You Can Thank Us Later - Nine Reasons To Stop Thinking About Thailand Travel

Local brews: For many years the only locally brewed beer was Singha (pronounced just Sing) but it has lost market to cheaper and stronger Chang. These are the places to look for if you want that triple-mocha latte with hazelnut swirl and are willing to pay 75 baht for the privilege. Starbucks is present in Thailand, but for the moment local competitors Black Canyon Coffee and S&P still have the edge in market share.

Available at restaurants and also from fruit juice vendors. Coconut water (น้ำมะพร้าว naam ma-phrao), iced and drunk directly from a fresh coconut is a cheap and healthy way to cool the body. For those craving American-style pizza, try the ubiquitous The Pizza Company, which is a less expensive and (arguably) tastier local chain.

If you do end up at McDs, at least try the un-Maclike fried chicken with McSomTam (green papaya salad). And yes, you can find the usual McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Komalas etc. The most common kind is rice noodles, served angel-hair (เส้นหมี่ sen mii), small (เส้นเล็ก sen lek), large (เส้นใหญ่ sen yai) and giant (ก๋วยเตี๋ยว kuay tiao), but egg noodles (บะหมี่ ba mii), Chinese-style stuffed wonton ravioli (เกี๊ยว kio) and glass noodles made from mung beans (วุ้นเส้น wun sen) are also popular.

See Isaan for Isaan food, which is widely available throughout the country. Thai dishes can be roughly categorized into central Thai food (around Bangkok), northern Thai food (from the northern region around Chiang Mai , with Burmese and Chinese influence), northeastern Thai food (from the Isaan region bordering with Laos ) and southern Thai food (with heavy influences from Malaysia ). The following list covers some better-known dishes. Thai jails are not comfortable; if you are arrested on a Friday you may not be able to contact anyone before Monday.

Tourists are advised to take these rules seriously. This is easier to obtain than a normal work permit, and can be issued even for one or two days. Foreigners must obtain a work permit even to volunteer for small projects.

IMPORTANT: Volunteering is defined as a form of employment by the Thai authorities. The organisation runs on a shoe-string and depends on the commitment of paid staff and volunteers. FED runs schools, health clinics, women's empowerment programs, and provides legal assistance to political and economic refugees.

A joint Burmese-Thai NGO committed to assisting Burmese migrant workers in Phang Nga Province, just north of Ko Phuket in the region better known as Khao Lak. Companies and schools may assist employees to obtain visas and work permits, but some schools avoid the extra work involved. Thai law requires that a foreigner earn quite a high wage to be eligible for a work permit.

Finding any other kind of work in Thailand can be difficult, as wages are poor and a large number of occupations are legally off limits to non-Thais. Sometimes they also leave the change in restaurants, but even this is a rare occurrence. Tipping is not common in Thailand Travel and the Thais themselves don't do it. Thais do round up (or down) the taxi fare to get it to an amount that is easier to pay for (such as from 59 or 61 to 60 baht).