I Often Find Myself Bored In Bangkok

[OxfordWill]

Yup. I think too mut.

[zzaa09]

A bit off the subject I know, but I just wanted to pass comment here, I don't find that feeling the heat has anything to do with age. If you spend your time with the air con at 22c of course you are going to find the heat unbearable, you are depending on it, and you are going from one extreme to the other, of course you are going to feel the heat.

Think this as more to do with acceptance and acclimation {not just climate}. Thais feel the heat as well, but don't go on about it. It is what it is. Moreover, if one feels consistently uncomfortable within a tropical climate setting, then relocate yourself where such moderate climes are acceptable.

[dvddvd]

Read some books with BKK as the setting. Jot down some places that are mentioned in the book, that are interesting to you, and get out to see them. One thing leads to another. IMHO It's a pretty good way to have an interesting day. Got out to see Zii Oui the other day just for something to do. Practiced my Thai with some strangers and had a good time. Maybe, Wat Mae Nak tomorrow. The little trips out always seem add something unexpected/stimulating to my days.

[Wossnext]

Hi Wasabi, was sitting here in my studio nr Pinklao thinking deeply about all the things you said in your post, mirrored how I am feeling....I am so so bored, now just before you all pump yourselves up ready to rip into me, let me just say that I feel like talking ok and rightly or wrongly I wanna spill how I feel. My post may not leave you gasping in awe but hel_l it's making me feel good just getting it off my chest. So anyway; I am a Brit who left the once awesome UK in search of more....I served in the RAF for 10 years seeing service in a variety of overseas postings. When I came out I was in need of more travel experiences and took a position in the US, stayed there for quite a few years before marrying a girl and moving to a small island in the Pacific, stayed there for lots more years got divorced pretty much just after moving there, yeh I know sad eh! then I met a Thai lady, married her eventually and stayed with her on my island home for another 2.5 yrs. Okay so now we are up to date. Now since I met my wife we have holidayed here quite a few times and travelled around a fair bit too (Within Thailand). So even though I had a really good career job in my previous location I begged my wife to move to Thailand to live because I thought it was the coolest place ever!!. Well we finally did that and arrived 6 weeks ago! my wife has good quals in the hospitality industry and landed a decent job very quickly, I on the other hand "the one who said he was quite prepared to be out of work for sometime and be ok with it" had lied to himself and has quickly found that it is very difficult being alone here for 15 hrs a day with only sub par Thai communication skills.

Being a seasoned traveller n'all I know I can adapt to Bangok/Thailand and eventually get a good grip on this place if I give it a chance, thing is I am not sure I want to do that now. I know it is not easy to be here long term "legally" and It would be a shame to throw away a good opportunity, thing is I have just been invited to interview for a position with one of the western government agencies, which is great...but, having spent only 6 weeks here I already think I may have made a mistake! the post that prompted my reply was as stated above by Wasabi, he echoes just how I feel. Lately i.e. the last 2 weeks, I have signed up for a Thai language course, have found that used magazine store on Sukhumvit to buy UK magazines (which I read in that nice park over the road), I go to to see a movie twice a week at different cinemas, practise ordering my own food, go to the Zoo, Visit places of interest and try my level best to keep occupied, and the point of all this is....I am still bored!! now this isn't a dig at Bangkok, not at all, more of a sympathy with how Wasabi is feeling even though he may have been here for 20 yrs 'I dont know' what I do know is that I have lived on main streets in other humongous cities like NY SFO LDN & others and experienced all the best and worst they can offer and yet I still enjoyed them more than Bangkok.

I am bored because I cannot be bothered to get showered just to go out and be as hot dusty and dirty as I was 5 mins prior to taking said shower! I feel fatigued at the mere prospect of the journey into the sukhumvit area to meet my wife from work, I want to do this every night when she is on late late shift but I do not, which is bad. I get annoyed at the cracks and holes in the pavement that I keep kicking, I cannot stand the smartly dressed businessmen clearing their noses of snot right in front of me ugh!, I hate biting my lip when customers at 7-11 walk right in front of your face when you are waiting to get served, and I really get pissed off when I smile at people and get nothing back, that includes westerners too! No, Instead I sit in my apt scratching my skin nervously because prickly heat keeps fooling me into thinking I am covered by biting insects (that's funny isn't it!), I wander aimlessly from balcony to balcony to check out the latest soi dog fight, sit staring at my PC wondering what the hel_l to google next? and keep watching my watch to see if another day is nearing the end yet, no! I am not suicidal, I am just bored. I suppose I thought living in a tropical country was going to be fanfriggintastic, and I am very close now to admitting to the reality that I may have got that very very wrong. Where I lived in the pacific it was cold with clearly defined seasons, I used to moan like hel_l about the cold, now I miss it. This is just a post about my observations and personal feelings so please do not let yourself get bent out of shape about anything I say because no offence is intended in any way. Thailand is an amazing place to visit no doubt! but as a lifelong home, well maybe not for me. Who knows if I am offered a job and accept it I may have a change of heart, but I really dont think so. Thanks for listening to yourself reading my post? I know what I mean.

I will probably revisit this post in a few years time and wonder what the hel_l I was talking about har har. Then again, maybe not. One last thing that is puzzling me? when I check the post preview here on thaivisa it shows spelling mistakes (which I rarely make), yet when I return to the post to correct them they are not mistakes at all, mods can you advise?

[camerata]

Thailand is an amazing place to visit no doubt! but as a lifelong home, well maybe not for me.

That may prove to be the case, but you haven't told us all the things you did in other places that you can't do here. Pinklao is pretty far from the centre of things. If you have a job, you won't have that much time to be bored anyway.

[Meridian007]

Hi Wasabi, was sitting here in my studio nr Pinklao ...

