Shopping in Bangkok | Off the Beaten Track

If you’re the one who is crazy about shopping especially second hand shops, let’s read this…

Today I’m going to talk about the second hand shopping area in Bangkok. So next time when you want to go shopping or even just want to browse, at least you will have some idea where you should to go.

First place is “Tawanna”, this shopping area might not sound familiar for some shoppers because not in the usual tourist area like Silom or Sukhumvit. That’s why many foreigners haven’t heard of it even though it has been opened for almost 10 years. The location of Tawanna is in between “Tha Mall”, Bangkapi and “Makro”, Bangkapi. If you’re not sure about the bus route in Bangkok please go ahead and grab the cab because it will be the best way to get there. Tawanna has so many an assemble goods either first hand, second hand or even hand made like fashion clothes, skirts, jeans, shoes, ornaments, perfume, electric equipment, VDO, VCD etc. The circulation of the goods in here and so many choices for choose are the reason why this place became a popular one and a lot of people like to shop for. Tawanna opens everyday from noon until about 9-10 o’clock in the night time but if you want to see a lot of things please make sure to come around 2 o’clock because on that time will be crowded with a lot of goods already. The price in here depening on the competency to bargain of that person.

The second one I would recommend is “Wang Lang Market”, this market is near Siriraj Hospital, in the Pinklao area. You can go there by Taxi from where you are at to Wang Lang right away. Or you can take the ferry crossing Chao Phraya River boat from Thammasat University, Phra Chan Pier and get off at Wang Lang Pier, it will cost just 3 baht for the trip. From the pier take a walk about 5 more minutes and then you will see a small street all filled with so many shops. Please ask people around there if you never been there before. You might get lost and not be able to find the second hand shopping area because of confusion about the alleys in this street. Wang Lang Market opens everyday from 10 o’clock in the morning to 5 in the afternoon but for the best period would be on Monday and Wednesday because of the new second hand just arrived. If we talk about second hand price…quite cheap! They start from 50-350 baht but the most important thing is all shoes, bags or belts there will have just the only one size of each. So if you want to get the beautiful and strange thing have to be depending on your luck!!!

Next trip I will take you to shop outside of Bangkok and will have a great fun with bargain…see you!

Popularity: 75% [?]

Thai Bar Girls and Foreigners

Over the years I’ve read a lot of posts, articles and stories about Thai bar girls and specifically about foreign men falling in love with Thai bar girls. And I would say that 95% of these stories end badly. For the other 5% the stories are often new so we don’t yet know what the end will be. I think we can all guess though.

Oftentimes the writer or poster has even read the warnings and been given specific additional warnings by the regulars on each forum. And yet they continue in their folly only to show up later a bit older and wiser for their experience. Each year you read about Americans or Europeans or Australians who commit suicide in places like Patong and Pattaya. Most of these stories revolve around a bar girl and the loss of considerable amounts of money. Since the victim is now dead we will never know the complete truth, but based on past tragedies we can guess.

What is it that drives men to such stupidity even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Thai bar girls should, in every case, be avoided as romantic interests, girlfriends and wives. Why are the men so blind and each one of thousands telling himself “this is different”. It’s not different, it never is and it never will be.

Ask yourself this…would you behave the same way in your home country? What I mean is would you shack up with a prostitute and give her the equivalent of several thousand dollars a month or more? Would you look the other way when you know she is out sleeping with other men or even keeping other boyfriends?

Maybe some of you would and you do it here in Thailand because you can’t afford to do the same thing in your home country. If that’s the case then you are asking for and deserve anything that comes your way. If that’s not you then wise up…take a look at your relationship and ask yourself these questions:

1. Is your gf/wife evasive about her phone calls? Does she get calls at odd hours? If you had a gf/wife in your home country and she was hiding phone calls from you wouldn’t you be suspicious.
2. Does she consistently need money to send home. Seems to be the same amount each month. This is not conclusive, but could indicate a bf/husband back in her hometown.
3. Tattoos and piercings outside of her ears (nose and lips especially) is an indication of a bar girl. “Good” Thai girls don’t do this, although this is changing for the younger generation, but mostly in Bangkok only.
4. Are her friends involved in prostitution. This is perhaps one of the biggest indicators as like types tend to gravitate together because as with anything else they have similar experiences to share.

Basically just practice some common sense. I know that many men lose their minds when they come to Thailand for the first time. They aren’t used to seeing so many beautiful girls and they certainly aren’t used to getting the attention of beautiful girls of any kind in their home countries. And even if they are used to getting the beautiful girls at home it never seemed so easy as in Thailand.

So, they think with their penis’ instead of their brains and they ignore things that would set off multiple alarms if they were back in their normal home surroundings. Somehow everything else around them is so different even surreal at times so their new relationship with the Thai bargirl, while strange is no stranger than anything else in their new lives. Instead of using their usual filters to determine what’s good and bad, right and wrong the brain sets up a new category called “This is Thailand” to measure against. Since all of the data is new many men make mistakes.

You can almost hear their brains crying out to them, “It isn’t supposed to be like this. Why is she always secretive or disappearing? Why does she talk with so many other men? Etc etc”. And the new “This is Thailand” section of their brains tells them “Calm down, I know what you’re used to, but This is Thailand it’s not like (the U.S. U.K. Australia or wherever you’re from). Everything is different here so this is probably normal”.

It’s not normal. Listen to your common sense when in Thailand just like you would at home. Things are different here, but not that different. Human nature is still human nature, even if the rules are a bit different. Take the advice of others who have come before you. Yes it is possible that Noi is different, but it is a very small chance. Do you want to gamble your savings, your heart and your sanity on it? Why not just take the time to meet a nice girl instead of a thai bar girl and avoid all the heartache and expense.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Health Care in Thailand

Because health is a part of everyone’s life including me so I have to talk about it inevitably. Of course not everyone can get away from being sick, especially when it’s time that your body lose vitality by the time moving forward or be used too much. And of course if it happens no one denies health care service for taking care of your body and rehabilitate to be as well as before.

