Tourists .... pfffft!

[chingmai331]

I went to take a smartphone photo of my burger and she rejected me, thought me rude.

 

And do i see a farang monk in post #27?

[Kadilo]

29 minutes ago, transam said:

Some of you are still in your faragland mindset.....The GRRRR mode....Chill out, bet your lady is...  

That's a fair call. I know I'm as guilty as the next man sometimes. I have to remind myself why I'm here. 

[Foozool]

It is a package. Need tourist's money ? They come with their cameras. 

Once in in a while girls ask me to take photos with me ?, no problem, take 100s. 

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2017 by Foozool

[EcigAmateur]

I always take photos of any hottie who prays and I love them. I will never stop and do not care what some ridiculous people think. Happy OP ?

 

 

[1FinickyOne]

Sorry for the uncomfortable moment... but people do act this way at "home" too... If it were my wife, I might have said something... or at least stood in front of the camera... back turned. 

 

I used to live in Amish country in the USA and had many Amish friends - they had funny stories about tourists, but it pissed them off too... Imagine getting up in the morning and walking out of your house and having a car full of idiots at your fence screaming and pointing - "Look!!! There's one!!" 

[NancyL]

Oh for heavens sake.  This is making a mountain out of molehill.  If the subjects of the photos would have expected a modest payment and it wasn't given (like the insect food sellers in Bangkok), then yes it was out-of-line.  If the worshipers where in a temple where admission is charged because it's popular with tourists and there is no signage prohibiting photography, then they should expect photography.   After all, what is the temple "selling"?  The sight of "real" Thai people in worship.  Go ahead, take photos.  As mentioned, if the OP's wife wanted to worship without being molested by photographers, then she shouldn't have gone to a wat that permitted tourists to take photos and charged them to enter.

[jobsworth]

i am not allowed to say who these people are but you will find them everywhere.

[Loaded]

Once a temple charges an entrance fee and starts discriminating against different racial groups, it's no longer Buddhism - it's tourism. And as far as I'm concerned, I have no need to respect the staff in saffron robes or the buildings. I've paid, so I expect.

Edited October 27, 2017 by Loaded

[Dumbastheycome]

The  safest way  to  consider  tourist activity  anywhere in the  world is  to understand  that "Tourists" arrive  with  the  belief  that  the  location  they are in  by virtue of their "Tourist " Visa is  to be  viewed as a  cross  between a  circus  and a  zoo ! Forgotten or ignored  are  conventions to  social cultural  norms  of  their  origin that  might  be  equally/similarly  expected anywhere else.

Unfortunately  that also does  apply  to a significant  proportion  of refugee expats. 

[Johpa]

7 hours ago, connda said:

You're incredibly over sensitive.  People take pictures in our wat all of the time.  Considering I live in the sticks, none of those taking pictures in the wat are foreigners or tourists.   They're all Thais taking pictures of Thai <and one village farang> at our wat.  Some of them even praying!!!

 

I also maintain an abode "in the sticks" and am used to near chaos at the local temple or at Buddhist ceremonies in homes with kids running around, and adults coming and going, and yes of course endless cellphone pics because, well because everything must be documented on Facebook.  I can't fart in our village without someone posting a message to my wife.  But embedding in rural Thai culture can have consequences in the big city.  Last year I had visitors and took them to Wat Phra Singh and was admonished for talking too loudly (I was speaking softly) by a Farang who imagined that I was disrupting some imagined solemnity.

[NOWHERE]

Thank you all. Interesting thread. 

[jacko45k]

On 10/26/2017 at 10:12 PM, sharktooth said:

It doesn’t start when they arrive here. Most of the idiots start acting like fickwuts the minute they hit Departures in their home airport...

Usually the bar at 06.30 am!

[hawker9000]

21 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

You are perfectly within your rights to take photos of people in public places.

You have no right to privacy in common areas of the world.

So is EVERYTHING about "rights" with you?  Is it ALWAYS about "entitlement"?  What about courtesy, thoughtfulness, respect for others, and common sense?  ESPECIALLY as a GUEST in a foreign country!   Yours is precisely the kind of attitude that promotes resentment toward foreigners and encourages xenophobic behavior.  Why SHOULD the locals be welcoming and tolerant toward foreign idiots with no respect for others let alone any cultural sensitivity?  The idea that tourists are perfectly fine taking pictures anywhere and of anyone they want, whenever they want, boorishly insisting on their "rights", is a perfect recipe for incitement.   A visitor is supposed to leave his shoes on the steps of a wat; maybe the expectation will soon be for cellphones with their built-in cameras as well.   (It's definitely got my vote!)  

 

 

 

[EcigAmateur]

13 hours ago, kenk24 said:

Sorry for the uncomfortable moment... but people do act this way at "home" too... If it were my wife, I might have said something... or at least stood in front of the camera... back turned. 

 

I used to live in Amish country in the USA and had many Amish friends - they had funny stories about tourists, but it pissed them off too... Imagine getting up in the morning and walking out of your house and having a car full of idiots at your fence screaming and pointing - "Look!!! There's one!!" 

 

If they were not living like animals nobody would visit the zoo !

 

 

 

 

[BuddyDean]

Being a jackass with your camera is a good way to get in trouble in many places.  Government offices or anything even remotely dealing with military...to name a few.....hostess bars, gogo's to name a few more.

