Tag Archives: Bangkok

Living in Bangkok: 3-year report card

I moved to Bangkok 3 years ago. After living here all this time, it is time to do a report card of things I like and things I don’t like.

Things I like (love) about living in Bangkok

  1. The weather is awesome.
    • In summers it never crosses above 35C and in winters it never goes below 25C. I simply love the weather.
    • I love the sudden & heavy nature of the rains especially that it almost never happens during commute times.
    • There’s ample sunshine all year round, something I really need and appreciate. UV is quite high but can be managed with sunscreen.
  2. There are many beautiful places to visit and stay at, within a few hours drive. Hotels and AirBnBs are cheaper than in India. The nearest beach is 70 minutes drive from my place.
  3. Bangkok (And even Thailand) is multi-cultural. People from all over the world live here, with Europeans and Japanese being most common.
  4. Salaries are higher than India for the same level of work.
  5. Tax rates are lower than India. It makes me feel sick to think how much I paid as taxes in India and how little we all got back.
  6. Gadgets are cheaper not only in absolute value but also accompanied with higher purchasing power because of higher salaries.
  7. Healthcare is cheaper than India and insurance plans cover yearly tests and OPD visits.
  8. Fuel is cheaper than India. Consequently,
    • Taxis are cheaper than India and better, too
    • Airfare for travelling within Thailand is much cheaper than airfare for travelling within India.
    • Electricity is cheaper than India.
  9. The rivers are well maintained and have great river-view dining and entertainment options. I also love the Khlongs that branch off the rivers into the cities. I love travelling the city by boats.
  10. Much better air quality than North India.
  11. People are very considerate & conscious of passing infectious diseases to others and self-isolate even for minor things like colds and wear masks.
  12. Food and beverages are abundant, varied and cheap.
    • Thai food in Thailand is better and cheaper than Indian food in India. No one (except Indian expats) brings food from home to office. Everyone eats outside.
    • International food in Thailand is about the same price as in India, but the quality of food and restaurants is much better. Even the high-end restaurants here are not more expensive than mid-range restaurants in India.
    • Indian food is more expensive than in India, but that is to be expected.
    • As of 2024, there are 35 Michelin starred restaurants in Bangkok alone. Many of them in the vicinity of where we stay.
  13. Rents are about the same as Delhi for comparable locations, but places are much better. But income is higher, so we can afford to stay at a much better location compared to what we did in India.
  14. Better infrastructure, any day.
  15. Thais are religiously tolerant. Keep their religious views private and don’t force it on others.
  16. Relatively safe at night. Relatively safe for women.
  17. More pet friendly, although not the same level as the west.
    • Most restaurants allow you to bring pets. Most of them also serve the dog water and are kind to them.
    • Most malls allow you to bring pets if they are in a pram. Some allow them on the floor on a leash even.
    • Most AirBnBs and many hotel chains are dog friendly.
    • Pet-friendly transportation exists, although at a slightly higher cost.
  18. Most Thais are very polite and friendly.

