Day 14 The Return of the Ning

Internet access has been like molasses the last 2 days and I must apologize again for the lateness of this edition but living like a Thai you have to put up with certain things.

Today was an odd day in a good way. When I woke up I didn’t particularly feel like going anywhere to get breakfast so I turned on the rice cooker and made some rice which I flavored with ramen, no, just joking but I do have a mixture of ingredients and spices to add in and that’s exactly what I did. Not sure exactly whats in the jar to the right on the top shelf but it smelled and tasted meaty and made for a nice brown rice mixture.

The Return of the Ning

After working on some projects all morning my phone rang and I was surprised to see it was Ning. We talk every few weeks but we stopped seeing each other around New Years ( long Story ) We work well as friends although I do miss her now and again. She wanted to know what I was up to and if she could come by. I told her sure and 30 minutes later she was at my door bearing gifts…food! Ning always shows up with food and check out those stylish pants. I believe the jeans are from the new Yoda line of fashion.

Spicy sausage, chicken skewers, sticky rice with fruit and vegetables…a very filling and delightful lunch and free to boot. And if that wasn’t enough she brought with her a treat…Durian chips! I hate durian as a rule but for some reason I love durian chips and I am eating some more as I write this Ahh crunchy goodness.

I tried to explain the living like a Thai experiment to Ning but she really didn’t understand. She asked me if I had been going out but I said no because lack of money due to the experiment. She looked very concerned for me. After hanging out for an hour or so Ning departed but said she would check in later.

A long afternoon of finishing up a project left me hungry again and seeing as I haven’t spent anything for the day I decided to splurge and go to 7/11 where I bought an Oishi black tea and an Oishi ham and cheese sandwich. The sandwich was 22 baht ( $.74) and the tea was 16 baht( $.54 ) so I threw caution to the wind and bought a bag of chips too for 20 baht ( $.34 ). Not the best of dinners but for 58 baht ( $1.83 ) what do you expect…I felt like a kid in a candy store.

Unfortunately as I arrived back at the condo the budget buster did too, the laundry man was there to deliver my laundry…yup still don’t have any inclination to do my own laundry and while this weeks laundry bill was a measly 155 baht ( $5.27 ),  under normal conditions this is very cheap, for the sake of my living like a Thai on a Thai style budget it wasn’t good news…and I felt so good about my cheap day too. Looks like tomorrow is a ramen and rice kinda day

Around 8pm I hear a familiar voice outside my balcony calling my name and sure enough when I looked down there was Ning. She stopped by to see if I had eaten dinner because she is sure I have no money and is worried about me, I almost feel bad but I suspect she’s in need of a loan and that is why she’s worried about my ATM. She is going to check in on me tomorrow so we shall see…hopefully she comes by with more tasty eats

Observations today: I really need a girlfriend that washes clothes Sometime this week I need to hit the markets for meats and veggies so I can cook more at home or at least have a better selection of eats when I am too lazy to wander out. Technically I have a bag of frozen shrimp and some cans of tuna but they were here before the experiment started and it wouldn’t be fair to be eating them, so I have been a good boy and stuck to the program.

Well, as I write this installment it’s 1:30 am and hopefully this time I can get it posted before the internet goes down again.

Living Like a Thai Day 14 Expenses