Moving in

At last we have moved into our new apartment!

We were told one last wipeover was needed when we went through the check-in - usually these things are done before the check-in not after, so we said forget it. The place looked superficially clean. It was only on closer inspection that we realised how grubby some of it was. The building supplied cleaners. They were OK but still a lot has to be done and to be frank, I'd rather do it myself. Once somebody else's grub has been wiped off, we can settle down to our own state of grubbiness.

But now, the windows are open, and there's a beautiful breeze coming through...

Baffled in a bank in Bangkok

I needed to transfer some pennies today and firstly thought the helpful internet banking site would do the trick. Alas, no! Having not registered the account beforehand, I trundled over to the branch itself. An ATM transaction was suggested and they even kindly took me to the ATM itself to help me out. But the recipient bank was not on the list and so they told me to go and deposit the money physically.
Luckily, on consulting some of the other staff, it was stated that for an extra fee I could use Bahtnet which would transfer the money same day. They were all very helpful, but I'm sure there must be an easier way to do this?

We move out of our temporary accommodation and into our new flat tomorrow. Then I will begin to feel more settled.

Currently reading: 'Welcome to the Slaughterhouse' by Father Joe. Yesterday, discussed with the other half re: flower girls dilemma. He said that in the end one little action won't make much difference. I can't believe that.

Flower girls

As hubbie did not have to work until well past midnight last night, we had a beer at Central World Plaza.

A flower girl came by with her red roses. It's very hard to know how to react when they approach, these pretty, tiny children with their large, solemn, manga-like eyes, and their trembling lower lip. Do you buy a flower because for the individual it would help fill her quota, and possibly mean she won't have to do other things to make money...? Or do you resist as you think about the perpetuation of child labour? The shoe-shine boy in Nairobi, the postcard boy in Marrakesh, the Chicklets girl in Veracruz and the flower girl in Bangkok....

Pen name

BKK mei has just signed up for Thai lessons in the hope that her useless pronunciation attempts in Thai will convince Bangkokkers that she really is not Thai at all.

Am also considering pottery lessons. It's a small world - the lady who runs the class learnt pottery at the workshop I went to in HK and knows my teacher.

In an effort to learn more about Bangkok, we are currently reading 'Bangkok Inside Out' (Daniel Ziv & Guy Sharett) - a very informative book on all those things you've seen / heard /smelt but never knew what they were. Also, the authors used to study at SOAS, and as a SOAS grad myself, you can't beat that!

By the way, I hope the pen name BKK mei doesn't attract any pervs. 'Mei mei' means 'little sister' in Chinese and is used by my family to mean my good self. My brother once offered to buy me the website name .com, but unfortunately it was taken. On further investigation, we were horrified to see that the site was of an 'undesirable nature' to put it delicately. Most disconcerting ...

3 weeks later

We've just moved over to Bangkok, hubbie and I, and I've come across many useful sites on living here. Scratching the surface though, a lot of the farang reader boards are targeted to farang blokes living it up in certain zones of the city. Or else English teaching. Or else new mums.

I am neither farang nor Thai, but I am married to a farang. I am 100% of the time mistaken for the Thai half even though he speaks better Thai than me (easy though - I only know how to say hello and thank you and often get those mixed up anyhow). With each day I try to rail against the cliche - I don my glasses more often to make me look extra nerdy - and even hubbie has said that for once he's glad I dress so very modestly. After all, if I'm ever mistaken for a bar girl, what does that make him???

So here I am. In a former life, pretty successful career woman working in a bank in Europe, UK and Hong Kong. Now: housewife - or as the Hong Kongers put it 'tai tai' - curiously enough, pronunication just like 'thai thai'...

I am definitely looking forward to getting to know this dynamic city. Even though I've visited BKK many times, in the 3 weeks I've been here it's still astonishing me with all its different faces.