School & Pool
Park & Sunday market street
One of the practices we had to get used to was taking off our shoes as a sign of respect to the culture. People take off their shoes when entering their homes, businesses and even school classrooms. You have a clear cultural gap when you arrive in Asia and comply with that tradition.
555
The Thai word for 5 is pronounced ha. In social media Thai people type hahaha as 555.
Taxi racket
The taxis in Phuket are a racket; I actually think they're run by the mob. That's the story I heard on the street. Motorbike taxis are complicit in this. They'll charge 300 baht for a mile which is about $9 currently (2019). We talked them down to 100, but that's still outrageous in any location but especially Thailand. I can get a bus from Phuket town to Surat Thani, a 4 1/2 hour ride, for $5-8. That's a reasonable fare. 100 baht ($3) for a 1/2 mile to a mile? Ridiculous. I believe the app you can use in Thailand to hail a taxi is the Grab or Uber apps. Grab is the original. They might function better if you have a Thai bank account. Uber is also very popular.
We had an experience in traffic, one of several that were shocking to our sensibilities. We were riding our motorbike thru Phuket town behind a pickup truck which had an enclosure around the bed. As we looked ahead that truck passed under an overhanging power line. The power line dragged across the top of the truck enclosure and dropped in the path of the motorcyclist in front of us. The line lassoed around his neck and propelled him up tossing him off the motorbike right in front of us. A crowd gathered around to aid him. We had heard of foreigners being blamed for these type of incidents, so we disappeared.
H20
Phuket is an island province. Apparently there are problems with fresh water supplies. So occasionally water levels are low causing rationing. There are many reservoirs on the small island. I know Bangwad dam has a huge capacity, but I've seen it drained almost entirely dry. There is not much wild life in Phuket because of various factors. It's an island so that's an important one. I would worry about wild life who depend on natural water sources. Even during rainy (monsoon) season water levels remained low. We were only there for two rainy seasons. One was rainy and the other wasn't.
The department of Land Transport is the government office managing motorbikes and cars. This is where you go to deal with the purchase or sale of a motor vehicle. It's very similar to the Department of Motor Vehicles in the US. There is lots of red tape and unwritten regulations. It can be very intimidating. On site at the one in Phuket was the inspection station, a registration and a title office. The registration and title seem to be one book which is transferred to the new owner. For motorbikes I believe it's the "green book" and for cars it's the "blue book". I had someone walk me thru the transfer process and it went very smoothly. He was the seller and was very nice to help with this process. When I sold, the car went to a native Thai person, so he was able to do the work at the other end.
At the time of arriving in Thailand it would be difficult to get a bank account. Some banks might offer account options but most would request your work permit in order to open an account. Ostensibly they don't offer to open accounts for just anyone. If you work at a government school you will be eligible for an account at the government bank, but once you leave that school it would be closed. There was a rumor that the school could seize your funds if they chose to, so most teachers transferred all the money to a commercial institution after the deposit was made on payday. Different banks are distinguished by the bank color. The yellow bank is the government bank. I banked at KrungThai as well, which was the blue bank.
Cash is king in Thailand. Everyone spent the paper money. If you have a large transaction most banks offer a direct transfer of funds where you look it up by the persons name or LINE ID. That money would be sent immediately. I bought a car and was able to transfer the funds while I was standing with the seller. It showed in his account and the deed was done.
For those staying in Thailand for a longer period, you come to a point of whether you should buy or rent your motorbike. Some of the more glamorous motorcycles are expensive. The standard options are relatively cheap - like $1400 new. The problem is, a lot of us have no idea how long we'll stay in Thailand. If you stay more than a year it might be wise to buy. If you're going to buy one concern is getting maintenance and repairs. How do you find a good mechanic? Ask one of your English speaking friends. How do you tell the mechanic about the way the brakes are fading on a fast stop? How do you tell them you're suddenly getting terrible gas mileage? How do you tell them it dies occasionally? I found a guy named Ya near Chalong who seemed to have a good command of English. He did some repairs on our car. For the two plus years we lived in Thailand we rented the motorbike. It was nice to have someone who was fluent in English to talk to about motor issues. They came to our house to perform maintenance. One apartment I stayed at offered a big discount on a motorbike while I lived there.
Teaching is probably the most common option for employment for foreigners who speak English in Thailand. Almost any other job would require fluency in Thai. A lot of young people try their hand at teaching to explore the world and see if teaching is their cup of tea. The salary always pays the bills. You can't live an extraordinary life but you can certainly count on paying your way. In Phuket prices are high but you can get an apartment, rent a motorbike and eat out all the time easily on what you make teaching. Some schools pay much more than others. If you can get in an International School you might make twice as much. If you are good in Science or Maths you have a better salary. If you live in a small town you will have plenty of money but nowhere to spend it. I don't think I could live in an isolated village. That would be really hard for me. In the time I was in Kathu, Phuket most of the jobs were in government schools. Administration of the schools was a huge challenge because up the heirarchy they were making Thai decisions based on their value system and down at the foreign teacher level it seemed to be constant shock. For instance, we might show up to school one day and there's a sudden holiday that no one told us about... or a field trip. During the day student would approach my desk and tell me there was a special meeting or event that they needed to attend.
