It’s a good thing I didn’t come to this island as a tourist. Right now I’m living my everyday life with a deadline-based job. But every day I have some interesting experience or new experience. I wrote the last post on Saturday last week, today is Thursday. I’ll tell you what events happened to me in five days.
Sunday – 08.31
The last day of the month is also the last day of the week. On this day, I experienced for the first time that, while talking to someone, the moment came when it was already September for me and August for her. We were separated not only by 6,600 kilometers, but also by a month. However, this obviously happened at night, so I apologize for starting with a quick run.
Since I go to bed late at night, I don’t start my days with the early rise I’m used to at home. The first half of my day was spent working, and I could only mention some interesting things here, such as how great it is to work together in a professional way. But I would rather bore only a few people with this.
However, I had a little health consultation with AI. I wrote to him: I’ve been in Thailand for a week, my first time in Asia. I’ve got a wound inside one of my nostrils. It’s as if the top, thinnest layer of my skin has been damaged. The wound is not healing, a hard yellowish layer forms on it, which sometimes falls off. It feels as if the fluid leaking from the wound has solidified. In addition, there are fingernail-sized wounds on my forehead and chin, which also gently produce moisture and this moisture dries onto the spot. What could be the reason for this? Do I have reason to worry?
The answer was reassuring:
I understand your situation, and it is completely justified that you are worried, because in a foreign country, in an unfamiliar environment, any unusual symptom can be scary.
Based on your description, several things could be the cause:
- Superficial skin infection (impetigo):
- This is a common bacterial skin disease, mainly caused by Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pyogenes. It is characterized by the formation of a yellowish, honey-colored crust at the site of a small injury, which easily peels off, becomes oozy, and then crusts again. This fits exactly with what you are experiencing in your nose and face.
- It is especially common inside the nose, because there are many bacteria living there, and the tropical, warm, humid environment promotes inflammation.
- It is unlikely to be a serious tropical disease, but more likely a common but unpleasant skin infection.
Without asking, he told me what I could do now, when to see a doctor, and reassured me once again so that I wouldn’t stress my brain out: you probably have a superficial bacterial skin infection (impetigo), which is not uncommon in the tropics, especially if your skin was slightly damaged. It’s not life-threatening, but it needs to be treated so that it doesn’t spread further. The easiest and quickest solution is to get a topical antibiotic ointment from the pharmacy. Let’s just say that at this level, he didn’t indicate how familiar he was, because I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had said something like: Soma, I know you’re not worried, but even if you were worried, you shouldn’t do this…
Of course, his usual question after the answer was also very useful: Would you like me to write down the specific names of active ingredients that can be used in a Thai pharmacy and the Thai brand names that you can request? I would have liked to. So on Sunday, I visited an Asian pharmacy for the first time in my life. I showed the AI conversation the name of the medicine that the MediBot had recommended to me.
I started taking an AI mini-course on Sunday, so the above example was gratifying because I think I managed to develop my prompt engineering skills, i.e. the art and technique of communicating effectively with artificial intelligence, to a pretty good level. Prompt engineering means that you consciously formulate and structure your questions, instructions or descriptions for an artificial intelligence (such as ChatGPT) to get the best possible answer. It’s like learning a “common language” with the machine: a good prompt is precise, provides context and makes it clear what you need.
As you can see from the previous sentences, I also went for a walk that day, to buy the lubricant (which I used twice by the way and the skin infection is gone!), food and booze. Many people have asked me a lot of things in the past few days, these conversations provide a good basis for a blog post like this. Since there are many similarities between the questions, I say the same thing several times, so by the time I get to the point where I’m writing about everyday life, I don’t have to think much anymore.
That’s why, when I mentioned food and drink shopping in the previous sentences, it occurred to me that the refrigerator is an interesting issue here. The body doesn’t want room temperature water. No way, the tropics are the tropics. That’s why you always have to put water in the refrigerator. Even if I’m not really into cold water. Cold is better than hot. We don’t drink tap water. The refrigerator has 3 shelves. Since I’m a tenant here, I used one of the three. There was no request or instruction that I shouldn’t use the other two or that I could only use this one. Yet, this is the setup from the first moment. I can roughly pack the following things on one shelf: a bottle of water, a carton of eggs, two or three Nescafés, a ready-made meal or two and some vegetables. The only thing that matters is that I don’t store my survival supplies in the refrigerator. There are only enough shelves in the kitchen to fit the few dishes we have. So I designated the top of the refrigerator as my storage space. Here I keep a package of pasta, a few bags of soup, a few apples and a couple of cans of fish. Well, the result of this extremely large storage capacity is that I bring home some food every other day. Water almost always. I think I was not wrong when I said that “I live a minimalist life.”
