Rangsit/Bangkok

After leaving Phuket I was making my way to Rangsit, which is a northern suburb of Bangkok about 45 minutes outside the city center. I had a friend who I met through LanguageCorps who was working out there and allowed me to sleep on his couch. I arrived very early Monday morning and somehow made it all the way to Rangsit with a very expensive cab ride. Once I was situated Joe, my friend, took me around town on his moto to explain where everything was. Joe lives right near Rangsit University so it is like living in a college town. On the main strip there are tons of Internet cafes, ice cream shops, and restaurants. Other than the main strip Rangsit didn’t have much to offer. There were a couple bars and snooker halls but that is about it.  I spent about three weeks in the Bangkok/ Rangsit area and didn’t do much except go to Bangkok for job interviews or hangout around Rangsit. I was very fortunate to have some of my dad’s co-workers being in Bangkok for a week so I was able to head into the city to hangout with them. They were really nice guys and they really took care of me. They took me out to lunches, dinners, to the aquarium, and to get Rosetta stone. They gave me a key to the hotel so I could freshen up before a job interview and even went on a search for some American candy for me. I have been so fortunate while in Southeast Asia I have meet wonderful people throughout my journey who have really helped me. Had it not been for these people being so generous with their time and money I would be in a lot more trouble financially.

The one thing I became an expert at while staying in Rangsit was using the public transportation. I learned how to get from the apartments in Rangsit to Future Park hop on a public van to the BTS (Sky train) and get wherever I needed for about 300 baht ($9) round trip. I used the vans at Future Park so much that the lady who ran the vans didn’t even ask where I was going just pointed to my van smiled and waved. I am going to miss that lady.

Once I had gotten my job I had to go about searching for an apartment, which was quite difficult. I was online searching for places but just couldn’t find anything I liked or places were too expensive or it was all in Thai so the language barrier was a little bit of a problem. Thankfully one of my friends Brianna had used this real estate agent to help her find her place so I gave him a call. His name was Bill and he had been in Thailand about 15 years, he was originally from Canada. I gave him my preferences of studio that was decently priced, furnished, and close to BTS; he called me back in an hour saying he had a place he thought I would like and to meet up with him on Saturday afternoon. After going to almost the very end of the BTS I arrived a little bit early for our meeting so I decided to walk the neighborhood. I didn’t know which apartment building I was going to look at since there were numerous ones throughout the neighborhood but from my quick walk I found a pharmacy, numerous restaurants, a grocery store, and plenty of street food vendors. After a quick walk I knew that I at least liked what the neighborhood had to offer. I met up with Bill at a local coffee shop and we walked about 10 mins. to the condo building I would be staying in. He told me how this was a new and upcoming neighborhood because of the recent addition of a BTS stop. The neighborhood had always been cheap to live in, but with the added public transportation more apartment buildings were popping up and places were getting rented pretty fast. When we made it my building I liked the outward appearance and the grounds. It had a nice lap pool, fitness center, and a lot of security.   

Once we went into the condo I was in love. When I imagined how my dream condo would look this place was it. I walked in to a small kitchenette on the right hand side. I had a big sink, cupboards, a cook top, and a fridge. As I ventured more into the apartment I had a decent sized bathroom with an enclosed shower and a giant mirror that took up one side of the bathroom with a long ledge to place all my toiletries. Once inside the apartment I had a small dinning room table with two chairs, a queen sized bed, a couch, built in closet, and entertainment center with TV. I had loads of windows with curtains and a balcony. Everything I wanted was in this place. I couldn’t believe that everything was included and it was in my budget that never happens. I told my agent I was in love and that I wanted it. He said "when would you like to move in?" I said "as soon as possible" and he responded "how about tomorrow at noon?" Of course I was ready to move in as soon as possible. I was so happy in one week I had a place to live, a job, and  everything was working out just beautifully. By Sunday afternoon I had signed a lease forked over three months rent and was buying necessities. My week was spent running errands, getting internet, signing my work contract, going to orientation, and hoping on a bus at 9 o’clock at night Friday evening for Kanchanaburi for a weekend of waterfalls. I know before I came to Thailand the last city I wanted to live in was Bangkok and now I can’t imagine myself in any other city I really like it here. The only thing that could make this any better would be if my Thai was better, but I am pretty sure my new co-workers will willingly teach me.