Settling Into Thailand
I highly anticipated Phuket Thailand for the chance to balance exploration with daily life, at our own pace and on our own terms. Rather than pass through as tourists, we wanted to become self-sufficient and settle in deeply -- we have rented a room and motorbike, and tried to adopt lifestyle tips from locals as much as possible. (Although our lifestyles are absolutely bourgeois relative to those of the locals; we are still tourists after all.)
This took acclimatizing, especially when it came to daily life necessities! I was surprised about the things I took for granted. The initial discomfort faded quickly, and I’m now enjoying a lifestyle that is “home” in a different kind of way.
Keep reading about the routines and logistics we developed while settling into Thailand.
Home
We are renting a room in Raya Rawai Place for a month, as part of the AKA travel package. Raya Rawai Place is similar to many other hotel-apartments in the area that offer long-term stays as well as nightly rooms. This humble room quickly became “home”. It’s clean and basic -- everything we need, and nothing we don’t. The staff are amazing and helpful for out-of-towners; one of the lobby staff even fixed our motorbike mirrors for us!
What this bare-basics room lacks in decor, it more than makes up for in location. We’re spoiled with a wash-n-fold laundry and hair parlor across the street, “massage by the blind people” on the corner, and our pick of restaurants / street vendors / convenience stores on the adjacent road.
Transportation
Allen and I successfully learned to ride a motorbike here in Thailand!
Motorbiking in Thailand is no joke. At first, it felt like playing Russian Roulette with our lives every time we cross the street. We see an accident every weekend. There’s a lot going on, between the cars, trucks, motorbikes, pedestrians, and fearless dogs and chickens sharing the road. For us, riding a motorbike is a two person job. Allen rides and I keep vigil from the back, both of us as jumpy as squirrels on amphetamine.
Planning a drive is like planning a war effort. Before departing, we have a strategy session where we discuss: the route, the major landmarks, which turns are left vs right, which turns are protected vs unprotected, traffic conditions, direction of the sun, time of sunset/sunrise, which roads will be well-lit, which roads have all the drunk people, etc. etc.
Through constant vigilance and staying the slowest vehicle on the road, we’ve safely traversed the island on motorbike! This freed us up to criss-cross the island exploring beaches, cafes, night markets, and more. It’s also a cheap way to travel; $4 in gasoline can power a weeks’ explorations on motorbike.
Us and our trusty motorbike. We took this victory bike selfie after our first successful ride to Karon beach!
Food & Groceries
When it comes to food, it took a bit of trial and error to strike the right balance.
At the beginning, our food options were either overpriced and mediocre tourist restaurants, or local restaurants where we play “point-and-order” with the menu (every meal was a bit of a surprise).
These days, our diet is made up of:
AKA Cafe: We eat here once per day because our package includes a meal! The food is good, convenient, and reasonably priced. This is our post-workout protein shake or lunch between training sessions. It’s also the location of choice to socialize with other trainees or get some work done. (I’m currently writing this blogpost from the AKA Cafe!)
Mahattawat Restaurant: This is our default dinner, located a block outside our apartment, outside the Masjid Nurudde Neeyah - Bang Khon Thi Mosque. The home-cooked food is comforting and mouth-watering. The spice levels make us cry and die, then beg for more. The owner (we call her Boss Lady) recognizes us and greets us with a smile. A dinner for two comes out to ~$8.
Night Markets: Night markets sprout up all over the island Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. These are really fun places to sample a variety of different Thai snacks and small eats — from roti pancakes, to fresh Pad Thai, to fried grasshoppers, to rotisserie pigeons. The Phuket Weekend Market has the most abundance and variety of food I’ve ever seen (and this being said just after visiting Taipei).
The “Coconut Man”: No, I don’t know his actual name. But I do know that his roadside coconuts beat others for flavor and value (20-30 Baht, or <$1). I like to make Allen take me to his stand on the small road outside AKA for the ultimate post-workout treat!
Groceries: We don’t cook here, but occasionally pick up fruits that we save in the fridge. Thailand is a big producer of luscious tropical fruits, and they sell dirt cheap in the markets.
7/11 Snacks: Finally, no Asia trip would be complete without sampling the local snacks at 7/11. We’re a big fan of “Snack Jacks” (pea-based crisps) and “Big Sheets” (big sheets of impossibly crunchy seaweed). Most of our snack budget goes towards various drinks (because it’s sweaty AF outside), and we fight over the Double Vitamin C shots in Peach-Lychee flavor.
Water
We were very proud to figure out how to hydrate without bankrupting ourselves (and contributing to plastic waste). We refill our water bottles from two-gallon jugs we keep in our room and refill at a reverse osmosis water dispenser near our apartment. It takes sixteen cents to fill a two-gallon jug. We’re filling each 16oz bottle of water for TWO CENTS.
This is key since we go through a LOT of water by training, beaching, and being hot sweaty messes every day. Possibly the biggest money-saving trick in our arsenal.
Another protip… rather than pay through the nose for Gatorade, we found $0.16 electrolyte powder from a brand called Dechamp sold at Super Cheap (a local convenience store chain), and mix our own. It could just be a placebo, but I swear this helps me push through training.
Laundry
Laundry is king when we sweat through two outfits a day, plus Muay Thai gear, plus beach towels.
The vast majority of our laundry is supplied a wash-n-fold laundry across the street, where a weeks’ worth of laundry for both of us comes out to $3! This is DEFINITELY going to spoil us for when we return to the USA.
In between laundry days, we hang towels and sweaty workout gear on our sunny patio to prevent mold.
Daily Rhythms
Our daily life is a balance between training, exploration, and “work”. Generally, this is how it goes -- We wake up at 7am to greet the day with a grueling Muay Thai bout in the morning. Then we sip protein shakes and chit-chat with our AKA classmates at the Cafe until we’ve regained sensation in our legs. Then we take a quick shower and head out for an afternoon exploring! We either visit a new beach or a different coffeeshop where we get some “work” done (e.g., writing for the blog, processing photos, planning future trips, drawing studies, reading). In the evenings, we train some more and get dinner somewhere. Evenings are our time for errands, such as picking up supplies or refilling water. Sometimes we hang out with Muay Thai classmates we befriended. Sometimes I watch some TV (lately been watching Chinese dramas to improve my Chinese). We always sleep early to rest before training again the next day.
Life in Thailand is a smooth groove. It’s amazing that we’re able to do so much physical training, exploring this island paradise, soaking in the atmosphere, and also get light work done -- in a relaxed way without stress.