While buying my daily groceries, I also gave my soul a little food. I went down to the beach and looked at the sea a little. In the past two weeks, I have swum an average of five times a week. Several people asked me if I had swum in the sea. No. The reason for this is that you cannot swim in the stretch of sea near the house, because the water is very shallow and muddy, for quite a long distance. In Hungarian, I would have to walk 100-200 meters in the sand to climb over some rock obstacle and dive into the water. I don’t want to do this gymnastics stunt ever. The beach isn’t that far. It might sound strange, but I’m not that into beaches. I love water, I don’t sunbathe or lie in the sand. I can also say that I haven’t found the sea water bathing opportunity that I like yet. Well, that might be because I haven’t looked for it. I swim in the pool about 50 meters away from me every time.
Back to Sunday! I went down to the beach and it occurred to me during my quiet contemplation that if I were to head home, I could actually go on the beach. This idea was followed by the idea that I could go barefoot, even in the water. It seemed like such a good idea that I immediately implemented it. However, at the point where I should have gone up from the beach, I didn’t go up because I was curious about the frames. I went as far as I could. These places are also visible in the pictures below.
Where I couldn’t continue my journey home (without swimming), in return for having to turn back, I was given a very peaceful place to meditate. I took the opportunity. It was my first Asian beach meditation.
There was another interesting thing in the rest of the day. In the kitchen, I met the cousin of the little gecko I met the other day. He greeted me sitting on the window, then hid behind the drip tray in fear. It’s a shame he ran away like that, because I would have taken better pictures…
Monday – 09.01
When I started at the beginning of the paragraph by saying that I am not a tourist here, I meant that I am not a tourist here, or at least I do not feel like one.
So I quickly asked AI what the term tourist means. It was such an interesting conversation that I had to force myself not to post it here. I will write another post about it. First of all, I could call myself a tourist, but I will not, because I thought that a tourist is a person who travels temporarily, goes on a trip.
I did not plan a temporary trip, and I did not come here to go on a trip. I live here. I try to live an ordinary life. I will definitely post a picture of me smiling and drinking a coconut while waiting for the jet ski, but this is not part of my everyday life. Considering my financial possibilities, I will not implement this kind of life. Therefore, when in the conversations of the past few days the question of whether you have been here and there, have you tried this and that, came up, I said to almost everything that I have not yet, if at all. My other idea regarding this topic is that if a tourist can see what he wants here in one or two weeks, then I can see anything several times in the three months I have at my disposal. So I don’t have to rush and I’m not late for anything.
After this long introduction, I admit that I spent most of Monday sitting in front of my laptop working.
However, in the evening I went to the famous Fisherman’s Village Night Market, which I had already heard about in Hungary, and I said that I would like to live near it. And of course, I imagined it to be completely different…
This night market is open from 6pm to 10pm. Based on my initial explorations, I would divide the market into three areas: 50% for the crap section, 25% for cocktails, and 25% for food.
In the 50% section, you can find everything you would find in similar markets in any other country: t-shirts, pants, speakers, watches, knick-knacks, and gadgets, all kinds of crap that is absolutely indispensable in a minimalist life. I think 98% of the goods here are products of the People’s Republic of China, which I don’t mean as a judgment in any way. I simply wanted to say that if I were to swap the vendors with, say, Hungarian sellers, I wouldn’t really notice that I’m not in Hungary. Well, I wouldn’t have been able to buy Turkish honey or cockerel lollipops here… I only spent enough time in this area to walk through, and the number of products I looked at was strongly converging to zero.
The attraction of the cocktail area to me roughly coincided with the attraction of the technical area. In fact, I didn’t even look at how much a cocktail costs, I wasn’t that interested in the topic.
So, for me, there was nothing left but the food area. I walked around this area twice, carefully considering what to eat from the great selection on offer on Monday evening.
On Sunday, I was already interested in insects in another place. As I indicated in my article “The gastronomic revolution eluded me”, I had the intention to eat insects. After yesterday’s unsuccessful search, I saw the coveted food here.
I tasted it. It was delicious! I asked for an insect mix. The price of this was 150 Baht. For the sake of simplicity, you can multiply the amount I write by ten and then the result will be Hungarian Forints. So we can say that I could experience this experience for the price of two scoops of Hungarian ice cream. It included the following items:
- Sagu worm: a tropical larva, the larva of the red palm beetle (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus). In many Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, it is eaten as a special delicacy in local cuisine. The larvae live in the trunks of the sago palm and are rich in protein, fats and minerals. Well, I was the only one who didn’t like this one…
- Cricket.
- White cricket.
- Grashopper.
- Pupa.
