Kicking Homesickness by Going Places: Koh Chang

*Featured Image and editing courtesy of Ashley Andrews, (c) 2014 :)) thank you! Xxxxx

When you’re an expat, it’s almost inevitable for you to feel homesick, or even worse, homeless at times. It generally occurs when you have a series of frustrating events happening at work, which – honesty world speaking – is the main reason for why you are living in such a place. You get to ask yourself, WTF am I doing here?

Then you go to a quiet corner of your mind and meditate on your reasons, thereby putting your goals and your purposes in place. You feel at peace, and hopefully realise that a) it’s only temporary, and b) it’s not a bad life, only a bad day.

Unfortunately, this moment of peace happens to me after I alienate my support group, which is annoying for me because I know I have scored bad karma points, leading me to tell myself (over and over again) to chill and relax.

That’s the reason why I told you to pack home.  Because in these moments of self-inflicted suffering, you have to be reminded of your purpose, of your direction. For me, these are pictures of my family and my boyfriend – cheesy as it may sound (better get used to it because I don’t mind being called cheesy), but I get my peace and strength from memories I have of them in my head.

Today is one of those days, and naturally I sat down in my bed, clicking through folders and folders of pictures of wonderful memories. I saw Koh Chang pictures.

Koh Chang is the second largest island of Thailand after Phuket (whodathunk Phuket was an island?! I overheard this factoid while doing a visa run and google confirmed it, ah the glory of eavesdropping) and it literally means Elephant Island as koh means island and chang means beer elephant. It is mountainous and it is a massive National Park, meaning it cannot be developed. Only 3% of the island can be developed and I think that’s why it remains so gorgeous.

It was my first taste of abroad, having my first valentine’s celebration with my man there too. There were so many firsts happening there in my life, like seeing elephants in a field (though sadly chained), dipping into a waterfall, falling off a tree, among others. The island was so significant for me, it feels like it’s home. Like, the type where you’d go to when you have a boo boo, and recharge there to feel safe. I’ve gone there three times this past two years, and it was always sweet. And recharging.

And recharge you do. Magic Garden is one of the best places to stay in as you feel right at home. I can lounge around in their bean bags and learn Spanish all day long. I can people watch there while lying down deep within the jungle with a bucket of gin and tonic. Another place to stay in is Little Eden, which actually lives up to its name. Rather pricey for the island, it’s clean and quiet and it offers very nice, new bungalows in the jungle. I’m proud to say there’s no TV there (my sort of place unless there’s a UFC fight), like Magic Garden. Oh and they make awesome food there. It may be funky sometimes (I give up expecting perfection when it comes to “Western” food in TH) but it’s always fresh and tasty. Case in point: I crave Magic Garden’s tofu burger like a pregnant woman sometimes. It’s that good. Oh the relish of that thing.

White Sands Beach is the liveliest part of that island but I’m glad to say that it’s nowhere near as hedonistic to the party scene in Samui. It still has a nice laid-back vibe but I fear that it will go soon because Koh Chang is getting famous!

There are so many places in Thailand catering to tourists but none of them has got the real charm of Koh Chang, which is rustic and charming at best. It can be really cheap to stay in too, but I guess the best part of it is the authenticity it emanates. You know Thailand, most touristy places are manufactured: Koh San road, floating markets, Elephant Camps, the whole bohemian vibe of Chiang Mai, etc, to lure tourists in. Expats like me get disappointed in turn.

Koh Chang is different because you feel like a local. No one hassles you to buy things, no one gives a fuck about who you are, and most importantly, the international-local population there is almost equal (like Samui) – hence perhaps the local feel. Oh and speaking of Samui, it kinda feels like a secret as most people go to Samui or Phuket when they go to Thailand.

One day, I’d like to go back there with my man. I don’t think I can go back there alone (the feels), but tonight, let’s. Even if it’s just in pictures.

