Thai Thinking … So Different From Ours

[Dancealot]

Thai thinking:

I am the wrong person to ask about strange Thai thinking.

After i thought about these things, in the end they all make sense to me....

[MAJIC]

But it's the Thai Thinking … so different from ours ... that I wish to focus on.

.

But dont you think the problem is not the thinking but the lack of thinking that causes the problem ?

Thinking for oneself is not a prime directive here is it. Just copy whats on the blackboard and dont ask any questions!

Thinking causes problems you did not know you had, best go watch tv, its easy to follow and the life I know in Thailand, how about you?

Or as my wife puts it: Think too much,give you headache!

[15Peter20]

I had a funny experience of a Thai person's thinking today.

Driving around a quite fancy gated housing community looking for houses for sale, my wife and I passed a fairly big property in pristine condition. It was somewhat bigger than what we wanted but we thought we'd ring up the number on the 'for sale' sign just to find out how much it was. Turned out it cost 9 million.

A couple of sois further on, we passed another property of about the same size but this one was completely gutted - needed new windows and doors put in, paint and other substantial repairs throughout. We thought maybe this one would be cheap and we might be able to do it up ourselves, so we rang the number to find out the price. The woman on the other end said that it had already been sold. Out of interest, my wife asked her how much it had been sold for. At this point, after much umming and erring, the woman said that actually it hadn't been sold but that she'd bought the property with her farang partner and he insisted on demanding 8 million for it.

She said she was so embarrassed to ask for that price (and wanted to avoid people's reactions to it, I guess) that she was simply telling anyone who enquired that it had been sold already.

[heatherm]

The strangest thing that I still don't understand is the mandatory 2 showers a day or more. I'm not against showers. I love them when I'm hot, sweaty, or dirty. Having A/C all day sometimes I don't feel I need another shower, but I do it anyway. What really confused me was last year during the flood. Our workshop flooded waist deep. The water was filled with hydrolic oil, leather dye and river gunk. Since we needed to do some work in the shop we weren't going to use a boat to get there. The street was chest deep so I knew I would get totally wet. I didn't shower that morning. My husband looked at me like I was crazy. "What? No, shower? Cannot!" I explained that we were about to swim through sewage and no one would know I didn't shower before arriving. "Cannot"! I showered.

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[Jingthing]

I also run the over bed fan even when it's cold.

[tuky]

I was sick and tired of my old FiL throwing rubbish out of the car window (early days I didn't want to drive).

I would always tell him it is not good for the environment, tell the missus the same.

I put severl bin bags in the car for the toll road receipts, empty drink can/bags etc etc.

Nup, down would go the window and out would go the rubbish. Even when directing him to the bin which would be easier to use than throwing it out the response would only be laughter.

Stupid westerner, why fill up the bin when I can just throw the crap out the window.

that is a different way of thinking.

[MrRealDeal]

Not really ..... America's highways used to be filled with trash until they decided to fine people 500-1000$ for littering on the highways , the only difference is that they don't want to pay the fines not that they really mind throwing trash out the windows. The reason they started deposits on soda bottles was for the same reason ...... even westerners don't mind throwing trash out the window.

[JurgenG]

I understand the mozzie angle ... but we do sleep under a huge (newish) net, so they are not an issue.

A good friend of mine replied to me, when I asked him the same question was that, like some of you, he found the breeze quite comforting. In Winter ... I just find it cold.

But it's the Thai Thinking … so different from ours ... that I wish to focus on.

All in a good and light-hearted way of course ...

.

Sorry but it's just not a good example of how different Thai people are ..... Lot of people use airconditioning or a fan and sleep with a blanket or sheet all over the world. Lots of people worldwides opinion of what a cold breese would be is different than yours not just Thai people's.

What sums up for you the difference between the thinking?

.

To summarize, there is no "us" and "them", there is only you and you.

As others have pointed out, a lot of people like to sleep with either a fan or an aircond what ever the temperature. Turky perfectly expressed my feelings (an it seems the feeling of others) when he says " without air moving around the room it feels stagnant. I can't stand a stagnant room."

People should stop hiding behind "we" whenever they have a problem.

[IMA_FARANG]

I agree, but i also happen to like to have a fan on in the room.

Even if the fan is not blowing and/or cooling me directly.

It's not for termperature, but for the circulation of the air in a closed room.

It's a personal preference for me ... and some Thais (my Thai wife included) also like the feel/thought/or illusion of a breeze moving the air around the room.

And, by the way, there is no they and us seperation betwwen Thais and "others".

