Thailand Travel Facts & Tips - A few things you should know before your arrival

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Make sure to check out my previous post, "My Week in Thailand" here!

Facts + Tips

One reason why I love to travel so much is because no matter where you go, whether it is a different city in the country you are from or somewhere on the opposite side of the world, they will always have a different way of doing things. Some of those things make sense to you right off the bat, and other things are so bizarre that you have no idea what to think of them. 

While I was in Thailand, I kept note of different facts that popped up that I knew would come in handy for others to know while planning their trip to Thailand. Here is a list of a few things that stood out to me (I will continue to add to this list as I think of more facts worth knowing, and if you have any questions feel free to ask me in the comments section at the end of this blog post):

You can't flush toilet paper down the toilet. 

This was a bit of a shocker for both Jordyn and I when we first arrived to our Airbnb, but I have heard of other countries not allowing this as well. There was a laminated manual right next to the toilet on how to use it, including the highlighted, bold, and capitalized instruction to not throw toilet paper down the toilet. Restrooms commonly have a little wastebasket with a lid right next to the toilet for you to throw used toilet paper into, as well as a hose to clean in case that is needed in certain circumstances...  

Washing hands isn't really a thing. Some bathrooms don't even have soap.

We first noticed this when we landed in Taipei for our layover. We stopped by the bathroom after landing to freshen up, and all of the women coming in to use the restroom would walk right out without washing their hands. 

One bathroom we used while we were at the White Temple in Chiang Rai didn't even have soap... so bring some hand sanitizer. :) 

The Skytrain is a great way for tourists to get around.

To be honest, if Mook wasn't with us I was most confident with getting around the city by using the Skytrain rather than taking a taxi everywhere. The public transit map was pretty simple to figure out, and the air conditioning in the train felt SO GOOD. The stops were very cool too - the ones that we saw had vendors that sold coffee and pastries, souvenirs, clothes, phone cases, jewelry, etc. 

The way that tickets work for the skytrain (if you are a tourist) is that you have to go up to the stations booth and tell the ticket person what stop you were travelling to. They would tell you the price and give you a ticket to swipe in, as well as to swipe out so you never keep the ticket. That was kind of a bummer for me because I love to keep tickets and maps of everywhere I go to put in my travel sketchbook. 

If you need to get somewhere that is an hour or so outside of the city, you can hire a driver for the day (no, it is not as expensive as you'd think).

You can either use Uber or Grab (which is also a taxi service app similar to Uber, but more popular in Bangkok) to schedule rides. Uber was pretty dodgy for me but that might have been because I turned my data off and was only using wifi for internet. 

There were two days where we had one driver for the whole day - one being in Chiang Mai when we did a whole lot of activities in one day, and the other when we went to an Island off the coast of a Thai Navy base (you can read more about that here). It ended up being a whole lot easier rather than waiting around for a car to pick us up when we knew that it would take a while for them to get to where we were. I felt a little bad though, because while we were out and about doing touristy things, the driver would stay back and wait until we were done - but it turns out to be a common thing. 

At the end of the day, it cost us around ฿3000 Baht (about $90 USD each) split between the three of us to have a driver for the entire day. Honestly, that is not bad at all and worth the money. 

There is a ฿5000 Baht ($150 USD) fine for not wearing a seatbelt in the car.

So wear your seatbelt... the traffic in Bangkok is crazy. Like NYC on steroids crazy. 

Taxi drivers are picky and sometimes refuse riders.

I am not sure exactly why taxi drivers are picky, but I think it is most likely to do with where the passengers are going. There were a few times when we wanted to hop into a cab but the driver told us to find another one. 

A lot of taxi drivers will scam tourists by charging them a flat fee rather than turning on the meter.

You can read more about our experience here in my Thailand trip summary post.  Whenever they tell you a flat fee rate before the trip, it is always a few hundred Bahts more than what the original cost will be. Make sure you tell the driver to turn on the meter, or you will find another taxi. 

There are stray dogs and cats everywhere.

