The only Farang who never wears Shorts.

[Forethat]

Me thinks that most of the posters here who are against the wearing of shorts in public come from that Island just to the west of France where the temperature seldom rises above 20C.

Thailand isn't hotter than other countries in the region, and there are places in Europe where you can expect far higher temperatures than SEA every now and then. I have spent lots of time in Singapore and I only see the occasional bum wearing shorts at night. Same thing in Milano during the summer, but if they do wear shorts at least it will be something stylish and not dirty beach wear.

I am not against the shorts in itself, it's the complete lack of style when wearing beach wear and t-shirts in a city environment; often dirty. Looks like shit, if you ask me. I have already pointed out earlier that you might be the nicest and most sophisticated person in the world. My point is that you still look like trash.

[Forethat]

i can think of dozens other much more offensive acts and behaviour the average Farang commits than showing his knees or hairy legs as well as offensive acts and behaviour from the Thai surroundings but which i take lightly because This Is Thailand!

Isn't this type of argument the kind of stuff you'd normally hear from a 7-year old...? " Mark can go, why can't I do it"

Just because someone else is doing it doesn't justify that you do it yourself. There appears to be a general misconception that just because you're wearing a suit to a wedding this means you're well dressed. A pair of dirty shoes to go with that and you'll still look like shit. Using your philosophy, your defense in a similar situation would be "honey, do you realise how dirty shoes I saw at the construction site last week... There are far worse things than this!!"

How difficult is it to wear something decent? Too difficult for a majority, apparently.

how difficult is it to comprehend that it's not your business to worry "who wears what" except perhaps the attire of the guests whom you invited to your wedding reception?

It IS my business to debate the topic on TV. It is also in accordance with the rules of TV. And if I'm not incorrect it is in line with the entire idea of this forum - to discuss Thailand related topics.

You have a problem with this (certainly brings other DDR-related problems to memory, where they, if I'm not incorrect, practiced a similar approach, which I am sure you remember)?

[Roadman]

I don't wear them. I wear jeans. It just looks better.

I have nice shirts, nice tees, why waste them by putting them on with a pair of shitty shorts that wont match.

Shorts never look good, and in most cases wont even match or fit in with the rest of what you're wearing. The only exception I can think of is if you are going all out for that 20 year old Cambridge-frat boy look. And even then.. they'll match, but you'll look like a homo.

To respond to the above posters' assumptions, I am 26, and do not feel hot in them.

As for what other people wear: Everyone is free to wear what they want. Just like I am free to judge them as poorly dressed slobs.

Totally agree. Just as I am free to judge them as over dressed dummies.

[Netizen]

It has to be said, a majority of farangs hanging around bar areas look like scum.

It has to be said that perverts observing farangs around bar areas are definitely scum. Is that a gun in your pocket?

[GreenSnapper]

I also never wear shorts and agree with the op. Those foreigners that hang around with baggy shorts and sandals all day on Sukumvit road don't look too nice.

I also don't wear shorts. Except for beach and home.

Same as most decent Thai men. Do in Rome as the Romans.....

[Netizen]

There is a clan of farang Bangkokians who go out in the evening wearing ties, sports jackets, shirts etc. I'm guessing they live and work in Bangkok but have a ridiculous hi-so attitude to other farang. Anybody else ever noticed them?

I don't hang around gay bars so cannot have seen them.

[Netizen]

I also never wear shorts and agree with the op. Those foreigners that hang around with baggy shorts and sandals all day on Sukumvit road don't look too nice.

I also don't wear shorts. Except for beach and home.

Same as most decent Thai men. Do in Rome as the Romans.....

Doesn't anyone complain about you poncing around with no pants on?

[Netizen]

I think it is mainly Aussies, they like to wear shorts with matching bush hat with corks hanging down from the brim to ward off them pesky flies.

The reasons I never wear shorts in Thailand. 1. Mosquitos 2. Skin Cancer 3. Don't want to look like a drongo

You are the sort of person one would invite to a barbecue. You would attract the flies away from other guests with your no shorts exhibitionism.

[Benmart]

Shorts and other beachwear have their place. It appears that dressing down has become the norm to the point that it commonplace. That being said, I reserve the shorts for the beach and haven't succumbed to heat stroke from wearing long pants, as one poster put it.

Some people have taken their appearance and tossed it into the rubbish bin under the guise of staying comfortable and cool. It's a "Free world" and we are what we want to be and what we want to look like. The reward if you like, is being treated as a we appear in the eyes of those we come across in our daily sojourn.

