This is the second episode of Greg and Ed’s interview with Joe Cummings, expat extraordinaire. This episode begins with a bang as the guys discuss the future of cannabis in Thailand and then goes right into the kind of story that has to be heard to be believed, but basically it involves an attempted recruitment of Joe into the CIA while he was a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley. Enough said. The guys follow with a discussion of Joe’s take on the current round of prote...
May 11, 2021•39 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Greg and Ed do a tag team interview of legendary Thailand expat Joe Cummings, a renaissance man and expert on Thai culture if there ever was one. Joining us during a break on his latest film role, Joe and Greg discuss how they met in the jungles of Mae Hong Son 18 years ago, and discuss how Joe went from being known primarily as a writer (most famously founding Lonely Planet Thailand) to being an actor, musician and consultant on Southeast Asian mythology and culture, most recently for the Disne...
May 04, 2021•45 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Hey there! This type of content usually goes out to our patrons only, but we figured it was important and relevant to everyone, so we're putting it out to y'all! Our buddy Kevin and his wife Tip have just landed in Bangkok from the US after getting vaccinated and doing a whackload of paperwork. We check in with him to see what the process was like and get an idea of what people may have to deal with as they start to return to Thailand. Enjoy!
May 04, 2021•22 min
Utilizing a topic suggested by listener Wes, Greg and Ed discuss the unwritten ‘rules’ of Thai culture - the ones that everyone knows but aren’t written down anywhere, despite Ed wishing they were because he really has no idea what he’s doing right and wrong! As Greg notes, we all have to fake it until we make it. Greg then begins a series of specific puzzles that farangs have to navigate, including the proper use of the expletive ‘arai wa,’ knowing when or how much to lower your head when passi...
Apr 27, 2021•39 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Greg interviews three local comedians, Justin St-Denis, Chris Raufheisen, and Tana Sukke, about life as a stand-up in Bangkok. After a few quick bios Greg dives right in with his brief experience as a standup in Canada and then later in Bangkok, which kicks off a discussion about the recent history of western-style stand-up comedy in Bangkok. Tana discusses the difficulty of doing comedy in a foreign language, as well as the difference between English comedy and Thai comedy. Greg and the gang tr...
Apr 20, 2021•56 min•Season 5Ep. 6
We think almost every long-term expat has been asked how long they’ve been here before, only to see the challenge, throw down their card, and ask the inevitable: “How about you?” It’s an unspoken contest. But does it even matter? Greg and Ed tackle this issue of status, noting that although they’ve been in Thailand TWENTY YEARS, that number is dwarfed by such legendary expats as Joe Cummings (soon to be a guest on the podcast), who arrived in Thailand in 1977. Ed jokes that part of the appeal of...
Apr 13, 2021•34 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Greg interviews Colonel Johnny Thoyts, an old friend who has been retired in Thailand for over 20 years. Johnny has had an interesting time in Thailand - as the former British military attaché, he summarizes his career and his various experiences living in Thailand and dealing with some of the country’s top military and diplomatic brass. Next, Johnny recounts his life in Bangkok, Hua Hin, and more recently Khorat. Greg and Johnny discuss the cultural quirks of Thailand, from the Thais reaction t...
Apr 06, 2021•48 min•Season 5Ep. 4
The guys discuss the sticky situation of what it means to lose your job in Thailand as an expat, and the relative insecurity that all of us have, no matter how long we’ve lived here. Ed gives a quick overview of the law: if you have a non-immigrant ‘B’ visa connected to a work permit and a Thai company, and your work permit is canceled, then your visa is also automatically canceled and you have exactly 7 days to leave the country. Now it may be possible to re-enter as a tourist, of course, but e...
Mar 30, 2021•29 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Greg interviews Midnight Poonkasetwattana and Inad Rendon, the Executive Director and Program Director at APCOM , a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of gay men who are facing discrimination. We begin by raising the issue of the image of Thailand as a very gay-friendly place. Does the reality match the reputation? According to Midnight, in some ways, because Thai culture is less confrontational and LGBTQI people in Thailand are unlikely to face violence. However, Midnight notes tha...
Mar 23, 2021•52 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Welcome to season 5! Greg and Ed discuss the new season, which admittedly is mostly a continuation of the last season - if it ain’t broke, etc. But some nostalgia is warranted, and the guys reminisce about the last two seasons since Evo’s departure. Ed can’t believe he’s done 150 shows plus, and both guys make some modest suggestions for changing things up. Maybe some shows should include video, at least for the patrons? Ed suggests revisiting earlier topics and updating them with new info. Greg...
