0:00

Hello

0:01

there, everyone. My name

0:03

is Andrew.

0:05

And I'm Cassie. And

0:07

this is the Culep English

0:09

podcasts.

0:16

Hey there, Caleb's community. You're

0:18

listening to Simplified Speech. The

0:20

Caleb series, which features clear,

0:22

natural, and easy to understand

0:25

conversations in English about

0:28

interesting topics. Today,

0:30

helping me with this episode is

0:32

my cohost, Cassie. Hey

0:34

there, Cassie. Hey,

0:36

Andrew, and hey listeners. Greetings

0:38

from Thailand. Yeah.

0:40

Greetings from Thailand. Cassie,

0:42

I'm so glad to hear that you arrived

0:44

in Thailand safe and

0:46

sound. Yeah.

0:47

My husband and I just arrived

0:49

here like a week and a half

0:52

ago, and we're just starting

0:54

to get settled in Bangkok.

0:56

Yeah.

0:56

That's great. And I

0:58

thought that we could dedicate

1:00

this episode to hear about

1:02

what your first impressions of Thailand

1:05

are like. I'm so curious to hear

1:07

some of your stories about this new

1:09

adventure that you're on. Yes.

1:11

And I am so excited to tell

1:13

you about it as well. But

1:17

before we do that, I will take

1:19

a moment to tell everyone about

1:22

our transcript and study

1:24

guide available for this episode.

1:26

So guys, studying with the transcript

1:29

and guide is a great way to learn

1:31

with us. In the study guide,

1:33

you'll find detailed descriptions and

1:35

real world examples of all the

1:37

key vocabulary. You'll hear Andrew

1:39

and I using here today. There

1:42

are also activities designed to

1:44

help you build your speaking and

1:46

writing skills. There's a quiz

1:48

and much more. To get the

1:50

study guide and transcript, you need

1:52

to be a Culeps member. To

1:55

learn all the details and to sign

1:57

up, just visit our website, culeps

1:59

dot com. We

2:01

also wanna give a shout out to one of

2:03

our listeners named Michael who is

2:05

from Germany. And Michael

2:07

left us a five star rating and

2:09

a fantastic review on Apple

2:11

Podcasts. And in

2:13

his review, he wrote hey,

2:16

Dear Culeps team. I'm Michael from

2:18

Germany, and I love your podcast.

2:20

Together with my sister-in-law who

2:22

lives in New York, I will soon

2:24

start my own business in the

2:26

USA. For this, it was necessary

2:29

for me to improve my dusty

2:32

school English. I succeeded

2:34

with your podcast. I'm getting better and better

2:36

and more and more confident in communicating

2:38

with our American partners. Please

2:41

keep up the good work. Wow.

2:43

Thank you for that awesome review, Michael

2:46

and Cassie. Don't you think that's pretty

2:48

fitting that review for this

2:50

episode because we're gonna be talking about

2:53

starting a new life in a foreign country,

2:55

and it sounds like that's exactly

2:57

what Michael just did.

2:59

Yeah. Michael and I have got a few things

3:01

in common.

3:02

this

3:03

I think so. So thank

3:05

you for learning English with us, Michael, and

3:07

good luck on your new adventures

3:10

in the USA. And

3:13

Cassie, of course, thank you to everyone

3:15

out there who's been supporting us by

3:17

telling, you know, with their friends to listen

3:19

to Culeps, or by leaving ratings

3:21

and reviews on their

3:23

favorite podcast apps because

3:25

it really does help us a and

3:28

of course, we very much appreciate

3:31

it. And with that being said,

3:33

Cassie, I wanna jump jump right into

3:35

our main topic for which

3:37

is about your first impressions

3:40

of Thailand. So let's

3:42

get into it. You said earlier

3:44

that you've been in Thailand now for about

3:46

just a week and a half, so it's very

3:48

much still fresh and in the

3:51

beginning stages. What's it

3:53

been like so far? Tell us all about

3:55

it.

3:55

Well, Andrew, it's been really great

3:57

so far. And

4:00

I don't think listeners will be able to

4:02

hear it, but I'm actually experiencing

4:05

one of the differences between

4:07

Thailand and Korea, and that

4:09

is the territual downpours

4:12

of the rainy season in Thailand.

4:14

So

4:14

listeners, this is our first time

4:17

recording where I am in

4:20

Korea where I live and now Cassie

4:22

is in Thailand where she lives.

4:24

And I guess in

4:26

Thailand right now, it's start of the rainy

4:28

season, and we just pressed

4:30

record and started getting into

4:32

this episode. And then Cassie said

4:35

Andrew, the rain just started.

