Thailand

A Few Thoughts on Ten Years in Thailand

On July 26, 2001, I stepped out of Don Meuang (then spelled ‘Don Muang’) airport into the Bangkok heat. It was the first time I had been out of Canada since I was 4 and I was eager to explore, to find places and see things few had found and seen, to blaze new trails and sink into the warm bath of all things new and strange. As soon as I got out onto the congested sidewalk, with the oppressive heat, whistle-blowing security guards, snaking taxi queue, and humid air thick with exhaust, I turned around and walked right back inside, wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into. Not a great start for an intrepid explorer. Forgive me if this turns into a bit of “When I was young…” but this is a quick look back at how Bangkok – and myself – have changed as I pass my tenth anniversary in Thailand.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:18+00:00Bangkok, History, Thailand, Travel|0 Comments

Thai Wedding Costs – The Cold, Hard Facts

As many know from listening to my podcast and reading my rants comments on Twitter, I'm getting married at the end of this year. For some reason, the gods have smiled on me, as I have somehow managed to navigate the minefield of finding a bride in Thailand, emerging on the other side with a girl who is beautiful, smart and funny, has a great job, speaks English at a near-native level, and is not reliant on me for money (which is a very good thing for her). So, yeah, marriage seemed liked a good option. But now we have to deal with the wedding, which is both a monumental headache and a joyous blessing. I thought I'd write a post about what the costs are looking like at this stage, both as a service to the many gents who get married here, and also as kind of a way for me to look back in ten years and laugh at what a n00b I was.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:20+00:00Culture, Religion, Thailand|37 Comments

The Fallout of the (sometimes)Truth

In the online war of words between representatives of Thailand’s various cultural groups (sexpats, expats, students, teachers, businessmen, hi-sos, etc), there’s never a shortage of interesting wordplay to read through. I’ve written about this before, but the one piece of advice I give to prospective expats is to be very selective when boning (heh) up on how Thailand works, simply because there’s so much crap out there that it’s easy to get a very distorted view of the country. The latest salvo in this ongoing battle was written for CNNGo by a friend of mine, and is causing quite a little uproar. Well, I’m here to defend him… sort of.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:25+00:00Culture, Thailand, Web Media|0 Comments

What the World Writes about Thailand

Google's a pretty neat tool, and it's fascinating to see how it's evolved over the past ten years. When I first came to Thailand in 2001, I did all my searches using either Lycos, HotBot, or Excite, but now I - indeed, most of the world - simply uses Google. It's pretty amazing how far their shadow stretches, touching pretty much every corner of the internet, no matter how insignificant. For non-insansely smart computer geeks, it's a bit hard to wrap your mind around exactly how access to all this seemingly minor information can congeal into a useful whole, but a new Google tool called Ngram consolidates an incredible amount of information - 200 years' worth, to be precise - and lets you search. Just for fun, I did some popular searches for Thai terms.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:26+00:00Current Events, Language, Print Media, Technology, Thailand|0 Comments

Cultural Counterweights

The topic of navigating inter-cultural relationships in Thailand is something that comes up a lot in books, bars, and especially on the web. In Bangkok, it’s kind of assumed that a foreigner will have a Thai girlfriend – with a few thousand of us and a few million of them, it’s simply a numbers game. (So much so that it's still a bit odd when you see a foreign guy with a foreign girl, or even odder, a foreign girl with a Thai guy, but that’s another post). The topic was being discussed and dissected long before I was even born, but I’ve been mulling it for a while and wanted to put something down on, err, a thin liquid crystal display panel. Obviously, this post will be from the perspective of a foreigner (that’s me) and will obviously not cover both sides of the coin, but I’d like to hear what you think.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:26+00:00Culture, Pop Culture, Thailand, Video|12 Comments

“You Just Don’t Understand Thailand.”

One of the favorite activities that expat barflies love to do is complain. In fact, one of the favorite activities that most any expat living in Thailand likes to do is complain. Some are loud and obnoxious about it, some (like me, I hope) are more subtle and kind, but it’s important to know that at its heart, all of this complaining is borne out of a love for Thailand. Most conversations begin with, “Why don’t they do it this way…” which is not a critical attack; more often than not its an attempt to offer alternatives. But what bugs me to no end is the worst, most lazy retort imaginable: You just don’t understand Thailand. I don’t hate many things in life, but I really hate that.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:27+00:00Bangkok, Culture, Thailand|11 Comments

Comparing Bangkok to a Few European Cities…

Well, that was a long break. As previously stated, I took a wee vacation to the far-off land we call “Europe” with my lady, and am only now getting back into the Bangkok groove. I only manage one big vacation every few years, so it was a long time coming. Enjoyed it a lot, spent too much money, but it was worth it – you know the drill. At any rate, it was interesting to me, living in one of Asia’s biggest, most culturally important cities, to experience some of Europe’s biggest, most culturally important cities. I had a few thoughts on Bangkok while there…

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:28+00:00Culture, Holidays, Thailand, Travel|0 Comments

The Irony of Shoe Shopping in Thailand

One of the problems with being a big guy in Asia is that, well, you’re a big guy in Asia, where the locals are generally considered... uh, well, let's just say there's only one person here that I have to look up at to talk to. A bit of detail for you here – I’m about 6’2” (187cm) and weigh about 260lbs (117kg). At home in Canada, I’m a bit bigger than normal, but not huge; many of my friends there are bigger than me, both vertically and horizontally. But being a big guy in Asia presents its own set of Lilliputian problems, most of which revolve around clothes, especially shopping for shoes. Let me share my story.

Greg2017-03-01T07:27:31+00:00Bangkok, Shopping, Thailand|0 Comments

Thai Massage: Rubbin’ Me the Wrong Way

There are many things that people revel in while living in Thailand, either losing themselfves in a singular pursuit or peppering their existence with traces of hedonism: food, beaches, diving, rock climbing, meditation, yoga, and even (so I'm told) girls. I've tried most of these - meditation is okay but after about 45 seconds I start to wonder if anyone's sent me an email; diving is fun; food, well, clearly that's not a problem for me. But there's one of these little bliss-sicles that everyone raves about; that occupy hours of my friends' days and cause people to travel far and wide in search of it and even to train in its methods. It is also one thing that I simply do not get and go to great lengths to avoid: Thai massage.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:28+00:00Health, Thailand|5 Comments

A Morning with the Tourism Authority at Ratchprasong

The Thai government has been working overtime in the wake of all the red shirt mayhem that went down a few months ago to reassure everyone that all is well and things are back to normal. Of course, looking at the big picture and the deep social scarring left from the protests it might be a bit of a misnomer to say things are 'back to normal', but on the surface (where most tourists reside), things look pretty regular. However, businesses are still hurting, so to help drum up interest in the Ratchprasong area (where most of the fires and shootings took place), the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) organized a special press tour of the affected area, which I was lucky enough to be invited to.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:29+00:00Bangkok, Current Events, Politics, Thailand|0 Comments