Getting to Know Our Home

It’s been too long since we’ve posted a blog entry on here! Hope I don’t forget too much.

I’d like to talk a little about the neighborhood we live in. Julia and I have had some fun exploring the area during the down time before our jobs start. We typically either have no destination in mind and just wander up and down the streets, or we pick a place and end up having multiple adventures from there. The other day, we set out to walk up and down our main road and we found an adorable park just 10 minutes away. It’s a combination workout park, botanical garden, oasis with tons of equipment and pictures for various exercises (as well as plenty of people jogging/walking around). We think it’s connected to some vocational university, or it may just be an extension of Chiang Mai University. It’s really beautiful and a nice escape from the city. Great to have that right by us :).

Then yesterday we decided to head to the world famous Museum of Insects, which I think the linked article describes well. The man and woman who founded the museum have dedicated most of their lives to studying Thailand’s mosquitoes and have discovered multiple species of mosquitoes, including one which is named after the main guy (toxorhynchites Manopi). He has this funny and semi-inspiring (but mostly funny) story about how when he was a kid, his grandma gave him a rock and told him it was a vulture’s egg and he was so fascinated by it that he carried it with him everywhere (at one point he wore it around his neck, and it’s a pretty big rock). It’s now in the museum as the first piece to start his collection of interesting insects, rocks, wood, collections of art, and more “wonders of the world” (which as Julia says, is pretty much whatever the hell else he wants). Ripley’s! for insects? He has this theory about mosquitoes in that there is one species that is “vegetarian” (doesn’t feed on humans or animals) that feeds off of the larvae of other mosquitoes. He believes instead of mass gassing of mosquito-infested areas, we should focus on trying to release these mosquitoes. It’s an interesting theory to go with an interesting collection, but the stories and books in the museum can easily lead one to believe this guy verges on insanity when it comes to mosquitoes. Also I’m pretty sure the museum is in their house (not the other way around), as they have various rooms throughout the exhibits that are closed off that seem like a regular room in a house like an office or bedroom. When we were leaving, we received a brochure that had a crude map of Chiang Mai that mostly included where the museum was and where some of the open air markets were. Because we were looking for our nearest market, we saw the names of two of them right by us and decided to wing it and see if they really exist/still exist/are open. So it’s kind of funny that we ended up finding our local market via a picture of a shopping cart on a mosquito museum brochure.

This market is huge and bountiful, with tons of fresh fruits, veggies, meat, fish, etc. and a lot of cheap supplies. We were able to snag some extra bowls and glasses, a laundry hamper, and some cleaning supplies. We also got tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, onions, and garlic and a giant papaya (yum!) that amounted to a few bucks. They do fruit and veggies SO well here in Thailand. The tomato is really meaty and the carrots were so orange that I thought they were already peeled! The fun part is that everybody speaks Thai and it’s a little more difficult to communicate only in English and gestures, so we get to practice our Thai here (although so far all we really have down are hello, thank you, and our numbers). With everything so cheap, fresh, and delicious plus our kitchenette, cooking meals is going to be inexpensive, healthy, and entertaining.

We’ve been able to go out a few nights as well and are still on the hunt for, as Julia says, that one place that we love with cheap cocktails and a great atmosphere. It seems like most Thais go out at night just to relax and drink (at least around 9 to midnight), though we haven’t been out in the early morning hours yet, a time when it sounds like everyone goes clubbing. Seriously, going to bars at 10 is still way too early for most places around here. And unlike the backpacker scene in the old city, the expat/local scene is more about keeping to yourself or your group than socializing with others. Thus, we haven’t been able to make many friends yet.

