The fastest way to go around Bangkok!

Transportation is the big deal in Bangkok as so many people from all over Thailand come into Bangkok to work in a hope of getting rich or advancing their carrers. I remember when I was a kid, I would have to get up at 5:00 am every weekdays in order for me to be able to catch a school bus on time even though the school is just about 5 miles away! It doesn't make any senses what so ever, but it's been that way til now; Never change! In fact, traffic is getting worse and worse every year. Bangkok tried to cope with the heavy traffic by building a skytrain , and underground train projects, which seem to help reducing some traffic congestion, but still it doesn't seem to be quite enough. Many still felt that there are not enough trains as in comparison with people who are using the service especially during the rush hours in many major financial district areas. So, is there any other alternative to this? Yes, there is.

The river has long been a good transportation route of Bangkok for centuries, and it is considered to Thais as one of the fastest way to get around Bangkok. In fact, every time I want to go from Kao San road to Pantip Plaza, I would just jump into the boat, and I will be there in 15 minutes max. It is dam fast for Bangkok, and it costs just about 18 baht. The route is extended all the way to Bang Krapi, which is almost to Meanburi. The whole route can be just about under an hour. Here are the ports that these long tail boats stop at;

1) Tha Wat Si Bun Ruang <--> 2) Tha Talat Bangkapi <-->3) Tha The Mall Bangkapi (shopping mall) <--> 4) Tha Wat Klang <--> 5) Tha Ramkhamkaeng University <--> 6) Tha Wat Thep Lila <--> 7) Tha The Mall Ramkhamkaeng (shopping from millions of street vendors- at night only) <--> 8) Tha Saphan Khlong Tan <--> 9) Tha Chan Issara II <--> 10)  Tha Thong Lor <--> 11) Tha Soi Soon Wijai <--> 12) Tha Wat Mai Chonglom <--> 13) Tha Prasanmit University <--> 14) Tha Saphan Asoke <--> 15) Tha Nana Nua <--> 16) Tha Saphan Withayu <--> 17) Tha Chid Lom <--> 18)  Tha Pratunam (Panthip Plaza - computer heaven, Platinum Mall (Clothes & Accessories) * Transit station<--> 19) Tha Saphan Hua Chang (Siam Centre, Paragon) <--> 20) Tha Baan Krua (see Jim Thompson house) <--> 21) Tha Charoen Phol <--> 22) Tha Bo-Be (Cloth outlets) <--> 23) Tha Phan Fa Leelat (Kao San Rd. + Phu Khao Tong)

  To see a delicated silk color dying as well as Jim Thompson House get off  at Tha Baan Krua

Although popular for Thais, for some tourists, it is considered to be quite dangerous since the boats pull in and out the dock pretty fast. Once in a while, there will be some people that fall off the edge into the canal. It was not often, but it did happen! So, make sure you hang on tight to the boat rails, and just simply let it go if you can't catch it on time. The next boat will come right up; so no need to hurry. The water in this canal is pretty dirty. Thus, I do not recommend looking out toward the canal. In fact, many boats are equipped with a tarf to prevent water from sparshing into the boat. I do not recommended people who travel with kids to use this kind of transportation. The services start around 7am and end around 7:30 pm, and it runs 7 days a week. It's really good for people who stay near Kao San road! If you have any questions regarding to the route, call talkinthai to spaek to a port officer. To apply of talkinthai free 20 minutes phone interpreting service just logon to www.talkinthai.com and click sigup. It is easy, and no credit card required!  

 

Pra Artit Road : The Allure of the Past

I have to say that among all the areas around Kao San road, Pra Artit road is among my favorite. This is not only applied to me. It applies to other Thai people as well. One reason why Thais like to hang out on that road is because of the scenery overlooking the new Rama VIII bridge and the beautiful Chao Praya river. However, there is only one part of the road that you can actually see the river, which would be at Santi Chai Prakarn park located next to Pra Sumen Fort, one of the only two reamining forts that remain standing from the original fourteen, all of which was built by King Rama I to protect the new capital from the natorious Burmese. If you enter Pra Artit road, you will not miss it! Pra Sumen Fort is the landmark of this road especially at night when it's lit by the warm yellow light making it even more monumental.

Sati Chai Prakarn Park, a small patch of open space that stretches down to the riverfront, is popular for Thais both young, and old. They come here to relax, and have a picnic, or even do a group aerobics on an open area next to the river. Many tourists find it hard to resist the beauty of the Rama VIII bridge that stretches across Chao Praya river. Ones can easily be drawn to walk through the park toward the riverfront to take a picture of these two intriguing monuments.

