Local Culture: What don't you like?

[2009]

So, rather than have a circle jerk over local culture, I am interested to know what aspects of it you dislike.

 

I am sure as foreign guests here we must have experienced culture clash or culture shock at some point.

 

So, is there any cultural difference that you just can't fully appreciate?

[pgrahmm]

I enjoy most of it - except some of the cat hollering music that clears ear wax & melts tooth enamel....

 

I've never felt anything but good hearted kinship while participating....

[Morpheus42]

Outdoor Masks

Driving on the roads

Kreng Jai / the fact that they are not honest or after they did something wrong they never apologize with backbone but just ignore the mistake

The culture of accepting almost everything silently, especially authority, instead of standing up for your rights

[2009]

11 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

I enjoy most of it - except some of the cat hollering music that clears ear wax & melts tooth enamel....

 

I've never felt anything but good hearted kinship while participating....

Yeah, the psychotic Thai techno party music sounds like something only rebellious children would play for a laugh.

 

Yet, no Issan party is complete without 12 hours of it played so loud you can here it kilometres away and the women actually seem to enjoy dancing to it.

 

I will never comprehend.

[2009]

10 minutes ago, Morpheus42 said:

Outdoor Masks

Driving on the roads

Kreng Jai / the fact that they are not honest or after they did something wrong they never apologize with backbone but just ignore the mistake

The culture of accepting almost everything silently, especially authority, instead of standing up for your rights

Yup, the absolute ruthless cut-throat driving which just seems to be the norm among the nation as a whole.

 

Yeah, a lack of honestly and reliability in general. I suppose all cultures have different values, but honestly certainly isn't high on the list here.

 

 

[2009]

14 minutes ago, Morpheus42 said:

The culture of accepting almost everything silently, especially authority, instead of standing up for your rights

I have experienced this at work.

 

Even though the person disagrees with something, they are afraid that they will be excluded by their peers (who are banding together and suffering collectively) if they stand up for themselves.

 

Super mature, on both sides. Lol.

[jak2002003]

Neighbour throwing leftover food over his wall onto the street outside out house.

 

Neighbours leaving their dogs and cats to breed over and over again and not 'fixing' them so the area is swarming with sickly dogs and cats.

 

A neighbour suddenly deciding to keep 2 cows in his front garden and never clean then out so each evening there is horrific stench.

 

People burning plastic every day 

 

The trend that ever house need to get blinding white outside lights. 

 

The culture of using a grass strimmer, steal cutter saw, tractors to move about red soil at 6.30 in the morning.

 

And the culture of missing the collection day ever week and making a mountain of festering, stinking bin bags at top of the street outside our wall. 

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by jak2002003

[2009]

5 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

Neighbour throwing leftover food over his wall onto the street outside out house.

 

Neighbours leaving their dogs and cats to breed over and over again and not 'fixing' them so the area is swarming with sickly dogs and cats.

 

A neighbour suddenly deciding to keep 2 cows in his front garden and never clean then out so each evening there is horrific stench.

 

People burning plastic every day 

 

The trend that ever house need to get blinding white outside lights. 

 

The culture of using a grass strimmer, steal cutter saw, tractors to move about red soil at 6.30 in the morning.

 

And the culture of missing the collection day ever week and making a mountain of festering, stinking bin bags at top of the street outside our wall. 

 

You reminded me of living up country. Lol

 

Domestication ain't exactly very refined yet, nor care for animals, neighbors, or the environment.

 

[1FinickyOne]

I love living here and being here and my family and most daily things...

 

More so the last few years, I am finding communication is difficult [in Thai]... with some people. Many of my family members don't seem to use tenses anymore.. My BIL tends to extrapolate out and interpret my words - totally incorrectly. As if in another universe... but he might just be losing his mind... 

[CharlieH]

Wedding & Funerals waking you up at 4 am ! with damn awful music ! Thanks its rare here but when it does...jeeez !

 

 

[The Hammer2021]

Ignorant foreigners especially those who identify as 'farang'..lol

[itsari]

3 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Ignorant foreigners especially those who identify as 'farang'..lol

In abundance 

[Lite Beer]

Hours and hours of ear splitting distorted "music".

The culture of opening a workshop in your front garden and to hell with the neighbours.

