Thailand travel tips summary (Quora answer)

[honu]

I recently wrote out a long answer about Thailand travel tips related to answering a question on Quora.

 

That sort of thing wouldn't be of interest to any long-term expats already here, because they'd have sorted it all out, but I'll still mention it, and cite an excerpt (it's really long).

 

I suppose Quora could work as another place for people on here to share more insights about Thailand to, to go there and browse around and answer questions.

 

 

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-tips-and-tricks-for-people-visiting-Thailand/answer/John-Bickel-5

 

 

excerpt:

 

Staying connected, asking questions

• Tourist SIMs: as far as I know the three main carriers are relatively equivalent (AIS, DTAC, and True), and there’s no reason not to buy a tourist SIM (cell data access) at the airport, just past the arrivals customs screening. A reasonable amount of data access and limited calling should cost around $25, with options varying for all three per what they’re selling. Even outside of Bangkok carrier range isn’t an issue, unless you’re off to somewhere like remote regions of Thailand, and then coverage might become a deciding factor.
• Where to ask for advice: the Trip Advisor forum is a great reference, and of course people ask questions on Quora. If you wanted to put lots of time into the review local Expat forums could work, but it would probably be best to keep research efficient. Guide books still work, or online versions of those. It might not be a bad idea to check the Wikitravel site, and maybe even print some pages so you don’t have to keep clicking around, even if you do have a tourist SIM for constant online access.
• Facebook groups are nice for questions, since you get to talk to other people with similar experience. The downside is that given how feed filtering works out even if there are thousands of members only the most active would ever see posts. This is a Thailand travel tips theme group, and this one relates to questions about Bangkok. This is more a Thailand travel and Expat discussion group, and this is a more of a Bangkok-local sales and real estate group.
• Thai Visa is the main general expat forum, and searching old threads there would turn up lots about lots of subjects. Beyond that site Facebook groups are the best bet for discussion related to being most active but if looking around is of interest Expat.com, the expatriate community is another forum, and Interpals is a way to try to talk to people in different places, with a discussion forum section.

Food related

• Eating street food is one way to save money but food courts are everywhere, in Tescos and Big Cs, even in all major malls. The ones in Terminal 21 and Central World are pretty good, but of course selection is a little basic.
• One might wonder which street food is safe, and which isn’t, and that’s hard to say. Food-contamination disease risk isn’t as high as one might expect but things can come up; even being careful people can get sick (get “Bangkok belly;” funny they call it that). It’s probably as well not to put too much stock in advice about that and feel safe, since even locals would tend to just use the same vendors, versus screening types of foods. It wouldn’t hurt to wash fruit well again if you buy that, and people seem to be fine eating grilled meats and such.
• I'm into tea myself but that gets tricky. Check a tea blog I write for advice (Tea in the Ancient World). I write a lot of Quora answers about tea (and also travel, for that matter, but more for tea), which could be reviewed through my profile link.