July 20, 2025 • 56 mins
Looking to escape the typical tourist experience in Thailand? Rick is back again to reveal some of the country's hidden treasures and practical wisdom that most travel blogs won't tell you.
Forget what you think you know about Thailand. While Phuket might dominate travel magazines with its luxury resorts and premium prices, Rick guides us through extraordinary alternatives where authentic experiences await. From the breathtaking dual bays of Prachuap Khiri Khan to the fruit paradise of Chanthaburi (where durians can sell for up to $30,000!), we explore destinations that showcase Thailand's diverse beauty without the crowds.
The podcast delivers practical gems that will transform your travel experience. Learn why booking accommodations for more than two nights is a rookie mistake, how to find quality one-bedroom beachside condos starting at just $40-50 per night, and why most visitors surprisingly tire of Thai food after just a few days. Rick's firsthand experiences illuminate how Thai people themselves vacation differently than foreigners, often seeking out markets and food experiences that typical tourists miss entirely.
Beyond destinations, we dive into life-saving travel hacks: why Charles Schwab and Fidelity debit cards are essential for avoiding ATM fees, how taking prophylactic Pepto-Bismol can save your vacation, and the perfect months to visit different regions to avoid both crowds and rainy seasons. The conversation paints a vivid picture of Thailand beyond the brochures—where breathtaking beaches, dramatic karst mountains, and unforgettable food experiences await the curious traveler.
Whether you're planning a family trip, a digital nomad adventure, or a beach getaway, this episode equips you with insider knowledge to experience the authentic Thailand that keeps seasoned travelers coming back year after year. Listen now and discover your next dream destination!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hi, welcome to our podcast, Where Next?
Travel with Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen.
And I am Carol.
(00:23):
And we're two long-term friendswith a passion for travel and
adventure.
Each episode, we interviewpeople around the globe to help
us decide where to go next.
In today's episode, once again,we are meeting with Rick, an
American living in Thailand.
Rick shares his tips for slowtravel and provides some
practical gems for longer-termstays.
(00:44):
He'll share why bookingaccommodations for more than two
nights is a rookie mistake inThailand and how to find quality
one-bedroom beachside condosstarting at just$40 to$50 U.S.
per night.
And finally, how Thai peoplethemselves vacation differently
than tourists.
Enjoy.
So welcome back, Rick.
(01:04):
We are so happy to have youtalking about Thailand again.
And really our focus here isgoing to be about, hey, Chris
and I want to go to Thailand forone month or two months.
Where should we go?
And Kristen, I gave Rick alittle background of, and he
kind of knows this, like whatkind of places we might like.
We like outdoorsy stuff, action,not super party scene.
(01:28):
And so for the more maturecrowd, where would be a great
place and what kind of, likewhat's housing like in, you
know, certain towns?
And I think you narrowed it downto a few towns for us, Rick.
So I'm excited to hear aboutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
Yeah, thanks for having me back.
I'm excited to do this and get alittle bit deeper into exploring
this country and especiallyfocusing on, you know, some
particular cities I think wouldbe fun.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
So I think, you know, one thing, kind of a
criteria is like say a month ormaybe two months, you know, so
maybe stay in two differentplaces, maybe like a month
apart.
Like I've heard a lot aboutChiang Mai, but you said maybe
that's not the best.
Maybe there's something better.
And then Koisumi, I'mslaughtering the name.
What's that place called?
SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
Koisumi.
SPEAKER_00 (02:20):
Like that.
Or is there something like evencooler than that?
You know, internet is importantand safety, of course.
And, you know, ideally proximityto beach and doesn't have to be,
you know, for people.
Thailand standards doesn't needto be super cheap, right?
You know, so we're not going tosee how the cheapest we can get,
but like, Hey, for 50 bucks anight, 80 bucks a night, a
(02:43):
hundred dollars a night.
Like what do I get in thoseareas?
SPEAKER_01 (02:46):
And sure.
Sure.
So, um, yeah.
So let's talk about a couple ofthings we could just get out of
the way.
Right.
Uh, at the beginning would besafety.
I would say with the exceptionof, you know, walking around in
certain places at 3 a.m.
or something like that, prettymuch everywhere in Thailand is
as safe as anywhere else.
(03:08):
So that's really not anythingthat you'd need to worry about.
You can go really anywhere inthe country and you'll have, you
should feel safe anywhere yougo.
SPEAKER_00 (03:20):
Oh, fantastic.
Love
SPEAKER_01 (03:21):
it.
Yeah.
And then in terms of pricing,it's pretty standard across the
country for the most part thatthe price is about the same
almost everywhere you go.
The only real exception would bethe island of Phuket, which is
also a province.
It's a very large island andcity, and the prices there tend
(03:46):
to be quite a bit higher, 20 to30 percent probably.
SPEAKER_00 (03:49):
Why is that?
What's special about Phuket?
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
Well, it's a large island, so it has a lot of
beaches, just dozens and dozensof beaches.
SPEAKER_00 (03:57):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:58):
You know, it's a mountainous island, so it has a
lot of views.
And it's just, it's moredeveloped than any of the rest
of the country.
And so the consumer conveniencesare really great there.
And so, you know, there's apremium on real estate.
And I've never been there.
And that's the main reason why Ihaven't been there is because I
(04:20):
just, I'm on a budget and Idon't need to spend 20 to 30
percent more.
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
Do the Thai people go to certain places for
vacation?
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
Yeah, they tend to not go to the same places that
the foreigners do.
And so most of the time.
When you see a place that hasmostly Thai people, there will
be very few foreigners there.
And a lot of times theinfrastructure is a little bit
(04:49):
different.
Definitely the.
accommodations in therestaurants and things like that
are different.
The types of food and the waythat the food is served and
stuff like that is different.
So that's one of the thingsyou've got to think about in
terms of where you want to be.
Most people who visit Thailandkind of surprisingly, I'll say,
(05:12):
really don't want to eat Thaifood.
Maybe they eat it for a day ortwo and then they're ready to
just move on to something else.
Just like you would in America,you know, where you'd go eat one
particular cuisine one night andyou'd want to eat another
cuisine the next night.
SPEAKER_02 (05:27):
Most people
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
had their fill of Thai food after a day or two.
That's just the reality of it.
That's the reality of being anAmerican and having such vast
food choices.
available to you all the time isthat you wouldn't want to just
eat one style of food.
And the other thing is, youknow, most people are used to
fine dining, you know, and goingout and having really nice meals
(05:51):
and that sort of thing.
And the only place where you canreally do that in Thailand is,
you know, a more upscalerestaurant.
and more the types of restaurantthat your average Thai person
goes to would definitely notqualify as fine dining.
And I'm not saying that it isn'tgood food.
(06:13):
That's usually what I
SPEAKER_00 (06:14):
hear.
Oh, no.
No, I kind of feel like a lot oftimes you go to restaurants,
it's kind of like a hole in thewall, but it's got amazing food.
You know, so it's just like,yeah, not fancy, but sit down,
almost like a Denny's for Thaifood, but like better quality.
SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
That's right.
And so most people who are justhere for a week or two, they're
not here long enough to adapt tothat.
And so they just continue eatinglike they do wherever they're
from.
And they're going out andspending$50 or$100 on a meal or
something like that, you know,or at least, you know,$30 or
something like that on a mealbecause that's just what they're
(06:51):
used to.
That's the budget that they havefor their one or two week
holiday.
And That's what your averageperson does.
You know, they're spending$150or$200 a night for a hotel room
and then going to, you know, therestaurant at the hotel or just
down the street or somethinglike that.
(07:11):
And they're usually not eatingThai food or it's some sort of
Thai fusion food or somethinglike that, you know.
So that may be what you want.
SPEAKER_00 (07:21):
Yeah.
So, but like in the Thai food islike sometimes when we go out
here, we say Thai hot or, youknow, just mild, whatever.
Is it generally really hotunless you ask for it like super
mild?
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Generally isn't.
And especially if they see thatyou're a foreigner and that
you're not with Thai people orsomething like that, then
they're not going to serve youan especially spicy dish or
anything like that.
You can be sure that no one'sgoing to do that to you.
Because it wouldn't be good forbusiness.
And so you don't have to worryabout that.
(07:56):
If you do want it spicy and yourequest that they make it spicy,
chances are they're barely goingto make it spicy anyway.
So you pretty much have to begthem to make it spicy or speak
in Thai or be with Thai peopleand then you'll just get the
normal
SPEAKER_00 (08:13):
spice.
Oh my gosh, I want to go getThai food right now.
I agree.
What was it like Pad Thai?
But then I was like Pad Thai orthe penang curry, you know,
curry bowl.
But there's also you can justlike get seafood, right?
Is that like a normal Thai meal?
Just seafood with some noodlesor rice on the side?
Is it rice?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
it's a mix.
Yeah, it's a mix.
Rice and noodles.
Most people eat rice every day.
But in restaurants, yes.
I'd say half the dishes probablyon most menus are noodle dishes
and the other half are ricedishes.
And then there's just a lot ofjust grilled things like grilled
seafood and grilled pork andgrilled chicken and things
SPEAKER_00 (08:51):
like that.
Yeah, that sounds pretty good.
Okay, so did you pick out twolocations?
So one maybe more countrysideand one more beachy?
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
Yeah, I actually have quite a few we could just
SPEAKER_00 (09:02):
talk about.
Let's
SPEAKER_01 (09:04):
talk about the pluses and minuses.
So you'd mentioned Chiang Mai,which is in the north.
And that is, I think, the secondor third largest city in the
country.
And it's Definitely unique.
It has this thousand-year-oldmoat around the old city, which
is kind of fun to explore.
(09:24):
And the moat then creates thissquare perimeter around the old
city.
And the inner city of the moatis very walkable.
And it's...
But it's still walkable.
And on Sunday night, especially,there is a night market just
(09:45):
packed with people and vendorsand people selling every style
of Thai food imaginable.
Just so many different styles offood.
It's really a great shoppingopportunity.
And it's so large that you couldjust in that one market see most
everything that's for sale inThailand at that one particular
(10:06):
market.
SPEAKER_00 (10:07):
And how often is that, every week?
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
Every week, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
And really nice atmosphere, probably about 50-50
foreigner and Thai people.
You know, it caters toforeigners, but it also really
caters to the local crowd aswell.
Thai people do do a lot oftraveling, probably maybe more
than Americans do, I'd say, justto, you know, packing up and
(10:31):
going to somewhere new on theweekend, something like that.
They probably go more than youraverage foreigner does.
And so, you know, that's, it's aculture of going out and touring
and, you know, seeing new placesand eating new things and,
shopping, especially.
So everywhere you go, there'salways going to be a lot of
markets and Chiang Mai's got oneof the better ones.
(10:54):
The rest of the city, though, ispretty urban and it's not
walkable and it's large.
There's some cool mountains andsome temples and things like
that to see.
But you've got to have a car orarrange a guide or something
like that.
It's not walkable.
And you've got to be reallycareful about when you go to
(11:17):
Shanghai because there areseveral months of the year where
there's just a lot of pollutionin the air from burning the rice
fields.
SPEAKER_00 (11:28):
Ah, who would think of that?
Okay.
UNKNOWN (11:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:30):
Yeah, and so that, it just creates a blanket of
smog over the city for severalmonths and really not a time to
visit.
SPEAKER_00 (11:38):
Is that consistent every year, like, you know,
August and September orsomething?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (11:43):
based on the harvest of the rice.
SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (11:45):
okay.
And so you want to stay awayfrom there in the late winter to
early spring months.
Okay.
You know, that would be like,you know, January to November.
April or May or something like
SPEAKER_00 (12:00):
that.
Oh, okay.
All
SPEAKER_01 (12:03):
right.
UNKNOWN (12:03):
And...
SPEAKER_01 (12:04):
Let's see.
Let's talk about some othercities.
You had mentioned Koh Samui.
That is another large island,not as large as Phuket.
And it's really nice and hassome great beaches.
It's a lot more affordable.
It's a little bit more of apremium price than most of the
rest of Thailand.
But I think it's worth it.
(12:25):
To get there, you've got to takea ferry.
And that's about a hour and ahalf or something like that, I
believe it is.
And there's a lot of littlecities and tons of little
beaches in each city.
And so you could easily spend amonth there and just kind of,
you know, hop around from onecity to the next and go visit
(12:45):
just dozens and dozens ofbeaches.
SPEAKER_00 (12:48):
And how hot is that place?
SPEAKER_01 (12:49):
Depending on the time of year, you're probably
not going to see days over 95too much.
There are times of the yearwhere it does get that hot, but
most of the time it's going tobe more like upper 90s.
The better time of the yearmight be upper 80s.
So you want to kind of keep thatin mind.
In terms of when to come, thingsare very seasonal in terms of
(13:14):
there are only a few monthswhere you don't have a lot of
rain.
So for most of the country,between November and April to
May, it's not raining very much.
And it's usually clear skies andwarmer.
(13:35):
And it doesn't really start towarm up too much until about
February, though.
So the coolest months of theyear are November, December, and
January, which are the highseason.
So again, it's clear skies, it'scooler weather, and there's no
rain.
SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (13:53):
okay.
But then the...
The seasonality also depends onwhere you are in the country.