Restaurants, bars, hostels and coffee shops are clogged up Pra Artit Road from both sides, making it somewhat impossible to know that you are actually next to Chao Praya river, which is kind of sad, in my opinion. There is still a presences of foreigners from Kao San road to be seen here since Pra Artit road's within a waling distant from it. Many backpackers like to stay on this street since it is a bit more quiet at night, and more calm in general. Life is a lot slower here compare to Kao San areas. Perhaps, it is because all the well preserved buildings along the road as well as colonial-style mansions like Ban Pra Artit, and Ban Tha Chang. With blast from the past kind of experiences, it is obvious why Pra Artit road is very popular among university students, and other young trendsetters as well as tourists who are looking for the place that is full of characters. 

Kao San Road ; Seeing Thai life through foreigners' eyes

Kao San road is seen by many foreigners to be a good starting point as well as the finishing point of their journey in Thailand. The road is blocked off for only foot traffic, and the whole road is generally packed up with people at night. Like any other tourist hub throughout Thailand, Kao San road is full with bars, pubs, restaurants, and street vendors. For Thais, spending time on Kao San road provides them an east-meets-west experience without having to go out of the country. When I first came back from the states, my ex-roomate always invited me to Kao San. We always got drunk, and in fact, really really drunk. Sometimes, I didn't even know how I can make it back home. To me, a good thing about Kao San is that its relaxing atmosphere, and easy hippy environment, where you can sit and talk freely, and beside anything else, it is a good place to hang out with your company, and talk without being disturbed by loud music in many traditional Thai pubs, or bars.

Now, if you arrive at Kao San road during the day time, there is not much action going on really. However, many street vendors do offer many interesting items, and services such as clothes, and accessories, hair braiding, fake ID (for fun only) , fake CD, and DVD, and many more. There are many restaurants available throughout the street. Many of them are crap!, and I really do mean it in both eastern, and western way.If you really want to eat, I recommend you to walk to Pra Artit Road to the Ricky's Coffee Shop. Located near Tha Pra Artit Pier, Ricky's offers an excellent breakfast, as well as many other foreign dishes including Maxican food for resonable prices. And the most important of all, they do serve you real cheese! not the plastic ones like any other restaurants on Kao San do. I believe you do go to Kao San to shop, and drink. But for food, you got to go to Pra Artit street. However, it's always wise to check out their dish selections before stepping into a restaurant since some of them can be rather pricy. We will talk more about Pra Artit road on the other post. For now, I would like to concentrate on the Koa San road and guide you through the best of it. If you are not there to drink, Koa San will offer you quite an exciting sightseeing experiences. Many shops including street vendors are catered toward the foreigners. Therefore, the decors, and feeling of the place are very unique. Some street vendors dress themselves as a character or the hill tribe villagers. Some shops and bars dress up their employee as a cartoon or movie character. It is great photo opportunities for those who enjoy taking a photograph. For sure, being on Kao San road is like being in a diiferent world. It's considered to be a hip hang-out spot for many young tourists, backpackers in general. It's also a weird mix of culture in which you might notice that there are fews temple around the area, making it difficult to think how the monks can concentrate on their regular practice having been surrounded by this kind of sinful environment. If you are just starting you trip in Thailand, do go to the second hand book shops available on many spots on Kao San road. You can buy a good book including novels for cheap, and better yet, you can sell it back on the way back from your trip.

If you're there to drink and have fun, Koa San road will certainly fulfill your needs. Many pubs, restaurants and bars on Kao San are quite similar in what they offer. The different would be the ways they dress up their shops. The style can be various ranging from beer garden, cocktail beside the road, a nice proper full bars, loud music disco pubs and so on. Many of them open until 1:00 am daily. But some of them open till 4 or 5 am in the morning! Bars like Kao San center do offer 24 hours drink only that after 2 am they will serve it in the plastic cups! Do ask the bartenders for other pubs that do open till 5 am. But do go there before 2 am since many of those pubs only let late night people in before 2 am. I believe there will be cover charge to go into these late night bars somewhere between 200-500 baht depending upon the styles of the bars. One useful things about going to Kao San road is that if you really have to go to toilet, I strongly recommend going to True shop @ Kao San located on the end of Kao San road. ( you should be able to see their gigantic sign where ever you stand on Kao San road). The toilet is clean, and it is also a good place to relax, and hang out before all the bars are opened. You can check internet there while enjoying a good cup of coffee. Also, it is situated in a little walk way but when you reach the end of the way you will be intrigued by how nice the shop is. The shop is situated inside an old Thai style house with nice nice terecotta floor tiles. Being there would be a good little getaway from a busy Kao San road if you feel you need one. After all, Kao San road is a good introduction of many other tourist hubs like Patong, and Phuket except that there is no beach nearby. So, if you are looking for a peaceful experience, do go there for sightseeing, and shopping. But, if you are looking for fun, and wild experiences, do go there and let lose> After all on Kao San road, the night is totally yours.

