Thailand as a whole, and especially Bangkok, are in my experience, the safest places to travel in the world.

Unless you’re really unlucky you’ll never find yourself under any physical threat here – regardless of where you venture or what time of the day or night it is. Pretty much the only crime you might experience here might be confidence crime or possibly minor theft or pickpockets.

For those of you nervous about traveling to a country where police don’t command much respect, I’ve put together some known scams you might experience here and some advice about how to avoid them.

1) Non-Metered Taxis

All taxis in Bangkok should have a meter installed and, unless you are traveling out of the city you should only ever be charged by the meter. Meters start at 35 baht.

That said; it’s common for some taxi drivers to quote you a fixed fare. Unless they’ve gravely under-estimated the journey you’ll always get a worse deal if you pay a fixed rate for your journeys.

You might find a driver quoting you a fixed fare anywhere but it’s most common at the airport and around the popular tourist attractions and hotels.

Here’s my advice about getting a taxi:

- Don’t be fooled by the polite English-speaking greeters at the airport who want to bundle you into their ‘limousine’ service. All they do is put you into a normal taxi and charge you a hugely inflated fee. You’ll see these touts as soon as you enter the arrivals area at the airport. Politely smile, walk past them and go to the official taxi rank where you’ll be charged a mater fare plus an extra 50 baht. Note that you’ll be expected to pay for tollway fees which, to central Bangkok may cost around 100 baht. If you’re really suspicious about the toll fees just take a look at the tollbooths to ensure you’re being charged the right amount by your driver.

- Jump in, close the door and then tell the driver your destination. Usually by this time the taxi’s already moving and they’ll be less likely to kick you out if you refuse a fixed-rate fare.

- Never accept a fixed-rate fare even if you think the price is reasonable. The intention of the driver is to try and cheat you so don’t encourage them.

- If you want to have a bit of fun, get out of the taxi on the opposite side to the driver and ‘forget’ to close the door properly. This means the driver will have to stop the car, get out and close the door himself

- Tuk-Tuks don’t have meters and you’ll be ripped off 99% of the time you use one. Only use a tuk-tuk if you have an idea of what the fare should be already.

2) Tourist Attractions Closed

There are sometimes men in official-looking uniforms hanging around popular tourist attractions. These people often speak excellent English and are, on the surface very honest and friendly. Their ultimate goal is to persuade you to purchase over-priced gemstones and they’ll be working as part of a team.

Often you’ll be informed an attraction is closed because the government are auctioning gemstones that day or you’ll be shown a map of alternative attractions nearby which will likely include some gem stores.

If this happens, smile, explain politely that you’re meeting a friend inside and continue to your destination.

3) Gem Scams

Whether you’ve been coerced into a government gem auction (see #2) or you’ve wandered into a jewelers on your own accord and curiosity you’ll be hard-pressed to know the true value of anything in a Thai gem store.

Be wary of gemstores which receive coachloads of tourists on package yours and don’t think you’re smart enough to know whether a stone is genuine, fake, synthetic or just over-priced.

Thailand is great for cheap costume jewelry so if you see something that looks nice and you’re not being persuaded you’re buying something of value then by all means fill your suitcase but if you aren’t a gem expert then you’re best to stay clear.

If you are adamant in buying gemstones then make your purchase by credit card so you’ve at least got some consumer protection.

4) Free Tuk-Tuks

You’ll find some Tuk-Tuk drivers who’ll offer to take you round the city for free. The catch of course is that they’ll not actually take you to where you really want to go to. Instead you’ll be taken to massage parlours, tailor shops and gem shops where the drivers get petrol coupons and / or commissions.

You can be assured that none of these places are going to offer you anything of value and eventually your driver will get fed up of you just window shopping and will probably just drive off.

Feel free to take up the driver on his offer if you have no plans in particular and fancy whiling away a few hours though.

