Through Foreigner Eyes With Steffi from Beach Bum Adventure

Hello again guys! Another month, another interview! This month in Throught Foreigner Eyes, we will be interviewing Steffi from Beach Bum Adventure, she is English but now lives in Thailand!

Hey Steffi! Tell us a little bit about yourself, who are you, where are you from, where are you living now, etc?

I’m Steffi and I’m an English teacher from Cambridge living in Bangkok, Thailand. I’ve been teaching for about 5 years now, the last 3 in Thailand and I love it! I’ve also started a Thailand Travel blog as I often get asked a lot of questions from friends and acquaintances thinking about a visit.

What brings you to Thailand?

I came here for the first time 4 years ago when I was backpacking around South East Asia. I completely fell in love with this part of the world, the  slower pace of life, the friendly and helpful people, the culture that was so different to my own and all the activities you can do here and wildlife you can see.

What were your expectations before arriving in Thailand?

I expected for it to take a while to settle in. I thought I would struggle to feel at home here, in this crazy city, especially as I had moved abroad before and had been incredibly homesick during that experience. However, I was entirely surprised as at about 2 weeks in I realised how lucky I was to have found a place that made me feel that everything was alright.

This is so good to hear! Definitely we always have this fear when moving to a different country specially is the culture is SO different, like Thailand!

What was your first impression?

My first impression of Bangkok was extremely negative. Four years ago I found the humidity oppressive, the traffic and pollution horrendous and I thought it was fairly dirty. However, my the 4th time (on that same trip) that I ended up back here changing planes etc I realised how this was a city with a buzz to it.

Did you have any culture shock? What was that?

Funnily enough I didn’t feel culture shocked when I first moved here. I think working for a British company helped and Bangkok can feel quite metropolitan at times.

What’s your favorite historical or cultural spot nearby?

One of my favourite temples in Wat Pho with the giant reclining Buddha. It’s never as busy as some other temples and I love that it is near the river so I always make a day of it when I have a visitor, with lunch on the riverfront and taking the (dirt cheap) river boat there.