Welcome

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome back to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast. I'm your host, Paula, and this is season two. On season one, I talk to expats about their favorite holiday destination. On season two, I'll be doing things very differently. I'll be chatting to expats about where they currently live, why they chose that destination, all those secret hidden gems that only locals know, you know, like favorite restaurants, best neighborhoods, things that tourists don't. Welcome to the Truly Expat

Bill's origin story: the $619 flight

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Travel Podcast. My name's Paula, and today I've got a guest that will talk about somewhere where I think a lot of people have been or want to go to, but don't know much about. And so today is the expert on Thailand. So let's talk to Bill about Bangkok and let's find out first how did you get there? Who are you? And why are we talking about Bangkok?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Wow. Well, first of all, Paul, I am so excited to be here. I don't know if you can tell, but I've heard a lot about you, heard your podcast, and I just love it. You know, a mutual friend of ours talks really highly of you. So I'm just so excited to be talking to you. So who am I? What am I doing? Why am I here? Let me maybe start with a story. Let me start with my kind of origin story, if you will. Over eight years ago, way, way before COVID, I had always wanted to go to Thailand. It was on my bucket list, like a lot of people in the United States. That's where I'm from in the United States. And at the time, I had a job, a pretty good job. I was working for what I call the Evil Empire, because I don't want to name the place, but we'll call them the Evil Empire, a super huge company in the United States. And I was a director, I was I was making good money, but man, I just felt like, ah man, I was just working so hard and life wasn't fulfilling. And I really was making good money, but it really didn't feel like I was making good money. I like I have a mentor, his name is Myron Golden, and Myron always says, oh, a job, you know, J-O-B, just overbroke. And that's how I felt, right? I was just grinding it out like so many other people. And I finally got to the point where I just had to have a vacation. I had three, like I said, I'm working hard and hardly take vacation. I had three weeks of vacation. I'm gonna take it all and I'm gonna go to what's on the top of my bucket list, and that is Thailand. I have a friend, she's Thai, and she kept asking me, Bill, you've been, we've been, you've you've been talking about Thailand forever. And you've never been. What's what's what's holding you back? What's the excuse? Why what? And I said, I said, her name is Nan. I said, Nan, have you ever seen how much it costs to go to Thailand from the United States? She goes, What are you talking about? I can go to Thailand for less than I can go to California. I'm like, right? Yeah. Last year I went to Thailand for less than I went for $600 and some odd dollars, right? I went for less than $700. And I can guarantee I can find you the same thing. And now this is before Google Flights, and this is, you know, now we can do it a little easier with Google Flights. But back then it was difficult because you'd end up getting fed if you were, if you're on a laptop in in America, you were getting fed American flight, you know, airline carriers like United and American and those kind of guys, Delta, those kind of guys. And they really didn't have a global, you know, they at that point it really wasn't global competitor ship like it is today. Anyway, I said, man, if you can get me a flight for under $700, I'm booking it tonight and I'm going. That night, she sent me a link to China Air for, and this is back in 2018, early, no, this is seven, the end of 2017, early 18. It was for $619 round trip.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_00 4:01

