Highlandman

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.

In the past, when mothers didn't have to go out and work, they looked after the children. This has changed to grandparents over the past few decades as social and economic conditions have changed. Look at hill tribes in Laos for instance; the mothers would take their children to the fields and take care of them while they work OR outside the home, if they primarily work from or near their homes. You don't generally see grandparents being the primary caregivers in Lao villages, except in the case of parents who are migrant workers living and working abroad. Africa is similar. Again, not saying grandparents aren't important caregivers, as they do tend to be there too, but traditionally, mothers raised their children by staying home and tending to household duties. It's different now, but in rural northern Laos, one can still get a glimpse of the past, since the lifestyles of many rural people, especially tribal peoples such as the Hmong, remain relatively unchanged from decades and centuries past.

I don't think so. Mothers looking after the children during the day, while the father goes out to work has been the natural order worldwide for thousands of years. Grandparents would only ever assist soon after birth, but not take over the primary caregiving role. That's only occurred in countries like Thailand, primarily because the parents don't live with their children, since they work in another part of the country or abroad.

He's THAI!! Did you not read anything in this 2 page (now 3 with yours)? You clearly didn't notice he mentioned that he's a Thai citizen.

It's really sad isn't it? The only Thai parents who do raise their own children are the middle class and upper classes, who mainly live in Bangkok, Chonburi and other wealthy regions of the country. Although they sometimes overdo it (I know several parents who rarely wear masks anymore themselves but force their toddlers to continue to wear masks at all times, for their own "protection"), going to the doctor and freaking out every time their little one has the sniffles (this began long before Covid), constantly posting pictures of their little masked emperor doing all sorts of "cool" things on Facebook. You know, that kind of essentially narcissistic behavior. Constantly showing off their children on the internet, but at least they're the ones raising them, not the grandparents. Poor Thais seem to always pawn off the raising of their children to their grandparents, with often disastrous outcomes. I wonder when this started. Can't imagine this was a thing in Thai society 100 years ago, but it most certainly is nowadays.

It's the same in either case. There is no expectation by Thais to pay back a loan given by a family member.

When did Thais ever take off their masks? 90% were wearing them the other day at the mall, the same percentage as 1 month ago and unchanged also from 2-3 months ago. 4-5 months ago it was 95% and at the time the mandate was scrapped it was 99.9%. I'm still seeing a lot of people keep their masks on while seated at a restaurant, only removing them once the meal arrives. Then putting them back on the instant the meal is finished. This bizarre ritual I've not seen anywhere else in the world. You're right though, it seems like the only thing that is taken seriously in Thailand these days is mask wearing. It's like these masks have some sort of religious significance to them.

Only one lunch? I'd say it's lunch sorted for the next month!

Of course. It can go both ways.

Also, must be between 20 and 29 Female A yellow shirt supporter Unmarried Double vaccinated Willing to wear a mask at all times while shooting footage Sing the praises of the TAT Be good at acting

OK. I don't want to get more into that, suffice to say that most people who aren't educated are more easily influenced by what they see on TV and on social media. On any given topic.

Hmm interesting, considering that's a very rare occurrence (though it has happened). Many of the active conflict zones do seem to focus on areas right up against the Thai border though.

So presumably she bought the Covid narrative and got several booster shots?

I've had some very enlightening conversations with acquaintances I've made who live in border areas of Thailand. They tend to be male, reasonably well educated, are older (generally at least 50 but usually 55+) and are married with grown up children who've long since left home. They have a particularly good knowledge of their direct neighbors, though usually a little less about countries further away. Most of these people live within 25km of the Burmese border so they know a lot about the local and national situation in that country and of course work with Burmese people in their businesses (the majority are business owners). They know less about Malaysia and Cambodia etc. because these countries are further away, but they aren't ignorant about these countries either. Interestingly, despite Thai women being more educated than their male counterparts on average and women making up the majority of university places in the country, I find that whenever there is a story of ignorance on the part of a Thai, where regional and/or world history is concerned, its women who perform the worst. I see evidence of this when I trawl through social media comments in Thai, almost all the good ones are written by men only. They're the ones who seem to know a bit about their neighbors, whereas the women don't know and don't care. Now having said that, I'm sure there are a lot of ignorant men out there too, especially the lesser educated menial laborers who hang out drinking in their free time.

Well, what is she good at or knowledgeable in?

