Farangs And Baggy Shorts ... Why?

[midasthailand]

I guess they are just blending in, I mean, this is the land of baggy shorts and flip flops. Your average Thai is a right scran bag.

You wouldn't happen to be ex-Australian Navy would you Gymshark? It's the only place I've heard the term Scran bag! Wearing socks with sandals.....must be a European thing.

[Ulysses G.]

Generally I don't give a dam_n what people wear as long as it is appropriate to the occasion/location (i.e. shirts on in a restaurant etc). But what I don't understand is those "shorts" people wear that come halfway down their shins. If you are going to wear shorts wear SHORTS and if you are going to wear longs wear LONGS. I fail to see the attraction of these in between garments but each to their own.

The Lonely Planet used to say that Thais were very offended if you show your knees, so I bought a few pairs of the shorts that cover them - they are still much cooler than long pants - but all my Thai "girl friends" just laughed at them.

[Spudger]

Living in a less than desirable area all too populated by sex-tourists; I can say without a doubt the cheap cargo shorts, cheaper flip-flops, and the ever present Chang/Singha wife beater t-shirt is the norm rather than the exception in dress code for the aging sex-pats in these parts. I also take exception to them wearing black socks w/sandals as it's so 'last year' fashion-wise. They can also easily be identified by the "thai-in-tow" which is usually young enough to be their granddaughter, but this is about foreigners and their attire not their accompanying accoutrements.

Sunday nite I was witness to one of the strangest sights I'd seen in a while. Believe me, living where I do, you see some pretty whacked things.

A guy who had to be pushing 70+ was wearing the most hideous hair piece I'd ever seen. I mean it looked like a stuffed badger or possibly a possum perching on his head. I even stopped walking past to look to see if it had eyes. He was wearing a Singha wife beater (singlet). That is something I would NOT advise if you're pushing 70 as his "guns" just weren't loaded any more. He had on khaki shorts which were pulled up to just a few inches below his armpits and a pair of white soccer socks which went over his knees, almost to the middle of his spindly thigh.

Even the thais selling stuff on the Sukhumvit were staring at him. As it was windy, every once in a while he'd do a quick surreptitious check of the hairpiece to see it hadn't gone askew (or ran off to hibernate), as well as tug up the shorts.

I almost went back to take a picture with my mobile as I am currently working on a book, sure to be a best seller called; "Identifying Old Fat Sex Tourists; A Bangkok Field Guide". He'd a been a contender for the cover that's for sure.

You choose to live in the sex tourist area- what does that say about you Beau Brummel?

I bet my shirts cost more than your whole outfit - I hate guys in cheap clothes and even cheaper watches.

Whats wrong with a cheap watch? I got mine from a market in england cost me five pounds and ive had it for over 10 years and it still works perfectly! people who spend all their money on expensive clothes and stuff are a bit shallow but maybe they think they fit in better with the thai face thing. i dont know

[tartempion]

SamsSauce1949

Who are you to judge some shorts are "baggy and revoltingly designed"?

I did at least 25 trips to the USA and wondered why Americans have such bad color taste in all they wear, plain horrible if you ask me.

I once had a more-than-retired lady in hot pants (to her defense it was a hot august day) in front of Galeries La Fayette, Paris ask me where the bus was going at the bus stop in front of the main entrance.

I always smile when I remember that "hot" old lady.

So please, let the farangs in Thailand wear whatever they like.

[gymshark]

I guess they are just blending in, I mean, this is the land of baggy shorts and flip flops. Your average Thai is a right scran bag.

You wouldn't happen to be ex-Australian Navy would you Gymshark? It's the only place I've heard the term Scran bag!

I wondered who would pick up on that, no mate, ex British navy

[Gary A]

What watch? I have an old Timex in the drawer at home but never wear it. No rings, necklaces and my phone is in my pocket. I really don't care what time it is or for that matter what day it is but my phone can tell me both the time and the date as well as tell me how my stocks are doing. I'm not sure where my clothes come from. My wife buys them and I wear whatever she buys.

[Prakanong]

"Whats wrong with a cheap watch? I got mine from a market in england cost me five pounds and ive had it for over 10 years and it still works perfectly! people who spend all their money on expensive clothes and stuff are a bit shallow but maybe they think they fit in better with the thai face thing. i dont know"

I can assure you I have no concern with the Thai face thing and have no intenetion of fitting in with the Thai's except for my Thai colleagues who get the same respect as all my other Asian colleagues.

PS: I do not live in Thailand

PPS: When I do visit for business I wear what I do for the office anywhere and when I am there for pleasure I wear anything I like (of course no shorts if visiting a temple or going for a steak at the Landmark Rib Room)

[Spudger]

So you dont live here? Do you only give respect to people who dress like you or other businessmen?

