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Five Things I Wish I Knew About Thailand Before I Got Here

After a few years as an expat, you look back on your first days/weeks/months here and smile. Or cringe. Usually cringe. The amount of mistakes and cultural boo-boo's you make in your first foray into fitting into a new culture is often the source of much guffaws for Thais, and - hopefully - act as benchmarks for the progress you've made in adapting to living in the Land of Smiles. However, hindsight is 20/20, and I was thinking recently about a few things I wish I had known before I came overe here. It could have saved me a few grief-filled afternoons, but... then again, I wouldn't have some of the cool stories I do. At any rate, here are my top five things I wish that I had known before I moved to Thailand.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:29+00:00Bangkok, Culture, Thailand, Tips on Visiting, Travel|0 Comments

Five Reasons You Should Definitely Visit Bangkok – and Five Reasons You Shouldn’t

Bangkok is kind of like a handlebar moustache – some people love them, some people hate them, but rarely will you find someone that says they don’t mind either way. If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you’ve likely come to the (correct) conclusion that I really dig this awful, amazing, ugly, beautiful city to the point where I rarely leave it. But as much I like it here, I can also see why people want to avoid the place like a barbed-wire hammock. I make no judgment either way, but after nearly a decade living in the Big Mango, here are my reasons why you should definitely spend some time here – and why you definitely shouldn’t.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:33+00:00Bangkok, Culture, Food, Thailand, Travel|8 Comments

Forcing Yourself to Feel Lost Again is a Good Thing

Momma always said that it’s very easy to get in what she called a ‘comfortable rut’, and she was right. After a while in any job/location/relationship/yoga position, you get comfortable; staying where you’re at is easier than moving on, and consequently, a lot of people never bother to change their situation. A drastic shakeup is usually not necessary, but a quick metaphorical head-shake is usually a great idea. That’s why as an expat, despite the fact you already live in an exotic land, it’s important to get out of Dodge every once in a while and get your compass realigned.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:34+00:00Asia, Bangkok, Culture, Thailand, Travel|0 Comments

A Visit to Bangkok’s New One Stop Immigration Office

Keeping on top of Thailand’s ever-changing visa and work permit regulations can be a pretty tiring job. Rules often vary from office to office and border crossing to border crossing, and updates, amendments and changes to the rules and overall system are hard enough to find in Thai, let alone English. Thankfully, there’s a small army of dedicated locals who like to post no-bull advice on their experiences, and this is the gist of this post – a visit to the One Stop Immigration office at their new location on Rama IV Road.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:35+00:00Bangkok, Thailand, Travel|7 Comments

The Realities of Beach Fashion

thumb It's the classic image of paradise - blue water, swaying palm trees, and white sand stretching back into a gorgeous sunset. Throw in a couple of ladies massaging your feet and/or cooking you freshly-caught seafood and you've got pretty much any beach in Thailand... well, most of them, anyway. But I saw a picture about a year ago - not specifically about Thailand, but beaches in general - and it's been bugging me ever since. It cropped up again today and I had to vent, so please excuse the release of a little bit of steam.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:41+00:00Print Media, Thailand, Travel|0 Comments

Ten Commandments for Living in Thailand

thumb Every place has rules - from your school to your job to your girlfriend's apartment, there are just certain tenets you need to follow if you don't want to get a boot to the curb. Countries work the same way. Some rules are legal, some are moral, and some belong to that long and growing list of unwritten rules that govern different parts of our life (such as the one saying that male friends can't touch knees in a movie theater). Below are some of the rules that you need to live by if you plan on staying in Thailand for any length of time. Of course, my list is by no means comprehensive, but it's a start.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:42+00:00Bangkok, Culture, Language, Pop Culture, Thailand, Tips on Visiting, Travel|0 Comments

A Trip to Amphawa by Train, Boat and Bike

thumb The good thing about having ambitious friends is that you often get dragged along on trips you wouldn’t ordinarily take on your own. This was the case last week, when my good friend Scott arranged a bike/train/boat weekend out of the city and into Amphawa, a few hours southwest of Bangkok and a hundred years behind. While I do like staying in Bangkok for the sheer, joyous laziness of it all, it’s great to get out and remind myself that there’s more to Thailand than bad traffic, tourist traps and concrete love.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:43+00:00Biking, History, Thailand, Travel|0 Comments

The Dreaded Visa Run

The first time many people hear the term 'visa run' it makes no sense. Is it when I leave my credit card in a taxi and run after it? Was there a run on visa applications? But the longer you live in Thailand (and most any country, I would imagine), the better versed in the complicated - but necessary - trial of the visa run you become. Essentially, all a visa run means is that you have to check in with the immigration authorities at the border by leaving and then coming back into Thailand. This can mean anything from a two-month holiday around Asia to literally getting stamped out of Thailand and turning around to get stamped right back in again. Navigating the rules and regulations can be tricky, but you learn fast enough - you have to.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:53+00:00Thailand, Tips on Visiting, Travel|0 Comments

The Bare Minimum You Should Know When Traveling

If there's one thing I've learned in the seven years I've lived in an entirely different culture where people who look entirely different from me and speak an entirely different language, it's that things are different here. I know, I catch on quick. But after seven years, you build up a repository of cultural credit, as my friend J likes to say. What he means is, the longer you spend in a different culture, the more right you have to say you know said culture. After seven years, I can speak garble the language, order the food, get around on my own and basically survive as a pale shadow of a local. But take me out of Thailand, and my cultural credit drops to zero; I'm a stranger in a strange land. So, inspired by my cousin L's recent move to South Korea (warning: very odd link) and her initial nervousness at how things will work out, I though back at what I'd do if I found myself living in entirely different culture yet again.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:54+00:00Travel|0 Comments

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 I want a Diet Pepsi, and other times I'll walk to the corner store just to suck down an Orange Fanta. Thailand's islands are much the same - each offers many of the same things, but also differ greatly depending on where you go. Some have parties, some are nearly deserted; some are little more than miles of beach, others have a few rocky shoals but fantastic hiking in the interior. There are a lot of logistical factors to consider too, such as - can you fly there? If you can, do you have the money to spare? Does the train go there? If it does, do you have the time to spare? Despite not being a beach guy (I get bored after a day or two), I've been to quite a few islands in Thailand - Samet, Chang, Samui, Pha Ngan, Lippe, Lao Liang, Kut, Phuket, Taruato, etc, so I have some basis for arguing. Below, I'm going to talk about which island is my favourite and why. There might even be some math involved.

The first thing you have to keep in mind is that to find the 'tropical paradise' that you see on postcards (miles of deserted beaches unspoiled by development or fat Germans in Speedos), you have to work for it. Essentially - the harder your island is to get to, the nicer it will be.

Greg2016-11-17T15:49:02+00:00Thailand, Tips on Visiting, Travel|0 Comments