The knife is a cool innovation. A round pipe is cutoff to form a handle with a metal bar welded to it which is sharpened. The woman in the picture is cutting the stinky durian fruit at a restaurant I ate at regularly. The restaurant is located on the waterfall road near Ban Maireab school. Knives are expensive for poor people. This works. There's another photo above showing a man sitting on a stool made of a motorcycle chain gear and a brake disk welded together with a couple of bars.
The ice truck is ubiquitous in Thailand along with many plastic ice coolers. The ice deliveries seem to occur continually across the land to the restaurants. The ice is commonly used for keeping food cold. There are less freezers and refrigerators at restaurants and markets. So the default food preservation is done with ice.
Tea is a common beverage in Thailand and Asia in general. This is a pot of Chrysanthemum tea. Teas are served by default whether you order coffee or something else. They always serve a pot of tea at local restaurants. Often the tea has spectacular flavor. Northern Thailand grows quite a bit of tea. This picture was taken at a touristy restaurant or upscale Thai restaurant. Most local places would not have this fancy type of teapot.
Most local restaurants are open air. Year round the temperature on the island is 75-85 degrees, so AC was not that important especially on the island we lived on. So open air meant wild life. This bird had made a nest in a garden within a restaurant we went to all the time. It made a hanging nest in some Spanish moss.
Getting a job teaching is fairly easy if you're from a native English speaking country (NES). I was able to get a job while in the US thru a website called ajarn.com. Ajarn is an honorary term for a teacher like professor. At the first school they called us teacher which would be Kru in Thai. The Ajarn website is fairly sophisticated with the ability to filter by location, full/part-time, etc. There are other website options as well. In the classroom students have an English nickname. It is sometimes included in the class roster along with the VERY long Thai name. The nicknames are funky. One kids stood out: Fluke. That was more extreme but the variety was fascinating leading me to believe that they don't know the meaning of their nicknames. For me all the new names were very difficult to associate with the faces of 120 kids. Each teacher teaches approximately 20 hours a week. I used my Photos app which allows me to identify the faces by labeling with their name. On day one I'd come into the classroom and take a photo or two of the class. Then I'd set someone up with the laptop and show them how to assign names. After a couple of names I'd have that person train the next person to add names. It was fun.
Spirit houses are everywhere. They are brightly colored miniature temples on elevated platforms with a ladder perched next to it. As I understand the Spirit house is installed to house the spirit that dwelt in the land prior to using the land for a human dwelling. There are usually offerings at the Spirit House of incense, flower necklaces and a red drink with a straw. I've seen offerings at the curb, under trees, in shops, all over the market. The main markets usually have a much larger Spirit house. I don't think the Spirit House is a Buddhist practice but Thai Buddhists combine other traditions with Buddhism so it is very common.
Thailand has a strong connection to tradition and a rich culture. Where the US and other countries are often an amalgam of various sources, Thailand has a specific identity. It may seem contradictory but the also love all that is American (US). They love English. They love our technology. They love our music, our cars, our clothing, our movies. Of course they have their own interpretation on what is American. But the signs of their strong culture are everywhere. In school they learn traditional dances, music, history, religion.
US vs America
If I say I'm from the US many Thai people will stare blankly. If I say America they light up with a smile. We have a nuanced understanding that America includes both north and south America. They consider the US America. That's the extent of their awareness and to a certain extent their language comprehension.
Thai traffic is increasingly cars altho there are many motorbikes. The car drivers seem to be very aware of their potential to kill cyclists. Motorbike riders swarm around cars in traffic and mostly stay alive and safe, but there were enough serious accidents while I was there to give me some serious pause. To see a very still body in the road as I approach an intersection or as I pass was very disturbing. Statistics seem to back this up as I heard that the death rate in Thai accidents is particularly high. Along with cars and motorbikes there are huge tourist buses, regular local buses and lots of trucks. ...and remember they drive on the left.
Flood
The picture of the flood above and further up the page underscore the problem of the rainy season (monsoon). The roads and drainage system simply cannot manage the amount of rain that occurs at particular times. We had a teacher conference and were supposed to depart together from the school. The morning of the departure we experienced some serious flooding. I almost turned around when we came to the flood crossing the road. Our car could have floated away.
