bkkjames Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 wearing short skirts then spending their whole commute making sure they look lady like. bless them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermute Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Very open surface level acceptance of gays, lesbians, and transgendered folk. I haven't seen any other country that has this level of acceptance in everyday life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonicdragon Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Making absolutely no effort to "bridge the language gap" when a foreigner attempts to speak their language. For example, a foreigner may attempt to say "I want to buy". They may say "Yak sue" rather than "Yaak sue" and the Thai will remain utterly clueless [pardon the attempt to illustrate using romanized phonetics]. The point being that an ever so slight difference in intonation, pronunciation, or word choice completely baffles them. I have never encountered such utter cluelessness in any other country. Personally I find Thais to be very accommodating when it comes to mistakes made by foreigners with their language. My spoken Thai is very poor but I never have much trouble making myself understood. On the other hand I speak reasonable Cantonese, but more often than not HK people can't understand me at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermute Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 On the other hand I speak reasonable Cantonese, but more often than not HK people can't understand me at all. Then your cantonese may in fact be rather poor. You can still recognize the words but totally butcher the tones. I find that most westerners who learn asian languages are oblivious when it comes to tones. There are some exceptions but this is typically true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonicdragon Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 On the other hand I speak reasonable Cantonese, but more often than not HK people can't understand me at all. Then your cantonese may in fact be rather poor. You can still recognize the words but totally butcher the tones. I find that most westerners who learn asian languages are oblivious when it comes to tones. There are some exceptions but this is typically true. It may be rather poor, but people in Zhuhai and Shantou, where I travel quite often, can understand me as well as Thais . My point is that in my experience Thais are very forgiving for mistakes but HK people for some reason are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueTerrace Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 5 baht coin in the ear. What's the deal with that? I've asked but never gotten the same reply twice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkkjames Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 5 baht coin in the ear. What's the deal with that? I've asked but never gotten the same reply twice I heard that it is supposed to provide the wearer with some common cents. Apparently not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 My condo guards think I am even though they only ever see me in shorts and never going to work My next door naighbour (70 year old Thai granny) always calls my wife ajarn just because she goes to work in a suit I reckon. She calls me ajarn too which is rather confusing because like your good self I'm usually in a nike t-shirt and shorts moping around the garden or sitting in front of the pc surfing the web. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huey Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 As the Groom getting your shoes stolen at the morning wedding ceremony and having to bribe your already drunk Uncle's in Law with some whiskey to get em back LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiG16 Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 typical Thai trait/habit: I always took this for granted and never paid it any attention, until I recently went to dinner with some people (Asian, but non Thais) plates, cutlery, glasses and water were brought and placed at one end of the table nobody did anything food was brought over. you had to ask for whatever you need to be passed round when you go eat with Thai people, the first thing is others are served. make sure everyone has clean plates, napkins, water, dishes are passed so that everyone gets food before its placed in the spot in front of one person. some may say its not typical Thai, and hte people I was with may have been somewhat lacking in table manners, but Ive never seen any Thai not taking care of others at dining table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cognos Posted November 16, 2009 Author Share Posted November 16, 2009 Assuming every farang is a teacher.(I accidentally posted this in the Thailand is not cheap thread - to everyone's confusement ) every farang that can speak ANY english is a (potential) english teacher in thailand ( until the government makes a bachelor degree compulsorary) the horrendous turnover of farang english teachers in thailand, and the horrendously LOW wages Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 (edited) Beautiful young girls smiling at and flirting with fat, disgusting old men such as myself. Edited November 17, 2009 by Ulysses G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdman Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Waitresses refill, even if there is still enough in your glass, but getting glasses and plates taken away by them although you did not finish drinking or eating yet. After that expecting you to order more or pay and go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkkjames Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 How about the copy cat thing. If you recall a few years ago when Khun Somkid was Minister of Finance one day he showed up to work sporting new thick, black rimmed eyeglasses. It became the rage for male and female middle managers around the city trying to look important. Recently the trend is the 'black jacket'. Not sure which official started this fashion craze about a year ago but everywhere you look these days are mostly middle