4:37

Can you hear the heavy rain in the

4:39

background? And we had to stop and do

4:41

an audio check just to make sure

4:43

we weren't getting drowned out by

4:45

the sound of the falling rain in the

4:47

background. So I guess that

4:49

is one major difference that

4:51

you're experiencing right from the start.

4:53

Cassie is the difference

4:55

in weather and climate in

4:57

Thailand.

4:58

Yeah. That's right. And I

5:00

haven't been stuck out in the

5:02

rain so far. So I can say

5:04

I actually really love this

5:06

weather

5:07

from

5:08

an insider's point of view. Someone

5:10

safe inside a

5:12

dry room because Korea

5:15

doesn't really get these big

5:18

thunderstorms and I think

5:20

they are so cool here. We

5:22

got them back in Pennsylvania in

5:24

my hometown, but I haven't heard

5:26

them for a while living in Korea.

5:28

Yeah.

5:29

We do get heavy

5:30

rain. There is, I would say,

5:33

short rainy season in Korea,

5:35

and the rain does fall very

5:37

intensely during that period. but it's

5:39

not very often that you hear thunder

5:41

or see lightning. I'd

5:43

say, like, only a couple days

5:45

a year, really, it's it's quite rare

5:47

in Korea. So that's cool that

5:49

you get these big rainstorms there

5:51

in Thailand. And Cassie, don't you think

5:54

that it's great weather for reading?

5:56

I always love reading a book in a

5:58

heavy thunderstorm?

5:59

Yes. Exactly. Or just, you know,

6:02

taking a nap and then hearing the

6:05

sound as the rain falls onto

6:07

the roof.

6:08

Yes. Very very nice. So

6:12

apart from the weather and the climate,

6:14

what are some of your first impressions

6:17

of Thailand. Is there anything that

6:19

jumped out at you that was like

6:21

really interesting or exciting

6:24

or new or gave you like an oh

6:26

my god moment?

6:27

Yes. So I don't know if

6:30

I was being reckless, but I

6:32

really didn't research Thailand.

6:34

much at all before I came

6:37

here. I was like, you know what? We're just

6:39

gonna jump into this. So

6:41

I didn't know what to expect. And

6:44

after being here for a week and a half, I

6:46

can say there are some things that I

6:48

found super super cool

6:50

and some things that really

6:52

scared me at first, but I'm getting used

6:54

to. I'll start with the scary thing

6:56

first and then talk about the fun

6:58

things. Sure.

7:00

The scariest thing from me here

7:02

was the

7:05

How would you even call it? I would say

7:07

pedestrian walkways, and

7:09

a pedestrian is a person who

7:11

is not driving, who is walking.

7:13

Mhmm. So

7:14

do you mean like the sidewalks or

7:17

the crosswalks?

7:18

both. So there

7:22

aren't really a lot of

7:24

sidewalks in Bangkok or

7:26

at least not in my area. So

7:28

when you walk around then, you have to walk

7:30

right on the street with all the vehicles?

7:33

Yeah. There's like a half

7:35

foot or, you know, maybe,

7:37

like, I don't know, fifteen centimeter

7:40

wide gap between the

7:42

cars and, you know,

7:45

the walls in between the buildings,

7:47

and that's where you have to

7:49

walk. And the motorbikes

7:52

are, like, zooming by inches

7:54

from my elbow. And

7:56

I was terrified at

7:58

first But I

8:00

saw, like, all of my co teachers

8:03

and little middle schoolers just

8:05

walking right next to all these cars and

8:07

I'm, like, I'm being ridiculous. if

8:09

everybody else can do it, so can

8:11

I? Alright. So

8:14

some traffic culture

8:16

shock. I'm wondering, like,

8:18

I have never been to Thailand, but I

8:20

have visited some other southeast Asian

8:22

countries before, which maybe

8:25

are similar. I'm not exactly sure.

8:28

But I think maybe they're a

8:30

little bit similar. And I

8:32

always noticed, like, when traveling

8:34

in in countries like Vietnam,

8:36

for example, which is maybe my closest

8:38

point of reference. Crossing

8:40

the road can be really

8:42

nerve wracking for people who

8:44

haven't experienced that

8:46

kind of traffic before where you have

8:48

lots of vehicles, it seems,

8:50

at first, from our western

8:52

perspective, it seems kind of

8:54

chaotic like there's no system.

8:56

After you spend some time in that

8:58

place, you notice, oh, there's a a

9:00

system that's just different than what

9:02

I'm used to, but crossing the road

9:04

when there's no crosswalks and no

9:06

stoplights can be

9:08

harrowing at first. Is that

9:10

what it's like in Thailand too? Do you just sort of have

9:12

to cross and

9:14

be confident and get everybody

9:17

to drive around you instead

9:19

of stop for you?