So if you choose not to goduring that ideal high season
period, then you'll want toreally take careful note of
where you're going and when.
Because there are certain placesthat will be windy and choppy
(14:16):
water, and sometimes you won'teven be able to get to where
you're trying to go on a boatbecause the boats will be
grounded.
SPEAKER_00 (14:24):
So say Khoi Samui, what's the place?
So you're thinking go November,December, January is
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
best.
It's not the ideal time to gothere.
I can't remember exactly what itis, but the season is not
exactly the rest of Thailand.
I'd have to look it up.
Oh,
SPEAKER_02 (14:40):
okay.
SPEAKER_01 (14:41):
The country is so large that these aren't
geographically specific to thoseareas, and I don't have it
memorized.
SPEAKER_00 (14:48):
Oh, sure.
Okay, cool.
That sounds good.
amazing that it's an option.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (14:53):
usually most of the time of year there's a certain
place you could go and havegreat weather.
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Oh, okay.
So maybe if we're not tooparticular about where to go,
just kind of figure out when wewant to go and then that'll help
us decide where to go and maybebe a little flexible.
So when you try to booksomething like for a month, like
how do you do that?
You know, I assume like Airbnbwould be expensive.
Is there like local ways to findplaces?
UNKNOWN (15:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:19):
Yeah.
So let's talk about that.
In terms of pricing, first ofall, I would never recommend
anybody book a place for amonth.
And the reason for that is youmay get there on the first
night, you absolutely hate it.
You're not going to get arefund.
SPEAKER_00 (15:31):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
It's just most places are not going to refund
you.
SPEAKER_00 (15:35):
And
SPEAKER_01 (15:35):
if they do, they're going to take a big chunk of it
and it's going to be a bigheadache and it's going to be
something you don't want to dealwith.
I would recommend it.
But for people who are only herefor a week or two, it's you
know, kind of they feel it's anecessity.
You know, they've chosen theirplace and they don't want to
have to deal with checking inand checking out and that sort
of thing.
So that's what most people do.
(15:56):
But if you're coming here for alonger trip, I would highly
recommend you just book for anight or two and probably two
nights when you first arrivejust so that, you know, you at
least have a little time tosettle in and decide what you're
trying to do.
But I would never book more thana couple of days.
SPEAKER_00 (16:13):
And then, Rick, would you do that before you get
there or?
SPEAKER_01 (16:16):
No matter how bad it is, most people are just going
to choose to sleep, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (16:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
Because the flight is so long and you're just going
to be wrecked, you know, thefirst day or two.
So, you know, just plan to besomewhere and don't worry about
trying to change it up if youdon't like it.
But after two days or so, youknow, if you really don't like
it, you've got the option to getout.
And the thing is, there's somany hotels and condos and all
(16:43):
those things that there's noreal reason that you need to
book in advance for most
SPEAKER_00 (16:49):
places.
There's no risk of like, oh no,we're stuck at$300 a night now
or something.
I
SPEAKER_01 (16:55):
mean, if you're doing a honeymoon or something
like that, obviously that wouldbe an exception.
Or, you know, a really large orsomething.
Let's talk about then thedifferent types of
accommodations.
Yeah.
So, one thing to consider too interms of pricing is you've got a
couple of different options.
You either pay by the night oryou pay by the month or you, for
(17:16):
a long-term stay, you'd actuallysign a contract.
About the shortest contractyou're going to see here would
be six months.
Okay.
People are signing for 12 monthsand so when you sign a contract
12-month contract, you canexpect probably about 50%
discount from what you'd pay ata daily rate.
(17:37):
And then if you're doing amonthly rate, like through an
Airbnb or something like that,you're probably only going to
get about a 30% discount.
SPEAKER_02 (17:47):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (17:48):
really barely worth it, I would say.
And then comparing a daily rateto a weekly rate is usually
about 15%.
So again, barely worth it.
Better off really just paying bythe night.
And when you find a place youlike, stay there.
And when you get tired of it,you get bored with it, or you
(18:08):
come up with a better idea, Gosomewhere new.
Same thing.
Look for a couple of nights soyou can just settle in.
And then, you know, if you likeit, stay a few more days.
And you may find, too, as you'reout exploring and walking the
beaches and walking the market,you'll stumble on a better
property.
And you'll be like, why didn'twe choose this place?
You know, this looks nice.
SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:29):
And then, oh, let's move in here.
And it's, and it's not, not onlythat, but it's very satisfying,
you know, to know that you havethe freedom to do that.
Yeah.
So we run into a better place.
You can just be like, okay,well, we've only got two more
nights at this other place andnext we'll go here.
SPEAKER_00 (18:45):
Yeah.
And so
SPEAKER_01 (18:46):
it's fun to just explore and be free like that, I
think.
SPEAKER_00 (18:50):
Yeah.
And I think you told me one, Idon't know if it was you or one
of our guests, that you justnever know because it's not
like, oh, this is like Hiltonstandards or whatever.
It's like, It could totallysmell like pee, I think, or
smell like smoke.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (19:03):
that's right.
Unless you're at that pricepoint where, you know, your
satisfaction is guaranteed,which, you know, is a couple
hundred dollars a night, prettymuch.
You gamble always.
SPEAKER_00 (19:17):
Okay.
Oh, yeah.
And then so places like thisnightly, what would it be like?
50 bucks a night?
40 bucks a night?
80 bucks a night?
SPEAKER_01 (19:25):
What places?
SPEAKER_00 (19:26):
Yeah, like for, like, so say, I don't know, it's
Koisamui or maybe not Koisamui,some are a little bit more
reasonable.
Like, what would an averageprice per night be for, oh, I
guess it depends if we'retalking, can you get a
two-bedroom by the night?
SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (19:40):
Or just hotel rooms?
SPEAKER_01 (19:41):
You get pretty much anything you want, yeah.
You can get anything you want bythe night.
So let's just talk about thetypes of accommodation.
So there are hotels.
A budget hotel is just going tobe like what you'd see at like
a, You know, motel, what is itcalled?
Motel 6?
Motel 6, yeah.
Yeah, something like that, youknow, like a Ramada Inn or
(20:02):
something, you know, where it'sjust a room with no view, you
know.
Yeah.
And then you might have a stepup from that would be like the
deluxe room, you know, whereeverything looks nice and it's a
large bed and maybe you've got abalcony or something like that.
And then you'd have more of likea studio apartment.
with a small kitchen, whichusually is just a sink and a
(20:23):
large full size, nearly fullsize refrigerator and, you know,
maybe a rice cooker or somethinglike that.
Okay.
And then up from that would belike a kitchenette, you know,
where you've got more of a fullsize kitchen and more of a
living room area and probably aseparate bedroom.
(20:44):
And then from that would bemaybe an apartment with two
bedrooms Oh, okay.
(21:07):
better appliances and all ofthat, and just more of a modern
experience and usually comeswith a gym and a pool and, you
know, views and a security guardand gated community and that
sort of thing.
And then the next step up fromthat would be what's called a
pool villa, which is astandalone small house that
(21:30):
usually has a private pool builtinto it.
And it's, At that level, I'd saypretty much anybody's going to
be pretty happy with that.
And you can actually do thatpretty reasonably.
We just stayed in Patiaf acouple of nights ago for two
nights.
And we stayed in a 3,000 baht anight, which is about$100.
(21:53):
And it was four bedrooms and abig full-size kitchen and a pool
and just really nice.
SPEAKER_00 (22:02):
Four bedrooms?
UNKNOWN (22:03):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (22:03):
Four bedrooms, yeah.
Would have been at least$300 or$400, pretty much anywhere.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
And was this a pretty decent, like, I don't
recognize this location you'retalking about, but is it kind of
a nice tourist location?
Like, by water or anything?
SPEAKER_01 (22:16):
Yeah, it was on a lake.
It was a lake view.
That's actually the name of theproperty.
But, yeah, you know, it wasdefinitely not a glitzy
neighborhood or anything
SPEAKER_02 (22:27):
like
SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
that.
You probably have to pay two orthree times that to have a
really glitzy community clubtype of environment, which was
actually just right down theroad.
In terms of your expectations,everybody thinking about coming
to Thailand needs to understandthat it's a developing country
(22:49):
and there's not very many golfclub communities and things like
that.
They are here, but certainly thevast majority of the
accommodations are nothing likethat.
You know, it really, it catersto people who are on a budget.
So if you're not looking for abudget location, go to France or
(23:09):
somewhere like that.
Won't come to Thailand.
SPEAKER_00 (23:12):
Right.
Gotcha.
All right.
So how about, so in Koh Samui,a, like a one bedroom condo,
like what do you think?
Ballpark?
SPEAKER_01 (23:25):
Bedroom condo, I would say would start around,
I'm trying to convert this intoU.S.
$40 or$50 a night or somethinglike
SPEAKER_00 (23:37):
that.
Oh, okay.
That's
SPEAKER_01 (23:39):
crazy cheap.
Yeah, nice quality, decentquality.
SPEAKER_00 (23:43):
Okay.
Okay, and that's like a beachcommunity?
That's insane.
Wow.
Okay, yeah.
That's worth...
having the flexibility to standby the night for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (23:55):
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
You know, I would recommend youjust shop on one particular app.
I never use anything else.
It's called Agoda.
Agoda, A-G-O-D-A.
It's the best app for SoutheastAsia.
You get the best discounts andit's got pretty much every
property listed there.
You can get a lot of deals, 20or 30% off pretty regularly.
(24:19):
They discount everything.
properties all the time onthere.
They select a group ofproperties and discount them
every day and it changes.
And so you can just look atreally nice places for a lot
less than the normal price ifyou shop
SPEAKER_00 (24:34):
around.
And when you do it like that, doyou like just you pay for it
right there?
I've seen a lot of hotels nowlike you prepay.
I'm like, I want to prepay so Imake a reservation.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
Yeah, normally what you can do is you can actually
just reserve it with a creditcard and then you'll have up to
about 48 hours before thereservation.
SPEAKER_00 (24:52):
Oh, okay.
Okay, so the same here.
Okay, so it's a little cheaperif you prepay just because they
guaranteed the money.
SPEAKER_01 (24:58):
Yeah, you do get a little bit of a discount if you
prepay usually, not always, butyou can be pretty safe.
I actually do reserve a lot ofplaces in advance like that with
keeping in mind that I'll cancelat the last minute if I need to.
So I do recommend that becauseyou know, the better places go
(25:19):
quickly.
And so you do want to keep thatin mind.
You know, if you wind up with,you're booking somewhere and you
don't like it and you need tochange at the last minute,
chances are the best places arenot going to be available the
last minute.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (25:36):
The other thing that we didn't talk about were our
houses for rent.
SPEAKER_00 (25:40):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (25:41):
Definitely another, you know, thing.
I don't know much about that.
I've never rented a house.
But again, it's just going to beup a little bit from that price
point.
You're probably going to belooking at, I'd say, at least
$7,500 or$100 a night.
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (25:55):
But the quality is going to be a lot better, and
it's going to be more of a housewith a full kitchen and that
sort of thing.
One thing to keep in mind, too,most Thai people don't do a lot
of cooking at home.
SPEAKER_02 (26:06):
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (26:06):
really?
Because food is so cheap andplentiful here.
And because the food is, youknow, considered pretty high
quality by Thai people thatpeople don't really see the need
to have to cook at home and dealwith cleaning and all that.
When you live on your side, youdo.
(26:26):
But most people who live in acity, they prefer to just eat
out all the time.
And so kitchens usually aren'tlike the full kitchen like you
have in the U.S.
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (26:35):
Like
SPEAKER_01 (26:35):
ever an oven or anything like that.
And the food preparation area isusually a whole lot smaller.
SPEAKER_00 (26:42):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I think it's more likejust, yeah, like sandwiches and,
you know, just enough to havelike lunch and then go out for
dinner.
But,
SPEAKER_01 (26:48):
you know.
There's really no point in it,you know, unless you really.
SPEAKER_00 (26:51):
But just more speed and you care
SPEAKER_01 (26:54):
about what you eat.
Well, the thing is, is that foodis so much more convenient in
Thailand than it is in America.
Oh, okay.
It's just so much more easy toget what you want quickly
anywhere you are because there'sjust so many more choices.
SPEAKER_00 (27:08):
Okay, so for the gluten-free people out there, I
know Thai food is typicallypretty gluten-free.
Do you think they care aboutthat or like, no, it's not going
to be a thing?
It's usually in the soy saucethat it's the problem.
I
SPEAKER_01 (27:24):
don't really know the answer to that question.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (27:28):
I mean,
SPEAKER_01 (27:28):
I know that some people are gluten intolerant
here and it's, yeah, I'm notthat familiar with how you
SPEAKER_00 (27:35):
go about avoiding a
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
new diet.
SPEAKER_00 (27:37):
Yeah, all right.
Okay.
And so what other...
Okay, so we understand all thehousing options.
What are some other goodlocations for professionals,
good internet?
SPEAKER_01 (27:48):
Oh, yeah.
So in terms of internet,anywhere you go, you're going to
have great internet, almostwithout exception.
There's a few places you couldgo, some remote islands and
things we've been to a fewtimes, national parks, where the
internet is pretty poor.
