Thai Attitudes To Smells

[thepanicandthevomit]

Thais baffle me - they act like it's the end of the world if they get the merest whiff of a niffy farang, yet don't seem to bat a nostril hair at some of the rancid pongs that waft horrifically up from their sewers.

I don't get it.

The only time I ever felt really intimidated in thailand was when I was on the MRT in bangkok, after a particularly bad bout of food poisioning. i won't go into details, but I wasn't a pretty sight - nor smell, judging by the levels of disgusted synchronised sniffing I was being subjected to. There was a group of youths who followed me from compartment to compartment, sniffing and glaring, until I ducked out just as the doors were closing. I have no doubt I'd have had a good bashing if we'd left together. Their actions didn't particularly surprise me - youth is youth, after all - but what did surprise me was the reaction of older people, who were equally as hostile. It is worth noting their were no other farang on the train.

Why is being a bit smelly such a heinous crime?

[GuestHouse]

Next time you change your username I have a suggestion of one that will fit nice.

Sheiker - It's local dialect where I come from for any boy who dumps in their pants while at school. And like the worst of bad smells it sticks for life. So I know guys referred to as Sheiker Thomas, Sheiker Johnson etc who are well into middle age and older.

A fitting name that could solve the username thing too.

But really, if you've just dumped in your pants are you surprised that anyone remarks on the smell, or that youths find a guy who has just done so amusing.

[zzaa09]

Farang do have a different odor about them...

[thepanicandthevomit]

Next time you change your username I have a suggestion of one that will fit nice.

Sheiker - It's local dialect where I come from for any boy who dumps in their pants while at school. And like the worst of bad smells it sticks for life. So I know guys referred to as Sheiker Thomas, Sheiker Johnson etc who are well into middle age and older.

A fitting name that could solve the username thing too.

But really, if you've just dumped in your pants are you surprised that anyone remarks on the smell, or that youths find a guy who has just done so amusing.

You miss the point. They didn't find it amusing, they found it disgusting. They saw me not as a poor unfortunate poisoned soul in need of help, but as sub-human scum. A perpetrator, not a victim. Many of my LOS () illusions were shattered that day - make no mistake, a lone vulnerable farang is fair game if he upsets the locals, no matter the circumstances. And my point remains: why do thais gagg at a smelly farang armpit but drift serenely through a haze of rotting rubbish and fish sauce? It makes no sense.

Thanks for the next username idea - you and your minor public schoolboy ways - what jolly larks, what! But my keks were largely unpeppered.

[daoyai]

If you knew you smelled that badly, why would you get on a train and subject others to your funkyness? You could have gotten a cab, explained the situation to the driver with offer of extra money for his suffering.

Most Thai keep their bodies clean and expect that of others, farang should be aware of this and shower more than once a day and use the roll-on....

Why should one react to a sewer smell when that is unavoidable? Most people will not linger there, they will " drift serenly through" do you have a better reaction?

I am offended by stinky farang, there is no reason to smell bad in public.

Edited August 6, 2010 by daoyai

[zzaa09]

If you knew you smelled that badly, why would you get on a train and subject others to your funkyness? You could have gotten a cab, explained the situation to the driver with offer of extra money for his suffering.

Most Thai keep their bodies clean and expect that of others, farang should be aware of this and shower more than once a day and use the roll-on....

Why should one react to a sewer smell when that is unavoidable? Most people will not linger there, they will " drift serenly through" do you have a better reaction?

I am offended by stinky farang, there is no reason to smell bad in public.

Agreed. Nearly all Farang that have resided here for any length of time pick-up on this quite quickly. 2-3 showers a day will become quite normal.....and in time one acclimates to the heat, therefore no real stinky-stinky. With all due respect to tourists - if you've ever been around them for a time {especially the backpacker Euro-type}, you'll understand why Farang have a reputation for smelling foul.

[thepanicandthevomit]

If you knew you smelled that badly, why would you get on a train and subject others to your funkyness? You could have gotten a cab, explained the situation to the driver with offer of extra money for his suffering.

Most Thai keep their bodies clean and expect that of others, farang should be aware of this and shower more than once a day and use the roll-on....

Why should one react to a sewer smell when that is unavoidable? Most people will not linger there, they will " drift serenly through" do you have a better reaction?

I am offended by stinky farang, there is no reason to smell bad in public.

How childish.

Of course there is 'reason' to smell bad in public - it happens, it happens a lot. It is unavoidable. Really, the smell fascists are alive and well. I fear your philosophical schooling may be somewhat primitive, but I pose the question anyway - if someone were not to smell, would they exist at all?

Furthermore, I have a friend who has chronic inflammatory bowel disease and cannot help but smell. I can smell him when we're in the swimming pool together. He tells me he can smell himself in the swimming pool (or the bath, or at all times). The point here is smell and bathing are not always linked - you are erroneously conflating two issues. Health is the biggest determinant of body odour, not washing. You are an advertisers' dream.

The culture of offence brigade continue to gather their flotsam and jetsam. We will be crushed by its weight of sheer stupidity.