aged locals (both sexes) sporting the 'official' black jacket in an attempt to be taken more seriously. Where can I get one so you all will take me seriously? Seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaihome Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 A thread that should have been called, things you have never seen before and irritate you because you have never lived in any other developing country. I have seen nothing mentioned here I have not seen in other Asian countries. Amusing nevertheless, mostly because it says so much about the posters. For me what is most uniquely Thai is the blend of Buddhism and animism you find here that permeates pretty much all levels of society. You find animism in many Asian countries, but it just seems much more practiced here. I think it may because of the lack of European influences (or communism in some cases), particularly in religion that happened in most other Asian countries. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phusingpete Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 A thread that should have been called, things you have never seen before and irritate you because you have never lived in any other developing country. I have seen nothing mentioned here I have not seen in other Asian countries.Amusing nevertheless, mostly because it says so much about the posters. For me what is most uniquely Thai is the blend of Buddhism and animism you find here that permeates pretty much all levels of society. You find animism in many Asian countries, but it just seems much more practiced here. I think it may because of the lack of European influences (or communism in some cases), particularly in religion that happened in most other Asian countries. TH Something that has always baffled me, particularly considering the importance of Losing Face, is the complete lack of respect given to speakers at large functions. I have seen this happen at so many functions, when the VIP speakers start their speeches everyone just carries on talking and laughing loudly without any regard for the speaker. And the VIP speaker continues to drone on and on and on regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkkjames Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 A thread that should have been called, things you have never seen before and irritate you because you have never lived in any other developing country. I have seen nothing mentioned here I have not seen in other Asian countries.Amusing nevertheless, mostly because it says so much about the posters. For me what is most uniquely Thai is the blend of Buddhism and animism you find here that permeates pretty much all levels of society. You find animism in many Asian countries, but it just seems much more practiced here. I think it may because of the lack of European influences (or communism in some cases), particularly in religion that happened in most other Asian countries. TH Thanks for the compliment TH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longstebe Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Beautiful young girls smiling at and flirting with fat, disgusting old men such as myself. Brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedog100 Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 shop workers following....OMG I hate that too. I could easily get mad about it, but I turn it into a game that discourages them all. When I see one tailing me, I walk a circle around the aisle, do an abrupt u turn, walk past them, make another circle and repeat until they stop following me. I keep or adjust the pace to keep them the same distance from me. My game is how many times do I have to do this before they get the idea and go back to standing with their collegues and continue their nose picking and gossiping. So you do a crazy Ivan submarine manoeuvre..and circle back on the unsuspecting shop asistant! I love it.....i'll use this next time... Shame you can't torpedo them... Its not funny because it gives me high blood pressure..the amount of sales i have walked away from because of this following..is amazing...but its good for my bank account...they are actually farang sales suppression asistants! This drives me nuts also. I do the same thing, U turns, walking down different isles, in circles. The electric dept of carrfour or Big C is the worst. They never figure out that I don't want to be followed. I've even had my girlfriend ask them to stop, and they won't. I stopped in front of the DVD players once, and of course, the guy comes up and announces "DVD player" like I didn't have any idea of what I was looking at. He stood there looking over my shoulder till I just couldn't take it any longer, so I asked him a simple question. With in minutes I had the whole department there trying to figure out what I asked. They never got it. Why was he there if he can't understand a simple question? I wanted a clock radio when I first got here, and would go through the being chased all over the dept. until I just walked away. After months of not having a clock or alarm in my bedroom I finely decided I was going to walk and grab one on the move and not have to put up with being followed. I had two on me as soon as I walked in, one gave up after several u turns, back tracking and such, the other would not give up. I stopped and when he walked up in front of me I said " I not lady boy, I have lady, quit follow me" dam_n that worked good I want a TV for my bedroom, but every time I stop to look at one, some Thai guy comes up and announces "TV." To me it's like he is saying that I am to stupid to know that it's a TV. I always give him the same answer. "Thank you, I think shoes, I look for shoes" then walk off. He doesn't get it, but I get a chuckle out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaihome Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Thanks for the compliment TH. That's the best you can do? TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guemlum Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 (edited) I want a TV for my bedroom, but every time I stop to look at one, some Thai guy comes up and announces "TV." To me it's like he is saying that I