Daily Consumption
As I have said before, during this quarantine time, I have been making it a point of only going out at most once a day, or less if I can skate by. Sometimes it’s for 30 minutes. Sometimes, when I go for a walk, I can be out for a couple of hours, but since Thailand has instituted the nationwide curfew of 22:00, I don’t go much past one skytrain stop to either side of mine. It’s funny. I think my Apple Watch has figured out that my movement and exercise goals need to be adjusted during this time of curfew and social distancing. I walked from my BTS stop (Bang Chak) to the next one into town (On Nut) and back. Miraculously, I managed to close my exercise ring with the 20 minute walk there and back.
I’ve been really annoyed over the past two days on my quest for food. Both days, I have been looking for the chow foon lady and someone selling rose apples by the kilo. Both yesterday and today, no dice. I saw someone with green rose apples, and though very nice, they weren’t really what I was looking for.
I have started getting a little bit bored with a lot of my local vendors. I know, I haven’t tried everything. That would be impossible. I just recently acquired some microwaveable containers so I can reheat some of the street food that may have fallen into the temperature danger zone. Some of the stuff I’m just not interested in. Some of the stuff seems like it takes some involved ordering that I am unable to do in the correct language, or with the right facial expressions wearing a face mask.
There are two carts that always seem to be doing gangbusters, that I’m tempted to just wait in line for, because they both, inevitably, have a line. To be honest, I have no clue what they really sell. There’s something about tofu and soy milk I know, but they also fill a bag with a black tea colored liquid as well. I really wished I was into tofu. Maybe this is the dish that will turn the tide and I should just go in and get it…. What’s a few baht for a new experience, good or bad?
Just to give you all an idea of how much money I’m spending on daily food, I’ve decided to give you guys a little breakdown of my general daily intake of food and how much it costs.
2 bags of cut fruit - 40 baht (20 baht each) -$1.22
2 rice plates or noodle dishes (pad kra pao, curry noodles) - 100 baht (~50 baht each) - $3.05
4 meat on sticks, stir fried vegetables, or 1 som tam - 40 baht (10 baht each for sticks, 40 baht for an order of som tam) - $1.22
2 each soda water - 16 baht (8 baht each as a part of a 6 pack) - $0.49
1 each soda - 15 baht - $0.46
1 each bubble tea - 24 baht - $0.73
1/2 pack of Haribo gummy candies - 16 baht (whole pack is 32 baht) - $0.49
1/2 pack of crispy rice crackers - 13 baht (whole pack is 25 baht) - $0.40
Supplemental fruit - 13 baht (50 baht/kilo over 4 days) - $0.40
Handful of peanuts - 5 baht (20 baht/bag over 4 days) - $0.15
Drinking water - 12 baht (115 baht over 10 days) - $0.37
Sweetened condensed milk for coffee I bought in Vietnam - 5 baht (25 baht over 5 days) - $0.15
So at at total of $9.13, that’s what I generally eat on any given day. Some days I treat myself to a 100 baht ice cream from 7-11. Some days I buy more fruit or more snacks things, but this is generally what my expenditure looks like. Since I’m not traveling to a stage, I’m not spending what would probably be an additional 200-250 baht on transportation every day. However, I’m pretty sure I’m using more electricity and water than I had anticipated. I don’t think my air conditioner has been off for any more than a couple of hours every day at the most fo the past week. The TV has constantly been on. I have been recharging my Nintendo Switch once or twice a day. So, we’ll see how this electricity bill is. The last one was 550 baht ($16.74). I’m betting on it being double this time around. I should be getting a water bill soon too.
Well, I hope this has been enlightening. If you guys have anything that you want me to talk about to keep the content nice and fresh, drop me a line and let me know!