Greg questions Ed about his main job - teaching ‘American Studies’ to Thai college students. Effectively, Ed’s job and his side gig (the podcast) are opposites of each other, given that he is attempting to explain Thai society and culture to foreigners on the podcast.

Ed begins with America 101 - basic lessons about the U.S. that every Thai person should know, especially before traveling there. First, the U.S. is physically a VERY big country, but also quite diverse. The Northeast is quite different from the Midwest, which is in turn different from the South, which differs from the West Coast, etc. Hence, Ed notes that the U.S. is actually a difficult country to generalize about, and some of his students grapple with the concept. For instance, life in an urban city can be completely different from life in the suburbs or rural area, despite both being in the U.S. Second, the U.S. has a violent crime problem, and Thais should be very careful where and when they go somewhere, especially in cities. While the country overall is ‘safe’ in the general sense, that’s not true at all times and in all places. And last, health care in the U.S. is VERY expensive, and no one should travel there without health insurance. ‘Nuff said.

Greg then asks Ed about cultural lessons, and Ed notes that often American culture is best explained as the reverse of Thai culture. The U.S. is individualistic, while Thailand is group-oriented. The U.S. is legalistic and ‘low context’, while Thailand is ‘flexible’ about the law and ‘high context.’ And of course, Americans are more direct and engaging than Thais, who tend to be ‘shy’ and hang back, especially with strangers.

No culture is inherently ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than any other, but that doesn’t mean they are all the same. :)

Don’t forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the show as well as swag and other perks. We also sometimes post on Facebook, you can contact us on LINE and of course, head to our website (www.bangkokpodcast.com) to find out probably more info than you need to know.

Greg and Ed discuss various aspects of Bangkok that they believe are either overrated or underrated. The guys start with things that they believe get too many props. Greg mentions the Grand Palace and the Damnoen Saduak floating market that tend to be too touristy and overcrowded, but that there are unsung superior alternatives where tourists could better spend their time. Ed counters with Thai customer service, which he credits for being genuinely warm but which he believes is often unprofessional, at least outside of five-star hotels.

Greg then brazenly brings up Pad Thai, which has never floated his boat regardless of its reputation. For Ed, he thinks Thai temples are overrated in general, at least beyond the main ones that everyone should go to at least once.

Greg then goes deep with a critique of the emphasis Thais place on ‘respect,’ especially for older people out of course. That’s probably a good topic for a whole show.

For underrated, the guys cover things such as various museums, some financial management options (that a lot of foreigners don’t know about), taxis, and Thailand outside of the main tourist areas. Listen in if you want all the inside info! :)

Don’t forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the show as well as swag and other perks. We also sometimes post on Facebook, you can contact us on LINE and of course, head to our website (www.bangkokpodcast.com) to find out probably more info than you need to know.

Continuing the exploration of some of the unexpectedly progressive moves that Thailand makes from time to time, Greg interviews his friend Jacob, an American, and his husband Geng, a Thai, about their marriage in Thailand as two men and their efforts to build a family through surrogacy. The couple begins by relating how they met and began dating, and Jacob adds that even at that stage he was looking into becoming a single father through some type of surrogacy. Luckily Geng was on board, and they began researching different clinics worldwide. They settled on a clinic in Colombia that they felt was very professional and transparent.

With a baby (the genetic son of Jacob) on the way, they decided to make their relationship legal, but at that time, same-sex marriages were still unrecognized in Thailand. Hence, they chose an online marriage in the U.S. state of Nevada. Now legal, they were then able to take their Colombian-born son back to Thailand. While there were no problems actually entering Thailand, their son was only recognized as an American tourist, with no legal connection to Geng.

The guys then explain that they plan to repeat the process with a genetic child of Geng, so they eventually hope to have two children. The next step then will be having their marriage legalized in Thailand, and finally they hope to secure the legal status of their children.

