Hello Travelers!

After arriving in Thailand and taking a 40 minute cab ride from the airport I made it to Khaosan Road, which for those of you that don’t know is basically the budget traveler’s launching pad for everything in Bangkok.  Things here are as one would expect in terms of all the knock-off DVDs and other cheap Asian wares such as shoes, clothes etc; however at night when the clubs and bars crank up Khaosan Road is the place to be!  Anyone who has seen The Beach or Butterfly Man  has the general impression for how things roll in this part of the world.  Yep, people get too drunk and do things that they regret, or at least they should, which is what brings me to the lesson of the day:  what not to do in Bangkok as demonstrated by the negative examples of a loud Aussie tourist, or what I like to call my “And You Thought That YOU Were Having a Bad Day AWARD”.  Our hero, as I will call him, put on quite a show one night in Khoa Sarn Center starting with harassing an innocent dog.  Our hero continued to drink and then proceeded to put on his best hubris which caused him to get in an argument with his girlfriend and a shoving match with his mate.  Later he got introduced to the finer points of Muay Thai (i.e. Thai kick-boxing) by a manager of one of the bars, who delivered quite a tidy elbow to the head followed by a roundhouse kick- justice Thai style!  The icing on the cake was when our hero stumbled away with a ladyboy. 

Priceless lessons learned from this rich drama.

1. Leave innocent dogs alone.
2. Probably do Thailand or Khaosan Road at least without your significant other.
3. Even unassuming people can kick your ass with Muay Thai.
4. You should probably not tick off your mates too badly because they will not warn you that the “woman” you are about to hook-up with is actually a man.  Or maybe he was into that?
5. If you are acting like a wanker then your behavior can be used to teach others what not to do.

Here are some other recommendations for Thailand:

• Eat the food from the street vendors:  I was hesitant at first but my taste-buds won me over and before long I was enjoying the 20 baht Pad Thai and 15 baht banana pancakes.  By the way, $1.00 = ~30 baht.
• Take taxis:  Getting around can be fun with the Tuk-tuks, especially when on the piss (i.e. drinking for those from the USA), but they are cramped and uncomfortable for people over 5ft tall, or me anyways.  Plus you are in traffic breathing in the fumes.  The BTS / Skytrain / public transport never seemed to go where I wanted and taking taxis are cheaper and air-conditioned.
• The big thing to know when using the taxis is that you need to politely insist that driver switch on the meter before you get in the cab, but perhaps offer to pay 20 baht over the meter price upfront to stay sweet with the driver.  If the the driver offers to take you by their “sponsor”, which is usually a tailor or jeweler just ask them to stop and get out of the cab.
• Always do your best to have a ready supply of smaller cash notes on hand because change is always an issue.
• I stayed at a place called “At Home” Guesthouse which I found reasonable, clean, friendly and it is located close enough to the center of all the action but far enough away to get a good night sleep.  Prices for a room range between 300 and 250 baht.  One minus is that there is no air conditioning.  At Home Guesthouse is located 117 Tanao Rd., Bangkok, Thailand.  Ph: (02) 281 4056 and email: Athome117@hotmail.com.
• I highly recommend the May Kaidee’s vegetarian cooking class!  The restaurant is located just across from At Home Guesthouse.  I learnt so much and I could not believe that I had made such sublime and delicious food.  All the dishes that I made were vegetarian but the instructors were happy enough to let the carnivores know when in the process the meat should be added.  This was the cheapest class that I could find at 1200 baht for a 4 hour class which includes all the food and a short trip to the market.  The student to teacher ratio, in my class, was 3/1, I was provided comprehensive notes and by the time I left I did not need to eat for the rest of the day.
• Nightlife:  I pretty much stationed myself at Khao Sarn Center where I found plenty of good food, friendly people and things to do.  I also checked out a place called “The Club” which had a great DJ, however it closed at 1am.  I also recommend giving Spicy and Bossy a look; I like Bossy better, but both are good fun and provide the basic club music and scene.

 That does it for now.  Thanks for reading and Happy Travels!  I will have more to say from Cambodia.

Dan