am to stupid to know that it's a TV. I always give him the same answer. "Thank you, I think shoes, I look for shoes" then walk off. He doesn't get it, but I get a chuckle out of it. Classic!!, its a shame that Thai's dont get the British sense of humour, assuming that you are British or fully undesrtand what sarcasm means. However, I have started do this kind of thing with one of my sister-in-laws and she is slowly coming around to it. I will do this with her at every given opportunity. She now knows what "bpra choht bpra chan" is. This has happened to me many a time. I used to play this game with my wife where we would both run around, making U-turns and so on. On one occassion, my wife and I were followed by one shop assistant and we stopped at an aisle that turned both left and right. We turned around, looked at the assistant, I handed my wallet to my wife, my wife turned left and I turned right. The shop assistant didnt know which way to turn!!. So what does she do, even after seeing me hand my wallet with all of my money and CC's in it...she decides to follow me...doh!! Guemlum Edited November 17, 2009 by Guemlum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caf Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Beautiful young girls smiling at and flirting with fat, disgusting old men such as myself. Not true, Ulysses, you should not be so modest. they are going for the charm, the intelligent look, the handsomeness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caf Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 A thread that should have been called, things you have never seen before and irritate you because you have never lived in any other developing country. I have seen nothing mentioned here I have not seen in other Asian countries.Amusing nevertheless, mostly because it says so much about the posters. For me what is most uniquely Thai is the blend of Buddhism and animism you find here that permeates pretty much all levels of society. You find animism in many Asian countries, but it just seems much more practiced here. I think it may because of the lack of European influences (or communism in some cases), particularly in religion that happened in most other Asian countries. TH If the speaker is droning on and on, then perhaps you have answered your own question. Something that has always baffled me, particularly considering the importance of Losing Face, is the complete lack of respect given to speakers at large functions. I have seen this happen at so many functions, when the VIP speakers start their speeches everyone just carries on talking and laughing loudly without any regard for the speaker. And the VIP speaker continues to drone on and on and on regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bina Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 thai home says it all: the speaking and the noise and especially, the crunching of food and eating of sunflower seeds during speeches; obviously havent been in my part of the middle east... bina israel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Beautiful young girls smiling at and flirting with fat, disgusting old men such as myself. Not true, Ulysses, you should not be so modest. they are going for the charm, the intelligent look, the handsomeness. You have obviously never met me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaihome Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 thai home says it all:the speaking and the noise and especially, the crunching of food and eating of sunflower seeds during speeches; obviously havent been in my part of the middle east... bina israel They really don’t want to have a serious discussion on this. The ones about the sales people following them around, raising their blood pressure and the stupid games they play to get away are very, very sad. Why don’t they just ignore them? Its not hard to do. If you really have a question, you can turn to them and ask (though it is likely in many cases they won't know the answer). TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanook2me Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 (edited) They really don’t want to have a serious discussion on this. The ones about the sales people following them around, raising their blood pressure and the stupid games they play to get away are very, very sad. Why don’t they just ignore them? Its not hard to do. If you really have a question, you can turn to them and ask (though it is likely in many cases they won't know the answer). TH I didn't arrive on yesterdays banana boat. I have been here long enough to know Thai style and customs and the irritating over staffed shops like Central are constant source of annoyance to me. I shop in Central at least once to twice per week and its down right annoying. I want to browse for my items not have someone breathing in my earhole and telling me what i am looking at. I am neither blind, deaf or stupid. I appreciate they are doing their job and it must be bloody boring standing around most of the day chit chatting to your fellow colleagues so a customer is the highlight of the moment.... Well instead of following me around and annoying me therefore preventing sales why don't they go and man a till and stop the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get served. I enjoy shopping in Tesco for this reason you can stroll around and no one will bother you unless you ask. However it is not a department store like Central or Robinsons and doesn't have all the items in that i want or need. I wonder if this is the case because its a supermarket or British owned therefore they have all the experience and knowledge from Tesco the British parent company. Somehow, I think they may have more skill and knowledge in analyzing of qualitative data and evaluation methods than there counterparts at Central. In what customers requirements are when shopping. What do you think? thaihome do you have an answer? Remember this is like sociology there is no right or wrong answer its just based from your opinion but it helps if you can support your ideas with evidence. Minimum of 10 word essay answer please. edit..needed to add "In what customers requirements