But...
I'd say 99.
What's
SPEAKER_00 (28:06):
your favorite island?
Sorry, I was thinking.
Oh, I'm just more intrigued.
What were the islands you wentto?
Maybe not necessarily that youhave Wi-Fi, but that you're all
the way in Thailand and youshould come and visit.
SPEAKER_01 (28:19):
Oh, goodness.
We've been to so many islands.
It's hard to pick one or twothat are the best.
You know, it just depends onwhat it is that you like.
You know, is it beautifulbeaches or is it more of the
relaxed beaches?
you know, vibe of nothing there,just being like on a secluded
beach?
Or do you want to have nicerestaurants and, you know,
(28:42):
dining at night?
Or are you trying to go tosomeplace with, you know, a
little bit of a party scene inthe evenings?
Or, you know, do you want toreally have all the consumer
conveniences where you goshopping and, you know, find
salami and cheese and whateverit is that you have a craving
for that night?
SPEAKER_00 (29:01):
Well, with the like first two, maybe like something
that Carol and I would like,like maybe hikes or outdoors or
hanging out on the beach orsomething with activities.
SPEAKER_02 (29:10):
that
SPEAKER_00 (29:12):
you would suggest?
And maybe there's so many, butmaybe just two that come to mind
or something.
SPEAKER_01 (29:17):
Well, I would say, Kristen, given that I understand
your lifestyle so well fromhaving edited podcasts for years
now, I would say Phuket isreally the place for you because
I know that you really likeactivities and outdoors.
doing things.
And that's really the place thatcaters to that.
Yeah.
I don't anywhere else even comesclose to that in terms of the
(29:42):
number, sheer number ofdifferent activities that are
available there.
SPEAKER_00 (29:47):
So Phuket it is.
SPEAKER_01 (29:48):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Phuket it is for you.
I would say the first timecoming, that would be the way to
go.
Just stay there.
It's got everything you wouldwant.
It absolutely has everything youwould want.
SPEAKER_00 (29:59):
Well, my kids are great.
SPEAKER_01 (30:00):
I don't have anything to ask about it.
SPEAKER_00 (30:02):
Okay, because I'm thinking, I don't know if United
Airlines goes there, but we'llhave to look because my brother
flies there and I'm trying totake my son for a senior trip.
Oh, yeah.
We were thinking Whistler, butnow I'm like, hmm.
Yeah, right.
And so right near Phuket, thereseems to be like just hundreds
of islands like in this likekind of bay are a lot of those
(30:23):
places people visit or a lot ofthem just
SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
uh yeah in terms of hundreds no um i don't really
know if there's that many maybethere are but if there are
they're just rocks i'd say
SPEAKER_00 (30:34):
oh okay i just see like coconut island is the only
one i'm really seeing yeah yeahi'd say it's in
SPEAKER_01 (30:40):
the many dozens of islands probably in those areas
um and most of those yeah theyyou know they have people living
on them but There's probably afew dozen that are regularly
visited.
Now, all of those have like, youknow, nice snorkeling spots and
that.
So they do cater to people whoare looking for unique diving
(31:02):
experiences and snorkeling orjust.
boat trips.
You know, if that is exciting,again, Phuket and that area is
probably about as good as itgets, especially for like a
family vacation and not just aspecific snorkeling or diving
location.
SPEAKER_00 (31:23):
Oh my gosh.
Wow.
I'm just, I just felt liketight.
It's like Tucson Beach Resortand an island just off of
Phuket.
Just like, So cool.
Just like a wooden hut and justyour own personal pool and lots
of nice stuff down there.
SPEAKER_01 (31:41):
Yeah, that would be a good place to focus.
And, you know, one of the thingsa lot of people don't give
enough thought to is that thecountry is pretty large.
And so if you think you're goingto go and see, you know, four or
five places in a month, you maybe really challenged to pull
that off.
Some people try and do.
10 places in a week, you know,and that's just ridiculous.
You have no time to do anythingbecause you're stuck in a van or
(32:04):
something like
SPEAKER_00 (32:05):
that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:05):
Great thing about Phuket is it actually has an
international airport.
And so if you want to pay thecost of that, you can just fly
right in there and skip Bangkokand just fly in from, you know,
one of the hubs like Singaporeor from Japan and fly right into
Phuket.
And then you're already there,you know,
SPEAKER_00 (32:25):
And I would assume, do ads different speak English
there in
SPEAKER_01 (32:29):
Phuket?
Anywhere you're going to go,people are going to speak
English, yeah.
Okay.
I'm not going to run intoanybody who doesn't speak
English, I'd say, on the firsttrip.
SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
Okay.
All right.
What about countryside?
Do you say there's some in themountains that's maybe cooler,
that's not Chiang Mai aspopular?
Chiang Rai, maybe it was?
SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
Yeah, Chiang Rai is an hour north of Chiang Rai.
But again, I wouldn't recommendit for a first-timer, probably,
unless you just really know thatthat's what you're trying to do.
You're just really dead set ongetting away from the tourists.
Chiang Rai isn't the place to godo that, though.
(33:11):
But there are places up near theLao border, for instance, where
you can get accommodation righton the Mekong with these
beautiful views of the river.
And it's much more serene andtranquil and not the hustle and
(33:32):
bustle of the big cities.
SPEAKER_00 (33:34):
Okay, gotcha.
SPEAKER_01 (33:36):
Now let's talk about some of my favorite places, if
you
SPEAKER_00 (33:38):
want.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (33:39):
gotcha.
These are the places I wouldrecommend if this appeals to
you.
Anyway, this is what appeals tome, I guess I should say.
One of them is a province calledPachua, Curacan.
P-R-A-C-H-U-A-P.
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (33:58):
Curacan?
Okay, yeah, it came up.
SPEAKER_01 (34:01):
This is a province in the southern part of Thailand
that there's only one city herethat gets a lot of tourists, and
that one is called Hoa Hin.
And that is very popular withretirees and also families who
come for long stays.
Oh, okay.
There's a lot of hotels tochoose from.
(34:25):
Everything is very reasonablypriced.
There's a lot of Ah, okay.
Ah, okay.
SPEAKER_00 (34:51):
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (34:51):
And it's really nice.
It's really beautiful.
It looks beautiful.
For me, it's too touristedbecause I've been here so long.
That's just too touristed forme.
So there's another city about anhour south of there, which is
actually the capital city of theprovince by the same name,
Ortuap, Currican.
(35:12):
And that is...
the name of the city.
Okay.
In the province of Pachuca.
SPEAKER_00 (35:18):
I
SPEAKER_01 (35:19):
see.
You might look up and you cansee the main beach if you'll
search.
A-O-M-A-N-A-O.
I
SPEAKER_00 (35:28):
see it.
Oh, I see it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:32):
Yeah, so this is the bay, Almanau.
Oh, yeah.
The city there is Pachuca.
Okay.
the capital city of theprovince.
And it is just a fantastic city.
It's a pretty good-sized city,about the size of Boulder or
something like that.
And it's got two huge bays.
(35:52):
This one you're looking at righthere is the South Bay, and then
there's also a North Bay.
If you look at enough pictures,you'll see them.
SPEAKER_00 (36:01):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (36:02):
So you've got this good-sized city, which has got
everything you'd need, andyou've got these two absolutely
beautiful, breathtakinglybeautiful beaches, both on the
north and the south side.
So plenty to do.
And there's very few foreigners.
SPEAKER_00 (36:19):
Oh, I'm sold on that.
It's
SPEAKER_01 (36:21):
really not over-touristed at all.
SPEAKER_00 (36:24):
And would you fly into Bangkok
SPEAKER_01 (36:25):
then?
Yeah, you could fly into, yeah,that would be the thing, fly
into Bangkok, and then you'dprobably just take like an Uber
ride.
down to Betulkir.
SPEAKER_00 (36:37):
How long?
Is that like an hour drive?
It looks pretty far.
SPEAKER_01 (36:40):
It's about five hours, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:42):
Five hours in an Uber?
SPEAKER_01 (36:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:45):
Or the Gram, whatever.
How much does that cost?
SPEAKER_01 (36:49):
It wouldn't be too much, yeah.
It wouldn't be too much.
Probably wouldn't do it all atone trip, you know.
You could go in and stay therefor a couple nights and then do
another trip and go down toAmunet.
SPEAKER_00 (37:01):
Oh, okay.
And it looks like there's anational park.
Have you been there?
SPEAKER_01 (37:06):
Yes, yes.
And then if you really want toget away from it all, you
actually go to Batua Thai, whichis south Batua.
And there you have all thesejust dozens and dozens of small
beaches and small beach towns.
And almost everyone is justabsolutely picture perfect it's
(37:28):
so pretty with islands off thecoast and very little
development and most of thehotels are just you know their
budget they're like you know$20a night$30 a night and they've
got a swimming pool and they'reclean and they're well kept and
the beaches are clean andeverybody's so friendly and
(37:49):
there's almost no foreigners andthe food is great and That's
where we tend to go.
Ah,
SPEAKER_00 (37:56):
Pachuap and then S-A-I?
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (37:59):
Pachuap.
Oh, I was talking Thai, which issouth.
Oh, got
SPEAKER_00 (38:05):
it.
How would I find it on the map?
SPEAKER_01 (38:07):
Okay, so if you look up Pachuap Currican, right, and
then go to Google Maps, and thatshould probably pull you right
into the city of Pachuap.
And then you'll see that it's aprovince that it's just, I think
maybe hundreds and hundreds ofkilometers of beaches.
SPEAKER_00 (38:30):
Okay.
So I think maybe like start atthe place that you feel is too
touristy and then just kind ofgo down the coast.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (38:39):
That might well be worth it.
I wouldn't say that would beyour style though, Kristen.
Yeah.
I think you'd have more fun,especially if you brought the
kids to just go to Phuketbecause you're going to have a
zip lining and snorkeling andthe elephant sanctuary.
And, you know, I could justrattle them off water parks and
all of these different things.
There's just so dozens anddozens and dozens and dozens of
(39:01):
things that you could go do.
Um, but I think Carol, for you,I think if you, if you feel like
you want to go do like the beachbum thing, you know, and just
really get to see Thailand, um,that would be pretty fun.
And you probably, you're goingto have to do something about
transportation.
SPEAKER_02 (39:20):
One
SPEAKER_01 (39:21):
thing you could do, though, is there's a train that
runs the entire length of thatcoast.
And every few dozen kilometers,there's a train station.
And then you can get a localtaxi to your hotel.
And that's always going to beavailable and easy and not
(39:44):
anything that's going to bedifficult to navigate.
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (39:47):
yeah.
And then you can get the waterlooks very calm for like.
Like paddle boarding and thingslike that?
SPEAKER_01 (39:52):
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, yeah.
There's not really too manyplaces with big surf or anything
like that
SPEAKER_00 (39:57):
in Kona.
And then how far is that fromyour main location where you
stay?
We're
SPEAKER_01 (40:03):
not nomads at the moment.
We're just...
SPEAKER_00 (40:05):
Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01 (40:06):
We were renting a condo for a year and let that
go.
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (40:11):
so where are you right now?
SPEAKER_01 (40:12):
Onken.
SPEAKER_00 (40:14):
How do you say...
K-O-H?
SPEAKER_01 (40:17):
Onken.
K-H-O-N...
And the second word is K-A-E-N.
SPEAKER_00 (40:23):
Okay.
All these words don't exactlyseem to be going
SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
can.
It's the largest city in thecountry.
SPEAKER_00 (40:28):
Oh, really?
Oh, okay.
Very cool.
SPEAKER_01 (40:33):
Very well developed.
But without a lot of trafficor...
Yeah, it's really nice.
It's probably the best placefor...
Consumer conveniences, I'd say.
There's a huge German populationand Swiss population, so the
grocery stores have all theforeign foods you might be
craving that you can't find in alot of places.
SPEAKER_00 (40:55):
Ah, interesting.
I
SPEAKER_01 (40:56):
like that.
SPEAKER_00 (40:57):
I see a big lake.
SPEAKER_01 (40:59):
Yeah, we actually just bought a little electric
scooter about a month ago, andwe've had a lot of fun cruising
around this lake on our littlescooter bike.
SPEAKER_00 (41:11):
Food bowl.
Ubo Ratana?
SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
Yeah, it's a public park and it has this little
pathway where you can goexercise and walk.
SPEAKER_00 (41:20):
There's an airport there too.
SPEAKER_01 (41:23):
Yeah, there is.
That's right.
Comcan is unique in that it'sbig enough to actually have an
airport.
We've actually flown in here acouple of times, which is nice.
SPEAKER_00 (41:33):
Well, we are getting close to our time here.
Is there anything else that youwere like, I really need to tell
you?
I'll do some rapid firequestions for you.
SPEAKER_01 (41:41):
Yeah, let me check my notes
SPEAKER_00 (41:43):
here.
I also wondered, food.
I can't remember.
I know I could listen to thefirst, but traditional meals and
foods that you like.
Sure.
Okay, here's
SPEAKER_01 (41:54):
another place I would consider.
If you want a very authenticplace to go, Shantambuli would
be highly recommended.
This is the fruit capital ofThailand.
