Episodes

Every Bangkok newbie has places that are near and dear to them, and which play a role in their early days of getting settled and finding your groove in Bangkok. Greg and Ed discuss some of these Bangkok institutions that meant a lot to them in their early days, but have since been torn down and paved over. Ed notes that Bangkok is famous for turnover in the restaurant and bar space, but certain places do stand the test of time: Saxophone Pub on Victory Monument for example. Unfortunately, a bunc...

Greg interviews Khun Weena from the , a guest who previously appeared on Episode 66 of Season 4, when Thailand was in the middle of a crazy air pollution crisis. Since then K. Weena and her organization have been hard at work preparing reports for the...

Greg and Ed open up a can of snakes (this is Thailand after all) and discuss whether Thailand is a ‘woke-free’ zone. The guys begin by realizing that the word ‘woke’ itself does not have a very clear meaning. Depending on who you are, ‘woke’ could mean a woman being paid the same as a man, being cool with varied genders, races, and religions, or someone who has taken victimhood to an extreme and become worse than the problem it’s trying to solve. That being said, the guys do have some takes. Ed ...

With interest in Thailand returning to pre-pandemic levels and the podcast getting an increasing number of emails asking for advice on living and working here, Greg interviews old acquaintance Amy Lefevre, a half-Thai British woman, on her unique career journey in Asia and what they’ve both learned about finding (and keeping!) a job in Bangkok. The two begin with the importance of language skills and the difficulty of competing with educated Thais who typically have decent English, and then segu...

Greg and Ed dive into the crowded App and Play stores to discuss the various phone apps that make living in Bangkok easier. Greg begins by giving props to our excellent listeners who submitted a whole bunch of recommendations - so much, in fact, that we simply weren’t able to cover them all! Ed confesses that he relies primarily on Google Maps and Google Translate for countless day-to-day functions, but he mentions that he recently stumbled upon an app called BMA Traffic that has live feeds from...

Greg interviews James Fahn, the Executive Director of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network. Greg begins by opening a discussion about James’ book “A Land On Fire,” which was published in 2003, after James worked as the environmental editor at The Nation newspaper in Bangkok in the 1990s. James explains that at The Nation, he wrote extensively about environmental issues in Thailand and Southeast Asia, including doing investigative reporting on corruption and corporate malfeasance that damaged the ...

Ed reminisces on 22 years in Thailand and tries to summarize exactly why he has decided to stay for so long. It’s hard to sum up, of course, but Ed manages to come up with five positives and three negatives, and Greg helps to clarify things as he goes along. On the positive side, Ed mentions Thailand’s depth and variety, with many niches and subcultures that it would take a lifetime to explore. As Greg notes, if you are bored in Bangkok, the problem is not Bangkok. Ed also talks about how some t...

Greg interviews Jyri Järviaho, Finland’s Ambassador to Thailand. Although Greg makes a valiant attempt at pronouncing the Ambassador’s name, the two begin by discussing the difficulty of Finnish, with the Ambassador explaining that it is a unique language that it is completely different from its neighbors, especially its western ones, such as Germany and Sweden. Next, the Ambassador recounts his diplomatic journey from a small village in Finland to university and later to a job with the Ministry...

Greg and Ed discuss the fascinating topic of old Western pop songs that enjoy a shocking degree of popularity in Thailand. For those foreigners who have spent any amount of time in the Land of Smiles, there are just certain songs you are likely to hear over and over again in restaurants and bars. Why these particular songs? Well, the guys just don’t know, but do their best to offer some theories. The big three have to be “Hotel California,” “Country Roads,” and “I Will Survive.” Greg suggests th...

Greg finishes up his interview with linguist and raconteur . Stu begins with a classic: the super annoying fact that the Thai numbers 11 and 18 can be very difficult for foreigners to pronounce correctly. Stu explains in detail the small differences...

Greg interviews our old pal Stu Jay Raj - linguist, polyglot, and true Renaissance man. As you would expect, the topic is the Thai language and foreigners’ struggle to learn it properly, but with a focus on the trouble you can get into if you don’t understand how tones work. Stu begins with an important point: the nature of English allows a fair amount of flexibility in pronunciation and accent without sacrificing intelligibility, whereas Thai does not. In short, ‘getting close’ to correct Thai ...

As is tradition, Greg and Ed spend the first episode of the brand new season 6 (!) looking back, looking forward, and discussing podcasting as a whole. When Greg and Tony first started speaking into their panty hose-covered mics (seriously) in 2010 they had no idea they’d be laying the groundwork for such a long-running show. From the days of hauling gear to a rented room to record face to face, to taking advantage of online recording and discovering new ways to streamline the workflow and work ...