9:20

Yeah. There are some

9:23

crosswalks and things

9:24

like that, but there aren't really red

9:26

lights So everybody's still moving all

9:28

around you. So yes, confidence

9:31

is key. If you just

9:32

get your head out there and

9:35

start going, then you'll

9:37

make it through hopefully.

9:39

So

9:39

far so good. Right? Yes. And

9:42

Cassie, you were also going to share

9:44

with us a funny story

9:46

or or something?

9:47

No. Just good stories. Before

9:50

coming to Thailand, so many

9:52

people told us Thai

9:55

food. It's so delicious. It's amazing. The

9:57

best part about Thailand is the food.

10:00

So My

10:02

husband made it his mission

10:04

to find some of the

10:06

best street stall

10:09

foods. So not like a typical

10:11

restaurant, but, you know,

10:13

these really small mom

10:15

and pop shops just along

10:17

the side of certain alleyways that

10:19

have, like, two or three tables and their

10:22

little kitchen area and, you

10:24

know, their their meals

10:26

are piping hot

10:28

and, like, a dollar

10:30

twenty or something like that.

10:31

Mhmm. And have you had some good

10:34

culinary experiences that

10:36

way? We

10:36

have. Yeah. We found two or three

10:39

spots we really love. For Thai

10:41

listeners out there, sorry, I don't

10:43

remember the names of any of the

10:45

foods yet.

10:47

It'll

10:47

take a little while before you memorize

10:49

all of the food names, maybe.

10:52

Yes.

10:52

But they've all been really

10:54

delicious. We have only had

10:56

one miss it came to food,

10:58

it was some sort of green

11:00

curry. I think it's really popular

11:02

here, but I don't think

11:04

our taste buds have

11:06

adjusted to that yet. It was a

11:08

little spicy for us.

11:11

I see. Yeah. I've heard

11:13

so many good things about Thai

11:15

food. and I've only really

11:17

tried Thai food at restaurants

11:19

like in Canada and here in Korea,

11:21

so I don't have authentic

11:23

experience yet, but Definitely

11:25

Thai food is very very delicious from

11:27

what I've tried. So

11:29

that's awesome that you get to live in

11:31

such a great food

11:34

country. You get to go from Korea to

11:36

Thailand. Cassie, that's amazing.

11:37

Yeah. Those are two amazing

11:40

food countries.

11:40

Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool. So

11:43

what kind of things have you done so far?

11:45

Have you done any sightseeing or

11:49

been to any tractions or anything? Or has

11:51

it just been kind of settling

11:53

in? We

11:54

have done a little bit of sightseeing,

11:57

and we always combined it

11:59

with a mission for

11:59

our everyday life. So

12:02

for

12:02

example, we wanted to go

12:04

check out again, I might be

12:06

butchering this pronunciation, the

12:08

chatec market. I think that's how

12:10

you call it. Really

12:12

huge open market.

12:14

Okay. But we also wanted

12:17

to

12:17

get a bus pass.

12:19

Mhmm. When

12:20

you travel around the city,

12:22

they have these lines called the

12:24

BTS line and the

12:25

MRT line, which are

12:27

like fast trains

12:28

that move all over the city.

12:31

and you can pay for a single ride

12:33

using cash, but you can also

12:35

get a card that is rechargeable.

12:38

So Our mission one day

12:40

was to first get a

12:42

bus card that was rechargeable

12:44

and then to find our

12:46

way to this big open

12:48

market.

12:48

Nice. And what was the market

12:51

like?

12:51

Huge. Just no

12:54

other words besides that.

12:56

There were stalls for everything,

12:59

clothes, food, drinks,

13:03

pets. They had like bunnies

13:05

there. You could buy.

13:06

Wow. Sounds really, like,

13:08

probably very busy and bustling

13:11

place.

13:11

Yeah. Exactly. And

13:13

I heard it's a little better

13:15

now because COVID laws

13:17

are being lifted, so you can go without

13:20

a mask some places.

13:22

It's still good to wear especially in

13:24

that busy market. but apparently a few

13:26

years ago when COVID

13:28

was really scary and but

13:30

there were all these stalls everywhere. It

13:32

was just chaos. but it it

13:35

seems like Thailand's really

13:37

opening up now and

13:39

tourists are coming back, but there's still

13:41

not too many, so you feel like

13:43

you can really explore the area.

13:45

Yeah.