Whew! Talk about pushing the boundaries of a ‘conservative Buddhist’ country.

Don’t forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the show as well as swag and other perks. We also sometimes post on Facebook, you can contact us on LINE and of course, head to our website (www.bangkokpodcast.com) to find out probably more info than you need to know.

Greg interviews the fascinating Wichit Saiklao, godfather of craft beer in Thailand and founder of Chit Beer, with podcast friend Scott Coates sitting in for fun. Khun Chit relates how he first learned about homebrewing while living in the States, and after returning to Thailand and buying a small house on the river island of Ko Kret, he decided to give it a try with a kit he bought on Amazon. Just seven years later, he is a legend of Thai brewing, not just because of his own popular craft beers but also because of his brewing school which now has thousands of graduates.

Khun Chit explains his approach to Thai law, which in general prohibits small batch brewing: by focusing on staying under the radar while campaigning to change the law and spreading his love of brewing to his ‘army’ of brewers, he hopes to push Thai culture in the right direction. He estimates that there are already tens of thousands of Thai people brewing quietly at home, a number so large that eventually the Thai government will likely have to accept as a fact of life.

Greg, Scott and Khun Chit discuss the community of brewers that he has fostered and spread around the country, his ignoble first attempts at brewing, and what drives him forward.

Don’t forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the show as well as swag and other perks. And we’ll keep our Facebook, Twitter, and LINE accounts active so you can send us comments, questions, or whatever you want to share.

Greg and Ed engage in a bit of fantasy as Ed imagines what he would do if he were the Prime Minister (or maybe more accurately, dictator) of Thailand. Ed begins with the caveat that he can only see the world through his own eyes, so his dream policies probably will not align with the average Thai person or maybe even most foreigners.

Ed presents a total of ten changes he would make to the country if he could, and Greg gives wise counsel for each proposal. In no particular order, Ed suggests building a modern prison system to buttress the rule of law, making significant investments in the riverfront, completing the Kra Canal Project, and eliminating dual pricing nationwide. He also emphasizes the need to modernize the laws that govern expats in Thailand, which seem to have been written in the Dark Ages. To top it off, Ed strongly prefers the old-school elephant flag to the current three-striped flag, and he’d rather the country be formally known as Siam due to the racist origins of the name ‘Thailand.’

Greg is impressed with the depth of Ed’s plans and vows to come up with his own suggestions. Some day. :)

Don’t forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the show as well as swag and other perks. We also sometimes post on Facebook, you can contact us on LINE and of course, head to our website (www.bangkokpodcast.com) to find out probably more info than you need to know.

Greg interviews our new friend Jannik Hiller about his experience as an exchange student in Thailand. Jannik explains that while a university student, he decided he wanted to do an exchange year in a country completely different from his native Germany, so he settled on Thailand, despite never having been here before.

Greg wonders about the quality of education in Thailand versus Germany, and Jannik explains that he was willing to sacrifice some academic quality just for the experience of traveling and living in a foreign land. Jannik then recounts his first month in the country, getting ready for school to start. After an initial shock, he fell in love with exploring Bangkok and acclimated to a dorm at Chulalongkorn University for international students. He talks about interacting with students from the U.S., Mexico, Japan, and Italy, a cosmopolitan experience that led him to pursue a Master’s Degree outside of Germany.

Jannik then expounds on the differences in the academic experience: Thai university is more formal than in Germany, given that students have to wear uniforms and the professors are treated with more deference. Further, the courses involved more group work and presentations than his typical classes back home.

Overall, Jannik’s experience at a Thai university was a very positive contrast to his typical European education, and with the help of the Bangkok Podcast, he has become a true Thai-phile (like the rest of us!).

Don’t forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the show as well as swag and other perks. We also sometimes post on Facebook, you can contact us on LINE and of course, head to our website (www.bangkokpodcast.com) to find out probably more info than you need to know.

