Thailand - Understand & Survival (Chapter)

DIRECTORY A-Z

INTERNET ACCESS

• even if you’re already on
  the road.
  See p 776 for recommen-
  dations on health insurance
  and p 774 for details on vehi-
  cle insurance.

Internet Access

You’ll fi nd plenty of internet

cafes just about everywhere.

The going rate is anywhere

from 40B to 120B an hour,

depending on how much

competition there is. Con-

nections tend to be pretty

fast and the machines are

usually well maintained. Wire-

less access (wi-fi ) is usually

available in most hotels and

guest houses though staff

aren’t adept at fi xing downed

services. Wi-fi signal strength

deteriorates in the upper

fl oors of a multistorey build-

ing so check to see if your

fl oor has a nearby router.

Legal Matters

In general, Thai police don’t

hassle foreigners, especially

tourists. They generally go

out of their way to avoid

having to speak English with

a foreigner especially regard-

ing minor traffi c issues.

One major exception

is drugs, which most Thai

police view as either a social

scourge against which it’s

their duty to enforce the let-

ter of the law, or an opportu-

nity to make untaxed income

via bribes.

If you are arrested for any

off ence, the police will allow

you the opportunity to make

a phone call to your embassy

or consulate in Thailand, if

you have one, or to a friend

or relative if not. There’s

a whole set of legal codes

governing the length of time

and manner in which you

can be detained before being

charged or put on trial, but a

lot of discretion is left to the

police. In the case of foreign-

ers the police are more likely

to bend these codes in your

favour. However, as with

police worldwide, if you don’t

show respect you will make

matters worse.

Thai law does not pre-

sume an indicted detainee to

be either ‘guilty’ or ‘innocent’

but rather a ‘suspect’, whose

guilt or innocence will be

decided in court. Trials are

usually speedy.

The tourist police

(%1155) can be very helpful

in cases of arrest. Although

they typically have no ju-

risdiction over the kinds of

cases handled by regular

cops, they may be able

to help with translations

or with contacting your

embassy. You can call the

hotline number 24 hours a

day to lodge complaints or

to request assistance with

regards to personal safety.

Maps

ThinkNet (www.thinknet.

co.th) produces high-quality,

bilingual city and country

maps, including interactive-

map CDs. For GPS users in

Thailand, most prefer the

Garmin units and the associ-

ated map products that are

accurate and fully routed.

Money

The basic unit of Thai cur-

rency is the baht. There are

100 satang in one baht; coins

include 25-satang and 50-sa-

tang pieces and baht in 1B,

2B, 5B and 10B coins. Older

coins have Thai numerals

only, while newer coins have

Thai and Arabic numerals.

The 2B coin is similar in size

to the 1B coin but it is gold in

colour. The two satang coins

are typically only issued at

supermarkets where prices

aren’t rounded up to the

nearest baht.

Paper currency is issued in

the following denominations:

20B (green), 50B (blue),

100B (red), 500B (purple)

and 1000B (beige).

ATMs & Credit/Debit

Cards

Debit and ATM cards is-

sued by a bank in your own

country can be used at ATMs

around Thailand to withdraw

cash (in Thai baht only) di-

rectly from your account back

home. ATMs are widespread

throughout the country and

can be relied on for the bulk of

your spending cash. You can

also use ATMs to buy baht at

foreign-exchange booths at

some banks.

Thai ATMs now charge

a 150B foreign-transaction

fee on top of whatever cur-

rency conversion and out-

of-network fees your home

bank charges. That means

that ATMs are now a lot

more expensive to use than

in the past. Before leaving

home, shop around for a

bank account that has free

international ATM usage and

reimburses fees incurred at

other institution’s ATMs.

Aeon is the only bank that

we know of in Thailand that

doesn’t charge the 150B us-

age fee on foreign accounts

PRACTICALITIES

» (^) Bangkok Post and the Nation English-language news
daily.
» (^) There are more than 400AM and FM radio stations;
short-wave radios can pick up BBC, VOA, Radio Aus-
tralia, Deutsche Welle and Radio France International.
» (^) Six VHF TV networks carry Thai programming, plus
TrueVision cable with international programming.
» (^) The main video format is PAL.
» Thailand follows the international metric system.
Gold and silver are weighed in bàat (15g).