The Unexpected Surprises in Thailand

Hi again,

I have written a few blogs and each time I write a blog I mean to include some experiences that are really unexpected to me both negatively and positively but when it comes to it I always forget as I believe there are a lot more things to write about, but no mucking around now here I go the absolute truth.

There are some obvious barriers like the language and cultural differences but these were expected to an extent and since being here I've fallen in love with the language, it sounds so amazing and have been hassling my new Thai friends to teach me as much as I can remember, I love it!

The first truth that has to be mentioned and it's something all of us has had an issue with is the toilets. In New Zealand we have public toilets that have seats, toilet paper, a clean place to wash your hands but not here in Thailand. I learnt very quickly that toilet paper is something that needs to be carried on you all the time. I also learnt after my first day of being caught out and needing a public toilet is AVOID PUBLIC TOILETS AT ALL COSTS!!! Go at home before you leave! If you're not far from home organise a trip home at lunch time and then back to your destination. Jaime and I have gotten to the habit of walking home whenever we need the bathroom, purely for the fact that here the toilets you'll find are toilets you have to squat over. Though this is really good for your muscles it is not and I repeat NOT something I enjoy or will miss.

Squatting toilets are not the only problem when it comes to toilets in Thailand, you also have to take your own toilet paper everywhere. Public bathrooms, university hostels, hotels, school... the list goes on. Having a roll of toilet paper in your bag for those incidents where you may be caught out is very handy and you don't want to rely on the use of paper towels.

Note the lack of gap in the clouds

The toilet issue (for me) is a problem as it's so damn hot here at a constant temperature of early - mid 30's during the day, due to this heat water consumption increases and water cannot stay in your body forever so I have found you need to plan your consumption of water very carefully. A bottle of water 20 mins before leaving home in the morning, a bottle at lunch (as restaurants tend to have nicer bathrooms), a bottle in the afternoon when home but before dinner and then a bottle after dinner before bed. This keeps you hydrated and you manage to have your water when you are in close proximity to a nice bathroom where you know has toilet paper.

My life saver

Beach with the most rubbish I've seen since being here

Ok enough about toilets... Onto the rubbish in Thaialnd. One thing that did surprise me a lot is the LACK of rubbish. I swear some streets in Hastings, Hawkes Bay have more rubbish on the streets than Thailand. It surprised me how 'tidy' the streets are since finding a rubbish bin in the streets is like winning the lottery. Before purchasing anything contemplate the size of the object, how long you have left at your location and if you're happy to carry the object all the way home as it's very unlikely to find a rubbish bin to put the remains in. The most rubbish I've seen in one place is probably at the beach where it seemed to have been left by the water when it was heading out for low tide but the beach was really long and it was only one little section that had rubbish so I'm really impressed by the tidiness of Thailand.

Note the brown water

Note the brown water

I say tidiness here with hesitation as it leads me onto a new unexpected thing. I have noticed that Thai people are always tidying but never cleaning. They sweep their floors a lot but I haven't seen them mop or vacuum, there is very little rubbish around yet no bins. It doesn't make too much sense to me but I've figured it's the reason why out here in Pluak Daeng I always feel dirty. Not having things 'cleaned' combined with the dirt that is here out in the middle of nowhere makes my feet black from dirt just by the end of a day walking to and from school yet spending most of my day inside a classroom. This 'dirty' feeling leaves me having on average 2 showers (sometimes 3) a day just to be clean. This amount of showering I have found is normal in Thailand. In Bangkok due to the heat being added into the feeling of being dirty (due to sweating) it was hard to come across a day where 3 showers weren't necessary, one in the morning, one before dinner, one before bed.






A big shock I had when arriving in Thailand was how cheap everything is. For example at Jatujak we were encouraged to bargain. I struggled with this context as the stuff we were buying was already so cheap like a 100% Thai Silk scarf was 100Baht which is equivalent to $4 NZD. I found stuff so cheap and couldn't imagine living off just $4 NZD a day I didn't take the price down. Well since then i have learnt that the minimum wage for Thai people (as an estimation) get about 300 Baht per day which is 37.5 Baht an hour. This is equivalent to $1.50 NZD an hour or $12 NZD per day. It dawned on me the cost of living here is so cheap because their income is cheap and their income can be cheap because food doesn't cost $15 for a meal as Thailand produces a lot of food consumed here.

There are other things that are just simply different from NZ like there sometimes is a smell, not sure what it is but it's not even that bad after a few days as it's not constantly there. Lets just say it's nothing compared to Rotorua!!! The beds here are also extremely stiff. I can sit down on my bed cross my legs, put a cup filled with hot coffee on my bed beside me and the coffee cup is still absolutely flat! It's crazy.

Don't get me wrong about this blog I love Thailand and I do definitely want to come back here one day. The students and staff are so accommodating, eager to learn and happy I love it. An overseas trip teaching English as an ESOL teacher here would be amazing but Thailand is not like beautiful New Zealand which I'm used to. My friend from Bangkok said to me "Thai always eat not too clean nor too dirty, so every food in the world will be alright in our stomach" I believe it's the same with the living standard and it's just something to get used to. 

Until next time

Anna xx