Cost of Living: Thailand

I think it’s true if I say every expat wants to know if she can “survive in this new country with this salary”. It’s a smart question to ask after all, especially since your brain is still getting itself around the fact that your currency isn’t the same anymore. Truth be told, I still can’t get the fact that I’m a millionaire here in Indonesia (everyone is, don’t worry, I’m far from rich) because of their weird currency setup. It’s difficult paying your 2M groceries you know. All that paper. Damn. But I’m not complaining, gimme my millions!

Anyway, I think it’s worthy to have a cost of living article just to compare spending habits and lifestyles place to place. I know for a fact that my lifestyle has changed from being a yuppie, middle class bourgeois in Manila to being a backpacker teacher in Thailand to being a normal (I think) expat here in Indonesia. Add the fact that I am saving up for Europe at this point so there’s that.

Anyway, thank you to Ajarn.com by the way for inspiring this post.

Currency references: 

33 Baht to one US Dollar
50 Baht to one Pound Sterling
37 Baht to one Euro
25 Baht to one Australian Dollar
0.74 Baht to one Philippine Peso

Working in Hatyai, TH

Monthly Earnings: 30, 000

Q1. How much do you earn from teaching per month?

I take home around 30,000 baht a month from my job as a Prenursery Teacher in a British School in Hatyai. I started at 25,000 but upon learning that my co-teacher who technically hasn’t graduated yet is earning 5,000 more (she’s Australian and I’m Filipino), I complained and got a raise. But everyone still got a raise so yeah, there’s that.

Q2. How much of that can you realistically save per month?

Nothing, really. I don’t know why, but even with my partner contributing to expenses, we constantly find ourselves with no savings. That’s because we are both settling in in that place. There’s always something to buy, like a blender or a toaster or a Scrabble. Plus we don’t skimp on food. And we eat well.

Q3. How much do you pay for your accommodation and what do you live in exactly (house, apartment, condo)?

My boyfriend and I rented a studio apartment for 6,000 a month.

Q4. What do you spend a month on the following things?

a) Transportation

My school is a 15 minute walk, so there’s nothing there but we go to the gym everyday and that takes 40 back and forth from the house for the two of us. So that’s automatically around 1,200 a month, not to mention trips to the mall on the other side of town and some emergency tuktuk rides when it gets too late. Let’s say 1,500.

b) Utility bills

We pay around 2,000 baht. We use a lot of aircon because the boyfriend works at home and it gets hot and humid in the day. At night we use the fan sometimes.

c) Food – both restaurants and supermarket shopping

We eat at home a lot because we are vegetarian but we treat ourselves to guilty pleasures like pizza, chips and burgers! Beer and whiskey also takes the budget, so let’s say around 14,000 (holy shit). That’s 2k a week on groceries so that’s 8k a month plus liquor and cigarettes.

d) Nightlife and drinking

Yeah as mentioned above liquor and cigarettes cost about 6,000.

e) Books, computers

Zero expenses because… piracy!

Q5. How would you summarize your standard of living in one sentence?

Pretty good but I know we have a lot of expenditures on luxuries like alcohol, etc. We should be saving more.

Q6. What do you consider to be a real ‘bargain’ here?

I think food is way, way cheaper here, if you are not choosy, like you can get your fill for 65 egg noodles (but not soul satisfying). Saying that, the usual Western food that I’m used to is an acquired taste here hahaha! So we pay an extra for premium Western Food. That’s why we cook at home. The boyfriend is an excellent cook but the imported ingredients for our culinary repertoire is quite pricey too. Oh well. Food is our weakness.

Q7. In your opinion, how much money does anyone need to earn here in order to survive?

I think 50,000 will be a really good minimum. In my mind, that will enable me to have my bourgeois MNL lifestyle which includes Starbucks, clothes and gifts to the boyfriend, travels PLUS SAVINGS.

Reasons Why I Love Thailand

One morning, I woke up up with a longing for Thailand. I don’t know why, but instead of getting homesick for the Philippines, I miss Thailand more.