[Lite Beer]

The culture of doing nothing when the neighbour opens  a workshop in his front garden.

[Lite Beer]

The culture of an almighty racket for 5 days when someone kicks the bucket.

There seems to be some kind of rota for this as it happens every week.

[Lite Beer]

The culture of training 10 dogs to bark all day and night.

All pretty normal in the land of noise.

[richard_smith237]

This thread could turn into a colossal Thai bash...

 

.... however, the traits that constitute many of Thailands flaws also contribute towards making Thailand an endearing and lovely place to be...  The general non-confrontational manner makes Thailand a great place to be, but also accounts for the total lack of social responsibility which contributes as a major factor towards many of its flaws. 

 

....  What don’t like I like about ‘local culture’ ? the way in which local culture is used to explain the ’Thai way’ whenever there is something negative or just down-right wrong and it can’t be explained....  riding a motorcycle down the pavement “It's the Thai way !!!” (no its not, its the way of ayeholes !)

 

... the biggest facet of Thai culture I struggle to tolerate - the general indifference towards others (strangers) which generally manifests itself as poor traffic behaviour, inconsiderate noise levels and litter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1FinickyOne]

5 minutes ago, Lite Beer said:

The culture of training 10 dogs to bark all day and night.

All pretty normal in the land of noise.

you don't need to train them, they do it naturally

[talahtnut]

I revelled in the Thai culture, loved the natural flow of reason and humour.

A group of Thai friends declared me a Honorary Thai, after several beers.

Its the miserable Western Culture thats got it wrong.

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

41 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

This thread could turn into a colossal Thai bash...

Ugggh, Thai people and escalators, wasn't this topic done to death in 2004?

[2009]

13 minutes ago, talahtnut said:

A group of Thai friends declared me a Honorary Thai, after several beers

Haha,

 

I still haven't made it passed "farang Lao" status. I just call them "Lao Lao" back.

 

Needless to say, they don't appreciate it.

 

 

[2009]

18 minutes ago, talahtnut said:

A group of Thai friends declared me a Honorary Thai, after several beers

Double post

 

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by 2009

[2009]

5 minutes ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Ugggh, Thai people and escalators,

Haha,

 

Their spatial awareness truly is a phenomenal.

 

It is only at an escalator, they can accuse me of tailgating. Lol.

 

Tailgating at 120km/h -- no problem. But an escalator....dun dun dun..........sheer terror!

[OneMoreFarang]

Yes, yes, maybe a little yes, but never No.

 

Sometimes it would be nice to get a straight No answer from Thais when they mean No.

[BangkokReady]

Probably the sometimes awful treatment of young women and girls, along with the casual acceptance of it by the majority.

[2009]

1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Ignorant foreigners especially those who identify as 'farang'..lol

Surely, not as bad as the ones who think they are Thai.

 

I remember sitting in a farang pub and this young chipper lad, clearly in complete rapture of being in Thailand, approches me and says, "Sawadi kap! Yin dee ti die ru jak. Phom chu...."

 

I look behind me thinking that he was talking to a Thai maiden, only to discover he is actually talking to me.

 

Naturally, I was like, "We are both English speakers, man"

 

He kinda reminded me of a "young me" when I was in love with Thailand but I never took it as far as to try to converse in Thai with other farang. Maybe he was high or something. His eyes we all glazed over with bliss.

Edited December 1, 2021 by 2009

[2009]

3 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Yes, yes, maybe a little yes, but never No.

 

Sometimes it would be nice to get a straight No answer from Thais when they mean No.

Maybe.

 

Maybe means "no".

[2009]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

What don’t like I like about ‘local culture’ ? the way in which local culture is used to explain the ’Thai way’

It's the Ace up the sleeve, man.

 

I honestly think they think they live on another plane of existence from the rest of the world.

[thaibeachlovers]

The casual cruelty to animals, which upsets me greatly.

The way dogs are allowed to run wild and breed to become a serious problem

the exploitation of beggars by bad people

the lack of any care for the environment outside their place of residence

the burning season

unsafe infrastructure

tolerance of shoddy construction and lack of maintenance

insane drivers

excessive noise disturbing everyone

 

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

Probably the sometimes awful treatment of young women and girls, along with the casual acceptance of it by the majority.

If you never read "Private Dancer", it deals with such quite explicitly.