Bits of Bangkok Archives - Life's Tidbits

09Feb 2017

Bits of Bangkok {Part 5}

Let’s talk about the honey lime drink pictured below for a second. It is freaking delicious! I typically buy myself one as a treat when I go to the Thursday market held at Srinakharinwirot University. The popup market is home to various vendors selling everything from clothing and toys to street food and produce. One of my favorite parts about the drink is the handy-dandy plastic handle. It allows me to easily carry my beverage and purchases at the same time.

It’s been quite a few months since I shared Bits of Bangkok part 4, but I have compiled some new tidbits to share about how expat life in Bangkok is a wee-bit different than life in America.

Bits of Bangkok – Part 5

Children are provided with plastic plates, cutlery and cups in almost all restaurants. This is super handy and makes sharing meals with my toddler that much easier.
Changing tables are nearly impossible to find, even in very kid friendly places. While this is no longer an issue for us since Jellybean is potty trained (wahoo!) it was really annoying when we first moved here. The lack of changing tables surprises me given what a baby/kid friendly country Thailand is.
Pushcarts at the airports are free. There is no rummaging through your purse for change, jamming the coins into a slot and then trying to extract a pushcart like one has to do in the States.
Pregnant women wear a safety pin on the belly part of their shirts to signify they are pregnant. I guess the idea behind it is patrons on the train will give up their seats for you. Not entirely sure why someone would need a safety pin though as it’s usually fairly clear who’s pregnant. :)
Sometimes it’s okay to round down when paying. For example, if your taxi ride comes to 41 baht a taxi driver will accept 40 baht. I never have felt comfortable with this and always round up, but rounding down is sometimes common practice.
Some public restrooms you have to pay to use. This includes places like parks, markets and other tourist attractions. It’s usually only 2 baht, but if you don’t carry change on you it can be problematic as the toilet attendants don’t typically have the ability to break bills.
Toilet paper is sparse in public restrooms. Usually you can deposit 5 baht into a dispenser for toilet paper, but ever once in a while there are no dispensers to be found, which can be hugely frustrating.
Sorry for the potty theme, but as someone who’s constantly peeing (thanks pregnancy!) I’ve started to take note of where bathrooms are and their conditions … so yeah, last potty thing. Toilet paper is thrown into a small trash can next to the toilet instead of down the toilet.
At most indoor playgrounds and play areas children take their shoes off to play. We keep socks in our bag just incase we unexpectedly stop someplace to play and Jellybean needs socks. She’s totally programmed to take off her shoes when we arrive places … it’s going to be a problem when we move back to the States.
Need to pay you kid’s school tuition? How about your cable bill? Cash or bank transfer is the preferred way to pay any and all bills. We recently rented a jumpy house for Jellybean’s 3rd birthday party and the email confirmation included their bank’s name and account number. It was then left up to us if we transferred the money into their account or deposited the cash directly to their account. Thailand is definitely a cash based society, which is so different from the USA.

Incase you missed it, please check out the first, second, third and fourth installment of Bits of Bangkok. More of our Bangkok adventures, to date, can be found here or please follow along on Instagram.

30Jun 2016

Bits of Bangkok {Part 4}

by Nicole ⋅ Leave a Comment

Bangkok now feels familiar and very much like home. There are so many things I love about this city! Though I would be remise if I didn’t say there are also characteristics that drive me absolutely batty, like the traffic and, more often than not, the humidity. But, like most things in life you take the good with the bad.

We’ve been in Thailand for nearly a year! Coming up with bits about Bangkok has become, well, a bit more difficult recently. I think could be due to already sharing a number of tidbits as well as how everything now feels commonplace.

I’ve been keeping notes in my phone and I’ve compiled a list of some new tidbits about Bangkok …

Shops on wheels {see picture above}. From brooms and dusters to food and spices, each navigates their way through the busy streets of Bangkok. All the while blaring a horn to ensure all potential patrons know they are a-comin’! I often wonder how much they actually sell considering I’ve rarely seen anyone purchase something.
To keep with the shopping theme, there are an abundance of pop-up shops in malls. The goods available for sale are always changing. I’ve seen everything from clothing, shoes, food and books to motorcycles.
Water is incredibly affordable. This is probably because the tap water isn’t potable, but either way I will take it! Buying a bottle of water from 7-11 will run you about 10 baht (about 30 cents).
Many places like restaurants, department stores and the malls don’t open until 10am. I often forget that places aren’t open at 9am and have found myself sitting outside the mall (not so) patiently waiting for 10am to roll around.
The Thai national anthem plays everyday at 8am and 6pm. It plays on the radio, television as well in the BTS/MRT. I’ve only been on the BTS once when it played – Thais and foreigners alike stopped walking and silently stood to show respect until the anthem concluded.
Napkins are more like tissues … okay they are tissues. Thailand needs to change this STAT!
Let’s talk butter for a moment. Do you prefer salted or unsalted butter? I’m not talking about when you’re baking or cooking. In Thailand, butter for your toast is always unsalted. It tastes kind of strange to me without the salt. Are we heavy handed in America with salt?
Booze can only be purchased during the hours of 11am-2pm and 5pm-12am. Between the hours of 2pm and 5pm – no buying booze from stores for you. :)
Check-in kiosks are virtually non existent. In the states they always want you to check-in for a flight at the kiosk and only if you have an issue or need a baggage tag do you speak to an airline representative. In Thailand, more often than not, check-in will be a personal affair, not online or at a kiosk.
Scrambled eggs must be ordered dry, else they come out runny, very wet or undercooked … at least by American standards.