Judging people on the cost of their watch and clothes is a silly way to go about things

[Tod Daniels]

'Spee' - "I'd rather be walking fashion 'faux pas' (and a comfortable one at that) than some bitter person who chooses to live in or near one of the world's infamous red light districts and spends all of his spare time bitching about tourists who come to Thailand specifically to patronize it."

Believe me I am FAR from bitter. .. Very cynical, way too acerbic, always judgmental, and certainly condescending, but I am definitely NOT bitter. I live here by choice NOT chance

'Prakanong' - "You choose to live in the sex tourist area- what does that say about you Beau Brummel? I bet my shirts cost more than your whole outfit - I hate guys in cheap clothes and even cheaper watches"

Hmm, perhaps it says nothing about me, other than I might want to live close to the BTS, MRT, and the shopping. Then again it could speak volumes. However, you will most likely never know. If I was a betting man I would bet MY shirts cost more than your entire outift. I prefer not to get into a pissing match on who can spend the most on clothing only to live in a pissant developing third world country.

Oh and by the way. Just an FYI Gerorge Bryan Brummel; I don't wear a watch either.

My original comments were about a foreigner who was dressed 'more than strange' that I had spotted the other nite, NOT about anything else.

Strange how these threads can go off topic so quickly.

Edited June 4, 2008 by tod-daniels

[mmushr00m]

I like the way my white spindly hockey stick like legs stick out. Also the way ppl look and are amazed by how my legs are able to support my massive beer gut without snapping like twigs.

I wear shorts 'cos its hot and they are comfortable, I wear slippers too. Not flip flops with the bit between the toes but those that has a wide band across the top. Comfortable and I dont get sweaty stinky feet.

ps. But one day I hope to graduate to...balding but with ponytail, a tacky flower shirt unbuttoned to my navel, gold chains, gold watch, socks pulled up to my knees and sandals. Then I would be hansum man and sexy man!!!! one day....one day...

Edited June 4, 2008 by mmushr00m

[Prakanong]

So you dont live here? Do you only give respect to people who dress like you or other businessmen?

Judging people on the cost of their watch and clothes is a silly way to go about things

Respects is earned matey boy - it is given to whoever earns it from the lovely toilet cleaner in my office and all the way up/

As for judging on clothes I was being a tad sardonic given I was replying to a guy with a penchant for writing about others while I already wrote I am in shorts and t-shirt outside the office at weekends and just like most other here - its just that some choose to think Thai girls are more attracted to a guy if he is not wearing them - you see the idiots posting this on certain other boards all the time. ?

He chooses to live in a sex tourist area and complains while talking about som old guy he has seen around. He stalks some other old guy in the Oriental Coffee Shop based on a post on this this board - now there is a man with values for you.

[Spudger]

Matey boys a bit patronising,but I'll let you off.

So why do you hate people who wear clothes that are cheaper than yours? you must hate a lot of your colleagues if thats true

[gymshark]

I earn more than you do

My house is bigger than yours

My Dad's bigger than your Dad

I thought we were supposed to out grow this when we reach puberty.

[grantbkk]

Cheap suit or the short sleeve dress shirt and tie: English teacher before the arrest.

Suit all the time: Salesman. Want to buy a house, villa or condo? No problem. Avoid like the plague!

Shorts and a tank top with normal sandals sans socks in Bangkok: Tourist who came to Thailand thinking it was a small tropical island.

Tee shirt and shorts with sandals sans socks: Comfortable clothing for daytime in the tropics. Add a young woman and everything should be just perfect.

No shirt, one shoe, shorts, shaved head, tattoos everywhere, vacant look, drunk, no money: Single white male from Europe here more than four days.

I recommend that if your privates are being attacked by insects, viruses and or bacteria that you seek professional help.

Respect for the host country and comfort should dictate the dress code. The exception is of course is that pesky court case. You should dress up for that.

[Prakanong]

Matey boys a bit patronising,but I'll let you off.

So why do you hate people who wear clothes that are cheaper than yours? you must hate a lot of your colleagues if thats true

Really like my colleagues actually - best I have ever had and I am not kidding.

And to be honest I do not hate people with cheaper clothes than me - it was to fire back at the poster whinging about what others wear. Some of my clothese are cheap and some not so - my favourite t-shirts cost 100 THB in Samui in 95, 2 dolars at Angkor in 2002 and 60 THB in Vientiene in 2005 - all old and cheap but I like them and they still look OK enough to wander Orchard Road and Clarke Quay without looking like a tramp.

