Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand December 2014 / January 2015 | Page 14

Style
chalet. It was the kind of place
that inspires you to wear your
hair in two long braids and
gleefully shout across the echoing

Lesson learnt: Keep your head
out of the clouds and feet firmly
planted on ground when selecting
a home in Thailand.

Life started to look up for
us as soon as we found our
little paradise…We moved into
a simple, yet gloriously retro,
mint green Thai teak house
circa 1950. We call it the
Retro Shack.

Alps like Julie Andrews. While
house searching in Bangkok,
I was subconsciously thinking
along the lines of, “If I can’t have
an Alpine view nor don the Heidi
plaits, I am going to need a lake
view or a big garden to make up
for the loss of my mountain
habitat.” Et voila—I’d already lost
sight of my goal to lead a life
unencumbered by worldly chattels.
In one fell swoop, I had forgotten
I was in Thailand for the experience
and to become a better and more
spiritual person—not to clone
the life I had just left behind.
Our first housing experience
in Bangkok killed our budget
and sanity. We wound up renting
an entirely inappropriate house
with an over-sized garden,
in a ludicrous middle-of-nowhere
location with limited public
transport options. No taxi drivers
were willing to go there, even
when coaxed with generous tips.
And then there were the two metre
long monitor lizards and pythons
that found our garden to be a most
hospitable retreat. Within a matter
of months, one of those nasty
beasties had, in fact, eaten
one of my beautiful felines
for breakfast.
14 WANDERLUST

As it turns out, our second
new home was located in a hiso neighbourhood, which only
added to our woes. The people
immediately around us lived very
fancy lives and had very fancy
things; but all we had was a scooter,
a Ford Ranger pick-up truck,
and an ex-soi dog. The day we
mowed the grassy lawn ourselves,
our fate in this neighborhood was
sealed, and we were not welcomed
with open arms.
Besides surrounding ourselves
with the materialistic mentalities
we were trying to escape,
the biggest mistake we made
was using our neighbors
as a gauge for the ways of Thais
in general.  We would later learn
otherwise, after we became
acquainted with friendly Thai
people—and there are many
of them. The inappropriate
house, arrogant neighbors,
and our own generalizations kept
us far from achieving the tranquil
life we sought.
Lesson learnt: If you are trying
to le Yp