"Where do Thai people go for shopping?" : TRY IT before YOU BUY IT!

Dear all men and women, who have great confident on their own bodies, and shapes,

If you notice by just looking around, you will see that we, Thai people, have smaller structures compare to the westeners. This can contribute to how cloth manufacturers tag the size of the cloth for asian people. What does that mean exactly?

Most Thai men, and Thai women can fit size M-XL clothes. This doesn't mean that you folks, who usually wear size XL clothes back at home, can fit into size XL Thai clothes. Size of the clothes in Thailand is generally based on the average sizes, and structures of Thai people. This simply means you may need to step one size up when you want to buy a cloth in Thailand. Yes! Thai people especially sellers will, sometime, embarrass you in front of everybody by saying very loud to you, "It too small, It too small, You large, Extra Large!". Does this ever happen to anybody I know? Yes, it happens to every single foreigner I know especially my wife. She usually fit in size Medium back in the States, but down here in Thailand, she have to literally search for Thai plus size clothes! Not to say that all Thais are small; in fact, some study said that Thai people have a tendency to grow bigger, and fatter due to the influences of the fast food we eat. Nevertheless, Thai people, especially Thai woman, will try every which ways to fit her body into the smallest size clothes possible! They even invent XXXS clothes for university uniforms! Sometime, I wonder how they can breath wearing those.

So, words of advices from me is that while somebody tries to come up with the chart comparing the sizes of Asian outfits to American ones, It is better for you just to try it out before you buy it. If you feel embarrassed because the sellers told you that you are large. Just simply ignore it, Don't get pissed off or anything like that. Most of the sellers don't know they are being rude to you. They just want to find the ones that fit you, that's all. But, if you are really angry, just simply walk away, and get some air, just like what my wife always do everytime she goes for cloth shopping. Now, my wife shops mostly at the market, and she usually wear a T-Shirt that is tight to her body so that she can try on the clothes by just putting it over the T-Shirt (since in the Thai market, there is usually no room for you to go in and try it on!) So, mark my words, TRY IT before YOU BUY IT.

Best Regard,

TravelTranslator in associated with www.talkinthai.com    

"Where do Thai people go for shopping?" : Silom Soi 5 / Fashion Avenue

I would like to remind you that this soi or this walking street are one of the shopping paradise for office people who work around Silom area. You may be wonder how do they have time to go shopping since they only have one hour lunch break? The answer is I have no idea too. Somehow they manage to have lunch within very little time, and walk toward Sukhumvit Soi 5 or what Thai ladies like to call "Soi La Lai Thap", which mean "This road will melt the money out of your pocket!" So walk with cautious, and zip up your pocket money if you have a limited budget. And beware of all the pickpocketing people since there are so many people shopping from noon time on.

So what is this soi is all about? I think you will have quite an enjoying experience there really. Don't go there if you have a phobia of a crowded place. You might end up with panic attack or something like that. So, how to go there is pretty simple. You can go there by an underground train (MRT) and get off at Silom station. You can also take a sky train (make sure you get on Silom line) and get off at Sala Daeng station, or you can go there by taxi, which I don't really recommend since during noon time, the traffic's quite jam up around there. I mention traffic jam because people go to shop there like a merathon really. The market itself only opens on weekday from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm only. So, anybody wish to shop up there have to shop like "a speedy gonzales" really. Most of the items are for women; things like clothes, makeup, accessories, jewelly, watches, you name it! But some are catering things for men too. There are many food vendors on that street so you will never go hungry. If you want to sit down and eat properly, there is a open-air canteen inside where you can choose variety of food from different food vendors, and bring it back to eat at the table. However, since many people are going there for lunch, it would be difficult for you to find an empty seat. My advise is to eat somewhere else, and if you are hungry, you can eat some fresh fruit from the street vendors, and prolong your life for a little while longer until you go through the end of the market.