SPEAKER_00 (42:08):
Okay, how do you spell it?
Shantambuli?
SPEAKER_01 (42:10):
Chantambuli.
C-H-A-N.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
C-H-A-N.
SPEAKER_01 (42:15):
C-H-A-B-U-R-I.
I
SPEAKER_00 (42:18):
like it.
It looks like Discovery Day,like where all the houses are in
the water.
SPEAKER_01 (42:23):
So this is the fruit capital of Thailand.
It's got tons of orchards, andit's on the ocean.
It's a province, and there are alot of beaches there, and
there's pretty close to zeroforeigners.
It's more of an upscale type ofplace for Thai people to go
(42:44):
vacation.
And so there's orchard tours andlike fruit sampling tours.
Thailand is the capital of thedurian fruit growing.
And durian is a very expensivefruit.
Some sell for like$30,000 afruit.
Yeah.
And it's extremely expensive,certain ones.
(43:07):
So you can go on these like, youknow, tasting tours and the
orchards and try all of thesedifferent tropical fruits.
And it's an absolutely gorgeousplace.
It's very lush with just tons offruit orchards and mountains and
rains every day and...
Definitely not for everybody,but if that's appealing.
(43:30):
And then about an hour away fromthere is Koh Chang, which is an
islet.
And it's got all these littletiny beaches and coves.
And it's not very welldeveloped, but there are some
really nice options in bothbudget and in luxury
accommodation there.
(43:50):
Is
SPEAKER_00 (43:51):
that the ko-chong with a G at the end?
SPEAKER_01 (43:54):
Yes, it's A-N-G.
SPEAKER_00 (43:55):
And
SPEAKER_01 (43:56):
there's really no mass tourism there, but there
are some very nice restaurantsand some really just beautiful
accommodations and stuff of allprice ranges.
That, if you're looking for anauthentic Thai experience, I
would highly recommend.
And then I'll tell you anotherone to look up real quick if you
(44:17):
want.
And that is Koh Larn.
K-O-H-L-A-R-N.
This one is just off the coastof Pattaya and is stunningly
beautiful.
And it's only a 20 minute ferryride from Pattaya.
It's not expensive.
(44:37):
The beaches are just,Breathtakingly beautiful with
white sand and clear, calmwater.
And it's really, really nice.
SPEAKER_02 (44:48):
It's beautiful.
It's
SPEAKER_01 (44:49):
not overdeveloped.
And it's really easy to get to.
You can get there about two anda half hours from Bangkok.
SPEAKER_00 (44:56):
Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01 (44:56):
There's really not that many people going to it.
And then another one, I'll tellyou my favorite beach in the
country, if you're going to lookthat one up.
And that is called Sam...
And then the second word isR-O-I.
And then the last word is Y-O-D.
And this is, we keep coming backhere.
(45:18):
We've come back here more timesthan anything else.
SPEAKER_00 (45:21):
Well, that's actually not too far from the
other, the first place you weretelling us about.
Yeah, that's right.
It's along the peninsula.
SPEAKER_01 (45:26):
That's right.
This is in the province ofCachua.
SPEAKER_02 (45:30):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (45:32):
But it's like, I would say, the most exceptional
of the beaches.
And the town there is justextremely picturesque because
there's all this karstgeography, which are those tall,
jagged, rocky outcrops.
In all 360-degree views of allsides, you see these big, rocky
(45:58):
outcrops.
SPEAKER_00 (45:59):
So, okay, now it's time for the rapid-fire
questions.
Okay, what do you have forbreakfast every morning, or do
you eat breakfast?
SPEAKER_01 (46:06):
I do.
Yeah, I kind of change it up.
I often eat yogurt or cereal.
SPEAKER_00 (46:13):
And do you have coffee or tea?
I drink both.
Oh, okay.
What's more popular there?
SPEAKER_01 (46:19):
Um...
Both are popular, althoughthere's almost no tea culture
here.
Everybody just drinks Thai tea.
I'm sure you're familiar with
SPEAKER_00 (46:28):
Thai tea.
Oh, sure.
Yeah, with the milk.
SPEAKER_01 (46:30):
But it's very difficult to find any Chinese or
Indian teas, although they areavailable.
That's interesting.
And for about a tenth of thecost that you'd pay in America.
SPEAKER_00 (46:41):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (46:43):
To go to Chinatown in Bangkok to buy it.
SPEAKER_00 (46:45):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I remember you brought mesome tea back once.
SPEAKER_01 (46:48):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (46:48):
Yeah, that was so good.
All right, and then the moneyis, is it the bot?
Okay, and again, we talked aboutthis before, but should we bring
cash or just everything, justcredit card with no foreign
exchange fees, of course?
SPEAKER_01 (47:05):
Yeah, get a credit card that doesn't have foreign
exchange fees.
I mean, you should really justdo that now.
Don't even think about it.
Get the Charles Schwab debitcard.
Refund all your ATM feesanywhere in the world.
You'll never have to pay andyou'll never have to worry about
it.
Load the cash onto your debitcard.
Then you can just pull that out.
And if you ever lose that card,they can replace it anywhere in
(47:28):
the world in like 24 hours.
SPEAKER_00 (47:29):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
I'm writing it down.
Debit card, you said?
SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
Yeah.
I actually lost my card one timewhile we were traveling.
We were in between hotel roomsand I ordered it.
Didn't even have a place for itto like land.
And just ordered it to go to mynext hotel.
I picked it where we thoughtwe'd be in a couple days, and it
arrived at the same time we did,in less than 48 hours.
SPEAKER_00 (47:56):
What about when you're going to that market up
in Chiang Mai, for example?
I'm sure there's other markets.
Do those places still takecredit cards?
SPEAKER_01 (48:05):
No.
Yeah, Thai people are able toscan everything and just pay
with their phones.
But as a foreigner, you can'tget an account to do that.
So you'll need cash.
SPEAKER_00 (48:15):
Okay, got it.
Is it better to exchange whenyou get there, like on the
street or at the bank?
Where do you change your jacket?
Just
SPEAKER_01 (48:21):
get it from ATM, anywhere you go.
Oh, just
SPEAKER_00 (48:24):
get the ATM.
SPEAKER_01 (48:25):
Yeah.
If you get one of these, like acharge swab, you'll never have
to worry about the cost.
Otherwise, it's going to costyou about$8 every time you take
money.
SPEAKER_00 (48:33):
Yeah, I did, unfortunately, that in Bali.
I went to Korea, but Bali wasreally expensive.
So I am going to get the CharlesSchwab debit card.
They should pay you for that.
SPEAKER_01 (48:48):
Fidelity has one, too.
If you happen to have a Fidelityaccount, you can get a Fidelity
debit card that does the samething.
SPEAKER_00 (48:53):
Oh, you know, I do have a Fidelity account.
So Fidelity does the same thingas the Charles Schwab one?
SPEAKER_01 (49:00):
Yeah, I think it's only the debit card.
SPEAKER_00 (49:02):
That's fine.
I will get that.
That sounds perfect.
Okay.
And what's your favorite mealwhen you go out?
You're like, oh, I want to getthis for dinner.
Or lunch, I guess.
Do you still like it?
I remember when we used to go toThai restaurants, do you like
that Penang chicken orsomething?
SPEAKER_01 (49:21):
Yeah, that's what mom cooks for me every day.
So I'm kind of, I don't know.
I love it, but at the same time,it's not, I don't, it's my
favorite food, but it's, It'snot what I would probably order
when I go out to a restaurantsince it makes
SPEAKER_02 (49:36):
it
SPEAKER_01 (49:36):
perfectly fun every day.
But I think the favorite thing Ilike is actually a snack.
It's called Miancom.
And it's this strange leaf.
It's this big green leaf.
And it's in a plastic bag.
It comes in a plastic bag.
And you open this leaf up andthen you pour in dried garlic,
(49:57):
dried shrimp, this sticky sweetsauce.
with some Thai peppers and limesand some other things that are
all just like chopped up inthese little bags.
There's like six little bags andyou just like very delicately
put it inside of this leaf androll it up and it's the most
delicious thing ever.
(50:18):
But you can't find it all thetime and it's just hit or miss.
And often when you do see it,they'll only have one or two in
stock.
And I don't know, I'm kind ofobsessed with it and every time
we see it, I buy it.
SPEAKER_00 (50:31):
M-I-A-N-G and then K-A-M.
Is that what this is?
Mine comes with dried shrimp.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (50:38):
that's it.
It's delicious.
I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_00 (50:43):
Very interesting.
Okay, great.
Okay.
And then we'll just go, where'sthe closest place to surf?
I know these are not much.
I think Phuket.
I think Phuket is
SPEAKER_02 (50:53):
probably where you're going to
SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
be for that, yeah.
UNKNOWN (50:54):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (50:55):
is you want to be on the Andaman Coast, which is the
Pacific Coast, becauseeverywhere else in Thailand is
in the Gulf of Thailand.
And so that's a big, huge bay,and it's not the ocean, you know
what
SPEAKER_00 (51:10):
I mean?
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (51:11):
It's on the Pacific side of the ocean.
That's where the waves are.
Got
SPEAKER_00 (51:15):
it.
Great.
And then I see Myanmar is likeso close.
Do you ever go to Myanmar?
Not really.
Is it just.
SPEAKER_01 (51:24):
Right now you can't really go there.
They're in the middle of a 40year civil war and wouldn't go
there.
You can if you really want to,but mostly if people go there,
you can fly into the capitalcity and it's, you know, It's
totally calm.
It's not a war or anything inthe capital city.
And you can also go into theborder towns, but typically you
(51:46):
only get a pass for like a day.
You can't go anywhere except onetown.
You need to come back out thenext day.
Or that day, actually.
SPEAKER_00 (51:53):
Wow.
I never thought it was so closeto India.
SPEAKER_01 (51:55):
Yeah, it's not too far away.
UNKNOWN (51:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (51:59):
Okay.
I'm looking at your traditional,like this Mayankam.
I see it, the way it'sdisplayed, it kind of looks like
the rice...
paper with
SPEAKER_02 (52:09):
the
SPEAKER_00 (52:10):
spring rolls.
Yeah, it's like a spring roll.
Yeah, it looks really good.
It's
SPEAKER_01 (52:15):
really good.
SPEAKER_00 (52:16):
Tons of little bowls of all this fresh stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (52:19):
Yeah, it's the perfect mix of flavors.
I just can't get enough of it.
SPEAKER_00 (52:24):
Yeah, and you create it yourself.
You just have the
SPEAKER_01 (52:26):
leaf.
Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00 (52:27):
It looks like oil or some sort of thing.
Wrap it and just
SPEAKER_01 (52:31):
eat it.
Sticky sweet sauce, yeah, thatyou pour on top of it after you
put all the you've assembled allthe ingredients on your leaf.
SPEAKER_00 (52:39):
Yeah.
It looks like a flower.
There's a plate with the dippedleaves around.
That's a man that looks good.
That's my
SPEAKER_02 (52:46):
style.
SPEAKER_00 (52:48):
Yeah.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh my gosh.
It's so weird.
Yeah.
Like it's so interesting howlike some countries just have
food that you've never seenbefore.
And just one quick question.
Like if I were to go and havethis or something, I don't have
to worry about like getting sickfrom the food or something like
that.
And it's all pretty healthy.
It's not like Mexico.
SPEAKER_01 (53:07):
I don't think that's the case.
No, I think you probably shouldexpect you're probably going to
get sick the first couple ofdays because that mostly happens
anywhere you go.
Because it's not because of foodpoisoning.
It's just because your body isnot used to the different
bacteria that you're going toyour body when you go to a new
(53:27):
place.
SPEAKER_00 (53:28):
And
SPEAKER_01 (53:28):
I get the same thing when I come back to America.
I get sick.
SPEAKER_00 (53:33):
Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_01 (53:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But the longer you stay, theless of an issue it is, you
know?
SPEAKER_00 (53:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then you just have likePepto-Bismol or whatever it is.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (53:45):
I would recommend, that's what I used to, I
followed the advice of a lot ofother travelers who say to take
Pepto-Bismol prophylactically.
And I find that that worksreally well.
Yeah.
So what you do is you can buythe little tablets or you can
buy the liquid and just drinkthat four or five times a day.
Just do a little like spoonfulevery couple of hours.
(54:06):
It just, your guts lined withthat Pepto-Bismol and it won't
necessarily prevent you fromhaving any problems, but it will
definitely make it a lot lesssevere and a lot less of a...
SPEAKER_00 (54:20):
Wow.
So maybe like bring some of yourown food in the bank and then
just like slowly eat the newfood.
It's not like.
Yeah.
Just bring a big thing.
SPEAKER_01 (54:30):
Yeah, that's what I would recommend.
Just bring a big bottle ofPepto-Bismol.
SPEAKER_00 (54:35):
Go to Costco.
After
SPEAKER_01 (54:37):
about two or three days, you won't notice the
difference yet.
SPEAKER_00 (54:39):
And wasn't there something about, I think the
lady in Vietnam was talkingabout, there's some kind of
pills.
Remember they sounded weird,like ash pills or charcoal.
SPEAKER_01 (54:48):
Yeah, charcoal.
