Last Month in Thailand

I was looking back at some of the posts I made before I actually left from Thailand. I was hoping to find out what kinds of posts I made before to contrast with posts I will be making now. Well I did. However, I also found a lot of embarrassing posts I made before I had the knowledge of the country that I do now. So for this, I would like to apologize to all Thai people who may be reading this for misinterpreting what your country is like before going over here, haha.

For those wondering where I could have gone wrong, well honestly it wasn't that I said anything bad. You can go back to see for yourself. It was just my inexperience and now that I've "improved" here I sort of feel like a grown woman looking back at moments when she was a kid thinking, "Why did I do that?"

Anyway, the real point of this post is not for me to whine about my past mistakes. This post will the contrast between the other post "Last Month in America". If you haven't read this one yet, I recommend you check it out before reading this one as the point is to kind of see a transition over a period of time. It should be located in the March section of the blog navigation widget I put at the bottom of this site.

So if you've now read the "Last Month in America" post, then I shall begin!

Best of Thailand

Best Thing I Enjoy About Thai Shopping -

EVERYTHING IS SO CHEAP!! This isn't the case if you go to a shopping center or mall, but if you actually go inside the large markets to where they stop selling food and start selling products, then you get some amazing deals. I'm talking about a pair of shoes for 100 baht (3 dollars), a video game for about 200 baht (7 dollars), and small car parts for maybe 50 baht (1.5 dollars).

Best Thing I Enjoy in my Thai Family -

They love to travel. And they don't just go to the famous places for tourists, they actually go out and have a blast. One time we went to a river for vacation. Instead of just riding in the boats, we actually swam in the water and had to swim to various games they had along the shore. In Chiangmai, a famous province in the North of Thailand, we went up the tallest mountain in Thailand. It was so tall it was freezing like winter, even though at sea level it was as hot as, well, Thailand.

Best Thing I Like About Thai Attitude -

They don't ever want to offend anyone. Some Americans will tell you quite directly how they feel about you, but I've never seen a Thai person do that. They are also very helpful to me when I'm out traveling. And they always love to see when a Westerner speaks Thai.

Best Place I Have Been to in Thailand -

Oh great...um, this one is a toughie. I'm going to have to say Suan Peung, which a district in the Ratchaburi province. It has a lot of nature and wonderful landscapes. You really don't need to go do anything there because there are so many great natural mountains and forests that are lovely to look at or take pictures of.

Best Thai Food -

Since I couldn't come up with just one of these, I'm just going to say all Thai spicy food. It really isn't that I like spicy food, it's more that all the good foods I like happen to be spicy.

Best Thing I Like About Thai Language, Thai -

It looks impossible to those who don't know it. I showed a few of my American friends what Thai looks like and how small the letters are, and they always say it looks like a bunch of scribble lines, hah. But really, if you actually learn it, it's quite easy to read. Definitely something I show off though. XP

Best Free Time in Thailand -

Sitting on my living floor floor, reading a book. And also Internet! XD

Worst of America

Worst Thing About Thai Shopping -

I put that American store clerks annoy you for this one, but in Thailand I find it to be about 1000 times worse. You practically have to be rude to the person in order just to get them to get off your back. And then they always think you can't speak Thai, so they're talking to you in this incomprehensible English.

Worst Thing in my Thai Family -

Don't quite have any actually. Granted, we don't get along perfectly, but by now I think that we behave much like a real family. We don't share some of the same likes, but we help each other out and have fun when we can.

Worst Thing About Thai Attitude -

The bad side of not directly telling you how they feel about you is that they never let out their feelings. This means they give you all the dirty looks and do everything to make your life miserable, but they'll never tell you why.

Worst Place I Have Been to in Thailand -

Stuck in Petchaburi (a province an hour from Ratchaburi) after my friends and I found out there weren't any buses to take us home. We did all survive though and thankfully our host families understood the situation. But Lord it was horrible...

Worst Thai Food -

Sticky rice. Now I think I'm being a little unfair because it's not that I don't like it, it's that I am physically unable to eat it. It does funky things to my digestive tract. The reason I don't like it is because everyone other person in Thailand and their brother LOVES it. So in a sense, sticky rice makes me evil, wah...