Things I dislike about living in Bangkok

  1. Very few microbreweries, because of laws designed to maintain the duopoly of ThaiBev and Singha.
  2. No hill-stations that compare to Indian hill-stations.
  3. Thais are obsessed with ice. Most drinks and even water served at restaurants are 80-90% ice unless you beg them not to.
  4. No Amazon. Local e-commerce options are not as good.
  5. Metros are more expensive than India. In most cases, cabs are cheaper than metros if 2 or more people are travelling, but traffic is horrible, so people prefer paying extra for the convenience.
  6. International schooling is much more expensive than India. It is because International schools here hire only native English speaking teachers and they don’t come cheap. Even at higher rates, school infrastructure are not as expansive.
  7. Thais, especially Thai women are extremely vain. They care too much about how they look. Although, this doesn’t affect me directly.
    • It is common for them to body-shame each other for putting on a single kg of weight. Plus sized shops are named Fatty-Fatgirl plus size, Fat girls and Chubbers. Consequently, cloth sizes are different, too. I wear M sized shirts and pants in India. In Thailand, same shirts are L or XL and pants are XXL.
    • Cosmetic procedures are incredibly common here. Many malls have entire floors with “clinics” dedicated to such procedures. Most women above 30 take monthly Botox injections.
    • Obsessed with fairness, much like India.
  8. Obsessed with social media. Are always on their phones even when out for meals with others and even dates. I saw the same thing in China.
  9. Have a strange relationship with ambient temperature.
    • Like to keep indoor temperature very chilly. But then wear jackets and coats. What a waste of energy unnecessarily cooling a place.
    • Cannot handle temperatures above 30C.
    • Cannot handle temperatures below 20C.
  10. Treat pets very strangely, is irritating.
    • Don’t sterilise their pet.
    • Many Thais keep part-time pets. Basically this means that the pet stays on the streets, but comes home to feed. Such people won’t let the “pets” be taken away and sheltered, neither will take responsibility when the “pet” harms someone.
    • Don’t let their dogs meet other dogs on the street even though the dog is begging for it.
    • They also try to project their desire to have a baby on the dog. Come on just let them be dogs
      • Keep wiping the saliva from their dog’s mouths.
      • Scold their dog if it sniffs another dog’s butt.
      • Don’t do anything when their unsterilised horny dog mounts another one at the dog park.
  11. Too non-confrontational. Will take abuse and insults without any retaliation.

Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives not only in quantity but also in intensity. Looking forward to many more years staying here.

Sleep Deprivation Log

A few weeks ago, I had an epic sleep deprivation experience that I felt worth logging. Owing to a combination of some personal issues and the iPad conundrum, I just couldn’t fall asleep. I have been sleep deprived many times, but this is perhaps the first time I didn’t sleep a minute all night.

Here’s an hour-by-hour log of what happened

The Experience

Time RangeLog
22:00-00:00Tossing and turning without being able to fall asleep.
00:00-01:00Walked around, did some laundry folding.
01:00-03:00Tossing and turning without being able to fall asleep.
03:00-04:00Doomscrolled Reddit, Artifact.
04:00-05:30Gave up trying to sleep, got up and had the first coffee of the day.
05:30-06:30Had the most amazing run ever. It felt as if the kms were flying by in a blur and my pace throughout was the best it has ever been in recent years.
06:30-07:00Cool down and shower
07:00-08:00Second coffee of the day
08:00-09:30No recollection of what I did. Completely wiped from memory
09:30-10:30Went grocery shopping with the wife, had my third coffee of the day.
10:30-11:00Came back home and had lunch. Around this time, I started feeling the shakes in my hands. From too much caffeine, rather than from sleep deprivation, I reckon. Also started feeling bouts of irritability.
11:00-14:30Watched Munich. Again, I only remember this part in bits and pieces. Not sure why it took so long to finish the movie or what I did in between.
14:30-15:30No recollection of what I did. Completely wiped from memory
15:30-16:30Sudden feeling of euphoria. Became very happy and wanted to enjoy life. Started writing this post.
16:30-19:00Went out with my family to an open mall for dinner. Had a beer, but didn’t feel anything. Was unusually happy throughout. My memory from this trip has lapses.
19:00-20:00No recollection of what I did. Completely wiped from memory
20:00-09:00Slept for 13 hours, took 2 coffees to get rid of the grogginess. Still felt sleepy all day.
Sleep Deprivation Log

Overall, the experience was quite similar to one of my marijuana benders, which is to say, not pleasant. Next time I can’t sleep, I will bite the bullet and swallow a pill.

iPad Debacle : 2023 edition

I couldn’t end 2023 without another iPad debacle. I already went through how I bought an iPad Pro 12.9 and iPad Pro 11 back in 2022. After the 2022 debacle, I ended up without an iPad, but reasonably satisfied. Then 2023 came around and things went wrong.

