Greg to Differ

My first residence when I moved to Thailand was a three-storey townhouse lit with pasty fluorescent lights that featured bright red, threadbare carpets, wall-mounted bugs and lobsters in glass cases, and enough cockroaches in the bathrooms to populate a new planet. My suspicion that it was decorated by a blind ex-fisherman entomologist was never confirmed, but I’m lucky that I now live in a much nicer place. In fact, over the past few years, I’ve noticed Thai decoration and style trends have been getting markedly more modern and tasteful – with the exception of a few knick-knacks here and there, one of which I photographed a few weeks ago at an ‘in trend’ store at Emporium. Keep Reading…

Dealing with Bangkok’s endles variety of taxi drivers is a topic that could produce enough material for several blogs (not including Dale’s cool blog about taxi decorations). I’ve been in taxis that stank, taxis that smelled like cinnamon buns, taxis that were older than I am and taxis that had Buddhist amulets glued to the roof. The drivers I’ve had have ranged from friendly old gaffers who like to practice their English to arrogant punk street racers who feel cooler with every millimeter the speedometer moves to the right. The bottom line is that getting a taxi in Bangkok is a crap shoot. So it was nice a few weeks ago when I was handed the document below as I got in a car at the MBK taxi stand. Keep Reading…

If only I was as interested in history in high school as I am now, I may even have passed a class or two, instead of getting stared at by teachers bewildered as to how I made all the way to 16 without killing myself in a tragic fruit accident. At any rate, it’s a topic that sure interests me now, and one that I occasionally give a boost by doing some reading. I thought it would be neat to put up some snippets of a letter that I just finished titled A Description of Siam in 1829 by Frenchman Barthélemy Bruguière. I normally stick to more ‘accessible’ fare (coughArchiecough). but had some time to kill, and ended up really getting into it. It’s an interesting – and slightly funny – read. Keep Reading…

With the recent release of ECA’s Cost of Living survey, many people have been surprised to learn that some of the most expensive cities for expats to live in are not what you’d expect. For instance, Tokyo, Japan is #2, second only to Luanda, Angola. Angola?! Indeed, there are many cities on there that you wouldn’t expect to find, and our beloved Bangkok comes in at 28th on the list of the most expensive cities in Asia. In terms of cost, Bangkok is a bit of a bear to figure out, but it’s one of the things I love – a great night out can cost you a few bucks, or set you back several thousand, depending on what your tastes are. Keep Reading…

I saw an article in the Bangkok Post yesterday and it inspired me to write this rant post. The headline read “Obec queries benefit of repeated classes”, Obec being the Office of the Basic Education Comission, which oversees the rules and regulations that govern the Thai education system. I’ll include some quotes below, but essentially the article said that making kids repeat courses if they fail is unfair because it makes them feel bad, and doesn’t have any real benefit anyway. Good Lord, someone call the Wah!mbulance. Having done my time in front of a class in Thailand, I thought I’d chime in with some thoughts. Keep Reading…

No, not the type where heavily armed Somolian teenagers try to board 330-foot long oil tankers from an inflatable dinghy with a cake-mixer motor. Rather, I’m talking about the type where you can buy fake name brand stuff for really cheap! Everyone knows that Thailand is one of the best countries to buy worst offenders when it comes to selling fake stuff. Thailand has recently seen a crackdown on illegal goods vendors, ramped up as a direct result of a United States Trade Representative report saying, essentially, Thailand sells pirated goods, so they’re bad. Here’s my thoughts on piracy in Thailand… Keep Reading…

T-shirts with cool slogans on them have become quite the hot little item in the past few years. Be they funny, cool, geeky, dirty or cute, it seems that you can find your voice no matter what socio-economic bubble life has shoehorned you into. Luckily, Bangkok’s endless street markets are a great place to find some very funny examples. Although many of them are made by Thais with a very weak grasp on what makes a t-shirt statement ‘cool’ (my favorite – a picture of a potted plant with the words ‘Spaceship One’, swear to God), most are really neat. Some make you laugh, some make you go ‘Awww…’, and some – like the shirt below – make you go “WTF?” Keep Reading…

I’ve talked about the subject before, but for some reason I have a strange fascination with comparing Bangkok today to Bangkok of old (of yore?). In such a dynamic, crazy, haphazard city that rushes forward while dragging giant piles of the past, it’s endlessy interesting to juxtapose what is with what once was. In other words – dude, things change fast. While browsing the excellent site 2Bangkok.com, I found a link to another excellent site, ThaiVisa.com, which had a discussion going on in one of its forums about pictures of Bangkok throughout the decades. Two caught my eye – firstly, because I know this particular area so well, and secondly, because the change is so severe. Keep Reading…

This post doesn’t have anything to do with Thailand, but I’m going to type about it anyway for two reasons – 1) I’m a nerd and like learning about history, and 2) Events like this are often known but little-understood, and we can’t afford to let history like this be lost in the fog of time. So… today marks the 58th anniversary of the sinking of the Bismarck, one of the biggest, baddest and most heavily-armed battleships in history. She’d only been at sea for 9 days when she was sunk after an attack that would have left Michael Bay crying for his Mommy if he tried to film it. Most have heard of the Bismarck but few know exactly what went down. This is the badass story. Keep Reading…

There are many, many things in Thailand that make you do a double- or triple-take when you see them for the first time. Your brain says, “There’s no way that’d be allowed back home!” But then you realize that TIT (This is Thailand) and not everything works the way it does in the motherland. And not even crazy stuff like police bribes or mobs shutting down airports – I’m talking about little things. Dudes hanging from a rope painting the side of a building… secretaries in high heels walking on rutted sidewalks oblivious to buses whizzing by six inches away… construction workers in flip-flops… pit-stains at board meetings, etc. Another thing that’s likely to jump out at you if you stay here long enough is the info you’re expected to divulge on a resume. Keep Reading…