Thursday December 19th 2024, Bangkok, Thailand

Midday blog! You may be able to tell that I usually write my blogs at night right before bed. When I write midday it seems like a treat because I can think deeper. I started this morning by walking the city to get a pulse of what Bangkok really is about. I bought an amazing passionfruit juice for a dollar. It was way hotter than I expected so I went back to the hostel to get my sunglasses. After, I went to a lowkey boba tea shop and got my first Thai milk tea of the trip. It lived up to my expectations and I was very pleased. The shop was in an alleyway off the main road and it was quiet. I was the only one there. I like these kinds of finds on the trip. I started to think about all of the different types of travelers there are since there are so many tourists here in Bangkok. Some travel for the most adventurous thing possible, some travel party to party, and others travel solely for food. I realized that my trip is unique and different than most people's. I coined the term "International landscaper" to describe my type of travel right now. I am traveling in a way to understand the world, geopolitics, and life better. That means going to some undesirable places for the sake of market research. I am reading a book about a tulip grower right now which might have inspired this term. A landscaper goes into the weeds to uncover something more beautiful. It leaves what it likes and discards what it dislikes. The main goal of a landscaper is to turn a garden into something more magnificent than before. I want to landscape my life, internally, and the world, externally. I am a couple days away from the 3 month anniversary of the start of my travels. I can say confidently I have learned a lot about the world, people, economics, life, and health. This trip has made me refocus my priorities in life to become the best landscaper as possible. I prioritize family and love first, health and longevity second, and money third. This list needs to be explained more to get the full fruit. I think prioritizing something other than yourself, something greater than yourself, is beneficial to society and life as a whole. You wake up everyday with a greater vision instead of being stuck in your own desires. Next, health is essential to make the biggest influence on the world. You cannot be a beacon of light and laughter and hope if you are tired, groggy, and not energized. This means there is no possible way I will ever have a career which comes before the first two priorities. Finally, I cannot believe the cost of everything here. I got a Michelin star meal for under five dollars and a massage for just over 10 dollars. It started to make me think deeper about the price disparities over food and services between the US and Asia. After doing some research it comes down to one thing, the cost of living. In the US a massage might be 100 dollars. In this price the wage of the worker is accounted for, the rent and utilities of the business, and insurance for the business and worker. Same goes for food. A $2 meal in Thailand is possible because ingredients (rice, vegetables, spices) are sourced locally, and restaurants have lower overhead costs. A $15 meal in the U.S. often incorporates imported ingredients, higher rent for the restaurant, and higher wages for staff. Even fast food, despite being "cheap," is heavily processed and reflects the high costs of production and distribution. Now the question is, is the increased cost for services and goods worth the living? So the US is a first world country privy to the best healthcare system in the world, economic stability, the strongest military in the world. Are you willing to pay more for these perks? Next time you buy a 12 dollar chipotle bowl think about how you are paying not only for the food, but for healthcare, wages, and security. In developing countries food and services can be much lower because the other factors are priced in. Do you see how the economy is just a collectively agreed upon fabric? The US could easily change labor laws or healthcare and the whole economic fabric could shift. I am not trying to make a point, just be aware of the malleability of this web of money which is abstracted out of control.