My Thai Life

Recently a friend of mine came for a visit to Thailand and one of the things she set out to do was travel Thailand. She asked me what would be the best places to visit. I’ve lived in Thailand for a few years now and I’m always up to showing my friends the sites around Bangkok and Thailand as a whole.

This was Debs first trip to Thailand as a single girl and she wanted to be safe in her travels. I know that a lot of people say that if you are a girl then you should not travel Thailand alone. I really disagree with that statement for it’s not only safer in Thailand but it’s also much cheaper than backpacking through Europe. I’d also say it’s safer than Europe too. Not to say that bad things don’t happen. But they rarely do in Thailand. At least from the news that I read (BangkokPost).

So, with great happiness for her I told her that she needed to explore Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Hua Hin. These are a few of my favorite places. I love all the little Islands off the coast of Trang so I’ll have to add that to her list too. She has lots of time and is spending 3 months in Thailand. 3 months is a huge amount of time for someone to travel Thailand. Bangkok alone could take you 3 months just to tour around. From all the old temples to all the cool bars! I love the bars. Nothing beats a cold Singha on a hot day in Patong Beach.

One tip that I gave her was not to eat Thai stall food. Now some of you might know what that is and some may not. Thai food is served 24/7 on the streets of Thailand. You can find anything from fried grasshoppers to Tom Yom. Problem is that if you don’t have a strong Thai life stomach, it can cause you problems of the watery kind if you know what I mean. Now, I’ve met some Farangs here in Thailand that swear by the stuff. But I tell you, there are not too many of them. Few and far between! So, I always say, when it doubt, don’t eat it. Can you get sick from McDonalds, yes, of course but I’d rather take my chances there than with a Thai food street vendor.

Well, she is off on her wild little ride of Thailand. She has even met herself a nice Thai guy. He’s a bit younger than she is and I won’t go into detail on that but she is having fun. She emails me every other day and lets me know where she is and what she is doing. She has told me that she is having the time of her life here in Thailand. I sure agree with her. When you travel Thailand, you’ll find that it’s an amazing place. Even if you’re a girl…

MyThaiLife

First and foremost, I love Singha beer. It’s a Thai beer brewed in Thailand. The brewing company is Boon Rawd for those of you who want to know some history about Singha Beer. They were the first brewery in Thailand and were setup in 1933. Yep, that’s a long time to be brewing Singha baby!

ANYWAYYYYYYYY - My buddies and I usually love to toss back a few Singhas and listen to really bad karaoke. Don’t ask me why but there is something entertaining about watching bad karaoke. As for me, I can’t sing at all and I won’t even think about getting on stage. But it sure is funny watching people do it. From those that can sing to those who can’t.

Now this is kind of a funny story and I have a photo to back it up. My buddy and I were at a bar the other day in Chinatown. Don’t ask me why we were in Chinatown. Just like going there sometimes to have a beer. It’s cheap and there is always good entertainment somewhere. So we were having a few Singhas and listening to very bad Thai karaoke when we noticed a Thai guy just drinking way too much beer. Now, let me back up a minute. We had been out most of the afternoon and ended up at this bar about 5:30pm and had just been sitting there only a few minutes before this guy and his buddies came in. Well, we ended up leaving for about an hour and a half to go get some food and this guy was pounding the Singha beers mixed with Rum chasers. WTF for? Don’t ask me why. We left and came back and this is how we found him.

Now, when you’re traveling Thailand you will notice a lot of things. Some things will stick out in your mind but this one really sticks out because his buddies left him there. Now, I’m not really sure if this guy is Thai. In fact, he looks a bit Chinese but his buddies were all Thai. We asked his buddies if they cared that they were leaving their friend behind and they said no. He apparently does it all the time.

We asked if we could take a photo before they left and this is what we got. We spent almost 3 more hours at the bar and this guy never moved. Was he dead? No, wasn’t dead. Just drunk and passed out. It was about closing time when he finally was woken up by the staff letting him know it was time to go. He gets up, staggers to the door and gets into a tuk-tuk and we never saw him again.