[BradinAsia]

Weddings = Shorts

Funerals = Shorts

Shopping Center = Shorts

Restaurant = Shorts

Party = Shorts

Sleeping = Shorts

Beach = Shorts

Exercise = Shorts

Market = Shorts

Bus = Shorts

Train = Shorts

Airplane = Shorts

Immigration = Shorts

Government Offices = Shorts

I guess I am just one of those guys that look great in Shorts .......

Maybe you're the only one who thinks you look great in shorts. I don't think I've ever

seen a guy in shorts who looked great.

Shorts at weddings -- Recently, I saw a photo of a wedding in Chiang Mai, the groom

was wearing those typical tourist-style cargo shorts. And he was wearing a long-sleeve

dress shirt which was hanging out (not tucked in his shorts).

Rather hokey looking indeed.

[elektrified]

I like to wear shorts (never to government buildings of course) but as the years have gone by, the g/f and most of my Thai friends have all mentioned that it does not look good, looks "low-class'', etc. so I have changed my ways. Shorts always at home and around the moobann but long pants when going out. Of course I wear shorts when we go on vacation to the beach a couple of times a year.

[BradinAsia]

The most weirdly dressed bloke I've ever seen -- a Japanese guy on a flight recently

was wearing jogging pants and running shoes with a dress shirt and tie.

I was so amused by his appearance. In all my years in Japan I never saw anybody

dress like that. So I asked him in Japanese if he was from Japan. He said he was.

So I asked what part of Japan. He said he was from Shikoku.

That's the only one of the four major islands that I've never been to. Lucky me...

[Gsxrnz]

Long pants, short pants, flip flops or shoes, polo shirt, wife beater, or T-shirt. Isn't it all down to the style that the wearer manages to achieve?

A Falang in a sloppy pair of ill fitting jeans/trousers of non descript style, wearing a crappy style-less shirt, tucked in to show an ill matching coloured belt with line marks at 4 of the holes showing how much he's expanded over the years, and $20 shoes that have seen better days,.....does not look smarter than a bloke in a decent pair of well fitted designer shorts (NOT bathers), a decent polo shirt (free of beer or any other logos), and a pair of stylish shoes with (or without) low ankle socks.

As to the alleged "need" to wear trousers to government offices - I wear shorts, polo shirt and shoes as described above and have always received courteous treatment, wai's, and unsolicited good advice. It's also a case of demeanour. A bloke wearing an Armani suit who shows disrespect and intolerance will NOT be as well received as a bloke wearing tidy shorts and a polo shirt that behaves like a reasonable person. Seen it happen.

[bp832]

Thread TL;DR, but agree 100% with OP.

Shorts are for boys. Propery fitting trousers (wool, cotton or linen) or jeans. Anything else looks lazy and low class.

And then there are muscle shirts....

[Thaddeus]

As to the alleged "need" to wear trousers to government offices - I wear shorts, polo shirt and shoes as described above and have always received courteous treatment, wai's, and unsolicited good advice.

And guess what happens when you leave the building.

[Soutpeel]

As to the alleged "need" to wear trousers to government offices - I wear shorts, polo shirt and shoes as described above and have always received courteous treatment, wai's, and unsolicited good advice.

And guess what happens when you leave the building.

a you go home

b you go for a beer

c you go for a soapy

d all of the above

[Roadman]

As to the alleged "need" to wear trousers to government offices - I wear shorts, polo shirt and shoes as described above and have always received courteous treatment, wai's, and unsolicited good advice.

And guess what happens when you leave the building.

a you go home

b you go for a beer

c you go for a soapy

d all of the above

e freak out cause a Thai thinks you are low class like those brown skinned Isanites

[mmushr00m]

When I was living there I was one if those poor slobs that wore a shirt and tie everyday. On certain occasions a jacket is included.

On weekends, it's shorts, t-shirts and flip flops. I'm "corporate" 5 (sometimes 6) days a week in 35-40c heat and humidity, phuck if I'm doing it on my days off!

Don't really care if someone thinks it I'm low class. "Class" is how you act/behave not what you wear.

Edited September 11, 2013 by mmushr00m

[Ulic]

Far to hot and humid for long pants here. I don't even have any here.

I go out in cargo shorts, commando, but with a proper ironed collar shirt.

[Soutpeel]

As to the alleged "need" to wear trousers to government offices - I wear shorts, polo shirt and shoes as described above and have always received courteous treatment, wai's, and unsolicited good advice.

