After 4 years of contributing to the Thai blog, it’s time for me to say ลาก่อน (goodbye). I’ve had some amazing experiences traveling in Thailand, learning a bit of the language and a lot about the culture, and it’s been my pleasure to share them with you. Just like a classic rock star on their farewell tour, I’m here today to bring you the greatest hits before I go. Here are some of my favorite posts and videos from over four years contributing to the Thai blog.

A Crash Course in Thailand

Take a crash course in Thailand with this short video. In just 4 minutes, learn about the geography, language, religion, landscape, cuisine, government, and culture of this fascinating Southeast Asian country. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for further videos on all things Thai.

How Much Thai Can You Learn in a Week?

Learning a language takes time. However, sometimes you’re pretty limited when it comes to time. This was the case when I signed up for a week of Thai classes in Bangkok. I took 20 hours of one-on-one Thai classes. Considering about 4-5 hours of that time was spent with the teachers doing voice-overs for our “Beginner Thai” video series, that means I had around 15 actual hours of class time. In that time, this is what I managed to achieve:

• pronunciation based on a phonetic system
• the five tones
• counting up to one million
• simple sentence structures
• self-introductions
• time, days, weeks, months, years
• family members
• countries/nationalities/languages
• using question words
• food and drink vocabulary and basics

Read all about my experience learning Thai in Bangkok in the post and give it a try yourself if headed to the Thai capital!

Beginner Thai Video Series

Speaking of that beginner video series, here it is! With the help of my awesome Thai teachers in Bangkok, I put together a few short videos to help you with the basics of Thai. You can find them all on the YouTube channel, such as this guide to the Thai tones:

1,864 Curves – the Mae Hong Son Loop

I’ve had a lot of unforgettable experiences in Thailand, but it’s hard to top riding the 1,864 curves of the Mae Hong Son Loop on a motorbike. Along the way, you can visit national parks, soak in natural hot springs, explore bat caves, and so much more. Read all about it in the post, and check out some highlights in the video below:

Politeness in Thai Culture

Being polite is very important in Thai culture, and you’d be surprised at how many visiting farang seem to have absolutely no clue about how to do so. This post gives you some basic tips on how to be polite when visiting Thailand.

Thai Holidays

There are many holidays in Thailand throughout the year, and I’ve written about several of them here on the blog. Here are a few links to posts about Thai holidays:

• Chulalongkorn Day
• Makha Bucha Day
• Asahna Bucha Day
• Coronation Day
• Vesak
• Royal Ploughing Ceremony
• The King’s Birthday
• Loi Krathong and Yi Peng
• Songkran (Thai New Year)

Why I Love Bangkok

Bangkok doesn’t always give people the best first impression, but if you dig a bit deeper and give the city a chance, you may come to love it. That happened to me after a few visits, and it’s now one of my favorite cities in the world. Read all about the many reasons I love Bangkok and check out this video to see more of this fascinating city:

How to Plan Your First Trip to Thailand

After traveling to Thailand several times – and making plenty of mistakes throughout those trips – I think I came up with some good ideas on how to plan your first trip to the Kingdom of Smiles. Thailand is a bucket list destination for many, and for good reason. Check it off yours and do it right by following the tips in this post.

10 Best Thailand Experiences

Having traversed the country, from the southern border with Malaysia to taking the slow boat along the Mekong River into Laos, I’ve been fortunate enough to have had countless life-changing travel experiences in Thailand. It’s too hard to rank them, but I’ve managed to whittle the list down to ten of the best.

Thai Food

One of the best parts about traveling to Thailand is digging into the country’s mouth-watering cuisine. I’ve written several posts and put together quite a few videos about Thai food over the years. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Thai Street Food
• Eathai – The Best Food Court Ever
• Pad Thai
• Eat Your Way Through Bangkok

 

 

Way back in 2011, the social media coordinator for Transparent Language asked me if I wanted to chip in a few posts to the Thai blog about my recent month-long trip to the Southeast Asian country. A few years later, I returned to Thailand for 2 months and was able to share a ton of stories, tips, and insights from my trip. I went back a few months later for that week-long Thai course to try and wrap my head around the difficult tonal language and learn more about the culture. I’d like to say thanks to all the readers and to the fine folks at Transparent Language for giving me the chance to share so much over the years. Thailand will always have a special place in my heart (and liver after all those wild parties…), and I can’t wait until the day I get back there. If you’re thinking about traveling to Thailand, I highly recommend you learn some Thai before doing so. My Thai is pretty awful, but even the little bit that I do know has gone a long way in my many trips there.

If you’re a native or fluent Thai speaker, Transparent Language is looking for someone to take over the blog. Please get in touch if you or someone you know would be a good fit for the job.