7 Things NOT to do in Thailand

I won't lie, I didn't know much about

Thailand before I got here. I knew about

Pad Thai and I knew about Phuket, but that

was about the full extent of my knowledge.

I actually did most of my reading on Thai

etiquette on the horrific 12-hour flight

between London and Thailand, and I've

pretty much winged it ever since. In

hindsight, there's a lot of things I know

comprehend before I got here. So today I

thought I would compile my overwhelming

knowledge and experience of living in

Thailand and create an epic video about

things you should never do whilst you're

in Thailand. So my first piece of advice

if you ever come to Thailand is probably

best to avoid the green and yellow taxis.

There's also pink taxis and they're

basically the same as the green and yellow

taxis, and these are your standard metered

taxis that you'd think, oh, there's no

harm getting into any of these. And 8 out

of 10 times, or maybe even 7 out of 10

times, you won't have problems inside of

these green and yellow taxis, but

sometimes you will get ripped off because

they see foreigners as easy prey to make

some extra money. And I have had personal

experience of using these green and yellow

taxis, and they turned off the meter and

they charged me like triple or 4 times the

price of what it should have actually

cost. I would highly recommend you

download an app called Grab. It's

basically exactly the same as Uber, and

you just book your taxi on this app. You

enter the location, the destination you

want to go to, and it calculates how much

it's going to cost. And then you pay on

the app, and you don't have to tip the

driver. Well, you can if you want to, but

you already just pay on the app. You don't

have to pay in the taxi, and the fee is

calculated based on the distance you've

entered inside of the app. So you can't

really get ripped off. But when you're in

a green and yellow taxi, and if they turn

off the meter, which has happened to me,

then they can just charge you whatever

they want to charge you. The reason why

I'm very upset about green and yellow

taxis is because this one time I was going

to immigration, there's actually 2

immigration centers here, and I went to

the wrong immigration center, and I was in

a rush. I was kind of stressed out because

I didn't want to waste my entire day in

immigration centers, so I wanted to get to

the other immigration center as quickly as

possible. I saw a green and yellow taxi

waiting outside, and I just jumped in. I

said, can you take me to the immigration

center? And it was just a 15-minute ride,

and we got there, and he charged me like

400 baht. And I thought that was kind of

expensive, but I just paid anyway. And

then I checked later on the Grab app to

see the same distance, how much that would

have cost, the same ride, and it said it

would have only cost 80 baht. So he

charged me more than triple the price for

a 15-minute taxi ride, and I was kind of

annoyed, but I just paid anyway because I

was in a hurry. I wanted to get to the

immigration center quickly and get all the

visa stuff finished and done with. I would

say the only downside of using Grab is

sometimes it does take over 10 minutes for

a driver to get to you. So if you're in a

rush or you don't really care that much

about the price and you just want to jump

into a taxi, then okay, maybe the green

and yellow taxis would be a better choice.

And you can always just ask them to make

sure the meter is turned on. If you see it

turned off, then maybe just get out or

tell him to turn it on. I would also say

don't use the tuk-tuks. They're just kind

of like tourist attraction, tourist trap

things. Yeah, they can be kind of fun and

exciting to do one or two times, but they

also rip you off and charge you maybe

double or triple the amount a normal taxi

would charge you. They're very noisy and

they go very fast. So yeah, it's like a

bit of fun, but I wouldn't use a tuk-tuk

as a cost-efficient way to get around the

city. I would also recommend that you

avoid the street food. I know a lot of

people come here because of the street

food and they love trying out the

delicacies and the local foods, but that's

kind of like a risky thing to do. If you

want to get diarrhea or food poisoning,

then be my guest and try the street food,

but I personally would not touch street

food. It's extremely cheap but also risky

if you're not from these parts. If you're

from the West like I am, or any kind of

first world country, then you're probably

going to have difficulties when you go to

the toilet if you have a lot of street

food. It's kind of like a gamble, kind of

a risk. My sister came to Thailand

Thailand for just a few days, and she

tried the street food, and she got food

poisoning and was vomiting in the toilet

for hours. Now the problem is, even if you

do avoid the street food, you're probably

going to get diarrhea anyway, because I

don't know what it is with being in

Thailand. I've been here for nearly a

year, and I've had diarrhea for basically

every single day. I have not been able to

push out a solid log since I got here,

and I have no idea why. I do my own

cooking. I don't eat street food. I don't

eat junk food on the streets, or like

weird restaurants, or weird Thai food. I

cook my own rice and vegetables and meats

and just fry pan it or cook it in the air

fryer. But still, I have toilet problems

that I've never had anywhere else in the

world. So maybe before you come, maybe you

want to bring some kind of stomach or

toilet medicine. I've tried a lot of

things. I tried taking vitamin C

supplements. I tried taking zinc

supplements. I tried eating more fiber,

more cruciferous vegetables. I tried

cutting out dairy products, tried cutting

out coffee. Nothing seems to make any kind

of difference. I even drink those Yakult

probiotic yogurts thinking there's

something wrong with my gut bacteria,

bioflora, which there probably is, but I

don't know how to fix it. Thirdly, I would

say do not use your feet to do anything.

