What does our lives really like with out the lense of social media?
Yes, “kids these days.” But there is wisdom, truth, and history all wrapped up in this.
So, without the lense of social media, what does our life look like? Well, just as normal as anyone’s is what I suspect. How often do we go to a beach, fly to another country, or attend a social event, or be at a civic celebration? Well, again… not every GD (gall darn) day for cryingoutloud! Those are the things that get ‘posted’ as some cropped and colorized photo picked out of three of the same shot to get the best smile. Remember we are not on vacation; we just live here.
Almost everyday begins the same with a workout or walk, followed up by a breakfast of peanut butter toast, fresh fruit, and most excellent coffee. Gawd, this is boring already. But maybe only boring from your perspective. For us, this is … our chosen life. One or two days a week we go out shopping for ‘stuff’. Once a week we go do “something’ festive. Today going to the Chiang Mai flower festival. Every day we walk a couple blocks and grab a lunch. Diane has her morning ritual, of cross word puzzles, and hour of Korean learning, and such. Me, I tend after the blog. After I take time to read and maybe a quick nap after lunch. Throughout the day we both work on music in some fashion.
Our evenings are similar each night where I’ll walk to a fav restaurant and grab dinner to go or once a week, we’ll both go out and have a ‘sit down’. We tend to watch something online of ‘TV’, a one-hour episode of something on a streaming channel. After will be the local Thai news and then I’ll continue with an hour of world/US news and Diane will catch up on a Korean drama.
It may be best to sprinkle all this with sunny days in the 80’s (9 months of the year), the best food in the world, and the lack of pressures of a working life. Then spread on the top the knowledge of we are pretty snug monetarily due to living abroad in Thailand. This looking through the vale of our perspective of living in a vibrant neighborhood, where a vehicle of any sort would not be necessary at all.
Bill, is there anything you miss in the west? Nope. I’d have to dig for something. I think it helps that we are both ‘city kids’. We don’t want acreage that needs tending to. The lack of a car is a blessing not a hinderance.
Geez, I just re-read this. It does sound like I’m bragging or on the verge of being insulting. Then maybe on the other side of the spectrum its “jeez, Bill… is that all you do?”
Loss
I have discovered something about my blog. If I write something, it lives forever. If I don’t, it tends to fade into my memory. This is why, many times I don’t tend to write about the very few negative experiences that occur.
I have grown accustomed to the people, the pace and grace of Thailand. Crime in Thailand is less of a thing, and because of this we feel safe. The ‘danger’ meter which we all have never moves off the lower peg. As an example, I’ll leave my ‘stuff” on a table at a restaurant and might walk across the street for some fresh fruit for tomorrow’s breakfast. But something occurred which was nothing less than a … crushing disappointment. I certainly am at a loss of skill with words here. But a beloved piece of street art was tagged today. It was beauty I saw every day. Now something I used to see…
Hey, how's yer Thai?
It came up as a question. How is your Thai? The answer to that is not simple. If I want to move on I’ll say “it is getting better”.
The real answer is more complicated as it is with everyone that has attempted a foreign language. There are several multidimensional angles at play here. First, is one’s ability to learn another language. This is, I believe, a spectrum. Ranging from “gee, those darn foreign languages seem ta have a different word for everything, I don’t git it” to “yes, I work for the state department, my mother is Uzbek, and my father is Tasmanian. I can speak x number of languages. blah, blah, blah”. I am just south of the middle of that spectrum.
The second angle is how much effort you make.
The third is ‘where do you live as you are learning said language. Or how many hours a day are you immersed in it. … hours… a day.
Before this gets depressing, I feel learning a foreign language is truly a wonderful and worthwhile endeavor. It keeps your brain sharp. You learn about a different culture at the same time. By embracing another culture, taking time to learn, you will become a better person. It is best to set a small goal, then increase that goal as you improve.
So, Bill, how is your Thai? Well, I can read and write in Thai. Since Thai looks like squiggles to westerners, this is a lot. Though, since my vocabulary is small, most of the time I read, I’m reading words I don’t know. So, at best I can pronounce what I’m reading but not know ‘what’ I’m reading. Though I’ve been here a year now, I am a light year from conversing with a Thai person with any depth. I suspect I’ll never get to the point where I belly up to a Thai bar, start eating peanuts and talking about the football game on TV while discussing local politics with the locals
Before I move on, I must talk about Apps, bloggers and other liars. No one, I mean no one, can learn Spanish in 3 weeks. Those words are only said to encourage you to spend money on paying for an online class. Liars. Hate those mothe…..
Back to me. I currently attend the Lanna Language School two days a week. One day a week I have a teacher who spends time with my writing and grammar skills and another day I have a different teacher who we just talk for an hour. He keeps the subjects easy and corals them into words that I already know and expands my vocabulary little by little. If you find yourself at a school or on an app learning zoo animals… run!! The brain cannot retain that many new words at once. It took me a long time to learn that.