5) Falling in Love With a Bar Girl

This is covered in minute detail on every Thailand-based website and I’m not going to discuss it here. Just be aware that if you meet a girl in a bar in Bangkok, don’t trust one word that comes out of their mouth. If you’re a single guy then feel free to have a bit of fun but never convince yourself that the girl has fallen in love with you. If a girl isn’t charging you for their time and they’re cleaning your apartment and ironing your clothes, you can bet they’re looking to cheat you in creative – and often dangerous ways.

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Finally,

Despite everything I’ve mentioned above I do want to make it very clear that Thailand is an exceptionally safe country. I’ve left wallets, sunglasses, cellphones in public places only to return hours later to collect it from the honest citizen who’s kept it safe for me.

I’ve met strangers in the street who’ve invited me to live with them (and I did do), I’ve been offered free drinks at every party, celebration and festival here – most especially from intoxicated guys who, at first glance look like they’d be trouble.

The people who tend to have problems here are people who get aggressive at problems, who behave antisocially after a few drinks and who’d attract trouble anywhere in the world they’d go.

The rest of you should have a safe, fun and extremely friendly experience here.

After a predictable stop at ChockChai Farm for our routine burger we arrived at Pimai temple in Korat.

The temple itself is derelict, it is still a hub of tourism and seems to be used for festivals. We were all impressed by how much the ruins looked like Ankor Wat in Cambodia.

Tik’s real motivation for taking us here was to take photos. My personal favorite was her “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” shot, modeled by Craig and Carey.

Considering we were only here for about 45 minutes I’m astounded to see that, after editing and deleting a load of pictures Tik still managed to take 88 photos during this time.

Click Here For More Photos

This time last year I was in peak condition having spent three months training for the Bangkok 10k fun run. I’d lost a load of weight and was full of energy.

One year on I’ve never been heavier so I’ve been getting back into running for the past 2 weeks. As a benchmark today I decided to run in the park to see how my time compared to my adequate 75 minutes last year.

I was 10 minutes slower, however this time I was running in the middle of the day, I was on my own too so had little motivation to keep to a decent pace, I also ran out of water after 3km and I was carrying a bulky bag with me.

The winter season is definitely here now and even after running 10k, getting a motorbike to meet mum and dad and then returning tot he park for an hours cycling I returned home bone dry. Considering I break out into fountains for sweat leaving the apartment to go to the local shops this was a real precedent.

This is definitely the time to up my training and to make the most of the fantastic running weather.

I am seriously committed to completing the full 40km Bangkok marathon in November 2010 so this run today was the first of many.

‘Flight of the Gibbon’ is a series of zip-lines fixed high into the forest canopy which one swings between for both the adrenaline rush and for the incredible views of the forest.

There are three Flight of the Gibbon branches now in Thailand; Chonburi (the largest and newest), one in Chiang Mai and there will soon be one in Koh Pangnan. Carey also said there was a similar (but smaller) service in Koh Samui running under a different name.

We were lucky that there was just the three of us and one other gentleman called Aly so that we were not waiting around too long between lines. We were aided by two staff members who did an excellent job of keeping us safe and confident at all times.

At about 1,200 baht for Thais and around 2,000 baht for foreigners this wasn’t a cheap day out but considering the ziplines lasted nearly three hours and the price included full access to Kow Kiew Zoo and a reasonable lunch it was actually very good value.

To learn more about Flight of the Gibbon, click here.

To view the rest of our photos, click here.

We currently get so little free time these days that I’ve begun planning our only day of leisure to make sure we are still getting some fresh air, some exercise , doing something new and meeting friends.

Carey has returned to stay with us this week and after an early morning swim we headed to Chatuchak weekend market to explore the artwork and puppies there.

After a couple of hours we then headed to Suan Rot Fai Park and met up with my Thai couchsurfing friend Pom and her friend for a bike ride. The park is large and seems especially designed for cycling. Hiring bikes costs only 20-30 baht for the entire day and, although the brakes were a little unresponsive I can’t really complain for the nominal price we paid.

