DIRECTORY A-Z
TELEPHONE
ash from rice husks, and
another coating of lacquer
is applied. A high-quality
item may have seven lay-
ers of lacquer. The piece is
then engraved and painted
and polished to remove
the paint from everywhere
except in the engravings.
Multicoloured lacquerware is
produced by repeated ap-
plications.
From start to fi nish it can
take fi ve or six months to
produce a high-quality piece
of lacquerware, which may
have as many as fi ve colours.
Flexibility is one character-
istic of good lacquerware:
a well-made bowl can have
its rim squeezed together
until the sides meet with-
out suff ering damage. The
quality and precision of the
engraving is another thing to
look for.Tex tile s
The northeast is famous for
mát·mèe cloth – a thick cot-
ton or silk fabric woven from
tie-dyed threads, similar to
Indonesia’s ikat fabrics. Surin
Province is renowned for its
mát·mèe silk often showcas-
ing colours and geometric
patterns inherited from
Khmer traditions.
In the north, silks refl ect
the infl uence of the Lanna
weaving traditions, brought
to Chiang Mai and the sur-
rounding mountains by the
various Tai tribes.
Fairly nice Ъah•đé (batik)
is available in the south in
patterns that are more simi-
lar to the batik found in Ma-
laysia than in Indonesia.
Each hill tribe has a tradi-
tion of embroidery that has
been translated into the
modern marketplace as
bags and jewellery. Much of
what you’ll fi nd in the mar-
ketplaces has been machine
made, but there are many
NGO cooperatives that help
villagers get their handmade
goods to the consumers.
Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai
are fi lled with handicraft
outlets.Telephone
The telephone country code
for Thailand is %66 and
is used when calling the
country from abroad. All
Thai telephone numbers are
preceded by a ‘0’ if you’re
dialling domestically (the ‘0’
is omitted when calling from
overseas). After the initial
‘0’, the next three numbers
represent the provincial area
code, which is now integral to
the telephone number. If the
initial ‘0’ is followed by an ‘8’,
then you’re dialling a mobile
phone.International Calls
If you want to call an inter-
national number from a
telephone in Thailand, you
must fi rst dial an interna-
tional access code plus the
country code followed by the
subscriber number.
In Thailand, there are
various international access
codes charging diff erent
rates per minute. The stand-
ard direct-dial prefi x is %001;
it is operated by CAT and is
considered to have the best
sound quality; it connects to
the largest number of coun-
tries but is also the most
expensive. The next best is
%007, a prefi x operated by
TOT with reliable quality and
slightly cheaper rates. Econ-
omy rates are available with
%007, %008 and %009;
both of which use Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP), with
varying but adequate sound
quality.
The following are some
common international coun-
try codes: %61 Australia,
%44 UK and %1 US.
Many expats use DeeDial
(www.deedial.com), a direct-
dial service that requires a
prepaid account managed
through the internet. The
cheapest service they off er is
the ‘ring-back’ feature, which
circumvents local charges on
your phone.
There are also a variety
of international phonecards
available through CAT (www.
cthai.com) off ering promo-tional rates of less than 1B
per minute.
Dial %100 for operator-
assisted international calls or
reverse-charges (collect) call.
Alternatively, contact your
long-distance carrier for their
overseas operator number,
a toll-free call, or try % 001
9991 2001 from a CAT phone
and %1 800 000 120 from a
TOT phone.Mobile Phones
The easiest phone option
in Thailand is to acquire a
mobile (cell) phone equipped
with a local SIM card.
Thailand is on the GSM
network and mobile phone
providers include AIS, DTAC
and True Move.
You have two hand-phone
options: you can buy a mo-
bile phone in Thailand at
one of the urban shopping
malls or phone stores near
the markets in provincial
towns. Or you can use an
imported phone that isn’t
SIM-locked (and one that
supports the GSM network).
To get started buy a SIM card
of a particular carrier (AIS
and DTAC are most popular),
which includes an assigned
telephone number. Once
your phone is SIM-enabled
you can buy minutes with
prepaid phonecards. SIM
cards and refi ll cards (usually
sold in 300B to 500B de-
nominations) can be bought
from 7-Elevens throughout
the country.
There are various promo-
tions but rates typically hover
at around 1B to 2B per minute
anywhere in Thailand and
between 5B and 9B for inter-
national calls. SMS is usually
3B per message, making it
the cheapest ‘talk’ option.
If you don’t have access to
a private phone you can use
a somewhat old-fashioned
way to call overseas through
a service called Home Coun-
try Direct, available at some
post offi ces and CAT centres
throughout the country.
Calling overseas through
phones in most hotel rooms
usually incurs additional
surcharges (sometimes