My simple Bangkok lifestyle

Okay!  I bought my first digital camera today, and I wanted to try it out.  It was just before sunset, so I needed to stay close to home.  I thought for a moment and decided that ‘home‘ was exactly what I should take pictures of.

I decided that the first thing I could show you in pictures is my new apartment, so you can have a concept of how I live.  By Western standards I live quite simply, but by the standards of working-class Thais my apartment is a bit above average.  Although it is not large, my room is similar to the standard that you would find in most middle-class Thai homes.

I still haven’t finished unpacking completely, but what is still in boxes is books and papers… nothing urgent. 

You can see from the photo above that I live in a single large room — a studio apartment — that is broken into four spaces. 

I shot the photo through the front door.  Nearest the door is the kitchen area; in the middle of the room there is a sofa, TV, desk and chair, then the sleeping area with a queen sized bed.  Finally, farthest away you can see the bathroom on the left and the balcony on the right.

Let me show you each of these spaces in some more detail.

This is my kitchen.  You can see that it is very different from a normal western kitchen.  There is no oven or stove.  You can see an electric wok in the center of the photo and a small rice cooker to the right of the wok.  You may also notice that there is no sink in the kitchen.  I was surprised when I first saw this in Thailand, but now I am accustomed to it.  In Thai condos (at least those of a certain price) it’s normal to put all the water in the toilet and on the balcony.  My “kitchen sink” is actually outside on the balcony.  I’ll show you a picture of that soon.

It’s difficult to tell what it is, but located to the left of the wok in the photo is a mortar and pestle.  These are used frequently in Thailand for crushing chilies and spices.  It is absolutely essential in making Som Tam (Thais describe the mixing with the mortar and pestle as bok-bok) and very useful in most other Thai dishes.  You can see that I have a collection of sauces, both Thai and western, along with flour, sugar, rice, spices and other dry foods.

My kitchen counters and table have  a granite look that is pretty nice I think.

Here’s my office space.  I have a large black office chair that I bought a few months ago, but that is the only furniture I brought into the room — all the other furniture, including the TV and fridge are included with the rent.  You’ll see a pink clock in the upper part of the photo.  This was a gift from my Korean girlfriend in early 2006… it’s got a needlepoint background that she did herself.  She chose the pink color, not me.  I haven’t yet got an adhesive hanger to mount the clock on the wall, so it’s just sitting on top of the wooden shelf.

In front of the clock you can see two telephones.  The black one on the right is a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) phone that has a local phone number in the United States.  This phone allows me to make and receive free calls in America for a subscription rate of about $10 per month.  At least it did.  It worked great in my old apartment, but here in my new apartment I don’t access the internet directly; it comes to my apartment through the management office server.  I have to log in each time I want to use it.

The VOIP phone, via the router, is supposed to be able to handle that without any problems.  You simply have to go to an IP address (192.168.0.1) and set up the login information.

My problem is that whenever I try to go to that address, it fails and I end up on Google with that address in the search box.  All of the Google returns are people writing the question, “Why can’t I log onto 192.168.0.1?” 

I kid you not, the top 20 returns or so are people asking this question on technical forums.  I’ve been reading the answers, and mostly they say stuff like, “Are you sure?” or “There must be something wrong with your computer”.

When they are more detailed they are largely unintelligible to a technical moron like me.  Consequently I’m having huge problems maintaining my work contact with the US, and this is a critical time for me so it’s a big problem.  I’ve been trying to resolve it since Thursday (three days now) and made zero progress.

The building doesn’t offer a wireless connection, and my VOIP also isn’t wireless, so I’ve got a bunch of stuff all wired up in one space, which is the reason for the two level shelf.  It’s mostly got power panels with 6 things plugged up, including the amplifier and speakers for my music.

My laptop, which is such an important part of my life, seems almost insignificant sitting next to the large TV on one side and the shelf on the other.

You can see my bed here.  The pillows on the bottom don’t have pillow cases because I washed them today.  I have three sets of bedsheets… the one you see pictured is my least favorite but it was the easiest to unpack when I moved in last week.  The sheet is burgundy with purple trim, and I have topped it with a purple cotton blanket.

My favorite set of bedsheets is brown, and the top cover is a nice shade of chocolate brown and has a great texture. I paid a lot of money for it in Australia.  About two years ago a Thai girl was ironing my shirts, lost control of the iron and it ended up on my brown bed cover, leaving a light but noticeable and permanent burn mark on my favorite bed cover.  I was angry but managed not to bitch-slap her.  She was horrified when I told her that it had cost me 12,000 baht.

