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22 06, 2014

Taxi + Bike Rack = Taxi-Bike Thailand. Finally.

Greg2016-11-17T15:47:49+00:00Bangkok, Biking, Transport|0 Comments

UPDATE March 2016: Mr. Tao doesn’t seem to be answering his phone anymore. Boo.

If you’ve read G2D before, you might know that I often join a small but dedicated group of friends in exploring Bangkok and its surrounding area on bicycles. It’s a great way to see the city and get to areas that most foreigners – and a great many Thais – never get to see. The problem, of course, is that I don’t have a car, which means I not only have to ride to our destination, but also back home, which limits the distances […]

13 06, 2014

Taste of Home: A Serious Homemade Sandwich

Greg2017-03-07T09:32:55+00:00Food, Fun Stuff|0 Comments

If I were to stand up in a crowd and say “Thai food is the best food in the world,” I probably wouldn’t get too many people telling me I’m wrong. Thai food is awesome, and anyone who says otherwise is evil. But every once in a while, I get a strong craving for a good taste of home, and nothing says “Alberta farm boy” like a good ol’ fashioned sandwich. Or sammich, as I prefer to call them. Bangkok has some pretty badass sammich places, but nothing says homemade like…uh, homemade. So, during a weekend where I didn’t […]

7 06, 2014

Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River: The Dividing Line of Cool

Greg2016-11-21T04:30:54+00:00Bangkok, Culture|6 Comments

Bangkok is a huge city, but most of its expat community is centered around a few notable areas – Sukhumvit, Silom, Sathorn, Ari, and a few other small burghs. It’s no coincidence that most of the hotels, restaurants, and nightlife is located here too. What some people overlook is that every single one of these areas is on the east side of the Chao Phraya River, which roughly bisects Bangkok – but what about the west side? […]

1 06, 2014

Meanwhile, in Bangkok…Starbucks Duvet

Greg2016-11-17T15:47:50+00:00Meanwhile in Bangkok...|0 Comments

It will come of no surprise to most that Thailand is a land of contrasts – an ancient temple next to a brand new shopping mall? Check. Ladies of the night leaving offerings at shrines on their way to work? Check. So it goes with heat and cold as well – often you’ll be sweating and panting form a short walk only to step inside the BTS or a coffee shop and suddenly you have sweatsicles forming off the end of your nose. […]

23 05, 2014

Living Through a Coup in Thailand

Greg2016-11-17T15:47:50+00:00Bangkok, Current Events, Politics, Thailand|14 Comments

As you’ve probably heard by now, Thailand is in the middle of its 12th coup since 1932 (not including seven attempted ones). After 6 months of increasingly turbulent and violent protests, General Prayuth Chan-ocha finally had enough and said “Yeah, I’m in charge now.” This is my second coup in Thailand, and while neither I – nor most people – can say with any certainty what comes next, I can say that living through the Thai coups so far has not been what an uninitiated westerner would imagine them to be. […]

11 05, 2014

A Bike Ride in Pictures: Samut Sakhon to Samut Songkhram

Greg2016-11-17T15:47:51+00:00Biking, Health, Thailand, Transport|0 Comments

One thing I enjoy about Bangkok is getting out on my bike and exploring the hidden corners that one rarely sees. That does the trick most of the time, but sometimes I get ambitious and plan a longer overnight trip, which is what I did this past weekend. In retrospect, it was probably a bit too hot for the route we chose, but sunburned, muddy, and very, very tired, we arrived at the hotel with a sense of accomplishment and a hint of amazement that we actually made it. Some pictures below, many courtesy of Andrew. […]

7 05, 2014

Blogging in Bangkok During a Crisis

Greg2016-11-17T15:47:51+00:00Bangkok, Current Events, Politics|0 Comments

Bangkok has an endless number of things to blog about, but there are times – like right now – when it becomes a bit of a chore. The ongoing, and seemingly unsolvable, political crisis is dominating everything from lunchtime conversations to the evening news, and it’s a serious problem with serious and long-term consequences. I previously wrote that the best way (for me) to deal with it was to simply stop caring about any of it. To stop worrying and fretting and getting worked up, because no matter how much I did, it would have zero […]

5 05, 2014

Welcome to the Swanky New G2D Design

Greg2016-11-17T15:47:52+00:00Thailand, Web Media|0 Comments

Like most things, websites benefit from a little TLC every now and then. Most people don’t like learning their way around a completely new design, so the trick is finding how to improve what you have without removing what you liked about the old version. For the latest update to G2D (the second in about 5 years), I wanted to keep the general layout and functionality, but improve how it looked and functioned.

One of the most important elements for me in choosing a new theme was to make sure it was mobile-friendly and responsive across multiple […]

13 04, 2014

Bring the Car Around: Uber vs GrabTaxi in Bangkok

Greg2016-11-17T15:47:52+00:00Bangkok, Transport|22 Comments

Taking a taxi in Bangkok is a crap shoot. While the current flag fall of 35 baht (about USD $1.10) is among the cheapest in the world (and long overdue for a raise IMHO – it’s been the same for years), the fleet that patrols Bangkok’s storied streets is…uneven, at best. Most guide books and travel websites have warnings about taxi scams, and the longer you live here the more likely you are to know someone who’s had an experience so bad they’ve sworn off taxis forever…but soon find themselves white-knuckled in the back seat again, because, well, […]

17 03, 2014

Taking a Steam Train Out of Bangkok

Greg2016-11-17T15:47:52+00:00Bangkok, Thailand, Transport, Travel|5 Comments

A lot of time people feel the need to get out of Bangkok and catch a break from the constant buzz of traffic, the crowds, the highways, and the cement. Oh God, the cement. Some people go to great lengths to catch a break, like a friend who will gladly travel all night in a crowded minivan and half a day on a boat to spend one night on a beach. I’m a bit ~~lazy~~ more pragmatic, in that if I leave town, it needs to be easy, cheap, fast, and worthwhile. A few months […]