Words of advise : Just enjoy your shopping if you are not too worried about the budget. But if you have a tight budget, shop only things you really like here since I find out that many woman items especially, you will find it cheaper at Platinum Mall, Pratunam area, which sell clothes, and accessories at the wholesale prices. We will talk more about this place in the later post. As for now, have a good marathon shopping! (-;

A wonderful eating experience in Phuket

I have to say the best meal I’ve ever had besides grandmas cooking is a side street restaurant in Pluket Thailand, man it was great. I was walking around looking for a place to eat other then Thai food. Which is my favorite, BTW, BUT try having it everyday in every way and it gets a bit much. Well, so I was in the mood for something different. Something exotic, something so damn yummy, that I'd be writing about it for years to come. So, I'm walking down the main street. Vendors are trying to sell me copycat goods, charms, and Thai souvenirs cat calling with every motion forward. I politely smiled and nodded, but refused to bite. I had enough of their goods to warden buying another copycat suit case. Then this guy comes up to me and hands me a flyer. The flyer looked as if it had been hand written and printed out. IT read INDIAN FOOD, the best in Thailand. hmmmmmm? The best you say? He nodded and gestured to follow. I resisted for a moment (mom always says, better to be wary then stupid and dead.) but being on vacation and having one too many Singha beers I said what the blank, “ok buddy lead me to my doom.” He began to walk. I followed and we walked into an alley. oh oh....my heart began to pump, my head heating up with regret. My hands numbing with doubt, "TURN AROUND AND RUN!!" my warning conscious screamed! But I took a sip of my now lukewarm Singha and said bring your best demons alley of doom! I'm going in. So like a victim of a soon to be missing person poster I still followed. The dark alley soon lit up and to my surprise there was a little restaurant amongst dark hut type buildings. The restaurant was under a makeshift cardboard roof. Lights hung from the ceiling the light cords still exposed. A few magazine ads of India and a poster of the King of Thailand hung decoratively on the tarp hanging walls. The setting was plastic meaning, plastic tables and chairs. Oh oh what did I get myself into? Then suddenly I was hit with a splash of relief. My nose took a whiff and said it’s all good bro. I sat down ordered butter chicken, freshly made naan bread, (I could still smell the aroma dancing in the nose hairs of my nose) fresh Raita and the rest of the fixings. Everything was so damn delicious that I finely realized why they called Thailand the dudes Disneyland….. After all the way to a man's heart is through his tum tum. YUM YUM

"Where do Thai people go for shopping?" Part I : The behavior of Thai Consumers

If you stay in a hotel around Sukhumvit areas, you might notice that it is full of foreigners, and most street vendors offer selections mainly for foreigners. Not often that you will see a local Thai walking around and do some shopping around there. Why is that? The answers are simple. First, the things most street vendors sell are expensive. Second, most items street vendors're offering are souvenirs, which frankly, Thai people don't really buy those. And last but not least, Sukhumvit area is a financial district and it's only popular for foreigners, and perhaps for most Thais, they regard to that area as "the sin street" since there are many prostitude activities around the area.

So, "where do Thai people go for shopping?" To answer this question, we might have to step back and take a look at "the behavior of Thai consumers" in order to understand what, where and how Thai people like to shop. First of all, Thai people regardless of how rich or how poor they are like to shop or eat in an open environment. Some people may say it's not true since many people do go to shopping malls which is considered to be a closed environment. That would be true only if you look only at one side of the mirror. Thai people regard the open outdoor shops including street vendors as cheap, and affordable items. Take a look at one example, I specifically know one open-air noodle shop in China town, which is full of customers every single day. The owner drive Mecedez, BMW, and so on. One day, the owner decided that there should be some changing within the shop to make it look more modern, I supposed. So he boarded up the shop with clear glasses, and put air conditioning inside. It look good, and modern just like what they wanted. However, the sale, all the sudden, dropped dramatically in the following 2 or 3 month after renovation. But why? Like I said, for Thais, the first impression toward the shop would be "It must be more expensive since the shop look a lot nicer." Now, what the owners didn't realise is that he has dropped the poors out of his target customer list unintensionally. Now, will the riches go to this open-air noddle places? Oh!! Yes. In fact, many of them like to eat from the street vendors. Because we all do that since we are little. It is a part of our culture. We go to department stores for some brand name things street vendors don't offer, or most of the time we go to big mall to hang out, and get an air conditioning when it's hot outside. Now let look at the second behaivior when it comes to shopping for Thai people which is Thai people love to bargain! And really, the riches do bargain more than the poors. They look at it like a game. The more they can bargain, the more they feel like the winner. I don't know who is the loser in this case, but let's assume it is the owners of the shop. Now move on to the third behavior which would be Thai people like a bit of adventure when they shop. What is that supposed to mean? If you have a chance to go to Chatuchuk Market (we will talk more about the place later), you would notice that people like to go through a mountain of products. The way most shop sell things is to pile up , and mix up products onto a table, and sell it at one price for all. It obviously looks very much like a pile of garbage from far away, but for Thais, we think there must be a real jem within the garbage. So, we must dig through it in order to find one. It's like a spell that will attract all class of people to go through this giant pile of...Let's say Crap! Well, although this is a tactic used on the street shop level, many high profile shops have also adopted this method as their sale tactic as well especially when they offer sale items.
So, now you have it! As parts of Thai culture, shopping is another way to be socialized, and interact with one another. So, what the place they would go for shopping? Find out in my next post, as I will reveal the country main shopping hubs where Thai people like to go shopping no matter where they come from, rich or poor, or anything in between.

