My First Week in Thailand

It is sad to live alone in a foreign country. However, my stay here in Thailand is not only gloom and doom. I believe that opportunities are present in every situation, even in the situation that I am in now.

Six months of stay in Thailand means that I have to do things on my own. It also means that it is not good for me to rely on outside help like eating in the cafeteria every single day or sending my dirty clothes to a laundry service. Seeking outside help, which is not cheap, will have a great impact on my expenses. My best recourse is to do my own laundry and to learn how to cook.

Dirty clothes piled up last week. Unfortunately, I have nothing to use for laundry so I had no choice but to improvise.

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I used the kitchen sink to wash my clothes. I also used my refrigerator's vegetable container as the container of my clothes.

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The kitchen got flooded after I did the laundry. This leave me with no other choice but to buy a small tub that I can use to wash my clothes.

Thai food is very spicy that's why I am very careful in choosing the food that I will order in food shops. One time, I ordered a very spicy fried fish for lunch. My eyes and nose were watery while I was eating.

What I enjoyed eating last week is this food:

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Pork noodle soup (not spicy).

One of my little project here is to learn how to cook. I bought a small pan, a rice cooker and other tools to accomplish this project. I tried to cook a piece of chicken drumstick last week and the results are...

...smoke and char. The chicken was burnt and my room was filled with smoke. I was relieved that there is no fire alarm or else firefighters will swarm my room. I can't imagine the commotion that it will make just because of a burnt drumstick.

(I was so disappointed of the burnt drumstick so I didn't take any photo of it :-P)

It is lonely to be away from my Beloved for a very long time. But the positive thing about my situation is that I will learn how to be more responsible and independent. I will also learn how to cook, which will make my Beloved very happy. :-)

Reporting Live from Siam

“Sawatdee kraup. Sabai dee mai.”

That is how the Thais say “hello” and “how are you”.

I am learning a bit of the Thai language because I am now in Thailand and I will be in this country for a very long time. Yup. You read that right. I will be here in Thailand for a very, very long time. It is my first time to be outside of the Philippines for more than a month. So you can expect that my blog posts in the coming months will feature the sights and scenes in this country.

I left Manila just this week and I rode a Philippine Airlines flight. My experience with my flight is actually good. I experienced no hassle or any problem. I even liked the meal provided during the flight.

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The meal included a cup of rice, a serving of beef dish, a piece of bread, a glass of orange juice and an appetizer. A small cup Magnolia ice cream for dessert was not included in the photo.

I reached Suvarnabhumi Airport after 3 hours of flight.

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Suvarnabhumi Airport looks good. I guess it is bigger than NAIA Terminal 3 and definitely looks better than NAIA Terminal 1.

I can say that Thailand is very similar with the Philippines, based on what I saw during the few days of my stay here. This country have the same tropical climate like the Philippines. The houses and buildings that I saw is not that different with our structures in the Philippines. Even the Thais look like Filipinos at first glance.

The main difference between Thailand and the Philippines is the dominant religion. The Philippines is filled with Roman Catholic churches while Thailand is filled with Buddhist temples. We have many stores that sell images of Christian saints while the Thais have a lot stores that sell san phra phum or spirit house, which serves as a shrine for “protective spirit” of the place.

Here is what I want to do during the whole duration of my stay here in Thailand:

1. Visit a lot of temples, especially the one in Ayutthaya.

2. Ride on top of an elephant.

3. Walk around downtown Bangkok.

4. Tour some Catholic churches.

5. Have dinner with the royal family.

Well, the last item in the list is just a wishful thinking. He he he.

So these are my initial report live from Siam. I hope that I can accomplish some of the activities I placed on my list.