The Adventure Has Begun!
I had planned on writing sooner after our arrival, but as you can imagine, things have been busy! I’ll do my best to piece together our journey and first week here.
My previous blog post feels like a distant memory, although it’s been less than a week! The house came together, and as far as I know, our tenants have moved in. I suppose no news is good news as it concerns the property management company.
All of the stresses (for the most part) of back in the States have seemingly evaporated. It’s amazing how landing over here in Bangkok has alleviated so many concerns. There are only a few small loose-ends I know that need to be taken care of. For the most part, we’re looking forward to what our lives will be like here.
So here’s a brief recap: Our amazing friends Gina, Jody and Lauren showed up at 7am to our hotel on June 30 to caravan Kate, Henry, Miles and me, and all of our luggage to the airport. Gina even brought bagels and donuts!
We got to the airport with time to check in, drop off our checked luggage, get to the gate and relax. Twelve hours to Doha. The Doha airport is amazing. Ultra modern, tons of great shopping and food. Too bad we only had 45 minutes until boarding for our second leg to Bangkok! Thankfully, Doha doesn’t make you go through security again during your transfer like we had to do during our trip in March flying through Seoul.
We landed in Bangkok around 7:30PM local time. Immigration went incredibly smooth, and by the time we got to the luggage carousel, all our bags appeared right in front of us. As I was pulling our bags off of the carousel, an airport attendant showed up and helped gather everything and cart it all upstairs to the ground transportation area. As soon as we got upstairs, we immediately saw the car service person holding the sign with our name on it! It was uncanny how smooth this trip was. The boys were great and handled it like seasoned travelers. They both slept for nearly the whole second leg of 7 hours.
(Just a quick sidebar to talk about two of the pleasantries I noticed in Bangkok at the airport.
- Luggage carts are FREE!!!! And plentiful! It costs $6 for a single luggage cart at Dulles! But it’s America, the land of monetizing absolutely everything.
- As mentioned above, the second I started pulling our suitcases off of the luggage carousel, and attendant sprung into action to help. With a smile on his face! After we got everything to the van, I gave him a tip, which he seemed to be extremely appreciative of.
I don’t want to bash the USA, or sound like I hate it or anything like that, but witnessing these two simple things is stark. Sometimes, the small things that make people’s lives easier don’t have to come with a cost or be viewed as a profit opportunity.)
We were picked up in a large, super comfortable van that fit all of our luggage and us and whisked us away. It took about 45 minutes to get to our apartment, which we were anxious to see!
Once we arrived, we were immediately greeted by the building staff, who got all of our luggage for us. Kate got the card keys for our apartment, and we hopped in the elevator with great anticipation.
We opened the doors, and our expectations (which we didn’t really have any of) were far surpassed. We have been provided with a huge three bedroom apartment on the eighth floor of a lovely building in the Rama II section of Bangkok, which is southwest of the river (which I’m still learning what that means). There are fabulous views from nearly every room in the apartment. The boys have large bedrooms, and they also each have their own bathroom! We have a lovely little kitchen area with really good counter space, and an oven, which apparently, is a rarity in Bangkok, as people seldom cook as good food is so readily available, and insanely affordable. There is even a little nook in our bedroom that is perfect keeping my saxophones! The walls are super thick, so we never hear neighbors, so I have no concerns about bothering anyone while practicing. And to top it off, we have a rooftop pool one floor above us. A couple days ago, Kate took the boys up to the pool, and I stayed in the apartment to play my saxophones (which I hadn’t been able to do in about a month), and Miles told me he could hear my saxophone while he was swimming underwater! That’s pretty hilarious!
The picture accompanying this post is the view from our living room. The large grey building on the right side is the night market. Not visible in the picture, to the right of the night market, is the day market. As you can imagine, there is no shortage of delicious food literally right outside our doorstep. Also in the picture is a pizza spot, with surprisingly good pizza, albeit rather expensive. (Not a worry as I have an oven, and have ordered all the necessary accoutrements to resume my pizza making.) There’s also a bubble tea place, and a coffee shop. So naturally, once we got into our apartment around 9:30 PM, the first food we ordered was… McDonalds. Yeah, yeah. Get over it. We were exhausted having traveled for over 24 hours and needed to shove food down the boys gullets that they would eat. After the adrenaline wore off, we all finally got into bed around 1 AM. Phew!