I know Thailand has become a cliche for so many travelers, that if you are a “cool” one (read: hipster), you avoid it. True enough, Thailand is a magnet for backpackers and retirees. However, I had so many experiences in Thailand that has shaped me to who I am now. I have taken so much in terms of knowledge, and frankly, I think I have grown more in my nine months in that country compared to my sheltered twenty five years in my home country.

Why Thailand? It’s beautiful. Not physically, because it looks like the Philippines and they both look familiar, but the infrastructure: roads, internet (oh, internet), 7/11s, transportation, food – it’s really easy to live there. The culture? They don’t care about you, in fact, they turn their back to you when they know you can’t speak Thai. I thought that was rude at first but I adjusted to that. It’s soooo different to the Philippines where everyone would bend over for you to tend to your needs. I also find Buddhism refreshing at first because they weren’t as judgmental as Catholics. Oh and all the gold is pretty, even if your mind is telling you how outrageous it is to spend precious metal over monuments.

In Thailand, I learned how to live alone in a room without a fire exit thereby having me planning a fire escape route, with a landlady named Porn calling me at 6am to wake me up, and by 4 pm leave a bag of fruits on my door. I have buy food from the street (tricky for a vegetarian – so I learned a bit of Thai), open a bank account without actually speaking, move houses alone in a foreign country because the school didn’t help, travel locally in a different language (without interpreters at that – yay!).

I learned to live with my partner which was a welcome change from living alone but still a change nonetheless. I learned how to keep house (I need to improve on that) and with that I learned that small spaces are not easy to maintain because you tend to think, nah, it’s only small, easy to clean this – and never get around to doing it. I learned how to carry a microwave at the back of a motorbike because taxis didn’t exist in Hatyai and the tuktuks cost a lot for a 3 block drive. I learned to pack my life in two backpacks and needed to let go of unnecessary baggage, especially when you are traveling for a month in two countries. I learned how to move with a pack of visa runners, how fear of Thai immigration can bond a motley crew of foreigners begging their host country for a few more months to stay before the visa, and how quickly those bonds disintregrate when you get hold of your visa.

In Thailand I learned how to be patient, open and understanding. I had to be independent in more ways than I can imagine. I had to be dependent on my boyfriend when I thought I can do it alone. I appreciate living alone but enjoyed it with my partner. However, I know that I can’t live with anyone now, except him.

I have learned how my body works, especially with the lax Thai pharmaceutical laws. I didn’t have a medical insurance there but drugs and medicine were cheap and ubiquitous. I had WebMd on my fingertips, and the frustrated pharmacist just wants to give me what I want to send me away. I diagnosed myself and healed myself pretty well but the hormones I took for contraception didn’t work as expected. For a country that has a very sexy stereotype, I thought contraception was an easy part of life but hell, no.

I learned how I seem to appear to people, they think I am Thai. When Ash and I are together, they stare at us because I speak better English and they think: Thai? Not Thai? WTF?! Ash and I are pretty sure that they think we are a sex worker-sex tourist couple as well as with most Thai women – Western man stereotype. I had trouble with that at first but finally managed to say “fuck it, fuck them”. I have learned to communicate via charades and body language because of the language barrier. When words can’t say what I mean, I have to act what I mean then. It was tough but I had to do it.

I have learned my boyfriend’s love language, his little quirks, how his mind works in the wee hours of the morning, when he is jetlagged, when he is happy. I learned how to expect and not expect, how to talk to him and reach out. I have learned how to distance and give space and not be bothered about it (well, not as much as before). I learned that I enjoy him and his presence a lot that words are not enough for me to clearly paint the picture to you. I learned that it’s a different ball game when you’re apart and when you’re with each other. I learned to travel with him and found it very intimate because traveling strips you down to your core and it is during those moments of magic happen as you share your discoveries.

Thailand is very special to me. I can say that it’s my mentor. It challenges me A LOT and it’s not easy, but like a best friend, it will give you a good time through bad times. So cheers, and  kop kun kaa.