As part of my New Years’ resolution, I started reading again. The only problem was, English books are very expensive in Thailand. On top of that, English Indian books are very hard to find. To solve this problem, I bought a Kindle. All was good for a few months, till I felt like I wanted to read comic books & magazines. Of course you cannot do that on a kindle. So what does one do?

iPad Air (5th Gen) 64Gb

One day while walking through the mall, I saw a good deal on an iPad Air (5th Gen) & bought it. Things were OK for a while, I read both books and magazines on it, no problem. However, the poorly storage space (64Gb) and the 60Hz screen started nagging me. Especially when I switched from using my iPhone to the iPad, it felt really bad. I decided that it won’t do. My daughter’s 4 year old iPad was acting up, so I gave her my Air and started looking around.

iPad Pro 11 (4th Gen) 512Gb

The iPad Pro 11 was seemingly perfect. It addressed the storage and display refresh rate limitations of the Air. Weeks went by, with me oblivious to what’s coming next. And then I made a mistake of checking out iPads at the mall. Once I compared the iPad Pro 11 and iPad Pro 12.9 displays, it was game over for this iPad, too.

I hadn’t done my homework before buying this iPad. If I had, I would know that the iPad Pro 11 had a regular LCD screen which goes up to 600 nits. The iPad Pro 12.9 on the other hand, has a Mini LED display and the difference is mind blowing. The contrast and brightness were incomparable. And once I saw this, I couldn’t go back to the iPad Pro 11. It was outside the return window, so I sold it on Facebook Marketplace at a slight loss. I was lucky I got such a good deal.

iPad Pro 12.9 (6th Gen) 512Gb

The next logical step was to buy the iPad Pro 12.9. I chose to forget what happened last time and bought one from the Apple Store. The good news was, I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I even went a long way towards getting used to its huge size and weight. Then I saw a deal on Studio 7 and I returned the iPad to Apple (The process took less than 10 mins).

iPad Pro 12.9 (5th Gen) 512Gb

The deal I saw was for an iPad Pro 12.9 (5th Gen) for less than what I paid for the last one. The kicker is, this was a 2Tb model. I couldn’t ever use the 2Tb, but the 1Tb/2Tb models do come with 16Gb RAM, too and appealed to me no end. I ended up saving money with the last transition, but didn’t lose much because the 5th Gen to 6th Gen upgrade was minor at best. I had second thoughts after buying this one, too and even contacted customer care to return it, but eventually slapped myself hard twice and stopped it. But after the holidays came and went and it didn’t even ship, I cancelled the order.

iPad Pro 12.9 (6th Gen) 512Gb

Eventually, I gave up and went back to the Apple Store and bought the same iPad I bought before the last one, but this time in Silver colour.

Analysis

After the dust settled, I tried to think about why this happens to me and why specifically only with iPads. Why did I go through 7 iPads in a span of 10 months? My iPhone is more than a year old and I felt no yearning to upgrade when the iPhone 15 Pro came out. My AirPods Pro lasted 4 years before I had to change them because they died. My Apple Watch is 2 generations old and the last one lasted 4 generations. I have never wanted a Mac or a MacBook. This literally doesn’t happen to me for anything except the iPad.

Eventually, I realised it is because I am looking for a single device to do all of the below

  1. Read books
  2. Read comics, magazines & newspapers
  3. Use as a PC for blogging & budgeting on Buxfer
  4. Making FaceTime calls
  5. Watching TV shows when the TV is occupied or when I am out

The fact is, there’s no one device which fulfils all the above criteria perfectly.

  • The Kindle is good for 1 but not any of the others.
  • The iPad Air and Pro 11 are good for 1 & 4 but not for 2, 3 or 5.
  • The iPad Pro 12.9 is good for 2, 3, 4 & 5, but too big and heavy for 1.
  • A MacBook is good for 3 & 4, but not 1, 2 or 5.

Eventually, I decided to compromise and use a Kindle to read books and an iPad Pro 12.9 to do everything else.

Running Part-3

This is Part 3 in continuation to my last post about running. The good news is, I have been able to follow my running schedule religiously over more than a year now. The only time I took a break was for a few days when I had the flu.

I have been able to increase my distance a bit since I started and am running around 18km a week.

My VO2 max has continued its upward trend, but still not reached 2021 levels and probably never will, because of age.

VO2 max from running
1 year VO2 max trend

I recently ran my first formal 10k in Bangkok, which was an exhilarating experience.

The only problem with participating in marathons in Bangkok is that they start very early (approx 2 AM for full, 4 AM for half and 5 AM for 10k). However, the atmosphere is electric, even early in the morning. There are mascots dancing, drones buzzing overhead and a live band playing.

