Thais And Alcohol

[gburns57au]

As for the enzyme, it should be qualified to 'some'. It really is not all, it is just more common than in caucasian populations.

I don't think skin colour is that important. People of African descent do not seem to have as large a problem with alcohol as native Americans, Inuits or Australian aboriginals.

I dont know about African Americans.....but a lot of the Africans here that I see drink are not very good drinkers.

[gburns57au]

Oh god I am even boring myself !

And everyone else.......so stop it.....

:D

[tijnebijn]

Pretty sure that 8 out of 10 men in the village I live in a pure

alcoholics , mostly Lao Kgau and sang som .

Only the idea of getting drunk every day again and again makes me puke already .

I don't see any fun in that , except the occasional pretty rare even getting out the box

myself , which I enjoy but immediately enjoy being sober again and have enough of it

for at least 2 months .... really .

The locals here seem not to have any fun without alcohol , seems something manly or something

at the same time I see rather young Thais die very young , at 40 they seem to say they are old

already , which is not strange looking at their lifestyle though , must say that I rarely see

them getting aggressive but many of them not able to walk , is common practise here .

[croftrobin]

It’s called in slang “see sip" which in Thai is Forty (40)

The slang equates to its alcohol percentage by volume = 40% The same as 95% of Scottish Whisky's

Hardly low in alcohol!!

To me that, by UK standards, is a standard spirit alcohol content.

American beer is typically 3 % and UK beer 4.5%, Thai Beer's >5%

So even the beer is hardly low in alcohol!!

The Lao Kao sold in Loei province is commercially produced, taxed and bottled with tax stamps. It is sold in most small mom and pop markets as well as larger stores. It is not really that high in alcohol content.

[gburns57au]

It’s called in slang “see sip" which in Thai is Forty (40)

The slang equates to its alcohol percentage by volume = 40% The same as 95% of Scottish Whisky's

Hardly low in alcohol!!

To me that, by UK standards, is a standard spirit alcohol content.

American beer is typically 3 % and UK beer 4.5%, Thai Beer's >5%

So even the beer is hardly low in alcohol!!

In the village I used to stay in it was called "See Sip" because that was how much it cost for a bottle....you could then buy it in 10 baht pour offs. And the alcohol content was very questionable

Edited December 16, 2007 by gburns57au

[tijnebijn]

Its almost spiritus when consuming .

[Travel2003]

I see many Thais taking home part full bottles after a night out.

On the other hand I have seen one or two drunk but that is usually at parties, so not sure where you see all these drunken, fighting Thai people.

All my Thai friends get drunk much earlier in the evening then I do.

I have not seen as many fights in this country (due to alcohol) then I saw back home.

Regarding the bottle they bring with them.

It is normally consumed the very same evening/night. They just bring it with them to the next place, which normally is somewhere they can sit together and eat a bigger meal.

[SamuiBond]

"Enzymes" will stretch the more alcohol one uses and since when. While I spent some time in Taiwan I noticed these little business guys could go and drop some big "farang" guys in one their so many drinking games. Sure, "farangs" would always love to lose and get to drink (especially from certain countries) at the end of these endless rounds spiced with some karaoke.

Anyway like in any country if you have what it takes and practice your liver from young age (so individual) at the end game you'll manage to just fine - take a month, two brake and you get drunk like a baby. You don't have to be a drunk to have it in you but just above average user.

Then again few practice rounds and you're back to pro level - just like in pro sports... Take three days in a row and you're already feeling not getting drunk until you've had a jacuzzi load of booze.

[chicowoodduck]

I see many Thais taking home part full bottles after a night out.

On the other hand I have seen one or two drunk but that is usually at parties, so not sure where you see all these drunken, fighting Thai people.

Must be the old "one is too many and two is not enough!" I've seen the binge thing no matter what spot on the planet on on.

[pointofview]

Thais dont consume a fraction of the alcohol consumed by the average brit eg. I think the issue is their reaction to alcohol. A good example of this is to watch thais - especially young men - during the songkran holiday. I have seen them on numerous occasions acting out the same ritual:

They will stop their pick-up truck next to a group of observers sitting at a bar eg. jump from the truck and do a girlie dance whilst waving their bottle of beer in the air.

2nd ritual is to drink drive and cause mayhem on the roads - the road deaths during songkran resulting from drunken thais is frightening.

[howtoescape]

2nd ritual is to drink drive and cause mayhem on the roads - the road deaths during songkran resulting from drunken thais is frightening.

Unfortunatley many Farangs out here seem to have embraced this part of the culture, if you can get away with it you might aswell.

[TheDon]

I dont agree with the topic, The Thai's I know drink abit but hardly drink just to get trashed.

Yeah sometimes they get drunk but nothing compared to my Aussie mates. There is kids here at the age of 14 who get themselves totally smashed too.

[isabelle17]

Maybe this is just me...

But the people who I have seen the most drunk in Thailand were foreigners. I also saw many foreigners incredibly drunk during the middle of the day, running out into traffick, etc. And yet, I never saw a Thai person getting drunk in the middle of the day like that.

I am not really saying that foreigners get more drunk than Thai people. I am just saying that from my view point, that is what I have seen and experienced. And in fact, one night I was sitting around with a bunch of Thai guys, and a couple of them were drunk, but they weren't violent at all. They were quite "good drunks" if I can even say that, compared to the ones I have seen before in the US.

