Test your Bangkok knowledge!

[..]

I'll give ya 5.

 

Cheers,

SD

[El_Tel]

Hey, I got five!

 

AND I was having a laugh.

 

I'd obviously get 100% if I tried. ::

[..]

Well this was fun and I think we will do it again. Many thought it was too "expat-y" and maybe this is true, but I needed to make it tough enough to be challenging and for folks to learn something about their favourite place. I'll try to make it a bit easier, but not too much so, next time. Too many Chinese questions? Huh? There were only two Chinese questions. We all should learn a bit about them as they do run the biz and the gummint and are about a 1/4 of the population in Bangkok! Anyway, without further adieu...

 

The Answers:

 

1) True or False: You can legally turn left on red at any intersection (unless posted not allowed) after traffic stops and the coast is clear. False per the law (only OK if posted that you can). 3 correct answers.

 

2) You are at a Tha Chang on the Chao Phya River, going to get on the river taxi to take you to the Oriental. There are two entrances, one free and one that charges two baht.

a) Which one do you use? The free one. 10 correct answers.

Why? The two baht charge is for the cross river ferry; you pay for the river taxi on board. Tha Oriental is a public pier that services both the public river taxi and the private hotel boats. 7 correct answers

 

3) What do the following license plates mean?

a) Red w/black letters New car and restricted to driving only during the daytime. 8 correct answers.

White w/black letters Regular car. 10 correct answers.

c) Green w/white letters Any limousine for hire. 3 correct answers and 2 with half credit.

d) Light blue w/white letters (long and skinny) Diplomatic/embassy car. If you are good, you can tell what embassy the car is from by the number plate too. The first two digits ID the embassy that owns the car. I had a lot of guesses on UN cars prolly due to the color scheme. I gave half credit for those answers. 2 correct answers and 4 with half credit.

 

4) +/- one baht, how much is a unit of water really cost (not what your apartment block charges you)? 8.6 baht (7.x-9.x acceptable) per my last bill! 3 correct answers.

 

5) You are dialing 1222 trying to get a connection to the 'net. You keep getting the message that "The destination you dialled does not exist." What is the problem (hint: no, there is no malfunction)? You are using a TA line. 1222 only works on TOT lines. This is important to know because not all internet cards work on TA lines. Some are only for the 1222 number. 3 correct answers.

 

6) You get two telephone bills each month, one from CAT and one from TOT. Why? TOT is incountry, CAT is international. 9 correct answers.

 

7) What is the standard deposit amount on a rental property in the city? 2 months in most farang oriented areas. 9 correct answers.

 

8) What is the likely ethnicity of the person who owns the car with the following number plates:

a) kor tor 888? Chinese. 5 correct answers.

for por 9944? Thai. 3 correct answers.

c) Why? The letters are meaningless in this case. It is the numbers. Lucky numbers. 8 sounds similar to "prosperity" in several Chinese dialects while Thais like the numbers 9 and to a lesser extent 4. A superstitous Chinese would not be caught dead with the number 4 in his number plate (or telephone, or address, etc.) as it is similar to the word for death! And yes, whomever owns those number plates paid a boatload of cash for them: 100's of 1000's of baht! 6 correct answers.

 

9) You are on Sukhumvit at Soi 4. You drive to the British Embassy and turn right. You go over a bridge. Turn right and go to the next soi that has a similar bridge. Turn right and go over the bridge, continuing on for 0.5Km. Look right.

a) What very large & well known place is there? You drove down Sukhumvit to Wireless Rd. Down Wireless Rd. to Petchburi Rd. Down Petchburi Rd. to Sukhumvit Soi 3. On that soi, on the RH side as traffic flows, halfway between Petchburi and Sukhumvit one will find...Bumrungrad Hospital. 5 correct answers.

What did the bridges cross (full name please)? Klong Saen Saeb. 8 correct answers.