It broke my heart to see all of the strays in the street, especially when it was late at night, pouring rain, and/or extremely hot and humid outside. These strays would commonly be abandoned by their owners and left at a temple so the monks could feed them. 

Yes, they are very cute but I would refrain from petting them because many strays we saw were very skittish or anxious. It is better to admire from afar rather than risk upsetting the stray and getting bitten. 

You can get a Thai massage for about $10 USD (except the good ones cost closer to $40 USD).

Thai massages are definitely a popular thing. Whenever we walked down the street in Bangkok, we would always pass a few spas that advertised Thai massages (for cheap). We were originally planning on stopping by one of the spas early on in our trip but never got the chance to. We ended up getting massages when we were in Chiang Mai at the resort we stayed at, which was one of the best decisions we made, because...

It. Was. Phenomenal.

Even though it was the first massage I've ever gotten, I knew that the bar was set high. Massages like that would easily cost $200-$300 back in the states. 

If you are a tourist, people claiming to be information guides may approach you and offer to take you all over the city. These are most likely scams.

This happened to Jordyn and I literally right after we landed in Bangkok and got through customs. As we were heading out to grab a taxi to our Airbnb, a man from the information booth approached us and asked where we were heading to. We showed him where our apartment complex was, knowing that it was going to cost somewhere around ฿300 Baht ($9 USD) according to Mook. He told us that he could get us a car for a flat rate of ฿1000 Baht ($30 USD) including the charges for tolls, so we said no and headed outside. 

At Suvarnabhumi Airport, the way you grab a cab is by taking a ticket from this machine that is outside and it will give you a number to tell you which cab to go to. There is also a sign that says you will be charged a ฿50 Baht ($1.50 USD) surcharge, plus the amount that is measured on the meter. Great, so with that in mind, we went to our cab and got into the car. After seeing where we needed to go, he called the Airbnb that we were staying at - I think to make sure we were legitimate and had a reservation (it was kind of weird). After that was settled, he told us the flat rate of ฿600 or ฿700 Baht ($18-$22 USD), to which we responded by pointing to the meter that was covered by a cloth and asked him to turn it on (he thought he was so clever...). He then started negotiating prices with us, which made it obvious that he was definitely trying to scam us. Eventually, he turned on the meter and we were on our way. So if that ever happens to you, make sure the cab drivers turn the meter on, otherwise find a different cab. It may sound like a big fuss considering that cab rides are much cheaper than ones you would take in Chicago or NYC, but it is bad for Thai tourism and it is just not right to be scammed in general no matter what the cost is. 

Food

There was A TON of food that I tried, and with Mook being a local, there were some things that she bought and made us try without telling us what it was. My suggestion is to do just that! Just be careful with the type of food you eat. Luckily, I did not end up getting sick; when I went to get my vaccinations, the doctor told me to avoid foods with uncooked vegetables, lettuce, fruit with a thin skin (apples, grapes, etc. Probably also mangoes but I had them everyday because they were the best mangoes I have ever had in my life) and DO NOT DRINK THE TAP WATER (however I brushed my teeth with it and I was fine). 

Here are some of the foods that we had:

• There is street food everywhere you go (so you don't have to worry about starving)

• Thipsamai (Restaurant): They are known for their Traditional Pad Thai and makes some of the best in the city (even Mook said that it was the best she's ever tried). Also order their orange juice that comes in a bottle. I have never tasted orange juice that was so fresh.

• Fresh mango and sticky rice - We bought some from a street vendor in Chinatown

• Coconut ice cream served in a coconut from a street vendor

• MOS Burger (Fast food joint): Japanese style fast food burger (patty, cheese, special sauce that tastes like marinara, tomato). We went to the one that is in Siam Shopping Center.

• Art Bar (I'm not sure if this is the correct name, I'm having trouble finding it online): Thom yum goong (shrimp), tom kha (coconut curry), Thai basil stir fry.

• Khao Soi - This is a traditional northern dish that we had when we were up north in Chiang Mai.