We cycled for about an hour then stopped by one of the lakes in the park to do some painting which was a nice novelty and in the evening we returned to a great Japanese cafe we found recently in our area.

This is the kind of Sunday I love having when we stay in Bangkok and I plan to return to Suan Rot Fai more often to run.

The full photo set is here.

We had a fantastic week with Alika, Chris and Ingrid when they came to stay.

I’ve seen Alika three times now. The first time she came to stay with us in Bangkok Garden when she was about 1 year old. I’m not usually so impressed with children but she was, without doubt, the most well-behaved and fun child I’d ever laid eyes on.

We met up again for about half a day last year when Chris’s family stopped in Bangkok for some dental work before flying to Europe. Alika was 3 at the time and, although she wasn’t talking, she was very giggly and was as fun as I remembered her.

This time around Alika was 4 and has very confidently mastered the art of talking.

I was certainly excited to see her again and she exceeded all my expectations. Again, perfectly well-behaved, a huge bundle of energy and the most positive outlook any 4 year old could ever have.

For the whole week Alika did not once complain, whinge, cry – despite getting about the same hours sleep as we got and having to trawl all over Bangkok every day.

Kudos to Chris and Ingrid for bring her up so well. I was so impressed by how reasonable she seemed to be. We took her to two places that were closed and she accepted it without complaining. Although most of my conversations with her verged on the silly side, when we sat down to discuss what she’d be doing that day it was as if I was talking to somebody 5 times her age. It’s the only time I’ve ever felt broody myself.

Every morning she woke up with a big smile on her face, desperate to play and, although Tik and I were busy, we made a big effort to spend time with her.

When they left, Tik and I both missed coming back at the end of the day to somebody so full of fun to enjoy our evening with. It was like having a toilet-trained speaking puppy dog.

We have some lovely photos online here.

For those of you wondering; Yes we are planning to start a family soon. Hopefully around the middle of 2010.

We booked into the Sunbeam hotel and upgraded to a large room with complimentary minibar (no alcohol though) and a much-appreciated large bathtub.

We visited the new floating market which is completely artificial, very touristy but attractive and the price of food was reasonable. It’s a good place to browse.

Tik treated me to a morning at KhaoKiew Open zoo where I got to visit one of my favorite animals – the Binturong (bear-cat) and, as a bonus we got to see some tiny hippos too.

The rest of the photos are here

Most people we known prefer now to stay in the road behind Khao Sarn which is called ‘Thannon Rambutree’. Rambutree has similar amenities for backpackers such as guesthouses, cheap cafes, travel agents and bookstores but it’s a lot quieter than Khao sarn and we much prefer it.

We had no real aim for the day but I really do love eating at ‘Oh My Cod’ restaurant as their large cooked breakfast is a real treat.

We spent a lot of the day just walking round the area, enjoying the fresher air than we get in central Bangkok. We were really looking for a nice park where we could sit and do some reading. Tik had coursebooks to get through and it’s been a long time that I’ve had much opportunity to get into a book myself.

We found a small park which attracted a group of dancers and performance artists so whilst we read our books we could keep an eye on some local entertainment too.

We enjoyed walking round Pra-A-tid Road which has a very European feel to it and some lovely looking cafes and shops.

After that we returned back to Khao Sarn road to eat some Israeli food at a large guesthouse at the end of the road and return home in the evening.

Sorry for the long delay and the lack of blog updates for what was truly a lovely holiday.

Since returning I’ve been snowed under with work and only just had time recently to upload and organize everything.

The remaining photos from the week are online here.

You can click on it to zoom in.

Sadly, with the supermarket closed half-day on sunday, and as all the dcent cafes had closed their kitchen when we wanted to eat we resorted to a Mcdonalds for lunch

I find the German accent so hard sounding that I felt that everybody at the airport was somehow shouting at me. I boarded the connecting flight to Malta feeling like a naughty schoolboy who was being disciplined by his teacher. Wow those Lufthansa air hostesses are big. Compared to the petite frames of the Thai airways staff these women scared the crap of me.

