Choosing Northern Vietnam and Southern Thailand Most 3-week Thailand and Vietnam itineraries are way too ambitious to actually enjoy. If your route includes Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Koh Samui, and Da Nang, you’re going to spend a huge chunk of your trip packing bags and sitting in airports. The first…
You really couldn’t make this up. I was on the trip of a lifetime hiking around Nepal. I wasn’t doing any of the mountaineering because I wasn’t that brave, but it was something I’d wanted to do for many, many years. It was my first solo trip. I was over 45. I think I’d put…
Immigration is increasingly viewing any stay that even comes remotely close to 6 months as residency in the country and that is grounds for denial of entry even if you hold a visa. In recent weeks, there have been reports online of an increase in denials of entry for people on multiple-entry tourist visas in…
Six months after I sold my house, sold my car, and said goodbye to everyone that I knew in Canada, I was sitting alone in a bar in Pattaya watching another man leave with the woman I’d moved to Thailand for. And the worst part: nobody back home knew how I really met her. You…
I’ve lived in Thailand for 14 years and lately I hardly recognize some of the foreign men arriving here. I’m British in my early 50s and I’ve lived in Bangkok, Pattaya and Isaan. I speak enough Thai to understand conversations people sometimes assume I can’t. I’ve made mistakes in relationships myself, so I’m not writing…
The government is warning of a fresh risk of flooding in western Thailand with another spell of heavy rain forecast over the coming days. Meanwhile, unusually high tides are slowing the drainage of existing flood water from eastern provinces including Chachoengsao and Prachinburi. There is some improvement elsewhere. Water is gradually receding in Chainat, Singburi,…
If you have $15,000 to spend on your Thailand trip, most Thailand travel advice out there simply doesn’t apply to you. I have planned over 100 Thailand trips at budgets from $5,000 all the way up to $70,000 for a 2-week trip. But 15 grand is the sweet spot where for two people, you never…
I’d never understood the mentality of guys who go to Thailand, meet a girl in a bar, and then expect her to quit working because they’ve fallen in love with her, stop herself from going back to those bars, remove herself entirely from that scene, and accept a small amount of money from the guy…
Hello, welcome. The first time I heard those words, I was walking down Sukhumvit Soi after I’d arrived in Bangkok only 2 hours before that. It was my first time in Thailand and I heard it again. Hello, welcome. Past the second bar and the third bar and before long I’d succumbed to the allure…