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"Is it worth it to spend times and times in Bangkok" : The Notorious Bar Girls

This post is for folks out there whose goals are to come to Thailand to get laid as much as possible. If that is what you're after, here are abit of advises, which will be really useful to you when you are out there on your own among all the sharks. The rules of thumbs are simple. All bar girls are not innicent ;so paying more than what it should be is not going to do you any good. How much does it cost for a girl depends upon where you get the girls. If you get the girls from the bars, there is usually a bar fee involved usually from 300-500 baht depending upon the bar. There are many bars on Soi Cowboy, and Patpong that come with a room for a short time business. The lenght of the business can be separated to short term one, and the long term one. Short term is around one and a half hours and is limited to one business round, whereas the long term is referred to the whole night session, and unlimited business round. The short session can ranged from 600-1000 Baht, while the long term one can cost you from 1500-2000 baht. Again, there is no garantee fixed price, but make sure that you make it clear before bringing her out of the bar. The girls will try to insist you on buying her drinks because she would also get a commision from it. You do not need to buy the drinks since you already pay a bar fine to take the girl out. But if you want to please her a little bit, it's totally up to you. Both short and long term girls will go with you to your hotel. Some hotels will not let these bar girls in; make sure that you check with the hotel staffs first. However most hotels around Sukhumvit do accept them but will take their ID just in case that you are being scammed or she stole something from you. Never pay anything up front. You can pay half when she is in the room with you, and another half when the business is complete. If you plan to stick around Bangkok area for couple of days, it is wise to give her the taxi fee , and a 10% tip when she leaves the room to go back to the bar. If not, you just pay just the taxi fee, and it should be fine. Never give your contact phone number especially in your hometown to the bar girls ever! She will for sure call you in the middle of the night, or even an email. Remeber no drama here! It's a pure business. Some common scams are when they know that you are into them, they call or email you, and tell you that their family are in a blink of losing the house, or they need money to get out of being prostitude. The sad thing is that 99% of it are not true, and if you send money to her. She will make sure to do it again and again, and you will become a loser!

Apart from all these fun things you folks have been imagining for years back in the states, the most important of all is your own safety. Many scams have been reported, and doing a business with an underage girls are extremely illegal. In Thailand, prostitude is illegal no matter what, but in practice, it is common thing in the society. But, if you are falling into a scam which have polices involved, you might end up going to jail for a long time. So, make sure the girls you are talking to is over 18. And no matter what they are who they are, you should not fall in love with them what so ever. I heard many sad sad story from many long stay foreigners who has a romantic relationship with a bar girl. It didn't do them any good, and many Thais tie to their family; so if you marry to a lady, you will be responsible for her family's well being as well. So, stick to your objective, and leave Thailand with happiness. For more information, you can ask through the comments, and I 'll be sure to answer your question or guide you to where to find one.

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"Is it worth it to spend days and days in Bangkok?" : The Shopping Paradise Part II

I have no words to describe how each mall on the skytrain route offer. Basically to me, it offers you many brand name items for instant Channel, and Louis Vuitton. However, the good part for an average income Thai people is that it does offer a giant food court, packed with a wide variety of food. It's a good place for students to hang out or go for a date. Siam Center, and Central World do have amazing movie theatres. It is, somewhat, beyond words if you try out their VIP seat ticket. First, you will see the movie with a limited number of people on almost your own private screen. Your seat is is a Lazyboy style couch, which let you lean back to almost sleeping position. Beside that you can order drinks like beer, and wine. It is perfect if you come with your girlfriend, or your love ones. The ticket is 2.5 time more than regular ticket, but it's well worth it since you don't do this everyday back in your hometown. Now, let's get back to our shopping subject here. Do remember to ask for a 5% discount Tourist Privilege card from the information booth when you shop at any branches of Central Department Store. This little red paper card also offer 7% tax refund. So, you can stretch out your budget even more. Why not? After all our goals is to shop, shop, and shop some more. Now, I'm not going to go through each shop and explain what it sells, which will make me sound like a retard. But the map attached to this post should sum it all up for you. So now, get ready for an intensive shopping, put on the flip-flop, wear a T-Shirt or something that allow your body to breath easier, and don't forget to get a business card of the hotel where you are staying. Often time, our customers forget the hotel name, or even where it's at. Now that you are ready, let get shopping! (Tune in for the next post : "Is it worth it to spend days and days in Bangkok?" : Where do the locals go shopping?)