A lifetime ago, maybe 20 years or so. I spent 5 years learning Farsi, the language of Iran. I also could read and write. Honestly, I’ve forgotten most, if not all of it. I think, if I get kidnapped and end up in a Iranian prison, mistaken for a spy, I think it would come back pretty quick. But my Farsi and Thai words never cross pollinate. It’s one, or the other. My Thai is a lightyear ahead of my Farsi ever was.
The Plumbing War
How to write about plumbing and not lose my audience. Hmmmm..
It began a few weeks ago (July 27) when some plumbing work was done on the (X)05 stack. Condos 205, 305…. 805. We didn’t give in much thought. About the same time, we notice banging noises from the people above us. Normally our condo is very quiet. It sounded like they were dropping a bowling ball on the floor 30 times a day. We were bummed.
We notice when our toilet would complete its filling of the tank, the same noise would occur. With help from Dr. Google, I learned about the water hammer effect in plumbing. So, anyone flushing the toilet in our stack causes this issue. This fix is easy and not expensive. I informed our Juristic Person, (Aug 3) which is the Thai version of the superintendent but does more. The first round, she said this was normal. …. O boy, here we go. Then the next week, I made a video for her to explain the sound. A week later she said if a pipe is broken, I should contact the owner of the condo. (August 19th) ohforcryingoutloud a ‘pipe’ is not broken. She was not understanding. This is understandable because most of the talking has been in Thai. I suck at speaking Thai, especially something as specific as ‘plumbing’. BTW plumbing in Thai is ระบบท่อประปา. Which is pronounced phonetically ‘ra bop taw bra ba’.
I just talked to Tonn, the owner of the condo. He is a great guy, and I was able to explain what is happening. At the end of the conversation, we agreed he’d find me a reputable plumber and I will contact him, and we can go from there. This is good news. Though, I suspect, it may not go as well as I might expect.
I am not in the United States. This is clear. If this was my home, I would have taken care of it on the day it was discovered. Maybe one or two runs to Home Depot. Ok, probably 3 runs to Home Depot. If this were at Diane’s condo, I could just ring up a local plumber and explain, in detail, what is happening. They would come out the following day, charge $1400 to either add an arrestor or turn of the stack and drain the system and refill.
If I am to guess, I will never get the point across of ‘water hammer’. They will say the walls are thin and there is not a lot they can do.
At the point where I felt beat in to submission, there has been movement. Tonn emailed me and said a plumber will be there Saturday (September 7th). Coolio! I sent him a video to pass on to the guy.
A guy walks into a bar. The bartender says, “what with the painful face?” The guy replied that his wife keeps on hitting in the head with a stick. And wants to advise on how to fix it. The bartender lends him a motorcycle helmet.
This is what I expect in the end. I am discovering a tendency to work on the symptom, here in Thailand, rather and correct the problem. I think it is good that I have the bar quite low. I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised. We will see.
Vanity and eyesight:
I suspect this part of the blog will not go public. I still use this blog as a journal but not everything is for sharing.
The term, that comes with a lot of social baggage is “I had some work done.”
This journey started 3 years ago, when I was reading the notes from my new doctor I had seen for a yearly physical. He had written dermatochalasis. I had to look it up. I thought, “wow, if he made the effort to write all this it must have some significance.” It meant I had extra skin on my upper eyelids. Then later that year I saw an optometrist for another reason, and she added the word “significant” to dermatochalasis in her notes. Holy cow! The medical community had determined I am indeed Frankenstein’s monster. I learned, with visual field test, that I was losing “significant” portion of my upper vision. While living in the US I went down the path of trying to take care of this.I pursued surgery but insurance would not pay for it. So, I let it lay.
Now, in Thailand, I found that even without insurance it was something I could afford. Better eye site and getting that much closer to looking like George Clooney? I’ll take it.
No, that is not the world’s greatest selfie. Cameras being held by patients during eye surgery is frowned upon. But this is a picture of the surgery room I was in at RAM hospital. Surgery suite number 6 to be exact. Wrapped up in a cocoon and eyes closed I could hear what seemed to be a team of people working on me. This pic is a pretty good representation of how it looked.
Costs: Initial consultation with Dr: $14.37. Surgery and prescriptions $1355.66. Follow-up and taking stitches out $7.31 So, a total of $1377.34
Above is a before and after of my upper peripheral vision. No, these are not photos from my brain and optical nerve, but you get the point. Before surgery I stared and the corner condo one floor from the top and noted what I could see without moving my eyes. The moment I got home after surgery, with stitches and swelling at 100% the change was startling and joyous*. (change)
I made an effort to make to representitive. I waited exactly 26 hours hours after shaving to get the stubble just right.
Do I look different or improved? Remember, that was only 40% of my motivation. The improved sight was spot on. I’m super happy. Before, if needed to be at bat for the Seattle Mariners and I was thrown a 12/6 curve ball, I wouldn’t see it coming. But no, really. Do I look more like George Clooney or not? I’m not sure why I have fixated on George as a beauty standard and a comic relief in my writing, but it works for me.
Things I do differently because I am retired:
Things I do differently because we live in Thailand:
I walked over to one of our favorite lunch places. We call it ‘Pop-Up’ for lack of a better term. I let them I wanted a couple of things for ‘take-away” If you say ‘to go’ they don’t know what you are talking about. So for $3.20 we had lunch/ A small bowl of delicious soup and a rice bowl with grilled pork. Just right.
The sun has set, and now darkness has overcome the city. My phone tells me its 91 degrees outside. So, no jacket then. I make a run to grab dinner for the night. Much like my ancestors of thousands of years ago, I’ll go and to the see to the demise of a wild boar and drag it back to the cave. On the way I pick up some Tylenol which is 1/3 the cost in the US. I arrive at the restaurant of choice after a 6-minute walk and say hello to Mit. He and ….. seem to run the place. I give him my order for ‘take-away’ and a beer for ‘here’ as I wait. I find a table near the street to watch the city folk walk by while I drink my cold Singha beer. Its slow, both in the restaurant and on the streets. It was 101 degrees today and the city slows down. I’m only half done with my beer when my order is placed on my table all wrapped up and ready for walking. My eyes go back and forth between my beer and dinner, dinner and beer, beer and dinner. Don’t tell Diane but I chose to finish my beer, then walk home. I convinced myself that the dinner will be just fine. It is legal to walk with a beer in hand, but I don’t like the look of it. Maybe this is from the comparitivley Puritan way of growing up in the west. Besides I like to ‘represent’ well. That all being said I finish most of my beer and head home. I check the temp on my phone and find its already dropped to 89. whoooooo chilly 🙂
The next night was similar but Mit saw me coming. He gave me the international drink sign with this hand, and I nodded. As I approached the host stand he was telling his side kick to get a small Singha beer, he did and looked at tad confused. I then grabbed it out of his hands we smiled. I gave my order to Mit and sat down at my now designated favorite table by the street. After a half a beer I walked across the street and purchased chunks of pineapple, slices of jujubes and segments of pomelo from the fruit lady and returned to finish my beer and take-home food for the night.
I believe I have come to the realization that people actually might be starting to recognize me. As I walked by our French restaurant the owner nodded to me as I walked by on the street.
Thailand vs Vietnam
A friend of mine, who has spent more than a decade in and out of Thailand, asked me what I thought were differences between Vietnam and Thailand. Well, that’s a pretty big question for someone who only has spent 5 months in Thailand then 1 month in Vietnam, but I’ll give it the ol’ college try.
You can’t, is the answer. Thailand is so much more developed. Though some of the obvious differences were with food. Thailand certainly runs a spicier than Vietnam, but I had no complaints. I personally think Thailand has the best overall food on the planet, so I am biased. The ‘feeling’ of crime also has crossed my mind. Thailand is safe, full stop. I remember asking Jim if I can leave my bag on a table at restaurant we were at as I got more food. This reply was “you can open your computer, log on to your bank account, and leave it all as you go to the bathroom.” it will be fine. I am still cautious in Thailand but that is the general feel. Not so in Vietnam. I remember walking in a grocery store where the security guard checked my bag before I entered. I realize this is a reach with my small amount of time in Vietnam.
Malls. Geez, we are foreigners in a land far from home where we barely speak the language. Convenience is king. So, we measure cities by the malls they have. Chiang Mai has 3 Bangkok-esque malls. The country of Vietnam has zero. Not that we live and die by malls, we understand the significance. We do not have a car nor a scooter and get along by walking or Grab. E.g. We needed a 10ft HDMI cable for my computer. In Saigon it was a half day adventure. Bear in mind we are in our 60’s. Full grown adults. We are not stinky backpackers bragging about sleeping a on a dirt floor in a yurt experiencing what they call life. I can just imagine some 20 something ‘youtuber’ making fun of my use of malls as currency of ……..
Are people nice? (apparently not me, after ridiculing backpackers in yurts) That is a ridicules question. I see it so often. “They are so nice in such and such country. People, from my experience are nice…everywhere. In Thailand, do they smile a tad more? Do they have an air of politeness unmatched? Maybe.
Should we give Vietnam a break because France and the US really screwed them over. Yeah. Though the good thing that at least the French left baguettes and coffee.
