What Would You Change About Thai Culture?

[Thai at Heart]

Blind respect for wealth.

[JR Texas]

You said........"Nationalistic - USA same as the Thais ???, wasn't so long ago that Americans were publically burning their national flag. You wouldn't catch a Thai burning the flag. No way, man."

My response: Think you are right......I think I made an error.......Thais are more nationalistic than Americans (on average).

Sorry had to edit this because of ThaiVisa rules about quotes or something.........

[SGDude]

Stop lying and be trustworthy - do what you said you would do, when you said you were going to do it, in the way you said you were going to do it. Stop being childish.

[sanook2me]

Full cups of coffee instead of half filled cups

[JR Texas]

Full cups of coffee instead of half filled cups

Nose picking.........also would remove entire staff at immigration and replace them with true Si-a-mians.

[Birdman]

Improving the ability to explain Thai ways to culture shocked foreigners.

[wackysleet]

Stop lying and be trustworthy - do what you said you would do, when you said you were going to do it, in the way you said you were going to do it. Stop being childish.

For me it's got to be the lying and that stupid act of not talking after a minor argument, how are we to resolve our differences unless one talks about them, it's all rather pointless, couples are together presumably because they want to be so why wont they discuss the differences.

[toybits]

Teach Thais to abandon their motorcycles and purchase 4-liter Cherokee SUVs instead. Those banana leaf wrappers are so unsanitary. These definitely has to be replaced by styrofoam or plastic. Tell them to purchase only genuine drugs (like those little blue pills for middle aged men) from established companies like Pfizer.

[toybits]

Learn that toilet paper is used for wiping your behind and not your mouth. They just cannot understand that they are wiping the wrong oriface with that roll of paper.

Leave a brown stain on underwear by not spraying his/her behind with water like Thais generally do. Underwear looks so much better at the end of the day with that brown stain doesn't it?

[sanook2me]

Learn that toilet paper is used for wiping your behind and not your mouth. They just cannot understand that they are wiping the wrong oriface with that roll of paper.

Leave a brown stain on underwear by not spraying his/her behind with water like Thais generally do. Underwear looks so much better at the end of the day with that brown stain doesn't it?

Nah dude!

I'm not with you on this one, i much prefer the water bum gun treatment than smearing brown stuff around my rear end.. a nice cool blast of high pressure water sorts me out and a quick dab down with tissue..no brown stains or mud in the eye for me...

This is one culture aspect that needs to exported.

[universe2000]

There's one thing I'd change that would get me into strife for saying it.

Otherwise the main thing would be to be less tolerant of things that make day to day life harder. Whether it be corruption or laziness from officials, sloppy customer service, lawless motorbike riders etc etc.

I am curious what change would cause strife for saying it? I assume it would offend foreigners, not Thai people?

[universe2000]

Lying as in the small little pointless ones, they all do it, its ingrained into them.

I agree wholeheartedly with that comment. If they would talk straight and not as a snake it would be an improvement. We feel there is no need for the 'deceptions' or little & the bigger lies to save face.

Straight talking from so many women, as I get from friends, would be a bonus.

Is this related to the fact that Thai's feel they have to answer a question to be polite, even if they have to make up the answer. I noticed that Thai people talk like they are an expert in an area when asked a question. But in fact, they have no clue about the subject, but try to appear that they do. I first thought it was deception.

I asked my girlfriend’s friend about diamonds and she talked for some time about the subject. It seemed she knew a lot about how to differentiate different diamonds. When I asked her to look at two and compare them (with a jeweler's magnifying glass), she had difficulty commenting on possible differences.

This so called deception is one facet of culture shock that I experienced. But maybe it is really the Thai person trying to be polite.

I had this trouble with my girlfriend on other subjects and had to ask her if she was really knew the answer or was guessing. It always appeared she knew the answer, but often she said she was guessing.

[tw25rw]

There's one thing I'd change that would get me into strife for saying it.

Otherwise the main thing would be to be less tolerant of things that make day to day life harder. Whether it be corruption or laziness from officials, sloppy customer service, lawless motorbike riders etc etc.

I am curious what change would cause strife for saying it? I assume it would offend foreigners, not Thai people?

No, Thais plus some expats gone native.

[wackysleet]

There's one thing I'd change that would get me into strife for saying it.