"Is it worth it to spend days and days in Bangkok?" : The Never Ending Night Part I

If you stay in the hotel on Sukhumvit road, you probably already will notice that the city is actually sleeping during the day time. But by night, it will totally turn into a completely different place. Many street vendors are filling up both sidewalks of Sukhumvit road around Nana skytrain station. They offer you all kinds of sovineers, gifts, or little take away gadgets you can give to your friends, relatives, and your love ones when you are back to your homeland. It's worth a walk just to get the hang of it. Many items you can find it in MBK center Shopping Malls, and Chatuchak Market, but if it is a last minute thing, you can go ahead and buy from those vendors. Buying piracy DVDs are not recommended not because they are cheap, but because if you do get checked from the custom back at your hometown, you will be in loads of trouble. So, I really don't recommend it.

Sukhumvit road is home of many immigrants ranging from Arabic, Irish, American, and so on you name it. It is also a hang out spot for expats who live and work in Thailand. Now, if you stand right next to the road, it may not look like much. But, most bars are situated inside these little tiny "Soi" or little sub-road extended from the main street. Many night walkers like to go to places like Patpong, or Soi Cowboy, walking street where there are pubs, and go-go-bars, lining up on both sides illuminated with a pink neon light. When you walk into those areas, you will feel very much like you step into the different world, the world that are somewhat surreal. Now, while these 2 places are offering very similar services namely drinks, food, and the lady, they are situated on 2 entirely different locations; the soi Cowboy is located close to the intersection of Sukhumvit road and Asoke road. It is about 100 metres from the intersection and connects Asoke road with Soi 23 Sukhumvit running parlallel to Sukhumvit road. If you plan to go there by the skytrain , do get off at the Sukhumvit station. While Patpong road is located near Silom road just off the Sala Daeng skytrain station. Both of the places are well known for many tourists as the sex hub of Thailand. There is without a doubt that if you are a man going there to drink , and have a good time, you will most likely end up with a young beautiful bar girl. Now, let's face it. People do go to those areas for 2 things; first is to see what it looks like, how it is, do a little shopping, and walk away, the second is for drink, and sex. If you are falling into the second catagories, you would not want to miss my next post; "Is it worth it spending days and days in Bangkok?" ; the nutorious bar girls.

"Is it worth it to spend days and days in Bangkok?" : Shopper Paradise Part I

In my view, Bangkok is a 180 degree from where I live at the moment. Although, I live there during my school years, but I still don't really felt like it was my home, then. Not that Bangkok isn't exciting or anything, but with the dense smoke, constant traffic jam, it was enough to throw me off from all these attraction areas, and instead spend time at home in front of my cable television, which was showing the same show over and over again.

Now, I may have given you the point of view of Thai people when they think of Bangkok. But for many foreigners, it is a paradise, where they can shop for a bargain price, they can get a young lady as a personal tour guide, and perhaps most important concept of all, where they can see there hard earn dollar go a long way, much more than it does campared to where ever they come from. For the shoppers, Bangkok will offer you everything you need; so do not go elsewhere. For the sightseeing travelers, you may be a bit disappointed since traveling from point A to point B could take an hour or so, and you may find that at the end of the day, you visit only a place or two. For the nightlife travelers or so called sex tourist, Bangkok is like their base. No need to go anywhere else. Sex industry is big in Thailand beside the government's effort to change the country's reputation. It brings in lots of cash into the country, and there is no denying that. Thai goverment even added a department called the Cultural Ministry just to make sure that Thailand can be seen as the good Buddishm again, but after all they don't really do a good job, and instead hurt the torist industry even more.

