Culture Shock

[Jai Dee]

dedicate for Jai Dee ,The Coder  and SiamOne

heheh you guys look like  mozzies now ...

Thanks Bambi but I think you misunderstood me... I actually like the smells...

[loong]

dedicate for Jai Dee ,The Coder  and SiamOne

heheh you guys look like  mozzies now ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looks like a womble in a tin hat!!

[sua yai]

I came over 7 years ago, aged 40 to run a bar with my "girlfriend". I'd been to Thailand many times and thought I knew a bit. Little did I know. If I'd been reading this forum at that time, I might have stayed away.

A culture shock? Just a bit. It's one thing coming over for 3-6months and reckoning you know the country. A totally different thing living and running a business here.

Looking back over the 7 years, there's not much that gets to me now. If that sounds boastful - not the right word, exactly - I suppose it could be. A lot of water etc.

I still don't regret anything. Now married to a great girl and the culture shock of years ago is standing me in good stead now.

[expatinasia]

The biggest shock for me...the way men use the word "date", as in "I'm dating an attractive woman. Invariably, the word "dating" means "I've hired a for sex". "Girlfriend" has the same connotes the same: "Girlfriend", "sponsored girlfriend" and "prostitute" mean the same thing. Strange, Thailand is known for "cheap sex", but there are no "prostitutes"...but there are plenty of "bar girls" and "girlfriends".

[Gazza]

Nothing really shocks me anymore but a few things that has are;

Thais laughing and joking standing around a mangled body at the scene of an accident.

Mangey soi dogs eating their own poo.

Female attendants in men's toilets.

Passengers giving their seats to young children (a rarity today?)

Seeing some Thais petrified to step on a escalator.

People shopping at the 7-11 in their pyjamas.

Seeing tv rape scenes on afternoon soap operas.

Seeing politicians exploiting their own children to make financial gains.

Seeing pedicabs as a form of transport in Bangkok.

Thais eating cold food that's meant to be eaten hot.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

This for Jeff1 'n dr PatPong

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

George is the Chang man Bambi. I'm the red wine person.

[TizMe]

Female attendants in men's toilets.

Thais eating cold food that's meant to be eaten hot.

Gotta agree with these 2.

I almost puched out the first attendant that tried to massage me while I was standing at the urinal.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Female attendants in men's toilets.

Thais eating cold food that's meant to be eaten hot.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gotta agree with these 2.

I almost puched out the first attendant that tried to massage me while I was standing at the urinal.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's worse when they either try to take it out or put it away for you ( much, much worse if they shake the drops off )

[mrbojangles]

One thing the Thais don't get yet.  Elevator, let the people off before you get on! 

Oh yeah, i forgot about that one

Female attendants in men's toilets.

Seeing some Thais petrified to step on a escalator.

Gotta agree with those 2. I can't concentrate when i've got someone behind me, female or male. And the escalator, LOL, my Mrs always grabs my hand tightly when getting on. I'll have to take her to a Fairground one day, that should be fun.................................for me

[SiamOne]

dedicate for Jai Dee ,The Coder  and SiamOne

heheh you guys look like  mozzies now ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks Bambi but I think you misunderstood me... I actually like the smells...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thank you for that....I think!!

[tripperj]

now ..its not culture shock ..but  TH  who live in farangland always get these question

do you ride elephant?

do you have  PC?

ohh  Taiwan ?

ohh whats language you speak ..Taiwanese?

are  you a  prince /princess ..so u can  study in farangland

do you eat dog?

..etc..

funny... always make me  smile 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You won't get these questions in Sweden unless you live far out in the countryside. Except maybe the dog question, but then that's because some people in Thailand actually do eat dog (not all, of course).

There was a case reported in the press about a noodle stand just outside Chiang Mai that got busted for selling dog meat noodles just six months ago.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When i first met my gf, and we went out to eat she'd ask me what i wanted to eat, i kept saying i'd love some duck, she would look at me in disgust and say if i eat this she not kiss me. So i'd get something else. After a few weeks i learned bpet and she never said anything. After a while i asked about her sudden trun around she didn't know what i was talking about. Turns out she thought i was asking for DOG not duck!!!!

[tripperj]

driving, i live in northern ireland, the 2nd least populated part of europe, so not many cars on road. Driving in LOS fills me with terror, i hate it, espessily when gf is in car, she shouting all the time, GO GO GO. As for motorbikes i just refuse point blank to get on one.

Ohh and the man rubbing ur shoulders as you try to pee, this really freaks me out, if there's an attenant in the toilet i just trun around and leave.

[lappami1]

The cutest chicks but with a strong garlic breath. 

Enough to deflate a man's desire.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You should eat garlic too. It's good for your health and you don't notice other people's garlic breath. I think drinking and smoking or having bad teeth your breath smells much worse than garlic breath. TG have usually at least perfect teeth.

[mrreality]

A culture shock for me, that continues to be one, no matter how long I live here...

EVERY Thai TV program MUST have a token lady-boy, otherwise it's not fit to be on the television.

On the subject of lady-boys, if anyone sees one on the streets in the UK, many people will stop, stare, and a lot will want to throw up (males (real men) of course!) But in Thailand, nobody looks twice, like it's a perfectly natural thing!

Oh, and in the UK, nose picking in public is very rude but in Thailand nobody looks twice, even if someone has a pick-axe up their nostrils.

[johnh101]

It took a while before popping ice in beer became a normal thing to do

I did this the other day in Dubai, my three mates sat staring at me like I had just murdered their mothers.