So I did it. I I booked it right there without even thinking about it. It, you know, and it came in with taxes and everything. It came into about a, I don't know, 650 or whatever it was. Still way below, way below 700. So I'm booked it. I got it. I call her back the next day. I said, man, none of I called around, none of my friends can take time off, even a week, to go to Thailand and they can't afford it, whatever, right? So it I thought, hey, if I have to wait for, and this is a good tip for solo travelers, don't wait. It'll never happen. Like if I had to wait for my friends to come to get their stuff together to come to Thailand, it would never happen. So I just booked it solo. And I, but I called Nan. I said, Man, gosh, I really, I really would, I'm going. I might go solo, but I would really like to travel with people. And she goes, Bill, don't worry about it. I'm from Bangkok. I got plenty of friends back in Bangkok. I'm like, well, that's good. She asked the question, do you want to travel with men or do you want to travel with women? And I'm like, man, you know me. You know me. I'd rather travel with women. Okay, okay, no problem. No problem. So that night, I get, I get a eight different email, not email, but uh friend request on Facebook for different different female women from Thailand. And all were all were super nice, all wanted to help a lot, and but only like seven of them couldn't really speak English, and and really were they were spoken emojis, right? What I gotta do a lot of detailed planning. And I I booked it out for three months. So it was a it was early January, and I'm going in early March, so we got to get on it. And so one of the girls, her English was fantastic, it was good, it was better than mine. Turns out she went to like international schools and boarding schools in India, and she spoke for most of her childhood, she spoke um English, not Thai, but she can speak Thai too. Anyway, three months of just nonstop texting, 24 hours a day, you name it, and I'm ready to go. We have an incredible trip planned out, and I go, I land, and by the fourth day, I'm on the island of Samoy, and I'm thinking, wow. And it I can still I can still remember this to this day because my retirement plan was always to take my 401k, move to Key West, and and charter sailboats in Key West. And I'm sitting in in Ko Samoy and going, this is so much better. I mean, I love don't get me wrong, I love Key West, but wow, this is so much cooler. So I I can still remember sitting on that beachfront cafe thinking, okay, scrap Key West, it's Thailand. And that and and so what I did was when I got back three weeks later, knocked on my boss's door, I said, Hey, I'm giving you a three months notice because I think it's gonna take me three months to sell everything I got and move to Thailand. And that's exactly what I did. Now he was like, Okay, okay. And all my friends were like, okay, okay. Oh, you'll be back. We'll we'll see you in about six months to a year. Okay, I'll see you then. But no, I got there eight years later. I'm still here, I'm loving it. Sorry for the background. I'm in the uh I'm in the I'm in Kansas today at the farm. We have a farm out here. So wow, wow it's all a crappy, uh crappy farm, but it's it's all good.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

What what an amazing story. So you now are in full time in in Bangkok?

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yeah, yeah. I've got a I've got a condo on the 26th floor or on a in a condominium that's right behind the Anantera on the on the Chaprio River. Oh nice. So it's really cool is the Anantera likes to do fireworks every so often, probably at least once a month.

unknown 7:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

And the day we were moving in uh to the condo, they let off fireworks in celebration of me moving into that condo. They've never told me that, but that's what I that's what I

First time in Bangkok? Start here

SPEAKER_00 8:05

think.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

And so so for someone who's a little bit nervous about coming for the first time, what do you think they should I like? I've been to Bangkok thousands of times, I s and I go solo, so I don't think personally it's a scary city. But I guess if someone's coming for the first time, what can you give them any advice about, you know, where to start or what to do?

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Yeah. So the first thing to remember is that even though it it it might look scary because Bangkok is an enormous, enormous city. Think I think it I how it's I think it's probably like 14 times the size of Manhattan, something like that. I mean something crazy. With the same density of Manhattan. So it's just crazy. Yeah. But anyway, so what they need to understand about all of Thailand is even if you're coming solo, is it's a Buddhist country. So that makes it a very different place in terms of people who want to get to know you, reach connect with you. My, you know, my my tagline for the uh podcast is travel far, connect deeply, and live fully. And don't be my my biggest thing is don't be afraid to talk and and even even to monks. I mean, everybody like, okay, you're female as long as you're, you know, monks don't don't touch them. Like they can't touch them if you're female. But you they don't mind talking. They'll I I have long conversations with monks all the time. So these people want to connect with you and help you, and really they're they really they they're very proud of their country. They've never been colonialized, and they really want to show that off. They they really do. When you you know, they really want to show off what it is to be Thai and what what Thailand actually means. And it it and yes, the culture is way different from the United States. It is, but that's the magic of it. You when you connect with these people, you start to learn all the differences, and the differences make it such a transformational trip. Uh just ah, can't I can't tell you enough how cool it is. But a lot of people go and they are maybe too timid or I don't know. Maybe they're they don't want to they want they don't want to get out of their comfort zone and try new things. Now, like if you're in the market, I'm not talking about going and looking at the street the stall that's selling grubs, these big fat, like fried grubs and crickets that are actually moving and scorpions. No. I'm not talking about that. Don't do that. That's not I don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