Day one consisted of heading to the day market to get some waffles and then we walked up to Central Rama II, the massive shopping mall just a short walk from our apartment, just up the road from the school Kate will be working at and the boys attending. We started to buy all the different things we need for the apartment. Then, we walked over to the school as Kate had a meeting, and I got to finally pick up my soprano and tenor saxophones, which I brought over in March to save space for our move. This turned out to be a very wise decision. Oh, how I missed them, though! Once I got my saxophones back, the boys and I walked back to the apartment to drop everything off while Kate had her meeting. We then went back to the mall to get dinner and get some groceries in the huge grocery store in the basement of the mall. According to my watch, I logged about 15K steps that day.
The next couple of days were spent in the mall and a few other stores in the area stocking up on necessary supplies and groceries. I also ordered a new mattress for Kate and me. I have been made abundantly aware that Thais prefer much firmer mattresses. This is one of those things my pampered, soft American ass can’t deal with very well.
Today, we finally went on a mini adventure. We walked about 15 minutes to the RTS train stop (which is the commuter line), and took it to the end of the line up at Wongwian Yai, which is northeast of where we live. We walked around for a few minutes, and then took a Grab (Thailand equivalent of Uber) back to our apartment. It’s hot here, so the boys don’t last very long on walks.
We got home, ate some lunch, and went straight for the pool. Now I’m sitting comfortably on our couch writing this!
Tomorrow, I’m planning on getting into the more central part of Bangkok to go to the Jazz jam session at a spot called Queen Bee. I just connected to some local musicians here that I’m excited to meet and hopefully start getting into the music scene here!
So what are my impressions and thoughts so far? We have a great enclave here with everything we need within walking distance. There are a lot of people here! It’s very densely populated. But the people are incredibly nice, helpful and patient as we try to learn even just basic language other than “Hello” and “thank you.” People genuinely seem like they want to help. It feels like people move slower here, not in a hurry, but that could just be because I’m not in a hurry so I’m not part of the hustle and bustle. It could also be because it’s so hot here, and people just don’t want to expend that much energy, which I fully support.
Motorcycles and scooters weave in and out of traffic like a well choreographed dance. There is hardly anyone ever honking their horns. Drivers generally seem to be patient with each other and let other cars merge and don’t get mad if someone seamingly cuts them off. It’s just an underlying level of relaxation and understanding that is sorely missing in America (at least the places I’ve lived). I was definitely turning into one of those people I hate. I’m hoping being here re-centers me.
I’m desperate to learn at least a cursory amount of the language. It’s a very musical language. Tone and inflection are a huge part of it. Being able to have even basic conversations with people will be liberating. Thankfully we have the benefit of modern technology.
I honestly don’t know what I would have done if we didn’t have the tech resources that we have now. Between Google translate and the photo translator app on my phone, I can generally navigate most things I need to. Not least of which are the menus at the markets! If I have a question I need to ask, I just speak into the Translator app, and show my phone to the person I’m talking with. They reply right back, and all works out.
Modern technology also shrinks the world. The ease with which we’re able to talk to friends and family is astounding. And all for free. Henry has been having video calls already with one of his friends back in Virginia!
So tonight, we’re heading over to a well known night market to grab dinner and explore. Tomorrow promises to be a relaxing day with me going to the jam session, and then on Monday, we fly down to Krabi, which is close to Phuket, for a short vacation at Railay Beach, which a few friends have recommended. I’m looking forward to relaxing by the beach. This will hopefully be a great chance to FINALLY decompress after the last several months. But honestly, just being here has been a form of decompression.
Once we get back, we’re hoping to get to the other side of the river, and explore more. It’s a massive city, and I’m excited to familiarize myself with it.
Kate, while officially now employed with the school, doesn’t start going in until the very end of July, and then the boys start school in mid-August. At that point, I can start figuring out my life and what direction I want to take. I’m most excited about getting back into music, as well as getting back to the gym and getting healthy again. Then, I can start contemplating what type of work I want to do to contribute financially to the family again. Sax lessons? Teaching English? Some sort of remote work? It’s all on the table. But for now, I’m burnt out on accounting and am looking forward to trying my hand at something else. I’m certainly not closing the door to getting back to it in the future, but for now, I’m happy to take a break from it.
With that, I’m signing off for now. I’ll be taking my camera out with me soon and will hopefully have some good quality shots to post here soon. Much more to come, as the adventure has begun!