I also have a blue set… dark blue sheets topped by a light blue cover.  The pillow cases you see in this photo actually go with that blue set… I seem to have lost one of the two pillow cases that go with this set of sheets.  I’m distraught.

Beside the bed on the floor is a digital weight scale.  Every girl who comes to my room — without fail — steps on the scale, which is one reason I know their weights so accurately.

In my old apartment the scale sat next to the toilet; I’ll have to see if it still gets 100% usage sitting next to the bed.

Sitting on top of the headboard is one of my most treasured possessions… a bamboo back scratcher.  Probably the only thing I missed about my ex-wife after the divorce was that there was no one around to scratch my back.  AU$4.50 fixed that problem.  The back scratcher goes with me everywhere I travel.  It is second only to my laptop & mobile phone in terms of importance in my life. 

This is my bathroom.  By western standards it’s small and simple, but it’s double the size of the toilet in my Sukhumvit apartment.

In sukhumvit I could take a shit, shower and rinse out my underwear in the sink all at the same time (not that I ever did….).  Here you can see that there is no bathtub, but the shower is actually separated from the toilet area by a shower curtain, as well as a 2-inch change in the level of the floor.

Here is the sink on my balcony.  The bathroom pictured above is on the other side of this wall.  The sink area is quite  large, and there is plenty of counter space.  You can see that I have two empty aquariums (aquaria?) on the balcony.  I haven’t decided what to do with them yet.

It’s a little weird having the water for cooking and washing located 10 meters from the kitchen, but this is quite normal in the lower priced Thai condos.  In fact, the smaller rooms inhabited by most bar girls and shop assistants don’t have a cooking area at all.  The girls typically unroll a straw mat on the floor and cook in a squatting position in an open space on the floor.  Their balconies are typically about half the size of what you see here, and instead of a sink, they simply have a faucet above a drain in the floor.  They will usually have a bucket for washing dishes, a bowl for cooking water and a large plastic tub for washing clothes in addition to a wok, rice cooker and utensils either on the balcony or near the door.

By comparison my balcony is large and well-equipped.  My old apartment in Sukhumvit had a tiny balcony that was just large enough for me to stand at the sink and wash dishes.  I could barely turn around.

On the right side of the balcony, opposite the sink I have a blue rack that I use for drying clothes after I wash them.  You can see that I did a load of clothes this afternoon, and they are hung up to dry.  I’ve never seen anyone use an electric dryer here in Thailand, though I’ve seen a couple for sale in the department stores.  When it’s 90 degrees outside every day it doesn’t take long for clothes to dry this way.

This shot is taken inside the condo building.  You can see that it’s built as a square with a hollow center, and rises to eight stories.  It’s got an open feel.  This photo makes it look a bit dark, but I took this about 20 minutes before sunset when there was little natural light, and the interior lighting hadn’t yet been turned on.  In the daytime it is bright and cheerful and in the evenings cool and comfortable.  I like the design. 

The interior area is covered by an opaque white plastic roof that lets in plenty of light but keeps out the rain.  Down below is a parking lot.   I shot a photo of it, but it was too dark and didn’t come out well.

This view is from the opposite side of the building, away from my room.  This is my soi… it ends a the bottom of this photo, where cars drive into the parking lot under my building.  As you can imagine, it’s very quiet here without any traffic.

I think the soi looks deceivingly wide in this photo.  Wherever you see a car parked, it is impossible for two cars going opposite directions to pass, so one waits while the other passes.  Walking in these streets is often uncomfortable as you have passing cars, motorcycles and other motorized vehicles.

With this view you can see the ubiquitous second story terraces in these types of homes.  You can see that many Thais put plants on the balconies but they are generally devoid of any types of chairs or tables that you might expect to see.  These spaces are used for drying clothes or having little gardens, but due to the sun and heat they are not really relaxation areas.  You can see that the closest one on the right has a blue roof and seems to be a little more fully utilized.  I believe that there is a clothes washer in the photo.

Here’s a photo of the same houses from a lower angle.  This is pretty typical middle class housing in Bangkok.  The people who live here might be self employed tradesmen or shop owners, managers, accountants and the like.  You can see that the front (ground level) of each home has a large open room with a security gate across it.  These aren’t garages, but large open living areas with tile or concrete floors.  Many people will run a small retail shop or restaurant in this space.

Typically you’ll find stairs at the back of the large living room, leading to the upstairs bedrooms, and the open terrace.  The kitchen is generally on the ground floor at the back of the house.

Finally I thought I’d give you an idea of the view from my building.  This is not from my room; I look at the side of a brick factory. 

So, there you go. 

I’ve put my new digital camera through it’s first workout, and offered you a glimpse at the simple Bangkok lifestyle that I live.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it.