What Do You MIss By Living in Thailand?

What do you miss about home now that you are in Thailand? Well, that question has been forwarded to me by dozens of my readers. Actually, nobody really asked, but I had an overwhelming urge to answer the question anyway. Someone was probably contemplating asking, but as usual, I beat you to the draw.

We have done a lot of overseas living, as most of you know, and the list of things you miss about home becomes shorter and shorter. When we first went to Turkey in 2000 there were quite a few things we missed besides family and friends. Darlene lamented the absence of peanut butter, salt and vinegar chips and pork products, especially bacon. Visitors to Turkey were given strict instruction to pack the above essentials for life in their suitcases or stay home! I often had delightful dreams thinking about Wendy’s Hamburgers, toasted ham sandwiches and soft ice cream. (I didn’t request that visitors pack these.)

Over the past fifteen years, whether living in Turkey, Poland or the Bahamas, we have learned what globalization really means. Everywhere we have been in the world during this time now sells Diet Coke as well as Coke Zero, all the things from our 2000 wish lists and more. Thailand has MacDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Tony Romas, Swensens Ice Cream, Dominos Pizza, and of course a Starbucks in every mall. Thailand, and most of the rest of the world, is one big homogeneous food court. If you can’t find it, you haven’t looked hard enough. It’s here somewhere!

That doesn’t mean that there are not things that I still miss, but they are not really consumable products. In our current apartment, I am bemoaning the act that we do not have ONE comfortable chair to sit in. Our Ikea-like furniture is not designed for my non-Ikea-like body. I dream of my recliner at home and a bright reading lamp snuggled up beside the chair. 

Living in a city of millions is compounded by the lack of green space and walking paths that I am so used to along the Bow River and Edworthy Park. Traffic never stops and the heat and humidity are both high, but I am not complaining when I check Calgary temperatures. 

On the bright side there are a lot of things that are real pluses. Thai food comes in a million varieties, is very tasty and is very reasonably priced. It is not possible to walk a block without finding a food vendor, little restaurant or granny selling samosas or rice dishes. The little food store on the main floor of our building makes major shopping unnecessary. You can pop downstairs in two minutes to buy just about anything. The movie theatres are ultra modern and showing exactly what is playing in Calgary and more. We’re already getting ready for the Star Wars invasion this week. While we have no watchable TV, I am blessed by being able to watch the CBC nightly news on my computer. So, I even get my weekly fix of Rex Murphy and that is a perk that is pretty hard to beat! 

Finally, the only thing that I still miss is the opportunity to have a chat with all of you on my blog mailing list. Using my years of experience with the CGS (Catholic guilt syndrome), it would be great to get a brief personal update from each of you to let us know how you are doing. The busy Christmas season is no excuse. And if Charlie Brown had a Christmas Special this year, he would probably say, “Writing to your friends is a wonderful holiday gift!” Snoopy also agrees!