Running among hundreds of people is a completely different experience compared to running alone. The distance goes by very fast and before you know it, the race is over.

Bangkok Rains & Onam

May to September is the season when it rains in Bangkok. I love the rains. Reduces my stress levels so much. I love it so much, can’t stop gushing about it.

Bangkok Rains

The best part about rains here are the fact that 99% of the times, it happens at convenient times. It almost never rains

  1. 7:00 to 08:00 – When it’s time to go to school and office
  2. 12:00 to 13:00 – When it’s time to go for lunch
  3. 16:30 to 17:30 – When it’s time to go back home from office

Last year I remember getting stuck at office without transportation only a couple of times. This time, luckily it has happened only once, and I just walked home with an umbrella.

This is also the time to celebrate Onam. Looking around on Facebook, I found a restaurant (Jhol) which was serving Onam Sadya. We ordered some to eat home and it was so delicious, I still cannot believe it.

Onam Sadya
Onam Sadya

The quality of the food was incredible and the taste was amazing. There were total 32 dishes and even though the quantity was much more than I could normally eat, the taste more than made up for it.

Onam Sadya at Jhol
Onam Sadya at Jhol

First Rain of the Season

In Bangkok, it stops raining around September. October-February are completely dry months. That is why, it gave us immense joy when we experienced today, the first rain of the season.

First Rain of the Season

Although the rains do pose some inconveniences when it comes to commuting or walking the dog, overall, I have missed them.

These are the songs I listen to, when it rains

But where is the dog supposed to poop now?

Pathetic Fool-6

Taking my series further, here’s Pathetic Fool 6 from Bangkok.

Pathetic Fool 6

Of all the places, this one works in my own company. And is an Indian to boot, adding to my shame.

Has lost almost all of his hair but has still tried to salvage the situation by doing this very pathetic comb over. Why people just don’t shave their heads before reaching this stage is beyond me.

Bonus points for that fancy orange loop to hang his mask from his neck.

Creative Cannabis Stores

It is somewhat shocking, the rate at which Cannabis stores have popped up in Bangkok, ever since the legalisation. Seemingly overnight. Suddenly I am surrounded by more Cannabis stores than 7 Elevens.

Below are some that I see on a regular basis that I found creative.

High Society Cannabis Club

This is the one closest to my home. This started out as a small nook above a donut shop, but they eventually bought the property next door for their own place.

Kush House

The first time I saw this place, I thought it was a play area for children. But no.

Kush House Cannabis Store
Kush House Cannabis Store

Green Day Dispensary

I see this every day on my way to office. I find the name funny

Green Day Dispensary
Green Day Dispensary

Happy Star CannaBistro

CannaBistro hahaha.

Happy Star CannaBistro
Happy Star CannaBistro

Mary Jane Cannabis Dispensary

Nothing special, just reminds me of my friend’s band in college.

Mary Jane Cannabis Dispensary
Mary Jane Cannabis Dispensary

Sukhumweed

Nice plan on the words Sukhumvit and Weed

Sukhumweed
Sukhumweed

Wonderland

This is my favourite. It has no pretensions about what it is selling. Everything is clearly labelled.

Wonder Land
Wonder Land

As per Google, there are 241 cannabis stores in Sukhumvit area alone. Thais are extremely shy about smoking up, so it remains to be seen how long all these stores last on expat business alone.

Samitivej Hospital Loot

Although, ever since my surgery, my sinusitis has been much better, it still flares up from time to time. In Bangkok, it has been more or less fine last 2 years. But last weekend, it suddenly flared up. I suffered from bad headaches for 2 days and couldn’t take it anymore. Normally, I know exactly which spray to use to relieve my symptoms, but in Bangkok, it is not available OTC. This meant, I needed to go to a doctor (hospital) for the medication. Normally I go to Bumrungrad for other ailments, but this time, in a bid to save money, I decided to go to Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital. Big mistake!

I got an appointment soon enough and went to see the ENT. Didn’t have to wait too long, saw the doctor within 10 minutes. I explained to the doctor that I am a long time sufferer of sinusitis and informed her which medication generally relieves my symptoms.

