Tips on Navigating Thailand Like a Local
Bangkok Beggars - The Good, The Bad, and The Fake
Now, before I start this off, let me say that I don’t have anything against those less fortunate than us. I’ve spent more than my fair share of time taking HIV-positive kids on field trips, painting orphanage walls with mentally challenged teenagers and volunteer teaching at schools for underprivileged children. But in Thailand - [...]
Double Pricing: Moral? No. Legal? You Bet!
One of the first things I learned when I was teaching was that many (if not most) Thais automatically think two things about every non-Asian foreigner: 1) We’re rich, and 2) We’re Christian. As my curious students pounded me with questions, I was always amused to see their confused looks when I told them the [...]
Elephants in the Big Mango
For many visitors, walking around Bangkok will allow them a glimpse of many things they would never see at home, some awful, some amazing. Dudes selling fried bugs, beggars with awful diseases, bike paths that end at brick walls and an alarming cross section of social strata that would make a New York subway [...]
Getting a Thai Driver’s License the Hard Way - Taking the Test
After living here for over 7 years now, I’m familiar enough with the rules and nuances of Bangkok traffic to know that I never, ever want to drive in it. It’s not so much that it’s bad - traffic in India or Vietnam makes Bangkok traffic look like a driver’s ed training course - but [...]
Which Island Should You Hit First?
This is a question that, without fail, I’m asked every time a friend visits: which island do I recommend? That’s a bit like answering which type of soda I prefer - it will usually vary greatly depending on the mood I’m in. Usually it’s Coke, but sometimes I dig a Sprite. Sometimes [...]
Visas, Work Permits and the Art of the Lineup
Never take for granted how cushy it is living as a citizen in your home country. It’s quite a shock, moving abroad, especially when it’s to Thailand (Asia in general actually, but I live in Thailand so let’s use that as our example), where you will never be considered a citizen. It’s [...]
Dealing With Thai Taxis - And Their Drivers
Bangkok’s great in that there are a ton of ways to get around: taxi, tuk-tuk, motorcycle, river ferry, khlong ferry, bus, skytrain, subway… if you can combine methods of transport (train + bike + boat, for instance) you can often leapfrog your way across town surprisingly quickly. But nothing is more ubiquitous than the [...]
Never Let Them See You Sweat
You can manage to avoid most of the bad things that Thailand has to offer if you come prepared, but no matter how much you try, the one thing about Thailand that you can’t escape is the heat. When I first walked outside of the airport on my first day in Thailand, I literally [...]
“Hi, where you go?”
I hate the guys I’m about to write about with a passion, so let me shout out some advice right away: If you’re in Thailand and someone - old or young, man or woman, hot or ugly - approaches you or tries to wave you over, completely ignore them and keep walking. It may [...]
Sabai
This is the first post I’ll write about life in Thailand - my thoughts on living here, visiting here, and some advice to people who are coming here, much of it learned through down n’ dirty experience. Each post will be written… well, whenever I get inspired to write about a particular topic. All [...]