Greg and Ed ring in 2025 with a difficult look back at their New Year’s Resolutions from 2024. They recognize the obvious: if you don’t keep your resolutions, you only have yourself to blame. But they try to answer the interesting question of whether Bangkok itself might make keeping certain resolutions more difficult.

Ed begins with a confession that he mostly failed in his efforts to improve his Thai. His plan was to study a well-regarded PDF of common Thai expressions, and while he did succeed in having a Thai friend make some recordings, he didn’t spend much time actually studying them. His second resolution was to watch the top ten best Thai films of all time, and watch them in Thai with Thai subtitles. Again, although he downloaded some of the films, he blew off actually doing the hard work. Ugh.

Greg fared somewhat better. Although he failed to watch a movie and read a book about key figures in Thai history, he did manage to spend more time at the Siam Society and develop a new hobby, the Japanese art of archery known as kyudo. Yea Greg!

Ed’s last resolution involved an effort to establish a new ‘third place.’ In this case, some serious effort was put forth at a very Thai local gym, but Ed failed to make any meaningful connections and eventually couldn’t muster the motivation to keep going.

Both guys conclude that expat life can make it difficult to keep these types of ‘self-improvement’ resolutions: expats tend to live in very self-contained bubbles that don’t make it easy to make significant changes to your life. Given this insight into the expat situation, in the end, it’s all on you to find a way to get it done. :)

Don’t forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the show as well as swag and other perks. We also sometimes post on Facebook, you can contact us on LINE and of course, head to our website (www.bangkokpodcast.com) to find out probably more info than you need to know.

In a year-end wrap up, Greg and Ed discuss their favorite shows of the year and some plans for the podcast in 2025. Ed begins by waxing rhapsodic over his early year interview with David Cluck, Hollywood assistant director who has been based in Bangkok for the last 10 years or so (S7, Ep. 6-7). The flow of the interview was aided by the fact that David and Ed are friends, but Ed points out that it’s rare to sit down with a friend and discuss their career in depth. As a film nerd, Ed (and Greg) enjoyed David’s experience and insider storytelling ability.

Greg then brings up our episode on Bangkok in your 20s vs. Bangkok in your 50s (S7, Ep. 29). Greg enjoys having pearls of wisdom about living in Bangkok that only come from having lived in Thailand so long, and Ed appreciated the way the city’s pros have changed for him from the early days to his (now) fifty-ish lifestyle. Next, Ed mentioned his other favorite interview show, with Ron Weaver, ‘American-Thai Guy’ (S7, Ep. 11-12). Both Ed and Greg enjoyed Ron’s personality and insights, and the fact that his experience as an African-American guy gave him a different take on expat life in Thailand.

Greg’s next favorite episode was the one on ‘Expat Math,’ our attempt to understand Bangkok with various theories and equations (S7, Ep. 16). There’s no denying Bangkok’s chaotic nature, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely random, and the guys enjoy trying to wrap their heads around the City of Angels and come up with some guiding principles. Ed’s last favorite episode was his take on Bangkok vs. Hong Kong (S7, Ep. 24). As someone who doesn’t travel all that much, Ed enjoyed being able to experience the iconic city and weigh it against his home.

Greg wraps up the favorites by bringing up our show on ‘The Limits of Mai Pen Rai,’ (S7, Ep. 40). Both guys agree this might be their ‘angriest’ episode, but defend the right to put their foot down when it comes to inaction to solve problems that result in horrible tragedies, especially when they’re in the service of improving safety for everyone.

Last, Greg and Ed discuss their plan to use the last week of every month to air an old show, rather than putting out a new show every week. The truth is the guys need a breather to help them brainstorm new material, but also think listeners would benefit from listening to many of the old gems from previous years.

Don’t forget that Patrons get the ad-free version of the show as well as swag and other perks. We also sometimes post on Facebook, you can contact us on LINE and of course, head to our website (www.bangkokpodcast.com) to find out probably more info than you need to know.