Five weeks?! I've really only learned a few Bangkok basics in five weeks - the order of 4 BTS stops (4 out of about 25 stops... (have I mentioned it is difficult to navigate this city), some Thai phrases (learning "I am allergic to nuts" took about 3 weeks of practice with a Thai classmate), the quickest routes to the airports, a great grocery store, and which mosquito bug spray is best (and essential) for keeping those guys away - to name a few.
After hitting the five week mark - another big thing happened. I ran out of toothpaste. You wouldn't think that this is significant... until you make some wrong purchases at Boots - the drugstore here.
The toothpaste aisle wasn't hard to find. Because of hefty import taxes here, all the Crest toothpastes were about 3x the price of local brands. So... my frugal roots came out. I went for one of the many brands that were written in a foreign language.
Check this picture out below. Look normal?
After hitting the five week mark - another big thing happened. I ran out of toothpaste. You wouldn't think that this is significant... until you make some wrong purchases at Boots - the drugstore here.
The toothpaste aisle wasn't hard to find. Because of hefty import taxes here, all the Crest toothpastes were about 3x the price of local brands. So... my frugal roots came out. I went for one of the many brands that were written in a foreign language.
Check this picture out below. Look normal?
Looks just like Colgate brand! And only 30 bht... (~$1 USD).
So, I pick it up and go about my day. Days get busy here, so I didn't think anything about the toothpaste I was using later that night.... until a few seconds after scrubbing these pearly whites. Something funky was going on....
It tasted...like....SALT?!?
A few weeks ago, I thought I had purchased wasabi peas from the 7-11 outside of our school building. Learned the hard way that Thailand makes flavored wasabi peas in addition to plain. Flavored, as in, flavored like cuttlefish.
Apparently after five weeks here, I haven't picked up the local taste buds for things like cuttlefish and salty toothpaste.
I took a closer look at the box (well, I guess it wasn't really a closer look - I just completely overlooked the other side of the box, which was written in English. I swear, they stocked the shelves with the non-English side facing out....)
Clear, bold letters (at least I was right about it looking like Colgate brand?)
After another trip to Boots, the salty toothpaste has since been replaced.....
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