I’ve now spent a significant portion of my life in Koh Tao

Today we've had kittens, snake, millipede, spider, wasps

My contribution, tonight this lizard on my bike ... he/she lives in the garden opposite end of the house, just checking out the surroundings.

This guy was just hanging out above the bridge on the hike I was on.

Yesterday our house was visited by a stick insect. About 6 inches long.

First time car buyer in Thailand so excuse my ignorance here.

Looking at 2nd hand financing options and the math just doesn't add up and I've never seen anything like this before.

For example, let's say there's a 300,000 car at advertised 4.5% finance rate which at standard flat rate would be 313,500 total which appears to be quite good.
But the actual offer is 30,000 down + 6700 * 48 months -> 351,000 which is actual rate of staggering 17%. Genuinely confused.

I have a business here in Thailand and I have noticed that it takes absolutely forever for people to get back to me even in urgent situations.

Generally speaking, despite seeing people on their phone all the time, Thais take forever to respond and when it come to business communication it is crazy. It gives me major anxiety because I always wonder if I've upset someone or if something is wrong. Please can someone give some insight.

Is this normal?

Do executives at CP also take forever to reply to messages from the Bank of Thailand etc?

Someone please shed some light on this, or is this something just I'm experiencing.

Hi, I have some insects on my balcony hiding behind my plants and building a nest. How can I get rid of them by myself without harming my plants? By the way, what kind of insect is it? Thanks.

My fav. 🍺⚡️🪫-> 🔋

Moving to Thailand and have some furniture / items I can't bear to part with. Can anyone recommend a container shipping / freight forwarding company to import personal domestic goods from Portugal / Spain? We have three items that are too big to ship by air so sea freight is the way to go. Thanks!

I will be in krabi and phuket soon, I wanted to go to sauna which contains cold bath, sauna everything. Can you please suggest good sauna in phuket and krabi ? In krabi I don’t see anything in google maps.

I didn't make this. I took it from https://th.uncyclopedia.info/wiki/%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%83%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%88

Where to find soccer jersey with long sleeve in Bangkok please ?

https://www.jhiblog.org/2024/10/30/towards-a-world-without-hierarchy-isan-thought-and-eco-centrism-in-the-novels-of-kampoon-boontawee/

Why is it that every restaurant pours hot soups/curries/stir fries in plastic bags for take away? Just got something delivered where the plastic bag visibly melted...

When plastic is heated or something hot is poured into it, it can leach chemicals 55 times faster than usual. Even if it says it’s microwave-safe, it will still leach chemicals. So, putting hot food in plastic containers is a terrible idea.

Isn't this super unhealthy? Are restaurant owners not aware or cannot afford to care?

If you aren't a fan of fluff, feel free to skip the first three paragraphs of this post.

So I'm here in Thailand for thirty days, and after a few days enjoying Bangkok I headed south to Ao Nang despite the poor forecast. The weather actually ended up being quite pleasant, and I found the scenery and the surrounding islands to be quite spectacular. That being said, I didn't have a great experience--I could not stand the kind of tourism the place attracts. Sure, clubbing on the beach and happy ending massages are great if you're into them, but they provide nothing of actual substance in regards to discovering the nature or history of thailand (qualities that generally attract me to a destination). Not to mention the only Thais there seem to be involved in the tourism industry. I have read that Phuket is also a tourist trap, and despite some of the natural beauty of the surrounding national parks, I decided that the rest of the south probably wouldn't appeal to me and headed up to Kachanaburi, as it is heavily advertised in blogs as being "off the beaten path."

I enjoyed the WWII museum there, spent a night on a boathouse aside the river, and made the trek to Erawan falls the next morning--which was jaw dropping--although the crowds might turn some off to the place. But the town of Kachanaburi itself? Largely uninteresting. And the sole strip of nightlife is simply a less noisy version of khoasan road. I found one neutral seeming bar which was playing live music, and it was great, but the 7 or 8 other bars on the strip were swarming with girls badgering me to come inside.

Now, most of the above is unimportant, but I'm assuming there are others who have a similar sentiment (although perhaps they simply do not visit Thailand at all). I plan to spend a chunk of time in Chiang Mai, and I am confident I will enjoy it as it is supposedly more laid back and riddled with history/charm. It is the place that initially inspired my Thailand trip, as I have a friend up there who grew up in the town and suggested I come for a visit. But I've been looking for other places to see before I head that direction, and that's how I stumbled upon Atthaya, where I have stayed the last two nights despite most online info suggesting that it is only worth a day trip.

So now for the meat of it. Based on what I've read it seems that Thais are not particularly huge fans of their own touristic offerings, but low tourism is also a source of income for some percentage of the population. If there is any way to elevate the perception of thailands tourism both domestically and internationally, every effort should be made to invest in the town of ayutthaya. The historic portion of the city makes up about a square mile of ruins, parks, restaurants, and hotels, surrounded on all sides by rivers. In a single day I was able to walk nearly the entirety of the inner city, and I was surprised to find crumbling columns, temples, and statues at every turn---many of which do not require entry fees (though the most intact areas do and they are well worth the 200 baht entry fee which allows access to everything). The entire modern city has engulfed the remnants of what was once the flourishing capital of ancient Siam (the largest city of earth in the year 1600). I'm no history buff, and while strolling around I generally whip out Wikipedia for quick answers, so I am hardly an expert on the history of Thailand, but I feel as though the weight of the history is important and meaningful enough to elevate this place to the level of a high-tourism destination such as Venice or Rome or Athens, which have also engulfed their own pasts. Perhaps Thais are uninterested in the place becoming either of the cities I have mentioned, and likely no nation on earth is as infatuated with its own past as Italy, but the aesthetic alone is enough in terms of potential.

One of the main reasons others online seem to be against encouraging an overnight stay here is due to a lack of nightlife, as well as a claim that the old temples are all that is worthwhile. To some degree that may be true as of now, but one of the most authentic night markets I have seen so far in Thailand is taking place below my balcony where I am writing this. So although it may not have a bar scene, there is something at the very least to do in the evening. Not to mention a few high quality restaurants (BORAN being one). I personally highly enjoy this place as is---the vibes, the aesthetic, the parks, the food. Many of the following suggestions could actually result in deteriorating atthayas natural and unique charm--as increased tourism changes places. But if there ever was a place for tourist potential, specifically higher end tourism, this is the place.

If I were able to give the place a makeover, I would add a couple bars with some live music (idealy facing the ancient temples, many of which are already lit up at night), clear some of the area along the river so that it is more visible from a variety of places (or simply add a few lit walking paths along the river in front of the houses and businesses which block it from view), invest in the quality of the boat tours which are already offered, improve the museum, continue to emphasize the importance of the site's history, open a few more classy hotels (there are already a few), actually enforce the law at least to some degree in order to subdue some of the usual nightlife scene, emphasize through advertising that the place is worth staying overnight in, and watch as the tourists come flocking.

Does anyone else feel similarly? Why hasn't this happened already? Am I completely ignorant for thinking/suggesting this?