dave - go to the farmers market north of the basilica on the east side of 94, you'll find a good selection of chile plants for sale come May.
alot of hmong growers there, but for thais its usually the small basic thais (still hot) thai dragon, also kung pao (good chile!) plus other types, you just need to look at who has what, but those are the basic asian chiles sold there. you might even find some selling white or purple thais, I never figured out what the real names were but they're alright.
sometimes another grower that shows up might have orange or red thais, but the news on their site is that the guy has died & now the other family members are trying to take over what he did (which was alot)
I almost forgot you might even find someone selling thai giants, not as common but some do.
also freezing the pods fresh will only make the pods mushy.