• Sweet snack (little tortilla shells with sweet plum and something else (maybe a vegetable?) that is shredded)

Thai Phrases

Note that this is my interpretation of how these phrases sound vs. how they are actually spelled. The majority of restaurants we ate at or stores we shopped at, the people who worked there would say 'thank you' to us in English, but we would say 'thank you' in Thai and you could tell that they really appreciated that. Personally, languages are not my strongest subjects so it took a while for me to say it right and with confidence... Mook would always yell and me to say thank you in Thai. (lol)

• Cob-poon-ka : Thank you

• Sa-wad-de-ka : Hello/Hi

• Chai-ka : Yes

• Mai-chai-ka : No

• Suai-jung-ka : You're pretty

• Rak-nak-joob-joob! : Love you, kiss kiss!

• Kaw-toad-na-ka : Excuse me/Sorry

• Aroon-sawat : Good morning

If you have any questions about anything that was mentioned, or anything that I didn't cover, feel free to leave me a comment below!

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Studio Vlog 001 // Finding My Rhythm as an Artist

Finding a rhythm to my art style has been a challenge for me over the past couple of years (honestly, more like ever since I got into art). With social media being an ever-growing platform for creators, I (and probably many other artists) have found it to be difficult to figure out what my style is and how to portray myself through my work as such. 

I've been wanting to start studio vlogs for a while now, which is basically "behind the scenes" looks of projects I'm working on. I have been putting these videos off for a couple of reasons... One is that I didn't think I had enough time in the week to do it. Then I came to the conclusion that if I want to do something, I will find time in my schedule to do it. The other thing (being super lame) was that speaking to a camera to put it out for my friends, family, and anyone else to see has always been daunting to me.

I know that I just have to bite the bullet and go for it if I want to continue to grow as an artist. I have seen other artists on YouTube grow with their work over the past few years through their studio vlogs and have learned so much from them. I love seeing what they do in their workday because every single one has a different creative process, and it is also an incredible way to connect with the audience on a more personal level. 

So, I finally sat down to do an introduction video so you can put a face to the name and the channel (since this is my first video where I'm speaking to the camera, please excuse any of my awkward and cringy mannerisms. I promise that I will get better...).

I can't wait to not only show others what I do throughout the week as an artist but to also document my growth and learn by doing. Feel free to subscribe to my channel to follow along - I hope you enjoy. :) 

Cheers,

-TJ

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Sketchbook Tour

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(Click play to watch the video above)

This is my first official sketchbook tour and I cannot be more excited to have completely finished this! It took me longer than I was planning, but at the end of the day, I wanted to go at my own pace and not stress out about this. I was using this sketchbook to get back into the swing of drawing and creating and experimenting with my art. 

The sketchbook itself was given to me by my sister. She bought it from this hilarious shop out in Des Moines, Iowa called “RAYGUN.” The store has a bunch of apparel items, stationaries, and other trinkets that have really funny and sometimes brutally honest phrases on them. My sketchbook, in particular, says "Current Part-Time Struggling Artist, Future Full Time Struggling Artist."

As I said, this sketchbook was meant to be used for experimenting and not so much “finished pieces” so I was never originally planning on doing a sketchbook tour, but, about halfway through I decided to anyway because I love watching other artists on YouTube open up their sketchbooks for the world to see. To me, it’s kind of equivalent to someone opening up their diary and reading it out loud. But, I decided to take the plunge and put it out for the world to see. 

There is nothing much to it besides process sketches, experimental paintings, scribbling to try out new art supplies, and even some similar drawings and paintings I tried to mimic from Instagram. 

Feel free to watch the flip-through video, which is at the top of this post, or keep scrolling to see each page up close and personal. 

As I said earlier, my sister bought this for me from a store in Des Moines, Iowa. I'm crossing my fingers that this saying does not describe the fate of my future, but it does give me a good laugh. On the cover, the only thing I added was a sticker with my logo on the bottom right-hand corner. 

Coming up with a cover page was tricky for me. I watched a ton of sketchbook tour videos on YouTube and a lot of them didn't have a solid starting point. I thought that overlaying a piece of kraft paper with a random saying and the dates of when I started the sketchbook and when I finished were a solid start.

