Thailand

Location:

Bangkok and up North - Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai

Climate Description:

Thailand has a tropical climate with humidity of around 85%. Bangkok has an average temperature of 17 degrees in January and 37 in May. The Northern Mountain region is cooler (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai), averaging 0 degrees in January and 32 degrees in May. The rainy season extends from July to December.

Is it likely that residents in this country will speak English?

About 60% of the Thai people are able to converse in English. When adventuring away from tourist areas, communication can become difficult.

What are the staple foods of the country?

Rice is eaten with almost every meal, noodles and soups (fish and pork) are also common.
Many Thai dishes are hot and spicy with herbs, lemon grass, and coriander. The food is never bland. It will be either- sweet, sour, hot, salty or spicy.

What is a typical daily intake and timing for each meal in this country?

Breakfast - early 6am
Soups (fish or rice or tofu and ginger soup)
Rice porridge (broth with rice)
Lunch - 12pm
Noodles - for example - Pad Thai (prawns, nuts, egg, shallot) or satay.
Rice with meat (mince, strips or stewed) and vegetables
Steamed buns (dough roll with meat inside)
Dinner - 5-10pm (Thai's appear to eat on the go, many places open until 10pm or later for eating)
Pork/beef (meat on stick kebabs), deep fried chicken, fried seafood.
Soups particularly Tom yum (hot and sour soup which contains- prawn, fish, garlic, lime, lemon, fish sauce)
Rice and noodles with the above
Dessert
Fruits, custards and icecreams (including a range of flavours like- taro, corn, chocolate, lychee etc)

What food items are readily available?

Breads and Cereals:
Cereals - Most common
Boiled rice
Cornflakes, or sweetened shaped corn bits
Chocolate flavoured bits (coca bombs)

Breads - generally very sweet
Croissants and pastries with custard and fruit fillings
Pancakes (also known as rote) - usually with the addition of condensed milk and icing sugar

Fruit:
There are many
Rockmelons
Watermelons
Rambutan (similar to lychee)
Lychee (clear, white, sweet, juicy, tropical fruit)
Pineapple
Rose apple- (hints of rose flavour in apple/pear type fruit)
Slava
Paw paw
Banana
Coconut

Vegetables:
green spinach, chilli, capsicum, celery, corn, bean sprouts, salads- lettuce, tomato, and cucumber.

Dairy products:
Omelette, full fat milk,

Meat:
Meat as mince and stir-frys or fried, and using only small amounts of meat
Sausage balls,
Prawns
Steamed fish
Steamed peanuts
Some tofu

What food products are not readily available

Cheese was hard to find. This included ricotta, cottage and block cheese (cheddar).
Orange juice. Orange juice is sold in Thailand, however, it is likely to be orange cordial
Non-sweet breads (meaning normal bread, but extra sweet), multigrain and varieties - like soy and linseed, are harder breads to obtain
Salad sandwiches and wraps, were not common
Non-sweet cereals eg muesli.
Low fat dairy products (including milk)
Spaghetti, lasagne and pastas
Steak (although in tourist areas maybe able to find, but expensive)
Salads, such as potato salad and coleslaw
Soymilk was not easily assessable.

What are typical methods of preparation of foods in this country (e.g. smoked meats, fried foods, rich sauces etc)

Often food is cooked in the wok, or deep-fried. Chilli is in many dishes, and can make the dish quite hot (ensure you are not misled, and end up eating the chilli).

Is food reasonably priced in this country? Which items are costly? Which items are cheap? What is the best (i.e. freshest/safest) and most economical way to purchase foods? For example supermarkets or street markets?

All the food is very cheap. The food cooked on the side of the road often prices at 10-30 Baht (30cents to $1). This includes items like noodles, soups, and chicken. Eating restaurants meals can cost from 80 -150 Baht ($3-$5). Meat is the most costly item, particularly the steaks and hamburgers. Most foreign foods to the Thailand, are slightly more expensive.

The cheapest form of eating - noodles (particularly without meat), and soups.
The safest - Make sure you have chosen a fairly clean restaurant, or at least one that appears to be catering for the tourist. The road stalls can be fine, and often the most tastiest, but ensure that the food is cooked fresh, due to food safety concern.
As food is so inexpensive it is affordable to eat out for meals, and it is also very convenient to do so, as there are street markets everywhere.

Are there any food safety concerns? (E.g. methods of Food Preparation and safety of local water to drink).

There are the general food safety concerns, such as the length of time meat has been sitting before you buy and eat, and for this reason checking that the food is hot before eating is important.
Never drink tap water unless it is boiled, and steer clear of ice

Can you see any likely issues/concerns regarding nutrition for athletes travelling to this country?

The consumption of dairy products may be insufficient, and a calcium supplement may be required.
Low fat diets should not be a problem to maintain, but one needs to steer away from the deep fried foods, which can often be on sale at the side markets. Also be aware of the sweet desserts, which are so tempting but made basically of sugar.

Can you recommend any restaurants that prepare foods that are suitable for athletes?

Not any in particular. In Bangkok there are the major shopping centres, such as MBK, and there are plenty of suitable restaurants there, including sushi bars and noodle bars etc.

What are the customs requirements for this country regarding food? That is, what food items can athletes safely and legally bring into the country?

There are very relaxed rules as to what you are able to bring into the country - the Thai people basically allow anything in, including fruit and dried fruit.

What sports supplements foods are available in this country?

Supplements are hard to find, it is recommended that supplements are brought with.

Personal travel tale

In Thailand they have fast food eating places, which are similar to cafeteria dining. What happens, is you walk through and choose what food you want from the servers. The choosing part can be quite difficult, as nothing is labelled. As a result, a rice dish with chicken, was chosen as a safe choice. The dish was actually a curry, and was therefore quite hot (and something to always be aware of with Thai food). Furthermore, what was thought to be tofu was actually pigs blood (looks like liver coloured tofu), and it surprisingly tasted ok, but I don't think I would have been so adventurous in my eating if I had known beforehand, what was on my plate.