Food is all over town in every neighborhood. In the province of Phuket people come from all over Thailand and all over the world to work, so each Thai regional specialty is presented here. There are 4 main cuisines which probably represent tribal tradition or something like that. The northern cuisine is up north around Chiang Mai in the mountains. My favorite food in the world is Kao soi from the north. Northeast is near Laos and is represented by Laab. Yummy! Central is located around Bangkok and the South is where Phuket is. There is also Chinese and Muslim food everywhere. The trick is the discern the menu. That makes it easier to determine which cuisine they're serving. Many restaurants that serve tourists have a photo menu on the wall and/or for reference at the table. You're at the mercy of the photographer to know what is pictured. Sometimes they'll try to get it translated to English. Some will have pictures of bird, fish, pig etc. so you know what meat you're getting. The second picture above is a kabob place we liked. You select the stick you want grill and they will grill it. There are a huge variety of mushrooms and veggies and meat and seafood to select from all prepared and you just point.
There seem to be an infinite variety of menu options available. Many restaurants will present you with a huge book. If they don't have an item in stock they may disappear for a few minutes and find it either at the market or otherwise. Some restaurants serve an international menu and a Thai menu. Maybe it's a multicultural marriage. I know of two restaurants in the small Thai district of Kathu that served wood-fired pizza alongside Thai specialties. Both husbands were Italian. Sometimes the international menu is apropos if you're homesick, but I know of one place that used frozen vegetables, so I'd stay away from the international food. There is one exception (besides the delicious pizza) and that is the Korean BBQ places. They were very popular when we were there. At the Korean BBQ they provide two grills on your table. One is for seafood and one is for meat and soup. You can have them cook the fish or you can. At our favorite BBQ place there were about 12 large tables of fish, meat, greens, veggies, mushrooms all cut and ready to throw on the grill. On the meat grill the device is designed to allow drippings to ooze down into a tray you keep filled with water. You can throw in some veggies and greens and enjoy the soup that is produced. Heavenly!
I had an accident. It was horrifying. Returning from the restaurant with dinner a big truck was approaching around a sharp corner about 3 feet over the line. He wasn't budging. I didn't notice till we were quite close because it was a windy road and he came around a sharp corner at me. I quickly locked up the rear brake and steered toward the shoulder of the road. There was nothing else I could do. I just hung on and hoped we didn't collide. I stopped and looked at the bike. I didn't feel an impact. It turns out the only thing the was damaged was the license tag. The truck had sped off in the opposite direction. I caught up to him and he knew what I wanted. While he sat there I reviewed the damage and it looked okay, so I waved goodbye. Karen was in the car in the left lane (we drive on the left there) with her turn signal indicating she wanted to turn left. As she edged over a motorbike whizzes up and toots a warning. It scared Karen. There was a family of 3 or 4 on the motorbike.
Immigration is like the DMV, it's never going to be a great experience, but you hope for the best. I learned a lot about what it's like to be an immigrant. Of course we were the desired type of immigrant that was not 'stealing' someones job. They wanted native English speakers (NES) to teach. The challenge was to have the right papers for the right immigration officer on the right day. Hour to hour the rules change. The risk is that you'd have to leave the country. It's a big deal. The immigration office in Phuket looked like it was housed in an old residence. It wasn't clear where you were supposed to go. There was a huge grand entrance to the second floor, but all the business I ever did was thru the first floor. On the first floor the first step was to check in. There's usually a long line at check in. They ask what you're trying to do and try to assess if you've got the necessary documents. One thing you need in order to register as a long term resident is what's called a Tambien Ban. This identifies the owner of the property you're living at. They include a copy of the owners citizen ID. That establishes your residence location. Often these documents are all in Thai so you either learn Thai or you just accept the consequences. They may also want your lease document if you have one. The lease we got at one of our places was 8 or 10 pages in Thai.
At the gas station the pumps are assigned by car or motorbike. The motorbike line is usually pretty long. You usually get an attendant to pump gas there. This is where I learned some of my higher numbers because you need to tell the attendant how many baht you want to put in the tank. I usually put in 130 baht. They worked really hard to squeeze in the full amount.
Learning Thai
Learning the language is not like an American (US) learning Spanish. The magnitude is multiplied because of at least two things: The character set and the 5 tones. Characters in the alphabet are influenced by tonal qualities in speaking. There's a high tone, a medium tone, an up tone, a down tone and an up/down tone. That's just from memory from a couple of sessions of class we had. The character set does not translate to the character set from western languages at all. Thai people are very gracious in their comprehension when you say fart and you mean delicious. They connect the dots most of the time.