[MaeJoMTB]

59 minutes ago, hawker9000 said:

So is EVERYTHING about "rights" with you?  Is it ALWAYS about "entitlement"?  What about courtesy, thoughtfulness, respect for others, and common sense?  ESPECIALLY as a GUEST in a foreign country!  

Usually imagined by halfwits trying to be more Thai than the Thais.

Yesterday a foreigner wai-ed the coffee shop  waitress.

PS. I ain't a guest, I pay.

[1FinickyOne]

24 minutes ago, EcigAmateur said:

 

If they were not living like animals nobody would visit the zoo !

 

 

 

 

Hey, it sounds like all you need is a cheap camera... 

 

I actually did comment to my Amish friends that they are not exactly living like everyone else. They laughed and agreed. Though it really does not excuse rude behavior. 

[MaeJoMTB]

2 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

I actually did comment to my Amish friends that they are not exactly living like everyone else. They laughed and agreed. Though it really does not excuse rude behavior. 

Not really a good comparison as the Amish would have been on private land at the time of the incident.

Taking photos of people on their own land is covered by an entirely different set of laws.

Edited October 28, 2017 by MaeJoMTB

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed as well as an off topic troll post. 

[1FinickyOne]

23 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

Not really a good comparison as the Amish would have been on private land at the time of the incident.

Taking photos of people on their own land is covered by an entirely different set of laws.

Well, rude is rude - I do not mind if and when people ask for my photo... want to pose with me for a photo... as kids will do, especially out in the countryside where there are not as many farang... but to stick a camera in someones face w/o permission is rude... and can feel like an aggressive intrusion into someones space. 

 

The Amish also do not like the idea of graven images - it violates their beliefs... that is not my belief but I respect theirs. 

[MaeJoMTB]

21 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

Well, rude is rude - I do not mind if and when people ask for my photo... want to pose with me for a photo... as kids will do, especially out in the countryside where there are not as many farang... but to stick a camera in someones face w/o permission is rude... and can feel like an aggressive intrusion into someones space. 

Interrupting a woman praying to ask permission for a photo is probably ruder than just taking it.

Moot point though, I only ever take selfies and dinner plate photos for my facebook page.

Look at meeeeeeeeee!

Edited October 28, 2017 by MaeJoMTB

[canthai55]

My guess - people complaining of having their foto taken are the same people who complain about many things here. Post doom and gloom about their 90 day reports, how they just can't get no respect ... Why is this ... Why isn't that ... Glad I do not live my life in such a fashion

[Damrongsak]

23 hours ago, transam said:

A weeee story. Mrs.Trans mum passed on a few weeks back, at the funeral l was asked to pour "holy" water on the corpse from head to foot...No ploblem...

I could hear the phone cameras clicking in the background and one of me doing my stuff ended up on facebook....No ploblem cos Interpol ain't looking for me, well l don't fink so...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wife and I, at home during a Buddhist ceremony on the occasion of our 20 year old son getting killed in Iraq, monks sitting off to the left.  January 2005. Don't recall who took the pic, but there was a Thai friend who always had a camera. 

 

40 years ago I visited Penang and saw one of the Indian festivals where they pierce their skin with hooks and stuff.  I could not bear to take pictures of them, just had to witness it. Out of respect.

[orang37]

I try to keep in mind that the modern western concept of a "sacred space" and the behavioral norms associated with it is the western concept of a "sacred space" and the behavioral norms associated with it.

But, I often have to keep repeating that to keep it in mind.

 

~o:37;

 

[impulse]

I'm pretty sure that, hard as I try, SOME of my behaviors are irritating to SOME of the people who, by necessity, share the planet with me.  Just as SOME of the people I share the planet with practice behaviors that irritate me.

 

The more I focus on the irritations, the poorer is the quality of my life.

 

[1FinickyOne]

4 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

Interrupting a woman praying to ask permission for a photo is probably ruder than just taking it.

Moot point though, I only ever take selfies and dinner plate photos for my facebook page.

Look at meeeeeeeeee!

Yes agreed- you do not interrupt a woman praying and I don't think I implied that you should... just leave her alone and let her pray in peace w/o being photographed... 

[kurtmartens]

On 10/26/2017 at 8:14 PM, taotoo said:

Tolerance. Bloody expats.

Sorry, not to start a pissing contest.  But, how does me not wanting my wife's picture taken while she is praying making me intolerant?

[kurtmartens]

11 hours ago, canthai55 said:

My guess - people complaining of having their foto taken are the same people who complain about many things here. Post doom and gloom about their 90 day reports, how they just can't get no respect ... Why is this ... Why isn't that ... Glad I do not live my life in such a fashion

Your guess is a little wrong as far as me and my postings.  You'll find I probably have a total of 5 or less rant posts - include this one - about living in Thailand.  And am usually one of the folks wondering why expats are living in a country they "don't like".  I honestly don't think me ranting about rude picture taking or folks walking around shirtless in elephant pants with an open can of beer is moaning about life in Thailand.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Another Farang who is more Thai than Thai.

 

Gotta love those.

 

 

[MaeJoMTB]

9 hours ago, kurtmartens said:

Your guess is a little wrong as far as me and my postings.  You'll find I probably have a total of 5 or less rant posts - include this one - about living in Thailand.  And am usually one of the folks wondering why expats are living in a country they "don't like".  I honestly don't think me ranting about rude picture taking or folks walking around shirtless in elephant pants with an open can of beer is moaning about life in Thailand.

It ain't the country I don't like, it's the natives (and the foreigners).

Edited October 29, 2017 by MaeJoMTB