WHAT IS A TYPICAL MORNING LIKE FOR US?
Some people might think that, because Michelle and I are full-time travelers, our life is probably like a never-ending vacation, going from place to place, doing the touristy things one might do while on vacation. In some ways, it is like that! But most of the time, our days are spent doing the same types of things we would typically have done back home in the U.S. (only perhaps in slightly more exotic locations). For example, even though we are “nomadic wanderers”, we still need to go to the grocery store to do food shopping. Today was one such day, so I thought I’d bring you along to see how we roll. You won’t see the photos below on any Instagram or YouTube influencer’s website because they’re not “instagrammable” nor exotic. They’re simply things we see along the way to our local grocery store here in Bangkok, and so I thought I’d share them with you.
By the way, the picture above is the Starbucks that is located on the ground floor of our apartment building. Amazingly enough, I haven’t gone inside there yet. It’s hard for me to justify Starbucks prices anymore when I know I can get an iced coffee at the 7-11 for about one fourth the price!
Our plan this morning is to go to “Foodland”, which is the local grocery store. It’s about 1/3 of a mile walk (483 meters). Along the way, we’re going to make two quick stops.
Just down the street from us is this amazing place! Most Americans will recognize this as a 7-Eleven, but these are not like those! Don’t let the outside fool you. In Asia, 7-Elevens are like little oases of wonders stuck inside the plain outer wrapping of your typical run down convenience store. Here, you can get any type of drink known to man, along with pre-made food that is freshly prepared and is DELICIOUS! Inside these four walls you can find just about anything your heart desires. The toasted ham and cheese sandwiches are to die for! And they prepare them for you right there while you wait. Everything is very reasonably priced, and it’s here that I can get my iced coffee for about a fourth the price of one at the Starbucks we just passed!
Today, we are only getting drinks to go because we have something planned ahead.
Michelle and I each got our drinks, so we’re ready to move on.
As we leave 7-Eleven, we see this vehicle going down the street. It’s actually a taxi that’s basically a small pick-up truck with benches running down each side of the bed. For a small fee, you can get on the truck and ride to where you’re going. These things can get very crowded, and we’ve seen people holding on to the back, standing up while going down the road.
We’re not going to take this today!
After leaving 7-Eleven, we turn right again to keep walking towards the grocery store. Along the way, we pass this place called “Makro”. We’re not stopping here today. I only want to show it to you and explain what it is…
Once again, like many things in Thailand, the outside is a bit deceiving. Even though it looks a bit run-down and old from the front, when you walk in, you quickly realize that this is very much like a Costco store in the U.S (only you don’t need a membership to shop here). It’s huge and sells everything from groceries to appliances and most everything in between! The other day we bought two really nice pillows for our bed here for $8.00 each, since the ones that came with this apartment weren’t doing the job very well. We’ve been here a few times already, but we don’t need to go today, so let’s keep moving.
Up ahead, there’s a pedestrian bridge that we need to cross to take us to the other side of this busy road so that we’ll be on the same side as our grocery store. There’s quite a few steps. It’s steep so make sure to hold the hand rail…
(Did you notice the “Shell” gas station as we got to the other side of the bridge and began our descent back down to street level?)
We’ve now made it to our next stop. I don’t know the name of this place because it’s written in Thai, but it has the most delicious little things that we call “steamed buns”. Each one is only 14 baht (about $.40 cents). They have a kind of a sausage filling, and two of them will fill you up, so we buy 4 for 56 baht. We then go find a step to sit on and enjoy our breakfast. Oh, and remember the drinks we bought at 7-Eleven earlier? Those are in my backpack and so we have a full breakfast with drinks for about $3.60 USD. Here’s what they look like up close…
After our breakfast, we walk the final 100 meters to our grocery store. It’s called “Foodland” and it’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Here’s what it looks like from the outside, and also a shot from the inside…
Foodland had everything that we needed today. And since we got there after 11:00am, we could even buy a few beers to keep ahead at home!
As we exit Foodland, we make a right and start heading back to our apartment. It will only take us about 10 minutes to walk back, but it’s already hot and humid so we’ll be sweating a lot by the time we get back. (Just part of life in Asia I think!)
Anyway, thanks for coming along with us! After we got back, Michelle did our laundry in the laundromat that’s on the 5th floor of our building, and I started writing this blog. It’s about 3:45pm on Friday. Tonight after dinner we plan on watching “On Patrol” on television (probably while eating some yummy chips that we got at the store today), and then going to bed.
And that is our typical day as retirees!
Have a great day everyone and safe travels!
Sounds like a good day to me!