If you are shoppers, and your goals is to do the least sightseeing, and spent as much time as you can shopping, then, you are in the right place. I also suggest you to stay in any hotel that is close to the skytrain. Throughout the skytrain route, you will notice that it is full of indoor shopping malls, and tons of five star hotels which usually cost you 100 US dollar a night or up. Taking the skytrain seem to be the most common practice for most foreigners. Walking is possible, but not recommended since most of the time, the city seems to dig up the sidewalk for a piping project or something, and leave it unrepair. Forget your high heel, it does not work in Bangkok, and it can garantee you to come back to your hotel with a big blister. A pair of Sun Glasses will also be necessary since it can help you avoid an eye allergy since you will end up in the very high populated areas and that usually includes high traffic as well. At the skytrain station, depending upon where your hotel is located, there will be a route map showing different destinations where the train will bring you together with the price for reaching each station from where you are at. The thing is that most of the time I see foreigners just standing in front of the map not knowing what to do or how to proceed. It is because most stations are named after the districts while most foreigners only know the name of the shopping malls. Now, it is my believe it is because they want people to go to Siam center first since it is the only name of the station that dictates the shopping mall name. So, you will see tons of teenage, and foreigners going there to hang out, and of course, shop. Now, I have to admit that while Siam Center looks very much like Mecy's in the states, Siam Square, on the other hand, offer you quite a unique experience in shopping. Located on the street right opposite to Siam Center, Siam Square are streets full of shops, restaurants, coffee shops, and bars. It is an open-air shooping. So, it is good if you don't mind the heat, of course. You can also peak inside different shops to get some air conditioning, and come out also. Siam Square is truely known to be the leading fashion street. People are competing with each other with the cloths they are wearing, and the car they are driving. The shops there offer you anything from a street style look to an Avan-Garde high profile fashion. Simply put, it offers a bit of everything really. Don't expect anything cheap there. Look around you, you will notice a Mercedez, and BMW parking everywhere which represent the wealth of people who shop there. Plus the rent there are among the top, so there is no way the price will be low. Now, if you shop for clothes as most shops, there, offer, you will want to read my next post, as many experience this phenomenon when it comes to how Thais size their clothes or wearing garments. It is not having to do with matric system or anything, it is personally "very Thai" as you can say. Please tune in for the next post as we will still concentrate on the Bangkok Financial area.

Please also do consider to bring TalkinThai, an instant Eng-Thai phone based translation service with you on the trip to Thailand, it is 24 hours translation service through the telephone. So, wherever you are stuck and need to talk or ask the locals, it will come in handy. It also can suggest you with places to go, what you should do according to Thai customs, and so on. For more information please log on to http://www.talkinthai.com/ (Now till October 2009 get the 20 minute translation service for absolutely free of charge!)

"Rent a Place in Thailand by Yourself," a very interesting experience!

I first met Patrick, a French retiree, when I first opened a little bakery store in my hometown, rayong, about a year ago. At that time, he found my coffee shop as a common spot for him to hang out and ahve a time for himself drinking a good cup of vietnamese coffee, and reading his favorite novel. As a good owner, I walked in and talk to him. That was how we first met each other. It was not a romantic story or anything since I do have a wife, you see. But, as we became friend, I learned a lot more about him, and he learned more about me as well. He revealed to me how he don't like to stay at what he was staying at that time. It was, in my opinion, a nice place to stay, but I think he was fed up with all these populated foreigner areas, and needed to just run away from it as fast as possible. So, he decided to find the new house with a help from me, of course. Now, finding a house to rent in Thailand is not as easy as walk in the park. Sometime, there is no rental sign hanging in the front what so ever. You just have to go ask for it yourself. That doesn't sound, at all, practical for a foreigner like Patrick.

Having said that it was near impossible for Patrick to find the rental house, he manage to kept his cool, and walk around town looking for a little sign written in Thai "Hai Chow," which mean for rent in English. Sometime, he found the owner, and neeeded to talk to the guy, he will ring me to help him translate the conversation back and forth between both parties. That is, in turn, how idea of TalkinThai emerged, and it is fair to say that is how it happened. With as simple as one phone call away, I can help a retiree, like Patrick, get a rental house without being there with him physically. In fact, Patrick found no rental house for at least a month until he went to Chantaburi with me. There, he found what appeared to be another adventure for him. So, he decided to move there, but since he hadn't found a rental house yet, he decided to go there every weekend, and whenever he had time to walk around, and searched for the rental house. Bizzare enough, he called me at the point he felt no hope of finding one, and he already began to think about moving into an apartment and started searching again later on, which sounded like a good idea at that time. But, I personaly didn't like to hang thing in the middle like this. So, I told him to go to any local store around the place where ever he felt like wanting to be in, and that gave me a call. The next day, he did exactly what I told him to. He went to a laundry matt, and called me. I asked him to pass the phone to the owner. I asked the owner if she know anybody around there who rented out a house. Sure enough, she managed to call a couple of people, and found a house for rent a block away from the laundry matt. And that how Patrick doing things there by himself with a little helps from me through my cell phone since then. And that is how TalkinThai helps our customers today just as if they are one of our friends. It is a rewarding experience for me to be able to help someone like Patrick, as well as the other customers of TalkinThai achieve their goals in Thailand by themselves without spending load of money. At the end, the choice is with us, don't let anybody decide for you. In the end, you deserve to stay in Thailand wherever you want to without having to go through money sucking agencies!    

