Business contacts

Mobile phone hire Phone Rent counter in airport Terminal 1 (Tel: 535 3598). Rentals also available from many hotels. Roaming subscriptions should work with 900/1800MHz GSM phones.

Or buy a pre-paid local SIM card that works for long distance. Refill cards available everywhere. No support for 1900MHz GSM phones used in the US. Car hire At the airport, Avis in Terminal 1 (Tel: 535 4052), and Terminal 2 (Tel: 535 4031, email: res@avisthailand.com). Budget Rent-a-Car is across the street from the airport at Don Muang railway station (Tel: 566 5067, website: www.budget.com).

Office rental Serviced offices at Servcorp CP Tower (Tel: 231 8100, email: offices@servcorp.net, website: www. servcorp.net), or Your Office (Tel: 653 5000, email: ibyobkk@office-bangkok. com, website: www.office-bangkok.com). Secretarial and translation services These are available from most hotel business centres.

Local press

The two English-language dailies, The Bangkok Post and The Nation, are good places to learn about the city and culture. English-language magazines include Metro, which lists what’s on in arts and entertainment, Big Chilli, with lots of features about expat life, and Farang, a travel magazine focusing on destinations in Thailand but including coverage of Cambodia and Laos.

Internet

There are a few dozen wi-fi hotspots in Bangkok and the number is rapidly increasing, with service at Starbucks coffee shops, the British Club, Dubliner Irish Pub, Irish XChange pub, Q Bar and several downtown hotels. You can find an updated list at www.wi-fihotspotlist.com. Internet cafés are found along most major streets and anywhere tourists gather, mostly using ADSL connections. Good ones include:
Time Internet Café, Times Square, Second Floor, Sukhumvit Soi 12, near Asok Skytrain station, Tel: 653 3636, 9am-11pm daily.
Cybernet Café, Ambassador Plaza, between Sukhumvit Soi 11-13, Sunday-Thursday 9am-10:30pm, Friday-Saturday 9am-midnight.
Coffee World Silom, 144/3-4 Silom Road, near both subway and Skytrain, wi-fi hotspot, Tel: 634 3140, Monday-Friday 7am-midnight, Saturday-Sunday
8.30am-midnight.

Money

At the time of going to press, [00a3]1 buys 73.8 baht. ATMs are everywhere and credit cards are widely accepted, but when you do need cash, it’s best to go to a bank or authorised money exchange as you’ll get a better rate than at your hotel. Bank opening hours are Monday-Friday 8.30am-3.30pm, but major banks in Bangkok operate currency exchange centres from 7am to 9pm every day, including holidays.

Tipping etiquette

Tipping is not customary, though some waiters and hotel staff might expect it because you’re a foreigner. Don’t worry about keeping to specific percentages and don’t tip for mediocre service. If in a taxi, round up to the nearest 10 baht, or to the nearest 20 baht for a long ride. In a restaurant, if you do leave a tip it will usually be divided among staff. If you wish to tip someone directly, give it to them personally. Small tips are also fine for bellboys and room maids. But don’t give someone less than 10 baht, it’s better to leave no tip at all.

Visas/vaccinations

Citizens of most Western countries are granted free entry for 30 days on arrival. For longer stays, a 60-day tourist visa, extendable by 30 days, must be obtained from a Thai embassy. As a general rule, to conduct business, study or receive medical treatment, a special non-immigrant visa is required. Contact a Thai embassy or consulate for information. No mandatory vaccinations are required for Western visitors and few are recommended if you’re not intending to travel to rural or border areas. A tropical disease clinic might suggest hepatitis A and typhoid, as well as updating polio and tetanus shots.

Public holidays

1st January — New Year’s Day
February full moon — Maha Puja (commemorating a speech made by Buddha in 1250)
6th April — Chakri Day (founding of Chakri dynasty)
13th-15th April — Songkran (Thai New Year)
5th May — Coronation Day Early
May — Royal Ploughing Ceremony
May full moon — Visakha Puja (holiest Buddhist holiday, celebrating life and death of Buddha)
July full moon — Asanha Puja (commemorates Buddha’s first sermon)
July, one day after Asanha Puja — Khao Pansa (begins annual three-month Buddhist retreat)
12th Aug — Queen’s birthday
23rd Oct — Chulalongkorn Day (anniversary of Rama V’s death)
5th Dec — King’s birthday
10th Dec — Constitution Day
31st Dec — New Year’s Eve

Weather and climate

For Thais, there are three distinct seasons: hot, wet and cool. To most Westerners, they will all seem hot and humid. The ‘cool’ season, from November to February, is the tourist high season and the driest time of year. (It is also the most expensive, though prices are generally low at the moment.) Then it turns very hot from March to May, when Western visitors tend to hide in hotels and air-conditioned shopping malls. A welcome break comes with the rainy season, typically June to October, when it can rain almost every day—sometimes briefly in the afternoon, sometimes all day long.

Suggested reading

The Dream of a Thousand Lives: A Sojourn in Thailand, by Karen Connelly, is a reflective story inspired by the author’s time as a young woman in a remote community in northern Thailand.

Two novels by Dean Barrett, Memoirs of a Bangkok Warrior and Kingdom of Make-Believe: A Novel of Thailand, are taken from his experiences during the Vietnam War and provide an often quirky window on Thai culture in simpler times.

Culture Shock! Thailand, by Robert and Nanthapa Cooper, provides many insights into the Thai way of life, and answers the question “Why do they do that?”. Passport Thailand: Your Pocket Guide to Thai Business, Customs & Etiquette, by Tom Watson, is about building business relationships in Thailand and how to negotiate and avoid cultural blunders in the corporate world.