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Day to Day Life in Thailand
by Scott Mallon (Thai Boxing Gear)
For more information on Scott Mallon and ThaiBoxingGear.com
( please click on the above banner.)
I know some people like to think living in Thailand is exotic, care-free and a dream come true. I know this because I used to feel this way and many people have told me they envy me and my lifestyle. Life here can be monotonous just like anywhere else though. As I said in the last issue, for every supermodel, there is almost certainly some guy who has grown tired of sleeping with her. It’s the same here in Thailand. At times I wonder what I am doing here and other times I can’t envision being anywhere else.
On a normal day, I wake up whenever I wake up and never, ever use an alarm clock. I’ve always been an early riser and get by on very little sleep. I might go to sleep at two or three in the morning and wake up at six or seven AM. I rarely sleep more than five or six hours though as I have too much I want to do and not enough time to do it. I’m a firm believer that I’ll get all the sleep I need once I’m six feet under and sleeping all day is a waste of time.
Anyhow, I digress. Once I am out of bed, I usually get a bottle of M150 or a can of ice coffee, down it and hit the computer to see if I made any money or if anything important is going on. I then go for a walk or a run, come back, have some breakfast and figure out what my wife needs to do work-wise. I usually just ask myself if she needs to run any errands for me and if I myself need to go anywhere and start planning the day. Once all this is figured out I will sit down at the computer and answer emails, write something for someone or someplace, figure out where I want to go and what the best route to get there is. Sometimes I’ll watch season one through four of Sopranos for the umpteenth time if I have nothing to do or I’m feeling lazy. One advantage of living in Thailand is it’s easy to get just about any DVD, DVD set or computer software you want and for a lot less. I think four seasons of the Sopranos cost me $75 which isn’t too bad. I have a few hundred DVD’s so there if there isn’t something on TV there I can usually find a DVD to watch.
Late in the afternoon I start figuring out what equipment needs to be shipped and have my wife or someone else get it ready to go out. I then make a few phone calls and usually by 5:30 or 6PM I’m done with the majority of my work. From then on I spend time with my kids, go out to dinner, go to the mall or go take in some fights at Lumpini or Rajdamnern. Once in a while I’ll train. I have a gym set up at my house and for now that is good enough for me. There are plenty of Muay Thai gyms and camps within 15-30 minutes of my house so this is also another option if I feel like it.
This sort of life gets very boring for me though and this is why I like to travel. I go to Cambodia, Singapore, Burma or Laos whenever I have the time and money. I also make my way around Thailand hitting Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket, Kanchnaburi or wherever I feel like the urge to go. Granted, I don’t always work hard, I don’t always work long hours. This is the joy of life in Thailand as I know it and why I like my life here. Sometimes I work for a few days in a row getting orders out, writing and other times I’m traveling, not doing much, hopefully still making money.
There are a lot of great things about the city of Bangkok but two of the worst things about it are the traffic and pollution. These two things mixed with the intense heat make it unbearable at times. If you are going to live in Bangkok or stay for any length of time, an air-conditioner is a must in my opinion. I don’t particularly like sweating my ass when I’m sleeping and if you will sweat in Bangkok if you don’t have air-conditioning! You can live like many Thais and not have air-conditioning, not have hot water and do without a lot of western amenities and live pretty cheaply. I know Farang who live off of $750-$1000 U.S. a month so it is possible to live relatively inexpensively here. Call me fickle, call me what you want but I like to live fairly well and don’t like to do without if I don’t have too.
Living here isn’t for everyone believe me. I’ve seen a host of guys who after meeting some bar girl and falling in love (big mistake but this is another story completely) or a light bulb pops up in their head, decide that they want to move here. Mix the difference in culture with the inability for most to make money or find work and you have a recipe for failure. In Thailand, you gotta hustle, hustle, hustle if you want to make any real money and as I said, it’s not for everyone. Most of the guys who come over end up leaving after six to twelve months because they are spending too much money, not making enough and or they felt Thailand wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
I met a guy who had over a hundred thousand dollars U.S. in the bank, had traveled a little and had been to Thailand a few times. He decided to come over and give it a go and budgeted a reasonable $2000 a month for living expenses and spending. Now you might think that with the sort of cash he had socked away that it would be fairly easy for him to make a good go of it. This money actually worked against him. He felt comfortable with all this money in the bank and didn’t do a thing for a good six months. He then came to me and asked how he could get an online business going as he understandably didn’t want to keep dipping into his savings. I gave him some steps to take, gave him some contacts and told him to get started right away as it would take at least 6 months before he started seeing some decent cash. A few weeks later I asked him what was up and how his venture was coming along. He was on his way to Pattaya with his buddies and didn’t have much time to talk but he did tell me he would be starting his business upon returning from Pattaya. I knew he had lost the battle at that point.
He came back and called me. He wanted to research this and that before starting anything. What I told him was that if he took $2500-$5,000 and went around Thailand buying a little of this and a little of that, he should come up with a few products that would sell well. He refused as it was too much money and he didn’t think it was wise to part with it. I can understand not wanting to spend money while not earning but the bottom line is that you need to spend money to make money. He never did spend anything to get his business going, not even $15 for a domain name for his web site and he ended up a short while later back in the U.S., crying the blues about how hard it was to make it here. Oh well, not everyone can live the so-called “dream”, even a semi-monotonous one where the supermodel is in this case Thailand.
Some Thailand terminology
Traditional Thai Massage – Non-sexual massage. Get one, most definitely.
Traditional Thai Massage with Happy Ending – Massage that ends with a HJ or BJ. It’s a nice way to end a massage, most definitely.
Kee Neeow – Sticky shit. A term used to basically state that you are a cheap prick or stingy. Be careful with your money but do not be a kee neeow!
Scrub and rub / Soapy – Place where you get a body massage from a naked chick who has soap all over her while you and her are on a rubber raft. Highly recommended.
Things in Thailand You Might Want to Think about :
Most places, even western hotels, have a spray hose next to the toilet for you to clean your arse with. At first I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to spray themselves with water when a few wipes with toilet paper would just as easily do the job but after going to Singapore and a few other places that use TP, I came to understand everything. For those who haven’t used a spray hose to themselves clean, try it. No skid marks, no rough toilet paper tearing the ass out of you and you are always sure to have that “oh so fresh feeling” where it counts. Like I said, try it, your ass will thank you and you might seriously start thinking about installing a hose next to your commode.
Next month: Tipping in Thailand, Should You or Shouldn’t You? Are You A Cheap Prick (Kee Neeow) or Not?
There are lot's of reasons to live in Thailand:
To get in touch with nature
To see the pretty animals
To see places of historic importance to Thailand
Training to Fight of Course
To Watch the Fights
To Watch the Fighters
Don't forget the beautiful Thai scenery
* Article by Scott Mallon (Thai Boxing Gear).
* Back to This Issue's Frontpage
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