Otherwise the main thing would be to be less tolerant of things that make day to day life harder. Whether it be corruption or laziness from officials, sloppy customer service, lawless motorbike riders etc etc.

I am curious what change would cause strife for saying it? I assume it would offend foreigners, not Thai people?

No, Thais plus some expats gone native.

I gather you mean the supercilious among the ex-pats .

[tw25rw]

I mean the ones who try to out-Thai the Thais.

My original remark referred to changes in the constitutional set up.

[universe2000]

Remove the xenophobia.

I would implement an education program--targeting children (too late for adults)--to teach them that xenophobia, excessive greed, extreme nationalism, laziness, lying and cheating are wrong and will not benefit the country.

I had to look up the definition of Xenophobia:

Xenophobia is a dislike and/or fear of that which is unknown or different from oneself. A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples. Xenophobia is different from racism and ordinary prejudice in that someone of a different race does not necessarily have to be of a different nationality.

I asked my girlfriend a while back about why the country doesn't give foreigners the opportunity to own land. She said that foreigners would buy up all the land and the Thai people will have no where to live except in poor areas. I was surprised at this response because she was educated at the master's level. I informed her that many countries provide foreign ownership of land and do not have this problem. There seems to be a relationship on foreign ownership and prosperity of a country. So if Thailand were to provide foreign ownership of land, I concluded that the overall society would benefit through higher income, higher education, etc.

Of course I lost this argument. Now I know it is really due to Xenophobia.

[toybits]

Teach Thais to drive faster but prevent that vehicle with flashing blue and red lights in their rearview mirror from overtaking them.

[universe2000]

Screens on Windows or Doors.

It would be nice if apartments would use screens on windows or doors. I always want to open up the window or backdoor of my apartment, but there is no screen, so bugs and all kind of stuff can crawl or fly in while I am sleeping. The worst is the mosquitoes.

[IanForbes]

The ONLY thing I would change in the Thai culture is their reliance on Buddha for their own actions. Many Thais can't understand the concept of responsibility for their own actions. They will ride a motorcycle at high speed the wrong way in Thai traffic. They will race through narrow sois with no concept that somebody might be stopped right around a tight corner. They will spend all their money as soon as it reaches their hands, and with no understanding that they might need a little tomorrow. I've often said that if you offered a Thai 100 baht today, but if they waited until tomorrow you would give them 1000 baht, they would take the 100 baht today every time. It is the same test that they give 5 year old children in North American pre-schools, and it sorts out the long term thinkers from the ones who are unlikely to achieve anything.

[Frezie]

2 things that kinda go hand in hand.

1) Drop the innsessent Xeniphobia and protectionism.

2) Open up Thailand's forigen investment laws to mimic Dubai or mabey Hong Kong.

This will slove allot of problems from education & unemployment too makeing their currency more stable.

OH and drop that luxury import tax bullshit. The cars here suck and are insanely priced.... I want my Escalade dammit!

Thought we were talking about culture here - not law

[sirineou]

Nothing

[Frezie]

Everything in American language, Texas accent. 100 baht:dollar. No more Thai food....

There's no such think as American language - only murdered English

[robbiecia]

Require taxi drivers to actually know where they are going.

Suggest that drivers actually stop at zebra crossings.

Teach them how to clean the roof of those new yellow buses.

Give the glass building an occasional clean at the airport.

Some critical thinking.

Stop the "saving face" thing.

Some common sense.

Larger portions of french fries with your meal.

[sanook2me]

Less ice in my sprite at the cinema and turn the air con down so i don't need a blanket

[Padrino]

2 things that kinda go hand in hand.

1) Drop the innsessent Xeniphobia and protectionism.

2) Open up Thailand's forigen investment laws to mimic Dubai or mabey Hong Kong.

This will slove allot of problems from education & unemployment too makeing their currency more stable.

OH and drop that luxury import tax bullshit. The cars here suck and are insanely priced.... I want my Escalade dammit!

Have you see the state of Dubai lately? It is falling apart!

[Padrino]

Remove the xenophobia.

I would implement an education program--targeting children (too late for adults)--to teach them that xenophobia, excessive greed, extreme nationalism, laziness, lying and cheating are wrong and will not benefit the country.

