The Bangkok Podcast

Greg and Ed discuss the recent BBC ‘documentary’ called ‘The Dark Side of Paradise’ and what it says about media representation of Thailand. Ed explains that the recently aired 3-episode series has been getting a LOT of blowback on expat social media. The series depicts Zara, a young British woman, on her first trip to Thailand, ostensibly to report on the popularity of the Land of Smiles with British influencers. Howe...

Greg and Ed interview Chatwan Mongkol about his relatively new website called ‘Soiciety.’ Chatwan begins by explaining that he was born and raised in Thailand but then went to the U.S. for a year of high school and stayed on for university. He majored in journalism and (shock!) subsequently worked for several news outlets in the Northeast. During his time there he saw a type of news that Thailand lacks: truly LOCAL new...

Diving into the differences between East & West, Greg and Ed discuss two famous cemeteries in Bangkok. Ed takes the Teochiew Chinese Cemetery off of Sathorn Road, and Greg talks about the Protestant Cemetery in the Baan Mai neighborhood not too far from Asiatique on Charoen Krung Road. Ed begins by explaining that Thai Buddhists in general practice cremation, and since most Thais are Buddhists, ‘cemeteries’ in general ...

Greg and Ed discuss a much neglected topic in Bangkok expat life: how to survive as someone who doesn’t drink alcohol. Everyone knows that Bangkok has an epic nightlife, but much of that experience revolves around alcohol consumption. The guys discuss the option of going to the usual places and merely opting out of drink, but they also admit that for some people that is socially awkward and can put a damper on the even...

In a follow-up to previous episodes on expat ‘Merit Badges,’ Greg and Ed discuss ‘DEmerit Badges,’ mistakes that long term expats make that they should NOT make. In other words, if you’ve lived in Thailand for a while, and you act like a n00b, you deserve a demerit.

Greg begins with the classic fashion faux-pas of all foreigners in Thailand for more than a few months: wearing elephant pants. As the official mark of being brand new ...

Greg and Ed discuss the pros and cons of Lumphini and Benjakitti parks in central Bangkok, and best of all - you get to vote for your favorite by clicking here!  The boys begin almost with a disclaimer:  both parks are genuinely awesome, and there’s no way to definitely declare one park obviously superior to another.  Nevertheless, each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Lumphini is the classic ‘Central Park’ of Thailand and has ha...

While Greg is travelling in Canada, Ed interviews old friend of the podcast Jonathan about his recent trip to Europe.  Jon and his Thai wife Poom spent a couple weeks on vacation, first in Paris and then in Poland.  Jon begins talking about the multicultural nature of Paris, something he’s familiar with as a native New Yorker.  He and his wife revelled in Paris’s famous street culture: streets are very walkable, cafes ...

We return to our Thai history series with a fascinating look at the role that several Thai cannons played in some important historical events. 

First, with the help of a cool blog on Thai history from our friend Ken Lohatepanont, Greg tells the story of some silver cannons gifted by King Narai of Siam to Louis XIV of France. It turns out that during the world-changing storming of the Bastille in 1789, those very same cannons were u...

Sooner or later, we all spend some time in the hospital, so Greg and Ed riff on their myriad experiences in Bangkok hospitals over the years. But before we get into that, we should note - due to Thailand’s strict defamation laws, some of the places we talk about will remain nameless. 

But with that out of the way, we can say that Thailand in general has pretty good medical care, and it is standard advice for travelers in neighbori...

Greg and Ed discuss something that is more common than many people think: being wrong about expecting some Thai government project or initiative to fail. It’s pretty easy, as expats often fall into the rut of cynicism about the Thai government sticking to a plan and actually getting stuff done, but the truth is, Thailand sometimes gets stuff right! 

Greg begins by bringing up Benjakitti Forest Park. It rep...

Greg and Ed discuss a few of the many ‘cringe’ moments they have experienced over the years in failing to fit into Thai culture or  ‘do the right thing’ according to Thai society.  Ed begins with the ‘classics,’ mistakes that probably most expats make, such as wai-ing a person younger than you are, accidentally pointing the bottom of your feet towards a statue of the Buddha, and improperly touching a Thai person’s head...

Greg interviews repeat guest Justin Dunne, who previously appeared on Season 6, Episode 24, discussing his cool side project ‘Bangkok Haunts.’ Justin’s main gig is to be a legend of the Food & Beverage scene in Bangkok, having been the GM of the epic Bed Supperclub back in the day, and many more bars and restaurants between then and now. Oh yeah, he’s also the head of F&B consultancy Evolution48. 

The guys...

Greg and Ed introduce Season 8 of the podcast first by looking back and all that has been achieved. Greg runs through some crazy stats, just a few of which are that there have been a total of 885 shows and more than 1.6 million (!) total streams or downloads. Insane! 

Next, the guys check in with Season 1 co-host Tony Joh and frequent podcast guest Phra Phandit. Tony relates his journey first to Japan and ...

Greg and Ed do a first for the the show, with a panel discussion with four guests! Why four? Well, everyone knows that cliche about Bangkok being a heaven for expat men, but we didn’t know much about expat women. It stands to reason that one woman can’t speak for all women, so we upped the game a bit.

After some introductions, we get into the meat of the show, with a myriad of stories that show how complex...

Greg and Ed discuss a fascinating question: Are Thai weddings or American weddings more fun? The question was raised after Greg attended the wedding of friend of the podcast Daniel Fraser. As everyone knows, Dan is a legit expert on travel in Thailand, in addition to being a bit of a celebrity in the country due to his appearances in various TV shows and movies. Greg noted that the experience reminded him how much more...

Greg and Ed discuss the recent troubling decrease in overall Thai tourism numbers. In general, since COVID, the Thai tourism industry has bounced back quite well, and projections were that 2025 numbers would exceed the pre-COVID peak of 39 million visitors. However, starting at the end of last year, numbers didn’t meet expectations, and since then the dip has become more severe.

So what happened? The guys ...

Greg and Ed tackle a frustrating aspect of learning Thai - borrowed English words that are pronounced according to the rules normally applied to native Thai words. Ed makes clear they are not just talking about accent or ‘prosody’ - the cadence of pronunciation - but actually specific changes to pronunciation that are part of the rules of the Thai language.

Examples are the best teacher so the guys jump ri...

In this month's Classic Recast, Greg interviews Palm, a professional translator of English to Thai, but in a very specific context: subtitles for film and television. Palm begins by explaining that she literally learned English by being a couch potato and watching a lot of Western TV shows and movies, surviving by figuring out the subtitles word by word. This led naturally to an interest in doing it for a living, and lo and behold,...

After his latest video dropped and generated a lot of buzz, Greg and Ed interview Stu Jay Raj, the podcast’s Thai language expert, but this time Stu explains his new video and website discussing the cost of international school in Thailand. As most people are aware, the Thai public school system is not particularly strong, especially for students looking for a solid education in English. Hence, there is a demand for ed...