The Basics
TRANSLATION
FOOD
It is not possible to use online services like for instance google translate to translate text in Thai into text in English or any Nordic language. Single words are possible to translate with reasonable certainty. However, several apps can easily be downloaded on your mobile phone that will be able to help you with this. There are are also several handheld devices specifically developed to translate from Thai to English and from English to Thai, often with sound option. You will find them in the electronic department of any department store. For official translation of documents, there are many small and inexpensive service operators in the main tourist centres of Thailand.
The Thai cuisine is the national cuisine of Thailand. Blending elements of several Southeast Asian traditions, Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components. The spiciness of Thai cuisine is well known. As with other Asian cuisines, balance, detail and variety are of great significance to Thai chefs. Thai food is known for its balance of three to four fundamental taste senses in each dish or the overall meal: sour, sweet, salty, and bitter.
WEATHER Thailand has a tropical climate, high in both temperature and humidity. April and May are the hottest months of the year, then in June, the South West Monsoon brings with it the rainy season until October. From November to the end of February, there is a cooling North East breeze and a reduction in the humidity level. It is always much cooler in the north where the temperature may occasionally drop to as low as 2째C.
CULTURE The Thai culture incorporates cultural beliefs and characteristics indigenous to the area known as modern day Thailand. It is coupled with much influence from ancient India, China and Cambodia, along with the neighboring pre-historic cultures of Southeast Asia. It is influenced primarily by Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, as well as by later migrations from China and southern India.
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Thailand Expat Guide
THAILAND NEWS Thailand has a rich mix of English language media and even a few in various Nordic languages. The most comprehensive Nordic news website is www.scandasia.com serving news daily for Scandinavian residents in Thailand and other countries in South East Asia. For residents in Pattaya, there is a Norwegian newspaper and a Nordic magazine apart from the local pattayapeople.com website. The local news service in English is very good: Bangkok Post http://bangkokpost.newspaperdirect. com/epaper/viewer.aspx The Nation http://nationmultimediagroup.com Thai News Network http://www.thaitvonline.tv/thai-aseannews-tan-network/ Thai PBS in English http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/