Time Travelling

Hello from Thailand! Or, as the Thais would say, “Sawatdee”!

Well, after 5 airports and 4 planes, Andy and I finally made it to Bangkok! Travelling here was fortunately very uneventful. We flew from Regina to Calgary, Calgary to Vancouver, Vancouver to Beijing (China) and then from Beijing to Bangkok. In total we flew for about 19 hours. So after a good day and a half of travelling, we arrived at the Bangkok International Airport just before midnight on Friday, August 19^th. After getting our Visas stamped and claiming our bags, we met up with 2 Thai staff members from my school who were waiting at the airport for me. As it turns out, we were on the same flight from Vancouver as the grade 2 teacher at the school I will be working at. She came with her daughter and husband. So after we all introduced ourselves to one another, we were taken to our apartment complex where many of the teachers live. We did a quick stop at the school to pick up the keys. We did not go into the school, but did see it from the window of the van we took. It looks very nice! From the school it was about a 5 minute drive to our apartment.


First ever meal in China!

Fast forward to the next morning (Saturday).

After a 5 hour jet-lagged sleep, we woke up and unpacked our bags. Even though I was exhausted and could have slept for another 12 hours (Thailand is 11 hours ahead), I was pretty excited and couldn’t.

Our apartment complex is called Metro Park Sathorn. It was built in 3 different phases. We live on the 7^th floor (out of 8 floors) in building E of “Phase 1” which was built in 2008.

I have never seen an apartment complex with such high security. Once you first enter the property off the highway, you have to go through security gate #1.

Main security gate, highlighting a picture of their Queen

Once inside, you drive past the 7-11 (they are everywhere!) and through to security gate #2 which takes you into Phase 1. There are about 4 guards that sit at this gate.

7-11

Security gate for our "Phase"

Then, you have to swipe a key card and punch in a code to get into our building, and then again to get into our apartment. I feel like royalty or something with all the security. I didn’t even mention the security guards patrolling the pools, or the video cameras at every corner. I have a feeling the security is so high around here because of all the foreigners who live here are over-cautious and paying good money…and not necessarily because the area is unsafe to live in.

Walkway to our apartment building


Our apartment building

 

We are paying just over $400 CAD a month for our fully-furnished two bedroom apartment here at Metro Park, which is quite expensive compared to what Thais would pay but cheap for us. Our place is just under 650 square feet, so not too big…but definitely big enough for us.

Our living room

There is an air conditioner in the kitchen and in both bedrooms. The kitchen is complete with a full sized fridge (a luxury here) and washing machine (another luxury). We have a stove top to cook on, but no oven. Ovens are quite rare in Thailand. There is a small balcony off the kitchen.

Washing machine

Our bedroom has lots of storage and a great view of the gorgeous pool (1 of 3 pools in the complex).

The bathroom has a toilet (obviously) and a shower. The shower comes with its own water heater, which is the only source for hot water in our apartment.

  

The spare bedroom is what we like to call our “office”. It also has a ton of storage.

Once we unpacked our bags and settled in a bit, we took a taxi to downtown Bangkok. We went to a huge store called Tesco Lotus. Apparently Tesco is a European chain that is similar to Walmart. We spent about 3 and a half hours walking up and down every isle in that store. We bought everything we needed to make our apartment our comfortable home for the next 2 years! Our purchases included food to stock our fridge and cupboards, cleaning supplies, some pots and pans (to add to the collection of what was already provided), and office supplies. It was stimulus overload when we were in Tesco! Hundreds of people everywhere (it was a Saturday afternoon), funky smells in each isle, and packed shelves with mysterious Thai goods. Surprisingly laundry detergent was the hardest thing to buy because of the lack of pictures on the packages. We were trying to guess what bleach, laundry detergent, softeners and stain removers were…not so easy when you can’t read the package! It will be interesting to see how our laundry turns out after the first load! Food was not as difficult to buy as I thought. There were lots of similar products we have in Canada. Most of the shelf labels were printed with English subtitles, which was very helpful. However, reading the ingredients on the products themselves was not an easy task. Some products had vague ingredients written in English, but most did not. The section of the store that sold meat and fish was the most interesting and somewhat scary! Meats are sold basically the same way produce is sold…you fill up a plastic bag with whatever you want from large bins that sit out in the open (slightly refrigerated). We bought some chicken breast, bacon and prawns.

Breakfast!

It is now Sunday, and time to relax! Since we have everything we need to live comfortably, we can spend some time enjoying the place. Today’s mission is to hook up internet and test out the swimming pool :)