Food in Thailand is customarily HOT, spicy HOT. Most Westerners cannot handle the level of spice that Thai people enjoy. To help you order a tasty and pleasurable meal, I would advise any visiting Westerner to use one of the following two phrases (based upon your preference):

1. "my pet", meaning "not spicy:; and
2. "pet nit noy", meaning "a little bit spicy".

The food is awesome in Thailand and this tip should help you enjoy it even more.  Be aware that if you do ask for no or little spice the dish may likely to still be quite spicy.  There is residual chilli oil in the dishes they use to make their delicious foods.

Building your tolerance to the Thai spicy levels helps immensely to enjoy the food here.  Fortunately I am now able to eat at the Thai level of spice but it did take as much as a year (and I do recommend a slow build up).  In fact I would now put myself in the upper percentile for being able to handle the spiciness. Believe me, my body still reacts to the chilis, initially with hiccups to the first few bits then after I get used to the spiciness my nose starts to run, and will continue to run through the rest of meal. Why do I do it you might ask? Well I have found that the chili enhances the other flavors and I now fully understand why the Thai people eat spice at that level. 

​There are two airports that service the Bangkok Greater Metropolitan Area, Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi Airports.  Don Muang is located about 30 minutes north of Bangkok's Center City and Suvarnabhumi Airport is about 30 minutes south of Bangkok.  Getting into the Bangkok Greater Metropolitan Area using public transportation can be easy, and here is how:

Bangkok's Airport Link began operating on April of 2010, making travel to the  Suvarnabhumi Airport much easier for those living here.  There are two lines that run to the airport from Phaya Thai and Makkasan Stations located in center city Bangkok, the Express Line and the City Line.  The Express line cost 90 baht one-way and the City Line cost per stop and ranges from 15 to 45 baht.  The City Line takes about 35 minutes and is likely adequate with only a little bit of preplanning to get to the airport on time for a scheduled flight.  The Express Line reportedly takes 17 minutes. These train line operate from 6 am to Midnight every day. 

The City of Bangkok has made traveling to Bangkok City very easy by providing a Bus route from both terminals at the airport to both the BTS (elevated commuter train) and the MRT (Subway Commuter Train).  The Bus is designated "A1" and picks up at the arrivals area of each terminal.  The ride is only 30 Baht and the trip to the trains takes only 20 minutes to the trains.  

I have purposely left out "getting there" information in my blogs but religiously placed Google Map links to the various destinations. This is because I think it is often the traveling that makes the destination more interesting. But here is some advice for getting to the Thailand destination and back again, once you have decided on which destination you want to explore.​

• Understand the vast majority of taxi drivers do not understand English, so a little preparation is necessary.
• Take a location card from your hotel, written in Thai, for your return trip.
• Determine if the destination of interest is near a train station (for Bangkok destinations) and use the train, getting close helps with the taxi.
• Use the Google Map on your smartphone which often presents the place name in English and Thai. If you do not have Internet access while you are roaming overseas, create screen shots at the hotel before you leave.
• If Google Map does not have the place name in Thai, ask the hotel concierge to write it down. Hotels will often help with setting up the trip for you as well. This isn't as fun, only because it isn't really striking out on your own and it will cost you more money.
• Car rental companies will rent a car with a drivers license that is in English. Driving yourself makes things easier as you can use the Google Navigator function. Google Map is quite accurate in Thailand these days. Just keep mind that if the destination is in one of the bigger cities parking will likely be an issue. 

Examples of my maps are found below: