Episodes

In a followup to a recent episode, Greg and Ed walk through the entire ‘Facts About Thailand’ quiz that Ed gave his Thai Society students. It’s a broad test of Thailand - geography, history, politics, government, demographics, and more, that’s slightly harder than the average quiz you’d find online. If you are an intrepid soul, you can take the quiz yourself before you listen in for the answers. Use the link here. Another option is to use this sheet to take the quiz and then check the answers y...

Greg interviews Mario Butler of , a platform that allows musicians to connect directly with their audience, and fans to own the music they buy, not just rent. Greg begins by asking about Mario’s background and the core mission of Dreamster.io,...

Another classic recast! One of the craziest stories from recent Thai history. Continuing our series on interesting episodes in Thai history, this episode focuses on the infamous Blue Diamond Affair, It all started when a Thai gardener named Kriangkrai Techamon, who was working in Saudi Arabia, decided to make off with $20 million worth of gems and jewelry belonging to a Saudi royal. Although the thief was caught shortly after his return to Thailand, he had already sold much of the loot, includi...

Ed interviews Thanita ‘Ninar’ Wongprasert, an old student of his and former guest on the show in 2018. On the earlier show she came on to talk about gay rights and same sex marriage in Thailand, and the two begin the interview with a high five to celebrate the eventual passage of gay marriage laws in Thailand. Ninar then discusses her work with various international NGOs and agencies of the UN. She was able to work on multiple issues, from the ozone layer to cyber security among others, and focu...

Greg and Ed discuss Ed’s new class at his Thai university: “Contemporary Thai Society in the Modern World.” The guys have a laugh at the thought of a white guy from Ohio teaching young Thais about their own country, but Ed notes that he has been living in Thailand as an adult for 25 years, whereas his students are only 18-20 years old. One point for Ed! Further, there’s considerable value to getting an ‘outsider’ view of one’s own country. Greg admits that his knowledge of his own birth country ...

Greg and Ed interview Taopiphop Limjittrakorn, a Thai Member of Parliament known for his advocacy in liberalizing Thailand’s craft beer industry. The conversation takes place shortly after the dissolution of the Thai government, a transition that finds Taopiphop technically unemployed but focused on the future of his party. A central theme of the interview is Taopiphop’s unconventional decision not to seek re-election. He expresses a desire to set a new standard in Thai politics by stepping dow...

Greg and Ed discuss the long, strange and complex history between Thailand and Cambodia in an attempt to shed some light on the tragic current conflict. Greg begins with some early history. The majority of Southeast Asia was once part of the Khmer Empire based in Angkor. Eventually Thai kingdoms in Sukhothai and Ayutthaya achieved independence, but tension between the two powers was constant. In a complex maelstrom of alliance and conflict, each power borrowed, copied and outright stole selected...

On this show, Greg and Ed discuss what Greg would do if he was the boss man in charge of Thailand, echoing a similar show with Ed’s plans earlier in the year. (Check out Season 7, Episode 54 if you are curious.) Greg begins with an interesting but ambitious plan to establish bike lanes underneath the elevated portion of the BTS and MRT. Ed immediately welcomes the idea, but both recognize what a massive undertaking it would be. Currently there are long walkways under certain portions of the BTS,...

Saturday, Dec 6, 2025 at . Chec our for more details.

On this episode - a classic ReCast from season 3! - Greg interviews Khun Saba, a disabled rights activist in Bangkok. It’s a topic near and dear to the Bangkok Podcast, because we want everyone to enjoy Bangkok, which is very hard to do if you don’t have full mobility. Khun Saba explains that he became aware of the difficulty of moving around Thai cities, especially Bangkok, after he became disabled, and notes that while physical and structural issues are important, the key issue is really awar...

First off - if you’re in town, join our meetup: Saturday, December 6 at . Check our first before you come just to make sure there have been no last minute changes. In Part 2 of Greg and Ed’s interview with John Schachnovsky, the former head of...

In part 1 of a two-part episode, Greg and Ed interview John Schachnovsky about his upcoming book “Beyond the Badge,” which recounts his experience as the head of the FBI in Thailand. John starts out explaining his early career with the FBI and his subsequent move to Bangkok. Greg and Ed ask about the exact role of the FBI oversees and John explains in detail. First, as a branch of the U.S. government, the FBI has no legal jurisdiction in Thailand and must work directly with the Thai government f...

Greg and Ed discuss an article on Ajarn.com by Dr. Jesse Sessions called “” which discusses some of the bigger problems currently facing Thailand and how they might impact the country’s prosperity, competitiveness and social longevity. The guys...

There’s a lot of great buildings and great history that has been bulldozed over in Bangkok, so it’s nice when we see someone going the extra mile to actually preserve both an historic physical space as well as the stories and history behind it. On this show Greg interviews Art and Irma, owners of Siri Sala Private Thai Villa, located off of Charan Sanitwong Road, not far from where Ed lives. The couple begins with the story of how they discovered the property - at the time, an old family home t...

As Thailand starts got back to bid-ness after COVID, there were a whole lot of n00bs coming in to tour, work and live. Most who have been here for a while already remember what an overwhelming experience Bangkok was in the early days, and how helpful it was to make a network of friends that you could turn to for advice. Of course, not all advice is great, especially when you’re talking with random people about how your new foreign home works. We think it’s fair to say that most advice you get i...

This week Greg and Ed have a bit of fun revisiting an about what would be the best slogans for various malls around Bangkok. As most listeners know, Bangkok may very well be the capital city of malls and mall culture, and each mall seems to have its...

We’ve all seen the incredible amount of drama that can go down if you don’t run a tight ship in Thailand - everything from visa worries and bank problems to relationship blow-ups and trouble with the law. But it seems that a huge proportion of this drama is reserved for people relatively new to Thailand. Greg and Ed discuss why, as long-term expats, they seem to miss a lot of this drama. Is it something they did? Or did they just age out of the baggage train? As both have been in the country fo...

In a special episode, Greg and Ed interview Kevin Maes in Kevin’s own podcast studio on Rama IV. Kevin is a long-time expat in Thailand hailing from Belgium who became entangled in a very unfortunate crime drama and subsequently wrote a book about it called ‘Kingdom of Trials,’ which is now available on Amazon. Kevin begins with his Thai ‘origin story,’ how he ended up in the Land of Smiles, and more importantly, how and why he fell in love with it. Unfortunately, he eventually was sucked into ...

It’s been a while, but one of our favorite semi-regular guests is back! Bangkok Podcast’s official Buddhist correspondent, Phra Pandit, welcomed Greg at his temple to talk about amulets, talismans, and Buddhist relics - and what ties them all together. The burning question Greg had was - if seemingly every third temple claims to have a piece of Buddha’s body - what exactly happened to the poor guy when he died? Phra Pandit explains the history behind the idea of Buddhist relics and what Buddha ...

Greg and Ed discuss the recent BBC ‘documentary’ called ‘The Dark Side of Paradise’ and what it says about media representation of Thailand. Ed explains that the recently aired 3-episode series has been getting a LOT of blowback on expat social media. The series depicts Zara, a young British woman, on her first trip to Thailand, ostensibly to report on the popularity of the Land of Smiles with British influencers. However, the show quickly devolves into an exploration of all the negative stereot...

Greg and Ed interview Chatwan Mongkol about his relatively new website called ‘.’ Chatwan begins by explaining that he was born and raised in Thailand but then went to the U.S. for a year of high school and stayed on for university. He majored in...

Diving into the differences between East & West, Greg and Ed discuss two famous cemeteries in Bangkok. Ed takes the Teochiew Chinese Cemetery off of Sathorn Road, and Greg talks about the Protestant Cemetery in the Baan Mai neighborhood not too far from Asiatique on Charoen Krung Road. Ed begins by explaining that Thai Buddhists in general practice cremation, and since most Thais are Buddhists, ‘cemeteries’ in general are not really a Thai thing. However, multiple minorities throughout Thai hist...

Greg and Ed discuss a much neglected topic in Bangkok expat life: how to survive as someone who doesn’t drink alcohol. Everyone knows that Bangkok has an epic nightlife, but much of that experience revolves around alcohol consumption. The guys discuss the option of going to the usual places and merely opting out of drink, but they also admit that for some people that is socially awkward and can put a damper on the evening. So what about events that themselves are not based around alcohol? Well,...

In a follow-up to previous episodes on expat ‘Merit Badges,’ Greg and Ed discuss ‘DEmerit Badges,’ mistakes that long term expats make that they should NOT make. In other words, if you’ve lived in Thailand for a while, and you act like a n00b, you deserve a demerit. Greg begins with the classic fashion faux-pas of all foreigners in Thailand for more than a few months: wearing elephant pants. As the official mark of being brand new to Thailand, these flimsy pajama bottoms are verboten for long-t...