Episodes

Nov. 19, 2024

Marriage Equality in Thailand: More Complex Than it Seems [S7.E46]

Greg interviews our senior legal correspondent Dave Lawrence on the status of marriage equality in Thailand. Listeners may remember that the Thai parliament passed a same-sex marriage bill last year, and it has jumped throug…

Nov. 12, 2024

Yet Still Even More Expat Merit Badges! Do You Have Any? [S7.E45]

Greg and Ed revisit a favorite show theme: Thailand merit badges, achievements by expats which solidify your status as someone truly making a life in Thailand rather than just passing through as a tourist. For earlier merit …

Nov. 5, 2024

Phil in Udon Thani Talks About Leaving Bangkok for Something New [S7.E44]

Ed interviews our buddy Phil Allen about his adventures visiting, and eventually living in, the Isaan region of Thailand. Phil begins by explaining his arrival in Bangkok about five years ago as a roving economist working pr…

Oct. 29, 2024

Do You Have to be a Weirdo to Thrive in Bangkok? [S7.E43]

Greg and Ed revisit an old topic from Season 2, Episode 48: Do you have to be weird to live in Bangkok/Thaiand as a foreigner? Ed begins by noting that the question depends on exactly why an expat has chosen to live here. Ar…

Oct. 22, 2024

Wats & Working Girls: How Thailand Balances Buddhism and Red Lights [S7.E42]

Greg and Ed begin a new series called “Thailand: Land of Contradictions” with the first installment addressing a fascinating, apparent conflict in Thai culture: how can Thailand have so many temples on the one hand, but also…

Oct. 15, 2024

Future Southeast Asia's James Clark on Thailand's Transport Infrastructure [S7.E41]

Greg interviews James Clark, the founder of Future Southeast Asia, a website and newsletter focused on transport and urban development in Southeast Asia. The guys begin with the most exciting developments in Thailand’s railw…

Oct. 8, 2024

What Are the Limits of "Mai Pen Rai"? [S7.E40]

Greg and Ed discuss one of the pillars of Thai culture, the general attitude of ‘mai pen rai’ or ‘no problem.’ As the guys have mentioned many times, this attitude is one of the main reasons that living in Thailand is so enj…

Oct. 1, 2024

Counselor Amy Pothong Talks About Mental Health in Thailand [S7.E39]

Mental health in Thailand has never really had its time in the spotlight, but things are slowly changing as more and more Thais realize that taking care of your mental health is just as important as taking care of your physi…

Sept. 24, 2024

Political Cheat Sheet: Prof. Ed Sums Up Ten Years of Thai Politics [S7.E38]

In our semi-annual update on Thai politics, Ed does his best to explain the current situation and how Thailand arrived here over the last ten years. He begins with the framework that defined Thai politics for almost 15 years…

Sept. 17, 2024

The Dangers of Letting Bangkok’s Delivery Apps Take Over [S7.E37]

Greg and Ed discuss the ‘delivery lifestyle,’ the habit of staying at home and relying on delivery services to bring food and products straight to your doorstep. Both guys admit to slipping into this habit, but Greg enjoys g…

Sept. 10, 2024

Journalist Patrick Winn Discusses His Book ‘Narcotopia’ [S7.E36]

Greg welcomes back Patrick Winn to the podcast, an intrepid writer and expert on all things dark and shady in Southeast Asia. He previously appeared on the show to discuss his book “Hello Shadowlands,” and he returns to expl…

Sept. 3, 2024

What Comes Next: Greg & Ed Try to Predict Bangkok’s Future [S7.E35]

Putting on their best tarot reading hat…or numerology hat…or tea leaf hat…whatever…Greg and Ed make their best prognostications about the future of Bangkok, relying only on their accumulated wisdom and experience. Greg begin…

Aug. 27, 2024

Journalist Dominic Faulder on the Complex History Between Thailand & Myanmar [S7.E34]