Yeah, that's good if youactually really get legitimately
sick to where you don't reallyhave a bacterial buildup in your
body because that will absorbthe toxins that are being
released by the bacteria andallow them to travel out of your
body quickly.
SPEAKER_00 (55:05):
Okay.
Cool.
All right.
Back to work.
All right.
Sounds good.
It was a pleasure.
Thank you so much, Rick.
It was so helpful.
Absolutely.
Have a great weekend.
Bye.
You too.
Bye.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app?
(55:28):
And if you have a minute, wewould really appreciate a
review.
Following and rating is the bestway to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
Thanks again.
UNKNOWN (55:51):
So,
Hi, welcome to our podcast, Where Next?
Travel with Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen.
And I am Carol.
(00:23):
And we're two long-term friendswith a passion for travel and
adventure.
Each episode, we interviewpeople around the globe to help
us decide where to go next.
In today's episode, once again,we are meeting with Rick, an
American living in Thailand.
Rick shares his tips for slowtravel and provides some
practical gems for longer-termstays.
(00:44):
He'll share why bookingaccommodations for more than two
nights is a rookie mistake inThailand and how to find quality
one-bedroom beachside condosstarting at just$40 to$50 U.S.
per night.
And finally, how Thai peoplethemselves vacation differently
than tourists.
Enjoy.
So welcome back, Rick.
(01:04):
We are so happy to have youtalking about Thailand again.
And really our focus here isgoing to be about, hey, Chris
and I want to go to Thailand forone month or two months.
Where should we go?
And Kristen, I gave Rick alittle background of, and he
kind of knows this, like whatkind of places we might like.
We like outdoorsy stuff, action,not super party scene.
(01:28):
And so for the more maturecrowd, where would be a great
place and what kind of, likewhat's housing like in, you
know, certain towns?
And I think you narrowed it downto a few towns for us, Rick.
So I'm excited to hear aboutthat.
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
Yeah, thanks for having me back.
I'm excited to do this and get alittle bit deeper into exploring
this country and especiallyfocusing on, you know, some
particular cities I think wouldbe fun.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
So I think, you know, one thing, kind of a
criteria is like say a month ormaybe two months, you know, so
maybe stay in two differentplaces, maybe like a month
apart.
Like I've heard a lot aboutChiang Mai, but you said maybe
that's not the best.
Maybe there's something better.
And then Koisumi, I'mslaughtering the name.
What's that place called?
SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
Koisumi.
SPEAKER_00 (02:20):
Like that.
Or is there something like evencooler than that?
You know, internet is importantand safety, of course.
And, you know, ideally proximityto beach and doesn't have to be,
you know, for people.
Thailand standards doesn't needto be super cheap, right?
You know, so we're not going tosee how the cheapest we can get,
but like, Hey, for 50 bucks anight, 80 bucks a night, a
(02:43):
hundred dollars a night.
Like what do I get in thoseareas?
SPEAKER_01 (02:46):
And sure.
Sure.
So, um, yeah.
So let's talk about a couple ofthings we could just get out of
the way.
Right.
Uh, at the beginning would besafety.
I would say with the exceptionof, you know, walking around in
certain places at 3 a.m.
or something like that, prettymuch everywhere in Thailand is
as safe as anywhere else.
(03:08):
So that's really not anythingthat you'd need to worry about.
You can go really anywhere inthe country and you'll have, you
should feel safe anywhere yougo.
SPEAKER_00 (03:20):
Oh, fantastic.
Love
SPEAKER_01 (03:21):
it.
Yeah.
And then in terms of pricing,it's pretty standard across the
country for the most part thatthe price is about the same
almost everywhere you go.
The only real exception would bethe island of Phuket, which is
also a province.
It's a very large island andcity, and the prices there tend
(03:46):
to be quite a bit higher, 20 to30 percent probably.
SPEAKER_00 (03:49):
Why is that?
What's special about Phuket?
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
Well, it's a large island, so it has a lot of
beaches, just dozens and dozensof beaches.
SPEAKER_00 (03:57):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (03:58):
You know, it's a mountainous island, so it has a
lot of views.
And it's just, it's moredeveloped than any of the rest
of the country.
And so the consumer conveniencesare really great there.
And so, you know, there's apremium on real estate.
And I've never been there.
And that's the main reason why Ihaven't been there is because I
(04:20):
just, I'm on a budget and Idon't need to spend 20 to 30
percent more.
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
Do the Thai people go to certain places for
vacation?
SPEAKER_01 (04:29):
Yeah, they tend to not go to the same places that
the foreigners do.
And so most of the time.
When you see a place that hasmostly Thai people, there will
be very few foreigners there.
And a lot of times theinfrastructure is a little bit
(04:49):
different.
Definitely the.
accommodations in therestaurants and things like that
are different.
The types of food and the waythat the food is served and
stuff like that is different.
So that's one of the thingsyou've got to think about in
terms of where you want to be.
Most people who visit Thailandkind of surprisingly, I'll say,
(05:12):
really don't want to eat Thaifood.
Maybe they eat it for a day ortwo and then they're ready to
just move on to something else.
Just like you would in America,you know, where you'd go eat one
particular cuisine one night andyou'd want to eat another
cuisine the next night.
SPEAKER_02 (05:27):
Most people
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
had their fill of Thai food after a day or two.
That's just the reality of it.
That's the reality of being anAmerican and having such vast
food choices.
available to you all the time isthat you wouldn't want to just
eat one style of food.
And the other thing is, youknow, most people are used to
fine dining, you know, and goingout and having really nice meals
(05:51):
and that sort of thing.
And the only place where you canreally do that in Thailand is,
you know, a more upscalerestaurant.
and more the types of restaurantthat your average Thai person
goes to would definitely notqualify as fine dining.
And I'm not saying that it isn'tgood food.
(06:13):
That's usually what I
SPEAKER_00 (06:14):
hear.
Oh, no.
No, I kind of feel like a lot oftimes you go to restaurants,
it's kind of like a hole in thewall, but it's got amazing food.
You know, so it's just like,yeah, not fancy, but sit down,
almost like a Denny's for Thaifood, but like better quality.
SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
That's right.
And so most people who are justhere for a week or two, they're
not here long enough to adapt tothat.
And so they just continue eatinglike they do wherever they're
from.
And they're going out andspending$50 or$100 on a meal or
something like that, you know,or at least, you know,$30 or
something like that on a mealbecause that's just what they're
(06:51):
used to.
That's the budget that they havefor their one or two week
holiday.
And That's what your averageperson does.
You know, they're spending$150or$200 a night for a hotel room
and then going to, you know, therestaurant at the hotel or just
down the street or somethinglike that.
(07:11):
And they're usually not eatingThai food or it's some sort of
Thai fusion food or somethinglike that, you know.
So that may be what you want.
SPEAKER_00 (07:21):
Yeah.
So, but like in the Thai food islike sometimes when we go out
here, we say Thai hot or, youknow, just mild, whatever.
Is it generally really hotunless you ask for it like super
mild?
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
Generally isn't.
And especially if they see thatyou're a foreigner and that
you're not with Thai people orsomething like that, then
they're not going to serve youan especially spicy dish or
anything like that.
You can be sure that no one'sgoing to do that to you.
Because it wouldn't be good forbusiness.
And so you don't have to worryabout that.
(07:56):
If you do want it spicy and yourequest that they make it spicy,
chances are they're barely goingto make it spicy anyway.
So you pretty much have to begthem to make it spicy or speak
in Thai or be with Thai peopleand then you'll just get the
normal
SPEAKER_00 (08:13):
spice.
Oh my gosh, I want to go getThai food right now.
I agree.
What was it like Pad Thai?
But then I was like Pad Thai orthe penang curry, you know,
curry bowl.
But there's also you can justlike get seafood, right?
Is that like a normal Thai meal?
Just seafood with some noodlesor rice on the side?
Is it rice?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
it's a mix.
Yeah, it's a mix.
Rice and noodles.
Most people eat rice every day.
But in restaurants, yes.
I'd say half the dishes probablyon most menus are noodle dishes
and the other half are ricedishes.
And then there's just a lot ofjust grilled things like grilled
seafood and grilled pork andgrilled chicken and things
SPEAKER_00 (08:51):
like that.
Yeah, that sounds pretty good.
Okay, so did you pick out twolocations?
So one maybe more countrysideand one more beachy?
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
Yeah, I actually have quite a few we could just
SPEAKER_00 (09:02):
talk about.
Let's
SPEAKER_01 (09:04):
talk about the pluses and minuses.
So you'd mentioned Chiang Mai,which is in the north.
And that is, I think, the secondor third largest city in the
country.
And it's Definitely unique.
It has this thousand-year-oldmoat around the old city, which
is kind of fun to explore.
(09:24):
And the moat then creates thissquare perimeter around the old
city.
And the inner city of the moatis very walkable.
And it's...
But it's still walkable.
And on Sunday night, especially,there is a night market just
(09:45):
packed with people and vendorsand people selling every style
of Thai food imaginable.
Just so many different styles offood.
It's really a great shoppingopportunity.
And it's so large that you couldjust in that one market see most
everything that's for sale inThailand at that one particular
(10:06):
market.
SPEAKER_00 (10:07):
And how often is that, every week?
SPEAKER_01 (10:08):
Every week, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
And really nice atmosphere, probably about 50-50
foreigner and Thai people.
You know, it caters toforeigners, but it also really
caters to the local crowd aswell.
Thai people do do a lot oftraveling, probably maybe more
than Americans do, I'd say, justto, you know, packing up and
(10:31):
going to somewhere new on theweekend, something like that.
They probably go more than youraverage foreigner does.
And so, you know, that's, it's aculture of going out and touring
and, you know, seeing new placesand eating new things and,
shopping, especially.
So everywhere you go, there'salways going to be a lot of
markets and Chiang Mai's got oneof the better ones.
(10:54):
The rest of the city, though, ispretty urban and it's not
walkable and it's large.
There's some cool mountains andsome temples and things like
that to see.
But you've got to have a car orarrange a guide or something
like that.
It's not walkable.
And you've got to be reallycareful about when you go to
(11:17):
Shanghai because there areseveral months of the year where
there's just a lot of pollutionin the air from burning the rice
fields.
SPEAKER_00 (11:28):
Ah, who would think of that?
Okay.
UNKNOWN (11:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:30):
Yeah, and so that, it just creates a blanket of
smog over the city for severalmonths and really not a time to
visit.
SPEAKER_00 (11:38):
Is that consistent every year, like, you know,
August and September orsomething?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (11:43):
based on the harvest of the rice.
SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (11:45):
okay.
And so you want to stay awayfrom there in the late winter to
early spring months.
Okay.
You know, that would be like,you know, January to November.
April or May or something like
SPEAKER_00 (12:00):
that.
Oh, okay.
All
SPEAKER_01 (12:03):
right.
UNKNOWN (12:03):
And...
SPEAKER_01 (12:04):
Let's see.
Let's talk about some othercities.
You had mentioned Koh Samui.
That is another large island,not as large as Phuket.
And it's really nice and hassome great beaches.
It's a lot more affordable.
It's a little bit more of apremium price than most of the
rest of Thailand.
But I think it's worth it.
(12:25):
To get there, you've got to takea ferry.
And that's about a hour and ahalf or something like that, I
believe it is.
And there's a lot of littlecities and tons of little
beaches in each city.
And so you could easily spend amonth there and just kind of,
you know, hop around from onecity to the next and go visit
(12:45):
just dozens and dozens ofbeaches.
SPEAKER_00 (12:48):
And how hot is that place?
SPEAKER_01 (12:49):
Depending on the time of year, you're probably
not going to see days over 95too much.
There are times of the yearwhere it does get that hot, but
most of the time it's going tobe more like upper 90s.
The better time of the yearmight be upper 80s.
So you want to kind of keep thatin mind.
In terms of when to come, thingsare very seasonal in terms of
(13:14):
there are only a few monthswhere you don't have a lot of
rain.
So for most of the country,between November and April to
May, it's not raining very much.
And it's usually clear skies andwarmer.
(13:35):
And it doesn't really start towarm up too much until about
February, though.
So the coolest months of theyear are November, December, and
January, which are the highseason.
So again, it's clear skies, it'scooler weather, and there's no
rain.
SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (13:53):
okay.
But then the...
The seasonality also depends onwhere you are in the country.
So if you choose not to goduring that ideal high season
period, then you'll want toreally take careful note of
where you're going and when.
Because there are certain placesthat will be windy and choppy
(14:16):
water, and sometimes you won'teven be able to get to where
you're trying to go on a boatbecause the boats will be
grounded.
SPEAKER_00 (14:24):
So say Khoi Samui, what's the place?
So you're thinking go November,December, January is
SPEAKER_01 (14:30):
best.
It's not the ideal time to gothere.
I can't remember exactly what itis, but the season is not
exactly the rest of Thailand.
I'd have to look it up.
Oh,
SPEAKER_02 (14:40):
okay.
SPEAKER_01 (14:41):
The country is so large that these aren't
geographically specific to thoseareas, and I don't have it
memorized.
SPEAKER_00 (14:48):
Oh, sure.
Okay, cool.
That sounds good.
amazing that it's an option.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (14:53):
usually most of the time of year there's a certain
place you could go and havegreat weather.