Worst Thing About Thai Language, Thai -

It. Has. Tones. I mentioned in an earlier post about Thai language that these bloody tones will be the bane of any Thai learner's existence. I got to the point where I can hear the tones, but when I try to make them myself, I end up sounding like a hyper idiot of some sort.

Worst Free Time in Thai -

Sleeping. And everyone suggests this to me all the time. I'm a fairly productive person though so to me sleeping seems lazy and something to do if you're dying of boredom.


Wow, that was interesting. I certainly didn't expect the results for Thailand to look like this before leaving America. Well I hope this gave you a bit of an insight on how my life has been here. I only have a week left in this country, so I'm going to make the best of it before I depart.

Thai Money

This isn't really part of the Thai culture series, but I was thinking today I should include it. This kind of starts back to before I went to Thailand. Of course, when I found out I would be able to go, I quickly rushed in my personal studies to prepare myself for the experience. One of those, was figuring out how much money I would need while here. However, the sights for tourists turned out to be incredibly inaccurate when offering the prices for how much things cost here. So after learning how much everything generally costs NOW, I decided to give back.

To begin, I'll first explain food, since everybody has to eat everyday. Of course, different meals have different prices. But generally, food here is a lot cheaper than in the United States, so don't be too shocked when you see complete meals sell for less than 30 baht (1 dollar). Most of the food the locals eat though comes from markets, which are just about everywhere. Customers often buy in bulk because the prices are extremely cheap. Here are some common food prices:

Pad Thai Noodles - 30 baht
Coconut Ice-Cream - 10 baht for a cone
Shaved Ice Smoothie - 10-20 baht
Fried Egg - 10 baht
Dish of Rice - Often free with a meal, but about 20 baht if you just want it alone
Family Eats At Expensive Restaurant - 800 baht
Family Eats At Cheap Restaurant - 200 baht

Next there's the cost of living. For this, I am not quite sure since Thai families don't have the habit of discussing finances with their children. The one thing I'm sure on is the gas prices though. (Fun Fact: In Thailand, there are people hired by gas stations to actually pump the gas for you. You don't even have to get out of your car! X3) Here it's about 100 baht per gallon of gasoline. Here they use liters though, which means it's about 30 baht per liter. So much conversion... Anyway, here are some common living expenses:

Cheap Hotel - 300 baht per night
Expensive Hotel - 1000 baht per night
My Cell Phone Bill - 100 baht a month (I don't use it that much...)
Water Bill - Not sure specifically, but apparently it's very cheap
Electricity Bill -Again, not sure specifically, but people tell me it's extremely expensive

Finally, the last thing you'll probably want to know is about traveling. Kind of ironic since when I typed this up I was actually about to leave for a trip to Kon Khaen, a province in the Northeast. I mentioned in an earlier post that you can pretty much get around without a car here since the buses are quite cheap. Of course it all depends on where you go and what kind of bus you're taking:

Short Trip to Nearby City with Cheap Bus - 10-20 baht
Short Trip to Nearby City with Expensive Bus - 30 baht
Long Trip 6-12 Hours - 300-1000 baht
City an Hour Away - 100 baht
Me to Go to Bangkok from Ratchaburi - 120 baht

So that's my overview of the prices in Thailand. Obviously Thailand sells more than food, hotels, and buses, but you can probably get a good idea of how much other things cost based on this list. ^-^

Last Month

It's finally February everyone! At the start of this month, I am in Thailand, but at the end, I'll  be back in the United States. I must say, this year went by fast. I can still remember moments that happened before I left like they just happened a month ago. I can't exactly type much about it because the feeling is certainly hard to describe. Let's go with a half-happy-half-sad kind of emotion, hehe.

Anyway, this month I'll be wrapping up the Thailand part of my blog. I'll be going back to when I first started my American posts and take some of what I made there and pe-post it for Thailand. I think I have like one or two, but if I want to make more, I'll be sure to make them.

I'm not quite finished with adding all the Thai culture posts. I'm hoping to squeeze another two, but if I have no time, then one. I promise, haha.

And lastly, as I mentioned a few updates ago, I will be continuing this blog until around April or so. Which means you all will get to see my American life in comparison with my Thai! ^-^