What to Bring

We recommend that you bring a reasonable amount of cool, comfortable, and presentable clothes and footwear to wear to work.

The clothing -- including underwear -- sold in Thailand is generally smaller than clothing available in America. For women, American size 8 is about the largest dress size you will find out, but 6 is the norm. For men, the largest pant size is usually a 38. Women may purchase shoes up to size 8 or 8.5, but again, that is the largest and is less often available. There is no need for winter clothing as the temperature is always warm. You may wish to bring a sweater or light coat for trips up north or for air-conditioned buses.

It is easy and quite cheap to have clothing made here. A wide-variety of material such as silk is available in shops, stalls and malls throughout the city. Finding a seamstress or tailor is not difficult. They can generally duplicate an item that you have or work from a picture.

The towels sold in Thailand are not absorbent so bring a couple with you. Bring a flat sheet, too. It is not advisable to bring fitted bedsheets until you have picked your apartment as the dimensions of Thai beds are different, although they are similar to double, queen, and king sizes.

Bring your golf set, too, if you are an avid golfer like some of our teachers who play golf every Friday in Thana City.

Everything else is easy to find and buy or order in Bangkok. This includes US brands of groceries, cosmetics, toilettries, contact lens solution, etc. There are many substitutes imported from other countries. If you are taking a specific brand of medication or contraceptives that may not be available in Thailand, you might want to bring at least a year's supply. Excedrin is not sold in Thailand, but Advil is. The same applies for feminine products like tampons, and diet products, although Equal is widely available here.

Film, diskettes, CDs, memory sticks and the like are sold everywhere, usually at a much cheaper price.

Correspond with one of our teachers if you need to be more specific on what is available in Thailand or not, especially when it comes to teaching materials. It is always good to be armed with books, videos, CDs, and other teaching tools that you are already familiar with because you will be spending more of your time looking for apartments and getting oriented with Thailand and TCIS than planning your lessons for the first week of classes.