In the last episode of Season 5, Greg interviews Samaporn Teeravechyan, also known as Dr. Joy. Dr. Joy works at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, essentially the arm of the Thai government that focuses on scientific research. She explains that her expertise is in virology, and that she received her Phd in the United States after moving around the world as a child. Currently, Dr. Joy’s focus is on the development of a nasal vaccine for COVID-19. Greg asks Dr. Joy why ...

Bangkok’s a big city that’s got her own rules. You can try to fight them, but in the end, in certain situations, no matter how much you beg and plead, Bangkok wins, and you lose. Greg and Ed discuss ten ways Bangkok can own you: frustrating ‘gotchas’ that are devilishly difficult to avoid. Even veterans of the city with tons of experience still sometimes forget the nuance or fail to think about the what-ifs and end up standing there like a fool, muttering under their breath. This still definitel...

Ed interviews Emily from Calgary, Canada, a unique ‘expat’ in Thailand if there ever was one. Emily was born 19 years ago in Nong Khai, Thailand, to a Canadian father and Thai mother, and spent the first years of her life as a look-kreung kid in Issaan. But her parents relocated to Calgary where she quickly assimilated and became a full-on Canadian. She went to grade school and high school there, only to have her parents retire back to Nong Khai earlier this year, with Emily in tow. Ed asks Emil...

In a new concept, Greg and Ed discuss various Bangkok ‘Firsts’ in an effort to improve their knowledge of the city’s history and development. Loosely based on a trivia format the guys go back and forth asking each other about key milestones in Thai history, some quite significant, with others just quirky or interesting. Starting with shopping malls and bridges and moving on to airports and politics, Greg and Ed go back and forth asking each other about some of the more notable events in the hist...

Greg interviews the Luxembourgian Ambassador to Thailand, Jean-Paul Senninger. As a diplomat with a long list of postings around the world, from his home base at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Washington, D.C., Spain, Turkey and finally Bangkok, where he is the chief diplomat for several Southeast Asian nations. Jean-Paul talks about the difficulty of juggling differences of developed countries such as Singapore and Thailand with struggling countries such as Laos and Myanmar but admits that ...

Greg and Ed discuss the recent decriminalization of cannabis in Thailand, the recent changes around town it’s caused, and whether or not they think it will last. First, Ed does a quick interview with our resident Weed Expert, Kitty Chopaka, who is both a ‘ganjapreneur’ and social activist. Kitty explains that the current situation is somewhat of a ‘technical foul,’ as the cannabis plant itself was delisted as a narcotic with the intent for it to be regulated by a new law, but that new law is sti...

This is Part Two of Greg’s recent interview with uber-expat Christopher G. Moore, author, raconteur, and general man-about-town. In true Renaissance guy fashion, the two men jump from topic to topic, each more interesting than the next. First, Greg asks Chris about how translations of his books are undertaken, and Chris tells a fascinating story of how the length of the translations of his novels in China are arbitrarily set by the Communist Central Committee. You’d think they’d have better thin...

Greg interviews Christopher G. Moore, long-time friend of the podcast and senior Bangkok expat, known for his extensive fiction and non-fiction writing as well as his legendary conversational skills. Chris begins by relating his recent short film project, a Bangkok noir featuring his most famous character, Vincent Calvino and what it takes to bring a fictional character to life in Bangkok, a city that’s a character all of its own. Greg and Chris discuss his writing career and 17 (!) Vincent Calv...

Greg and Ed pull together all their accumulated wisdom about Thai culture and society into six pithy theories to aid expats and tourists alike. Ed begins with his classic ‘Universal Theory of Thailand,” that everything good in the country comes from Thais being so nice, and that everything bad in the country ALSO comes from Thais being so nice. The guys discuss how true this is, before Greg drops his own grand theory that nothing gets improved in Thailand until it becomes embarrassing for Thaila...

Ed interviews , a British expat in Thailand who has been in the film industry his entire life. Paul begins at the beginning, how his first movie ever in a movie theater was “The Sound of Music,” and it had such an impact on him that he decided to...

Ed leads a discussion and semi-rant about a persistent myth regarding the history of prostitution in Thailand that was recently perpetuated by a YouTube video by Thaiger. The myth goes like this: prostitution wasn’t much of a thing in Thailand until the Vietnam War era, when the demand created by American GIs on rest and relaxation resulted in a booming sex industry. Ugh. Where to start? Well, first of all, prostitution is called the oldest profession in the world for a reason, and there’s clear...

Because the first show was so fun to do - and full of great listener-generated ideas! - Greg and Ed revisit the idea of expat ‘merit badges,’ a recognition of classic experiences in Thailand that indicate you are more than just a tourist. I mean, try to come to Thailand as a tourist and not eat bugs, that’s easy-peasy! We’re talking about real skills or achievements that show you’ve not only been here for a while, but have actually gone out of your comfort zone to learn and get your hands dirty....