Author: Kevin Cook

After slipping customary plastic covers over our shoes and sanitizing our hands at the door, we entered a coffee shop on the 13th floor of an apartment building in Shanghai which is home to about twenty cats. We sat down at a small table, ordered coffee, and waited for the cat experience to begin. It…

Russians in Phuket are a bunch of stone-faced vacationers. They can be seen walking down the beach with their ever-frowning spouses and children, browsing beachside shops searching for something new to become angry about. You’d think a guy who retreats from a grey, cold country like Russia to go on holiday in beautiful Phuket would…

It’s pretty funny when Thais try to speak English. The language barrier is massive. It’s not like the simple English-to-Spanish language barrier, where you just add an ‘a’ to guitar and you’ve got guitara. No, it’s much deeper than that. And when a brave Thai soul tries to cross the language moat that divides us,…

In Thailand, ladyboys are all over the place. Thai people call them kathoey. Their big feet, low voices and Adam’s apples are usually a dead giveaway, but some are better disguised than others. Cosmetic surgery today makes it feasible to shave off that adam’s apple and pack on a pair of silicone c-cups. Apply some…

All Thai people have nicknames. Their full names are really long, so this is a way to cut it down a bit. Nicknames are typically bestowed upon a child based on the interests, hobbies and occupations of their parents. Some nicknames are downright awesome. Using a roster of the 650+ students I teach, I made…

I recently participated in ATI’s “Special Thai Project” in Phuket, Thailand to receive a TESOL certification and guaranteed job placement. Here’s my review of the experience. First off, it’s real. Aside from mercilessly spamming TESOL sites like Dave’s ESL Cafe and Ajarn.com with ads, ATI doesn’t have a strong web presence. And the presence it does have is disorganized (they have like…

Thai chicken with basil (kra pao gai) is my favorite Thai dish. This spicy, aromatic meal is available throughout the country, but nobody makes it better than the woman in this video. Her name is Emmy. She runs a modest but cozy outdoor restaurant across the street from my apartment in Pua, Nan. For 25…

Beer aficionados won’t be impressed with Thailand’s limited selection of domestic brews, but if you’ve got an open mind, Thailand’s beer can certainly get you tossed as well as any. Chang, Singha and Leo make up the holy trinity of Thai beers. In this brief guide, I analyze this trifecta of bevies and offer my suggestions to tourists seeking suds…