Don't worry Wossnext, it sounds like you are just having a bout of culture shock. Once you get a feel for the language a bit more, (what others have called "taxi Thai"), so that you can at least get directions and order food, and you get used to the heat better, (it takes at least 6 months I think, or longer depending on how dependent you are on your a/c), you will get over it. I've had days where I've hated it here, and days when I've loved it here, but now I realize that it is just another place.

Once you get to this point, you can make better decisions as to whether this was a good idea or not. You will find that it is possible to walk from Central Pinklao to Pata without dying of heat exhaustion, (I live in Pinklao too, I think walking in the heat is good for you as long as you keep hydrated), and then you can get out to explore more. Friends are another major part of making the transition easier, but it is difficult here because the closest "farang ghetto" is Khao San. Take that job, you'll find that it will remove many of the problems that you are having as it will give you something to do and will introduce you to new people.

For me, I'm only bored here when I want to be. I usually feel like I don't have enough time for everything, which always makes me wish for a Robinson Crusoe experience on one of the islands here. If it wasn't for my girlfriend and some educational commitments, I'd probably be on the southern shore of Koh Kut, fishing and enjoying my boredom.

[HappyThaiLife]

Easy solution...

1) Grab taxi

2) Go to airport

3) Depart

[Wossnext]

Easy solution...

1) Grab taxi

2) Go to airport

3) Depart

Thanks for your advice, hope It didnt take up too much of your valuable time

[bkkc1976]

Easy solution...

1) Grab taxi

2) Go to airport

3) Depart

Stupid suckers everywhere!

[Jimjim]

If you're bored, perhaps you're lonely as well. Perhaps you can't have a chat with someone on the street like you did in Frisco because you don't know the language and culture well enough. Remarkable how important little things like this can be to your happiness and to your level of boredom.

[philliphn]

If you don't like the heat. I can recommend Michigan. It was -8 degrees fahrenheit yesterday.

Global warming? we wish!

[Meridian007]

If you don't like the heat. I can recommend Michigan. It was -8 degrees fahrenheit yesterday.

Global warming? we wish!

My family is across the water in Ontario, and this is the time of year that I especially like to mention the temperature here to them...

Acclimatizing to the heat takes some work, you have to wean yourself off of the a/c. When I got myself down to using the a/c for only an hour before bed to just dry out the air before opening the windows again, I knew I almost had it. I think it was easier for me because I live more than fifteen stories up in the tallest building in the area, so I get a good wind on most days which I can circulate through the condo with fans.

[Wossnext]

Hi Wasabi, was sitting here in my studio nr Pinklao ...

Don't worry Wossnext, it sounds like you are just having a bout of culture shock. Once you get a feel for the language a bit more, (what others have called "taxi Thai"), so that you can at least get directions and order food, and you get used to the heat better, (it takes at least 6 months I think, or longer depending on how dependent you are on your a/c), you will get over it. I've had days where I've hated it here, and days when I've loved it here, but now I realize that it is just another place.

Once you get to this point, you can make better decisions as to whether this was a good idea or not. You will find that it is possible to walk from Central Pinklao to Pata without dying of heat exhaustion, (I live in Pinklao too, I think walking in the heat is good for you as long as you keep hydrated), and then you can get out to explore more. Friends are another major part of making the transition easier, but it is difficult here because the closest "farang ghetto" is Khao San. Take that job, you'll find that it will remove many of the problems that you are having as it will give you something to do and will introduce you to new people.

For me, I'm only bored here when I want to be. I usually feel like I don't have enough time for everything, which always makes me wish for a Robinson Crusoe experience on one of the islands here. If it wasn't for my girlfriend and some educational commitments, I'd probably be on the southern shore of Koh Kut, fishing and enjoying my boredom.

Yes that is good advice, thank you for that. I do/did in fact walk a lot to and from Pata and Central Pinklao from my place back down Charan Sanitwong Rd, I did enjoy it a lot until shop assistants started to recognise me in Central Department Store! whch is nice of course but I realised I was going there too much and of course spending too much the wife has a fit when I spend 110b on a Kafe Yen from the mall when the ones outside are just as good and way way cheaper 15-20b, yes we can afford it, but that's not the point I suppose.

On another note my shipping from NZ has not arrived yet so I have no TV or Stereo or any other homey type comforts to amuse me, just an apt with a bed and a laptop...Oh! and the wife of course . The shipping was due here this week but now delayed until 3rd week in January, cannot wait for those to arrive. My main hobbies in NZ were sea fishing maintaining my car and movie watching when I could fit them all in between work. I have my rods with me but no reels or tackle, so that's not much use. I am sure that if I am successful in my job application things will change drastically as it is a demanding job. I have never been out of work before and as mentioned in my original post I thought it would be fun to be unemployed for a little while, but actually "for me" it's not fun at all.

Caught the 542 last night to connect with skytrain at VM and on the way I saw this guy with a bunch of rods fishing off the bridge, anybody know what the rules are for fishing in the river, I can find stuff about chartered fishing trips in TH but not too much about local type fishing, not too fussed about fishing to eat from the Chao Phraya, just fishing for pleasure if it is allowed for foreigners.

With regards to a/c use, no to be honest I dont actually use it. Sounds daft I know but I cope reasonably well with just the fan, besides we are living in an older apartment block with one of those ceiling mounted a/c units the size of a small building! it does it's job well but the noise it makes is phenomenal. We took this place on a 6mth contract because it is cheap and we did not know how long we might be out of work, once I am working we will move out to a higher standard apartment closer to the area I hope to be working in, it will mean the loss of a 10,000b dep which is a bummer but it will be worth it to us.

[aehn]

If you love San Fran and dislike Bangkok, why not go back?

If you like clean, strict places, you should try Sweden, its ultra clean, America is dirty as hel_l compared to Sweden.