When boyfriend Maiyuu goes to the mall to get lunch, he visits the Ghost Room first to see who wants to go with him.
These group excursions make a simple task drawn out. A job that would take me five minutes, the boyfriend and his friends draw out for two hours.
If they are busy they can call on each other to buy grocery items, pay bills. If they are planning a trip to the hairdresser or the shopping mall, they can call their friends and ask for their company. They will rarely, if ever, go alone.
Ying and her friends have decided to keep solitary moments to a minimum, because worrying about problems is not going to solve them.
Maiyuu can't understand why bring my work problems home. 'You've finished for the day - wasn't that enough?' he asks.
Getting used to this aspect of home life was hard. I am used to talking to my partner about work hassles; work, after all, takes up a large part of our lives.
At my place, however, I would be lucky to mention it once a week. I just carry on working, day after day. If I stop, then I stop; if I want to carry on, then I carry on.
My friends left school early. They regularly pull out of jobs, or undertake short-spell jobs, only to end up home again a few days later.
When they are together, they watch television, listen to music, play cards, drink alcohol. Most time seems taken up with mundane tasks, such as dressing after a shower. Ying can spend 15 minutes just combing and drying her hair. Life has an easy pace.
If I quit my job, then I would just have to find something else, the same way they do. I am sure that's how my friends see it, even if regard what I do as my 'career'.
This is not the way we do things in the West, where family members live apart, where friendship takes a back seat to family, where raising families is something you do alone, and where many do share their work problems with their partner.
Husky-voiced Ying says Thais like to 'take care' of people. This applies not just to family but also to friends, and explains why they seem much more tribal than westerners.
Farang, says Ying, seem to lead independent lives after they leave school. Thais, on the other hand, stick together.
Many of my friends in the condo grew up in a coastal province about two hours from Bangkok. They have known each other since childhood - and still manage to tolerate each other.
For my part, I can't think of anyone I still know from school, or even my last job.
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