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Oh, okay.
So maybe if we're not tooparticular about where to go,
just kind of figure out when wewant to go and then that'll help
us decide where to go and maybebe a little flexible.
So when you try to booksomething like for a month, like
how do you do that?
You know, I assume like Airbnbwould be expensive.
Is there like local ways to findplaces?
UNKNOWN (15:19):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (15:19):
Yeah.
So let's talk about that.
In terms of pricing, first ofall, I would never recommend
anybody book a place for amonth.
And the reason for that is youmay get there on the first
night, you absolutely hate it.
You're not going to get arefund.
SPEAKER_00 (15:31):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
It's just most places are not going to refund
you.
SPEAKER_00 (15:35):
And
SPEAKER_01 (15:35):
if they do, they're going to take a big chunk of it
and it's going to be a bigheadache and it's going to be
something you don't want to dealwith.
I would recommend it.
But for people who are only herefor a week or two, it's you
know, kind of they feel it's anecessity.
You know, they've chosen theirplace and they don't want to
have to deal with checking inand checking out and that sort
of thing.
So that's what most people do.
(15:56):
But if you're coming here for alonger trip, I would highly
recommend you just book for anight or two and probably two
nights when you first arrivejust so that, you know, you at
least have a little time tosettle in and decide what you're
trying to do.
But I would never book more thana couple of days.
SPEAKER_00 (16:13):
And then, Rick, would you do that before you get
there or?
SPEAKER_01 (16:16):
No matter how bad it is, most people are just going
to choose to sleep, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (16:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
Because the flight is so long and you're just going
to be wrecked, you know, thefirst day or two.
So, you know, just plan to besomewhere and don't worry about
trying to change it up if youdon't like it.
But after two days or so, youknow, if you really don't like
it, you've got the option to getout.
And the thing is, there's somany hotels and condos and all
(16:43):
those things that there's noreal reason that you need to
book in advance for most
SPEAKER_00 (16:49):
places.
There's no risk of like, oh no,we're stuck at$300 a night now
or something.
I
SPEAKER_01 (16:55):
mean, if you're doing a honeymoon or something
like that, obviously that wouldbe an exception.
Or, you know, a really large orsomething.
Let's talk about then thedifferent types of
accommodations.
Yeah.
So, one thing to consider too interms of pricing is you've got a
couple of different options.
You either pay by the night oryou pay by the month or you, for
(17:16):
a long-term stay, you'd actuallysign a contract.
About the shortest contractyou're going to see here would
be six months.
Okay.
People are signing for 12 monthsand so when you sign a contract
12-month contract, you canexpect probably about 50%
discount from what you'd pay ata daily rate.
(17:37):
And then if you're doing amonthly rate, like through an
Airbnb or something like that,you're probably only going to
get about a 30% discount.
SPEAKER_02 (17:47):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (17:48):
really barely worth it, I would say.
And then comparing a daily rateto a weekly rate is usually
about 15%.
So again, barely worth it.
Better off really just paying bythe night.
And when you find a place youlike, stay there.
And when you get tired of it,you get bored with it, or you
(18:08):
come up with a better idea, Gosomewhere new.
Same thing.
Look for a couple of nights soyou can just settle in.
And then, you know, if you likeit, stay a few more days.
And you may find, too, as you'reout exploring and walking the
beaches and walking the market,you'll stumble on a better
property.
And you'll be like, why didn'twe choose this place?
You know, this looks nice.
SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:29):
And then, oh, let's move in here.
And it's, and it's not, not onlythat, but it's very satisfying,
you know, to know that you havethe freedom to do that.
Yeah.
So we run into a better place.
You can just be like, okay,well, we've only got two more
nights at this other place andnext we'll go here.
SPEAKER_00 (18:45):
Yeah.
And so
SPEAKER_01 (18:46):
it's fun to just explore and be free like that, I
think.
SPEAKER_00 (18:50):
Yeah.
And I think you told me one, Idon't know if it was you or one
of our guests, that you justnever know because it's not
like, oh, this is like Hiltonstandards or whatever.
It's like, It could totallysmell like pee, I think, or
smell like smoke.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (19:03):
that's right.
Unless you're at that pricepoint where, you know, your
satisfaction is guaranteed,which, you know, is a couple
hundred dollars a night, prettymuch.
You gamble always.
SPEAKER_00 (19:17):
Okay.
Oh, yeah.
And then so places like thisnightly, what would it be like?
50 bucks a night?
40 bucks a night?
80 bucks a night?
SPEAKER_01 (19:25):
What places?
SPEAKER_00 (19:26):
Yeah, like for, like, so say, I don't know, it's
Koisamui or maybe not Koisamui,some are a little bit more
reasonable.
Like, what would an averageprice per night be for, oh, I
guess it depends if we'retalking, can you get a
two-bedroom by the night?
SPEAKER_01 (19:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (19:40):
Or just hotel rooms?
SPEAKER_01 (19:41):
You get pretty much anything you want, yeah.
You can get anything you want bythe night.
So let's just talk about thetypes of accommodation.
So there are hotels.
A budget hotel is just going tobe like what you'd see at like
a, You know, motel, what is itcalled?
Motel 6?
Motel 6, yeah.
Yeah, something like that, youknow, like a Ramada Inn or
(20:02):
something, you know, where it'sjust a room with no view, you
know.
Yeah.
And then you might have a stepup from that would be like the
deluxe room, you know, whereeverything looks nice and it's a
large bed and maybe you've got abalcony or something like that.
And then you'd have more of likea studio apartment.
with a small kitchen, whichusually is just a sink and a
(20:23):
large full size, nearly fullsize refrigerator and, you know,
maybe a rice cooker or somethinglike that.
Okay.
And then up from that would belike a kitchenette, you know,
where you've got more of a fullsize kitchen and more of a
living room area and probably aseparate bedroom.
(20:44):
And then from that would bemaybe an apartment with two
bedrooms Oh, okay.
(21:07):
better appliances and all ofthat, and just more of a modern
experience and usually comeswith a gym and a pool and, you
know, views and a security guardand gated community and that
sort of thing.
And then the next step up fromthat would be what's called a
pool villa, which is astandalone small house that
(21:30):
usually has a private pool builtinto it.
And it's, At that level, I'd saypretty much anybody's going to
be pretty happy with that.
And you can actually do thatpretty reasonably.
We just stayed in Patiaf acouple of nights ago for two
nights.
And we stayed in a 3,000 baht anight, which is about$100.
(21:53):
And it was four bedrooms and abig full-size kitchen and a pool
and just really nice.
SPEAKER_00 (22:02):
Four bedrooms?
UNKNOWN (22:03):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (22:03):
Four bedrooms, yeah.
Would have been at least$300 or$400, pretty much anywhere.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
And was this a pretty decent, like, I don't
recognize this location you'retalking about, but is it kind of
a nice tourist location?
Like, by water or anything?
SPEAKER_01 (22:16):
Yeah, it was on a lake.
It was a lake view.
That's actually the name of theproperty.
But, yeah, you know, it wasdefinitely not a glitzy
neighborhood or anything
SPEAKER_02 (22:27):
like
SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
that.
You probably have to pay two orthree times that to have a
really glitzy community clubtype of environment, which was
actually just right down theroad.
In terms of your expectations,everybody thinking about coming
to Thailand needs to understandthat it's a developing country
(22:49):
and there's not very many golfclub communities and things like
that.
They are here, but certainly thevast majority of the
accommodations are nothing likethat.
You know, it really, it catersto people who are on a budget.
So if you're not looking for abudget location, go to France or
(23:09):
somewhere like that.
Won't come to Thailand.
SPEAKER_00 (23:12):
Right.
Gotcha.
All right.
So how about, so in Koh Samui,a, like a one bedroom condo,
like what do you think?
Ballpark?
SPEAKER_01 (23:25):
Bedroom condo, I would say would start around,
I'm trying to convert this intoU.S.
$40 or$50 a night or somethinglike
SPEAKER_00 (23:37):
that.
Oh, okay.
That's
SPEAKER_01 (23:39):
crazy cheap.
Yeah, nice quality, decentquality.
SPEAKER_00 (23:43):
Okay.
Okay, and that's like a beachcommunity?
That's insane.
Wow.
Okay, yeah.
That's worth...
having the flexibility to standby the night for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (23:55):
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
You know, I would recommend youjust shop on one particular app.
I never use anything else.
It's called Agoda.
Agoda, A-G-O-D-A.
It's the best app for SoutheastAsia.
You get the best discounts andit's got pretty much every
property listed there.
You can get a lot of deals, 20or 30% off pretty regularly.
(24:19):
They discount everything.
properties all the time onthere.
They select a group ofproperties and discount them
every day and it changes.
And so you can just look atreally nice places for a lot
less than the normal price ifyou shop
SPEAKER_00 (24:34):
around.
And when you do it like that, doyou like just you pay for it
right there?
I've seen a lot of hotels nowlike you prepay.
I'm like, I want to prepay so Imake a reservation.
SPEAKER_01 (24:42):
Yeah, normally what you can do is you can actually
just reserve it with a creditcard and then you'll have up to
about 48 hours before thereservation.
SPEAKER_00 (24:52):
Oh, okay.
Okay, so the same here.
Okay, so it's a little cheaperif you prepay just because they
guaranteed the money.
SPEAKER_01 (24:58):
Yeah, you do get a little bit of a discount if you
prepay usually, not always, butyou can be pretty safe.
I actually do reserve a lot ofplaces in advance like that with
keeping in mind that I'll cancelat the last minute if I need to.
So I do recommend that becauseyou know, the better places go
(25:19):
quickly.
And so you do want to keep thatin mind.
You know, if you wind up with,you're booking somewhere and you
don't like it and you need tochange at the last minute,
chances are the best places arenot going to be available the
last minute.
SPEAKER_00 (25:35):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (25:36):
The other thing that we didn't talk about were our
houses for rent.
SPEAKER_00 (25:40):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (25:41):
Definitely another, you know, thing.
I don't know much about that.
I've never rented a house.
But again, it's just going to beup a little bit from that price
point.
You're probably going to belooking at, I'd say, at least
$7,500 or$100 a night.
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (25:55):
But the quality is going to be a lot better, and
it's going to be more of a housewith a full kitchen and that
sort of thing.
One thing to keep in mind, too,most Thai people don't do a lot
of cooking at home.
SPEAKER_02 (26:06):
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (26:06):
really?
Because food is so cheap andplentiful here.
And because the food is, youknow, considered pretty high
quality by Thai people thatpeople don't really see the need
to have to cook at home and dealwith cleaning and all that.
When you live on your side, youdo.
(26:26):
But most people who live in acity, they prefer to just eat
out all the time.
And so kitchens usually aren'tlike the full kitchen like you
have in the U.S.
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (26:35):
Like
SPEAKER_01 (26:35):
ever an oven or anything like that.
And the food preparation area isusually a whole lot smaller.
SPEAKER_00 (26:42):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I think it's more likejust, yeah, like sandwiches and,
you know, just enough to havelike lunch and then go out for
dinner.
But,
SPEAKER_01 (26:48):
you know.
There's really no point in it,you know, unless you really.
SPEAKER_00 (26:51):
But just more speed and you care
SPEAKER_01 (26:54):
about what you eat.
Well, the thing is, is that foodis so much more convenient in
Thailand than it is in America.
Oh, okay.
It's just so much more easy toget what you want quickly
anywhere you are because there'sjust so many more choices.
SPEAKER_00 (27:08):
Okay, so for the gluten-free people out there, I
know Thai food is typicallypretty gluten-free.
Do you think they care aboutthat or like, no, it's not going
to be a thing?
It's usually in the soy saucethat it's the problem.
I
SPEAKER_01 (27:24):
don't really know the answer to that question.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (27:28):
I mean,
SPEAKER_01 (27:28):
I know that some people are gluten intolerant
here and it's, yeah, I'm notthat familiar with how you
SPEAKER_00 (27:35):
go about avoiding a
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
new diet.
SPEAKER_00 (27:37):
Yeah, all right.
Okay.
And so what other...
Okay, so we understand all thehousing options.
What are some other goodlocations for professionals,
good internet?
SPEAKER_01 (27:48):
Oh, yeah.
So in terms of internet,anywhere you go, you're going to
have great internet, almostwithout exception.
There's a few places you couldgo, some remote islands and
things we've been to a fewtimes, national parks, where the
internet is pretty poor.
But...
I'd say 99.
What's
SPEAKER_00 (28:06):
your favorite island?
Sorry, I was thinking.
Oh, I'm just more intrigued.
What were the islands you wentto?
Maybe not necessarily that youhave Wi-Fi, but that you're all
the way in Thailand and youshould come and visit.
SPEAKER_01 (28:19):
Oh, goodness.
We've been to so many islands.
It's hard to pick one or twothat are the best.
You know, it just depends onwhat it is that you like.
You know, is it beautifulbeaches or is it more of the
relaxed beaches?
you know, vibe of nothing there,just being like on a secluded
beach?
Or do you want to have nicerestaurants and, you know,
(28:42):
dining at night?
Or are you trying to go tosomeplace with, you know, a
little bit of a party scene inthe evenings?
