Coming To Thailand - Tip # 6 - Female Mosquitoes! Bite!

Thai Mosquitoes are the smallest mosquito I've ever seen, bar none! A squashed Thai mosquito (wings, body, legs visible) on a one baht coin (the size of a Canadian dime) covers only about 20% of the coin. They are between the size of a Canadian Black Fly and the size of the Canadian No-Se-Em.  This very small when you consider a Canadian mosquito squashed  the same way will, on average,  cover 80% of a dime/baht.

The longest a Canadian mosquito can live is 6-8 months in a good year while a Thai mosquito can live 3 or more years!

What this means is in Thailand you don't hear or see a Thai mosquito zoning in on your best bite spot. You, even you hairy legged men, won't feel them land. So what do you do to protect yourself against mosquito carried disease like malaria, treatment resistant malaria and dingy fever. Get a shot? or ....

There are simple ways to reduce your contact with these CO2 sniffing vampires. The most effective way to prevent being bitten is to simply stop breathing ... Not an acceptable option, well then ...
consider the following:

1) wear light colored clothing .. instinct tells a mosquito to avoid light colors as they are visible and they can be killed.

2) Do not put naked legs and feet under table top type surfaces as this is a favorite squito hide-out!

3) Do not sit next to the plants at the edge of a venue as this is their second hide-out from which they come to you from under the table.

4) Do avoid being outside during the squito hour 30 minute before and after sunset.

5) Do sleep inside a squito net made for these tiny squitos. In Canada we would ask for a  no-se-em net!

6) Do carry some anti-itch cream (calamine lotion)

with you as you will get bitten (we're not promoting any specific brand).











You can try oil you squeeze from the skin of Kaffir lime fruit as an anti itch remedy and enjoy its aroma therapy at the same time.

Do not scratch them into an infectious state as then your vacation will be changed, but not only changed but rather changed by a mosquito and that would suck! No pun intended.

From all of us at Chef LeeZ Thai Cooking School BKK ... Have a safe and wondrous Thailand experience!

Coming to Thailand, Tip # 5 - "The Best Place to Learn a Countries Culture is at the Dinner Table"

It is often said ... The Best way to learn a countries culture is at the dinner table."

Taking cookery classes at the start of your trip makes good sense as you will learn lots related to the cuisine and about the countries culture.

Here are 8 questions to help you in selecting from the many Thailand cooking school options.

1. Is the website complete: Does the school website answer all your questions or does it leave you with unanswered questions ... There's a reason for nondisclosure ... and we're positive it's not that they don't know what they charge or what they teach ...

2. Location: is important even if you are not coming through Bangkok you can still apply this check list to your Thai cooking school selection research. There are reputable cooking schools in every major center. Some schools have small storefront schools to leave you with the impression of small classes but these store fronts are used as student pick-up centers from where you will be delivered to a large class comprised of many store front pick-ups.

3. Teacher experience: A true answer to this question may be impossible to obtain. But again I ask why is it not post it to their website? Where did the teacher train or are they simply able to cook and speak cooking related English?

4. Teacher qualification: As in question 2 a true answer to this question would likely be an exception. Most of the teachers will not have degrees or certificates of culinary study nor will they have a Thai Dept. of Skills level 1 certificate.

5. Teacher Style: Ask if they teach "the craft", the technique to Thai cuisine as many schools instruct their teacher not to take the time to impart this to you as it is time consuming and it the becomes a Hands On class including ingredient preparation.

6. The School: Remember ... Thailand's temperatures will be between 30 + and 40 + degrees Celsius and if you are in some alley school in the open air and you fire up the gas burners you can bet you're gonna sweat! A climate controlled school costs more to operate and as a result will cost more for a class but provides for clean cool air during your class. One outdoor school was simply a private residence porch barbecue used as a school! Do you really want to sit on the floor, Thai style, to prepare your ingredients? Why not use a table and chair? Do they overbook? If so, will you actually cook or be like in the audience and watch while others cook?

7. Price: Costs are important and no one likes to be taken! Our research found rates as high as 1,000 baht per dish with the lowest being 800 per set of 5 dishes in an outdoor setting with the average price being near 300 baht per dish and air con schools averaging 400 per dish or 2,400 baht for a 6 dish class.

8. Notoriety: Some schools are all about their owners. The schools brochures boast 1/2 page pictures of the owner on the front page. Some schools have one student read the schools recipe to a second student who prepares the dish. While other schools are about their dog and pony shows like while all gussied up in ancient Thai formal dance wear they dance and sing and rhyme to you.

