Money & Costs
You Cannot Open a Thai Bank Account With a Tourist Visa and That Is the Point
Kasikorn's own published rules exclude tourist visas, visa-free entries and the DTV by name. Almost every blog round-up on the internet gets this wrong.
Somchai Jaidee
Sawatdee khrap! I’m Somchai (Bank). I help travelers navigate Thai visas easily while sharing the best slow-travel secrets, hidden street food spots, and local culture. Let’s make your move to Thailand completely effortless! 🇹🇭
Street Food
Cha Yen Is Not Iced Tea and It Is Not What You Think It Is
Six baht at a 7-Eleven, poured into a plastic bag, tied at the top, and it is better than almost anything you will pay four dollars for in a coffee shop.
Practicalities
A Lost Passport in Thailand Is a Paperwork Problem, Not a Nightmare
Police report, embassy appointment, one document that takes a fortnight to replace. What actually happens, in the order it happens, with real timings.
Slow Travel
The Coworking Space Is Not the Product, the Visa Status Is
A desk in Chiang Mai costs two hundred baht a day. The visa costs eight thousand. Sorting these in the wrong order is how people end up on a 30-day visa exemption.
Temples & Culture
Nobody Is Going to Shout at You in Thailand
The risk in Thailand is not being shouted at. It is being quietly excluded, and the four things tourists do that cause it without ever realising.
Slow Travel
Pai Is Three Hours From Chiang Mai and the Road Is the Point
The road is quoted as having 762 bends. That number is the argument for going slowly, and against doing it in a rented car on a weekend.
Practicalities
How to Get a Taxi in Bangkok Without Being Ripped Off
Meter on or off is one sentence, and the whole thing takes eight seconds once you know it. The rest is knowing which vehicle to wave down.
Practicalities
Nobody in Bangkok Waits for You and Somehow You Survive It
There is no pedestrian crossing on a six-lane road and there are two thousand motorcycles. What to do with your body, not your courage.
Practicalities
Most Tourists Who Crash a Scooter in Thailand Are Not Hurt by the Road
The hospital bill is the smallest part. The part that ruins trips is a claim your insurer refuses, and that is decided by what you signed in a shop on a side street.
Practicalities
I Rented a Scooter in Chiang Mai and Nobody Told Me to Photograph It
Two hundred baht a day, no helmet included, and a deposit against a passport. The photo takes forty seconds and decides whether you lose a week.
Money & Costs
A Suit From a Bangkok Tailor Costs a Fifth of a Suit in London
Two suits in nine days for about four thousand baht each, made by somebody who has fitted fifty a day for thirty years. And four ways it goes wrong.
Practicalities
Thailand Has a Lot of Snakes and Almost None of Them Want to Meet You
The real risk is rubber plantations and the fact that people handle snakes for a living without protective equipment. Here is the actual risk map.