Thailand Tips #16: Traffic Accidents

In my opinion your best bet in a traffic accident is to offer some money to the other person(s) involved and get out of there quick.

You might think you’re covered by some insurance. You might be, you might not.

Thais assume that the foreigner was wrong in most (any?) accidents. There’s a good reason for that - Thais think you can afford to pay for it, is the general assumption.

Don’t ever run away after an accident as you’ll be caught and beaten AND pay for all the damages, hospital bills. Better to offer some cash - a few thousand baht and wai a few times - making sure everyone is smiling and OK with the arrangement. If it’s a huge crash the police will likely be involved and you’re better off to get a Thai lawyer that speaks excellent English or you’ll be paying for the whole mess.

Remember, the general rule of accidents is that the farang (foreigner) is responsible. You can call the police and plead your case if you like - but I think much, much better to offer some cash and call it a loss. Probably you were doing something that contributed to the crash anyway!

What do I mean by that?

Driving a motorbike on the roads of Thailand for 100,000 km I’ve learned some things about the way Thais drive. I know when to compensate for someone ready to do something stupid because I have to do it almost everytime I drive. It’s part of the safe way to drive in Thailand - know what idiots are about to do and compensate for it before they do it and run you off the road, smack into you or worse.

Another reason to bust out the cash and hit the road again as soon as possible is because if the police DO come there will a bunch of Thais explaining in Thai to the police what happened and you speaking in English attempting to sway someone into believing your perspective.

Good Luck!

Thailand Tips #15: Don’t Come for the Fishing!

Though Thailand has hundreds of miles of oceanside beach you’ll be wasting your time fishing from the shore unless 4 inch baitfish are what you’re after.

I’d even rank the Hawaiian Islands as better fishing from the shore because at least you can catch the great fighting Ulua once a month during midnight fishing.

Seriously - Thailand is that bad.

Anyone go out on the boats for some deep sea fishing? I’m sure it’s better - but how much better?

Thailand Tip #14: Tsunami Warning Email or SMS Subscription from USGS

You can sign up to receive email at any email address

or

SMS text messages about tsunami alerts if in USA by going here

US Geological Survey Tsunami Warning Subscribe >

If you want to be notified by mobile phone you can enter an email address that will send you SMS. Check that this works first by using this format depending on which cellular carrier you use:

T-Mobile phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

I’m sure will work with AIS, DTAC, TRUE or any other Thai based mobile phone service - but, does anyone know the email address to send an SMS message to a phone?

4 Indonesia Earthquakes and Tsunami Alert

Overnight there were a series of 4 strong earthquakes in Indonesia, triggering a Tsunami Alert which was later cancelled. Now it might be back on.

Does anyone know the best place to get alerted about tsunami alerts in Thailand? Is there a service that will send alerts to your phone through AIS, DTAC, TRUE?? There must be by now yes?

Here’s a map of Indonesia’s earthquakes… would YOU want to live here? Damn.

Map from Prh.noaa.gov

Thailand Tips #13: Cure for Insanely Itchy Rash? Colgate.

This will not sound rational. But, it’s something I’ve done all my life… If I have a rash, and it’s rare… I put toothpaste on it.

In southern Thailand it’s hot all year. Toward the end of the year last year as well I got this crazy-itchy rash close to my ankle and behind my knees. It is itchy to a degree that doesn’t make sense - it can drive a normal person wacky.

Throw some toothpaste on it and see if it doesn’t cure it for you in 1 or 2 days. It’s worked for us a couple of times. I don’t know WHY it works - it just works. It stops the itch. It gets rid of the rash quickly.

Be careful not to use at night unless you’re sure you don’t have an ant problem. One type of black ant likes the toothpaste and I woke up with a hundred ant party on my arm two nights ago.

Thailand Tips #12: Fried Rice w/ Chicken Might Crack a Tooth

Thai food made in Thailand is a little bit different at times. Sure it’s spicy more than most can handle, but there are other differences as well.

