We’re leaving for a 3-day jungle trek tomorrow morning – just wanted to let you know so you don’t expect any posts for the next few days. No big updates anyways… the rainy season has begun with nightly rains the last two days. They’re a nice way to cool down, and we’ve found some cute little bars to sit at and people-watch till the rain goes away. Live music is always a bonus too. 2/3 people in our group have been drunk the last two nights as well, but I’ll leave the guessing of who that is up to you! We also started our anti-malarials today… so hopefully we stay disease-free and no one starts getting any night terrors as side effects. In the meantime, we decided to leave you with the following post of randomness:
Little tidbits we’ve noticed so far about Thailand:
- Cars run on propane (and they drive on the “wrong” side of the road)
- Their alphabet is ridiculously fun: แสยนลทชหดจคพแหกบาสเ (I don’t believe that says anything by the way)
- Garbage cans are few and far between. It makes you realize what a big difference they make to littering. After 20 minutes of holding garbage, you’re incredibly tempted to throw it on the ground.
- We feel very safe here.
- It’s election time; one form of advertisement is driving a truck blasting rap music or techno dance with a billboard of the politician in the back.
- They have a store made for Andrew: CP Fresh Mart, where you chose your frozen dinner and they heat it up for you.
- They only have two flavors of slurpee: grape and coke.
- It’s so hot that my nail polish actually just melts off my toenails.
- There is a shocking number of stray dogs… at times there can be 10 per street. You have a friend anywhere you go!
- There aren’t really restaurants (unless they’re for tourists), the focus is more on street markets and little ‘patio’ bars, which are great to sit at.
- Like Europe, the public toilets are all ones you must pay for. Except you don’t get any toilet paper, so we’ve grown quickly accustomed to grabbing toilet paper and hand sanitizer before heading to the bathroom.
- It seems everyone drives a motorbike… they are like the equivalent of our bicycle. Children of all ages drive them around the cities.
- You fend for yourself as a pedestrian. Cars do not stop for you. You play Frogger and hope to get across.
- There is honestly a 7/11 every 200m. You can go to one and see the next one down the street. They can be a life saver with their air conditioning.
- Utensils: fork + spoon.
- Though things are cheap, alcohol is almost as pricey as home (and usually more pricey than your meal) and electronics are more expensive.
- People don’t use umbrellas here, they use ponchos. Good thing we bought ourselves those before we left home. We fit in.
- Stores sell face whitening cream for men and women.
- We’ve been learning about local etiquette: the head is considered the most sacred part of the body, so one should not touch anyone on the head, even if it is as a sign of affection. Feet are the opposite, seen as the dirtiest part of the body. Thus, you don’t point to or touch anything with your feet, and feet must be pointed away from any statue of Buddha. Andy and I have to keep reminding Shane of this, as he loves to rest his feet up on anything nearby.
- Going along with this point, it is customary to take shoes off before entering a home or temple. Some businesses also require this.
- Monks here stand out in their beautifully vibrant orange-copper gowns. As a female, one is not supposed to touch a monk. Which I learned later than I should have and then realized I failed at that when purchasing a mala necklace for my cousin, Oli, and realizing I passed him the one I wanted with payment. Hopefully it wasn’t too disrespectful!