From the past Thailand was known as the country for tourism only, but at the present so many things have changed. In recent years Thailand has become the one famous country in Asia and every year will have so many tourists fly from their own country to get medical care service in Thailand. From the current reported the amount of foreigners who come to Thailand for medical service up to 1.2 million people per year. And it seems like it will be getting more and more every year. What and why does it happen like that?

Efficiency and quality of Thailand’s medical care profession - This is the most important basic necessity or the key that can give the answer why Thailand became the famous country in medical care service. Now Thai medical profession is regarded as an advance just like in America, Canada or Europe. A lot of medical practitioners graduated or following ship from abroad. And most of them had an experience from foreign country so this can guarantee their proficiency. However I didn’t include the modernized medical instruments, hospital accreditation and all reward that guarantee the quality of that hospital yet.

Cost - This one almost as important as above because as far as the best medical care that you can get, but at the same time you have to pay like twice as much different from the other one that not too bad but for the price much lower…then of course you will pick the latter one…unless you’re a wealthy person. The cost for medical care service in Thailand is much lower than abroad, that’s why the foreigner would like to come to have so many things done here. Come on let’s think about this…you can go and have your boobs done and also have some money left for a nice vacation in Thailand too. How’s that?

I have my own experience…no no no…not with my boobs though. Last time me and Steve went to see the dentist here, we both have an appointment for cleaning only, but after everything done the bill comes up with $492…OMG!!! I was shocked at that time…let’s do this $492 x 34(baht) = 16,728 baht. How many times are you going to get to see the dentist in Thailand (for cleaning only I mean)? Good luck for us that Steve’s insurance covered for, but still we both had to pay $89 for something that his insurance didn’t cover. And I told him that last year I went to see the dentist for cleaning at Yanhee International hospital it costs me like 600 baht…still much cheaper than $89 though.

Expert system in a branch of each disease - Inform of the famous for treat and cure a disease is an importance too. Because not every hospital or every medical care service can have an expert in every disease, so this one the patient or their family will be the judge. And also depending on how many cases of patients that that doctor or hospital have an achievement for cure or treat the disease.

From my own experience in a medical field as a nurse in Thailand what I can tell is this: Bangkok General Hospital, Bumrungrad Hospital and Siriraj Hospital are famous for heart disease, BNH Hospital is famous for Spine surgery and Plastic surgery, Samitivej Hospital is famous for pediatric and women’s health department, Yanhee International Hospital and Phyathai Hospital are famous for beauty center etc. Anyway there’re just some from a hundred or more that I didn’t talk about yet and every hospital try to compete to be a number one in every disease. So it’s really hard to tell sometimes and like I said the answer for choosing which hospital that you’re going to use have to be you and your family will be the judge.

Others - Service excellent, marketing, commentator, type of the hospital like a public hospital or a private hospital, size like a big one or smaller one etc. All kinds and types of things that will have an effect on the decision for the customers. Because it means will be satisfied and worth the money that you have to pay for too.

And one more thing that you need to know when you’re going to use the medical service from that place is are you have an information enough? Because sometimes for something you can’t take it back…just my good intention!

Popularity: 65% [?]

Suvarnabhumi – 1 Year Later

It has been 1 year since Suvarnabhumi Airport opened in Bangkok on September 28, 2006. At that time touted to be a rival for the airports in Singapore and Hong Kong, Suvarnabhumi has instead been nothing but an embarrassment to the Airports of Thailand (AoT) agency.

Built at an official cost of 121.4 billion baht (with some estimates as high as 155 billion baht), and still climbing due to necessary repairs, Suvarnabhumi has been covered in allegations of corruption and favoritism during it’s entire life due to connections with the former PM Taksin Shinawatra.

A recent report from the AoT shows 61 problems identified in a 104 page report. Of these only 30 have been addressed thus far and these are said to be the most simple problems. The AoT has had little time to focus on larger issues at Suvarnabhumi due to the breadth of the problems being encountered which range from runway cracks to a shortage of restrooms.

Indeed the problems with passenger flow have been so great that the 94 year old airport Don Muang has been re-opened in March 2007 to serve domestic flights within Thailand. Even this has not been sufficient to stem the passenger problems at Suvarnabhumi and recently the suggestion to route some International flights back to Don Muang has been made, although this is being fought by the airlines, most notably by Thai Airways who would incur significant costs.

Honestly when you consider the way things work in Thailand none of this is surprising. Look at the ghost towers that dot Bangkok or the abandoned pylons for the BTS that was supposed to connect all the way out to Don Muang. Corruption, payoffs and saving face are so common in Thailand that you can’t expect it will change and honestly why should it? It’s the Thai’s country and their culture. They can conduct business anyway they see fit and who are we to judge, because it seems to work very well for them. We seem to have the idea in the West that we do everything the best way possible, and that may be true, IF YOU’RE IN THE WEST. As the saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

Just don’t expect to see any sweeping changes at Suvarnabhumi anytime soon…if ever.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Dancing Shrimp Video

So, I’m doing my usual nighttime blog reading and I come across this video of Goong Then or Thai Dancing Shrimp. Boy they look great! I’ve had crickets and grubs and cobra venom before, but never any dancing shrimp. Thanks to Vern from ThaiPulse! for the great video. I hope the dancing shrimp treated you better than the scorpions Vern Aroy mak mak!

Popularity: 13% [?]

Next Page »