Thais, and their personal preference. are as diverse as "farangs".

My Thai family is made up of 7 individuals, and each one has some personal likes and dislikes .... things that identify "themselves" as different from another person.

That makes them feel like an individul even if a part of the family.

That's a common trait for all human beings ... having a percieved identity of a "me" as disticnt from "someone else".

There is no "they" or a "us" group.

As a woman in Liverpool once said when asked about her accent, "Oh, it's not us duckie, whats got the accent, it's them bloody furriners, what don't speak proper, thats got the accent."

[kennedy]

Fans seem to generate a lot of hot air on TV.

[Ulysses G.]

The strangest thing that I still don't understand is the mandatory 2 showers a day or more.

I take 3 or 4 a day when it's hot and used to bathe at least twice a day back in San Francisco where it is cool most of the time. I also sleep with the fan on when it is cool (unless it is freezing cold during the middle of the night - which it is from time to time here in Chiang Mai). I don't think that these are exclusively Thai traits.

[maturebrit]

I dont try to figure out thai logic.... its reminds me of the saying..... all the lights are on but nobody home...

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[Monkeypants]

We are generally pro active, Thai's reactive

Just look at servicing of vehicles etc, to start with.

[JurgenG]

We are generally pro active, Thai's reactive

Just look at servicing of vehicles etc, to start with.

"We" ???

Quality in the car industry was teached by the japaneses in the 70's-80's, it's not a "we"-stern invention.

[SteeleJoe]

We are generally pro active, Thai's reactive

Just look at servicing of vehicles etc, to start with.

"We" ???

Quality in the car industry was teached by the japaneses in the 70's-80's, it's not a "we"-stern invention.

You've missed his point (however accurate it may or may not be - I think it's a pretty sound generalization myself): it's not about the production of automobiles.

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[Bagwan]

Do the light switches in countries other than Thailand operate in the reverse manner to those of the 60 or 70 countries that I have visited? Or is Thailand unique in this respect?

[Payboy]

Do the light switches in countries other than Thailand operate in the reverse manner to those of the 60 or 70 countries that I have visited? Or is Thailand unique in this respect?

Nothing wrong with the switches here. Just use them to turn on the dark.

[muythai2013]

Have just been told this morning that as we are having our house painted I cant hang out the laundry as my underwear may offend the painters............. Its only clean boxer shorts <deleted>.

and underwear must be hung lower then your head, so dam_n important lol.

[MrRealDeal]

Do the light switches in countries other than Thailand operate in the reverse manner to those of the 60 or 70 countries that I have visited? Or is Thailand unique in this respect?

All of my light switches as well as the breaker box turn the electricity on when filpped up just the same as my house in the west , it just the buttons are slightly different. What do you mean reverse ? Pushing the top of the Thai style button is the same as flipping the west style up and down. Up is on , down is off

[Rsquared]

Do the light switches in countries other than Thailand operate in the reverse manner to those of the 60 or 70 countries that I have visited? Or is Thailand unique in this respect?

All of my light switches as well as the breaker box turn the electricity on when filpped up just the same as my house in the west , it just the buttons are slightly different. What do you mean reverse ? Pushing the top of the Thai style button is the same as flipping the west style up and down. Up is on , down is off

In Australia, light and power switches operate ....down = on,....up = off.

[David48]

Have just been told this morning that as we are having our house painted I cant hang out the laundry as my underwear may offend the painters............. Its only clean boxer shorts <deleted>.

and underwear must be hung lower then your head, so dam_n important lol.

Well ... I just learnt something ...

Just asked the gf about the underwear thing and correct 100%.

It was explained as that the underwear is considered an dirty or undesirable thing.

Sort of like your feet, necessary, but considered dirty or a low form of something.

Because many Thai's wear the Buddha Amulet around their neck, the 'lowly' underwear at, or above head height ... by defacto, the height of the Buddha Image is not allowed.

Same goes for short pants apparently ...

There also is a story about the power of the tattoo leaving also ... but I have to clarify that.

Thai thinking ... have to love it ...

.

[tuky]

Do the light switches in countries other than Thailand operate in the reverse manner to those of the 60 or 70 countries that I have visited? Or is Thailand unique in this respect?

All of my light switches as well as the breaker box turn the electricity on when filpped up just the same as my house in the west , it just the buttons are slightly different. What do you mean reverse ? Pushing the top of the Thai style button is the same as flipping the west style up and down. Up is on , down is off

In Australia, light and power switches operate ....down = on,....up = off.