I found Mum, Dad and Lisa waiting for their bags at Malta airport. They had arrived just a few minutes earlier from Manchester so it was practical for us all to share the hotel taxi together.

We are here during a heatwave. It was 38 degrees outside – significantly hotter than Thailand!

We are staying at the Hotel Juliani. This is a lovely hotel that usually caters to business guests. The rooms are clean, each having large TVs, DVD players and a large bath. The staff are very friendly, very professional and I’d highly recommend staying here.

Our family had arrived first so we headed to the rooftop pool to await the rest of the group.

We have a nice view of St. Julians bay, although admittedly there doesn’t seem to be one attractive building visible in this part of the country. This photo below is the view from the 9th floor swiming pool area.

Jason, Stuart, Rebecca, Michelle and Grandma arrived a couple of hours later and joined us by the pool. It doesn’t seem like there’s really much to do in this part of the town and although we’ve not really panned anything, it looks like most of our time will be spent relaxing by the pool. We are all quite sensitive to the high prices of everything and a lot of activities don’t seem to be very good value for money.

Grandma has booked us all in with full board and we met for dinner at seven thirty. The hotels ‘Zest’ restaurant is highly regarded in the area and is open to the public as well.

The restaurant and food was fantastic. I had a quail salad appetizer, beef shallots and a dessert bento set. We’ll be eating here for another 6 nights so I’ll no doubt be adding more photos soon.

Below: Stuart showing off his Quail salad.

After dinner, all of us except Grandma and Michelle took a walk around the bay.

Today and tomorrow there is a religious fiesta taking place and we were told to expect fireworks.

For the first 90 minutes we saw just one mediocre firework every few minutes but later on we got some good seats on the jetty and enjoyed an impressive show.

Sam is Australian and Orna is Irish. They are traveling the world together and are heading to Koh Tao and then to Vietnam where they plan to teach English for 6 month.

Tik and I were both busy working this week but got the opportunity to take them for dinner at Fah Sai restaurant and, today to Crepes and Co for brunch.

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I’d seen videos of this park online and looked forward to how close we could get to the giraffes. The park itself was great value; 300 baht for westerners, 130 for Thais.

Outside the park we had the opportunity to play with an excitable lion cub and have a group photo with a pretty lethargic tiger.

The park itself was as I’d imagined it, animals so used to tourists that they stuck their heads right into the car.

I found the zebras a little aggressive. They constantly snarled and jumped at the giraffes in a bid to get into our windows.

Tik didn’t appreciate me shoving a carrot down her pants as the giraffes tongue invaded the car but I think the giraffe probably enjoyed himself.

A few seconds after this photo was taken mr camel decided he’d take a bite at my entire arm. Thankfully Tik had a medi-kit in the car to clean me up.

We have many more photos of the weekend here.

We chose a bank holiday weekend so a few guesthouses were booked up but we were lucky enough to find Sams Rafthouse which is along the river Kwai and not far from the infamous (and infamously dull) railway.

Although we were planning on only modest accommodation Tik was excited to be offered the VIP rafthouse with fully fitted bathroom. At 800 baht for the night this was very reasonable and the room was clean and well-maintained. We were looking forward to sitting outside on the floating patio and getting to know our new friends.

We sat outside on the porch, discussing life until late.

Tik and I went to see Gomorra at RCA’s House Cinema.

I’ve been craving a good Italian mafia movie since reading ‘The Godfather’ a few weeks ago.

I found Gomorra quite a hard movie to sit through. Cinematically it was great but it’s didn’t hold my interest as much as I thought it would have done and my attention wandered towards the end.

We are currently hosting Eddie, a lecturer from California and Teague from England. We were also joined by Patrick and Simone.

I’m a few hours away from being able to juggle but even after an hour with Eddie I’ve made a lot of progress. Tomorrow I’ll go out and buy my own balls to practice with.

We enjoyed playing Wii with them.