Planning a family trip to Thailand? TripNest turns it into its own app: 10 narrated story podcasts about Thailand for the drive, games and a quiz for the kids, an audio phrasebook, and the day-by-day plan and map the whole family shares.
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How Thailand grew from old cities into one country
Long before Bangkok existed, kings ruled from cities called Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya grew into one of the biggest, busiest cities on Earth, with traders arriving from Persia, Japan and Portugal. Then it was abandoned - and today you can walk through its brick ruins.
Why Bangkok has the world's longest name
In the 1780s a new capital rose on the muddy banks of the Chao Phraya River, and the king gave it a name so long that almost nobody says all of it. We'll say a bit of it out loud. Then we'll head out into a city of golden roofs, canals and traffic that never quite stops.
From royal parades to quiet sanctuaries
Elephants have carried kings, hauled teak logs and appeared on flags and coins. Now many live in sanctuaries where people can watch them bathe and eat instead of work. Find out how much a full-grown elephant eats in a single day - the number is hard to believe.
The balancing act inside Thai food
Salty, sour, sweet, spicy and a little bitter - a good Thai dish keeps all of them in balance. We'll follow a bowl of noodle soup from the market stall to your table, meeting fish sauce, lime and chillies along the way. And yes, we'll tell you how to ask for "not spicy".
What happens inside a Thai wat
Every day before dawn, monks in orange robes walk out with bowls to collect food. Their temples are full of bells, painted walls and enormous Buddha statues - one in Bangkok lies down and stretches longer than a blue whale. We'll learn the rules for visiting, including why your shoes stay outside.
Songkran splashes and Loy Krathong candles
Twice a year Thailand throws a party around water. At Songkran, whole streets become one enormous water fight. At Loy Krathong, everything goes quiet and thousands of tiny candles float away downstream.
Canals, floating markets and long-tail boats
Bangkok once had so many canals that visitors compared it to Venice. Some still carry boats loaded with mangoes, noodles and coffee, sold straight from the water. We'll meet the long-tail boat - a skinny wooden boat with a car engine bolted on the back.
Two coasts, two different seas
Thailand has a coast on the Gulf of Thailand and another on the Andaman Sea, plus hundreds of islands between them. Towering limestone cliffs rise straight out of the water, hiding caves and hidden lagoons. Underneath, clownfish, parrotfish and sea turtles go about their business.
Hornbills, gibbons and the forests they need
In Thailand's national parks, gibbons call across the treetops at sunrise and hornbills fly over with a whooshing sound you hear before you see them. Geckos chirp on the walls at night. We'll learn what rangers do to keep these forests standing.
Thai stories told with bodies and shadows
In khon dance-drama, performers wear glittering masks to act out a great epic called the Ramakien. In southern Thailand, flat leather puppets tell stories as shadows on a lit screen. And in muay thai, fighters begin with a slow, respectful dance before the match.
The tiger / The elephant / The peacock / The water buffalo
The Mekong / The Chao Phraya / The Irrawaddy / The Ganges
Songkran / Loy Krathong / Diwali / Obon
The Thailand podcast has 10 narrated story episodes for the car or the plane: Kingdoms of Gold and Brick, The City of Angels, Elephants: Thailand's Giants, Five Flavours, Temples, Monks and Orange Robes, Water Festivals, Life on the Water, Islands and Reefs, Jungle Neighbours and Masks, Puppets and Eight Limbs.
"ขอบคุณครับ / ขอบคุณค่ะ", said kop-kun krap / kop-kun kah. It's one of the phrases in the Thailand audio phrasebook, recorded so the kids can hear it before they try it.
191 (Police), 1669 (Ambulance) and 1155 (Tourist Police). TripNest puts it in your trip's contacts page next to your own contacts.
Every trip starts free: the day-by-day plan, map and contacts. Premium adds the Thailand podcasts, kids' games and the audio phrasebook for $24, once per trip - no subscription.
No. Your trip is one link that opens on everyone's phone, grandparents included, without an account. You can add it to your home screen so it works offline once you land.