I've done that. I've done that back in when I first went there. I ever the first time I ever went to Thailand in in especially into Bangkok was in 19. Now I'm gonna show my age. Oh my god. 1997. It was before I got married.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah, maybe you were 12 when you were there.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Yeah, I was like just born. And it it honestly it's very intimidating if you haven't traveled much because there's a lot of sensors, there's a lot of you know things happening, but to be honest, it's like you said, it's the most friendly place. People want to talk to you, you know, like if you need directions, people will give you directions or you know, they just they're just friendly. That's what I found. Yeah, it didn't it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Super friendly. And the and the thing is if if you say something to them and they just and they don't talk back or anything, it's not anything about you. You haven't pissed them off, you excuse me. Um you haven't um you haven't made them angry. They just don't understand what you're saying, and because their culture is so like losing face, they don't want to lose face. So instead of trying to talk to you and explain it to you, they just and they don't and Americans really get offended by that. Like they're just looking at me and then they'll turn around and say nothing and walk away and like what? It's it's has nothing to do with you, don't be offended. It's just they don't want to lose face because they can't communicate what they need to communicate. And that's a good tip. That happens all the time.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Don't to get from the airport. I guess most people will be coming from the airport. Is it how easy is it to get into the city and what's the best mode of transport? Because it is a crazy city when it comes to traffic.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah, traffic, you're rolling the dice. And I everybody all my all my friends from the United States go,

Airport to city: the Airport Rail Link

SPEAKER_00 12:31

let's do grab. It's just like Uber. I'm like, you're rolling the dice that you're gonna stay in that car for a good extra 30 minutes. And if you've made a reservation somewhere and and he doesn't show up in time, you're screwed, right? Yeah. Get it. Yeah, yeah, that's but uh anyway, yeah. So from the airport, there's this thing called the airport rail link. And I'll give you a hint to all your listeners. My favorite hotel to book for the first night and the last night is called the Akira Bangkok Hotel. And because it's on almost the last stop on the airport rail link. So you just head down to the basement of the airport of Saranipoom, VKK, you get on the the airport rail link, and you just go almost all the way. And then once you're you don't go to Play Thai, you go to the one before that, which is Ratchetabus. I can't even say it. Ratcha pra prik, something like that. And and the Akira is right there, literally 20 minutes to the airport. So it's perfect for your first get off the airplane, you know, get off the airplane, go there. There's a couple massage places that are close to there, although I, you know, sometimes I do those for when I do the meet and greets. But usually I'm over by icon CM by when we do the massage thing on the meet in the meet and greets. But anyway. Yeah, so airport railink every single time. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

And you mentioned Uber uh mentioned grab. And so like when I'm there, I don't know if you do, but when I'm there I use the grab bike. Recommended.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Well, it depends on how how scared you are weaving through traffic. I say always try it. Just always try it. I even use the wind motorcycles, the guys with the with the because I can speak Thai, the guys with the the orange vests on, you know, that have the motorcycles with the numbers.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

I've never

Grab bikes and win motorcycle taxis

SPEAKER_02 14:28

noticed that. So can you explain it?

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Yeah. So what happens is at so roads in Thailand are laid out like this. They're not grids like in America. They're laid out with one major road that goes through Thailand or through whatever city it is, and then soys, alleyways off of each off of the road. And the soys are all numbered, you know, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, whatever. They're numbered and they come off the main road. At every intersection or most intersection of those roads, because they lead into villages, there's usually uh three to seven guys that are hanging out at the corner with orange vests on and they all have a number. And their job is when you get off of when you get let off by a taxi or a grab or you get off the BTS, the Bangkok Transit System, or whatever however you get there, these guys for, you know, 20 baht will put you on the back of their bike and they'll drive you the rest of the way to your house. Uh-huh. So they're they're like grab bikes. I love grab bikes. If I've got to do anything that is, you know, here there, uh, and I'll even do it in the middle of the of the rainy season.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Yeah. It ju it makes sense, right? I know you it's annoying because it's raining, but it makes so much more sense. I know that my my husband does it on he gets on the back of the bike with a with his suit on and goes to work. Or we go to restaurants and jump on two different bikes and and I'll see you there. Just makes so much more sense, you know. Like I think it's safe. I yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Yeah. I just did that we my wife and I were going to a new hot pot type restaurant near our condo. And and I looked at the I looked at Google Maps and I said, Yeah, there's all kinds of red on here. I'm not let's just go, let's get a grab bike, and that's what we did. And we no traffic at all. Just zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip. And they'll heck, they'll even go on the sidewalk.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yeah. I know.

unknown 16:53

Right?

SPEAKER_00 16:53

No traffic is stopping those boys. Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Oh yeah, because the traffic is is is next level. Do you think Thailand is a is a tipping culture?