Also, probably depends on the personality, family history, etc.

[Pundi64]

Not just Thais, but other asian cultures seem to have a strange relationship with alcohol!!

From my observations, I see many drink til they drop, puke or get into fights. There is no such thing as leaving a drink in the bottle for next day, drink it til it's gone.

and the custom of always topping off your glass even if there is only one sip down. also, I see many sluring their speach and seeming to pretend [?] they are drunk on one drink, sort of like when I was a teenager.

any others have the same or different observations and or explinations as to why they do this??

Here is the answer www.aathailand.org

We had to let our hired help go, because he wanted to start drinking by mid day, he had the alternative, to stay and not drink or??????

They are both gone, he took the later !!

Edited December 16, 2007 by Pundi64

[suegha]

It's only binge drinking if you stop!

[gburns57au]

You cant compare Thai's with farangs who are on holidays, these same farangs in their homelands may go months without drinking but when on holiday they want to let their hair down.

[PeaceBlondie]

You cant compare Thai's with farangs who are on holidays, these same farangs in their homelands may go months without drinking but when on holiday they want to let their hair down.

I don't know about that. The farangs I know, are either drinkers or nondrinkers. Most of them never drink, at all. So, they're not about to drink on holiday. Most of the drinkers I know, drink every week, or every day, whether they're on holiday or not.

I wonder how many adult Thais even drink one alcoholic beverage per week. Considering all the women, the monks, various other categories, maybe less than half all Thai adults.

[ClaytonSeymour]

Take a stroll through any UK town or city on any Friday night and observe the majority of folk will be drunk, vomiting, fighting, screaming and even copulating.

More utter nonsense.

The vast majority of people who go out for a drink in the UK do not get drunk, unless you have a very wide definition of drunk, they certainly do not go around vomitting, fighting screaming or copulating - at least the latter they reserve for when they get home).

You're right in the that the majority wont, but a worrying number will & as I've said elsewhere, there are far more alcohol related problems in UK nightlife areas/town centres than you'll see in Thailand.

There is without question a culture in the UK where the aim is to ensure they get as drunk as possible.

I've just come across this interesting article on the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7147646.stm

[ClaytonSeymour]

Maybe this is just me...

But the people who I have seen the most drunk in Thailand were foreigners. I also saw many foreigners incredibly drunk during the middle of the day, running out into traffick, etc. And yet, I never saw a Thai person getting drunk in the middle of the day like that.

I am not really saying that foreigners get more drunk than Thai people. I am just saying that from my view point, that is what I have seen and experienced. And in fact, one night I was sitting around with a bunch of Thai guys, and a couple of them were drunk, but they weren't violent at all. They were quite "good drunks" if I can even say that, compared to the ones I have seen before in the US.

Also, probably depends on the personality, family history, etc.

Regular shootings in entertainment venues of and by Thai men including many high profile incidents featuring policemen completely debunks your simple and erroneous theory that Thais are not violent drunks. Partly true, there may be more shootings (though this is on the rise the UK), but the Thais come no where near the general level of alcohol related violence you see in the UK i.e. you wont see the same violence, vomiting, drunken behaviour & as another poster mentioned - copulating, on a weekend in your typical Thai town, as you'd see most nights of the week in many UK towns.

Everywhere in Thailand there are visible groups of Thai men drunk in the early hours of the morning and the afternoon. I haven't seen them - on occasions yes, but you seem to imply that they are on every street corner. They ARE certainly easier to find in UK town centres.

As for traffic, the many thousands of fatalities on the road caused by Thai drunk drivers are testament to the danger, and the inherent culture of drunk driving, which makes your comments about some drunken Westerner bumbling about on foot through Thai traffic seem incredibly naive. Valid point, though it still doesn't excuse the drunken Westerner. Let's not forget that we too once had a culture of drinking and driving. It's probably fair to say that it's exacerbated in Thailand by the general poor standard of driving before they've even had a drink, non-enforcement of other driving laws etc.

Are you planning to quit Thailand? I'm not getting at you & you do make valid points, but your posts always seem to be so negative & depressing - I'm sure if I felt the way you do I'd be looking for a new retreat.

[TheDon]

Saying Thai's drink more and have a bigger drinking problem then Thais is like saying Thai's are whiter then white people.

I mean this is just BS.

Next we going to have topics like why dont Thai's use Chilli in there food or why is there more Thai people in the UK then british people?

I mean this topic is so false its funny

[Boo]

I wonder where people are seeing all these groups of thai men sitting around drinking all day, when I lived in samui I saw a lot of drinking, daytime & nighttime from foreigners & thais but due to the nature of samui would expect that & would never assume this was a true indication of drinking habits of the local populace. In my husbands home town I have never seen this kind of drinking, a drive around town at night doesn't show any groups sitting around driniking & the only time I have witnessed anythng remotely like it it is when we return every year & on the first night hubbies mates rock up to the house & they get pissed but as they don't see each other from one year to the next is hardly a regular occurance & is done inside the house so not visible.

Maybe cause it is a quite big, fairly propsperous town rather than a poor village. People here all work or run their own businesses so can't afford to sit around drinking all day & night?

[moni76]

You are not very educated if you think it is just thais who cannot handle their alcohol!!!Wake up or travel the world.Their are people all over the world who can't handle their alcohol.Come to Australia!