Bangkok Blogs

There might actually be lots of reasons for this one, but I have noticed a curious consistency in the pricing of Thai apartment buildings. I pay about 6000 THB for my apartment, monthly, which does not include electricity or water, but does include furniture rental, tv and fridge rental and the removal of my rubbish […]

Thai people have a curious system of social hierarchy and this is rigidly enforced in most Thai minds. Even the language adopts this societal class, and pronouns are specific to the status of the person in question.
You’ve probably heard of the phrase “hi so” which refers to high society. Conversely the Thais also have the […]

I’ve had several friends come out here for the first time, some of them never having travelled outside of England before. Their experiences vary, based largely on what type of person they are. For example, some might express an interest in the more seedy areas of Bangkok life, and some might deliberately avoid mentioning it. […]

After being smuggled out of Bangkok in a black bin liner last week, suspected paedophile John Mark Karr has had his arrest warrant quashed following the discovery that his DNA did not match the DNA found at the scene of the murder of the young girl, JonBenet, whose killer has never been found.
Accused of being […]

Sukhumvit Soi 11 - the English pub down that way, tucked behind the tiny soi that runs opposite the ATMs and off the actual main soi itself used to be known as “The Old Bell”.
If my memory serves me right, it used to be run by a guy from Sheffield who has now sold it […]

By now you’ve probably checked out the Siam Paragon. A massive, largely white and very shiny monument to asian capitalism, the Paragon has several unique aspects. One of these is the only place in Thailand where people must form an orderly queue.
If you want to grab a taxi heading up the road, you need to […]

According to several news sources today, the Thai government has decided in the wake of the arrest of an American teacher in Bangkok suspected of killing a child in the states in 1996 to “tightly check” the backgrounds (presumably criminal) of all teachers from abroad.
A government spokeman reportedly claimed that work permits would also be […]

Some of you may be familiar with the evening entertainment area around soi 8 on Ratchada. We’re talking about Hollywood, Dance Fever, Bali, Zeed and so on. Some of these joints are fairly rough around the edges and some are downright filthy.
Bali, in particular, is known as a hotbed of trouble. As farang, we don’t […]

Last night, in an ever ongoing effort to avoid doing any real work, I decided to venture out to Sukhumvit for a while with a friend. We covered a few new places that neither of us had visited before. Soi 33, marketed to a slightly more well-off clientele, was pretty much dead so we decided […]

As part of the Thailand: Grand Invitation series of events and openings, the theatre at Siam Niramit was opened to welcome audiences (both Thai and Western) to view cultural heritage shows and related spectacles.
I went along to the PTT shareholders conference today which was held at Siam Niramit. I’ll let you in on a secret […]