 

10) Check In 99 is a Bangkok institution.

a) What is it's main distinguishing feature, found outside the door when it is open? The dwarf tout perched on a stool outside the front door. He has been there since 1989 that I know of. 7 correct answers.

What is the meaning of the 99 in it's name? It was the address of their original location on Silom Rd. For those that do not know of this place, it is at 97 Sukhumvit between Sois 5 & 7. Good steaks, great Irish coffee, old school service, decent band (tho' the Filipina trio has left due to immigration probs ) and nice hostesses. A very civilized throwback to the way things were before NEP (and maybe the way things will be again?). And the dwarf is a cool guy too! 1 correct answer.

 

11) a) What is another name for Sukhumvit Soi Sai Nahm Peung? Sukhumvit Soi 22. 5 correct answers.

What does Sai Nahm Peung mean? Honeysuckle Flower. 0 correct answers, but I gave Grumpy half credit for just "flower." Honey was not really the answer.

c) Why is the street called that? There is a famous private Thai girls school by that name on the soi. 3 correct answers.

 

12) List three P4P bars on Sukhumvit Soi Udom Daeng (one point each). Udom Daeng is Sukhumvit Soi 33, so any three dead artist bars, etc. We all know at least three of them, yes? 7 correct answers (if ya got one, ya got all three).

 

13) Thanon Withayu is a pretty famous road.

a) What is it's English name? Wireless Road. 11 correct answers.

Why is it called that? The first radio station/tower in Bangkok was on this road. 7 correct answers and 2 given half credit.

 

14) What is the phone number for the tourist police? 1155. This was tricky as there is a 1699 number for information only. 4 correct answers.

 

15) From what terminal do Thai Airways international flights leave? Terminal 1. 9 correct answers.

 

16) Bangrak district in Bangkok always gets the most marriage registrations each year. Why? Bangrak means Love Village in Thai and is therefore considered lucky and romantic to do so. And yes, your's truly the Tiger & his bird registered their marriage there many years ago! Awwwww! xoxoxo. 9 correct answers.

 

17) Silom Soi 4 has a reputation for nightlife that appeals to what kind of person? The gay/lesbian/hipster crowd. 12 correct answers. All participants got it right. Do we infer something from this? LOL!

 

18) What the heck is a Teo Chew? Teo Chew is a province in China, also a dialect. Most Thai-Chinese are from there. I was looking for answers to do with a Thai-Chinese person, but many hit upon the language. I gave half credit for that. 2 correct answers and 6 with half credit.

 

Pom Michael is the winner, but after our excursion Saturday night I am not sure he wants to go drinking again any time soon LOL! It was a drunken, slightly newbie-esque night (due to kismet & timing) for the Tiger. But all things are settled now and all are happy again. PM, PM me to collect after Saturday (in Oz til then).

 

Cheers,

SD

 

 

Again, the final tally:

Pom Michael = 27: 87%

Straycat = 20.5: 66%

Samak = 19 or 61%

Grumpy = 18: 58%

Markle = 16.5: 53%

Jimmie Blonde = 16: 52%

Whosyourdaddy = 15.5: 50%

Flyonzewall = 14.5: 47%

IB13 = 13: 42%

Pharcyde = 12: 39%

Limbo = 11: 35%

Khun Sanuk = 10.5: 34%

[..]

"I'd obviously get 100% if I tried."

 

Ahhh, but ya didn't, so no drinkie-poo for you!

 

Cheers,

SD

[Guest]

And it would appear that some of our long time expats need to get out a little more often.

 

Good quiz Hu. Tse Tse. ( yeah I knew the Teo Chew one, they also are famous for their red clay teapots and operate benevolent societies around the world.)

[iuytrede]

Technically Teochew is not a province in China, just a city governing a district, the Mandarin word for Teochew is Chaozhou.

A province in China is about the size of France or Germany: Chaozhou is in Guangdong province which has a population of 80 million.