What’s your favorite tidbit about Bangkok so far?

Incase you missed it, please check out the first, second and third installment of Bits of Bangkok. More of our Bangkok adventures, to date, can be found here or please follow along on Instagram.

17Jan 2016

Bits of Bangkok {Part 3}

by Nicole ⋅ 10 Comments

We are about halfway through our first year in Bangkok! I no longer have to sit in taxis with my GoogleMaps open. I can successfully navigate the driver to all of the places we frequent. We have favorite restaurants, street food vendors, manicure places and so much more. Bangkok feels more like home with each passing week and it helps that we’ve had family in town visiting. We’ve done a lot in the past couple of months and yet we still have so much of Bangkok and Thailand to experience.

This picture was taken at JJ Market in Chatuchak. A must see when in Bangkok!

Some tidbits about Bangkok …

Plastic bags are EVERYWHERE. If you purchase fruit from a street vendor they will cut up the fruit, put in a plastic bag without handles, and then throw it into another bag that has handles. We get food delivered sometimes and certain dishes will come in a plastic bag and tupperware. I find it so strange, why is so much plastic necessary?
One of my favorite things about seeing a movie in Bangkok is that you can reserve a seat when you purchase your ticket. The need to show up to movies half hour early to ensure you aren’t sitting in the front row of a newly released movie is gone! Woot woo!
As far as I know, in the States if you purchase something like dish soap and it runs out you just chuck the bottle and purchase a new one. In Thailand, you can purchase a refill bag. It’s pretty much a ‘plastic bag’ filled with dish soap, Head-to-Toe Johnson & Johnson, etc. and so you can pour into the plastic bottle to refill it. It’s kind of genius and I don’t know why we don’t do this in the US … and if we do, I am totally behind the times.
When eating at restaurants food comes our whenever it is ready. It rarely comes out all at the same time and often feels like you are eating in shifts. Whenever your food comes out you eat it, else it will be cold!
Another interesting thing about restaurants is the waitress/waiter will rarely, if ever, bring you the bill before you as for it. This is such a huge contrast from dining out in the States where the check is more often than not delivered to the table before being requested.
Walking down the street you can often hear the buzz of ‘live’ wires. The wires are all tangled together, some hanging down low enough you could grab it and how one would identify a certain wire is beyond my comprehension.
Living in such a heavily populated city one would probably expect to hear sirens, however the noise pollution is more often than not something other than sirens. In DC I became strangely accustomed to the sound of sirens and eventually hit a point where they didn’t wake me up at night. I’ve heard possibly only three sirens since arriving in Bangkok, and each time I feel my heart start racing with worry. Such a stark change from my reaction to the sirens in DC!
You can order pizza by the meter … just go ahead and wrap you head around that!
Despite many services being a lot more affordable in Thailand, manicures are actually more expensive than in DC. The manicures here are more spa-ish and include an arm scrub/exfoliator so I guess you are getting more, but I still found the price a bit surprising.
Motorbikes will often jump up onto the curb {with no warning} and speed down the sidewalk during rush hour in an effort to avoid sitting in traffic. Motorbikes would never get away with driving on the sidewalks in the States!

And if you missed it, please check out the first and second installment of Bits of Bangkok. More of our Bangkok adventures, to date, can be found here or please follow along on Instagram.

29Oct 2015

Bits of Bangkok

by Nicole ⋅ 10 Comments

Time is flying and we have just about hit the 3 month mark as expats in Bangkok. Not surprising, but we’ve learned a few more tidbits about Bangkok, being an expat and we are really starting to find our groove living abroad.

The funny thing about living abroad is, just like being where you used to call home, eventually it starts to feel normal.

It’s normal to start sweat almost immediately after leaving the house.
It’s normal that most people around us are speaking in a language I barely understand.
It’s normal (or at least starting to feel normal) not to be going off to work each day.