- Chicken stomach. I know… It’s not an insect! But they added it to the mix. It tasted like a dumpling.
The above items were portioned out after they were already fried and placed on the table. One of the vendors sprayed it with some kind of sprayer and sprinkled some spice or salt on it thinly before I could pick it up in a simple plastic bag. I was given a skewer, which I used to prick the bites, but I got bored of it and finished eating it by hand. The Sagu larva wasn’t bad either, but it had an off-flavor that I didn’t like. I’ll try the rest a few more times.
I ate insects for the pleasure of eating. Not to tick this activity off a non-existent list. This is what the last sentence of the previous paragraph suggests. However, one of the pictures shows that there is still a challenge in the subject, for me too. The small scorpion is 150 Baht, the large one is 200 Baht. The spider and the centipede 400. The scorpion and the spider were a bit scary to me before the meal. The centipede wasn’t even then. By the time I started munching on it (about after the first bite), the scorpion wasn’t scary anymore. It doesn’t have a stinger on it, so I think you can just chew it all up. The spider didn’t appeal to me today, and it wasn’t just the price… But I feel like I’m going to feast on both.
In addition to the insect adventure, you can get a lot of delicious and fragrant food and drinks at this market. Lovers of Thai, Kanai and Japanese cuisine will find their way, as will Europeans hungry for pastries and lovers of all kinds of grilled things. You can get grilled corn, pork, beef, and scallops. The common feature of the dishes is their very appetizing appearance and even more inviting smells.
The drinks served here are fruit-based, I think alcohol is only served in the cocktail country. Here you can drink everything from real coconut to smoothies and freshly squeezed juices.
And if you still have room in your second stomach for dessert, you can order chocolate-dipped grapes, strawberries (very tasty!), Thai cookies, European cookies, pancakes.
After eating the insects, I felt like I had a good time. That was about two handfuls of insects by the way. But this feeling quickly passed, despite the fact that my diet has completely changed since I’ve been here. I’m not only eating differently, but I’m also eating less.
So my dinner was a locally made pad thai. I bought it for 90 Baht. About a fifth of the price at home. An old lady made it in front of me, I enjoyed watching her swing the spoon. I thanked her for making my dinner. She was happy to receive the wai. I don’t think she’s used to it. But I’m not a tourist, I want to allow myself to be nice to the locals, because they are nice to me…
I ate the meal in an area that I already know well, where I walk every day. On the way home, I took a few small things for my “pantry” and sat down to meditate on the beach 170 meters from the house. The sea was a little louder here, so I had a hard time hearing my guided meditation. I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to hear it so many times that I could probably recite it by heart.
Tuesday – 09.02
This day was also mostly spent working.
I had only one activity planned for the day. In Hungary, I spent 2 hours together with a friend of mine every Tuesday. The central element of the activities we did together was conversation. We always did something around this: long walks, archery, cycling, playing cards, etc. We were also in Tatra together.
We had already discussed months ago that we would not neglect this kind of time spent together, even though I had moved. This was our first, non-“traditional” walk together. Because we both walked. Details of the walk:
- Departure: 16:00 and 21:00
- Distance 9 km and 8 km.
- Location: Koh Samui and Tata
- Tool: Telegram
This occasion confirmed exactly what I have written several times on the blog. In some cases, distance means nothing in terms of relationships.
Of course, I have relationships where this distance matters a lot, but this walk today did not convey that. In terms of the quality of our connection with my friend, there was no difference between this and the last walk in Hungary.
I went by the side of the road based on a feeling, approximately to the place where the taxi brought me here on the first day. We were so immersed in the conversation that I suddenly realized that I was standing in front of the entrance to the airport. It is true that the airport is in an area where retro action movies are filmed here. This is not a critical comment, I am simply saying that for me Koh Samui has the first airport that we are used to seeing in exotic movies, in a tropical environment, and that is not characterized by a high-tech concrete jungle. The entrance to the airport meets this and the expectations implied by the environment.
I didn’t take a single photo that day.
Wednesday – 09.03
I’m slowly not adding to the description of the days that I worked. Let’s assume that this is also one of my basic daily activities.
However, early in the afternoon I did something I’ve never done before in my life. I neatly packed my accumulated laundry into my laptop backpack. I set off to do laundry. There’s no washing machine in the apartment. Not because there’s no dishwasher. And no coffee maker either. I think I wasn’t wrong when I said, “I live a minimalist life.”
I knew from my host that the laundry would cost 30 Baht. By the way, we’ve been talking to him more and more these days, I’m glad that he’s taken me into his confidence at this level. Today (Thursday) I’ve also contacted him with a completely personal problem. So I knew that I would be able to do laundry for a small amount, and that I wouldn’t have much chance to wait on site for the laundry to finish. Which would be around an hour.
