Right now I’m hanging out at Prapas’(Thienchai’s brother) house. He lives about half an hour outside a town named Supan Buri next to the factory where Agro-on can’s the majority of its baby corn, mangoes, and pineapple. It is very different out here than it is in Bangkok, more rural and probably more what people think of when they think of Thailand. Prapas and his family live in their family home where his family has lived for over forty years. The river flows right behind his house and the sound of the frogs and crickets is overwhelming in a comforting sort of way. I love the sound of wildlife at night! I have always told myself that when I grow up I will live somewhere where there are cicadas so that they can sing me to sleep every night. The moment we got in the car to come to Supan Buri Prapas promised me that at his house I would have the “real” Thai experience. Thus far he has been true to his word. For dinner we sat Indian style on the cool tile floor around a low table covered with such dishes as sweet and spicy chicken soup, a minced spicy pork, fried rosemary stems with chili peppers and chicken, and a sweet pork in a soup with hard boiled eggs. When dinner was done they brought out the fruit which we snacked on as we made casual conversation and watched the news (in Thai, I didn’t really understand what was going on). I love Thai fruit. There are so many different kinds that I have never even tried before, not even in Brazil. One day I’m going to do a whole blog entry dedicated to the different kinds of fruit here, pictures and all.
I’m trying to wrap my head around what exactly is the Thai culture and what Thailand is really like. I feel like so much has changed just in the 5 years since I was here last. As far as I have seen Thailand is very developed. I don’t know if that is just because that is the bubble I have come to live in here in Thailand or if that is what life really is like for the majority of Thai people. As far as I can tell though, the standard of living isn’t all that different than life in the United States. The roads are crowded with very nice cars almost vacant of the bikes and motorcycles that run rampant in the other developing countries I have visited. Today, on our way to Supan Buri we stopped by the supermarket which was huge! Way bigger than a Walmart and it appeared to have everything you could ever want. I was very impressed. So…the Thailand I have seen thus far has been very developed. Not once have I ever felt deprived of anything that would be so easily accessible in the states. And yet, the other day I was talking with my coworkers and I asked them what the average wage was for an office worker (they asked me first how much minimum wage was in the states so I figured it was fair game to ask them). They told me that for someone with a decent desk job in an office the average wage would be about $1.50 an hour. To me it just doesn’t make sense, how can they make so little and have the same standard of living? I mean yeah, things are way cheap here but not that cheap. I know there is so much I can’t see behind the scenes. Honestly I only see my coworkers at work so who knows what their lives are really like. That is what I want to figure out. I love learning how people in other countries really live and what their day to day lives are like. That’s why I always stay in other countries so long, you can’t get an experience like that by spending a couple of weeks sightseeing.
And all the power just went out. That definitely brings back fond memories of living in foreign countries J I was going to post this to my blog but I guess I will save it for another day. I just love the adventure!!
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