I had to look up the definition of Xenophobia:

Xenophobia is a dislike and/or fear of that which is unknown or different from oneself. A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples. Xenophobia is different from racism and ordinary prejudice in that someone of a different race does not necessarily have to be of a different nationality.

I asked my girlfriend a while back about why the country doesn't give foreigners the opportunity to own land. She said that foreigners would buy up all the land and the Thai people will have no where to live except in poor areas. I was surprised at this response because she was educated at the master's level. I informed her that many countries provide foreign ownership of land and do not have this problem. There seems to be a relationship on foreign ownership and prosperity of a country. So if Thailand were to provide foreign ownership of land, I concluded that the overall society would benefit through higher income, higher education, etc.

Of course I lost this argument. Now I know it is really due to Xenophobia.

Thailand escaped colonial rule, it has since had an ingrained fear of colonisation and being over run by foreigners, thus the Xenophobia.....

[sanook2me]

Remove the xenophobia.

I would implement an education program--targeting children (too late for adults)--to teach them that xenophobia, excessive greed, extreme nationalism, laziness, lying and cheating are wrong and will not benefit the country.

I had to look up the definition of Xenophobia:

Xenophobia is a dislike and/or fear of that which is unknown or different from oneself. A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples. Xenophobia is different from racism and ordinary prejudice in that someone of a different race does not necessarily have to be of a different nationality.

I asked my girlfriend a while back about why the country doesn't give foreigners the opportunity to own land. She said that foreigners would buy up all the land and the Thai people will have no where to live except in poor areas. I was surprised at this response because she was educated at the master's level. I informed her that many countries provide foreign ownership of land and do not have this problem. There seems to be a relationship on foreign ownership and prosperity of a country. So if Thailand were to provide foreign ownership of land, I concluded that the overall society would benefit through higher income, higher education, etc.

Of course I lost this argument. Now I know it is really due to Xenophobia.

Thailand escaped colonial rule, it has since had an ingrained fear of colonisation and being over run by foreigners, thus the Xenophobia.....

Increase Xenophobia and racism so liberal thinking farangs are easily offended and scurry off back home to PCgonewrongland and leave this place to the right wing zealots like me

[JR Texas]

Increase Xenophobia and racism so liberal thinking farangs are easily offended and scurry off back home to PCgonewrongland and leave this place to the right wing zealots like me

From JR Texas (threads getting mixed up so deleted stuff......and Sanook2me said the above):

Interesting........not totally sure if you are joking.......but joking or not, Thailand seems to be becoming more and more conservative. It is a radical type of conservatism.

The current cultural ethos reminds me a bit of the 50s in the USA with its horrible Doris Day music, conservative dress codes, mindless behavior, blind conformity, etc.

Just look at the music in Thailand today........most of it is mindless trash......like watching/listening to a bad Las Vegas show. No need for special torture techniques here, just strap a foreigner to a chair and force him to watch and listen to what they think is good music (there are a few exceptions......Loso or Lobo or whatever his name is).

For those that can remember, the 50s with its Doris Day, Leave it to Beaver trash, morphed into a very liberal 60s.

I wonder if Thai kids will eventually go down a similar path and decide that the best option is to reject the status quo and drop out. We might end up seeing something interesting happen in Thailand.

Most Thais seem like walking robots to me.......all programmed to think and behave a certain way. But that was true of most people in the USA in the 50s......and 80s, 90s, up to the present.

[timekeeper]

If you could change something about Thai culture to make life easier for a foreigner, what would it be? (A wish list, since it isn't going to change)

Here is my first comment:

Less discrimination in pricing

I find that a foreigner will pay more for the same service provided to a Thai citizen. This is discrimination in some countries and illegal. In most cases, it is a minor difference, but it is a little annoying to get used to. Prices are usually not listed for many purchases, so it is up to the seller to determine what they want to sell it for, and can discriminate all they want (even directly in front of you).

note: This is not suppose to 'showcase' perceived problems with the Thai culture. In fact, it will help me better understand differences in the culture. Part of trying to adapt to the culture. Hopefully it helps others that are experiencing culture shock.

crimes committed against foreigners by Thais should attract double the normal sentencing tariffs

murders of foreigners should carry a mandatory death sentence, no exceptions

it may think make Thais think twice about targetting foreigners.

[lazygourmet]

Nothing

So do I!