Things You Should Know Before Visiting Thailand
Tip #1: Be Careful With Marijuana When Traveling Regionally
This is a very, very important tip. Thailand recently legalized marijuana, so this is one of the few countries in the world with legalized marijuana. My country of Canada is one of the other countries.
What you have to remember: you cannot smoke it in public. Granted, many people seem to smoke it in public, but it’s still technically illegal to smoke in public. But your biggest concern is going to be traveling within the region.
Thailand is situated in a region where marijuana is still punishable by extremely long sentences including death. I remember when I flew into Southeast Asia for the first time, I flew into Singapore and I looked at the arrival card: big notification—“Drug traffickers will be executed.”
This is important to remember because now when you visit Thailand, you can buy marijuana legally anywhere. Commonly, travelers—backpackers in particular—follow a route all around Southeast Asia, and all the other countries within the region have highly criminalized drug laws.
Got a little party going on here, back alley in Chinatown.
If you’re a traveler backpacking around the region—which is very common, we call it the Backpacker’s Trail—you gotta be very careful. Double check, triple check, quadruple check your bags. If you’re traveling, if you’re staying in hostels, make sure that you’re not carrying any marijuana into another neighboring country, or you risk a very, very unfortunate outcome.
There are some very sad stories that come along with legalization here in Thailand as travelers move around the region, forgetting that the rest of the region is totally the opposite.
Tip #2: Don’t Pay Too Much Attention To Negative Reviews Online
Don’t pay too much attention to negative reviews online, especially on applications like TikTok or Instagram.
Bangkok is one of the most visited cities in the world. In fact, for the last few years running, it is the most visited city in the world. And Thailand is consistently one of the most visited countries in the world.
So keep in mind that when you’re encountering reviews online, you are sure to encounter a few negative stories when you have this many people visiting a city or a country. But it doesn’t mean that it is likely to happen to you.
We have a bias towards posting about negative stories and negative encounters, and this can definitely misrepresent what you’re likely to experience here in Thailand.
You should also consider the source of the content. I recently saw a TikTok video—a guy was covered in face tattoos, standing at the entrance of Walking Street in Pattaya, making content that was critical about his experiences in Thailand. Your experiences are likely to be very different than his.
And I’m not judging people with face tattoos. I’m merely observing that his particular experiences may not be indicative of a broader representation of society. Always keep that in mind when you’re viewing content online.
Also, be wary about posting overly negative reviews yourself. Here in Thailand there are strict defamation laws. With those defamation laws in place, you can face a lawsuit.
Tip #3: Try The Buffet Style Restaurants
Behind me we have one of my favorite types of restaurants here in Bangkok, and these are the buffet style restaurants. Just grab an assortment of great food, throw it on a bed of rice. You’ve got a lot of veggie dishes, some chicken. Really awesome.
There’s a lot of variety, so you can come back again and again, try different foods. Sometimes you like it, usually you like it, occasionally it’s crazy spicy, but you gotta try everything, right?
Tip #4: Avoid Taxis Lined Up At The Curb
When you’re in Bangkok and you’re visiting very busy touristy areas, or you’re leaving your hotel, you should avoid taking taxis that are lined up at the curb waiting. The reason is that these are often organized scams, and they will not charge you the metered fare.
It’s very easy to get a metered fare here in Bangkok. You simply walk away from the sitting and waiting taxi, go wave down a taxi on the street, make sure you say “meter” when you get in, and normally the vast majority of those taxis will offer you the metered fare.
I’m sitting and waiting for my food here. I ordered a rice vermicelli. Looks pretty awesome.
Tip #5: Use Ride-Hailing Apps
Grab and Bolt are the best transportation apps here in the country. They’re very similar to Uber.
I personally prefer Bolt because they’re less expensive than Grab—they’re about 20% cheaper—and their algorithm automatically gives you the driver closest to you.
You should download both of these applications and use them regularly because it allows you to input your exact address and the location you want to go to. You’re going to avoid giving directions to a random driver that may or may not speak very good English. It’s going to save you a lot of hassle.
And if you’re looking for a taxi, you can always look on the Bolt or Grab app and check the price that they’re offering, and then use that to ensure you’re not getting ripped off.