I was going through a little funk when I drew this spread. The cliche analogy of a glass half empty or half full popped into my head, so I decided to draw it. I'm not sure what I was trying to accomplish with the man climbing up the ladder though. Maybe theres a diving board up there? 

This spread has a couple of different layers to it. I was first practicing some calligraphy with my very first brush pen, and then came back to it months later to overlay a Polaroid photo of my art palette and some extra paint from a project I was working on. 

I used this spread to test out some new washi tape and plan out the lettering for a sign hanging in my room, as well as experimenting with different patterns and textures. 

This is probably my least favorite spread in the sketchbook. I totally abandoned this and got a little lazy by not completing a page of roses like I had planned, then proceded to fill up the other page by just adding stickers that I got from a new bracelet and lipstick I purchased a while back. 

Pure irony. I grew up watching Star Wars and want to one day paint an incredible portrait of Darth Vader. I came across the sticker and had to add it to the spread to give the portrait a little story of my own. I then added my Rogue One and The Last Jedi tickets on the opposite page. 

I have never taken a formal drawing class, and have seen many artists across the internet constantly draw figure studies. It is a practice that helps you improve on your skills, so I thought that I would give it a go. 

I want to get better at drawing people - throughout college I pretty much just stuck with drawing perspectives and architectural drawings because that is what I went to school for, but I wish I drew people more often. 

And as an homage to my college years, I took a break from drawing people and drew this perspective of the interior of a modern kitchen. 

This was a quick spread. I used this for some scribbles and ideas for a tattoo design, as well as stuck a misprint of my avocado drawing from my Brooklyn Sketchbook Project series.

I kind of miss The Weeknd's old hair... it was an unusual style, but it was symbolic. So here is another attempt at drawing a more specific person, as well as including a lyric from one of his songs along with a couple of clippings from an art magazine. 

This is another lazy spread with one of my misprints of a sketch I did while studying abroad in Barcelona.

I drew this house because I was inspired by one of my favorite artists, Semiskimmedmin (Minnie Small). This past October, she participated in a worldwide event called Inktober and created ink drawings different types of houses and what haunts them. My house didn't nearly turn out as great as what hers did, but since I used watercolor it didn't turn out as bold as what it would have if I used ink. Here is Minnie's playlist to her Inktober 2017 videos, definitely check them out! As for the photos of the dogs, I'll explain that in the next spread description...

These were reference photos of two dog portraits I illustrated for commission pieces. I was very happy with the end results, check them out here (along with other illustrations) if you are interested in seeing how they turned out!

And here are more photos of the puppers... 

And here are some more photos of my niece pupper... I know, I'm looking like a crazy dog lady but in my defense, I was testing out my new Polaroid camera!

It was Thanksgiving, and at this point I was on my third Thanksgiving meal. I also tested out a new Pentel brush pen and Copic Sketching Markers as well as displaying a failed attempt of taking a polaroid photo of my Christmas tree.  

Here are a few more tattoo designs I did for my sister and myself with a stripe of metallic washi tape. 

More drawings of faces, one of which I was unhappy with the eyes, so I covered it up with paint. Another misprint of my travels when I was in Milan. 

This was a brainstorming spread for a commissioned guitar painting I did around Christmas time. Check out the time-lapse video of the project here!

There isn't much of a story on this page - I bought some gold leaf paper and discovered that it is VERY difficult for me to apply. This also was an extention of the previous page for the abstract guitar painting. 

A spread yet to be finished... I've recently become obsessed with these palm leaves and drawing them. I was inspired again by Semiskimmedmin to create an inverted drawing with black and white ink and paper. 

A dream of mine is to one day have my own art studio. I jotted down a couple of notes, drew up floor plans and started a perspective of what I would like it to look like. 

I came across this dude on Pinterest, I believe. I love sea animals, especially (octopuses?) (octopi?). The blue background is a mixture of primary cyan and primary white from my Holbein gouache paint set. 

Here I did a couple of hand studies (also referenced from Pinterest), and then tried a more detailed inverted sketch using white gel pen and colored pencil. It turns out that I am pretty happy with how the drawings turned out because hands have always been difficult for me to draw. 

