Pleasing Things Thais & Farangs Do Around Town

[Steve2UK]

Something tells me that this is going to be a short-lived topic

[andyadam]

Pay 500 Baht departure tax on the way out!!!!!

Keep the windscreen washing boys at junctions in work.

Help Thailands "assisted suicide" figures.

Buy the bars no one else would even think about.

send millions of baht every year to the girls they met on holiday.

Financial support for the Boon Rawd Brewery.

Financial aid for hospitals, when they fall off the superbike they hired to impress their mates!

[McAttack]

One hour into my first visit to LOS.

I was waiting in the street with mine and my mates baggage while he checked availablity of rooms at a hotel.

Four Thai guys started walking over towards me. Not knowing anything different I thought I was in trouble.

Turned out they were the nicest guys and told me what tourists sites I should go to in BKK and how to get around (Skytrain, taxis, tuk tuks etc), where the best places to eat and so on.

Fisrt impressions are always the best ...

[Spee]

Pay 500 Baht departure tax on the way out!!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Geez ... if that's the worst thing that you have to do during your entire stay, then I would say you made out pretty well.

Consider other places, such as:

- Turkey, the equivalent of $40 for an entry visa stamp, payable upon arrival at the airport, one hour, one day, one week, whatever.

- Any rental car facility in the state of Florida, a state fee of $2.50 per day, just for the privilege of paying for and driving a rental car ..... while spending your vacation money I might add.

- Any big city USA ... check you hotel bill for the 2% to 5% add-on tax, just for the pleasure of paying for a hotel in their fine city.

Thinking about things like that, and comparing it with how far the dollar goes in Thailand, coming up with the 500 ThB departure fee seems really insignificant.

[andyadam]

Spee, have a look at the thread!!!!!

Pleasing things Farang do..........................

[chico]

Something tells me that this is going to be a short-lived topic 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

depends on pleasing to you od pleasing to others, maybe some difference?

[Gazza]

Pay 500 Baht departure tax on the way out!!!!!

I thought you meant paying 500B to a BG on departure of your room after a short-time session.

Silly me.

[ProfessorFart]

I think those brave Farang police volunteers in Pattaya deserve a mention for putting themselves on the line for our safety and wellbeing.

[Pablo H]

I think those brave Farang police volunteers in Pattaya deserve a mention for putting themselves on the line for our safety and wellbeing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice chaps actually!

[gburns57au]

for most farangs it is themselves

and for most Thais...same same but different

[bkk_mike]

NOT pressing the horn when the traffic's busy. - Bangkok is remarkably quiet for it's traffic levels...

[Steve2UK]

Spee, have a look at the thread!!!!!

Pleasing things Farang do..........................

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pleasing things Thais AND farangs do, in fact..........

I'll add one of my own - about a Thai. On my first trip to LOS years back, while staying a while in Hua Hin (before it became the mega resort it is now), I got to know a samlor driver who pedalled me around town and surrounding places - basically sightseeing but also with me practising my beginner's Thai from the phrasebook and him correcting my pronounciation (samlor as classroom - is that a first?). Obviously, I'm paying him for these 2-3 hour rides.

Anyhow, one day we're chatting about other places to see and he mentions Phetburi - about 90km up the coast. Too far for the samlor, of course, so I rent a motorbike - at a cheaper than usual rate which he gets for me. I ask him how much I should give him for his time for the day (he's going to be losing customers). I still remember the pained look on his face......... "Nothing for me - sanuk!".

We did several other trips including up into the hills near the border, summer palaces and to a Thai nightclub in Cha-Am (I was the only farang there - everyone else was a yuppy down for the weekend from BKK ). Sure, I paid all the costs (peanuts) - but this guy opened up a real Thailand for me that I would not have experienced otherwise. When I left, I did (instinctively) make him a present of some money for his family - which he wasn't expecting (I believe).

Big contrast with the "walking wallet" syndrome we hear about all the time. OK, I know the cynics out there will say that he was expecting to get a sizable "tip" and I obliged. They'll also tell me that being greeted like a long-lost friend on subsequent visits was just schmoozing a good customer/prospect. I reckon I know the difference. As Ajarn signs off on here:

Tham Dee, Dai Dee....Do Good, Get Good

Tham Chua, Dai Chua....Do Bad, Get Bad

[Steve2UK]

Something tells me that this is going to be a short-lived topic 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

depends on pleasing to you od pleasing to others, maybe some difference?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

DEFINITELY some difference - long may it be so

[ProfessorFart]

Good things 'Farangs' do in Thailand........? Ring the bell is my favourite!!!

There are many good folks there of all nations.