This guy knows how to party!

MyThaiLife… Sometimes it’s strange.

A few weeks ago I took another trip back up to Chiang Rai and did another visit up to the Long Neck Tribe. This place never ceases to amaze me. I can remember a time as a kid I would finger though the National Geographic magazine and see the Long Neck Tribes. What were those funny looking rings I thought to myself. How the hell did they get them on their necks? Are the painful? Well, yeah… They are!

While I was there I got the chance to take a couple photos. You can see from the photo above that she has a smile on her face. But was that smile real or forced? I can pretty much bet that it was forced. You see, although they speak really good English, they can’t really tell how they are feeling. She was in a bit of pain. These rings are part of her everyday life and they can be cumbersome. It’s a bit painful to sleep but they do it.

How do they get them on you ask? They start when they are kids and then slowly put longer rings on. Longer you ask? Yes, it’s one long piece of metal and it’s heated up to form the circles around their necks and contrary to popular belief, they do not make the neck longer. They actually push down on the shoulders making the neck look longer. Below you an see what they look like when they don’t have the rings on.

Can you imagine having to wear those things all day? I can’t. The mere sight of them makes me cringe. I can’t imagine how she must feel. Maybe I can, it does seem a bit painful to watch them put on and take off the rings. I suppose since they do it all the time that it’s not that big a deal. Who knows…

A visit to Chiang Mai and then on to Chiang Rai can’t be complete without a trip up to the tribe. The visit will set you back about 1500 baht. At least that is what it was for me. It’s a about a 3 hour ride up there so be prepared for a bit of a journey. While you are there, be sure to buy some stuff. They could sure use the money up there. I know it’s a bit weird to see things like that and some people say it’s wrong but the money you spend does help a little. So, go with an open mind and an open pocketbook.

MyThaiLife

Do you know what is crazy? Muay Thai is crazy. But what’s even crazier is watching Thai girls do it. I got the chance to see my first female Muay Thai in Patpong a while back and let me tell you. It was crazy. I have never seen two girls go at it so hard in my whole life. It was truly an amazing thing. If you take a look at the photo, you will see the power of the sport in her eyes. She’s like a cage fighter!

The match lasted 4 rounds and this girl won the match. I have to say that I’ve been to many Muay Thai matches with men before but this one was one of the strangest things I’ve seen. The intense fighting that these girls did was outrageous. I can only compare it to a Mike Tyson fight back in the states.

After this Thai girl won the Muay Thai match, she walked around the place soliciting tips. I was all to eager to give her a 500 baht note for a job well done.

You can find Thai girls fighting Muay Thai all over Thailand. I haven’t heard a lot of advertising for it so you might have to check around. I do believe they still do it somewhere in Patpong. Yes, Patpong!

MyThaiLife

So, what are you doing for Songkran? I know what I won’t be doing. I won’t be going to purchase one of those high pressure water guns. Because if i get caught, major fine! Yep, that’s right. Thailand has banned the sale and use of high pressure water guns and PVC water pressure pipes. Why you ask? Because they freaking hurt that’s why! It’s also dangerous for motorbikes and cars.

These days, Songkran is about having fun.The best part of the Songkran festival is the throwing of water on other people. People roam the streets with buckets of water, water guns and water hoses looking to soak the next farang!

Songkran wasn’t always about throwing water on people. In the beginning it was about paying respect to the elders and family but somehow migrated to a huge Thai water fight.

So, if you decide to venture out, wear your beach gear and bring the fun but leave the high pressured water guns at home and enjoy the weekend festival of Songkran! Believe me, I will because it’s freaking hot in this town!

Chok Dee Mak Mak

MyThaiLife

People are always asking me about getting a Thai Visa. The answer is always the same., “What do you mean?”. There’s not a real simple answer other than the correct one.