13:45

That's cool. You might get more of

13:47

an authentic experience right now

13:49

when there are fewer tourists than

13:52

that are usually are. So you should take

13:54

advantage of that maybe before crowds

13:56

come back in full swing because I know

13:58

Thailand is a popular tourist destination.

14:01

Right? It's like a huge part of their

14:03

economy and so many travelers

14:05

love to visit that place.

14:07

Cassie, you talked about getting around, you know,

14:09

walking on the streets, taking the

14:11

bus, How has navigating

14:13

in a brand new foreign country

14:15

been? Have you gotten lost at

14:17

all? Are you just using your phone

14:19

for navigation? What's getting

14:21

around like. That

14:22

was one of the other first things we

14:25

did. We went to the

14:27

phone store and

14:29

we got very large data

14:31

plans so that I could use

14:33

Google Maps anywhere I

14:35

wanted to go. But

14:37

luckily, The roads

14:39

are kind of chaotic, but they

14:41

do have a system. So

14:44

this road called Sakomit

14:46

Road, where the BTS line

14:48

is, It's a huge road that

14:50

cuts through all of

14:52

Bangkok and continues

14:55

even further. and then all of the

14:57

other roads kind of shoot

14:59

off from that.

15:01

So in my area, as long as I

15:03

know where the main second vent

15:05

road is, I can kind of figure

15:07

out where I'm at and then move

15:09

on from there. So

15:11

it's a really nice anchor spot

15:13

or like landmark in the middle of the city

15:15

that helps you figure out where you

15:18

are?

15:18

Yes. Exactly. And

15:21

because it's so hot, I found out

15:23

that people don't really

15:25

walk that much here,

15:27

they do, but most people

15:29

take a taxi or a

15:31

motorbike everywhere.

15:33

Yeah. So there are probably

15:36

motorbikes all over the place.

15:37

Yes. I have not

15:40

written one yet, but

15:42

my husband has written one a couple

15:44

of times. Oh,

15:45

really? Alrighty?

15:46

Yes. Yeah. So they're

15:48

motorbike taxis. So

15:50

one driver rides on

15:52

the front and then he'll ride

15:54

on the back and he'll hold,

15:56

like, this bar that's in the back of the

15:58

seat. Oh,

15:59

okay. Okay. Okay. I see what you mean.

16:01

Yeah. I've done that before as well. The motorbike

16:03

taxis. They're pretty fun. So

16:07

Cassie, I imagine there's gotta be

16:09

some kind of like culture shock moment

16:11

for you. I know you've only been there for a week and

16:13

a half, but there's gotta be something that you're like, oh

16:15

my god. Wow. That's wild.

16:17

Like, that's so different from my

16:19

home culture or that's so different from

16:21

Korean culture. Has there been anything

16:24

shocking or surprising to

16:26

you? apart from the traffic?

16:28

It

16:28

kind of goes hand in hand with the

16:30

traffic. A lot

16:32

of streets in my

16:34

area are cut off

16:36

by gates. Like,

16:39

there are gate

16:41

guards everywhere.

16:43

Interesting. Yeah.

16:44

I don't know if it's because my area

16:47

is pretty expat heavy, so

16:49

there's a lot of high rise

16:51

condos with very

16:54

expensive price tags and the people

16:56

who live there wanna have a

16:58

safety first kind of policy.

17:00

So a lot of these condos are

17:02

guarded by security

17:04

guards. And a lot

17:06

of the streets that the

17:08

back streets that they are located on in order

17:10

to enter those back streets,

17:12

you need a pass

17:14

on

17:14

your car or something.

17:17

So I found that very

17:20

interesting. The guards are very

17:22

friendly towards pedestrians. We

17:24

can just walk on through

17:26

usually. Thank goodness because I

17:28

don't speak any time. And

17:30

sometimes I get up to a gate. I'm like,

17:32

I hope they don't talk to me. So that's

17:35

another thing that

17:35

I wanted to ask you about actually and

17:37

maybe we'll wrap up with this question

17:40

is, what's communication.

17:43

Like like, you said you don't

17:45

speak any Thai yet,

17:47

which is totally natural only being there

17:49

for a week and a half. Do Thai

17:51

people speak English in your experience?

17:53

Are you able to talk to them in English?

17:55

Or is it mostly just

17:57

body language at this point?

17:59

Yes. A lot of people speak

18:02

English and even if it's not

18:04

perfect, they they try their best.

