The Five Fads of Expat Life In Thailand

Every so often the expat community goes a bit crazy for a new product or service. After six months or so we realize that said product or service is actually a bit pants. Below are five expat fads I’ve experienced in my time living in Thailand.

Ride Hailing Services

Uber, Grab and Line Man have all gone through the mill of being lauded and then somewhat forgotten.

The ability to get a taxi by using your phone appealed to many expats to ensure their driver knew where they were going, didn’t try to avoid the meter and could be reviewed afterwards. The reason these services turned into a fad was two-fold.

Firstly, Uber was doing really well and could have, in my opinion, become a mainstay of expat life in Thailand. However, they decided they didn’t want to be here and sold up to Grab. The general feedback was that Grab wasn’t as good as Uber and prices seemed to creep up.

Secondly, everything seemed rosy for these services, that was until they stopped giving out discount codes and people saw the real price. Further to that, the novelty of having a personal car, rather than a traditional taxi, wore off after a while, especially when you were paying much more for it.

You’ll still find people using these apps but mainly from difficult to find locations or around the party zones late at night when normal taxis decide not to play by the rules….

Craft Beer

I remember the first time I went to get a craft beer with my colleagues after work. One of the guys saw a new beer house was open just down the road and we all headed there together to get a beer. What happened next is something seemingly repeated throughout the expat community, we all turned a little Thai. Nobody wanted to ‘lose face’ by saying “Screw this, 220 baht for a half pint, lets just get a normal beer”. We all just stood frozen, looked at the price board, found the cheapest half and then made an excuse to leave after one.

There are still a lot of craft beer places in Thailand but many of them are pretty empty, one of my friends even visited one recently where the owner was sleeping on a sofa, he obviously wasn’t expecting any customers.

There was a time when the expat community here was going crazy over craft beer. Perhaps the unique flavors were a novelty or a reminder of home. It’s hard to argue about the quality, the beer does taste nice. However, a large proportion of expats soon decided that local beers weren’t too bad really…

Any International Chain Restaurant

I probably could have made an article just on the different restaurant and snack providers who launched in Thailand to huge expat fanfare only to be forgotten about within weeks.

Donuts, burgers, pancakes and tacos have all been lauded by expats as American chains have arrived in Thailand in the last five years or so. The nostalgia obviously made people forget about the crap quality of these generic brands.

To be fair, the lines out of the shops are usually made up of Thais who are either keen to see what the fuss is about or expats who don’t know any better. It turns out that the food from that very average restaurant from your home country is probably pretty pants here too.

Leicester City

Perhaps a bit mean this one. However, with Leicester being owned by Thais, the year they won the Premier League the team were huge here in Thailand. After a few months of the following season the Leicester replica shirts were thrown away and the Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea ones were back out. That’s what happens here when you don’t win.

As expats we all have our own teams, but, for a few months, a lot of us Brits were talking Leicester City everyday. They almost became a second team for many via proxy of living in Thailand.

I enjoyed that season, it’s not as fun talking about the big teams winning. The Leicester triumph is a once in a generation event and I feel quite lucky to have been in Thailand whilst it happened.

Pai

Not a product or service but the town of Pai in northern Thailand.

When I first arrived it was a beautiful, quiet town in the north with beautiful views and lots to do. It was often lauded by expats as the place to go in Thailand for a relaxing break. Nowadays it is Khao San in the country.

The abundance of hostels, shops selling tatty souvenirs and bars catering to backpackers has totally changed the atmosphere of the place. Obviously, if the backpacker scene is your thing then perhaps you’ll love it there still.

There are probably some I’ve missed or didn’t experience myself so feel free to add them in the comments box below!