Or, you know, do you want toreally have all the consumer
conveniences where you goshopping and, you know, find
salami and cheese and whateverit is that you have a craving
for that night?
SPEAKER_00 (29:01):
Well, with the like first two, maybe like something
that Carol and I would like,like maybe hikes or outdoors or
hanging out on the beach orsomething with activities.
SPEAKER_02 (29:10):
that
SPEAKER_00 (29:12):
you would suggest?
And maybe there's so many, butmaybe just two that come to mind
or something.
SPEAKER_01 (29:17):
Well, I would say, Kristen, given that I understand
your lifestyle so well fromhaving edited podcasts for years
now, I would say Phuket isreally the place for you because
I know that you really likeactivities and outdoors.
doing things.
And that's really the place thatcaters to that.
Yeah.
I don't anywhere else even comesclose to that in terms of the
(29:42):
number, sheer number ofdifferent activities that are
available there.
SPEAKER_00 (29:47):
So Phuket it is.
SPEAKER_01 (29:48):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Phuket it is for you.
I would say the first timecoming, that would be the way to
go.
Just stay there.
It's got everything you wouldwant.
It absolutely has everything youwould want.
SPEAKER_00 (29:59):
Well, my kids are great.
SPEAKER_01 (30:00):
I don't have anything to ask about it.
SPEAKER_00 (30:02):
Okay, because I'm thinking, I don't know if United
Airlines goes there, but we'llhave to look because my brother
flies there and I'm trying totake my son for a senior trip.
Oh, yeah.
We were thinking Whistler, butnow I'm like, hmm.
Yeah, right.
And so right near Phuket, thereseems to be like just hundreds
of islands like in this likekind of bay are a lot of those
(30:23):
places people visit or a lot ofthem just
SPEAKER_01 (30:26):
uh yeah in terms of hundreds no um i don't really
know if there's that many maybethere are but if there are
they're just rocks i'd say
SPEAKER_00 (30:34):
oh okay i just see like coconut island is the only
one i'm really seeing yeah yeahi'd say it's in
SPEAKER_01 (30:40):
the many dozens of islands probably in those areas
um and most of those yeah theyyou know they have people living
on them but There's probably afew dozen that are regularly
visited.
Now, all of those have like, youknow, nice snorkeling spots and
that.
So they do cater to people whoare looking for unique diving
(31:02):
experiences and snorkeling orjust.
boat trips.
You know, if that is exciting,again, Phuket and that area is
probably about as good as itgets, especially for like a
family vacation and not just aspecific snorkeling or diving
location.
SPEAKER_00 (31:23):
Oh my gosh.
Wow.
I'm just, I just felt liketight.
It's like Tucson Beach Resortand an island just off of
Phuket.
Just like, So cool.
Just like a wooden hut and justyour own personal pool and lots
of nice stuff down there.
SPEAKER_01 (31:41):
Yeah, that would be a good place to focus.
And, you know, one of the thingsa lot of people don't give
enough thought to is that thecountry is pretty large.
And so if you think you're goingto go and see, you know, four or
five places in a month, you maybe really challenged to pull
that off.
Some people try and do.
10 places in a week, you know,and that's just ridiculous.
You have no time to do anythingbecause you're stuck in a van or
(32:04):
something like
SPEAKER_00 (32:05):
that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:05):
Great thing about Phuket is it actually has an
international airport.
And so if you want to pay thecost of that, you can just fly
right in there and skip Bangkokand just fly in from, you know,
one of the hubs like Singaporeor from Japan and fly right into
Phuket.
And then you're already there,you know,
SPEAKER_00 (32:25):
And I would assume, do ads different speak English
there in
SPEAKER_01 (32:29):
Phuket?
Anywhere you're going to go,people are going to speak
English, yeah.
Okay.
I'm not going to run intoanybody who doesn't speak
English, I'd say, on the firsttrip.
SPEAKER_00 (32:38):
Okay.
All right.
What about countryside?
Do you say there's some in themountains that's maybe cooler,
that's not Chiang Mai aspopular?
Chiang Rai, maybe it was?
SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
Yeah, Chiang Rai is an hour north of Chiang Rai.
But again, I wouldn't recommendit for a first-timer, probably,
unless you just really know thatthat's what you're trying to do.
You're just really dead set ongetting away from the tourists.
Chiang Rai isn't the place to godo that, though.
(33:11):
But there are places up near theLao border, for instance, where
you can get accommodation righton the Mekong with these
beautiful views of the river.
And it's much more serene andtranquil and not the hustle and
(33:32):
bustle of the big cities.
SPEAKER_00 (33:34):
Okay, gotcha.
SPEAKER_01 (33:36):
Now let's talk about some of my favorite places, if
you
SPEAKER_00 (33:38):
want.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (33:39):
gotcha.
These are the places I wouldrecommend if this appeals to
you.
Anyway, this is what appeals tome, I guess I should say.
One of them is a province calledPachua, Curacan.
P-R-A-C-H-U-A-P.
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (33:58):
Curacan?
Okay, yeah, it came up.
SPEAKER_01 (34:01):
This is a province in the southern part of Thailand
that there's only one city herethat gets a lot of tourists, and
that one is called Hoa Hin.
And that is very popular withretirees and also families who
come for long stays.
Oh, okay.
There's a lot of hotels tochoose from.
(34:25):
Everything is very reasonablypriced.
There's a lot of Ah, okay.
Ah, okay.
SPEAKER_00 (34:51):
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (34:51):
And it's really nice.
It's really beautiful.
It looks beautiful.
For me, it's too touristedbecause I've been here so long.
That's just too touristed forme.
So there's another city about anhour south of there, which is
actually the capital city of theprovince by the same name,
Ortuap, Currican.
(35:12):
And that is...
the name of the city.
Okay.
In the province of Pachuca.
SPEAKER_00 (35:18):
I
SPEAKER_01 (35:19):
see.
You might look up and you cansee the main beach if you'll
search.
A-O-M-A-N-A-O.
I
SPEAKER_00 (35:28):
see it.
Oh, I see it.
SPEAKER_01 (35:32):
Yeah, so this is the bay, Almanau.
Oh, yeah.
The city there is Pachuca.
Okay.
the capital city of theprovince.
And it is just a fantastic city.
It's a pretty good-sized city,about the size of Boulder or
something like that.
And it's got two huge bays.
(35:52):
This one you're looking at righthere is the South Bay, and then
there's also a North Bay.
If you look at enough pictures,you'll see them.
SPEAKER_00 (36:01):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (36:02):
So you've got this good-sized city, which has got
everything you'd need, andyou've got these two absolutely
beautiful, breathtakinglybeautiful beaches, both on the
north and the south side.
So plenty to do.
And there's very few foreigners.
SPEAKER_00 (36:19):
Oh, I'm sold on that.
It's
SPEAKER_01 (36:21):
really not over-touristed at all.
SPEAKER_00 (36:24):
And would you fly into Bangkok
SPEAKER_01 (36:25):
then?
Yeah, you could fly into, yeah,that would be the thing, fly
into Bangkok, and then you'dprobably just take like an Uber
ride.
down to Betulkir.
SPEAKER_00 (36:37):
How long?
Is that like an hour drive?
It looks pretty far.
SPEAKER_01 (36:40):
It's about five hours, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:42):
Five hours in an Uber?
SPEAKER_01 (36:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:45):
Or the Gram, whatever.
How much does that cost?
SPEAKER_01 (36:49):
It wouldn't be too much, yeah.
It wouldn't be too much.
Probably wouldn't do it all atone trip, you know.
You could go in and stay therefor a couple nights and then do
another trip and go down toAmunet.
SPEAKER_00 (37:01):
Oh, okay.
And it looks like there's anational park.
Have you been there?
SPEAKER_01 (37:06):
Yes, yes.
And then if you really want toget away from it all, you
actually go to Batua Thai, whichis south Batua.
And there you have all thesejust dozens and dozens of small
beaches and small beach towns.
And almost everyone is justabsolutely picture perfect it's
(37:28):
so pretty with islands off thecoast and very little
development and most of thehotels are just you know their
budget they're like you know$20a night$30 a night and they've
got a swimming pool and they'reclean and they're well kept and
the beaches are clean andeverybody's so friendly and
(37:49):
there's almost no foreigners andthe food is great and That's
where we tend to go.
Ah,
SPEAKER_00 (37:56):
Pachuap and then S-A-I?
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (37:59):
Pachuap.
Oh, I was talking Thai, which issouth.
Oh, got
SPEAKER_00 (38:05):
it.
How would I find it on the map?
SPEAKER_01 (38:07):
Okay, so if you look up Pachuap Currican, right, and
then go to Google Maps, and thatshould probably pull you right
into the city of Pachuap.
And then you'll see that it's aprovince that it's just, I think
maybe hundreds and hundreds ofkilometers of beaches.
SPEAKER_00 (38:30):
Okay.
So I think maybe like start atthe place that you feel is too
touristy and then just kind ofgo down the coast.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (38:39):
That might well be worth it.
I wouldn't say that would beyour style though, Kristen.
Yeah.
I think you'd have more fun,especially if you brought the
kids to just go to Phuketbecause you're going to have a
zip lining and snorkeling andthe elephant sanctuary.
And, you know, I could justrattle them off water parks and
all of these different things.
There's just so dozens anddozens and dozens and dozens of
(39:01):
things that you could go do.
Um, but I think Carol, for you,I think if you, if you feel like
you want to go do like the beachbum thing, you know, and just
really get to see Thailand, um,that would be pretty fun.
And you probably, you're goingto have to do something about
transportation.
SPEAKER_02 (39:20):
One
SPEAKER_01 (39:21):
thing you could do, though, is there's a train that
runs the entire length of thatcoast.
And every few dozen kilometers,there's a train station.
And then you can get a localtaxi to your hotel.
And that's always going to beavailable and easy and not
(39:44):
anything that's going to bedifficult to navigate.
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (39:47):
yeah.
And then you can get the waterlooks very calm for like.
Like paddle boarding and thingslike that?
SPEAKER_01 (39:52):
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, yeah.
There's not really too manyplaces with big surf or anything
like that
SPEAKER_00 (39:57):
in Kona.
And then how far is that fromyour main location where you
stay?
We're
SPEAKER_01 (40:03):
not nomads at the moment.
We're just...
SPEAKER_00 (40:05):
Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01 (40:06):
We were renting a condo for a year and let that
go.
Oh,
SPEAKER_00 (40:11):
so where are you right now?
SPEAKER_01 (40:12):
Onken.
SPEAKER_00 (40:14):
How do you say...
K-O-H?
SPEAKER_01 (40:17):
Onken.
K-H-O-N...
And the second word is K-A-E-N.
SPEAKER_00 (40:23):
Okay.
All these words don't exactlyseem to be going
SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
can.
It's the largest city in thecountry.
SPEAKER_00 (40:28):
Oh, really?
Oh, okay.
Very cool.
SPEAKER_01 (40:33):
Very well developed.
But without a lot of trafficor...
Yeah, it's really nice.
It's probably the best placefor...
Consumer conveniences, I'd say.
There's a huge German populationand Swiss population, so the
grocery stores have all theforeign foods you might be
craving that you can't find in alot of places.
SPEAKER_00 (40:55):
Ah, interesting.
I
SPEAKER_01 (40:56):
like that.
SPEAKER_00 (40:57):
I see a big lake.
SPEAKER_01 (40:59):
Yeah, we actually just bought a little electric
scooter about a month ago, andwe've had a lot of fun cruising
around this lake on our littlescooter bike.
SPEAKER_00 (41:11):
Food bowl.
Ubo Ratana?
SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
Yeah, it's a public park and it has this little
pathway where you can goexercise and walk.
SPEAKER_00 (41:20):
There's an airport there too.
SPEAKER_01 (41:23):
Yeah, there is.
That's right.
Comcan is unique in that it'sbig enough to actually have an
airport.
We've actually flown in here acouple of times, which is nice.
SPEAKER_00 (41:33):
Well, we are getting close to our time here.
Is there anything else that youwere like, I really need to tell
you?
I'll do some rapid firequestions for you.
SPEAKER_01 (41:41):
Yeah, let me check my notes
SPEAKER_00 (41:43):
here.
I also wondered, food.
I can't remember.
I know I could listen to thefirst, but traditional meals and
foods that you like.
Sure.
Okay, here's
SPEAKER_01 (41:54):
another place I would consider.
If you want a very authenticplace to go, Shantambuli would
be highly recommended.
This is the fruit capital ofThailand.
SPEAKER_00 (42:08):
Okay, how do you spell it?
Shantambuli?
SPEAKER_01 (42:10):
Chantambuli.
C-H-A-N.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
C-H-A-N.
SPEAKER_01 (42:15):
C-H-A-B-U-R-I.
I
SPEAKER_00 (42:18):
like it.
It looks like Discovery Day,like where all the houses are in
the water.
SPEAKER_01 (42:23):
So this is the fruit capital of Thailand.
It's got tons of orchards, andit's on the ocean.
It's a province, and there are alot of beaches there, and
there's pretty close to zeroforeigners.
It's more of an upscale type ofplace for Thai people to go
(42:44):
vacation.
