Thai Note

Thai fruit is cheap, and it is spectacular. It is also seasonal, and a mango bought in the wrong month is an expensive disappointment. Here is what is actually ripe, by month. The short version Mid-February to mid-May: mango, durian, rambutan, lychee. Mid-May to mid-October: mangosteen, longan, pomelo, pineapple. Mid-November to mid-February: rose apple, guava, sweet tamarind. All year: pineapple, papaya, young coconut, white dragon fruit, Namwa banana. Right now, in September: mangosteen and longan are at their best. Thailand runs on three seasons and the fruit follows them. Work out which one your trip lands in and you know what you are eating. Thai fruit by season Season When What is best Hot Mid-February to mid-May Mango, durian, rambutan, lychee Rainy Mid-May to mid-October Mangosteen, longan, pomelo, pineapple Cool Mid-November to mid-February Rose apple, guava, sweet tamarind All year - Pineapple, papaya, young coconut, white dragon fruit, Namwa banana If you want mango sti...

You walk down to a pier on the Chao Phraya, and three boats pull in within ten minutes. They all look roughly the same. One of them is the one you want. The flag on the back tells you which. The short version Orange flag, 16 baht. Runs all day, stops at every pier that matters. If you are unsure, take this one. Yellow flag, 21 baht. Rush hour only, skips stops. Tourists on this one sail past their pier. No flag, 9 to 14 baht. Cheapest, stops everywhere, slow. Blue flag, 200 baht for an all-day tourist pass, roughly 9am to 8pm. Cross-river ferry, 5 baht. This is how you get to Wat Arun. The flags, decoded Chao Phraya boats by flag Flag Fare Runs Stops Who it suits Orange 16 baht All day All the main piers Almost everyone Blue, tourist boat 200 baht day pass 09:00-20:00, every 30 min Six tourist piers Heat, families, comfort No flag, local 9-14 baht Daytime Every pier, slow Time to spare Yellow 21 baht Rush hour only Few stops Commuters, not you Green 14-33 baht Limited Far north on...

Thailand launched a 20 baht flat fare across Bangkok's electric rail network. Headlines went everywhere. Travel forums filled with people planning cheap days out. Tourists do not get it. The short version The 20 baht cap started 30 September 2025 across eight Bangkok-area lines. To get it you register in the Tang Rat app , and registration verifies Thai nationality . Unregistered riders pay standard fares. That means visitors pay 17 to 65 baht as before. BTS and MRT are different companies . No transfer discount, and a Rabbit Card does not work on the MRT. For a short trip, skip the stored-value card and buy single journeys. What the fare cap actually is The policy covers eight lines in and around Bangkok. Riders link an EMV contactless card or a registered Rabbit Card through the Tang Rat app, and the app checks Thai nationality during sign-up. People who do not register still travel. They just pay the normal fare. So the honest version for a visitor is this: the cap exists, it ...

Almost every Thailand guide online tells you the same thing: you cannot buy alcohol between 2pm and 5pm. Plan around it, they say. Buy before two. That rule was scrapped in May 2026. The short version The 2pm to 5pm sales ban was abolished on 29 May 2026 , after 54 years. Shops now sell alcohol continuously from 11am to midnight . Midnight to 11am is still a no. That part did not change. Legal age is 20 , and foreigners get asked for ID more often than locals. Buddhist holidays still shut the whole country down for alcohol. Those dates move every year. Where the old rule came from The restriction dated to 1972, written under a military government to stop civil servants drinking through the afternoon. It outlived the government that made it by half a century. It was promulgated away on 29 May 2026. Convenience stores and supermarkets now run one continuous selling window. Buying alcohol in Thailand, from September 2026 Situation Rule Note Selling hours 11:00 to 24:00 One continuous wind...

Search for a rooftop bar in Bangkok and Vertigo & Moon Bar comes up first, every time. Travel sites list it. Booking platforms still sell tables there. It is closed. The short version Banyan Tree Bangkok's own website says Vertigo & Moon Bar closed temporarily from 16 June for a renovation. No reopening date has been announced. Most travel content still lists it as open. Some booking sites still sell it. Go to Mahanakhon SkyWalk instead. It is open, it is on a BTS station, and it has a glass floor at 314 metres. Call +66 2 679 1200 before you plan anything around Banyan Tree. What actually happened Vertigo & Moon Bar sat on the 61st floor of Banyan Tree Bangkok on South Sathorn Road. For years it was the rooftop that ended up in everyone's Bangkok photo album. The hotel posted a notice on its own dining pages: the venue closes temporarily from 16 June for what it calls a transformation. The wording promises a refreshed experience and a new chapter. It does not pro...

The 1-minute version Most home Thai cooking fails for one of three reasons: no tamarind, no fish sauce, or the coconut milk was added wrong. Six ingredients cover almost everything: fish sauce, coconut milk, curry paste, tamarind, palm sugar and rice noodles. Fish sauce replaces salt, not soy. Tamarind is what makes pad thai taste like pad thai. Palm sugar is not optional — Thai food balances sweet against salty and sour, and leaving the sugar out is why your curry tastes sharp. All six are light, cheap, and keep for months. 01 The six that matter Thai Note The core pantry In order of importance Ingredient What it does Priority Without it Fish sauce (nam pla) The salt of Thai cooking   4.9 Flat, lifeless Coconut milk / cream Body and richness in curries   4.8 No curry at all Curry paste The entire flavour base   4.8 Nothing to build on Tamarind paste Sour-fruity note in pad thai   4.7 Pad thai becomes soy noodles Palm sugar Balances salt and sour   4.5 Sharp...