Mar 16, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Hey guys, Greg and Ed are taking this week off for a short break, but we'll be back with the first episode of SEASON FIVE (OMG) of the show on March 17. See you then!
Mar 09, 2021•44 sec•Season 4Ep. 73
Greg interviews Chris Larkin, creator of ThaiCitizenship.com , a website that answers all the confusing, conflicting, confounding questions about getting citizenship in Thailand. Half Thai-Half Australian, Chris grew up mainly in Australia and got his Thai passport in his early twenties. Now married to a woman from New Zealand, it was their yearly slog up to Chaeng Wattana to deal with visas and work permits that led them down the path of getting Thai citizenship for her, and setting up a site t...
Mar 02, 2021•54 min•Season 4Ep. 72
If Thailand is good for one thing, it’s ‘interesting’ expats, and Greg and Ed keep it light with a humorous discussion of some of the crazy characters they’ve met over the years in Bangkok. All names have been changed of course, but Greg recounts a few stories of ‘Chandler’, an out-of-control, heavy drinking, motorcycle riding, jacket busting, wrecking ball of an expat, as well an African refugee who recounted stories of civil war that sobered Greg up real quick. Ed counters with a few stories o...
Feb 23, 2021•35 min•Season 4Ep. 71
Ed interviews Chokwan ‘Kitty’ Chopaka, an expert on the cannabis industry in Thailand. The interview begins with a discussion of how Kitty ended up in this field - strangely, it was her mother that suggested she’d make a great ‘ganjapreneur.’ After trying a cannabis venture in the U.S., Kitty founded the Thai company Elevated Estate , which serves as both an educator to the entire industry and a consultant to cannabis startups in Thailand. Ed and Kitty work through the roughly four categories of...
Feb 16, 2021•52 min•Season 4Ep. 70
In a return to our Neighborhood Focus series, Greg and Ed check out Soi Suan Phlu and some of the surrounding area, broadly known as either Sathorn or Yen Akat. We start with a discussion about Suan Phlu of yesteryear, when almost all foreigners had to go there for a miserable immigration ritual. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Suan Phlu seemed dreary and certainly not a place you would hang out once you were done wrestling with the Thai bureaucracy. However, over the years, Soi Suan Phlu has slowly cha...
Feb 09, 2021•28 min•Season 4Ep. 69
Greg interviews Mark Wiens, an old friend known far and wide for his awesome YouTube videos about eating food. Good food. Weird food. Scary food. Any type of food. Mark tells us how he started as a regular food blogger, slowly morphing into video as the technology improved, and his efforts to keep up with Google’s demands while still putting out quality content. The effort seems to have paid off - 7 million subscribers can’t be wrong! Greg and Mark also discuss the nuts and bolts of running a Yo...
Feb 02, 2021•50 min•Season 4Ep. 68
This week Greg and Ed return to the Seven Deadly Sins series with a discussion of GREED in Thai culture. As an opening caveat, Greg makes clear that greed exists in all cultures, and the guys aren’t saying it’s worse in Thailand than anywhere else, but every country and culture deals with it in different ways, and the guys want to talk their way through its different facets to try and understand it better. Ed begins with the claim that there is something in Thai-Chinese culture about the pursuit...
Jan 26, 2021•31 min•Season 4Ep. 67
Greg interviews Khun Weena, founder of the Thailand Clean Air Network and an expert on air pollution in Thailand to discuss the who, the what, the why and the WTF behind Thailand’s annual season of poisonous, toxic air. She begins by outlining the fundamental problem: more or less unchecked economic growth, not only in Thailand but around Asia as well, especially in gigantic countries such as India and China. Although the problem has been around for a while , public interest has peaked due to th...
Jan 19, 2021•54 min•Season 4Ep. 66
Jan 12, 2021•48 min•Season 4Ep. 65
In order to wash the bad taste of New Year’s Eve 2021 out of our mouths, Greg and Ed discuss what New Year’s Eve means in Bangkok. Normally it’s one of the biggest nights of the year, but due the resurgence of COVID, this year was fairly tame. So the guys decided to discuss the holiday during better times. Ed begins by noting that the two biggest places to witness the countdown and fireworks in Bangkok are at Central World in the shopping district, and near Saphan Taksin bridge on the river. Bot...
