Bangkok in school and its food!

Written on June 21, 2010.

Bangkok is turning out to be a really fun and exciting place to be for me!! I've begun teaching in the school and have been out and about town since my 1st weekend here. So far, everything is going great!

I'm based in Prawet, a district near the Suvarnabhumi Airport - its pronounced as sur-va-nah-bum. It was mostly a residential area. Actually in Bangkok there is no clear definition as to where there are industrial, residential and business area. It's just all mixed up. For example, just at the entrance to my apartment there is a factory and right next to it a block of flats on the right and a house on the left followed by a restaurant cum house next to it. Here'a a view from my balcony!

Looking at it, its hard to tell what building is what until you go closer and have a look. Just opposite the main road is a big private hospital too. Things are just so random here. Then there is always lots of big rivers and there was one flowing just behind my apartment block. Again, you can see the brown roof huts is an entertainment outlet, sound like a karaoke place to me and just behind that is a cluster of houses.

Then I noticed this guy on a raft in the river, at first it looked like he was fishing then he was messing with the vegetation there, of course I thought that was like food for him. But I found out later from the reception lady of my apartment that I was wrong, he was moving the plants away so that the mosquitoes don't breed there. Such things that I amuse myself with on a Saturday morning.

I was posted at St George's International School, it was a very beautiful and eco-friendly school. They had a huge playground, a football field and a swimming pool. Here is the entrance to the school. The building on the right is the office. It looks grand, doesn't it!

The classrooms in this school were really big and spacious. I had only 8 children in my class and a teaching assistant too!! It was grand. All the teachers here are foreigners from England, Scotland and Australia, while the teaching assistants and office staff were Thais. Overall, they were all very friendly, welcoming and helpful throughout my stint here.

I've been out to a few places in Bangkok but not to all the major tourist spots yet! I'm saving that for later. The food here has been great too. At school they serve a mixture of western and local Thai food for lunch, so i've been enjoying it all!! Then the food by the roadsides too are great, although most time I don't really know what it is. I try to find out with some of my basic Thai and lots of hand and sign language. But I've learned to just 'whack' only.

Desert : Crispy pancake filled with cream and carrots. They have it with other fillings too!

Thai's equivalent to 'satay' and can be found at every street corner.

Mixed rice

Pork stir fried with peppercorns. It's really spicy!

Roadside stalls like these can be found on almost every street.

A simple dinner

Pad Thai Noodles

Fried Bugs!! I couldn't bring myself to try any of it!

Red Tom Yum Goong

Clear Tom Yum Goong

My favourite Thai food - beef noodles (Pho Bo)

Thai Papaya Salad with Salted Crab

RegularThai Papaya Salad

I've had so many types of different Thai food, its amazing that there is still much more to go. I will definitely be exploring more. I also love the coconut water, here its sweeter and the pink guava. It's very refreshing to bite into it after spending the whole day walking around in the heat.

I've arrived in Bangkok!

So, now I'm in Bangkok. To be exact I'm about 25 minutes from Central Bangkok and 15 minutes from the airport. I had pleasant flight with Thai Airways. Going through the Suvarnabhumi Airport, I had a long way walk out to the Immigration area and then to the waiting area. I was met by the manager of the Thailand office. He's Malaysian, so that was a good start.

We got into a taxi and headed straight for the serviced apartment that I was going to be staying in. Found out that he and another staff lives there too. So I won't be completely on my own. Phew!! Then I got into the apartment and I immediately liked the place. It was nice, clean, and well equipped.

I have a living room,

dining table,

a small kitchen, where I can do some cooking

a very big bed

a bathtub

and a balcony with a view!!

The view of the swimming pool from my balcony.

So, I'm going to just kickback and enjoy this place for now!!

It's simple and superb!

WOW!!!

Wow!!