Edited August 6, 2010 by thepanicandthevomit

[Werfer]

Such a gross thread, I would have reacted the same as the Thia's did. The open sewage smell in the streets is one thing but that is unavoidable.

They don't need that street smell in their bus while they are commuting.

[daoyai]

Granted there are unfortunate medical conditions ...that are stinky. my sympathy and understanding go out to those people.

In this thread I believe you were addressing a special situation involving an unfortunate "accident" in you pants and the predictable reaction in an enclosed space, a train.

I see that in this case you are lashing out at the culture you now live in, they are wrong and you are right. (?) Since you have now begun with the insults, this may get amusing.

[MB1]

@thepanicandthevomit....

Thais baffle me - they act like it's the end of the world if they get the merest whiff of a niffy farang, yet don't seem to bat a nostril hair at some of the rancid pongs that waft horrifically up from their sewers.

Forget about Thai's, you think if you fart in bed anywhere in the world and hold noses under the covers of the bed sheets their going to be pleased...I'd be piss%d off and I'd probably panic and vomit if you was wafting horrifcally from your sewer..Infact you'd get a ....

Edited August 6, 2010 by MB1

[GuestHouse]

Next time you change your username I have a suggestion of one that will fit nice.

Sheiker - It's local dialect where I come from for any boy who dumps in their pants while at school. And like the worst of bad smells it sticks for life. So I know guys referred to as Sheiker Thomas, Sheiker Johnson etc who are well into middle age and older.

A fitting name that could solve the username thing too.

But really, if you've just dumped in your pants are you surprised that anyone remarks on the smell, or that youths find a guy who has just done so amusing.

You miss the point. They didn't find it amusing, they found it disgusting. They saw me not as a poor unfortunate poisoned soul in need of help, but as sub-human scum. A perpetrator, not a victim. Many of my LOS () illusions were shattered that day - make no mistake, a lone vulnerable farang is fair game if he upsets the locals, no matter the circumstances. And my point remains: why do thais gagg at a smelly farang armpit but drift serenely through a haze of rotting rubbish and fish sauce? It makes no sense.

Thanks for the next username idea - you and your minor public schoolboy ways - what jolly larks, what! But my keks were largely unpeppered.

I do not miss the point at all.

You climb aboard public transport stinking of excrement and are surprised that your fellow passengers object to the smell.

But then you reveal a knowledge of Thai people gagging at smelly Farang armpits – Well not mine I can assure you, so perhaps armpits closer to yourself.

Stinking of <deleted>, or not having made use of soap and deodorants .. but of course it’s the Thais that are at fault. They should put up with your stink.

----

You’ll have to give me a lead on that ‘Minor Public School’ thing, I haven’t a clue what you are referring to.

[MB1]

True story guy's, I have taken with me to Thailand on more than one occasion a freind who was old and had serious problems with his health and he stunk horribly, I was prepared to pay for him a carer who would make sure he'd had a shower and was clean and was relatively clean of body odour,

also to make sure he's clothes were laundered, guess what he didn't want and would prefer his chang or singha sleevless T-shit (pun intended, he'd shi* the bed in the hotel on occasions) unwashed and smelly, the times I took him out with freinds (Thai) and Falang they commented on his odour to myself and others... They used to say to me after certain occasions when arranging to go out either by telephone or verbal arrangements is ****** with you ?, if I said yes, they usually declined an offer of going out together, was it ******* fault or were my freinds to blame.?.....

Edited August 6, 2010 by MB1

[zzaa09]

Stinking of <deleted>, or not having made use of soap and deodorants .. but of course it's the Thais that are at fault.

It's always the fault of Thais in one manner or another. Seems to be a long common theme when needing an excuse or defence for whatever actions are in question. Blame the Thais. Bash the Thais. In this articular case.....naturally, one would never get any such negative reaction to the gentlemen's predicament in any other culture, would he. Only Thai.....of course.

[IMA_FARANG]

You mean you don'y know the reason? The Thais you encounter can't control the sewer smells or such....they are all public things which a single Thai has no control over. It's just another GOVERNMENT failure which they can't control.

Now, your PERSONAL smell, any Thai no matter how poor, can show his/her pride (face again) in their PERSONAL state (i.e. smell) by doing the best thay can to at least smell decently...it's tied up with being clean.

In a country where government functions often can't be controlled often those personal things that can be controled define a person's pride in self. So Thais are very concerned in personal grooming, as a mark of their individual character and sense of self-worth.

[MB1]

You mean you don'y know the reason? The Thais you encounter can't control the sewer smells or such....they are all public things which a single Thai has no control over. It's just another GOVERNMENT failure which they can't control.

Now, your PERSONAL smell, any Thai no matter how poor, can show his/her pride (face again) in their PERSONAL state (i.e. smell) by doing the best thay can to at least smell decently...it's tied up with being clean.

In a country where government functions often can't be controlled often those personal things that can be controled define a person's pride in self. So Thais are very concerned in personal grooming, as a mark of their individual character and sense of self-worth.

