These pictures are not taken from some gallery downtown. They are all taken within a few steps of where I am typing this blog entry. Not really knowing my schedule this year, I decided to sublet an apartment for a few months rather than renting for a year to see if it was even worth paying rent for an apartment in Bangkok. I do want to have a place where I can hang my hat, but is it worth the money if I am only going to be in Bangkok one week a month or so? I do believe it is psychologically important to have my own place as opposed to a hotel, so I looked up Craigslist on the Internet and found this sublet which I am getting for about the price I paid for my apartment last year.( except my apartment last year could probably fit into the living room of this apartment)
It is right down the street from Emporium, a fashionable mall 5 minutes away. As an aside, I have never seen anyone buy anything in the mall (because the Gucci prices are way too expensive) but man, the Thais do dress well and parade themselves around the like they owned the mall. I guess they are out to impress and find some ‘farang’ with a fat wallet. Little do they know the prices are way too high for foreigners as well who will shop at MBK (like Wallmart, but way cheaper). I inquired about a tie at Hermes yesterday and quietly retreated from the store when she told me it was on sale for $250.
Anyway, back to the story. I got a place for three months from a fellow Canadian who is travelling. For some reason, he wanted someone in the apartment and wanted a little money to defray his costs of his travel. To give you some idea of this place, he pays $3.000 rent a month where the average Bangkok apartment probably rents for $300 or less. I never met this guy and only talked to him a few times by e mail but I took the apartment because I knew where it was and the price was right.
When I walked in yesterday, my jaw dropped. After deactivating the alarm (a huge stressor for me with all those buttons) and then taking time to find the light switches deftly hidden behind huge plants I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. At first, I thought I was in a movie theatre. The T.V. was probably as big as the screen in Emporium or so it seemed at first blush. It will be great when I can figure out how to turn it on. He told me he has very high end audio equipment so he has a million gadgets and I have to try and figure out which gadget controls which machine and which button on which gadget to push. I think Walter would even be challenged by this one. I invited the computer teacher from my school to show me how to open the T.V. and even he could not figure it out, making me feel a little better. The living room is filled with books, DVD’s, movies and so on so it will be good if I can figure out how things work…if it is possible. Maybe the whole idea is that it is not supposed to work, just look good.
Walking down the hallway I discovered lots of bathrooms, bedrooms and an office better equipped than our head office in Singapore. I am going to have to take pictures of some of this equipment to ask Daniel what they are for. The computer screen that he uses is more the size of our television at home and here I am not exaggerating.
I think the apartment is probably larger, in square feet, than our house. I feel like some kind of imposter living here and imagine this is how the rich and famous must live…except I am not rich or famous!
It is right down the street from Emporium, a fashionable mall 5 minutes away. As an aside, I have never seen anyone buy anything in the mall (because the Gucci prices are way too expensive) but man, the Thais do dress well and parade themselves around the like they owned the mall. I guess they are out to impress and find some ‘farang’ with a fat wallet. Little do they know the prices are way too high for foreigners as well who will shop at MBK (like Wallmart, but way cheaper). I inquired about a tie at Hermes yesterday and quietly retreated from the store when she told me it was on sale for $250.
Anyway, back to the story. I got a place for three months from a fellow Canadian who is travelling. For some reason, he wanted someone in the apartment and wanted a little money to defray his costs of his travel. To give you some idea of this place, he pays $3.000 rent a month where the average Bangkok apartment probably rents for $300 or less. I never met this guy and only talked to him a few times by e mail but I took the apartment because I knew where it was and the price was right.
When I walked in yesterday, my jaw dropped. After deactivating the alarm (a huge stressor for me with all those buttons) and then taking time to find the light switches deftly hidden behind huge plants I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. At first, I thought I was in a movie theatre. The T.V. was probably as big as the screen in Emporium or so it seemed at first blush. It will be great when I can figure out how to turn it on. He told me he has very high end audio equipment so he has a million gadgets and I have to try and figure out which gadget controls which machine and which button on which gadget to push. I think Walter would even be challenged by this one. I invited the computer teacher from my school to show me how to open the T.V. and even he could not figure it out, making me feel a little better. The living room is filled with books, DVD’s, movies and so on so it will be good if I can figure out how things work…if it is possible. Maybe the whole idea is that it is not supposed to work, just look good.
Walking down the hallway I discovered lots of bathrooms, bedrooms and an office better equipped than our head office in Singapore. I am going to have to take pictures of some of this equipment to ask Daniel what they are for. The computer screen that he uses is more the size of our television at home and here I am not exaggerating.I think the apartment is probably larger, in square feet, than our house. I feel like some kind of imposter living here and imagine this is how the rich and famous must live…except I am not rich or famous!
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