caf Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 How about when shopping, handing 110 baht over for a 60 baht bill, expecting, nay! Hoping to get a 50 baht note in change, only to be given a hand full of small coins and a shit eating grin from a freshly zit squished face, which has that "you stupid farang" look about it! What I like about this is the obvious feeling of power and joy that I am a dumb farang. It's their education. They have not been taught to calculater change that way. That is a western trait and we are in thailand. Amusing, though, I agree Seen a Thai calculate three items at 99 baht on a calculator ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longstebe Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Watching a Thai soap on tv and not hearing a bomb drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cognos Posted November 12, 2009 Author Share Posted November 12, 2009 outrageous prices for pizza / cars / computers / lipstick.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thanh-BKK Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Hi. I got some, too.... 1) Blaming anything and everything (from a flu to a broken washing machine) on ghosts 2) Running the television every minute they are in the house even nobody is actually watching it 3) Having a better relationship with the village fortune teller than with one's brother/sister 4) Doing no maintenance whatsoever to just about any type of machine but complaining if it breaks down (must have been a ghost inside, gotta consult fortune teller) 5) Buying a car in a colour recommended by the fortune teller 6) If not available in that colour, putting a sticker in the back stating "this car is (colour recommended by fortune teller)" 7) Saying "no have" as soon as a foreigner enters the store 8) Insisting on "no have" even if the wanted product is pointed out in the shelf 9) Inventing "required documents" on the fly just to make you come back at least one more time Regards Thanh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pakboong Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 blocking all the isles of a busy grocery store by stocking shelves or buffing the floor. Have one chief and several hundred Indians as their basic management concept. Telephone costs more than a months rent in almost every case. Everybody in the car points to the vacant parking places. Obscure towns nobody has ever heard of as a directional method on traffic signs Parking illegally on the first floor of the park garage to avoid having to drive to the third floor for a legit parking place. Creating a sign in English without consulting a real English speaking person. 2 for one specials are usually the price of one multiplied by 2. The price of a 6 pack will be 7 times the price of one item from the pack. changing jobs every 30 days. No clue as to how much their time is worth. Seldom have a favorite restaurant that serves Thai food. Will go to the doctor but will not take the pills. I may have been here too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmine Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 How about when shopping, handing 110 baht over for a 60 baht bill, expecting, nay! Hoping to get a 50 baht note in change, only to be given a hand full of small coins and a shit eating grin from a freshly zit squished face, which has that "you stupid farang" look about it! What I like about this is the obvious feeling of power and joy that I am a dumb farang. I've had this done to me...i trust you went back with a fist full of one baht coins for your next purchase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmine Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Hi.I got some, too.... 1) Blaming anything and everything (from a flu to a broken washing machine) on ghosts 2) Running the television every minute they are in the house even nobody is actually watching it 3) Having a better relationship with the village fortune teller than with one's brother/sister 4) Doing no maintenance whatsoever to just about any type of machine but complaining if it breaks down (must have been a ghost inside, gotta consult fortune teller) 5) Buying a car in a colour recommended by the fortune teller 6) If not available in that colour, putting a sticker in the back stating "this car is (colour recommended by fortune teller)" 7) Saying "no have" as soon as a foreigner enters the store 8) Insisting on "no have" even if the wanted product is pointed out in the shelf 9) Inventing "required documents" on the fly just to make you come back at least one more time Regards Thanh Great post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermute Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 blocking all the isles of a busy grocery store by stocking shelves or buffing the floor. This one never ceases to drive me crazy. The other quirk is that fast selling items are NOT restocked at all or in some cases discontinued for some mysterious reason. On the other hand they will have hundreds of brands of the same suki sauce that never sells. Thai inventory systems are bizarre. The price of a 6 pack will be 7 times the price of one item from the pack. This is intentional. Various companies are trying to milk the bulk buying consumer. changing jobs every 30 days. Lo-so type jobs paying 25-30 baht an hour are plentiful so they tend not to care too much. Seldom have a favorite restaurant that serves Thai food. Haven't ever heard of this one. Most Thais I know do have favorite restaurants. It's possible they just may not want to take you there or be seen with a