However, I didn’t know that I could only pay with 10 Baht coins. I had two tens and two fives. The laundromat was on the street under a roof. In front of a family house. A lady from the People’s Republic of China ran the company, I asked her for help. She opened the padlock of the small box under the slot of one of the machines, put my two fives in and gave me a ten instead. Seeing the business, I didn’t even want to ask if I could pay with a card, even as a joke. I would have avoided this rude joke all the more because, on the one hand, I haven’t liked to do this for a long time, and on the other hand, the lady was very helpful. First, with the change.
Then, with the fact that one of the tens, which I had put in five times and came back on the other side of the slot, she also put in me several times. Then she would open the padlock of the small box under the slot, put in my malfunctioning ten and give me another, which we quickly threw back into the box that had been locked again in the meantime.
That’s all the washing instructions were for now. Three ten-baht coins, you have to put them in there, and then I’ll tango back in an hour. But just to be safe, I asked if the machine dispenses detergent, although I also thought this was a no-win situation, but seriously. It doesn’t dispense it, you have to bring it. I’ll definitely bring it next time, now I asked if you can help me. That’s how I got detergent. I’m grateful for this help.
I went to my usual street, with the intention of choosing where to spend the hour. This choice took a quarter of my time, but I don’t regret it, because I like walking. I spent my time with a good coffee and a very delicious watermelon smoothie.
And my current book was also present in the cafe. It’s Michelle Cohen Corasanti: The Almond Tree. This novel tells the story of a Palestinian boy who loses his home and family at the age of twelve to the Israeli occupation. The boy’s extraordinary mathematical talent enables him to leave his war-torn homeland and start a new life in America. The novel is about the power of love, the price of hate, and the possibility of forgiveness. More importantly, it is a novel with the following title on the cover: “Expected to be one of the biggest book successes of the decade.” The book showed me in the first few pages why someone wrote that sentence on it.
What made the book exciting in the café was that a new character appeared while reading it. Let a screenshot do the talking for me:
When I went back to get my clean clothes, the lady wasn’t there. True, the machine was enough for me. Luckily, it’s not a lockable machine, you just have to close the top. True, someone else could take my clothes that way, but I guess no one needs my torn T-shirts and underwear. I washed my bath towel and one pair of socks. Since I’ve been living here, I haven’t worn socks much. I walk barefoot in my running shoes during my daily walks.
When I got home, I swam a bit. I plan to make this part of my daily routine. This week, I increased the amount of time I spend swimming, which I started last week.
My swimming technique is perhaps a little more mature than what Eric Moussambani could have had back then. I’ll tell you, not by much… I hope that will change, as will the amount of distance I can cover in one go. I really enjoy this pool, it’s nice to have the opportunity to use it. If I say I’m grateful for it, sooner or later someone will send me to hell. So in this case I won’t say it, but I’ve crossed my fingers behind my back and I do mean it.
Thursday – 09.04
This suddenly became yesterday. It’s 2:31, but I swear, I started writing this post yesterday.
I worked all day. I sat out on the terrace and loved the freshness of the gently moving air.
Today I was nowhere to be found, except for swimming. What made this special was that while I was imitating a fish in the water, the rain started to drizzle. Then it started to rain, but unfortunately it didn’t last long. It was a very pleasant experience to swim in the caress of the raindrops.
Since it had stopped, I decided to meditate for a while, in the pool. Standing or leaning on my elbows, holding on to the edge. Thinking about the rain, I covered my phone, which I had placed on the edge of the pool, with my towel and started my ten-minute meditation. Meanwhile, it started to rain, and this made the moment very special: relaxing in a pool built under palm trees in the moonlight, feeling the drops falling on my head, and switching off. Of course, I didn’t see anything from the visual experience presented in the previous sentence, since my eyes were closed for ten minutes. This does not detract from the magic of the moment.
While swimming, I had the opportunity to look at a gecko about twenty centimeters long on the wall of the house next to the pool. It watched the sweaty moments of my attempt to become a dolphin with stoic calm.
One more topic. Several people asked if I had settled in? To this, I can only say that the immense amount of things that I brought with me for the joy of moving to Asia, I packed with great difficulty in two weeks. The small hanging shelf in one of the pictures below shows my current complete equipment, minus my laptop. Also, the pictures show the complete furnishings of my room. Plus a very delicious apple, which is interesting because it tastes like a pear.
haven’t even mentioned the many small joys of the past few days: family calls, friendly inquiries, lots of delicious food, joyful moments of a job well done…
I’ve had five days rich in experiences and feelings.