- Eating Thai food is 4x-6x cheaper per meal than western food. *Thai food - 30-80 Baht per meal. *Western - 80-300 Baht per meal. *Make sure to eat where you see others eating, there's a reason for that..
- Thai food is amazing, fresh, and most Thai restaurants will have the same exact dishes
- If you are a coffee person, this might be heart BREAKING. In most towns you won't be able to find real, freshly brewed coffee. The Thai's make NesCafe instant coffee and load it up with sugar. We were able to find one or two spots that served real espresso, but it's rare to see a coffee brewer.
- English goes a long way on the southern islands and other tourist locations. If you have trouble communicating, try saying the same exact thing with a Thai accent, as weird as it sounds, it works...
- Make it simple, use the most important words when speaking to the Thais. Saying "May I please have a new towel," may sound nice, but it has too many words and becomes confusing. Simply say "clean towel," and that's all they will need to hear.
- Get a hold of a map wherever you are. There will always be taxis trying to bring you somewhere, but even asking the police for directions could sometimes be misleading. We almost missed our bus and got stuck in Bangkok because the officer pointed us in the completely opposite direction.
- Always have tissues with you, many bathrooms are not equipped with toilet paper... they will have a squat toilet and bucket, that's it.
- The Thais are indestructible, they smoke pot and tobacco all day, drink the night before their fight, and still go out there to kick ass for five rounds. WTF?
- You will have a lizard in your room, but even if you have the worst fear of them, they are scared of you and will run out if you sweep them away. The small ones at least..... besides, they eat the annoying bugs in your room.
- No one is alive in the morning, at least on the islands. Most restaurants and stores are not open until after 10 or 11AM. Even the ones serving "breakfast".
- Stray dogs are all over the place, streets, restaurants, stores, hotels. It's okay to feel sad, it's probably not okay to play with the ones foaming at the mouth.
- Bug spray is a fucking must.
- When in doubt, take off your shoes when entering an establishment, and definitely before entering someone's house.
- Don't expect to hear a God bless you if you sneeze.
- Thailand is truly the land of smiles, and as long as you keep smiling everyone will be kind to you.
- Thai owned establishments close and open as they please, don't be surprised if you came at 9:00AM, had food on Monday, and they did not open until 1:00PM the following week.
- If you rent a scooter make sure it's from a friendly place, sometimes they won't even check it for damage upon return. Just for your insurance take pictures of every scratch and dent on the scooter before taking off. Oh, and they will take your passport as deposit that you get back when the scooter is returned.
- Don't be afraid to wing it. You can't always plan everything ahead, or like us... you don't plan anything ahead. Accommodations in Thailand could be half of the price listed online if you get to your destination and barter with the resorts or hotels in the area.
- "Western food" sucks, plus when you can have a full noodle, rice, or protein dish for the same price of a small side of french fries, Thai food always wins.
- The legal drinking age is.... questionable. We have stayed on a party road in Bangkok and on the Southern islands, but wherever we have gone out to eat, no one was ever ID'd no matter how young they looked.. oh and the drinks are very strong.
- Bring a poncho with you, keep it in a bag or purse whenever it's a windy day or you know rain is in the forecast. Most of the time it pours like a monsoon, but 45 minutes later the sun comes out.
- Have some damn fun, Muay Thai is for everyone, all shapes, colors and sizes. The trainers in Thailand know their shit and are just as good and patient with the beginners as anyone else. DO IT. GO. NOW. BOOK A TICKET.
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