farang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matan Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Offering the very food off their plate to foreigners so that they can try something new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkkjames Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Beer+ice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkup2000 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 The use of calculators; even if one have bought something for 40 Baht and paid with a 100 Baht note. To offer water/juice, cookies/snacks, on most bus rides that lasts longer than two hours. A Thai home often have a mix of rustic teak and plastic furniture. Books belongs in a library or in a university not in a home. Smiling when you are angry. Toilet paper should be renamed to "paper that are used for everything- from bottoms to restaurant tables". Why let people exit the elevator before one enter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermute Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 A Thai home often have a mix of rustic teak and plastic furniture. An upper middle class thai home will invariably have something encrusted in tacky gold paint or a prominent display of crystal/gold crap along with lots of mirrors and awkwardly done portraits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latindancer Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 (edited) A Thai home often have a mix of rustic teak and plastic furniture. An upper middle class thai home will invariably have something encrusted in tacky gold paint or a prominent display of crystal/gold crap along with lots of mirrors and awkwardly done portraits. Quick ! Where's the smiley for shuddering and burying one's head in one's arms ? "Why let people exit the elevator before one enter?" ......AWW ! You revealed my favourite sport : Walking out of an elevator / train whilst pretending to nor see the clods scrambling to get IN ! Edited November 13, 2009 by Latindancer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tavarich Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I get a kick out of the sun shield. It could be anything from their hand, paper, a folded bag, umbrella, you name it they use it for a sun shield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fridgemagnet Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Sniff kissing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prudent_rabbit Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 How about, when you get on the BTS with a couple of bags and you have to stand, and a complete stranger who is sitting down will take them off you so you can safely stand and grab the hangy thing, never had that happen to me anywhere else in the world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bina Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 this is a thai thing but not in thailand: beomg dressed for a jeruslaem winter with heavy jacket, winter hat, but wearing three quarter lenghth shorts, and flip flops (even if i know for a fact that they have sports shoes/boots and also long pants/track suit ) in the rain or snow. my husband does that also, and its not for lack of clothes whihc is what i thought at first when i saw thai workers everywhere doing this... they dont like having wet shoes on feet or wet clothes and prefer to dress this way cause they dry off faster when inside (also the problem of taking wet shoes off in a small caravan, where to put them when there are five pairs ..) bina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dumball Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Using an umberella on a motor cycle and controlling(?) the machine with one hand . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMA_FARANG Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 (edited) The Thai greeting of Kin cow Lao young?? .. Have you eaten (rice) ?? Granted, we all love food.. but the Thais perhaps take the food obsession to a whole new level note for above; Although my Vietnamese has mostly gone now in the last 30 years, I still remember the standard greeting when entering a Vietnamese house (loosely translated) was "Have you eaten rice?". In a poor country, where food is in short supply, it is the hieght of politeness and respect to ask if the guest is hungry. Edited November 13, 2009 by IMA_FARANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMA_FARANG Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Sniffing prior to, or more often in place of, a greeting kiss, is not uniquely Thai. Pacific islanders, Polynesian and Melanesian do that. Not sniffing, but the kiss on each cheek on meeting is a commonplace between women and their friends here in Greece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMA_FARANG Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 The use of calculators; even if one have bought something for 40 Baht and paid with a 100 Baht note.To offer water/juice, cookies/snacks, on most bus rides that lasts longer than two hours. A Thai home often have a mix of rustic teak and plastic furniture. Books belongs in a library or in a university not in a home. Smiling when you are angry. Toilet paper should be renamed to "paper that are used for everything- from bottoms to restaurant tables". Why let people exit the elevator before one enter? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To offer water/juice, cookies/snacks, on most bus rides that lasts longer than two hours. In Turkey most of the intercity busses will give you... 1) A lemon scented water/cleanser into your open palm....to cleanse and wash your hands. 