And on that note I'll bow out from this thread for the time being, ablutions are needed, but I sense this is going to be one shi**ty thread.... :jap:

Edited August 6, 2010 by MB1

[TheLaughingMan]

Why do stinky people not know that it IS a heinous crime to be stinky? And make excuses for it? Id' want to beat you myself if I smelled you, it is NOT acceptable, stay home if you have a problem.

[bifftastic]

I fail to see how you can point the finger at 'Thais' because you smell bad! Why would you think anyone, anywhere in the world, should be nice to you if you smell? Ok, maybe your close friends, if you had some disease that you couldn't control that made you smell, they may well be more tolerant, but, seriously, you expect to board public transport, stink up the train, and because it's Thailand and Thai people are supposed to smile at everyone, you cop the hump cos everyone pulled 'stinky' faces? Or maybe because you've smelt a bad smell from a sewer you think it's ok for you to smell like one too?

Why would you try to make out that it's Thai people who hate stinky Farang when it's just you that smells?

I work on public transport in London and you'd get the same reaction here, if not worse. Take a shower before you go out, why should other people have to put up with you stinking up the place? It's disrespectful in the extreme.

Edited August 6, 2010 by bifftastic

[Jingthing]

The OP is very correct. The culture around personal smells is different here. The reaction to someone with a clear medical issue/random accident issue would be different in the west, MUCH more compassionate and understanding by more people (though of course some would be just as insensitive). The reaction to someone who was clearly a homeless bum would generally not be so compassionate.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Jingthing

[JSixpack]

I'm with the Thais. I think they've got it quite right re: smells. And a smelly farang is an embarrassment to us all.

One annoying exception: cigars. Even if they've never smelled a good cigar--which, you know, smells wonderful --they immediately act repulsed at the mere sight of one. Good way to keep away barflies, though.

Also, they have stereotyped notions. Indians--in fact, many Indians are just as clean as Thais and do use deodorants. They deserve to judged as individuals like everyone else.

[Jingthing]

I think we should stay far away from labeling these kinds of cultural differences as right and wrong. However, if making a person who is suffering from an acute or chronic medical condition that smells feel even worse by blatant shunning/aggressively rude behavior is "right" I think I'd rather be "wrong." Where is the Buddhist compassion there?

Edited August 6, 2010 by Jingthing

[LazyYogi]

There was a group of youths who followed me from compartment to compartment, sniffing and glaring,

Strange bunch of kids. They couldn't get enough of your shit so they had to follow you around.

If I were on that train and you left my carriage the last thing I'd do is follow you.

[Jingthing]

There was a group of youths who followed me from compartment to compartment, sniffing and glaring,

Strange bunch of kids. They couldn't get enough of your shit so they had to follow you around.

If I were on that train and you left my carriage the last thing I'd do is follow you.

If this story is true, it sounds like they were possibly organizing some kind of physical attack.

[bkkjames]

Ah the smell of the sewers and Bangkok - one of my fondest first memories of the city. Sadly though, I don't even notice it anymore. I do notice however the visitors from the Middle East on the BTS who have bathed in aftershave, and the smell of freshly shampooed hair on the locals.

Sporadically I do catch one of them trying to sneak out a fart without claiming it - a bit rude in my eyes, nose and mouth. 

But I digest, it's not really the or-dour of the person in question, it's really olfactory sensory dumbing down we all face as we age. This I believe is a good thing.

To smell or not to smell, this is certainly not the question. 

[DP25]

Can't believe this story. The day a man covered in his own feces and vomit can not ride the subway in peace is the day I'm out of here

[Jingthing]

True or not true, the OP has mentioned a cultural difference that is true.

[TheLaughingMan]

Can't believe this story. The day a man covered in his own feces and vomit can not ride the subway in peace is the day I'm out of here

, seriously, whats this world coming too?!

[kikoman]

The Thais are a very personal hygiene directed people, They shower on the average 3-4 times a day, I have also picked up that habit. That is one thing I do hear Thais mention about falangs is that some of then have an aversion to bathing

I once had to change seats at a bar when a falang sat down next to me and his stink was over whelming,

The reason why bar girl give you a shower before any action, make sure you do not stink and to check your body for signs of disease.

You can be poor and have great personal hygiene habits, there is no excuse for not bathing often.

Cheers:

[MrJohnson]

Well, I thought that I had seen it all on this forum but this post must surely take the cake! I would have walked ten miles by foot rather than subject myself to the humilaition of riding on the train in that condition.

[slapout]

Food poisoning normally takes a while to kick in after the offending food was eaten. Most cases, in their misery get to the nearest emergency room for relief. If you have shit yourself as well as vomited over yourself, it reeks of a commode hugging/gutter laying drunk episode instead of food poisoning. In either case a tuk tuk ride, with adequate tip, would be a much more acceptable mode of travel.

[Ricardo]

It's hard for a farang-tourist to smell a clean as a Thai local, at the end of a 24-hour flight, or a long-journey on the local trains/buses. One can only try to shower, as soon as the journey is completed, IME.