Bangkok Life part 14

(Bangkok Traffic)
Hello Everybody,
I’ve been here three months now and I think I’ve formed my own opinion of living in Thailand, the good and the not so good. Below I’ve put together a list of good and not good, you’ll see that some of them appear in both columns, all will become clear.
(Tiger Prawns in Sweet & Sour)

Good

Thai Food – Thai food as some of the most delicious dishes, I’ve come across, the curries are to die for, seafood is fresh and cheap, and all the fruit is so sweet.
Thai People – Most of the Thai people I’ve met have been very friendly and always give their time, there sense of respect is one we should follow more closely in the UK.
Prices – Most stuff in Thailand is very cheap, with the exception of imported cars, most things are at least half price.
Shopping – The shopping experience is great, fantastic service and loads of staff.
Beaches and Countryside – Get out of Bangkok and the scenes that greet you are at worst, breath-taking, the coast line is pretty much un-spoilt.

(The Bug Shop)

Not so Good

Pollution – This is my biggest single gripe about Bangkok, the pollution can get so bad, you are short of breath walking over a footbridge.
Traffic – Traffic is very bad, add this to the fact that most Thai’s don’t drive to any standard approaching UK standard and you get a heady mix of danger.
Thai People – This is by no means a gripe, it is all down to being different, they are all very nationalistic. “Thai ways are the only ways”, I wish we would adopt the same attitude in the UK.
Walking - Thai people walk so slow, it really gets on my nerves, also they will stop right in the middle of a crowd to answer the phone, not looking round and causing everyone else to bang into them.
Thai Food – While Thai food is great, there are also bad points, chicken feet and knuckles, locust, deep fried scorpions etc etc etc

(Thailand Coastline)

My visit to Penang was an enforced trip, I have a Non Immigrant Visa, which lasts for a year, but it means that every three months I have to leave the country and come back, just to get my passport stamped with a new date, if I didn’t have this visa I would have to do this every month, so when the year is up, I’ll come back to the UK and get another one year visa, that’ll save me money in the long run.

I was asked the other day “How do you cope with the humidity”. The simple truth is you don’t. As soon as you leave your nice airconned 19C room you enter a world at usually 35-39C, add onto that at least 5C of humidity. So your body as to cope with an instant temperature increase of 20C, the only action your body can take is to sweat, and you sweat like you wouldn’t believe. You can cut down on it by no having the aircon on, this means you only slightly sweat all the time, and saves on the electricity bill.
Changing your clothes three times and taking as many showers as you can helps. I took this last photo the other day, hopefully it’s a sign that the wet season is coming to an end, this’ll mean that the humidity should drop below 90%.
There you have it, three months down, the rest of my life to go.

Remember to check out my sales blog:

http://www.natthai.blogspot.com/