From the Vault: Five Observations on What Makes Thai Culture Thai [S7.E47]

In this episode of the Bangkok Podcast, we discuss something that many foreigners living here have a hard time wrapping their heads around - Thai television shows. From dramatically-enhanced soap operas to variety shows with singing, dancing Nazis, to the brilliance of funny television commercials, the range of options for the average viewer are pretty broad. But what can we learn about Thai society from watching these little diversions? Will sitting through a cat-fight between a rich bitch socialate and a put-upon Cinderella give you an insight into why they have to slap and scream so much? And more importantly - do you care?

13 Juni 201032min

One of the problems with living in Thailand is that it’s so easy to get by without being very skilled in the Thai language, a mistake that many expats make. To provide some inspiration, we are very happy to be talking to Rikker Dockum, a researcher and Thai language scholar, who will be joining us every month on the Bangkok Podcast. Rather than standard ‘word of the day’ type lessons, Rikker will be chatting with us about the mysteries of the Thai language, tips for learning it, secrets to using it, and his experiences navigating a culture where fluency by a foreigner in the local language will likely be met with wide-eyed stares of anyone you meet. On this first episode, Rikker tells us what methods helped him most as he learned Thai, how it's helped him adapt, and a few funny stories about the reactions he's received.

8 Juni 201035min

Rarely does someone move to Bangkok with a full support network of friends ready to help them out; more often than not, the first few weeks or months are a bit of a struggle as you figure out how the city works. For this episode of Bangkok Podcast, Anthony and Greg dish out some advice for anyone thinking of moving here, or even for people that have lived here for a while but haven't yet settled fully into their groove. From joining the right networking events to knowing where in the city to live to avoiding the red light districts, they go over a few things that they wish they had known, but instead had to learn through cold, hard experience, with many a night spent wondering if we made the right decision to come here.

31 Maj 201032min

After a tumultuous week that saw many deaths and widespread arson and rioting in Bangkok, we discuss the fallout from the army’s breakup of the redshirt protest site and what it means to Bangkok and the rest of Thailand. We also talk about how most of Bangkok continues as normal, even as a temporary curfew puts a major dent in Bangkok’s nightlife. In addition, we are very happy to be joined by Prae Sunantaraks – nicknamed Fluke – who was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative retinal disease that is slowly robbing her of her sight. She shares with us the details of The Little Light Project – a charity she started for blind children – and helps us understand how she remains so positive and upbeat even as her world becomes darker and darker – an outlook that many in Bangkok can appreciate these days. She also lets us in on the biggest mystery of all – how a visually-impaired person navigates the treacherous Bangkok sidewalks!

23 Maj 201032min

In the first edition of our weekly podcast, we discuss the major issue at the moment – the ongoing redshirt protests and the continuing efforts by the military to end them. We also touch on the causes of the conflict, and then discuss what we think are some great resources for keeping on top of new developments in one of the biggest crises to hit Thailand in a very long time.

16 Maj 201032min