I used to enjoy eating Kow Pad Gy (fried rice with chicken). The place I ate it at was great - the food was delicious and prepared the same way every time. I ate there almost everyday.

Then, I moved to another city and changed restaurants - in their fried rice there are, more times than not - pieces of chicken bone hidden in the chicken because they just don’t take the time to remove the meat from the bone. They chop it all with a meat cleaver to make small pieces - but there are bone chips and large bone pieces in the chicken that will give you a surprise as you crunch down on one. I’ve known one expat to lose a tooth over this and heard more than a few gripe stories about it. Me included.

Be careful eating meat and fish as Thais don’t typically take out the bones.

Happy New Year 1 Out of 3

Thailand has 3 New Years, this one that just occurred is celebrated the least. Still there were some fireworks and drunkenness to usher in 2009.

I actually stayed up until 12:30am on the 1st, a rarity for me. Chalk it up to an amazing Batman Dark Knight. I was not expecting to be entertained in the least as I thought all the Batmans sucked up to this point. This one was directed by Christopher Nolan. Isn’t that the guy that did MEMENTO and FOLLOWING?

I think so - if not, no worries. Whoever did this did a great job. I rarely get into fantasy type stuff - and this one was good.

I’ve got good things in store for my online projects for the new year. At last count I have 19 websites/blogs. Recently there was a Google Pagerank update and I have many sites with Pagerank 3’s and a 4, a 5 and even a 6 at my blogs - more about that at a later post.

I’ve been focusing a lot on my Youtube Thailand Travel Channel lately. I think producing tons of videos people can watch is interesting - more so than writing, and I’m already writing more places than I’d care to. As luck has it - my PR 4-6 blogs are going to see the most attention.

If you have a blog focused on Thailand that is well made (wordpress or other high-level format) and you aren’t blanketing your site in advertisements I may link to your site from my Thailand PR 6 and PR 5 sites. Just send me an email and tell me about your site.

I wish everyone a great new year… If you blog - put up lots of great content.

Thailand Tips #11: Wrong Order in Restaurant

I notice this a LOT more in Thailand than anywhere else I’ve been. Whenever I order food - in English or in Thai - the order is frequently wrong. It’s not usually just a little wrong, it’s usually completely wrong.

It’s not like I ordered with regular rice and I got sticky rice. It’s more like I ordered Som Tam and I got Pad Thai.

Best response? If you can eat it - eat it. The waitress will lose face if you return the item. Next time you have that waitress/er make sure they repeat back what you ordered.

Notebook Computer, Phones, Video Recorder for Sale

We’re selling some electronics we have. Everything is in great shape… if you’re interested just write: TryThaiFood@gmail.com

Perfect Motorola Moto Q Gsm QWERTY Mobile Phone: 8900 6900b, used 2 mths.

Great Nokia 3110c Classic Mobile Phone with EDGE, GPRS: 3700b 1900b, used 10 mths.

Great Compaq Notebook Computer 1.7Ghz, 80GB hdd, WIFI, Bluetooth 18,700b 12,900b, used 10 mths.

Perfect Samsung Video Recorder optimized for YouTube SC-MX10A with 4GB internal flash drive, record 3 hours of video and upload very easily to YT. 8,900b 6,900b, used 1 mth.

Payment through ATM transfer. Mailing with EMS Thailand system.

Thailand Tips #10: Tipping

I don’t usually tip in Thailand -but there are small family-owned restaurants that I know the owners and sometimes leave the kids that collect the check ten-baht or sometimes fifteen. If I eat with a large group I might tip 50 baht.

Tipping is not necessary in Thailand - but, it’s a nice gesture considering if you tip someone 20 baht that’s 1/10th of what they’re going to make the whole day and a very nice bonus - while it costs you 66cents at the current dollar exchange rate.

Thais rarely tip. You can do as the Thais do in this case - you probably are paying higher prices than Thais do anyway.

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