Jingjok
เซเว่น, the corner institution
see-wên
Thais call it เซเว่น, and with more than 14,000 branches it is less a shop than public infrastructure. Besides snacks and drinks, you can pay phone, water and electricity bills at the counter, top up a prepaid SIM, and at many branches send or pick up parcels. The hot food counter feeds half the country: the clerk microwaves frozen meals and presses toasties in a grill while you wait. The till script is the same nationwide, so you learn it once: a bag? heat it? a straw? a member card or points? Answer each with a short word: รับ or ไม่รับ, อุ่นด้วย, ไม่ต้อง, ไม่มี. Prices are fixed; nobody bargains here.
Try this today
At your next 7-Eleven, answer the bag question in Thai: ไม่รับถุง or ใส่ถุง.
The words that carry it
Learn this in “Street food and 7-Eleven” →
Your first 90 days of Thai
Culture cards in Jingjok are tied to the words that carry them, each ending in one thing to try today.
- WEEKS 1–2 · SURVIVEGreet anyone, pay, and order food and 7-Eleven exactly how you like it.
- WEEKS 3–6 · SETTLE INGet around by taxi, Grab and skytrain, find anything, and handle your landlord.
- WEEKS 7–12 · RUN YOUR LIFEPharmacy, bank, SIM and apps, how you feel, and a weekend away, all in Thai.
The first week is free.