What to Bring to Thailand When You Move
Bed Linens. Thai linens are pretty awful, for some reason. The towels are bearable, but the sheets are rough and uncomfortable. Even though China makes most of the world’s linens, there are no decent sheets imported to Thailand. So bring your own sheets and remember that Thai Mattress sizes are different from ours:
- US Standard King — 76 x 80 inches = 198 x 203 cm.
- Thailand King — 72 x 78 inches = 183 x 198 cm
You can, of course, get a custom-cut latex mattress in Thailand to fit your sheets, but you’d also have to order a custom-made bed. These options are relatively inexpensive but cheapest by far is to have your foreign sheets altered by one of Thailand’s thousands of seamstresses – whose stalls can be found on any roadside. Expect to pay less than 300 Baht ($10)and wait less than 48 hours for the work to be done. Here are the sheets I got from Amazon that work well in Thailand’s conditions (and laundries).
Kitchen Knives: Thailand’s growing middle class does not cook. Cooking is not a Thai pastime in the cities, and back on the farm it’s an entirely different affair. Thais prefer to pick up their meals at roadside stalls, especially since indoor kitchens are relatively unknown here. But if you plan to have a Western kitchen and do some cooking, as I do, you’ll need some decent knives. And decent knives are all imported here, and start at $100/3000 Bt. So bring your own. Once again, I turned to Amazon for my standard 12” kitchen knife and bread knife.
Scissors: You’ll be surprised by how often you use scissors here. And appalled by the quality of Thai scissors. So bring your own. Heavy duty, so you can cut anything with them. These are what I use and recommend: Fiskars Heavy Duty Scissors. Good bang for the buck, They stay sharp. Don’t rust – a big deal in these humid parts.
Here’s a video with some more good suggestions about what to bring with you when you move to Thailand: