8 Things To Demystify Thailand Travel

Bottled water (น้ำเปล่า naam plao) is cheap and ubiquitous at 5-20 baht a bottle depending on its size and brand, and drinking water served in restaurants is always at least boiled (น้ำต้ม naam tom). However, if you don't want to chance it, buying a bottle of water is the obvious solution. In many places in Bangkok however, particularly in new buildings, drinking tap water is perfectly safe.

Tap water is usually not drinkable in Thailand outside of Bangkok. Food in Thailand can be as cheap and easy as 25 baht pad Thai (ผัดไทย, Thai fried noodles) cooked at a street stall or as expensive and complicated as a USD100 ten-course meal by a royal chef served in one of Bangkok's luxury hotels. Curries, fruit shakes, stir fries, fresh fish made a zillion ways - and that's just the beginning.

The food alone is really reason enough for a trip to Thailand. Normal starting salary is approximately 30,000 baht per month and this goes up and down slightly depending upon location (higher in Bangkok, lower in some up-country towns). Anyone with a four-year degree can gain employment as an English teacher in Thailand, and even those without a degree can usually find work under the table.

At 2013 gold prices, one baht of gold would thus cost you well north of 20,000 baht in cash! Watch out, as this isn't the cheap trinket it sounds like: for jewellers and goldsmiths, the baht is also a measure of weight, or 15.244 grams (around 0.5 oz) to be exact. Is your new girlfriend asking for a one-baht gold ring?

Snorkelling can be done at pretty much every beach, but the coral reefs of the Similan Islands stand out as particularly worthwhile. One of the newest hot spots for diving is Ko Lipe , a small island that is relatively unspoiled with great reefs and stunning beaches. Ko Tao is becoming one of Asia's great scuba diving centres, with Ang Thong National Marine Park near Ko Samui and the Similan Islands off Khao Lak also drawing crowds.

Thailand's a big enough country, the size of Spain, that you can find a place to practice almost any outdoor sport. Ko Samet is the closest island beach to Bangkok, but its northern beaches are quite developed and hotels are pretty much sold out on weekends and public holidays. If you're looking for unspoiled beaches, Ko Kut is very thinly populated, but also difficult to explore.

Ko Chang is a bit like Ko Samui used to be. It has a backpacker vibe, but is fairly laid-back and there is accommodation in all price ranges. Motorcycle rentals do not include insurance, and both motorcycling accidents and motorbike thefts are common. In all cases, lower prices will apply if paying upfront for more than a week or so; in some cases, long-distance Travel to Thailand may be prohibited.

Rates start at around 125 baht/day for recent 100-125 cc semi-automatic (foot-operated gear change, automatic clutch) step-through models, 150 baht/day for fully automatic scooters; larger capacity models can also easily be found, although the rates reflect the risks: up to around 2,500 baht/day for the very latest model high capacity sport bikes, such as the Honda CBR1000RR.