So for some reason, people in Thailand

have like this funny thing about feet

where they think feet are like these

disgusting dirty things and very

disrespectful to use your feet to do

anything. So for example, sometimes I'd

come home with the shopping and my hands

are full and I want to open the door So I

just use my foot to push the door open,

or I use my foot to press the elevator

button because I don't have my hands free.

And my girlfriend was very upset when I

did this and told me off and said I should

never use my foot to do anything ever

again. You know, sometimes you're being

lazy and you're watching TV and you're

slouched back in the sofa and you want to

get the remote controller, but it's too

far away, and I would just use my foot to

grab the remotes with. I have kind of long

toes, so I use my foot kind of like my

hand, and I can press buttons and stuff

using my toes, which I often do. And she

doesn't like it. She says it's like very

disrespectful to use my feet like that.

And also, when I tap her with my foot,

she gets very upset. So I would be very

careful if you're a kind of person like me

who likes to use their feet. Next, I would

say do not drink the water here. The water

from the taps in my apartment tastes

really bad. The water is chemically

treated. It has stuff like chlorine and

all of these other chemicals in it, but

they don't filter the water. So it has

like this really horrible metallic taste

to it. And I'm pretty sure it's unhealthy

if you drink this water. Most people here,

they just buy bottled water or they have

those big massive bottles, those huge

gallon jugs of water delivered directly to

their place. The water's fine if you're

just going to have a shower and you get

the water on your sensitive bits. I

haven't had any problems with my sensitive

bits. Coming into contact with the tap

water or the shower water. Just don't let

it get into your mouth and accidentally

drink it because you'll probably have

problems and get diarrhea. I think if

you're staying in like a high-end

expensive luxury hotel or condo, then they

might have their own filtration system in

the building and the water will be fine to

drink. But in most places, especially

cheap and poor places, the water is going

to be very questionable. Next, I would say

be very careful with those big lizards.

There's these Komodo dragons, they're

called monitor lizards, which are kind of

like a type of Komodo dragon, and they

just kind of roam around in the parks here

in Thailand. And if you go to like the,

the slummy, ugly neighborhoods that are

usually around the rivers here, then

you'll find them just roaming around

eating trash and eating dead stuff. And

they are kind of— well, they're not

dangerous, they won't attack you unless

you go up to them and poke them or

something. But I have heard they have,

they have like millions of bacteria in

their mouth, and one bite, if you don't go

to a hospital, then if you get bitten once

you could probably die in like 15 minutes

because of the amount of flesh-eating

bacteria that's found within their mouths.

If you're coming here with your family or

you've got kids, I really wouldn't

recommend going to places like Nana Plaza

or Soi Cowboy because they're kind of like

adult entertainment districts. I went to

Nana Plaza and within the first 10 minutes

I was there, I saw— I kid you not— I saw a

completely naked man just walking down the

street and I saw his thing and it was

really disgusting. I would also recommend

not going on one of those speedboat tour

guides where they take you around to a

bunch of different islands and do

different activities like swimming and

snorkeling. I went to Phuket with my

girlfriend and we went on one of these

speedboat tour guides, and it was probably

one of the worst experiences I've ever

had. So you go to these very nice-looking

tropical islands, and yeah, the sea's very

nice and it's fun to swim, And it's very

beautiful and everything, but the ride in

the speedboats is just really horrible.

And the waves— maybe it's just bad luck

for me, but the waves were very choppy and

I felt so sick. You're on this speedboat

for like 40 minutes bouncing up and down

on these waves, and when the boat hits the

waves, the whole thing shakes and then

bounces again and flies off up into the

air and then crashes back down onto the

waves. And you're getting splashed in the

face with seawater because the boat's

design is very bad. The boat has a roof,

but there's a little gap in between the

roof and the sides of the walls of the

boat. So when it hits a wave and the water

splashes, it gets in through the gaps and

splashes you in the face. The seawater

kept getting in my face and dripping into

my eyes, and my eyes were burning and

stinging. Didn't have a towel to dry my

eyes. It was a really unpleasant

experience, and by the time we got to the

islands, I just was in such a bad mood.

And I felt so sick I didn't really feel

like doing much. If you are going to go on

one, I'd recommend bringing a towel and

just wrapping it around your face. I ended

up taking a towel out of my bag and I just

wrapped it around my face and my head so I

wouldn't get splashed in the face with the

water anymore. You also don't get much

time at each of the islands. You get about

30 minutes or 40 minutes before they

shepherd you off and take you off to the

next location, and then you just get maybe

half an hour there as well, and then you

get rounded up and sent back on the boat.

So unfortunately, it wasn't a very great

experience, and I can't really recommend

doing it, and I wouldn't do it again if I

had the choice.