My dear readers,
My how time flies! Its been three months to the day since I last spoke. I suspect some of you think I may have perished. Rest assured, I am still alive and well; living my best life in Thailand. So why have I neglected to write to you?
Did I forget I had a blog?
Was I unsure of what to say?
Have I simply been too busy to take the time to write?
Simply put, yes. The more time that passes, the more “normal” it feels to be here. Which makes it increasingly more challenging to know what to say, (shocking for me, I know). Despite thr increasing normalcy I am enjoying, I still haven’t actually settled anywhere. I have enjoyed my nomadic lifestyle, though hope that changes soon. More on that I'm a bit.
I am currently in Bangkok. I got here last Thursday after spending six weeks in Phuket, where I had previously set my sight on finding a job settling. I went to Phuket in mid May, first spending a week in Bang Tao, home of the best sunsets I've ever seen. Though, those sunsets were witnessed on my first trip to Phuket in March. May marks the start of the six-month rainy season, and I arrived in the midst of a tropical storm that resulted in about 5 days of non-stop rain.
I had chosen Bang Tao because it is fairly quiet, and so I figured I wouldn’t have too many distractions to get in my way while I finally committed to searching for work and enjoyed the beach. However, as the days passed and my skin grew whiter and whiter from the lack of sun exposure, I decided that Bang Tao was perhaps a bit too quiet. So I rented an Airbnb in Patong, perhaps the most touristy area of Phuket. I ended up staying there for six weeks in total. It was the first time I fully unpacked since arriving! It felt so nice to be settled somewhere for more than a week, although I knew from the start that Patong is not somewhere I want to live. It is way too touristy, no one really lives in Patong; those who do work in bars or hotels.
Fortunately the rain didn’t persist with the same level of intensity, most days it rained for an hour or two here and there; which is more typical for this time of year.
I initially applied for several jobs in Phuket, mostly in hotels. I didn’t hear back about any of them, and was finding there didn’t seem to be too many other jobs available for foreigners. So I opted to fully commit myself to completing the course I signed up for months ago, so that can teach English. I finished it the night before I came back to Bangkok, though am still waiting for one assignment to be marked before I will receive my certification; then I can start applying for teaching jobs. I've been told it should be pretty easy to find one.
Somewhere in the middle of my time in Phuket, I came back to Bangkok for a weekend to collect my other suitcase from a friend’s house, where I was storing it. Immediately upon returning to Patong, I found myself longing to go right back to Bangkok. Phuket is quite large, there is so much more to it than Patong. Though I think that I'd spent too much time in one overly touristy place, especially while forcing the discipline to complete a rather dry course, so it just didn’t feel like where I was supposed to be. Right now, Bangkok feels right.
When I first got to Thailand, I had very mixed feelings about Bangkok. The air quality was absolutely terrible at the time, and it can be a very overwhelming city at first. However as I found my footing and the air quality returned to normal, the sensory overload settled.
This week I found a place to rent for a month, and hope in that time I will find work. After I have a job, then I will look for a more permanent place to live. Bangkok is massive, and traffic is out of control, so knowing where my work is before choosing where to live seems wise. Once I find a job, I will have to leave the country so that I can apply for a working visa, from what I understand that will take about a week. My current visitor visa expires in just under a month, the day before my birthday, and it can't be removed. I will have to leave the country, though can return immediately on another tourist visa if needed. With any luck I don’t need to leave the country twice in the near future. Though travel in Southeast Asia is quite cheap (you can easily find flights for 40-80 dollars), and perhaps visiting somewhere new for my birthday isn’t the worst thing in the world.
I hope this little update satiates your appetite for stories from my journey for now. I have so much more to tell you. You can look forward to a few more posts in the near future now that I’m not spending hours each day starting at my computer screen working on that course. I do still have lots to share; nightmarish stories about cockroaches and being accosted by ladyboy with questionable intentions, a week spent in Malaysia, a visit to a village in Northern Thailand where I may have been the only white person in the province, the strange things I've eaten, and more!
I would like to leave you with two final points...
First a request: Is there anything you want to hear about specifically, or want to hear more on?
Secondly a point to ponder: A few days ago I was sitting in a gay pub I've been to many times. It was just past closing, no other customers. The owner, somewhat excitedly came back from the bathroom and grabbed a jar of maraschino cherries from the fridge, he frantically fished one out and rushed back towards the bathroom, returning a few minutes later far more relaxed. I spent days contemplating what weird things he may have done with that cherry, so I finally asked. I’ll save the answer for my next post. A little hint: its not what you’re thinking (get your head out of the gutter), but the answer is kind of obvious.
You asked about things to talk about And I would love to know more about the people you have been meeting who are locals and also those you have met who are traveling. What is your favourite place so far? I am dying to hear the story about the cockroach as well. As for the question of the bartender and the cherry, besides, the obvious answer, here are some possible theories. he may have had a nosebleed and needed to stuff the cherry up a nostril. He may have suddenly become very hungry and vitamin C deficient. He might be a spy and needed to write a secret message on the mirror in the bathroom. Can’t wait to hear the…