SPEAKER_00 17:03

No, it's definitely not a tipping culture at all. At all. None. It you know, when we when I charter the yachts, that's the one time I will say I will say it's not expected, but it's definitely appreciated, but don't do it over 10% of the whatever it is. Yeah. Yeah. So that that's the only time, only time we ever tip is to the captain of the of the yacht that we might charter. But other than that, none. You know, and that's that's awesome. And that that's why, you know, that's why it's such of one of the reasons it's such a value because uh every day, I mean, I'm I'm not in Bangkok today, but pretty much I go to the same cafe for lunch because I'm in, you know, I'm in between

Is Thailand a tipping culture?

SPEAKER_00 17:46

editing or making videos or something like that. And I I just want to get a quick lunch, great lunch, and come back. And usually, I usually tally up my lunch and it comes out to $2.80 worth of coke. And that's and I'm full. I'm like, I'm like, I can't eat again until like late tonight. I'm like, mmm. And it's great Thai, it's like it's as good a Thai food as if you go to any Thai restaurant in the United States and you spend, I don't know, $45 on a dish, it's as good as that and even better.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Uh, you know, my my biggest problem in Thailand, especially in everywhere in Thailand actually, is that I overload on mango sticky rice. It's every day. Sometimes it's twice. I just can't get enough of it because it's just something about the mangoes there and you know the coconut.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

So yeah, it's just the mangoes are so good. They're so sweet, they're so juicy. Oh, I love them. Yeah, I'd I'd probably do the same thing, but I'm pretty fat right now.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

So it's just a such a luxury for me. Like I just love it. I honestly, I would rather have that than dinner, you know. And talking about food, I am a big food here, believe it or not. But talking about food, what are some of the dishes people should try, you know, when they're in is there a is Bangkok a particular is there a particular dish in Bangkok or just Thai food in general?

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Bangkok is got is super eclectic when it

Mango sticky rice and must-try Thai dishes

SPEAKER_00 19:13

comes to food. So it's got, you know, except for maybe great cow soy, which you'll find when you go to Chiang Mai. I mean, Chiang Mai is known for the cow soy, and it's fantastic up there. There's a cow soy buffet that has that that I take my group to that has kind of every cow soy that you can imagine, you know, chicken and and mu, which is uh pork, and you know, you name it, they've got it, and we go, we get we go there quite often. But uh in Bangkok, yeah, I'm I'm gonna do a on my own podcast, I'm gonna do like the six Thai food things I eat every day and the things that my wife eats that I won't touch. Like she she eats this sometime, sometime it's like papaya salad that's really super spicy.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

So spicy, blows your head off.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Yeah, absolutely. You'll you'll like but what she has in it is they cut, they take these chickens and they just cut off their, they cut off their feet, and they don't debone them or anything. They just cut off their feet, throw them in a pot, boil them, and then put them in the samtum and and then and and put all these spices in them. And she'll she'll be eating this in front of me, and I'll be, you know, I'll be eating something like uh kapao mu chin, which is not the minced one, it's the kind of cut up one. I love I mean I eat I probably eat kapao mu chin pretty much every day. Okay. She'll have it'll have these like these chicken feet sticking out of the sticking out of the sum tom. I'm like, ooh, that's disgusting. And there's all kinds of disgusting things they eat. Like, you know, okay, everybody's had tom yang goong. Uh is um prawn is is shrimp. And they have these big, big prawn that they eat in there. And they're they're so good. Really, that prawn is that big river prawn is really good. But in some time, not tam nyom goon, but in some time, if you don't get the chicken feet one, they'll put in just these raw shrimp, and they'll with the just the you know, the gray, the grayish looking raw shrimp, and they will I don't even think they're peeled, and they'll just bang them out with the sh and then they're and then you have to eat those. I'm like, how do those not get you sick? Like, oh, they're disgusting.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

Right?

SPEAKER_00 21:25

So yeah, I don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

I mean, I mean that I I remember the first time my husband and I went to to Thailand, we were this was back in the 90s, and we were in, I'll never forget it, we were in Phuket, and he had been ordering everywhere for me. And so I said, Let me order tonight. So I ordered. It was the spiciest meal I think I've ever had in my life, and my mouth was on fire. And the lady in her broken English and my awful Thai was saying to me, put it on, put I thought she was saying, put sugar and she she put I put sugar all over my mouth. My first went, it was so red and so blown up. It's and so I couldn't eat, and my husband just was eating. I was like, I can't believe I can't believe you're eating. And I'm just sitting here crying. I had ice blocks on my mouth. Because their food, I mean, Thai chili is hot, it is, it gets you and it grabs you, and it just shakes the life out of you.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Right, yeah. So my My favorite food is Cajun food from New Orleans, and they use cayan pepper. And cayenne pepper is not as hot as the chili Thai chili peppers, but I didn't know that. So I thought, oh, I love, I love peppers. I love spicy food. So I'm gonna try spicy food in Thailand. Uh-oh. That's awesome. I quickly learned. So here's a tip for your listeners. Write this listeners, write this down. If if you're in Thailand and you don't want and you don't want spicy food, say my pet. My means no, pet means spicy, not spicy. My pet. My pet.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Okay. My pet. That's good to know.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