Not to say I’m taking for-granted this amazing experience, but it’s nice that life is feeling more normal and less like I’m on constant sensory overload. :)

Some tidbits about Bangkok …

Unlike the Metro, the BTS isn’t a free for all when it comes to boarding the train. People actually line up and board in an orderly fashion. It took me a while to realize it wasn’t proper social etiquette to just rush the train doors once people finish disembarking. {See picture above of Jellybean lining up at the appropriate arrow.}
Right now the exchange rate range is about 35 baht to the dollar. My brain cannot do the math quick enough. One day soon I know it’s going to click and the calculation won’t be necessary, but until then I often whip out the cell phone to figure out how much something is.
When I switched to a Thai SIM card a lot more changed than just my phone number. Instead of having a monthly plan I now just ‘top off’ my cell phone phone when my balance is running low. The craziest part is I can add money at the 7-11! The other day we were running late to a playdate and my cell died (that’s what I get for ignoring 5 text messages my balance was low) and all I did was pop into 7-11 to add money to my cell phone. I was nervous it wouldn’t work, but it was seamless!
Speaking of paying things at 7-11 … a lots of bills can be paid at the 7-11 OR by doing a direct deposit into a company’s account. Few places take check or credit card as far as I can tell. You pay in cash, direct deposit into their account or just go to 7-11. Who would have thunk?
There is an abundance of trash cans in DC. Here, in Bangkok, trash cans are few and far between. I’ve become strangely adept hoarding trash in my backpack {or back pocket} and discarding it at home or bathroom trash cans. I don’t really understand why there are no trash cans, but I kind of miss the trash cans on every corner.
Recycling is nonexistent, as far as I can tell, in Bangkok. I was obsessed with separating out bottle/cans/paper in DC and now it all just goes in one bag. I feel guilty sometimes when I throw a can into the trash.
Bangkok is a foodie city, similar to DC and NYC, you can find just about any type of cuisine you would like. While we haven’t been out to eat as much as I might like the places we have tried are really good!
I am now ‘adept’ at telling the taxi driver to turn (leow) left (sai) and right (kwaa). I can also tell him the number of my street and the number of one other street that we visit frequently. Some of the taxi drivers correct my pronunciation and others pretend they have no idea what I’m saying. I’m learning slowly, but in all honesty the Thai language isn’t easy and being tonal one word can mean 5 different things depending on the inflection in your voice. Ahhh!
Buying food labeled in a foreign language can be interesting. Like the time we bought that strange milk for a couple weeks in a row since it ‘looked’ like whole milk containers from the States. Turns out it was ‘sweet milk’ or whatever that is… Or the all-to-common experience of buying street food and convincing yourself it’s probably chicken, or beef, or pork (ish). But it’s sooo tasty!
Personal space is fairly limited here. It is socially acceptable to stand super close to someone, touch their child or push past someone without even an excuse me. While I’m still not comfortable with the person behind me in line practically touching my back as we wait, I have had to adopt the pushing past people in order to get where I’m going … though I do try to say excuse me (or thoot in Thai).

And if you missed it, please check out the first installment of Bit of Bangkok. More of our Bangkok adventures, to date, can be found here or please follow us on Instagram.

What kind of Bangkok tidbits would you like to know more about?

06Oct 2015

Wat Pho

by Nicole ⋅ 1 Comment

A few weekends ago the family took in the sights and went to Wat Pho for the morning. It was beautiful and truly felt good to finally ‘see the sights’. The best part was I didn’t feel rushed or forced to see everything all at once. When we couldn’t take the heat anymore we stopped had lunch and headed home. It was SO nice to know we can always go back … we have 2 years (or really t-minus 22 months)!

We took the BTS (which I can’t stop calling the Metro – thanks DC!) down to the Chao Phraya River and then took a boat up the river to the stop closest to Wat Pho. Next time I would have taken the smaller boat (see picture below) instead of the big touristy passenger boat, but we weren’t really paying attention and bought tickets to the first place we stumbled upon.

Less than a 10 minute walk later we arrived at Wat Pho. It was HOT, which shouldn’t be a surprise anymore! Admission was 100 BHT per person and you must have exact change. We just happen to have exact change, but I was definitely surprised by the requirement. We wandered around for a bit and took some pictures along the way …

As I’ve mentioned before, Jellybean is a bit of a celebrity around these parts and as we walked around her photo was snapped many (many!) times. The most interesting was when we were visiting one of the Buddha’s, pictured below, a young man asked to take a picture of her. My husband graciously agreed at which point the man’s iPhone was aggressively pushed in the hubby’s face. Faster than either of us could comprehend what was happening the man gently grabbed Jellybean, plopped her on his lap and smiled for the camera! I couldn’t help it and started to chuckle. The husband gave me the side eye to stop it. I couldn’t help, but smile back. I don’t think I will ever get used to people we don’t know taking Jellybean’s picture (with or without our consent).

The last thing we saw was the Reclining Buddha. It was truly amazing.

A few tips when visiting Wat Pho …

Bring exact change for entrance fee – 100 BHT (mentioned above)
Wear comfortable shoes, but if they easily slip on/off easily that’s for the best. You can have to remove your shoes to visiting many of the Buddha’s so it will make things a little easier.
You must cover your shoulders and knees to visit the Reclining Buddha and some of the other Buddhas in the area as well. There are skirts, robes and scarves available to wear while visiting specific temples, which is very useful. If you are apposed to wearing the provided clothing I definitely recommend wearing short-sleeves and pants/skirt/dress that covers your knees.
Bring a bottle of water! Near the Reclining Buddha you can redeem your entrance tickets for a bottle of cold water, however we were thirsty and hot while walking around. I was glad we had water on hand prior to the seeing the Reclining Buddha.

Have you been to Wat Pho?

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