I'd say it's abnormal for a Thai not to have heard of the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge. Not knowing the details, such as exact years of these historical events and key events on the other hand I'd say is normal. Thais can be ignorant, even to some extent of their neighbors, but not quite that ignorant. Every Thai who lives within 50km of a border with a neighboring country will however have a significantly better knowledge of their neighboring country than someone who comes from Bangkok or some random village in upcountry Thailand, say in central Isarn or lower northern Thailand. Are you sure your wife completed university? Even with the poor quality university education in Thailand (except for some STEM degrees from some more prestigious institutions) I doubt she would have emerged from her schooling without knowledge of these events. I suspect the issue could be that she forgot these topics, didn't pay attention in class and just doesn't care. I also assume she's never been to Cambodia and Vietnam until you took her to these countries. There are ignorant people everywhere though. Many Americans have little to no knowledge of the Vietnam War, though the vast majority will have heard of it. Many Americans and even some Australians may not be able to locate countries like Thailand on a map and some will confuse Thailand for Taiwan. My wife even had her degree from an American university addressed to Bangkok, Taiwan. Fortunately, it ended up in Bangkok, Thailand! LOL.

Obviously. A dual citizen who holds Thai nationality should of course be registered as Thai and won't need any special paperwork or face such issues.

Why does Thailand allows its nationals to enter the country on a foreign passport? Any decent country would not allow this and in the rare case something like an overstay situation were to come to light, proving citizenship would be enough to get out of any penalties.

Assuming she alone wrote that editorial without help and her husband is a farang, then her "lack of fluency" in the English language remark is rather odd. While it's possible her husband is fluent in Thai and they converse together in Thai, chances are he's not and they communicate in English and she even prefers it this way. I agree that she sounds like a real piece of work, definitely a narcissist.

Sponsored by mask manufacturers? Experiments prove they don't work, period. Gas masks work to protect you against PM2.5, but surgical and cloth masks providing protection against a flu virus, which is tinier than the pores in your mask not to mention how loosely most of them fit around your mouth and nose? I don't think so.

Nobody's going around telling strangers to take off their masks. I'm certainly not. Besides, it would probably take years given millions are still wearing them. I do have friends, such as one teacher at an international school, who's been telling his students to remove their masks. Some take his advice, others don't. However, I can't believe that Thais are still willing to wear masks in this heat and humidity and especially after all this time. I wonder how they breathe. Don't they get massive headaches at the end of the day? I would get a headache just from wearing an N95 mask for 10 minutes, which I would put on to protect myself from dust if I'm cutting some strips of wood or something. Imagine wearing something that restricts your breathing all day for well over 3 years?? It's all so strange. To me it's absolutely demoralizing. Even more sad is seeing innocent children, many under 2, wearing masks, which is an asphyxiation hazard and strongly discouraged, by the WHO and other health bodies. In every other Asian country (some of which had stricter penalties for not wearing a mask, such as Singapore) the population has now largely moved on. I do remember one radio broadcast in December 2022. As I was driving to Malaysia, the female presenter (this was somewhere around Nakorn Sri Thammarat) was telling Thais not to leave home unless necessary. Wear a mask at all times. Don't invite guests over. She was ranting on and on about Covid for about 15 minutes! This, in December 2022? No wonder Thais are so fearful, when this kind of extreme propaganda is still being disseminated months after the end of the state of emergency and during endemic status. It should be illegal to scare people to death like that. Meanwhile in Malaysia, there was just ONE reference to mask made on the radio the entire time I was there (I listened to the radio for hours at a time, while driving). It was basically "if you're sick with the flu or flu like symptoms, stay home or wear a mask". The rest of the time they were focusing more on washing food properly and washing your hands, as there was a flooding crisis unfolding. It proves just how differently the mentality is. One country is scaring its citizens to death, the other takes a measured, common sense approach.

Many studies have shown masks don't work, period.

No, he's making a curious observation. For every day that goes by with most Thais still masking, it gets more pointless and more foreigners (not just westerners but Asian foreigners) start scratching their heads wondering: "Why?" Hong Kongers coming to Thailand for the first time in the post-Covid period are probably wondering if there's still a mandate in place. Apparently in less than one month, half the Hong Kong population has managed to ditch their mask, while in Bangkok it's taken 9 months for maybe 10-15% of local residents to do the same.