Thailand Stories

It’s 2013. The time when information is available at the tips of your fingers. The time when the world is so connected, whatever trends at one end of the world would catch on in the other in the matters of hours and days. Not too long ago, a person I just met asked me just about all…

When I bought my house, I had everything re-wired. This included the TV cables. We used a slightly more expensive cable that allows me to send extra signals around the house to every television set. This is basically two…

A few weeks back I started having problems with the “home button” on my iPhone 4. Not too serious at start but after a while I had to press the button hard 3 or 4 times to get it to work. I called True and they said that I should take it to my nearest service center. Not all True shops…

This weekend I am in Isaan for the launch of two new guidebooks. This first one is called “The Mekong: Journeys along the River of Life”. I have several copies of this new guidebook (in English and Thai) which I will be …

For a while now I have been looking for portable speakers that I can stream music to from my iPhone. I have seen several options come out in America that are wireless and stream music along your network to speakers in any room that you like in the house. At the moment I can …

I have been blogging about my trips in Thailand for many years. Normally I have to wait until I come back before I post my pictures and report. For a long time I have been wanting to be able to post my blogs live. Finally, earlier this year, technology caught up with me. …

It is easy to capture the screen of your iPhone or iPad and then send it to friends by email or twitter. I have used this sometimes to do a screen grab of Google Maps to show people where I am. I have also …

On your iPhone, you can now view your Picasa Photo albums and also bulk upload photos from your iPhone to old or new albums by using this free app called Piconhand – Picasa Web Albums on Your Hand . For a while now I have been looking for somewhere to upload my iPhone pictures while I am still …

The Tourism Authority of Thailand presents a new useful tool that lets you visit Thailand worry-free: the Speak Thai (EN) Application, your personal & portable translator with over 2,500 words for all your needs in Thailand. Communicate with Thai people anywhere, anytime with a…

There are many rumours going around at the moment about the imminent release of the iPhone 4 in Thailand. As the expected release date for the iPhone 4 nears, prices at MBK in the grey market are coming down. Is it now time to buy one or should we wait for the official release in …

We were happy to receive this article from Stephen Etheredge about his experiences of using an iPhone in Thailand. Stories like these are always worth their weight in gold. Please feel free to post a comment if you have anything to add. Having an…

It seems like a good idea to learn Thai on your smartphone. After all, it is always going to be with you wherever you go and so you have no excuse not to learn some phrases in a spare moment. My first learning Thai app is called SurvivalPhrases – Thai …

For most people using an iPhone in Thailand the iTunes Thai Store is pretty dismal. Up until recently you only had access to the iPhone app section. Now it looks like they allow us to browse podcasts as well. However, if you are like myself, and have an account at a store in your home country, then you …

I have said it before, but no-one believed me. This year will see the start of a significant number of people using e-guidebooks instead of hefting around large bricks that the Lonely Planet books are starting to resemble. Lonely Planet actually started to go the right direction when they offered as…

The QR code is basically a two-dimensional barcode that can contain a lot more information than the traditional barcode. The QR (Quick Response) code was first used in Japan in 1994.  In Japan, QR code is used widely in advertising media as most mobile phones can read this code. It hasn’t taken off …

What do smartphones, Twitter and the Red Shirt rallies in Bangkok have in common? The answer is simple. It has at times meant the difference between life and death for foreign tourists and expats in Bangkok. Maybe a little melodramatic, but it has a grain of truth. Without Twitter, and the …

The iPhone officially arrived in Thailand in January 2009. It was sold by True Move who enjoyed a monopoly until March 2010 when DTAC started selling the iPhone. Of course, unlocked iPhones have been around in Thailand since almost day one. Even the iPad could be found in Bangkok a few weeks after the American launch. However, no news yet when True…

One of my complaints about the iPhone is that the batteries tend to run out quickly if you are using it intensively for work. And as we all know, the batteries are built-in so you cannot carry around a spare. On my first walkabout at…

For the first time today my iPhone 3GS didn’t turn on. According to the Apple website, the following are two ways of turning it on or rebooting it. To restart iPhone , first turn iPhone off by pressing and holding the Sleep/Wake …