Backtracking a little more, when we first moved into the apartment last Monday, we set out to find things that we needed (like towels and toilet paper), things we wanted and that would be cost-efficient in the long run (like a rice cooker and pots/pans), things that would make our place comfy and home-like (like air freshener and decorations), and anything in between. In retrospect, we started at the richest/most expensive place and worked our way down by chance. We started at Kad Suan Kaew, the nearby mall, since it was within walking distance of our place. Here we found towels, a cute rice cooker, a trash can, and a sheet for the bed (which thankfully came with bedding and a duvet cover). Unsatisfied with the prices, we then researched the nearest Tesco Lotus, which was HUGE, I mean BIG. It has everything one could ever need ever. Julia tried to capture it with some pictures, but I’m sure none of them do it justice. We brought a backpack because we knew we’d be taking a songthaew home and we’d hopefully be buying plenty of things here. And as I strapped the empty bag to my back, Julia turned to me and excitedly stated, “Are you ready? Because we’re going to go down every aisle in this place I hope you know that.” I think that sums up our experience there. Julia LOVES this kind of stuff. Me, I managed. Here we got a fan (we have AC, but to be cost effective we don’t run it at night and we thought having the option of a fan would be good), a pot and pan, a rug, some strips to put on the top and bottom of our shitty door that doesn’t keep sound or light out, and some basic food items in bulk, like rice, cereal, and noodles. We treated ourselves to a pack of rootbeer and some tea as well.

This is the first time I’ve really had to live in an apartment on my own (though Julia shared a place with some friends while she was in college, I went from dorm to sorority and therefore never had to fend for myself [I’m not saying this in an, “I was spoiled and I’m awesome” kind of way, but more in a, “I am thankful for that unique experience, but it does not entirely prepare me for renting or owning my own place.”]). So what’s interesting to me is the amount of things you “need” but don’t think about, like magnets for the fridge! I wanted magnets so that we could put things like receipts or whatever on the fridge and that was near-impossible to find. And here in Thailand, tumble-drying your laundry is way more expensive than just air drying, so we had to get hooks and the like to do that. It seems like we never run out of big (and little) purchases. I mean, you start with the obvious like towels and toilet paper, but then you realize you don’t have a way to clean the tabletops, so you have to go buy cleaning fluid, and then you’re making eggs and you think maybe it’d be good with salt and pepper so you go on a hunt for that (also surprisingly hard to get a hold of) and then one time while you’re looking for the keys before you go, you discover that it would probably be convenient to have a hook or something by the door so you purchase one of those, and when you cook food or cut up papayas and you don’t have a place to store them, you have to go get some containers, and while I’m sitting here, Julia is currently hand-wiping the couch and I’m thinking a vacuum cleaner or even maybe some tape would be brilliant right about now. You get what I’m saying? Though that run-on made it seem exhausting, it’s actually pretty fun for me. Depending on who’s reading this blog, I know I most likely sound like a naïve youngster in my 20’s discovering my independence, but maybe it reminds you of that time too. Maybe? Maybe we should start flirting with the boys next door to borrow a vacuum cleaner or—I’m not kidding you—a cup of sugar (long story short: tried to make Thai tea at home today and thought it would be fine without sugar. And folks sugar is such a clutch ingredient it’s not even funny [Julia would like to interject here and point out that she said we needed sugar and I was the one who thought the condensed milk and evaporated milk would be enough sweetness]).

We went into the school today to sign some paperwork for our work visas so it looks like a trip to Laos is on our agenda real soon.

In later entries I’d love to talk about (or force beg plead get Julia to talk about what it was like to find the apartment, our experience with the tigers, our experience with the elephants, and anything else I may have missed). Julia would like to mention that she does contribute to the writing of the blog and adds sentences here and there!

The internet's being dumb right now so I'll try to upload pictures later. I know this was a long one but I hope I kept it entertaining and informative :). Thanks for reading!

Oh also our address:

Hillside 3

1 soi 8 Nimmanhamin Road, R. 718

Suthep, Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200

Thailand

If you're curious: Hillside 3 is the name of our condo complex. The way the layout of Chiang Mai works is there are main roads and there are soi's which are side streets (which is an amazing exhibition of good urban planning). So we are the first ones on soi 8 of the main Nimman road. R.718 is our room number. Suthep is the subdistrict in the Muang district in the city of Chiang Mai in the country of Thailand. We haven't received mail yet so we're not 100% sure if it will work, but they have a little chalkboard in the lobby that says "Parcels For" and then lists the room numbers so we look for 718 everyday ^-^.