My pet.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

And you can always remember it by you thinking of your pet, like your pet dog or your pet cat. Just like my pet. My pet. Same, same.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Say a friend came to visit for three days. Where would be the places that you would take them in Bangkok that aren't necessarily what everyone else does?

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah, I mean, you know, there's some cafes that we really like to go to out

Mai phet: how to order not spicy

SPEAKER_00 23:29

like the only this one cafe, Hungjai Cafe, the best way to get to it is to go to this, because it it's in my side of the river called Tombury. So what you have to do is you have to go to this, the if you've if you've heard of or you've seen Bangkok, there's this big golden Buddha in Tombury, right? So you go to that wat, that temple, and then they come with a boat and they pick you up and they take you on a clong into the kind of, you know, I call it a jungle, but it looks like a jungle, but it's not really. I mean, I can get there by I can get there by motorcycle too from my from my house. But they take you by boat and they drop you off of this pier and you walk up and then you go, you go get something. We, you know, we take people there or we take friends there and stuff. I mean, we're we're doing in in Bangkok, we're doing a lot of the things because Bangkok's so big, there's not a really a a ground zero tourist zone. So you can get away with going to some tourist things like you know, Icon CM. Icon CM is a is it's a mall, I guess. It's something more than a mall. I I can't explain it.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

It's a mall on steroids.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yeah, mall on steroids, right? With a with a pier and boats that'll come, and whenever we go, we always it's better, it's faster actually to go by the shuttle boat on the river than it is to go by the BTS because that is so slow. At least the one that goes to Icon CM.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

But you know, it's got air conditioning. And when my friends are out, you know, from the United States are just off the plane and they haven't, you know, it can get quite toasty.

Bangkok off the beaten path and day trips

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It can get quite toast in Bangkok. So we kind of ease them into it a little bit. But one of the things I always do, they've they've built a new, a new expressway up to Kanchanaburi. It's called the M81. And so now I can get to Kanchanaburi town in about two and a half hours. It used to be more than literally three and a half, so it's cut off maybe an hour of travel. But if you go up another 40 minutes, you come come up to Sayok where where I am right now. Sayok has, well, Arawan Falls is kind of right off, right near Sayok. And I always try to get my talk my friends in to come up to Erawan Falls and and hike up the seven layers of Arawan Falls. And then we swim in each at each layer, which is fantastic. It's just really good. And you I can't I can't tell you how much fun it is if you're there with a group of people that are are at like there's this one, I forgot what number, I think it's maybe five. And there's the w the rock is like a slide. And then so many people have slidden down it, there's like a little it's like a little slide, and you slide down the rock, and the kids are all the kids are all sliding down the rock. And and if they like that, then um Sayok Noi waterfall is one of those sticky waterfalls in Sayok where you it's all limestone, you just climb up it.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

It's absolutely free because it's it's basically like the community pool here in Sayok. And so all the kids are at this, like I've been I've been where there might have only been three or four Falong of three or four white guys. And yeah, and all and there must have been a hundred people there, but they're all like Thai locals that are just there. It's a hot day, they want to go for a swim, and they'll climb up this waterfall and go swimming. It's great.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Because the thing I think people don't realize is that you can do a lot of day tours or a lay a lot of day excursions outside of Bangkok. You don't really have to stay in Bangkok the whole time. Because, you know, I've been to Bangkok many times where I've people go, why would you be going there so like you're staying there a whole week? Yeah, there's heaps to do in Bangkok, but there's also heaps to do outside of Bangkok. You know, a day trip to my name, my uh, you know, the what is it, the bridge, the my my brain has forgotten the name of it. The bridge somewhere. The bridge, oh the bridge over the river Kwai? That's it, thank you. Or there's like I there's there's heap to day trips, right? Or there's the temple. But don't do that one.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

That one's called That's Konshina Buri, that's where I that's what I was talking about. Okay. So many more better cool things to do in Conshina Buri than the bridge over the river Kwai.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