She said straight away this doesn’t look like Sinusitis and sent me for a CT scan.

For a sinus headache.

Once the CT scan was done, she looked at the slide and said this is not Sinusitis and referred me to a Neurologist. I complained that I just need a steroid spray but she sent me for a neuro consult anyways.

The neurologist ran a battery of tests on me and told me I have a migraine. I told her I have no prior or family history of migraines but she prescribed me a bunch of medications anyways.

Then I was sent back to the ENT. By this time, the formal CT scan report had arrived and guess what it said – “Severe sinusitis”. The ENT asked me to take the migraine medications and on top of that prescribed me some sinusitis medication too. Including the spray I wanted. They also scheduled 2 follow up appointments, one with the ENT and one with the neurologist.

Eventually, I walked out of the hospital with 9 medications (out of which only 1 that I really needed). I paid THB 8500 for this farce of a treatment. The insurance only covered THB2000, so I ended up paying THB6500 from my own pocket.

Samitivej Loot

Chutiya Banaya

After coming home, I threw away 8 medications, used the spray and experienced relief within an hour. Then I slapped myself 21 times and swore never to go to Samitivej hospital again.

Oh! How I regret getting an eSim!

My friends know about my eSim suffering for quite some time, as I have been doing constant RR about it for months now. Still, I thought I should put my ordeal in words to document it for my future self.

Why eSIM?

The story starts some time in 2020. Me and the wife were living in India, happy with Jio SIM cards for our Indian numbers. Both numbers were registered under my name. Then we found out we were moving to Bangkok. I was not sure if I could get eSIMs for our Bangkok numbers and our phones could accept only 1 physical SIM card at a time. So I decided to convert our Jio SIM cards to eSIMs before going to Bangkok.

I regret doing that, to this day.

Turns out, it is ridiculously easy to get eSIMs in Bangkok. Never mind, no harm done. But then, I realised we could not buy new phones because the Indian eSIMs can not be transferred to new phones. Never mind, we don’t need new phones anytime soon. I thought I could convert back our SIMs to physical SIMs the next time I went to India. Then we would be free to buy new phones in Bangkok.

The Second Mistake

Then I went ahead and killed my wife’s phone (And the eSIM inside it) attempting underwater photography.

Not mine, PC: Reader’s Digest

We use our Indian phone numbers to authenticate Indian banking transactions and what not (Indian society is built on OTPs). It was imperative we replaced her SIM as soon as possible. Suddenly, the pressure to go to India and replace our SIMs was real and immediate.

The Process

The process is pretty straight forward. You walk in to a Jio store, the personnel use an app to do biometric verification and click a photo of you. Then the request is sent to a back-end team for verification and once approved, your new SIM is activated.

The (attempted) rectification

I booked the cheapest tickets possible and travelled to Kolkata within weeks. I thought it would be a simple transaction and I would soon return with physical SIMs for both our numbers. My wife would get her number back and I would be free to buy a new phone. How wrong I was.

After a sleepless night travelling, I woke up early morning to find a Jio store and request a SIM replacement. It took them only 20 minutes to issue me new physical SIMs for both our numbers and was told they would be activated within 4 hours. Happily I went on my way. Soon, the 4 hours were up and the physical SIMs were still not activated. So we went to the Jio store to follow up and were told the requests were rejected due to “photo mismatch”.

I was flabbergasted. The only reason I could think of was when I had bought these numbers, I had longer hair and now, I had recently shaved my head. Either ways, I begged the staff to do the process again. We waited half an hour and again – rejected. With time running out for my return flight, I dis-heartedly bought a new number for my wife and left India with my tail between my legs.

The Aftermath

My wife had to travel to India to change her phone number with government agencies and bank accounts. I still have an eSim for my India number. If my phone were to die tomorrow, I would have to go to India again with no guarantee that I would get a replacement SIM.

Also, I cannot buy the iPhone 14 Pro Max 512Gb Deep Purple that I so desperately want.

All because of one mistake. Fuck my Life!

PS: US eSim users don’t face these issues because in the US, eSims can be transferred freely between different phones using bluetooth.