Episodes

In a special listener voicemail show, Greg and Ed discuss what listeners miss most about Thailand. The guys go through a bunch of different messages, each expressing a unique characteristic of the Land of Smiles that keeps them pining for more. Starting off is Erich, with classic praise for Thai people themselves, which may be the country’s greatest asset. A little further down the list is Jett from Los Angeles, with a unique lament for the Ministry of Rural Roads (actually Department of Rural R...

We dive back into history with the remarkable story of Chang and Eng Bunker, more famously known as the Siamese Twins. Born and raised in Samut Songkhram province just south of Bangkok, they had a fateful encounter with a Scottish trader by the name of Robert Hunter - himself an interesting fellow - and their lives were never the same. Siam at the time was little more than a vague backwater “somewhere in Asia” and because of their unique condition, the twins agreed to follow Hunter to the US and...

In Part Two of Ed’s Thai lesson with guru Stu Jay Raj, the two push through Ed’s sample Thai conversation. Stu continues to emphasize the importance of proper pronunciation of vowels, even going so far as to say it is more important than tones themselves. But Stu also gives several examples of Ed using sentence structures borrowed directly from English that, while grammatically correct in Thai, do not sound natural to native speakers. Additionally, Ed has a habit of using phrases that could tip ...

Ed goes back to school and gets a Thai lesson from the master himself, Stu Jay Raj. Ed recounts a common backstory, wherein he made serious effort to learn Thai during his first two years in Thailand - and even ended up marrying his Thai language teacher! But after that, he more or less plateaued and is looking for a way to jump start (or jump ‘re-start’) his Thai language learning. In Part One of a two part series, Stu analyzes a short conversation Ed recorded with a Thai friend, Anna from Lamp...

Greg interviews Bangkok-based lawyer Dave Lawrence about the ins and outs of foreigners owning land in Thailand. Dave begins with his backstory: he went to law school in Ohio where he met his future wife while she was getting a master's degree (also in law), and upon graduating they returned to Thailand for what was expected to be two years. That has now turned into 12 years, and in the meantime Dave has worked several different legal jobs at law firms as well as private companies. Dave then exp...

In a show fueled by a visit by Greg’s mother, the guys discuss first impressions of Bangkok, and whether or not they have become jaded as long term expats. Greg includes a short interview with his mom, but bases the show on all of her insights over the last few weeks as a relative newbie in Bangkok. First, Greg mentions that his mom finds Thailand very colorful, whether it’s clothes, art, taxis, or restaurants. At first the guys are a bit skeptical, but as they run through the examples they real...

Ed interviews Max and Jo Hellier of Root the Future, a small social enterprise based in Bangkok that promotes sustainable living and plant-based diets. Max and Jo begin with their origin story: Jo, a vegan and former model, and Max, a ‘video dude,’ developed a business concept for a boutique hotel in Thailand that had to be abandoned during COVID. Subsequently, they combined their talents and started producing social media content expressing their concerns over climate change and their preferenc...

Greg and Ed discuss a topic first brought up in a bonus show back in season 2: what to do about taxi drivers who won’t take you where you want to go? Although there are no doubt many larger problems in Thailand, on a day to day basis, perhaps recalcitrant taxi drivers are the most annoying. Ed runs through a gamut of possible solutions. The first is simply to somehow enforce the current law, which already requires taxis to accept all riders. The guys admit that simple enforcement may be the bigg...

Greg interviews Tim Koncewicz from electric tuk-tuk company to chat about their mission to provide a safe and environmentally clean alternative to gas-powered tuk-tuks. Unlike normal taxis and old-school automobiles (pfft), MuvMi focuses on...

Greg and Ed bare their souls with ‘expat confessions’: things in Thailand they are embarrassed to say they have never seen or done, but that they should have, given their years in the Kingdom. Ed begins by admitting he’s never travelled to Laos, Burma or Malaysia, despite them being right next door and highly recommended. Greg talks about some of his trips and agrees, it’s a pretty startling omission, especially Laos, which almost everyone agrees is worth a visit. Ed vows to make it right. Greg ...

Greg interviews Buddhist scholar Justin McDaniel on the topic of Buddhism amulets. Justin is a true scholar of religion, especially Asian religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, but he developed a strong interest in Buddhist amulets after he visited Thailand for the first time when he was a young man. Greg asks Justin what actually makes an amulet special, and Justin goes into a lengthy explanation of the ‘recipes’ and ‘ingredients’ that go into an amulet’s construction, from very specific type...

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 ...