[AmeriThai]

This isn't really so much culture shock as it is a strange curiosity. Attractive Thai ladies who modestly place a hand or napkin over their mouth while picking their teeth. And yet those same ladies make no qualms about cramming a finger up their nose to ream out some of those deep stubborn nose goblins.

Edited September 14, 2005 by AmeriThai

[tripperj]

A culture shock for me, that continues to be one, no matter how long I live here...

EVERY Thai TV program MUST have a token lady-boy, otherwise it's not fit to be on the television.

On the subject of lady-boys, if anyone sees one on the streets in the UK, many people will stop, stare, and a lot will want to throw up (males (real men) of course!)  But in Thailand, nobody looks twice, like it's a perfectly natural thing!

Oh, and in the UK, nose picking in public is very rude but in Thailand nobody looks twice, even if someone has a pick-axe up their nostrils.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I like this, the toleraance of difference is great. And i pick my nose all the time. Pluse i've always smiled at people ast home people think i'm mad in LOS it's ok. Also western obbsesion with hygine drives me crazy, ok a little is nessecary but in west it bloody ridculous, a bit of dirt does the imune system good, if eating from on steet food stall were there is no sink or soap is so bad why arn't all the thai's dieing of food poisining??? When i come to thailand i feel at home.

[Prudent_rabbit]

On a crowded BTS, seeing Adults get off their seats for Children, also BTS related, when you are standing and someone who is sitting offering to hold your bags.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Phom kow jai

[Thaipwriter]

see photo's of dead people on the telly and in newspapers....that was something i was not used to seeing. dead bodies hanging out of car wrecks, fully clothed.....

seeing how some of the poorer folk live, that was a real shock, a real eye opener...really humbling for me. I tend to moan too much about my lot, but i have so little to complain about really.

the smell of pooh in the streets! dunno if i will ever get used to that?

the whole wai - ing thing.....for example, I used to go into my local branch and nobody would bat an eyelid. I had to go recently with a heavyweight property developer to open an account the other day, It seems I have taken a step up in status by means of association with him.

Now all the staff wai me and its normally when i have my hands full of papers and stuff and i end up doing a crappy wai back clutching mobile phone and wallet between my hands. I feel like a right plonker!

I respect the fact that i have to Wai on certain occasions.........it does not come naturally to me though!!!!

[autonomous_unit]

A lot has been covered already, but I guess the ones that stick with me in BKK after a year and change are: the constant noise, the diminished sense of meritocracy, the don't care/can't be bothered mentality, and the feeling of so many eyes on me whenever we go out. (In US or European cities, I can become somewhat invisible but never here.)

I guess another source of shock is in seeing how my wife (Thai) is suffering culture shock at work, having studied and worked in the west and now having to work in a Thai corporate environment. If she's having culture shock, what chance does that leave me?

[uncle paul]

driving in bkk is easy after india !!

i was shocked when i had my todger in hand and a guy started massaging my neck.

it makes me laugh when a mouth is covered to pick teeth but all classes of thai's love to show you what they are eating.

every woman in thailand saying im handsome until i decided it was code for can you get me a foreign passport :D

how i seem to fall down stairs after a skinful of beer chang without getting so much as a bruise

but what i love most is when the police pull us/me over, even when speeding, take one look at the car sticker salute and wave us/me on

Edited September 14, 2005 by uncle paul

[camerata]

if eating from on steet food stall were there is no sink or soap is so bad why arn't all the thai's dieing of food poisining???

Maybe some are. I had an inflamed appendix three times in five years from eating fly-blown street food. I stopped 10 years ago and never had any trouble again.

[Tyree D.]

having the bathroom attendent start rubbing my neck ... that one almost got me and the guy next to me wet

You and me both buddy...

I still can't relax enough to release a good steady stream when there's some guy behind you massaging your neck and shoulders, whilst another Thai guy stands at the urinal next to you and makes no secret about checking out your tackle...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm with you. That is a worry

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm used to it now. Do I have to remind you all of my heritage?

[loong]

i was shocked when i had my todger in hand and a guy started massaging my neck. 

Was that after you had a haircut?

[AmeriThai]

- Motorcycles, especially motorcycle taxis in BKK, that drive a near full speed between trucks, cars or busses in different lanes that are so close together you could barely squeeze a sheet of paper between them.

- Ladies who balance themselves sideways on the back of motorcycles.

- The confusing and sometimes long address systen used in Thailand.

- Squat pots or holes in the floor as a tiolet.

- Mangy dogs everywhere

[Ice Maiden]

I'm shocked at how sweet and polite the check-out chicks are here. The cashiers at home are real biatches ..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was a checkout girl in England. Thought I was polite

[Neeranam]

Can't say I've ever really had culture shock in Thailand.

I came here after spending 1 month in Calcutta, where it is 'normal' to see guys sticking blades through themselves for cash on the street, guys to do a headstand(head buried in the pavement) etc etc.

One thing that was really strange was the Thais mixing whisky(I mean real whisky) and coke - sacrelige! or putting in 95% soda.

Prostitutes scared to show their naked bodies, strange

I get culture shock when I go to the West now

[chonabot]

having the bathroom attendent start rubbing my neck ... that one almost got me and the guy next to me wet

You and me both buddy...

I still can't relax enough to release a good steady stream when there's some guy behind you massaging your neck and shoulders, whilst another Thai guy stands at the urinal next to you and makes no secret about checking out your tackle...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm with you. That is a worry

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm used to it now. Do I have to remind you all of my heritage?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Another classic post , don't worry Tyree , I'm still your fan.

No one else here needs reminding of your heritage.

They just don't seem to be interested.

[Nam Kao]

The girls are mint, not same lady falang