with beautiful music and Thai people praying. This was amzing, a very beautful scene.

The most of my days so far have been spent shopping and drinking and at times both of these activities together! Haggling is a lot of fun,
"how much?"
"500,"
"350?"
"420 ok?"
"I'll do 400"
"400 ok!"
Very cool

On my second day I got an hour Thai massage. This costed 110 Baht, which is about 5 bucks. And it was incredible, very different to what I'm used to. On a mat on the floor, in a room with 5 others, the massure really goes to town on your muscles. And, oh my, feeling fantastic afterwards!

There is a cute shop/home where I buy bottles of water from on my way back to the hotel. One day I went in to find only a small girl, maybe 3 years old. Asking for her mum or dad was pointless, she doesn't speak Thai yet, let alone English. After staring blankly at me for a moment, the girl eyes lit up, she ran to the fridge and got out a bottle of water. The girl put out her tiny hand for the money, luckly I already knew how much these cost, I handed her the coins and she handed me the bottle. I thought that was fantastic, the girl was able remember what she saw me buy the last times I was in there and make the connection that I am likely to want the same. This got the Psych in me firing.

On the topic of the Psych in me. In Melbourne, I often find my self watching people, watching crowds. I think to myself; what is that individual person's experience like? All I know is my own experience, and each and everyone of these people have their own. It amazes me; what is their mind saying? Where are they going, and why? Are they happy? What would it take for that person to be happy? It goes on. I am doing the same in Bangkok and it blows my mind how much these people's expereiences must vary due to culture! I think about it individually but also as a group; are these people happy? Are Thai people generally happier than Australians? Is their way of thinking different to ours? What is this lady's, who is crouched down washing dishes in a tub by the river, experince like? Wow!

I met a very nice man (still nice even if our walk together did lead me to a gem shop). He spoke about Psychology, introuduced himself as a proffessor. Told me he is going to Macquire Uni in Sydney to lecture Psychology in March. This was the first Thai person I had a real conversation with, beyond small talk.

This man first spoke to me to stop me from getting hit but a motorbike. He explained to me that although it is a one way road, you need to look both ways. And boy, was he right, traffic here follows no rules. It is scary as hell riding in a taxi with no seat belts, or worse, a tuk tuk with no seat belts or walls! The drivers swerve in and out of traffic very insanely, but it seems to work...incredible

I met another Thai person who I had a great conversation with. We saw her in Siam Square, I could tell she appreciated tourists (a lot of people here have tourist fatigue). She told us a bit of info about where we are and what is around, I spoke to her about the rest of my trip, going south and then teaching English in the South. She was a very cool lady, genuinely caring.

It is amazing how much I take the fact that I can speak English anywhere here for granted. Until I come across someone who only speaks Thai, I forget that I am in a country that speaks English as a second language. I had a bit of trouble at first, but that wasn't the Thai people's English skills but instead my understanding their accents. In fact, the Thai taxi driver from the airport asked me if I speak English! I hope so, I thought, I am meant to be teaching it in 3 weeks!

I selfishly learnt my first Thai word only last night. And what was that word that I learnt? Tounge! My first Thai word that I learnt was tounge, on Khaosan Road to further spark curiousity. After that I felt guilty for having not bothered to learn the Thai language and asked someone how to say 'thank you' in Thai. So that's it so far, thank you and tounge!

If you made it through this long long post... thanks
xoxo

Amazing

This is a surreal experience! My surroundings are incredible, it's as if I'm in a whole other country or something!
Khaosan Rd was an definitely an experience, absolutely packed with shops, bars and tourists. Walking down this road at one point went something like, 'ping pong?' 'no thanks,' 'ping pong?' 'no thanks,' 'ping pong?' and so on. Haha
My culture shock for the night was the amount of stray and sick dogs and cats. There was one dog lying on the footpath, moments from death yelping in pain. I can say I felt some relief to enjoy a fantastic, pain free, vegan dinner after that encounter.