Life in Bangkok

As mentioned in the previous blog, I have moved to Bangkok since February of this year. I will be staying in Bangkok for one year.

Here are some highlights of my life here:

  1. I am trying to learn Thai language now. Thai is a hard language, especially from the perspective of writing and reading. To myself, the tone is not a big issue, as my mother tongue also has tones, though they are still somewhat different. Learning to read Thai is a big challenge to me. Thai is the first language that I have encountered which does not always read from one direction. For example, คูคต (Khu Khot) consists of ค (kh) ู (u) and ต (t). When you read it, you read from top to bottom, and left to right. That is still intuitive enough, but there are also cases to read from bottom to top, right to left, or middle from around. This reading order takes time to get used to. Now I can slowly get there for some short sentences.

Notes of learning Thai

  1. I have met a lot of coworkers on Zoom in the last year. Many of them are in Thailand, and coincidentally, one from Singapore and another from Australia happened to travel to Bangkom too! It’s very nice finally seeing friends in person, and magically it happens in Bangkok, which none of us has ever imagined. Life!

  2. Making friends has not been hard. I am so well looked after by our local friends, the office and all strangers I have talked to on the street. With a bunch of new friends in Bangkok, we had an amazing trip to Laos, and another trip to Chiang Mai is going to happen. Some new friends are leaving though. I am lucky to be in Thoughtworks, where the global connectivity happens all the time, and I am privileged to share a part of it.

  3. I (kind of) learned diving from Sensei Orbach. I have only successfully did one perfect baby-style diving (duck diving), but unable to replicated it. The proper diving is yet to go. I genuinely need more practice, and I hope I will make it this year!

  4. Work has been ok. It’s quite stressful and can be overwhelming to join a big, complicated and bustling account, which has kept me busy from basically 9 to 6 almost every weekday, but everyone is nice and helpful. I am happy to be in the team, and I am trying my best to contribute more as soon as I can. I am getting some positive feedback right now, but I think there is still some gaps to work with my goal.

  5. Food in Thailand is amazing! I love Kaphrao, Pad Thai, all southern dishes I have tried, and many more Thai food that I don’t even know what their names are. I just need to remember always ask for หวานน้อย (wan noi; less sugar/sweet) for drinks all the time.

Pad Thai

  1. Thailand is hot, but the indoor is freezing cold. I wonder what the reason it is behind this. Thailand is starting to get even hotter now. Perhaps living longer will help me realise.

  2. I am waiting for the rain season. Heard it will be crazy. That will be an experience.

Some other photos:

Chao Phraya River Chao Phraya River

National Museum Bangkok National Museum Bangkok

Painting of One Way Ticket by SUNTUR Painting of One Way Ticket by SUNTUR