One School that passed this check list with flying colors with a score of 8/8 is Chef LeeZ Thai Cooking School BKK a CSI Cooking Schools Intl. affiliate school. In addition Chef LeeZ offers what is thought to be the most complete on line directory of Thailand Cooking Schools believing when you have completed your research you will select Thailand Trip Advisor #1 cooking School Attraction since 2011, being Chef LeeZ!

Thailand Tip #4 ... Tourist information agents reserve attractions based on commissions paid!

Tourist information services, can make booking for a train or a buss or a plane easier than your searching and reserving for yourself.

But when you use a tourist information agent to book or reserve you should know their referral has nothing to do with quality of the service recommended to you but rather is based on the commission paid them by the business they recommend. Many quality businesses do not pay commissions and you will therefore never be recommended by a tourist agent to the businesses not paying commissions.

Chef LeeZ, T A Thailand #1 Cooking School since 2011, does not pay commissions and you will not hear of us from the local tourist information agent services. Just as certain websites like Happy Cow and Lonely Planet are paid for position sites (the more you pay the more exposure you get. These site do not permit talking about a competitor on your membership within their site. Thus you won't find a Chef LeeZ membership with either Lonely planet or Happy Cow as we do not pay for social network web site exposure.

Having said this you will find Chef LeeZ on over 400 other social networks.  Just go to your favorite social network and search for Chef LeeZ and friend us. We'll friend you back. Let us know if you don't find us there so we can sign up.

So what this means is you will have to use sites like Trip Advisor where attraction listings are free and rankings are judged by attraction participants reviews to find out your true options.

See you in a class next time you are coming to Thailand.

Chef LeeZ Culinary Arts Thai Cooking School BKK.

Coming to Thailand Tip #3 .. Cause and Treatment for the "Touristas"

The "touristas", as it often referred to, is experienced by any one traveling to a foreign country. For example the Mexican amoeba is different than the North American amoeba thus North Americans in Mexico will get the "touristas" just as the Mexicans visiting North America will get the North American "touristas". 

I'm still amazed at how so many travelers, even seasoned travelers, do not know how to fix stomach or usually intestinal cramps and the resultant diarrhea. 

These symptoms are caused by an amoeba, that's right all that pain and discomfort from a single cell animal not a virus so antibiotics won't help. This animal lives in the water and waits for a host to drink them or eat them up. So when you eat or drink from a foreign countries water supply you introduce a new parasite to your system. In most second world countries like Thailand for example it is almost unavoidable as the food vendors, except for top rated restaurants, generally are less than careful about their cleanliness. Was the ice in your drink made from tap water or bottled water? In Thailand if the ice is not cubed with a hole through the middle it's likely tap water. If it's shaved ice like the ice in a snow cone then you can expect to host their amoeba. 

The symptoms are very similar to food poisoning but usually less severe and usually doesn't include vomiting but both ends could be working at the same time. Two to three hours following your ingesting the animals you will begin to experience cramping in the stomach and or intestines. Generally by the fourth hour you will need toilet facilities regularly and immediately following each cramp. In more severe cases you will be vomiting shortly thereafter and then you will experience bowel movements and vomiting at the same time. 

What to do when you've become a host. If you have no food related health issues simply stop eating till the animals have no food and die maybe two or more days. If you are diabetic or hypoglycemic you must eat or risk coma and death. So starving for ca couple of days is not an option for these people. 

Here's the quick fix: IMMODIUM or its generic LOPERAMIDE as it is much cheaper than the original IMMODIUM. Taken at the second cramp (1 to two tablets) will usually take of these critters. If doesn't , continue to consume them (1) at a time following each bowel movement and food ingestion. If you want a more natural fix try activated charcoal which is also available at most pharmacies taken in the same quantities and directions as the IMMODIUM. Many travelers will begin their charcoal ingestion the day before arriving at their foreign destination and already have it in their system on arrival. 

The good news is usually not always once you've had the bug you will likely build an acceptance to it just as you have to the amoeba that exists in your native countries water. 

If you should be planning a Thailand vacation I can assure you that Chef LeeZ,  Thai Cooking School BKK, a CSI cooking school, in Thailand will be one of your amoeba free experiences. 

Safe travels and good health to all.

also published at
http://www.upublish.info/Article/Cause-And-Cure-for-Travelers-Diarrhea/399451