Here are just some ideas and thoughts that came to my mind in no particular order. Since we will be staying in Thailand for 6 more weeks there are definitely some things that we haven’t noticed yet but I just wanted to share my current thoughts with you 🙂
- Thailand is like a huge market. Every time you step out of the door there are just hundreds and thousands of little stalls everywhere. I don’t think there’s a street in Thailand without at least one small shop or a stall. Selling whatever you can image from food to soaps and souvenirs. So basically in Thailand you are constantly shopping, even if you don’t buy anything.
- About 90+% cars are from Japan. Most of them Toyotas and then Hondas, Isuzus, Mazdas, Nissans and so on. Probably they are relatively cheap here + in Thailand is also with left side drive. And if you are doing good you are most likely driving a Mercedes-Benz :). I haven’t seen a single Audi here for example.
- Scooters are the main way of transport. You can see old and young people moving around on scooters, sometimes even the whole family or there’s a dog or two sitting between the legs or at the back. And scooters can drive everywhere. Doesn’t matter if it’s the highway or 0,5m wide market road. All in all it seems that Thai people don’t like to walk. Even if it’s not a long trip most likely a scooter or some other method of transport is used.
- In every home, shop, garage or facility there’s at least one small Buddha shrine.
- In Thailand there are many so to say home/business places. In daytime a small workshop, garage, scooter rental, kitchen or something similar is opened and in the evening the same place is used as a living room and children are running around playing. They are sleeping in the back or on the top floor.
- The weather is always warm. Even if you’re in the Northern part (Chiang Mai) and in the mountains it’s still very pleasant. T-shirt and short pants is all you need, doesn’t matter if it is day- or nighttime.
- Seven eleven stores are located almost everywhere. Most of them are small but you can get all the basic things you need from there.
- It seems that in Thai language there are not many words but there are several ways how to pronounce a word giving it totally different meanings. So for a foreigner at least in so short time it’s very difficult to understand anything :).
- The nature is just so green and there are hundreds of very beautiful and colorful flowers. It’s like visiting a botanical garden back home every day.
- Food here is very delicious! At least according to our taste. It’s not very spicy (except for few dishes) and everything is well seasoned. And of course the sweet things. Different cakes, muffins, waffles, pancakes, juices, smoothies, fruits… just superb!
- In general people are friendly in Thailand. Especially one Thai to another. During time spent here I haven’t even once seen any conflicts or heard someone raising their voice. But sometimes you can still get a feeling that you’re a walking wallet. Luckily it happens rarely :).
- There are small clay pots everywhere filled with water, different green plants and small fish swimming around. Very beautiful to look at!
- As said before shopping malls are huge! It just adds to the whole shopping theme described in the first point 🙂
- There are extremely beautiful temples everywhere! I just like the attention to small details. From far a lot of the temples look similar but if to look closer each has something original to offer.
Oh and one more thing. I’m addicted to lemongrass essential oil. It just smells wonderfully! We bought a small bottle to keep our room filled with this awesome fragrance all the time :).
Until the next post! 🙂
Best Wishes,
Lauri
The World As It Is 