Thailand Temples and Culture

Flat illustration of a massage table in a wooden room with a folded towel and incense, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

Thai Massage Is Not a Spa. Here Is What to Ask For.

Two hours, 600 baht, and a person trained in a technique several hundred years old that has nothing to do with relaxing. Getting this wrong is a wasted hour.

Flat illustration of a tuk-tuk driver talking to a traveller near a temple gate, with a shop window behind, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

The Grand Palace Tour Scam, and the Four Words That End It

A man in a white uniform tells you the Grand Palace is closed this morning. He is a driver, working with a jewellery shop, and the script is good.

Flat illustration of a steel railway bridge over a wide brown river with limestone karsts behind, deep teal and gold

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.

Flat illustration of red brick temple ruins with a headless Buddha statue in grass under a big sky, deep teal and gold

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.

Flat illustration of an elephant and a mahout walking in a forest reserve with no saddle, deep teal and gold

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.

Flat illustration of a squat toilet pan with a plastic water scoop and a wall flush lever, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

Every Thai Toilet Has a Shovel and a Bucket and They Are Not a Joke

The bucket beside the pan is not decoration and the lever on the wall is not a light switch. A short tour of the most misunderstood room in Thailand.

Flat illustration of two abstract angular figures, a raised open palm and overlapping speech shapes, deep teal and gold

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.

Flat illustration of a name card, a handshake shape and a family tree of abstract connected circles, deep teal and gold

Temples & Culture

There Is No Surname in Daily Use and There Is a Whole Vocabulary of Respect

You will be known by one name, addressed by a title, and the title changes with the person's age and their relationship to you.

Flat illustration of a ruined brick temple, a bicycle and a seated Buddha silhouette, deep teal and gold

Temples & Culture

Sukhothai Has Three Hundred Temples and You Need a Bicycle

Two UNESCO cities, one river and one bike hire, and a real difference in what you get. Ayutthaya is easier. Sukhothai is better.

Flat illustration of red lanterns, a dragon dance ribbon, temple offerings and a vegetarian feast table, deep teal and gold

Temples & Culture

The Nine Days Thailand Goes Fully Vegetarian Are the Part Nobody Expects

Chinese New Year is a national event here, and the Vegetarian Festival that follows it means meat is genuinely hard to buy in Chinatown for nine days.

Flat illustration of a macaque on a temple wall, a phone in a claw and a first aid kit, deep teal and gold

Practicalities

A Monkey Bite Is Not a Souvenir and the First Fifteen Minutes Matter

Macaques are wild animals with a very specific set of medical risks, and the fifteen minutes after a bite decide almost everything. Here is the order of operations.

Flat illustration of a shop shutter at dusk, a bottle silhouette and a crescent and temple roofline, deep teal and gold

Thailand News

When the Shops Shut, They Still Sell You a Beer

Alcohol sales in Thailand follow real legal timetables, five religious days where the fridge is empty, and four provinces where the question does not arise at all.