I have returned to Osaka not as Gerneral Patton but as a devoted customer. I do the pre-dinner beer trick by ordering a Japanese beer, Kirin, on ice as I wait. I’ve order sushi, gyoza and edemame for tonight. I thought of my brother Steve as I walked over. I suspect he would likely enjoy ‘the beer trick’ I imagined the brotherly comradery as we walked over, out on a trek to bring home food for the women folk.
I discover a dilemma when to walking to anyone of our nearby fav restaurants for ‘take- away’. There is no way to avoid walking by the French restaurant. Because of its proximity to our condo, I cannot help but walk 6 ft in front of either the owner, having a cigarette, or our fav waitress out front. They know me, I know them. I always feel I should say something “I love your restaurant, but Diane has a cold and is staying in this week.” I tried that tonight, but using Thai. It seemed to go over pretty well. But what will I say tomorrow? A part of this is the fact that they are one of my most favorite restaurant in Chiang Mai. Their beef Bourguignon is worth writing about.
Peeves that I have developed as Pets
We all have annoyances of other people we refer to as ‘pet peeves’.
I have a few and some developed lately after traveling a lot. when on either a train or a bus, people with GIANT backpacks the size of refridgeratiors, who leave them on their backs and seem to come up with excuses to turn around and effectively body-check innocents around them is my latest. This is a cousin of the people who refuse to check any luggage yet use every loophole in the rules to bring a house full of items. Me, I check everything and just walk on cool as the other side of the pillow.
My greatest lifetime peeve is people who caugh or sneeze directly into the front of their hands. If you want to purposely spead disease, like an evil madman, this is how you do it. (I”m about to alienate lots of people, so put on your seat belt) If someone does this and you call them on it there are three groups people fall into.
A) The admitters: This is a miniscule group that say “yeah, I guess you’re right, I could do better, old habits die hard”
B) The ignorant: “But that is what I learned” OMG where do I start? Nobody said ‘douse the front of your hands with as much diseased ridden mucus as you can such that everything you touch spreads whatever possible disease you carry. If you have to look it up on google.
C) The knowledgeable deniers (the worst): “oh, I was about to wash my hands” First they do an evil deed then lie to you about it.
From what I understand from parents that I know, is that they teach children the ‘Vampire Cough’, Which is coughing or sneezing into their crook for the arm. I suspect it will take about 3 generations for the majority of people to do this, but maybe never.
Ok, how much does it take to live in Thailand.
What drives me nuts are ‘for profit’ vloggers who just plain lie to you are just don’t know what they are talking about. Everything you read on the net is not always accurate. The headlines which are designed as click bate say something like “Live in Chiang Mai for $1000 a Month” That is just BS! Can it be done, but I nor you would not want to live like that.
First and foremost, there is no country in the world you can just fly to and plop down and live. You must go through a visa process. Every country in the world has there own set of rules. I am going to talk about Thailand. I am also going to talk about normal people. If you are 22, smart as a bag of hammers, and describe a trip to other people on how much you drank and had ‘fun’, this is not about you. We are grown adults with responsibilities and do think about healthcare, maintaining our savings and plan for the future.
Different cities in the US have different costs of living, same here. If you want to live on Phuket near or on the water, nestled amongst many restaurants and surrounded by tourists and locals who speak English you pay much more than living in rural NE Thailand.
I am going to talk about what I know and what I have experienced as best I can. There are people who want to come to Thailand and spend less than 30 days, or may be extend that at a immagration office for another 30 days or even more. This portion is not about you either. You will pay top dollare for rent if you rent for a week or a month.
With no ‘hands on’ knowledge of Thailand, other than reading inaccurate blogs, it is difficult to find a place other than the most expensive option Airbnb. I mean MOST expensive. OMG! But that was the option we first took. But once here and decided to stay longer term we found a 1-year lease on a condo. We looked at a half a dozen or so condos with the help of an agent. Yes, my friends at all the inaccurate blogs say that it is more expensive… but look, we really don’t know anyone here, don’t speek the language and everything else….
So, in the end we pay $900 per month for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath with two decks on the 7th floor, with great AC and all the ……… we westerners kinda like. The other places we looked at ranged from $450 to $650 a month. I was ready to pull the trigger, but Diane wisely suggested the $900 place. I am SOOOOO glad. The most common is a 1-bedroom, 1 bath. No, not for us. Maybe when in our 20’s but not now.
Food will be another cost. I accurately tracked April and found we spent $600 for restaurants and groceries. We like food. We splurge a bit, but we don’t lose our minds. Eating local food is about 35% of eating western food.
Health insurance is another. We currently have world health insurance though Cigna at $650 a month. We are looking into something local and less expensive.
How much do we have for income? Our SSI is $5000 per month, though mine does not kick in until October. I currently match Diane’s contributions to our life with profits off the sale of my house.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.