Jan 05, 2021•33 min•Season 4Ep. 64
The issue of violence against women in Thai culture is not often discussed. Awareness is low and even when the topic is brought up, the default reaction is to shussssshhhhh, forget about it, don’t make waves. Obviously this is not a tenable solution. Emma Thomas ( Under the Ropes ) and Nana Wipaphan Wongsawan ( Thai Consent ) are two women who are fighting to change this. In part 2 of a 2-part interview Greg sits down with both of them to discuss why Thai culture is like this and the issues and ...
Dec 29, 2020•47 min•Season 4Ep. 63
The issue of violence against women in Thai culture is not often discussed. Awareness is low and even when the topic is brought up, the default reaction is to shussssshhhhh, forget about it, don’t make waves. Obviously this is not a tenable solution. Emma Thomas ( Under the Ropes ) and Nana Wipaphan Wongsawan ( Thai Consent ) are two women who are fighting to change this. In part 1 of a 2-part interview Greg sits down with both of them to discuss why Thai culture is like this and the issues and ...
Dec 22, 2020•41 min•Season 4Ep. 62
It’s been a while, but the guys jump into a Q&A show, where they answer questions from listeners. The topics are incredibly wide-ranging - everything from our first Thailand memory to the equipment we use to record to our rules for ‘wai-ing’ service staff! We also touch on questions about whiskey, COVID, Thailand’s tourism outlook, whether or not the infamous commuter vans are safe, and of course, things that Thailand does better than they do back home. Lots more where those came from, so li...
Dec 15, 2020•41 min•Season 4Ep. 61
Greg interviews celebrated Thai artist Alex Face ( https://www.facebook.com/Alexfacebkk ), known mostly for his large building-sized murals, which appear not only in Bangkok but also in other cities around the world. Alex begins by recounting his interest in art as a child, which slowly developed into a passion and later a career. He explains his love of graffiti (both legal and illegal) and then discusses his education and attempts to live in other countries, including Korea and later England. ...
Dec 08, 2020•51 min•Season 4Ep. 60
Greg and Ed dive into a great question for expats in Thailand: to what extent are you actually integrated into mainstream Thai culture? Greg posted a quick survey on our Facebook page and uses some responses as a jumping-off point for discussion. Ed begins by guessing he’s probably a 5 on a scale of 1-10. He never socializes with only Thai people, but has good enough Thai language that he can handle himself on his own in the city. He does note though that Thailand may be different than some West...
Dec 01, 2020•29 min•Season 4Ep. 59
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 beer...
Nov 24, 2020•40 min•Season 4Ep. 58
Greg and Ed consider the issue of freedom of expression in Thailand and the extent to which it is or is not compatible with Thai culture. The topic is sparked by THAT case...the one about a TripAdvisor reviewer who harshly criticized a Thai resort, only to have the Thai resort file a criminal defamation action against him. After two days in jail and a negotiated settlement, all was well until TripAdvisor put a warning on their website indicating what the resort had done. Ed gives a basic rundown...
Nov 17, 2020•28 min•Season 4Ep. 57
Greg interviews repeat guest Rikker Dockum about the ups and downs of raising bilingual children, beginning with an update on (now Dr) Rikker’s life back in the US - including his own two kids, both products of two cultures. Next, Rikker segways into some common myths and truths about language acquisition. First, he dispels the idea that a parent needs to have a high level of fluency in a language to avoid hurting a child’s ability to learn it. In fact, kids are so adapted to learning languages ...
Nov 10, 2020•55 min•Season 4Ep. 56
The boys reenter the world of the Seven Deadly Sins with a discussion of ‘Wrath’ in Thai culture. What’s the angle? Well, here is Ed’s theory: every society has roughly the same amount of total anger, but in the West negative feelings are expressed in small amounts over time. However, in Thai culture, where there is pressure to always say ‘mai pen rai,’ negative emotions build up over time and come out in an explosion. In an entirely unscientific discussion, the guys give examples that might sup...
Nov 03, 2020•26 min•Season 4Ep. 55
In this episode of Bangkok Podcast Metaphysics, Greg interviews our favorite guest, Phra Pandit, about notions of heaven and hell in Thai Buddhism. Phra Pandit begins by explaining the difference between reincarnation and rebirth. In Theravada Buddhism, there is not a belief in a constant, steady soul. Instead, life force, for lack of a better term, passes from one lifetime to another, like a flame from one candle to the next. In general, a person cannot remember his or her past lives, but a few...
Oct 27, 2020•40 min•Season 4Ep. 54