One nice story was when I was in BKK and sick with food poisoning. I had been hotel bound. One of my neighbours had seen me shuffling to the reception to pay my room and back to my room looking like Death. He came after me asking if I was OK. I told him that it was only FP and would be gone in a day or so but he still turned up with his missus 20 minutes later with an assortment of medicines and other goodies. He then knocked on every few hours or so with more supplies. When I was finally better he wouldn't even take a beer of me and left the folling day. All I knew about him was he lived in Khorat and would love to bump into him one day (hopefully while he is very sick and sh1tting his arse off ) and repay the good deed.

[Sunshine]

All I knew about him was he lived in Khorat and would love to bump into him one day  (hopefully while he is very sick and sh1tting his arse off ) and repay the good deed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nice touch!

[cdnvic]

They generally don't beg me for money unless they are missing body parts. In Canada I get panhandled all the time by people who are just plain bloody lazy.

Their lives don't revolve around getting a bag of weed.

They honk to let me know they are 1.5cm behind my rear tire.

The women work hard.

They don't ridicule me for speaking poor Thai. They have the decency to wait till I leave.

They support mass transit by balancing whole families on motorcycles.

cv

[Spee]

Good things 'Farangs' do in Thailand........? Ring the bell is my favourite!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And how !!

Was having a drink with the mamasan in my favorite place a few days ago, Kajana pool bar in Soi Cowboy, when one of their Aussie regulars walked in holding his birthday cake. After singing the BD song I bought him a bottle of Heinie. Next thing I know, as he is passing out slices of cake, he stops at the bell and gives it a pull. Nice chap that guy. Would have still been happy to have chatted with him even if he had not clanged the clanger.

[Payne]

Spee, have a look at the thread!!!!!

Pleasing things Farang do..........................

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pleasing things Thais AND farangs do, in fact..........

I'll add one of my own - about a Thai. On my first trip to LOS years back, while staying a while in Hua Hin (before it became the mega resort it is now), I got to know a samlor driver who pedalled me around town and surrounding places - basically sightseeing but also with me practising my beginner's Thai from the phrasebook and him correcting my pronounciation (samlor as classroom - is that a first?). Obviously, I'm paying him for these 2-3 hour rides.

Anyhow, one day we're chatting about other places to see and he mentions Phetburi - about 90km up the coast. Too far for the samlor, of course, so I rent a motorbike - at a cheaper than usual rate which he gets for me. I ask him how much I should give him for his time for the day (he's going to be losing customers). I still remember the pained look on his face......... "Nothing for me - sanuk!".

We did several other trips including up into the hills near the border, summer palaces and to a Thai nightclub in Cha-Am (I was the only farang there - everyone else was a yuppy down for the weekend from BKK ). Sure, I paid all the costs (peanuts) - but this guy opened up a real Thailand for me that I would not have experienced otherwise. When I left, I did (instinctively) make him a present of some money for his family - which he wasn't expecting (I believe).

Big contrast with the "walking wallet" syndrome we hear about all the time. OK, I know the cynics out there will say that he was expecting to get a sizable "tip" and I obliged. They'll also tell me that being greeted like a long-lost friend on subsequent visits was just schmoozing a good customer/prospect. I reckon I know the difference. As Ajarn signs off on here:

Tham Dee, Dai Dee....Do Good, Get Good

Tham Chua, Dai Chua....Do Bad, Get Bad

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wonderful story. What's particularly interesting is that you were open to a friendly relationship with a samlor driver...a gentlemen of rather low status. In my Raj days this would have been nigh on impossible.

Was the samlor driver simply "ön the make"? Hard to say. But my experince is that East of Suez roles are seldom as defined as elsewhere....especially among rural folk. It is indeed sometimes possible to be both a customer and a friend.

[cdnvic]

especially among rural folk. It is indeed sometimes possible to be both a customer and a friend.

In a small town everyone knows everyone, and you have little choice but to be friends with your customers, and be a customer to your friends. It comes as second nature.

cv

[andyadam]

Spee, have a look at the thread!!!!!

Pleasing things Farang do..........................

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I couldn't be bothered typing it all, sorry!

It was just to pint out the gist of things........!!!!!!!!!!!

[DJ Pat]

Only mugs get lumbered with the "walking wallet" tag, usually thru their own undoing....!!

Taxi no.1326 WHERE ART THOU?

I used this taxi three years ago and had no change apart from a 1000 Baht note (great planning I know) and when it came to pay the taxi there was nothing that could be done as there was no change and on the lower reaches of Silom Road you're not allowed to stop in a traffic jam, it's gotta keep on moving.

The driver told me basically to 'sling my hook' and fate would determine we would meet again so I could pay him his 50 Baht fare. I still haven't met him again. TAXI NO.1326