Living behind closed walls

We live in Bangkok behind walls. The essential reason to move to a compound were our dogs. If you live in Bangkok, then you can actually forget to walk your dogs. Either you live on a main road, where the sidewalks are packed by vendors, or you live in a side street, having 300000000 with you in. For most dog owners only options are big garden or compound.



The advantage here is that we can walk our four dogs without the racing cars passing by or just street dogs make our lives difficult. Not that it is understood here wrong: We have nothing against street dogs, three of our dogs are such. Only the soi dogs here just extremely territorial, and we have little desire every morning to settle any disputes. In Laos, the number of dogs was less, and above all, they were not all in one place.

Another reason for the compound is the rest. We live in Samut Prakan, what is technically the neighboring province of Bangkok. Still, life here is lively enough, and if we leave our Muu Ban, we are right in the city life. But in here, behind the walls, it's quiet. Exactly what you need if you live in Bangkok. (This is why we loved Phu My Hung in Saigon , because it was similar).


And finally, there is the security. A Muu Ban has a large gate with security and barriers. Who wants in here and does not live here, must give his ID. Distributed in the compound are four more security guards. They even call me a taxi or moto taxi. (One comes from Isaan, northeast Thailand. With him I can show off my Lao skills.)

That we have a very nice pool area and fitness center that everything is clean, are further plus points.


Some expats may say that it is not authentic (although I wonder if they say so to the predominantly Thai neighbors here), or it is not in the middle of the city. The latter is intentional: it is cheaper, more quiet, and we can be with the train in 30 minutes in downtown Bangkok.


Oh, by the way, the location is also good: Central Bangna, Paradise Park and Mega Bangna shopping Smalls are in close proximity to the airport is 30 minutes away, hospitals, supermarkets, vets and Starbucks we have around us. Who needs Thong Lor ?

Learning Thai in Bangkok

So, after doing some research, I subscribed to AAA language school. Main reasons were that a friend recommended it, and its easy to get there (just a few meters from Chitlom BTS). They are operating for a while, got approval from the Ministry of Education, and are reasonable priced. I booked 20 hours private lessons, twice a week 2 hour sessions. As a beginner, I have to start with pronunciation, and this is taught through phonetic language. A big minus. My experience with learning Vietnamese and Lao is, that is way better to learn read and speak right from the beginning.

I understand that this school may want to prepare people for daily life, and that should be mainly speaking. But it isn't, actually. How to understand all the signs, all the promotion messages, the bills etc? Also, one of the first words I had to learn were Ruler, Pencil and Eraser (Whats Abacus in Thai?). Clearly a sign that it is a while ago when the last updated their textbook.

My teacher is good, and at least my pronunciation will get better. In Laos people didn't care so much about it, as long as they got it from the context, but the Thais are like the french: Their language is art, and no derivates allowed.

To be continued....

"All about dog spa" offers a swimming pool and therapy for dogs

Our dog Yoda has a deformation on his front legs and got a surgery some months ago in Khon Kaen. Now it's time to remove the nails that still stick in his bone. But after the X-Ray the doc recommended to gain some more strength in his muscles. How to do it? Get a swimming therapy. 

Coming from Laos that sounds a bit funny, but it turned out (thanks to Jan's hint) that there is a dog swimming pool right around the corner in Soi Bearing. It's called "All About Dog Spa" (on Facebook you will find it as "Moobrador"). The owner speaks fluent English and is really dedicated to dogs. He is breeding Labradors as well, in case you want a puppy.

But let's get back to the swimming. Yoda never ever was in a pool or anything different from the puddles in the street after the rain. So we were a bit nervous about him. But it turned out to be easy: staff is treating the dogs very well and carefully, moving him slowly into the water. A safety vest is mandatory, as well as a shower and a "toilet visit" previous to the swimming lesson.

Although I understood that you can make an appointment for just an hour of swimming, the main focus seems to be on swimming therapy. A lot of dogs coming there have problems moving their legs, mainly the beg legs. Cause can be an accident or an disease. I witnessed several dogs not able to move the legs will lying down, but when they went in the pool they paddled like a baby. 

Costs depend on how many times you want to come. There is a membership fee (1500 Baht), and we payed about 600 Baht (20 USD) per hour. That includes showering, shampoo, dry blowing  and ear cleaning after the  swim. 

Opening hours:

Mon - Tue: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Thu - Fri: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Sat - Sun: 7:00 am - 4:00 pm

Phone: +66 81 626 8169


Location: 

Soi Bearing (Sukhumvit 107). From Srinakarin Road turn into Soi Bearing, watch for a Mercedes Dealer on the left side and then it's about 50 meters down the road, a small gate on the left.

A sense we can't post on Facebook

When you come to a new place, then there is a lot to digest new impressions. In the age of Facebook and Instagram photos and short texts we invite high for each of our friends (and enemies) know how beautiful it is here. But that's only half the truth. The sense that we use in new places most is the sense of smell. With the eyes we perceive mainly movements, with the ears we check the environment we can't see, but with the nose but we scan for danger.

 When I came to Laos, I walked every morning around our village. It was not a nice experience for the nose. Almost every house had a fire and burned the garbage that had just swept along. Then there were barbecue stands, which was mostly fueled with wood soaked in kerosene. Passing by an undeveloped plot of land usually meant walking along a garbage dump.

 Bangkok is a already completely different experience. For one thing, the food street stalls smell better. It is not just grilled chicken or other grilled meat. Actually, passing by food stands in Bangkok is one of the best olfactory experiences ever. And then there is this mix of nature, in our compound, the fragrance of flowers of frangipani and jasmine and other flowers.

 The house where we live smells like a new house, a bit like IKEA. The little Minimart has its own smell of dried fish, which is sold at the door. The laundry smells of the very own fragrance that is added to the washed clothes - whether or not the customer wants it. Somewhere it stinks from the sewer and the wastewater in Bangkok smells different than in Laos or Vietnam.

 I know that Google made a nice Aprils Fool joke with Google Nose. In some way, they are right: without our nose, we can't smell (and taste as well). That means, we can't experience the world around us as it is. Sometimes, we should close our eyes and walk around by just using our nose as a guidance.