You can’t stay in Thailand on a tourist visa more than 90 days in a 6 month period. After 90 days during a 6 month period, you must leave the country for 90 days before you can come back. This is because of all the expats living in Thailand on tourist visas that don’t pay taxes and have a work permit. So, they wanted to counter that.

If you want to stay in Thailand over 90 days then you will need a different Thai visa. I suggest that if you have a bit of money then you get a company started here in Thailand. Before you come to Thailand, contact Siam-Legal.com and get the proper paperwork so that you can get a non-immigrant B visa from the Thai consulate office in your home country. Once you get a non-immigrant B Thai visa then you can stay in Thailand for one whole year and only have to do a border run every 90 days. I suggest using ThaiVisaRun.com for they are really cool and cheap.

Now, your non-immigrant B Thai visa will expire in one year but you can get it renewed provided you have started a company and have your proper Thai work permit. I’ve done the whole non-immigrant B Thai visa and the work permit and it’s not a big deal. Just have to jump through a few hoops. Like a physical at the hospital and little bit of money.

Now, when you are wanting to get that non-immigrant B Thai visa, make sure that you ask for a mulitple entry version. It will save you time and effort.

The company Siam-Legal.com will take care of all the paperwork for you. You will just need to show up at the office with two passport photos for your work permit. Takes about 30 minutes to get the work permit. Now, work permits are tricky in themselves. You will need to go back down to the work permit office in 30 days to get a stamp then every 90 days to make sure it’s correct. This is the Thai visa way of making sure they get their work permit money. Because with a work permit comes cash for the country of Thailand.

This blog post has a photocopy of my work permit to show you what they look like.

Hope this helps…

MyThaiLife

Here is a map of Thailand that shows the bigger cities of Thailand.

If you are looking for a more detailed map of Thailand, be sure to check out the Thailand Maps section under the Articles section here on MyThaiLife.

This is a question that I get a lot lately and it has to do with the Thailand departure tax. When you travel to Thailand you are required to pay a departure tax. Up until last year, this was 500 baht and you had to pay in the Thai currency before you were allowed to leave the airport. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people didn’t know about this and were pretty much screwed at the airport. In fact, I know some people had to beg other travelers for money just to get out. Well, that all changed last year.

When you are getting ready to travel Thailand and you go to purchase your ticket, the departure tax has now been included in the price of the airline ticket and it’s not 500 baht anymore. It’s 700 baht. So, you really don’t need to be worried now when you go to travel Thailand because the departure tax has been included in the ticket price.

This is just an FYI for those of you who were curious.

MyThaiLife

“Wow, look at what’s going on over there.” That was pretty much the last thing I heard from my friend David last night. You see, David came for a visit to Bangkok for the first time and after showing him a few bars in Patpong, he found himself taken back by one of the lovely Thai girl go-go dancers and you can imagine where that ended up.

David finally called me this morning from his hotel and told me the story. You probably have heard this story a thousand times before so I won’t even go into details. Lets just say that David had a great time last night.

David, like many other western men coming to Bangkok are simply looking to have a great time. David, you go boy! lol.

MyThaiLife

I found this really interesting coffee shop in downtown Nakhon Si Thammarat. You simply can not talk in this coffee shop.

You can sit, drink and enjoy your coffee but if you want to order your coffee, you better use your hands because talking won’t get you anywhere. The name of the coffee shop is The Silence and it’s in front of Wat Chamao.

One of the founders was the former chairman of the Provincial Deaf-Mute Association. I heard about this place on the Bangkok Post and decided to go check it out. It was a bit strange and weird but really worth the trip there. It’s on the 401 between Sichon and Hua Sai on the East side of Sourthern Thailand.

Most of the customers as well as what seemed to be most of the staff are deaf-mutes. So, using your hands is the best way to order your coffee. I think this is a great thing. I always applaud people that can take their disadvantage and turn into something that sustains their life. It just goes to show that you can never count someone down and out…

MyThaiLife