I think which anyone likes history, they kind of just need to do it to tick that box.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yeah, but you get there and and right in front of the bridge over the river Kwai is a a monument to the Japanese soldiers that occupied Thailand in World War II. It's like a monument to these guys, and you're like, Really? I don't get it.

unknown 27:57

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

So if you're do you know it's funny because when I was in Thailand, I think uh it was, I think it was last year, I went on this really cool street tour, street food Michelin star tour. And it was just eating at all these really great places in Chinatown because they've always got to be.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Compared to other places.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Yeah, that's the only tuk-tuk thing I will let my people do. I'd tell you, I'll tell you the story about my first tuk-tuk ride. So that first time, that first time I went to went to Thailand, my friend, she had to work that like I got off the plane and then she had to work that next day and then took some time off. But so I said, no problem. I'll just I want to see the Grand Palace. I'll go see the Grand Palace. So I went down and I saw the Grand Palace. And afterward, I thought, hey, it would be cool to get a tuk tuk and go back to the hotel we're staying at, a fantastic hotel, by the way. I loved it. They upgraded me to the presidential suite. I don't know how that happened, but thank you. Anyway, so I said, okay, I'll I'll do that. And I went up to a, you know, and then and outside the Grand Palace, there's like hundreds of tuk-tuk riders, all way uh tuktuk drivers, all waiting for the tourist to come. And I walk up and I say, Oh, Gibba, how much, Gibbat, how much is how much is it to this place? And he said, 500 baht. And I said, Well, I know enough that I can negotiate with these guys. So I said, Well, what about 200 baht? And he goes, basically, he's we came to a point where he said, 250 plus I take you to my friend who is a tailor, right? I have a friend who's a tailor, the tuk tuk driver. I'm like, 200.

Chinatown street food and the tuk-tuk lesson

SPEAKER_00 29:46

We started at 500 and I'm down to half. And I I think that's pretty good, right? So then I I took the I took the the tuk my wife. I took the tuk-tuk from from wherever we were well from the grand palace.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

So I took it from there to where I had to go, but in and we and we stopped at the Taylor's place, and I got out and I looked around and and I, you know, I'm like, man, I don't want anybody, any of this. It was cool to see, fun, thanks, but uh, I just want to get back. So that was probably about 20 minutes out of our way. Anyway, so I finally got back in the tuk tuk and we got back to a hotel. And then later on that night, my friends, her and like three of her friends that were ended up traveling with us a lot. What'd you do today? Oh, I went to the Grand Palace. It was great. There were a lot of Chinese people. It was really, really packed, but it was great. Yeah. And and and then what did you do? And I got, oh, I got a tuk-tuk ride back. And they all smile, they all looked at each other and smiled. They go, How much did you pay for the tuk-tuk ride? I don't know. And I said, Well, I got he started out at 500. I got him down to 250. And and they go, Well, from where to where? And I told him, you know, from there to back to the hotel. She goes, they and I go, and so you paid 250 and you went to a to a tailored shop? Yeah, isn't that great? I got him half price. They started laughing. I was like, why are you laughing? He goes, she said, well, the max you would have paid if you had a taxi would have would have been 80 baht.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Oh no. Can you can you ex can you explain what a tuk tuktuk is? Because some people might not know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Yeah, tuk tuk is that iconic three-wheeler taxi that is usually bright colors, painted in bright colors, and it has a it has like a little tent over it, a little canopy over it, and it's not full, it's not full chairs, it's like a it's like a bench that wraps around, and you can probably get four, maybe five people crammed in there. And it goes they go real fast, but they're not like motorbikes. They can't zip through cars. Yeah. But you know, they're I don't know, it's just because it's an iconic thing in in the city.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

I've got lots of I've got lots of tuktuks. I don't think I've ever got one in Bangkok. I've got lots of tuk-tuks in like Phuken and so Coast Sabui and places like that, because actually sometimes they're cheaper than but the thing is there's no air con in those ones, and it's it can get really hot.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

I think people don't realize that.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:26

But sorry.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Back to the point though, you s you were talking about Chinatown and Yolat Road. Well, there is a tuk-tuk tour that you get on a tuk-tuk and you go through Chinatown stopping at all those Michelin, I guess they're Michelin's nah, I don't know if they're stars, but the Michelin-rated stalls. You know, the the stalls. Which and they've got some really good ones. But I mean, for me, all of those I go through that and all of those things I'm getting in my in my own market. Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