Greg interviews Dominic Faulder, associate editor at Nikkei Asia, long-time journalist in Southeast Asia and observer of the political and diplomatic machinations of Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia over the past 40 years. Th…

Aug. 19, 2024

Selling Thailand to the World: How do the Non-Travelers See Us? [S7.E33]

In the wake of Ed’s recent high school reunion, Greg and Ed discuss how to sell Thailand to all different types of people, especially those who have only learned about the place through stories, TV and often dubious word of …

Aug. 13, 2024

Don't be That Guy: Expat Stereotypes You Should Avoid [S7.E32]

Greg and Ed discuss some negative expat stereotypes - roughly the person you (probably) don’t want to become while living in Thailand...at least forever. We all fall prey to stereotypes sometimes - they have to come from som…

Aug. 6, 2024

Phra Pandit Lends His Insight: What Buddhism Says About the Seven Deadly Sins - Part 2 [S7.E31]

On part 2 of 2 Greg continues his interview with returning show favorite, Phra Pandit on the Buddhist interpretation of the Seven Deadly Sins of western religion. Without wasting any time they pick up where they left off las…

July 30, 2024

Phra Pandit Lends his Insight: What Buddhism Says About the Seven Deadly Sins - Part 1 [S7.E30]

Greg interviews returning show favorite, Phra Pandit on the Buddhist interpretation of the Seven Deadly Sins of western religion. After a brief introduction explaining Phra Pandit’s current (temporary) abode in Toronto, Cana…

July 23, 2024

Bangkok in Your 20s vs Your 50s: We Discuss the Pros and Cons [S7.E29]

Having had the somewhat unenviable (?) POV of living in Bangkok both in their 20s AND in their late 40s (and more), Greg and Ed pro/con Bangkok for different age groups. Is Bangkok really a city for twenty-somethings or fift…

July 16, 2024

Lawyer Dave Lawrence Gives a Legal Perspective on Divorce in Thailand [S7.E28]

Greg and Ed interview Dave Lawrence of about the technicalities of divorce in Thailand. Although Ed previously discussed his big ‘D’ on an earlier show, his situation was so simple that it’s probably not representative of t…

July 9, 2024

AI vs The Big Mango: What ChatGPT 4o and Gemini Know (and don’t know) about Bangkok [S7.E27]

Greg and Ed perform an interesting test of the current state of AI: can you actually trust what different AI’s have to say about Bangkok and Thailand? Greg uses ChatGPT, while Ed is a Google guy through and through, so Gemin…

July 2, 2024

Blending Fact & Fiction: Paul & Yuangrat Wedel Return to Discuss Their Novels Set in 1900s Siam Part 2 [S7.E26]

This is Part Two of Greg and Ed’s interview with Paul and Yuangrat Wedel, returning guests to the show who previously talked about their book “Radical Thought, Thai Mind.” This time around the fascinating couple discuss thei…

June 25, 2024

Blending Fact & Fiction: Paul & Yuangrat Wedel Return to Discuss Their Novels Set in 1900s Siam [S7.E25]

Greg and Ed interview Paul and Yuangrat Wedel, returning guests to the show who previously talked about their book “Radical Thought, Thai Mind.” This time around the fascinating couple discuss their two novels, “Beads On A S…

June 18, 2024

Ed’s City Review: Bangkok vs Hong Kong - Which One Comes Out on Top? [S7.E24]

Continuing our regional focus of late, Greg and Ed discuss Ed’s recent trip to Hong Kong and how it compares to big, bad Bangkok. Ed begins with a big caveat: he’s not really much of a traveler, and he spent only 2 ½ days in…

June 11, 2024

Regional Podcast Pals: Joah McGee on Covering Tragedy & Hope on Insight Myanmar [S7.E23]

Wrapping up our short series on our regional podcast peers, Greg interviews Joah McGee from the . Joah begins by explaining his early life in Myanmar and how he initially went to the country to study meditation and later sec…