And so there's orchard tours andlike fruit sampling tours.
Thailand is the capital of thedurian fruit growing.
And durian is a very expensivefruit.
Some sell for like$30,000 afruit.
Yeah.
And it's extremely expensive,certain ones.
(43:07):
So you can go on these like, youknow, tasting tours and the
orchards and try all of thesedifferent tropical fruits.
And it's an absolutely gorgeousplace.
It's very lush with just tons offruit orchards and mountains and
rains every day and...
Definitely not for everybody,but if that's appealing.
(43:30):
And then about an hour away fromthere is Koh Chang, which is an
islet.
And it's got all these littletiny beaches and coves.
And it's not very welldeveloped, but there are some
really nice options in bothbudget and in luxury
accommodation there.
(43:50):
Is
SPEAKER_00 (43:51):
that the ko-chong with a G at the end?
SPEAKER_01 (43:54):
Yes, it's A-N-G.
SPEAKER_00 (43:55):
And
SPEAKER_01 (43:56):
there's really no mass tourism there, but there
are some very nice restaurantsand some really just beautiful
accommodations and stuff of allprice ranges.
That, if you're looking for anauthentic Thai experience, I
would highly recommend.
And then I'll tell you anotherone to look up real quick if you
(44:17):
want.
And that is Koh Larn.
K-O-H-L-A-R-N.
This one is just off the coastof Pattaya and is stunningly
beautiful.
And it's only a 20 minute ferryride from Pattaya.
It's not expensive.
(44:37):
The beaches are just,Breathtakingly beautiful with
white sand and clear, calmwater.
And it's really, really nice.
SPEAKER_02 (44:48):
It's beautiful.
It's
SPEAKER_01 (44:49):
not overdeveloped.
And it's really easy to get to.
You can get there about two anda half hours from Bangkok.
SPEAKER_00 (44:56):
Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01 (44:56):
There's really not that many people going to it.
And then another one, I'll tellyou my favorite beach in the
country, if you're going to lookthat one up.
And that is called Sam...
And then the second word isR-O-I.
And then the last word is Y-O-D.
And this is, we keep coming backhere.
(45:18):
We've come back here more timesthan anything else.
SPEAKER_00 (45:21):
Well, that's actually not too far from the
other, the first place you weretelling us about.
Yeah, that's right.
It's along the peninsula.
SPEAKER_01 (45:26):
That's right.
This is in the province ofCachua.
SPEAKER_02 (45:30):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (45:32):
But it's like, I would say, the most exceptional
of the beaches.
And the town there is justextremely picturesque because
there's all this karstgeography, which are those tall,
jagged, rocky outcrops.
In all 360-degree views of allsides, you see these big, rocky
(45:58):
outcrops.
SPEAKER_00 (45:59):
So, okay, now it's time for the rapid-fire
questions.
Okay, what do you have forbreakfast every morning, or do
you eat breakfast?
SPEAKER_01 (46:06):
I do.
Yeah, I kind of change it up.
I often eat yogurt or cereal.
SPEAKER_00 (46:13):
And do you have coffee or tea?
I drink both.
Oh, okay.
What's more popular there?
SPEAKER_01 (46:19):
Um...
Both are popular, althoughthere's almost no tea culture
here.
Everybody just drinks Thai tea.
I'm sure you're familiar with
SPEAKER_00 (46:28):
Thai tea.
Oh, sure.
Yeah, with the milk.
SPEAKER_01 (46:30):
But it's very difficult to find any Chinese or
Indian teas, although they areavailable.
That's interesting.
And for about a tenth of thecost that you'd pay in America.
SPEAKER_00 (46:41):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (46:43):
To go to Chinatown in Bangkok to buy it.
SPEAKER_00 (46:45):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I remember you brought mesome tea back once.
SPEAKER_01 (46:48):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (46:48):
Yeah, that was so good.
All right, and then the moneyis, is it the bot?
Okay, and again, we talked aboutthis before, but should we bring
cash or just everything, justcredit card with no foreign
exchange fees, of course?
SPEAKER_01 (47:05):
Yeah, get a credit card that doesn't have foreign
exchange fees.
I mean, you should really justdo that now.
Don't even think about it.
Get the Charles Schwab debitcard.
Refund all your ATM feesanywhere in the world.
You'll never have to pay andyou'll never have to worry about
it.
Load the cash onto your debitcard.
Then you can just pull that out.
And if you ever lose that card,they can replace it anywhere in
(47:28):
the world in like 24 hours.
SPEAKER_00 (47:29):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
I'm writing it down.
Debit card, you said?
SPEAKER_01 (47:34):
Yeah.
I actually lost my card one timewhile we were traveling.
We were in between hotel roomsand I ordered it.
Didn't even have a place for itto like land.
And just ordered it to go to mynext hotel.
I picked it where we thoughtwe'd be in a couple days, and it
arrived at the same time we did,in less than 48 hours.
SPEAKER_00 (47:56):
What about when you're going to that market up
in Chiang Mai, for example?
I'm sure there's other markets.
Do those places still takecredit cards?
SPEAKER_01 (48:05):
No.
Yeah, Thai people are able toscan everything and just pay
with their phones.
But as a foreigner, you can'tget an account to do that.
So you'll need cash.
SPEAKER_00 (48:15):
Okay, got it.
Is it better to exchange whenyou get there, like on the
street or at the bank?
Where do you change your jacket?
Just
SPEAKER_01 (48:21):
get it from ATM, anywhere you go.
Oh, just
SPEAKER_00 (48:24):
get the ATM.
SPEAKER_01 (48:25):
Yeah.
If you get one of these, like acharge swab, you'll never have
to worry about the cost.
Otherwise, it's going to costyou about$8 every time you take
money.
SPEAKER_00 (48:33):
Yeah, I did, unfortunately, that in Bali.
I went to Korea, but Bali wasreally expensive.
So I am going to get the CharlesSchwab debit card.
They should pay you for that.
SPEAKER_01 (48:48):
Fidelity has one, too.
If you happen to have a Fidelityaccount, you can get a Fidelity
debit card that does the samething.
SPEAKER_00 (48:53):
Oh, you know, I do have a Fidelity account.
So Fidelity does the same thingas the Charles Schwab one?
SPEAKER_01 (49:00):
Yeah, I think it's only the debit card.
SPEAKER_00 (49:02):
That's fine.
I will get that.
That sounds perfect.
Okay.
And what's your favorite mealwhen you go out?
You're like, oh, I want to getthis for dinner.
Or lunch, I guess.
Do you still like it?
I remember when we used to go toThai restaurants, do you like
that Penang chicken orsomething?
SPEAKER_01 (49:21):
Yeah, that's what mom cooks for me every day.
So I'm kind of, I don't know.
I love it, but at the same time,it's not, I don't, it's my
favorite food, but it's, It'snot what I would probably order
when I go out to a restaurantsince it makes
SPEAKER_02 (49:36):
it
SPEAKER_01 (49:36):
perfectly fun every day.
But I think the favorite thing Ilike is actually a snack.
It's called Miancom.
And it's this strange leaf.
It's this big green leaf.
And it's in a plastic bag.
It comes in a plastic bag.
And you open this leaf up andthen you pour in dried garlic,
(49:57):
dried shrimp, this sticky sweetsauce.
with some Thai peppers and limesand some other things that are
all just like chopped up inthese little bags.
There's like six little bags andyou just like very delicately
put it inside of this leaf androll it up and it's the most
delicious thing ever.
(50:18):
But you can't find it all thetime and it's just hit or miss.
And often when you do see it,they'll only have one or two in
stock.
And I don't know, I'm kind ofobsessed with it and every time
we see it, I buy it.
SPEAKER_00 (50:31):
M-I-A-N-G and then K-A-M.
Is that what this is?
Mine comes with dried shrimp.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (50:38):
that's it.
It's delicious.
I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_00 (50:43):
Very interesting.
Okay, great.
Okay.
And then we'll just go, where'sthe closest place to surf?
I know these are not much.
I think Phuket.
I think Phuket is
SPEAKER_02 (50:53):
probably where you're going to
SPEAKER_00 (50:54):
be for that, yeah.
UNKNOWN (50:54):
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (50:55):
is you want to be on the Andaman Coast, which is the
Pacific Coast, becauseeverywhere else in Thailand is
in the Gulf of Thailand.
And so that's a big, huge bay,and it's not the ocean, you know
what
SPEAKER_00 (51:10):
I mean?
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (51:11):
It's on the Pacific side of the ocean.
That's where the waves are.
Got
SPEAKER_00 (51:15):
it.
Great.
And then I see Myanmar is likeso close.
Do you ever go to Myanmar?
Not really.
Is it just.
SPEAKER_01 (51:24):
Right now you can't really go there.
They're in the middle of a 40year civil war and wouldn't go
there.
You can if you really want to,but mostly if people go there,
you can fly into the capitalcity and it's, you know, It's
totally calm.
It's not a war or anything inthe capital city.
And you can also go into theborder towns, but typically you
(51:46):
only get a pass for like a day.
You can't go anywhere except onetown.
You need to come back out thenext day.
Or that day, actually.
SPEAKER_00 (51:53):
Wow.
I never thought it was so closeto India.
SPEAKER_01 (51:55):
Yeah, it's not too far away.
UNKNOWN (51:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (51:59):
Okay.
I'm looking at your traditional,like this Mayankam.
I see it, the way it'sdisplayed, it kind of looks like
the rice...
paper with
SPEAKER_02 (52:09):
the
SPEAKER_00 (52:10):
spring rolls.
Yeah, it's like a spring roll.
Yeah, it looks really good.
It's
SPEAKER_01 (52:15):
really good.
SPEAKER_00 (52:16):
Tons of little bowls of all this fresh stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (52:19):
Yeah, it's the perfect mix of flavors.
I just can't get enough of it.
SPEAKER_00 (52:24):
Yeah, and you create it yourself.
You just have the
SPEAKER_01 (52:26):
leaf.
Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00 (52:27):
It looks like oil or some sort of thing.
Wrap it and just
SPEAKER_01 (52:31):
eat it.
Sticky sweet sauce, yeah, thatyou pour on top of it after you
put all the you've assembled allthe ingredients on your leaf.
SPEAKER_00 (52:39):
Yeah.
It looks like a flower.
There's a plate with the dippedleaves around.
That's a man that looks good.
That's my
SPEAKER_02 (52:46):
style.
SPEAKER_00 (52:48):
Yeah.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh my gosh.
It's so weird.
Yeah.
Like it's so interesting howlike some countries just have
food that you've never seenbefore.
And just one quick question.
Like if I were to go and havethis or something, I don't have
to worry about like getting sickfrom the food or something like
that.
And it's all pretty healthy.
It's not like Mexico.
SPEAKER_01 (53:07):
I don't think that's the case.
No, I think you probably shouldexpect you're probably going to
get sick the first couple ofdays because that mostly happens
anywhere you go.
Because it's not because of foodpoisoning.
It's just because your body isnot used to the different
bacteria that you're going toyour body when you go to a new
(53:27):
place.
SPEAKER_00 (53:28):
And
SPEAKER_01 (53:28):
I get the same thing when I come back to America.
I get sick.
SPEAKER_00 (53:33):
Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_01 (53:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But the longer you stay, theless of an issue it is, you
know?
SPEAKER_00 (53:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then you just have likePepto-Bismol or whatever it is.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (53:45):
I would recommend, that's what I used to, I
followed the advice of a lot ofother travelers who say to take
Pepto-Bismol prophylactically.
And I find that that worksreally well.
Yeah.
So what you do is you can buythe little tablets or you can
buy the liquid and just drinkthat four or five times a day.
Just do a little like spoonfulevery couple of hours.
(54:06):
It just, your guts lined withthat Pepto-Bismol and it won't
necessarily prevent you fromhaving any problems, but it will
definitely make it a lot lesssevere and a lot less of a...
SPEAKER_00 (54:20):
Wow.
So maybe like bring some of yourown food in the bank and then
just like slowly eat the newfood.
It's not like.
Yeah.
Just bring a big thing.
SPEAKER_01 (54:30):
Yeah, that's what I would recommend.
Just bring a big bottle ofPepto-Bismol.
SPEAKER_00 (54:35):
Go to Costco.
After
SPEAKER_01 (54:37):
about two or three days, you won't notice the
difference yet.
SPEAKER_00 (54:39):
And wasn't there something about, I think the
lady in Vietnam was talkingabout, there's some kind of
pills.
Remember they sounded weird,like ash pills or charcoal.
SPEAKER_01 (54:48):
Yeah, charcoal.
Yeah, that's good if youactually really get legitimately
sick to where you don't reallyhave a bacterial buildup in your
body because that will absorbthe toxins that are being
released by the bacteria andallow them to travel out of your
body quickly.
SPEAKER_00 (55:05):
Okay.
Cool.
All right.
Back to work.
All right.
Sounds good.
It was a pleasure.
Thank you so much, Rick.
It was so helpful.
Absolutely.
Have a great weekend.
Bye.
You too.
Bye.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app?
(55:28):
And if you have a minute, wewould really appreciate a
review.
Following and rating is the bestway to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
Thanks again.
UNKNOWN (55:51):
So,
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