2) "Bus cookies" (biscuits to you Brits) and a small box of fruit juice for the trip. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getithere328 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 How about: 1. Wearing a construction site hard hat on their motor bikes, always makes me smile. 2. The 'V' for victory sign on every photo. 3. When in the UK my Thai wifes need to have the central heating on fall blast in the height of summer. 4. Also in UK, my wife wonders why flashing her car head lights to let other drivers know she is coming through, gets her into so many accidents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 "Bus cookies" (biscuits to you Brits) Thanks IMA_FARANG. I wouldn't have a clue what a cookie was if it wasn't for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David006 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Banks of loud speakers blasting out distorted music at funerals from 6 am for a few days.Got one 2 doors away and have got a headache 9 day funerals? Wifes' uncle had a 19 day "wake " ( or as the wife calls it "dead people party" } with a band as well...amazing Thailand.. When I first came to LOS the standard greeting of "you eat rice yet" threw me... thought they were offering to feed me?? I have since read that it is originally a Chinese greeting ...post famines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David006 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Books belongs in a library or in a university not in a home.S Interestingly( to me atleast) my wife and her twin sister seemed to be obsessed with "owning" books ( wife reads one novel a day!!.. mostly double spaced though) ,she takes out 11 at a time from the local library! Storage is becoming an issue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanMoran Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Must agree with that elevator system, with the rush to get in before those exiting can get out. It's quite a laugh if you can be careful not to hurt anyone, and I tend to make it an habit if I'm in the lift alone of standing right at the door and starting the exit AS the doors begin to open. Just one step out and check before crashing into hwoever might be waiting right in the way. It seems to have been a common practice back here in Australia too though, on trains as well as here in the lift for these apartments. Now I've managed to (along with some other tenants here) train most of the new arrivals (both eastern-states aussie and overseas) on lift-etiquette, and the noticable change in manners is often to be seen exiting the lift in the directional hand gesture from the lobby - someone waits until the doors open and then smiles, motions some sort of "Please exit before I barge in," sort of kindness. It should be fun to see how this courtesy might be applied if I ever end up back in a Thai high-rise again, but it would be a rather lucky happenchance to spread the word on elevator-etiquette in a foreign land, I reckon. ---o0o--- Another one of the hand gestures that might have been mentioned on pages 2-4 which I skipped reading is the thumbsup sign, which I was told is not the same sort of 'OKAY' signal that it is in Australia, in traffic etc. It's apparently an equivalent of the middle finger sign, so I try to just use the OKAY sign as a matter of courteous driving. Some clarification on the opposite meaning of the good old aussie THUMBSUP sign in Thailand would be appreciated, although I'm fairly sure it's taken more as an "up yours" sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Why let people exit the elevator before one enter? Hardly uniquely Thai. When I was in Shanghai I thought I was going to spend the entire trip living in a lift because I couldn't get out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meridian007 Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 She very calmly takes me by the hand and sits me on the bed, looks me in the eyes (like a mother to a small child) and then holds up her hand, pointing to her fingers she says, "what you call this" (the trepidation builds inside of me) I say "a finger" she then says to me....."Good boy" then she points to her feet, "what this" ...."A Foot" "No" she says, "the things on end" Oh, I say, "a toe"........ "No" she tells me! "This bottom finger" to this day and forevermore, a toe in our house is now known as a bottom finger!Why the panic! Well I had an appointment at the local medical clinic that day at 10am to change a dressing on my Toe..... Sorry, Bottom Finger! She is my friend, she is my light, she is my joy, and she is all I'm not, but would like to be........ My wife to be! Your life seems wonderful in the most surreal way, Tonto! If after 3 years together she can still totally baffle you (in a good way), you're set for life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joorakee Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Using an umberella on a motor cycle and controlling(?) the machine with one hand . It's quite difficult when you are riding a bicycle, let alone a motorcycle/scooter. I wouldn't dare to try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maejo Man Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 This one still brings a smile to my face every time. You have just spent an intimate night with a lady, and after the morning shower, she proceeds to put her bra on over the towel, then pull the towel off from underneath. Misplaced modesty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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