are when shopping.".. Edited November 18, 2009 by sanook2me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkkjames Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 They really don’t want to have a serious discussion on this. The ones about the sales people following them around, raising their blood pressure and the stupid games they play to get away are very, very sad. Why don’t they just ignore them? Its not hard to do. If you really have a question, you can turn to them and ask (though it is likely in many cases they won't know the answer). TH I didn't arrive on yesterdays banana boat. I have been here long enough to know Thai style and customs and the irritating over staffed shops like Central are constant source of annoyance to me. I shop in Central at least once to twice per week and its down right annoying. I want to browse for my items not have someone breathing in my earhole and telling me what i am looking at. I am neither blind, deaf or stupid. I appreciate they are doing their job and it must be bloody boring standing around most of the day chit chatting to your fellow colleagues so a customer is the highlight of the moment.... Well instead of following me around and annoying me therefore preventing sales why don't they go and man a till and stop the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get served. I enjoy shopping in Tesco for this reason you can stroll around and no one will bother you unless you ask. However it is not a department store like Central or Robinsons and doesn't have all the items in that i want or need. I wonder if this is the case because its a supermarket or British owned therefore they have all the experience and knowledge from Tesco the British parent company. Somehow, I think they may have more skill and knowledge in analyzing of qualitative data and evaluation methods than there counterparts at Central. In what customers requirements are when shopping. What do you think? thaihome do you have an answer? Remember this is like sociology there is no right or wrong answer its just based from your opinion but it helps if you can support your ideas with evidence. Minimum of 10 word essay answer please. edit..needed to add "In what customers requirements are when shopping.".. i agree S2Me. Try going into Central Chidlom (pick a department). For this example I will choose bedding. As you mentioned the mrs and I enter the department and immediately 7 staff surround our area in the hopes that they can be the one to ring in our bill. As we walk from aisle to aisle looking at the different styles of bedding one of them comes closer and starts pointing out 'This one very nice colour'. Is it really? I thought it looked like pig shit but you are the expert I guess... give me 3 of them. Needless to say after 10 mins of being followed around I had enough and we left. Now head on into Powerbuy in the same store and take a look at TVs. Same same as they say here. 5 'assistants' and no experts. One kept going on about this one is HD etc etc, to which I replied, Thailand has HDTV? He said no. Left the TV area and headed for the microwaves. Found one I liked, was told it was sold out but another one is just a good - apparently because it was in stock. Perhaps its the same in other Asian countries - throw heaps of cheap manpower at the situation and call it service. All is not lost though. Compare this to my experience at Home Pro Plus at Ploenchit. One or two assistants who don't follow you around every department but are close enough if you have a question. And amazingly they actually have a clue what they are talking about. Needless to say that anything that I can buy at Home Pro I do, from bedding to TVs, appliances, lamps etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nakachalet Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 (edited) i concur.... home pro, and not home mart.... lol is my choice also.... we spent some 50k there in home pro each month.... buying when ceramic tiles, electric wall water heaters et cetera are on sale.... and i also surely remembering to buy a pair of good quality earplugs.... so i won't have to listen to.... what are you buying those for.... the warehouse is full of your junks.... lol it is rainy season.... you can not build the new bungalow now.... why you can not wait till summer to buy.... farangs are not very smart.... but they always think they are smart than us.... lol sale girls/boys following a vip....?? A CASE OF MISunderSTANDING.... perhaps lol many many years ago, when the name of SAENG-NGARM in hatyai was famous all over thailand.... famous big wig from bkk and chiengmai with or without their spouses, would drop by once or twice per month and many military dignitaries would be shauffered to the store weekly to pick up cosmetics, sound system, stereo, video etc produced overseas.... at about 30% less than what the prices were in bkk.... sale girls were instructed to follow them closely.... NOT TO WATCH THEM.... NOT AT ALL on the contrary, the girls were following the vip to help carrying whatever they chose from here and there.... it is a thai custom and practice to help customers carrying whatever they choose.... that at least was our standard practice then..... just want to present a differing point of view.... and it is not meant to infuriate my well versed and well groomed frequent shoppers peers either.... lol or you can turn to the girl and says simply NUU MAI TONG DUERN-TARM PAAR, NA.... meaning kid, you do not need to follow daddy, k? .... it is just a common thai coloquial.... NUU--หนู (kid, kids) MAI-TONG---ไม่ต้อง (do not need to) DUERN-TARM--เดินตาม (to follow) PAAR--ป๋า (daddy, an elderly male) NA--นะ (ok?) hope some of you more adventurous soul would try out this common thai phrase. cheers.... Edited November 18, 2009 by nakachalet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cognos Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share Posted November 18, 2009 Thais seem to have a love of CONCRETE that is WORLD CLASS, perhaps unsurpassed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
.thumb.png.76be522b3b43e7458166b9dac9e422ed.png)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now