[luumak]

my hunch is you are too heavy to wear shorts and/or come from a cold place where you are just not accustomed. i have lived in shorts all my life and even having long pants on feels odd (let alone shoes). but will agree - those stupid cargo pants do look silly, i have none.

peace

[toptuan]

Speedo sorta guy myself. Gives more definition to the over-hanging beer belly. Chicks dig it.

[Scott]

I think this thread is a little too 'gay' for me (and I am gay). I seldom pay any attention to what farang men are wearing!

My god, we do have some perverts on the thread I think.

[swain]

When you first get to thailand these ugly shorts are sold everywhere.. on the street corners, stalls and little shops. They are cheap, comfortable, and have tons of pockets that zip closed. If they sold something better looking in these areas I would have been wearing something different.. I also was guilty of wearing the socks with sandals. The reason for this was the Birkenstock leather dried out the sink on my feet if I didn't wear socks once in while. I know wearing shoes would have looked better with the socks but you are always having to take off footware before entering and it gets old fast

My first trip to Thailand was for very self-centered reasons, my comfort, pleasure and relaxation was foremost on my mind. After I had been here a while and I started to understand accepted norms, I changed this behavior. I think this would be a fairly common answer to the question posed.

Edited June 4, 2008 by swain

[Mobi]

Excuse me if this has already been mentioned, but one of the reasons many expats wear shorts is because it is easier for bar girls to grab and massage their goolies when habituating certain types of bars.

[klikster]

I've been to Thailand twice now, and have to say I love the place, but what puzzles me, is why do so many Farangs like wearing such revoltingly designed baggy shorts? Heaven only knows where, or why they buy them, aa I would have thought exposing the legs so that the Mozzies can chew them, plus it gives access to the 'meat and 2 veg' department which I would have thought is the last place anyone wants to get bitten!

It also seems that they are the preferred attire of those with a waist in excess of 46 inches, and waist/beer gut of even vaster proportions. I also get the impression that the object of the excercise is so that their spindly legs and knobbly knees are exposed so all the Thai women can 'Admire' them! Is this because of some kind of Fetish, the tropical alternative to wearing rubber?

It's certainly something that I feel shows 'us' lot up in a very unfavorable light.

Let's see, you're in Thailand, beautiful women all around, tropical island beaches just a short jaunt away, cuisine to die for , cold beer, friendly service and cheap hotels ..

.. but you somehow get involved thinking about old fat men and the ".. 'meat and 2 veg' department .." under their baggy shorts?

EGAD!

[cluezo]

A three page thread about baggy shorts...

[PhilHarries]

I earn more than you do

My house is bigger than yours

My Dad's bigger than your Dad

I thought we were supposed to out grow this when we reach puberty.

Correct. But there are those that seem to like to start their reincarnation before they're through with the present life.

Still we all now know when we go to Bangkok be sure and leave the price tags in our clothes.

btw I have had people expound the theory that if you are wearing a business suit and necktie in a gogo bar the girls give you more attention.

A mate of mine countered that by saying "I always found waving a 500 Baht note in the air to be more effective".

[Huey]

i know the difference.

a construction worker from isaan is hard working and strong and happy.

a hi- si young fello is a big head snobbish pathetic excuse for a human being.

Damm what a hater! Yeah I'm real sure they are just over joyed at making 200baht a day and every Thai with money is a sorry excuse for a human being.

Anyway, the scruffy baggy shorts and overall disheveled manner is just a reflection of who they are and it fits with their character. If everyone had class it their wouldn't be much to talk about would there?

[himachal]

Farangs and baggy shorts......why not?

[kurgen]

I am my avatar

Sexy and proud

[TheDon]

Not just farangs, everyone wears them. Maybe some people need to get with the times.

Its better then looking SOFT like these blokes

[mellow1]

You dress they way you want and I'll dress the way I want. I'd rather be comfortable than impress you.

Quite right, plus in case you haven't noticed it's very hot here. So baggy shorts let the air circulate, which therefore cools the body.

Being retired means no dress code, but I do like my baggy shorts clean, along with a clean, loose and thin T-shirt. But go ahead wear a

suit.

[PeaceBlondie]

Clothing is like haircuts - it tells people which one of the Three Stooges you most closely resemble. Mai bpen freakin' rai.

If you wear shorts, wear briefs underneath. The world does not wish to see your privates.

As a govt. officer, I had to wear dress shirt, long pants, and tie. As a teacher, likewise. But as a tourist or expatriate, shorts are fine. No, socks do not go well with sandals, usually.

What next, a thread railing against aging expats who ride their motorcycle with a backpack? Against far-flung farang females who frolic in fancy frocks?

[Orangutan]

Wearing shorts above the knees have the same association with guy's that might wear a Toupée. Molecule's all the way..three quarters with a tailor made shirt and a pair of Van's.

-O