The drawing sometimes makes my eyes hurt, but what led me to drawing this was a Skillshare class that I took online pertaining to finding your creative spark and the first lesson was to pick up whatever what was in front of you and just use it to create something. Once you had that object, just start letting it flow on the paper. Hours later, I ended up with zebra stripes so naturally I had to draw a zebra on the opposite page. The gel pen I used rubs off onto other pages easily, so I sealed it off with a coat of clear nail polish. 

On this spread, I was hitting a creative block, so I drew what was in front of me; a handful of my art supplies. 

This was a spread where I was having a hard time getting inspired, so I opened up a few magazines and clipped out images that I liked to create this collage. 

I like Rhinos. They remind me of grumpy old men.

Here are a few more sketching exercises - I tried drawing some difference expressions in cartoon eyes, then I took a Copic sketching marker and drew random shapes. From those shapes, I created illustrations of what I saw and ended up with results that I was quite happy with. 

I came across this illustration on Pinterest and immediately wanted to recreate it. I love how it turned out. 

This spread is unfinished, but I liked the idea of this man from a magazine I found him in breathing out fire. 

I am a succulent junkie. They are easy to take care of, and they add a fantastic vibe to a space. 

This is another version of the mountain scape I illustrated a few spreads back. I used water color to create an ombre affect, finishing it off with white splatter paint to add a starry sky. 

I've been reading this book on Urban Sketching because that is a technique that I would love to be able to do on my travels. They are very quick, look effortless and turn out to be amazing pieces of work. This view is that I attempted to quickly sketch is the view from my office in downtown, Chicago. 

These are some plans for a DIY drawer to add under my vanity (left) and a DIY coffee table (right) which you see me filming on in my Sketchbook Tour Video.

Prismacolor and Blick Illustration swatch colors. 

Reeves 24-Pack Gouache color tube set swatch colors.

thank you so much for your interest in my work! If you'd like, comment what your favorite spread is, and leave a link to your portfolio if you would like to share!

10 Facts About Me

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Hey there, welcome to my very first blog post! If you do not already know me, my name is TJ and I am an artist, designer, photographer and now a new blogger! Hopefully, you are not too harsh with words when it comes to critiquing writing and grammar - said subjects were not my strongest skills in my high school and college days... although I will gladly take constructive criticism from those willing to give it!

For many months now, I have been interested in starting a blog of my own to not only improve my writing skills but to also step out of my comfort zone of avoiding any attention and criticism from the internet world. I came to realize that putting this off is not going to help me grow in the way that I would like, and that I can also create content that is useful and enjoyable to others!

Nerves set aside, I thought that a "10 Things About Me" blog would be a great way to kick things off and for you to get to know me. Well, here we go!

1) MY PASSION FOR ART AND DESIGN STARTED WITH THE PRINCESS DIARIES. 

It all started when Mia Thermopolis stormed up to her tower when she didn't want anything to do with the royal throne. I was about seven years old when the movie came out and automatically fell in love with the old fire house that Mia and her mom lived in. 

My dad has a creative side and always has some sort of project going on around the house. I turned to him after I saw Mia's tower and I said, "Dad, you can build that for me!" He told me to draw up a floor plan, not thinking that I would figure out what that was at seven years old. An hour later I brought him a piece of craft paper with gel pen markings indicating the space from a top view. Surprisingly he was able to read it, and from that day on I would draw up floor plans of my dream homes for fun. I'm sad to say that I never got that tower built in my room.

2) I BACKPACKED AROUND EUROPE AND GOT STRANDED IN THE MOUNTAINS OF NORWAY.

Trolltunga, Norway, 2015

Most details of this experience will have to wait for a future blog post, but long story short I thought that my friend and I were not going to make it home from this hike! Thankfully we ran into some hikers who were so kind and offered us help with the proper gear, food, dry clothes, and shelter.

An eight to ten-hour hike turned into a twenty-four-hour experience... The hikers who legitimately saved us were from Milan, Norway and Little Rock, Arkansas, one of which has a prosthetic leg that led our group back to the camp grounds. 

