Highlandman

No I haven't. Not many Thais wore masks then and there were no mandates. You're boring. 2 years ago, there was a mask mandate in place, unlike now. What's boring is seeing Thais continue to live in fear when everything is normal everywhere outside the country. What is clear is that Thais live in a strange world filled with fear and that we should be having a conversation with them asking them WHY? Why are you still afraid? For a country that relies so much on tourism and is supposed to be the "land of smiles" this behavior is odd. It's clear Thais have been greatly brainwashed and indoctrinated by their government since early 2020. No other Asian country has experienced this insane level of brainwashing. Not even China. The Chinese have moved on and are back to living normal lives without disgusting and useless masks that only serve to perpetuate fear and keep people under control.

Thais seem to be much more conformist than their neighbors in China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and even Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. I wonder why that is? I've been to all these countries post Covid, some of them, multiple times. I've been to Laos 5 times already this year. Cambodia twice (technically, 4 times if you count the fact I made 4 separate entries to Cambodia, two times on the way to and from Vietnam), Vietnam 4 times and Malaysia twice. The others, so far once each. What I've noticed is that the only country out of these still absolutely obsessed with masks and Covid, is Thailand. In all the others, I feel free and that the people have moved on. Thailand refuses to move on and I just don't understand why. Granted, things are much better in Phuket, other island areas and very rural parts of the country, but there is still more mask wearing in Phuket than anywhere in Laos, Cambodia, China or Myanmar.

Correct and this only applies to Thai employers. They'll never remove the mandate. I've been to 7-11s all over the country, from Chiang Saen in the north to Hat Yai in the south in recent months and always, without exception, all employees are masked. I've also noticed this at CP owned 7-11 stores in Cambodia. However, go to any any other corporate owned business in Cambodia and no masks are worn. At 7-11 in Malaysia, employees haven't been wearing masks (unless they chose to) since my first post Covid visit in December 2022 and it was the same in July 2023, no masks worn and this was in Penang. In Vientiane, Thailand owned Rimping (which has 2 supermarkets there) also require all their employees to wear masks. However, at Chinese owned supermarkets, no masks are worn by staff. At Parkson mall, some employees wear masks (or did, back in July) while no one at BCEL bank is masked. Meanwhile, the vast majority (though not all) bank staff at any bank in Thailand are masked. So it's definitely a power and control thing and seems to be very much Thai. Of course masks are still occasionally worn at some retailers in other Asian countries, but the policy is not nearly as universal and consistently applied like it is here. Case in point is Vietnam - circle K employees wear masks in some locations but not others. Ditto for 7-11 and Family Mart.

No, they didn't. I think you need to refresh your memory. Firstly, each Asian country is different and this includes their mask wearing habits. Your generalization is inaccurate and offensive. 0.5% of Thais wore masks before Covid, meaning they only wore them if they were sick, working in a hospital or if the conditions were really dusty. Vietnamese only ever wore them while riding motorcycles in the cities. Never did you have mask mandates before 2020 in Thailand and never did you see the ridiculous situation of seeing an entire Thai family walking through a mall while masked, in October 2023, well over a year following the end of the mask mandate and keeping their masks on while seated at a restaurant and holding meetings where everyone is masked up! That's not normal but Thais do this, because they've been brainwashed. I can assure you that other Asians do NOT do this. In China, where I was recently, almost no one wears a mask anymore. Even stores inside malls don't have mask wearing employees, except for McDonald's and the odd tea shop for some reason. You didn't even see Chinese company executives wearing masks during meetings DURING Covid. I know, given my Chinese colleagues held plenty of meetings during Covid and always without a mask. In Thailand, they're still requiring masks to be worn at many companies. I experienced this last week during a meeting.

The masks that are worn here don't protect you from diesel fumes and its not just diesel that's dangerous, gasoline fumes shouldn't be inhaled either.

I've not noticed Thais taking their masks off to talk to one another or necessarily, quickly put them back on when a foreigner comes by. Yes, that did happen in 2020, 2021 and early 2022, but not much anymore. When Thais do that these days, they do it to everyone. Basically, in customer facing roles, they might remove their masks if there is no one to serve and quickly put the mask back on when a customer arrives. Nowadays, you still see Thais diligently masking while sitting alone at a restaurant or Cafe, only removing their masks when the food comes around and then putting them back on as soon as they're done. Mask wearing in general seems to be around 50%, but can be higher. It remained stubbornly high at 80%+ except in very rural areas, as recently as July. I don't visit hospitals, but from all accounts, mask wearing is near 100% there, except among children under 2. I'd be very very surprised if mask wearing at clinics or hospitals were below 99% anywhere except medical tourism hospitals full of foreign patients such as Bumrungrad. In fact, I recently drove past a clinic in Nong Bua Lamphu and noticed 100% of patients waiting there wearing masks. By contrast, in Savannakhet, Laos, I saw no one wearing a mask in the hospital grounds there. I also saw no one wearing a mask at the Siem Reap hospital in Cambodia and this was in November 2022! It's really only Thais wearing masks these days. Their neighbors have largely moved on from this strange obsession. I recently visited several Thai companies for business purposes. Some of them still had "no mask no entry" signs, though fortunately, this wasn't enforced on visitors. However, we did have people wearing masks while talking to us (they were masked before we came) at 4 of these companies. One of them, a Japanese company, even required we submit Covid antigen tests before arrival AND we wear masks during the meeting. This is October 2023 and they're still doing this with no end in sight. I think it's permanent now, they only lifted the mandates due to tourism but privately, many Thai companies maintain mandates and so do many schools and other settings.

