Well folks, I've moved. I suppose I should change the under title of this blog as I am no longer living in Chaiyaphum and have moved to a different city in Thailand - Pakchong! There are many things to say about this move - why I've moved, facts about Pakchong, where I'm living in Pakchong - and of course there are many things to say about the many months that I have not blogged. But let's start with Pakchong.
When I was offered my position with BFITS one of the selling points was that if I renewed my contract in March I would have the option of moving to a different city. I think they were worried because I told them in my interview that I liked living in a city and well, Chaiyaphum doesn't really fit any sort of metropolitan qualifications. As it turned out I really loved living in Chaiyaphum. I liked being recognized around town - it made me feel really safe there - and I loved the school I was working at and my students there. So why did I decide to move? Really, there are two reasons and both of them revolve around Bangkok. All of my friends here in Thailand live in Bangkok and even though G was with me during the week in Chaiyaphum that wouldn't be true (*fingers crossed* for her sake) this term. So socially living in Chaiyaphum had some serious drawbacks. Pakchong is bigger and while I'm still unsure of its farang population or weekend social options, I live in hope of the possibilities. And either way spending a weekend in Bangkok can start Friday at 7 instead of Friday at 10 and that's just more fun all the way around!
The second reason I wanted to be closer to Bangkok was for travel reasons. I've been pretty successful at travelling since I've been here, but 3/4 of my "big" trips (more than a weekend) have involved me leaving out of Bangkok. Adding 12 hours on a bus was kind of putting a damper on my travels. Especially for New Years when I went to Taiwan but only had 5 days off. Living in Chaiyaphum meant that of those 5 days, 2 full days were spent in transit. Cutting my commute to Bangkok in half will, I imagine, make such travels much easier. Not to mention Pakchong's proximity to bigger cities and better accessibility to bus routes around Isan.
So Pakchong is closer to Bangkok than Chaiyaphum and is in somewhere called Isan, but what else? Pakchong is in the northeast region of Thailand, called Isan, and is a 3 hour bus ride from Bangkok. And its only a 2 hour car ride! It is much larger than Chaiyaphum; Chaiyaphum has about 40,000 people (although it felt smaller than that) whereas Pakchong is about 180,000 people. Here there is a center of town which includes a night market (primarily food items) and a general market (for shopping type things). There's a bus station (obviously) but there's also a train station! Not that I actually plan on taking the train here... Thailand has to be the only country I have ever been in where the buses are nicer, faster, and more convenient than the train. I haven't had much of a chance to really explore Pakchong yet so I'll update what there is here as time goes on.
So that's the beginning of my fresh start in a new place. Of course I'm also hoping my blog post title will refer to a fresh start with this blog. So in a renewed effort to post more often I'm going to save pictures and a description of my new room for tomorrow's post. Don't worry - it'll be worth the wait. :)
When I was offered my position with BFITS one of the selling points was that if I renewed my contract in March I would have the option of moving to a different city. I think they were worried because I told them in my interview that I liked living in a city and well, Chaiyaphum doesn't really fit any sort of metropolitan qualifications. As it turned out I really loved living in Chaiyaphum. I liked being recognized around town - it made me feel really safe there - and I loved the school I was working at and my students there. So why did I decide to move? Really, there are two reasons and both of them revolve around Bangkok. All of my friends here in Thailand live in Bangkok and even though G was with me during the week in Chaiyaphum that wouldn't be true (*fingers crossed* for her sake) this term. So socially living in Chaiyaphum had some serious drawbacks. Pakchong is bigger and while I'm still unsure of its farang population or weekend social options, I live in hope of the possibilities. And either way spending a weekend in Bangkok can start Friday at 7 instead of Friday at 10 and that's just more fun all the way around!
The second reason I wanted to be closer to Bangkok was for travel reasons. I've been pretty successful at travelling since I've been here, but 3/4 of my "big" trips (more than a weekend) have involved me leaving out of Bangkok. Adding 12 hours on a bus was kind of putting a damper on my travels. Especially for New Years when I went to Taiwan but only had 5 days off. Living in Chaiyaphum meant that of those 5 days, 2 full days were spent in transit. Cutting my commute to Bangkok in half will, I imagine, make such travels much easier. Not to mention Pakchong's proximity to bigger cities and better accessibility to bus routes around Isan.
So Pakchong is closer to Bangkok than Chaiyaphum and is in somewhere called Isan, but what else? Pakchong is in the northeast region of Thailand, called Isan, and is a 3 hour bus ride from Bangkok. And its only a 2 hour car ride! It is much larger than Chaiyaphum; Chaiyaphum has about 40,000 people (although it felt smaller than that) whereas Pakchong is about 180,000 people. Here there is a center of town which includes a night market (primarily food items) and a general market (for shopping type things). There's a bus station (obviously) but there's also a train station! Not that I actually plan on taking the train here... Thailand has to be the only country I have ever been in where the buses are nicer, faster, and more convenient than the train. I haven't had much of a chance to really explore Pakchong yet so I'll update what there is here as time goes on.
So that's the beginning of my fresh start in a new place. Of course I'm also hoping my blog post title will refer to a fresh start with this blog. So in a renewed effort to post more often I'm going to save pictures and a description of my new room for tomorrow's post. Don't worry - it'll be worth the wait. :)
Dear Caroline, I just wrote you a note and hit Publish instead of Preview. I wonder if you got that one. If you did, I'll simply say once again that I love reading your blogs, keep it up, and stay healthy & safe. Love to all, OMO
ReplyDelete