It's been that long since my last posting. So much has been happening, its a wonder that I have time for anything else. I got a call one Friday evening from my school. I was wondering what I had not done or had done wrong while I was picking up the call. It was the admin, she called and very happily, secretively wanting to tell me some good news. She asked if I wanted to go to Bangkok to teach. I was like What??? Of course I want to. Forgetting about the trouble that was going on there I excitedly said YES!! I'm interested!!

So she passes on the call to our Manager, he explains the reason, duration and other details. So, I said that 'yes, I am interested, but I need some time to think about it'. So I immediately sms Debbie and told her about it. What a scolding I got for even considering of going to Bangkok at this time. So I kind of thought so maybe I shouldn't go. Then I spoke to Mel, and she said, well check it out first. She asked her friend who was in Bangkok or something like that and it seemed that it was okay to go now. I went online too, to check where exactly I will be and it looked all right.

The next call I got was from my principal, she was not happy that I was asked to go before consulting her. I understand her reason, with two teachers on maternity, it was tough enough. Also, the situation in Bangkok is something to worry about. So, we said we will give it a day or two and then decide about it.

The whole day I was consumed with indecision, Should I go, should I not go!!

Sunday came around and I was lying on the couch watching some travel show on Astro, and thinking to myself "Why not?" So, I called my principal and told her, yes I want to go, but I need to go and get a passport first then only I can confirm. I knew that she reluctantly agreed that okay yah...its an opportunity that I shouldn't miss.

Monday came around and I found out that I was to leave by Sunday. Gosh!!! That was really quick! So, rushed around the whole week to get my things done and also my passport. The best thing is you can get you passport done within two hours at Putrajaya. From the time I parked my car and to the time I got out to my car it took exactly 1 hour and 48 minutes. Cool right!!

So now, I'm off to Bangkok!!

This is my first blog post ever!!!

Sounds really funny to be starting this. But it's about time as some have told me.

The question that has been playing in my mind since I created this was : What should my first blog post be about? 

Well of course it starts off with me. 

Born of Chinese-Eurasian and Indian- Eurasian parentage. I know this sounds confusing already but really its in line with the 1Malaysia concept. When you count in the many many mixed mariages in the family, I'd say that we have been living the concept since before Malaysia's independence day.

It began with the arrival of my great grandparents - but I'm not going to go that far back since I've never met them. Instead, I will begin with my grandparents... who seemed to have had quite a romantic story about how they met. My Late Grandpa K, was from Madras, India. He came here to make a better living. He met and married my grandmother K in Malacca. I don't know much else about grandpa since he passed away when  I was only 7. Grandma K, was from a family of 5 children with her being the eldest daughter. Her dad passed away when she was just 12, he was a lorry driver. He would drive those old huge lorries to transport goods from one state to another. It was a very tiring job, as those days there were no highways and power steerings. Those old trunk roads were very dangerous too and sometimes not stable. He was killed in one of his trips. Together Grandpa and Grandma K had 13 children. Their second child is my dad.

Grandpa P however was born and raised in Malacca. He was of Indian-Eurasian parentage. While Grandma P was from China. Her dad came here first and later after her 1st husband died she came over with her son. In Malacca was where she and grandpa met, got married and had 10 children. 

Grandpa & Grandma P in 1947

The 1Malaysia concept comes in when all my aunts and uncles get married. Most of my uncles are married to Chinese, then there's also those who converted and married Muslims. Also, there are those who are Indians and of Baba and Nyonya descent. Not forgetting an aunt who married a New Zealander and lives in London. It's quite a mix. It's especially unique when we are registered as Indians on our birth cert but look more like Chinese. Some of my cousins and I have had quite a laugh and lots of teasing when we were in school. 


Why did I start blogging?? 

Not really out of a specific reason but I'm thinking more like testing the way I tell stories and how well you can understand what I say and how I say it. Sometimes there are just so many things happening all at the same time that we loose track of time, we don't realise that days, months and years have passed and we have gone through some things and missed out on a whole lot more. So here will the place that I tell stories of people, things, issues and adventures.


I hope that I can maintain a regular schedule for blogging. But then again it's me..... it's quite hard to say!