Up for off is a lot safer than down for off as bumping into a switch you are more likely to knock it up than down.

Same with circuit breakers.

[muythai2013]

Have just been told this morning that as we are having our house painted I cant hang out the laundry as my underwear may offend the painters............. Its only clean boxer shorts <deleted>.

and underwear must be hung lower then your head, so dam_n important lol.

Well ... I just learnt something ...

Just asked the gf about the underwear thing and correct 100%.

It was explained as that the underwear is considered an dirty or undesirable thing.

Sort of like your feet, necessary, but considered dirty or a low form of something.

Because many Thai's wear the Buddha Amulet around their neck, the 'lowly' underwear at, or above head height ... by defacto, the height of the Buddha Image is not allowed.

Same goes for short pants apparently ...

There also is a story about the power of the tattoo leaving also ... but I have to clarify that.

Thai thinking ... have to love it ...

.

i have many sak yant tattoos, i was given a list of rules to follow, never that one however.

they also dont like books bellow your knees, never ever step on a book, respect knowledge, this is very very bad,

sitting down on a bus with grocery bags, put them on your lap, never on the floor under your knee height near your feet, even though they eat on the floor lol.

[RabC]

Have just been told this morning that as we are having our house painted I cant hang out the laundry as my underwear may offend the painters............. Its only clean boxer shorts <deleted>.

and underwear must be hung lower then your head, so dam_n important lol.

Well ... I just learnt something ...

Just asked the gf about the underwear thing and correct 100%.

It was explained as that the underwear is considered an dirty or undesirable thing.

Sort of like your feet, necessary, but considered dirty or a low form of something.

Because many Thai's wear the Buddha Amulet around their neck, the 'lowly' underwear at, or above head height ... by defacto, the height of the Buddha Image is not allowed.

Same goes for short pants apparently ...

There also is a story about the power of the tattoo leaving also ... but I have to clarify that.

Thai thinking ... have to love it ...

.

Every day is a school day thanks Muythai and David

[tuky]

Yeah but it is all a load of crap right?

I used to be bothered by these kind of traditions, supersticions, lunacy out of respect. But really I am just disrespecting myself if go along with it.

In my house (until recently) the lights in every toilet and the kitchen had to be left on during the night, or if there was nobody in the house as these two places are the first place a ghost will come from, with the light on apparently the ghost will not come. Fair enough if thats what you believe, but not fair enough if I have to pay the electricity bill. Nope, no more lights on in my house. Like it or leave it I say.

[simple1]

Have just been told this morning that as we are having our house painted I cant hang out the laundry as my underwear may offend the painters............. Its only clean boxer shorts <deleted>.

and underwear must be hung lower then your head, so dam_n important lol.

Well ... I just learnt something ...

Just asked the gf about the underwear thing and correct 100%.

It was explained as that the underwear is considered an dirty or undesirable thing.

Sort of like your feet, necessary, but considered dirty or a low form of something.

Because many Thai's wear the Buddha Amulet around their neck, the 'lowly' underwear at, or above head height ... by defacto, the height of the Buddha Image is not allowed.

Same goes for short pants apparently ...

There also is a story about the power of the tattoo leaving also ... but I have to clarify that.

Thai thinking ... have to love it ...

.

Read your post & nodding in agreement - made complete sense to me - arrrgh - am I integrating??? My Thai neighbour has just put offering to Buddha

under her house for rent sign...

Edited January 11, 2013 by simple1

[Humbugged]

Load of hogawash.

But explains why they seem upset when I put my kids underpants on my head.

I often wonder how monks get by without going insane, not being allowed to touch anything a female has touched....how do they sit in taxis ?

[muythai2013]

Load of hogawash.

But explains why they seem upset when I put my kids underpants on my head.

I often wonder how monks get by without going insane, not being allowed to touch anything a female has touched....how do they sit in taxis ?

they can touch something a woman has touched, it just must be handed to them by a man or passed to their cloth. they will tough it once passed on and are allowed to.

[Humbugged]

Load of hogawash.

But explains why they seem upset when I put my kids underpants on my head.

I often wonder how monks get by without going insane, not being allowed to touch anything a female has touched....how do they sit in taxis ?

they can touch something a woman has touched, it just must be handed to them by a man or passed to their cloth. they will tough it once passed on and are allowed to.

But what about the woman that just got out of the taxi and no man has sat his arse on that seat prior ?

[spiritrace]

_{OK, we live in the US and our toilet works perfectly but my wife still has a bucket of water and pan to flush with.........}