Facts on Thailand and Bangkok

Climate:

The Thais often say: We have only two seasons, hot and hotter. This is true as far as it's never cold in Thailand. Officially however there are three seasons:
Cool (from November to February) with temperatures in the mid twenties to thirties (Celsius).
Hot (from March to May) with temperatures always above 30 and often around 40.
Rainy (from June to October) with temperatures in the mid twenties and regular tropical rain and thunder showers.
In Bangkok and the South of Thailand it is never cold but in the North temperatures can come close to 0 during the night in the cool season.

Money:

Click here for an overview of current price levels in Bangkok.

Thailand uses the Bath as it's currency, each Baht is divided into 100 satang but since 1 bath is just 2 cents (dollar and euro) the satang is rarely used, you might receive 25 or 50 satang coins in the supermarket. For the Bath there are three different coins: the 1 bath coin, the 5 bath coin and the 10 bath coin and 5 different bank notes: the 20 Bath note (Green), 50 Bath (Light Blue), 100 Bath (Light Red), 500 Bath (Purple) and 1000 Bath (Gray/Brown).
The most important thing you have to remember in Thailand is that most shops or taxi drivers do not have change for 500 or 1000 Bath notes. Make sure you always have change in the form of 20 and 100 Bath notes, a good place to obtain your change is to buy something at a 7-Eleven or Family Mart, shops that are open 24 hours a day.
ATM machines are widely available and they accept most cards, this is also the best way to change your money, bring your local bank card and get the money in Thailand from an ATM (don't change at your hotel). Tip: There are also 100 Baht notes in the ATM, take for example 2900 Baht out and you have small money straight away. Credit cards are also widely accepted in larger stores.

Tipping is not standard so there is no need to add a percentage to every bill you receive, a small tip is appreciated however. Pay attention as sometimes they include a service charge on the bill, in this case no extra tip is needed. If this is not the case you can leave a small tip if you want but it's not necessary. In a taxi it usually enough to round the amount to an amount with a 5 or 0 at the end, if the meter says 63 Bath a 65 bath pay is sufficient.
Remember never ever to throw money around, the banknotes have an image of the King on them so this is regarded as extremely offending.

Government and Economy:

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with similarities to the British model, it has not been as stable in the past resulting in military coups and other questionable practices. The current Prime Minister is Mr. Thaksin, head of the "Thai Rak Thai" party (Thai love Thai), he was reelected in 2005 with an overwhelming majority. He is one of the richest people in Thailand and a true business tycoon (he recently sold his mobile phone company AIS to a Singaporean investment firm) Therefore his practices are often watched critically outside Thailand. He either has a direct influence on companies (simply because he owns them) or through one of his many friends. Press freedom is often an issue in Thailand, in the past he has shut down a number of radio stations who were critical about his policies and recently one of his close friends at Grammy bought a large share in the Bangkok Post (English newspaper in Thailand).
Although officially the Royal family has no decision making power they are often influential as they receive great respect from the people. A plan from the government without the blessing of the King is rare. The King cares deeply about the Thai people and often puts in personal money to help them, he therefore is a good regulating person for the government.

Thailand is the largest rice exporter in the world and other exports consist of mostly food related products. At the moment the economy is booming again after a disastrous crash in 1997 when high debts resulted is a severe recession. The booming economy combined with soaring gas prices is leading to high inflation at the moment. Especially since the government is subsidizing gas prices in order to make it available to all Thais. Nevertheless Thailand in still a relatively cheap country compared to other countries in the region such as Singapore and Hongkong.

Media:

English TV channels are available in all hotels and apartments, UBC is the provider of packages that include channels like CNN, BBC World, HBO, Star Movies and sport channels like ESPN. Some radio stations are in English but they are more rare, 107 FM is a station that offers English music and news. There's only one international hit music station, 102.5FM.

There are three English newspapers in Thailand, the most popular is the Bangkok Post. The other two are The Nation and The Business Day. These newspapers offer quality information on general news but news that makes headlines in the Thai newspapers is often omitted (crimes by Thai nationals against Thai nationals)
Almost all English magazines and books are available in the better bookshops like "Asia Books" with several branches throughout Bangkok, note that prices are high since the magazines are imported.

Communication and Internet:

Making a phone call back home is easy with many phone boots through Bangkok with instructions in English. The mobile phone networks are good as well, trying to make a phone call during peak hours in Bangkok however can be difficult. Currently there are three major networks:

AIS GSM : The oldest network formerly owned by PM Thaksin with the best coverage throughout Thailand. Their prepaid package is named "One2Call" and cards can be purchased virtually everywhere. Prices vary from month to month as people can choose their own promotion. A recent price battle between the three networks has brought prices down considerably and calling inside Thailand is now around 1 to 4 Bath a minute depending on the package.
http://www.one-2-call.com

DTAC : The second largest provider with a very good network as well, they tend to be a bit cheaper than One2Call with their "Happy DTAC" prepaid package. At the moment this is the provider to choose, AIS had problems with their network making it sometimes impossible to make a phone call. DTAC had less problems and has seen their subscriber base soar.
http://www.dtac.co.th
http://www.happy.co.th

True Move (formerly Orange) : True Move is relatively new to the Thai market but is the cheapest provider around, they were the ones who unleashed the price battle in 2005 with their "Just Talk" package. However since they are new they often have capacity problems and coverage outside of Bangkok is not as good as the other two networks.
http://www.truemove.com

If you come to Thailand it is a good idea to buy a prepaid card (prices around 200 Bath), not only to make phone calls inside the country but international calls as well. Dial 009 before your international number and most Western countries can be reached for only 20 Bath a minute (check prices beforehand though)

The Thai postal service is reliable and not too expensive, a package (CD for example) is around 100 Bath with delivery times between 1 and two weeks, make sure you tell them to send it by airmail since boats are a lot slower.

Internet is also widely available with internet cafes throughout Bangkok and other cities. All main tourist islands also have enough internet facilities. Most hotels and apartments have Wifi (Wireless internet) for their customers and Starbucks is always nearby. Dial up cards can be purchased from the 7-Eleven, for around 200 bath you get 30 hours of internet with JI Net for example. Instructions are included with the package but don't expect the connection to be fast (28k8 seems to be the norm). Also be aware that broadband is relatively new so service could be interrupted from time to time.

Broadband at your apartment:

If you plan on living in Bangkok and installing broadband yourself first of all you should let go of the term "High Speed". At the moment there are too many subscribers for the limited bandwidth the providers offer. Thailand has only one international gateway to route all their traffic through, providers have to buy their bandwidth from here. It is absolutely of no use to buy a package that promises a higher speed, all users will be around the same speed for an international connection anyway (which is horribly slow), only inside Thailand you get better speeds.

Around 1000 THB a month you can buy packages from one of the providers, I only have advise on one you should not go with and that is TRUE Internet although often you don't have a choice if your phone line is owned by this company. The only time you get reasonable speeds (up to 50% of what you pay for) is in the middle of the night. Visit any of the internet shops in the larger shopping malls and they will hook you up, remember that you have to get approval from your room owner if you do not own the phone line.

(Of course you can complain to these companies about your speed. They then send over a "technician" who will take a good look at your computer and then leaves by saying everything is ok or he will tell you he knows the problem but there is nothing he can do about it)