From my experience this is a common and acceptable phenomenon. As a teacher I saw boys in elementary school developing effiminate behavior and dress, even using makeup. Many expats marry lady boys. I saw them in the bars all the time. They are definitely not treated like we do in the US. I did not research how this attitude is common in small villages. We lived in a very cosmopolitan area of Thailand, often a little wild where lots of expats live and a lot of tourists visit. I did not see any "gentleman" girls however. I don't know how accepted that would be. Thailand is very much a patriarchy. I'm not sure how free lesbian women are to act out their sexuality. We had a lesbian couple next door at one of our addresses - it was also a intercultural relationship. There were definitely some butch looking women. I don't know if that meant they were lesbian. Our interactions with the world were heavily influenced by our lack of Thai language skills. We could barely order at some restaurants and figure out the bill unless they wrote it down.
Besides Patong there is other wild life. In every possible location in your home or restaurants there are geckos. They actually eat bugs so the overall benefit exceeds the fear for me. They have the ability to latch onto smooth interior walls which can be creepy. At one house we had a much larger lizard who traipsed thru the kitchen. There are also some small to medium snakes which are of no consequence. Occasionally there is a crocodile sighting on the island. It usually makes news. At one house we had a pond and a pool. There we would hear the booming voices of frogs at night especially when it rained.
Brooms
There were two types of brooms that were made and sold locally. One is like small sticks bound to a rod. The other is more like soft grass attached to a rod. I like the stick one. The soft one is kinda useless.
We love train travel for the therapy. The movement of the train side to side and the clickety clack of the wheels creates meditation. We can sit and watch the world go by and often see a completely different set of scenes than I would by car. Train travel is Thailand is reliable and safe. We got a sleeper for our long journey from Surit thani to Bangkok. I prefer the train to the long haul bus. Other than the airplane those are the only options. Train travel was reasonably efficient and arrived on time. I would recommend Seat 61 for all travel knowledge for world travel. Accommodations for Thai trains does not compare to European or even US options.
It's interesting being in a car in the tropics. Thailand is 8 degrees north of the equator. They build the car with no option for heat. The AC unit is ultra powerful. In the US I thought the options were universal because I'd never even thought about it. So in viewing the dashboard you'll see from left to right - passenger seat, glove compartment, instrument panel, driver seat, steering wheel, driving gauges. I didn't figure out how to eliminate fog on the windows inside the car. I ended up just blasting the AC. By the way, since you're driving on the right side of the car you do the manual shift with your left hand. That is hard to get used to.
Showers
You may have experienced this in the US or Europe but in Thailand no one has a hot water heater. Many sinks don't have a hot water control at all. Our kitchen sinks did not have hot water. The shower has what I remember being called tankless hot water system. There's an electrical device on the wall of each shower that heats up water as you use it. There is no storage for hot water. You never run out of hot water. I recommend this as a way to save money. I have not recently compared prices for instant on hot water versus hot water stored in a tank.
There was a guy in our neighborhood who had a few parrots. He let them ride on the handlebars of his motorbikes. Then he would ride them down to the reservoir to fly around a little. Imagine seeing a man with a parrot or two riding down the road on his motorbike. It was quite a sight. Then there was a girl in my 5th grade science class who brought in a crocodile egg. Her family had one or more "pet" crocodiles, I guess. That's a scary thought. There could be some really disturbing reasons to have a crocodile at your house. In every neighborhood there are "stray" dogs. They call them soi dogs. Soi means street. Thai culture supports the idea of a community pet. The community puts out food for the dogs. It's like a spiritual practice. What I didn't see was medical care for the dogs. Some of them are in pretty bad shape. The food offered was human food, as well.
Look closely at the mechanics of the toilet and sink above. No hot water for the sink, a faucet that is built to fill the bucket. The sink actually sits above another bucket where the waste goes. The toilet style is a squat toilet. There is no seat on this device. There is a platform to place your feet on the ceramic, squat down and blast off. When you're finished you scoop from the bucket which is next to it to 'flush'. You sure you want to go to Thailand? It's a challenge to your sacred practices. Not all bathrooms are like this. Often they'll have a western toilet available and toilet paper, but not this one. Also the sink drains into a reservoir rather than a pipe.
VW
The vintage VW is a common adornment for businesses. We saw a lot of VW buses and this bug of the mid 60s/early 70s era. The buses tended to be modified to have a lift up hatch to display a large bar inside. Typically there were tons of bright neon lights in a garish display. It's charming in a sense, but almost carnivalish. Young people would find it attractive. I believe Thailand has always attracted young people. Many Chinese take vacations to Thailand. There are also a surprising amount of Russians and Europeans.
I met Kevin at Satree. He's an American with decades of experience teaching recently hailing from the middle East. Clearly there was something odd about him from the start. It was a little hard to get to know him. He kept to himself outside of school for the most part. Occasionally we would get together. He was about my age which was unusual to be teaching at a Thai local school. One day after a semester or two he disappeared. He told me he was going to Vietnam. After he was gone for a while I spoke with the director of the International Program about it in general conversation. She said he owed her money. Same thing happened to another of our teachers. I understand he had a drinking problem and displayed weird behavior