18:06

Everybody's been super duper duper

18:08

nice to us. We haven't had

18:10

any bad experiences with

18:12

that. And I actually

18:14

feel sad. I can't speak

18:16

it more. My my mission is

18:18

to learn at at least a kind

18:20

of advanced beginner level

18:23

of tie. Yeah. Well,

18:23

it will take a little bit of time, but I'm sure

18:25

you'll get there. And I think it

18:27

always does go a long way to

18:29

be able to speak some of

18:31

the local language even if you

18:33

can't speak it fluently. Right? Even

18:36

when I travel, I always like to try

18:38

and learn like, hello and thank you, just to throw

18:40

it out there and putting

18:42

in a little bit of effort goes a long

18:44

way, I think, but that's Great

18:46

to hear that you haven't had any

18:48

negative experiences with the people

18:50

or any kind of communication

18:52

issues so far. That's

18:54

great. Yeah.

18:55

There is one more thing I'll add. This is

18:57

kind of a funny anecdote.

19:00

One, we've actually come

19:02

across a bunch of Korean

19:04

speakers in Thailand.

19:06

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Every time I

19:08

hear them, I'll hear, like, a a sentence of

19:11

Korean, and I'll

19:13

go, oh, There's one. Oh, there's one. Oh, there's

19:15

one. Isn't that weird

19:16

how that happens? That happens to me when

19:18

I'm abroad as well? Like, I'll be

19:20

back home in Canada and then suddenly

19:23

I hear Korean and it's like, it's weird

19:25

when that happens because compared

19:27

to other foreign languages, it just stands out

19:29

and it's like, oh, I understand what you're

19:32

saying. It's it's very strange. Yes. That's

19:33

true. And then also, my

19:37

husband, his skin

19:39

is a little bit darker

19:41

than the average Korean, I

19:43

would say. And we were

19:45

surprised by this. A

19:46

lot of Thai

19:47

people look kind of similar

19:49

to Koreans, and their haircuts are kinda

19:51

similar, but a lot of their skin

19:54

is more of my husband's

19:56

skin tone. So a lot of times we

19:58

go out, they see me and they're like,

20:00

oh, yep, foreigner. She doesn't know anything. And

20:02

then they turn to him and start

20:05

speaking Thai and he's like, I

20:07

have no idea what you're saying. I

20:09

know what

20:10

that feeling is like because I have

20:12

some Korean American friends who don't

20:15

Korean very well. And I also have

20:17

some friends who were born in

20:19

Korea but adopted out to the

20:21

USA as babies and have come

20:23

back as adults. And

20:25

these friends don't speak Korean very well,

20:27

but ethnically, they are a hundred percent

20:29

Korean. So, of course, they look Korean.

20:31

And when we go out to restaurants

20:34

or something, you know, I actually speak Korean better than

20:36

them, but they get all the attention

20:38

because the staff sees me and it's

20:40

like automatic foreigner. I'll just talk to the

20:42

Korean person. And, yeah, it

20:44

creates some awkward experiences

20:47

sometimes. That's funny. I I'm

20:49

sure your husband's a little bit panicked in

20:51

those situations. He

20:52

takes

20:53

it in stride. I have been so

20:55

surprised at how well he's adjusted

20:57

but he's like, oh yeah, I love this

21:00

place. Even one day when

21:02

we moved back to Korea, I wanna

21:04

bring my my future kids here

21:06

so they can experience Thailand

21:08

too. That's

21:09

awesome. Well, I'm happy to hear that you

21:11

guys are settling in. Alright.

21:14

and I'm sure you'll have many more stories

21:16

for us and a lot more to share in the

21:18

future and we'll keep coming back

21:20

to you for more Sources of

21:22

entertainment and fun stories Cassie

21:24

going forward.

21:25

Sounds

21:27

great. For

21:36

now, I

21:36

think that will bring us to the end of

21:39

today's episode everyone. So

21:41

of course, thank you for listening as

21:43

always and great job

21:45

on completing an English study session

21:47

with us. And of course, we would

21:50

love you to add to the

21:52

conversation. So now it's

21:54

your turn And maybe

21:56

you have something to share with us

21:58

about a visit that you've taken to

22:00

Thailand before or maybe even

22:02

you have a question for cast

22:04

about what it's like to live in

22:07

Thailand. Please leave a comment

22:09

on culeps dot com or

22:11

on our information or

22:13

even on our Instagram page and

22:15

share those comments and questions

22:17

with

22:17

us. And if you like this episode,

22:21

please support Your support allows us to

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22:25

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The best way to support us is

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Cliffs member. For all the

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22:48

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22:50

wherever you listen to

22:52

QLips. That is it for

22:54

us for now, but we'll be back soon

22:56

with another a brand new episode

22:58

and we'll catch you then. Goodbye.