The only regret I have with this experience is that I did not take the hikers contact information down. They were an amazing group of people and I would have loved to keep in touch with them!

3) LATELY, I HAVE HAD A HARD TIME GRASPING INSPIRATION AND COMING UP WITH IDEAS FOR CONTENT.

It's a bummer when this happens, but I am learning that it is okay and normal to find yourself in a rut. Since graduating college, it has been a while since I have created something of my choosing. I work an 8-5 job, and sometimes 8-5 turns into a thirteen or fourteen-hour workday in addition to my hour and a half commute. On those days, I end up coming home and going straight to bed to do it all over again, which is where I get away from working on my own stuff leading me to a creative block. 

Lately, I have been easing back into my work to gradually get my creative thinking back. Even if I do a ten-minute sketch, that is still better than no sketch. 

4) WHEN INSPIRATION DOES HIT ME, IT USUALLY COMES FROM MUSIC. 

I usually get inspiration not so much from the lyrics but from the instrumental part of the song. I think it is because I was a music student in an orchestra growing up and that was the only part of the song we would play. Music tells stories even without words, and with me being a visual person I always picture some sort of animation or graphic that goes along with the melody.

5) I PLAYED THE VIOLIN FOR TEN YEARS.

Playing off of my last fact, I was a violinist for about ten years growing up. My great-aunt, cousin, and sister all played the violin so naturally, I followed in their footsteps. It has been about five years since I picked up my violin but every now and again I feel nostalgic and miss the feeling of playing. 

6) THE FIRST ART CLASS I EVER TOOK WAS DURING MY SENIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL AFTER I DROPPED OUT OF CALCULUS.

This is classic. I feel like everyone has a story similar to this where they dropped out of something that they should have taken to pursue something they were interested in to end up loving it and wanting to make it into their career. Back at this time where I decided to take a failing grade and drop the course, I really felt like I was making a horrible mistake. The Calculus course was going to knock off one of my college credits before I even started college, but looking back on it now makes me happy that I decided to do that. That class kick started my art hobby and later became one of my passions.

7) MY INTEREST IN SCENIC AND TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY PEAKED ONLY TWO YEARS AGO.

I have always appreciated a photo that was taken well and looked like something that I would frame and hang up in my house. It wasn't until I traveled internationally for the first time when I became interested in being the person behind the camera. By this time, I was going into my senior year of college and had a few years of design education under my belt where I knew how to use programs like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. These are the computer programs that photographers frequently use to edit their work, and they are ones that keep me interested because there is something new you can learn every day from them. 

8) IF I WERE TO CHOOSE A DIFFERENT CAREER PATH, I WOULD WANT TO WORK IN CRIMINOLOGY OR FORENSIC SCIENCE.

This is obviously a field that is completely opposite of being an artist and designer, but my favorite documentaries, shows, and movies to watch are usually very morbid. I have always been intrigued with the psychology of a criminal's mind and how crimes are investigated.  

9) I HAVE HAD A PIECE OF ART STOLEN, AND I WASN'T REALLY UPSET ABOUT IT. 

St. Charles 'Chair-ity' Art Festival, 2015

A couple of summers ago, I participated in a charity event where local artists painted adirondack chairs for a city nearby my home town. These chairs were put on display around the city's river walk and then later assigned to locations at local shops and restaurants. While my chair was on display near the river walk, it was unchained and stolen from its location. It could have been thrown into the river for all I know, but thinking that it was actually stolen is kind of a compliment!

10) IF I COULD LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, IT WOULD BE IN BARCELONA.

Barcelona, Spain, 2015

I left my heart in Barcelona. It is such an amazing city with an artistic vibe and lovely people. I was there for a month and wish it were longer. The only Spanish course I had taken previously was in grade school where all I remembered to say was rojo and mi llamo Taylor. By the first couple of days I was there I learned how to order my meals in Spanish and some basic food vocabulary. I am someone who always struggles with learning a foreign language, but found that it is much easier to learn when you are living like a local.

What are some fun facts about you? Let me know in the comments below!