Airport exit tax and other Thailand Local Custom Tips

At the time of writing (august 2002) there is an exit airport tax of 500 baht to be paid only in cash. it is normally sold at authomatic vending machines, but there are a couple of desks too where you can purchase it. Please remember that they only accept baht - credit cards, travellers cheques or foreign currencies will be laughed upon and refused. Officials may or may not check your ticket anywhere inside the departure area - and if you fail to have one the claim you may get fined (and i bet u will be).

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There are debates about hill-tribes around northern Thailand. Some are real refugees who entered Thailand to seek refuge from comflicts in their home lands, other are rumoured to have been imported as tourist attractions. if this is true it's surely sad, and I would regret having been to three of their villages in thee Mae Hong Son area. I visited a Lisu vilage (people wear wonderful colourful clothes but tend to be quite more interested in selling their crafts than in meeting people), a Karen village (women have amazing long necks, or some long ears, and they are truly majestic and friendly) and a Hmong village (people are less flashy in their appearane but turned out to be friendliest of the lot, especially their adorable children).

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All over Thailand there are several massage parlours, some are even of the respectable kind (in this case you can normally see the massage area from the street). Average prices (july 2002) are 200 baht for foot massage and 150 baht for thai massage. As a general note I must add that thai massage did not impress me much - it was nice to try once - but they twist and turn u a lot... not as relaxing as I would like it. On the other hand foot massage was really relaxing and regenerating, especially after a day out sightseeing and exploring

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it took me a while to understand what, in shops, those orange buckets filled with food, soaps, toothpastes and cadles were for - admittedly i'm kind of slow. Then, when I saw a bucket next to a box of some orange candles, it dawned on me that one can buy those buckets to donate to monks. Not knowing the exact procedure to give it to a monk i did not buy one... but i thought it was a really touching idea to sell ready-made buckets filled with basic necessary items.

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