Slow Travel
Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai, Honestly
The Bridge on the River Kwai is a good bridge and the war museum beside it is worth two hours, and neither is the reason to come. Erawan Falls is.
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Money & Costs
When to Stop Converting the Baht in Your Head
There is a point at which doing the arithmetic in your head stops being useful and starts being a tax on your attention. It arrives in week two.
Practicalities
Intercity Buses: How to Travel Thailand for 500 Baht a Day
The overnight VIP coach is 500 baht and gives you a bed, a blanket, a film you will not watch, and a city centre arrival at 7am.
Islands & Beaches
Phuket: Old Town or the Patong Side?
These are two different holidays in a 45-minute drive. One is a Sino-Portuguese town with good food and no beach. The other is a beach with 47 bars.
Slow Travel
Thailand in the Rain: What the Monsoon Actually Does to a Trip
The rain in Thailand is not a grey drizzle that ruins a holiday. It is two and a half hours of heavy rain most afternoons, then a clear sky.
Slow Travel
Where to Stay in Bangkok, by What You Can Afford
There are six parts of this city that a visitor should consider and one of them, Rattanakosin, is the one that almost everybody books for the wrong reason and then regrets.
Visas & Immigration
What It Actually Costs to Overstay a Thai Visa
A one-day overstay is 500 baht and a short conversation. A six-month one is 20,000 baht, deportation, and a re-entry ban that is recognised well beyond Thailand's own borders.
Temples & Culture
Ayutthaya Is Better Than Bangkok's Temples, and It Is a Day Trip
Bangkok has a Wat and a fraction of the ruins. Ayutthaya has the capital of a 400-year kingdom standing in a field, it is an hour away, and the train costs 20 baht.
Temples & Culture
Elephant Sanctuaries: What Actually Happens, and What to Walk Away From
The difference between a genuine rescue sanctuary and a riding camp is visible from the car in four seconds. It is whether there is a bull in the herd.
Visas & Immigration
The Questions They Ask at Immigration, and How to Answer Them
How long are you staying, where are you staying, how did you get here, and what do you do. Four questions, asked by everyone, and the wrong answer to any of them is a longer queue.
Slow Travel
The Cold Season, and Why It Is the Only Time to Come
There is a temperature in northern Thailand in December that people who have never felt it cannot be made to understand, and it changes what a trip is worth.
Islands & Beaches
Getting to Koh Samui Without Flying, and Why You Might
Twelve hours in a car and a boat, a night in Surat Thani, and the good news is the air-conditioned bus has reclining seats and a working toilet. The bad news is that it is still twelve hours.