There are plenty of yards in Thai homes but most aren't very big compared with back home.

Why on God's green Earth did you agree to lend him the truck??? I would NEVER lend my truck to any Thai. Not least because I always need it but even if I'm abroad I still won't allow it.

Yep, got it. I just corrected my post prior to you sending this one. Clearly you were his patient Yeah so the doctor trying to practice his English or try to make himself look good. Aha so you gave her some of her own medicine. Lol.

I think I got it now. It was the slight spelling mistake you made. The doctor said he doesn't consider you to be Thai, as you weren't born in the country. A ridiculous thing to say, but apparently he said it.

Yeah a joke only you can understand . Funny. Haha. Isn't it a bit early to be drinking? Or did you just fall off your bar stool?

I would have told her off. Chinese and farang getting Thai nationality - same thing. Yeah the mask wearing ethnic Chinese ones, I know the type. Lol. BTW can you explain the context of why the doctor said that? Are you a business owner or something where the doctor came in and made that remark?

Sounds like you have just arrived in the country as I'm the one giving you correct and useful advice.

You just say "tem tang" (which means full tank) or a numerical amount (such as 100 or 200 Baht). No one ever tells a gas station attendant to put in a particular quantity of gas into their vehicle. That's too complicated for the attendants to work out. It's always a numerical value - for cars you might say diesel, 1000 Baht. That's it. Diesel = diesel in both Thai and English. In the past, "sola" was often used but that term is now almost extinct

Considering he's a Thai citizen (even if naturalized) I find it strange that he wouldn't be understood but because we're talking gas station attendants here's the reason: He's speaking Thai to foreigners, who themselves aren't good at Thai. The vast majority of gas station attendants are Burmese or Cambodian, as Thais don't like to do that kind of work.

What?? Of course Thai language is mandatory at Thai schools. This is a point of contention in the 3 southernmost provinces, where the majority of the population would prefer their children were educated in Pattani-Malay or Yawi, rather than Thai. Thai is so dominant nowadays that minority dialects and languages are being wiped out. It's English that isn't necessarily compulsory at every school. Nearly every Thai parent sends their child(ren) to school. Education is considered to be mandatory from the ages of 6 or 7 (different sources are conflicted on which age) but homeschooling is a legal pathway that can be taken as an alternative. Very, very few Thais choose this path, though it's slowly growing in popularity. Quite a few rural Thais end up leaving school early, but very very few have never attended school (unlike in Laos, where most of the rural population has never been to school). Your comment shows a complete lack of understanding of the Thai education system.

Lol, England again. I've never even been to England. Also, how many British people say "gas station"? You Brits use another word altogether. It's called "petrol". I don't have time to have conversations with menial workers ive never met before. I tell them what I want and that's it. You'll be the one people hate (mostly Thais) if you hold up the queue at a gas station by having a pointless conversation with someone who's employed to serve you and move you along as quickly as possible.

I'm offended when that happens given I'm fluent in the language. In the past due to my lack of Thai, it was the opposite - I wanted people to speak English with me, because I didn't know enough Thai. The issue is not that Thais don't want to speak in their language (they do) but there's a mental block, that they have to overcome because they're not used to foreigners speaking Thai (although it is getting more common). The other aspect is - how good one's Thai is. If one's accent is really strong (such as is often the case with American speakers of Thai) that might cause a Thai who speaks reasonable English to switch to English. The only types who can get quite arrogant and even racist and who you may struggle to speak Thai to are the educated elite, often university professors, doctors and the like, who quite often aren't that good at English, or not as good as they think they are.

I don't waste my time with beggars. I just ignore them like Thais do.

Why would anyone have a conversation with a gas station attendant? All you're ever going to say is how much you need and the type of fuel. Most gas station attendants in Thailand are foreigners from Myanmar and Cambodia, hence why their English may sometimes be slightly better than that of Thais, but their Thai is often not very good. Thais often like to poke fun at how Burmese speak Thai.

Travel by land via Cambodia, keep the guinea pigs out of sight and let a local on a motorcycle carry them across the border once you're at the Vietnam border gate? Pay him handsomely for the service.

Depends. The Chinese police react similar to the Thai police. If no property damage occurs and if no one is hurt, they try to defuse the situation and that may be the end of it. An arrest might occur in some circumstances, but "decades in jail" is pure mythomania. China works very differently to how most westerners imagine it.

The outcome would have been identical, assuming said "non-Chinese chap" had reacted identically. Thailand doesn't do woke politics (thank God) if you're a foreigner, you're a foreigner.

4. Not so sure about that. This kind of incident happens regularly in China. So often, there's a chance you'll spot one or two incidents on an average 1 week trip.

Yes exactly. I know. In the past, Thai mothers, like mothers everywhere else in the world, stayed home to raise the children. This has changed now, with many, if not most mothers being in the workforce and thus requiring children be raised by others. BTW even in rural areas, most Thai toddlers go to childcare and then kindergarten and regular school, the vast majority in fact. This occurs even if there's grandparents available to look after them. The grandparents look after them at night, because the parents live elsewhere and thus the children live with their grandparents.