Pack & Go Guides to Thailand Part 1

As a Thai man who was born and raised in Thailand, it is quite odd to find myself writting the blog about what, and how to pack, and get ready to go to Thailand. But, for the last 10 years of my life, I have been living in the foreign lands, many of which I couldn't even understand what their people said, and it was really frustrated for me to go find things. Then, the question came to my mind "why anybody want to touture themselves going to the place where they don't even really try to talk to you?" Life was lonely, then. But, after 9 years of drifting around from one place to the others, I finally realised how successful packing can make your trip feel a lot better, and can give you a fresh start when you first land on any country you visit. 

This is also applied to Thailand as well. You see when I went to New Zealand at first, I went there as a tourist. There are many things I think I should have brought with me. It may sound silly, but back then, it is not common for ones to have a cell phone. Without a cell phone, that meant I have no way to set an alarm. Yes, that is right! As silly as it may sound, I set my first goal in New Zealand, "finding an alarm clock". This is very essential for me as I always went to bed late, and got up late as well. It was incredible how much time I lost just to try to find an alarm clock on the street of New Zealand! I lost at least a good 3-4 hours on finding one. I wish I could have used those time on sightseeing instead. Now, how about preping things to Thailand. It may sound rediculous at first. Wait until you got here and experience it yourself. You see, almost throughout Thailand now, we have chain minimart like Seven Eleven situated in almost every corner of the town much like Starbuck in the US.  But, what wrong with it, after all it should make your life a lot more convinient it catagorizes itself as "a convinient store". Let me give you a little example. I came back to Thailand with my American wife back in 2005. As I've been away for so long, I gave my wife no advise on what to expect from Thailand what so ever. In fact, my wife still thought that Thailand is the same country as Taiwan. Her first surprise came when we stopped to get gas at the gas station, and of course, my wife was having to have an upset stomach. What happened next stunned her as she strom to the bathroom, and finish doing her business, and found out that there was no sign of toilet paper to be found anywhere inside the bathroom cell she was in. You see, Thais use water to clean when they go to the bathroom. This applies to all houses in Thailand even to a business places. The proof is that in almost every toilet in a regular Thai house will have a hose with a spray head installed right next to it, and trust me, they prefer to use the jet spray more than tissue like other westerners would prefer. Another example is when one of my clients from Australia was trying to look for a mosquito spray. It should be as simple as bringing one from Australia, but why not! After all Thailand is full of mosquito, it should, then, be easy for hime to find one, right! Unfortunately, it was a "no" for him.  Where ever he went to, the shops kept on telling him "Mai Mee," which meant that they don't have what he is looking for. He ended up at one of the shop, which also told him that they did not carry such item, but in fact, they did. If only he did not see it on one of the shelves by accident, he wouldn't probably have had a chance to find it elsewhere. Does that mean Thais, in general, don't like the foreigners? I would say "yes", and "no". But for the most part if they can't speak your language, they ,most likely, just want to quickly solve the problem by saying "Mai Mee", or "no" or any other negative reponses they could find to get you walk away from their shops. This does not apply to all Thais, of course. Many are offering themselve for help even though many ended with misunderstanding. After all, the language barrier are large here. Although we, Thais, learn English since we are at the young age, it doen't help us to communicate with foreigners by any means. It is rare for Thais to walk toward a foreigner and offer helps unless that person is familiar to the western like myself or people who live around torist spots. Perhaps, that is why our government like to put foreigners in the place like Koa San road, Patpong, and so on. You see Thailand have so much more to offer to you folks out there who are seeking for adventurous experiences. Many retirees would understand what I am talking about. Thailand is not just Bangkok, Chaing Mai, Phuket, or any other tourist spots our government tried to advertise to you as the tropical paradise. You see, we, Thai, felt like minority when walking on Kao San road whereas the foreigners would feel completely out of places when they walk on Charansnitwong road even though both roads are situated in Bangkok. Perhaps, it is a norm for all places around the world, but again perhaps we forget one fundamental thing like "how to be prepare". With the modern technology , it is very much possible for anyone to find wide ranges of information online and use those to prepare your trip to Thailand. TravelTranslator will always dedicated to provide foreigners a good source of information so that they can be well prepared prior to their arrival regardless to any reasons they may come here for. In the next post, I will talk more on what are "must bring" lists when you plan your trip to Thailand.