And you know what I've surprised about Bangkok is that some of the best bars in Asia are in have been rated. Uh sorry, let me start it again. You know the fifty best bars in the world? So you've got Asia, you've got other you've got continents. A lot of them are in Bangkok. Like a lot. So I think I'm gonna have to hit up the bars next time I'm there.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Well the and I do this on my on my expedition, on my tour. The first night we go to my favorite bar in the world. I can't really say it's a speakeasy, but it's got that a little bit of that vibe to it. It's called Saxophone. And every Tuesday every two so everybody comes in on a Tuesday because it it's a a boatload cheaper to fly to Bangkok on a Tuesday or a Wednesday than it is on a on a weekend or a Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday are are always the lowest price to fly on, not to book, but to fly on. So they come in on Tuesday and we all and on Tuesday nights at Saxophone, they've got this band that's oh, absolutely incredible. They've got six different six different people on horns on the a six a six-man horn section that'll just blow you away. And if you like anything like, I don't know, I like was that Michael Blue Blay? They sing they sing like Michael Blue Blay, and but they do some other, you know, like upbeat stuff. And anyway, it's a cool vibe. Just a really fantastic band. And and then the food's pretty good. So we go there, saxophone. The first speakeasy, which I like a lot if you like salsa dancing in in Bangkok, is called Havana Social. And to get into it, so to get into it is really cool. I I think it's kind of beat up the the front, the how you get in is a little bit beat up. They need to fix it. But you you're on this little alleyway, this little soy. I mean, it's tiny, and there's a phone booth, and you look at the phone booth and you go, What the heck's a phone booth? I've haven't seen and there's there's people that I've taken that has never seen a phone booth in their life. Phone booth doing here, right? So you go into the open the phone booth up, you go into the phone booth and there's this old phone, and you press 1949, because that's the year it's supposed to be. And when you press 1949, the back of the phone booth opens up and it's a door to get into this three-story,

Bangkok's best bars

SPEAKER_00 35:14

this three-story brick, like ho and it it I know it feels like you're in a vanna. It's like creepy. It's a really cool place.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Is that somewhere that they they you you dance or you have dancers? What what it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Yeah, they got they got a DJ and they're and they're mostly playing salsa, so everybody's everybody's doing Latin type dancing. That's very cool. Which is just like bouncing around, but that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

Is there a is there is there a month that you highly recommend to to come to Bangkok? And do you is there a month you highly recommend not to come to Bangkok?

SPEAKER_00 35:52

That's a loaded question. If you're if you're rich and have a lot of money, come in the high season because the weather's the best. Um and that would be probably d s November late November, December. I mean we we maybe have three weeks. Last year it was probably four weeks of of weather that's not really, really hot.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

And that's it. And but the prices are triple what they would be outside of that. So if you think of s shoulder season front and back of that, that's really good. Front of that is the rainy season, then that happens up until uh starting June. Yeah, June. And I think it goes all the way through September, maybe the first part of October. And I love the rainy season because everything's green. It's just like the jungle's green and everything's beautiful and and it it ra okay, yeah, it rains for about an hour and then it goes away, and then you know, it maybe cools things down a little bit, but then it gets a little steamy. Yeah, I I I really like the rainy season. The problem with the rainy season is it's the if you're if you're if you're renting or chartering a yacht, it's the south, southwest monsoon. So that means that the captain might not take you to some awesome places that you should be going. That's probably the one drawback. If you're not if you're not chartering a yacht, um then it's fine.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

I actually quite I know that on some of the islands it's it's actually quite pleasant being there in the rainy season because it's lovely to just, you know, either sitting out on your balcony, listening to the rain when it's not freezing cold, it's actually warm enough to be sitting there and listening to the rain. You know, I don't know if I'm romanticizing this, but I I like it. I really like it. It's one of my favorite seasons. Um I'm a big believer in shoulder seasons and off seasons because I just find now where it's tourism is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

Right. But um the hottest months of the year are gonna be March and April.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

April April is Song Grand. I don't like Song Grand. Everybody just like it's a big water battle and everybody goes to I don't

Best (and worst) time to visit

SPEAKER_00 38:08

know. I usually for Song Grand, I usually just stay inside and I'll do something. I hide for hide for a week.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

So do you have any anything else you'd like to add before we go?

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Yeah, we're already going. Wow, okay, cool. Um yeah, thank you for asking, Paula. I really appreciate that. Yeah, I wrote a book, believe it or not. And I talk about a lot of these stories. And the the premise of the book is a lot of people would ask me, hey Bill, I I'm coming to Thailand and I want to go, you know, do Phuket and do all these islands. And and I said, well, let me write a book about island hopping down the coast, the Andaman coast of Thailand. And I and I added Kal Suk because I love Kal Suk. Have you ever been to Kal Suk?

SPEAKER_02 38:53

No, I haven't.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

Got to go. If you go to Thailand, go to Kal Suk. Kal Suk is awesome. It's in Suratani. It's a big lake that has a dam, and you can rent bungalows that are that are floating bungalows on the dam. And it's like something out of Jurassic Park almost. It's like limestone cliffs coming out of the water, and you know, not a lot of development. It's just oh it's it's great. Anyway, it's beautiful. I wrote a book and it's called uh getting it's called Getting Lost in the Magic of Thailand. Getting lost in the magic of Thailand, Island Hopping Down the Siam Spice Route, and yeah, because I had I had in my head, I had like a few more different ideas. I actually talked, don't, don't tell Morgan James this, but I talked my publisher into giving me a contract for six books.

SPEAKER_02 39:45

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

So I gotta I'm gonna write six books all about all the different adventures that I do in Thailand. But the first one is uh Island hopping down the Siam Spice Route.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

So And where where can people find that?

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Yeah, right now, the probably the best place to it pre it the publishing date is September 8th, which who knows by the time you listen to this it's probably past September 8th. But right now, the best place to to to you know order the book is on BarnesandNoble.com. Barnes and Barnes Noble's is the biggest bookstore in the United States. And yeah, if you order it there at BarnesandNoble.com, they'll uh on September 8th, they'll automatically just ship it right out to you.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

Ah, perfect.

SPEAKER_00 40:31

And if for your listeners, for my I do this for my listeners, so Paula, I'm gonna do it for your listeners as well. If you pre-order the book, or even after September 8th, you order the book and you say, Hey, I'm a podcast listener, either to your podcast or to my podcast, doesn't matter, I will for free give you a uh

Bill's book and Khao Sok

SPEAKER_00 40:54

a link to download the ebook on your Kindle or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

Yeah, that's so not only do you have the paperback, which to keep the cost low on the paperback, we we made the high res pictures black and white, but on the ebook, we m made the high-res pictures full color. So you'll get both you'll get a two for that'll save you at least ten bucks. Two for one.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

Two for one. That's awesome. And if anyone wants to contact you, how do they get in touch?

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Support at Thailand Adventure Network.com. Again, that email is support at ThailandAdventurenetwork.com. And just if it's about the book, just say, hey, I pre-ordered your book. I wanted to get that link to the awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

It's I will put that all in the show notes for people to make it easier for them. But it's been so great to finally meet you and and and chat to you about Bangkok because I do love Thailand. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Well, I I'm gonna twist your arm a little bit. Now, are you moving from Hong Kong to somewhere?

SPEAKER_02 41:55

No, I've just moved here. So I've just moved from Singapore to here, so I'm yeah. Okay. Back in back in Hong Kong. Sweaty Hong Kong at the moment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Like I said, I love Hong Kong. Um yeah, so that's not a bad flight. I'm gonna twist your arm a little bit and get you down. Me and Derek will get you down here.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Definitely. Yeah, definitely. Due to come back to to Thailand soon. So yeah, definitely. But it's been a pleasure having you on and hopefully we can get you on again soon. And talk about somewhere else in Thailand. You never know.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Yeah, let's do that. I mean, I f I talk a lot about a lot of places, especially Chiang Mai, because Chiang Mai has got the lantern festival coming up in November.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Okay. Yeah, I haven't been to Chiang Mai in a long time. So yeah. Awesome. Thank you. So thank you for listening to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast. And if you are traveling, safe travels. And I'll see you next week. Bye for now. Thank you for joining me on the Truly Expat Travel Podcast. If you liked this episode and you found it valuable, then why don't you go ahead and like and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode moving forward. I've got some amazing guests and some fantastic destinations coming up. But if this is the episode and this is the destination that you really want to go to, then I suggest you head over to trulyxpatravel.com where you'll find travel guides and deep dive into this sort of destination. If that's not what you want and you can't find an episode that is a destination you want to travel to, then head over and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok because I'm pretty sure you'll find something there.

unknown 43:33

All right.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

In the meantime, save travels and I'll see you next week.