And guess what happens when you leave the building.

a you go home

b you go for a beer

c you go for a soapy

d all of the above

e freak out cause a Thai thinks you are low class like those brown skinned Isanites

Which bring me neatly to to a serious question in an otherwise trollish thread, are certain farangs in Thailand so insecure and need of acceptance in Thailand that they worry about what a jumped up civil servant in an uniform thinks about them ?

I guess if it means the difference between getting your paperwork stamped or not getting stamped is to dress appropriately then it's needs to be done...then this one thing fine, but to worry about what an official thinks of them because they wore shorts to immigration, is messed up

for the record, after 12 yeas here on a WP I have turned up in shorts on many occasions and never had a problem from them about my attire, even on one occasion turned up in dirty work clothes (in the TV,s cultural experts recommended long trousers) and construction boots and if they did have a problem with proper attire, one suspects this would have been the occasion they would have complained that day as I was rank....and the only comment was a question if I had been working hard

Based on my direct experiences here, one suspects the vast majority of sagely advice, cultural expertise and protocols from TV finest resident experts is made up in their own heads.

[Forethat]

On weekends, it's shorts, t-shirts and flip flops. I'm "corporate" 5 (sometimes 6) days a week in 35-40c heat and humidity, phuck if I'm doing it on my days off!

Don't really care if someone thinks it I'm low class. "Class" is how you act/behave not what you wear.

Amazing how many posters on here that fail to appreciate the difference between look like trash and being trash.

And all this despite other posters pointing out the obvious; that you might be classy, nice intelligent and in all aspects a wonderful person, but you STILL look trashy. For your info; class is behaviour AND appearance. Remarkable that someone who calls himself "corporate" fails to recognise this.

I wonder if dressing like a slob is a sign of BEING thick?

Edited September 11, 2013 by Forethat

[XDoodlebugger]

But I have beautiful legs that should be shared with mankind!

[elektrified]

Long pants, short pants, flip flops or shoes, polo shirt, wife beater, or T-shirt. Isn't it all down to the style that the wearer manages to achieve?

A Falang in a sloppy pair of ill fitting jeans/trousers of non descript style, wearing a crappy style-less shirt, tucked in to show an ill matching coloured belt with line marks at 4 of the holes showing how much he's expanded over the years, and $20 shoes that have seen better days,.....does not look smarter than a bloke in a decent pair of well fitted designer shorts (NOT bathers), a decent polo shirt (free of beer or any other logos), and a pair of stylish shoes with (or without) low ankle socks.

As to the alleged "need" to wear trousers to government offices - I wear shorts, polo shirt and shoes as described above and have always received courteous treatment, wai's, and unsolicited good advice. It's also a case of demeanour. A bloke wearing an Armani suit who shows disrespect and intolerance will NOT be as well received as a bloke wearing tidy shorts and a polo shirt that behaves like a reasonable person. Seen it happen.

Thais always wear nice clothes to government offices. It's a cultural thing. Why not respect their ways?

One thing that caught me as a bit odd was about 6 months ago I went to see my skin doctor at CMU. I wore nice shorts and a button down shirt. It was the hot season here in C.M. As I sat down, and just before the doctor came in, the nurse ran over with a large towel and covered my legs. Oh well...

[Soutpeel]

Long pants, short pants, flip flops or shoes, polo shirt, wife beater, or T-shirt. Isn't it all down to the style that the wearer manages to achieve?

A Falang in a sloppy pair of ill fitting jeans/trousers of non descript style, wearing a crappy style-less shirt, tucked in to show an ill matching coloured belt with line marks at 4 of the holes showing how much he's expanded over the years, and $20 shoes that have seen better days,.....does not look smarter than a bloke in a decent pair of well fitted designer shorts (NOT bathers), a decent polo shirt (free of beer or any other logos), and a pair of stylish shoes with (or without) low ankle socks.

As to the alleged "need" to wear trousers to government offices - I wear shorts, polo shirt and shoes as described above and have always received courteous treatment, wai's, and unsolicited good advice. It's also a case of demeanour. A bloke wearing an Armani suit who shows disrespect and intolerance will NOT be as well received as a bloke wearing tidy shorts and a polo shirt that behaves like a reasonable person. Seen it happen.

Thais always wear nice clothes to government offices. It's a cultural thing. Why not respect their ways?

One thing that caught me as a bit odd was about 6 months ago I went to see my skin doctor at CMU. I wore nice shorts and a button down shirt. It was the hot season here in C.M. As I sat down, and just before the doctor came in, the nurse ran over with a large towel and covered my legs. Oh well...

Maybe you have ugly legs or knee,s ?

[charmonman]

OP sounds a little neurotic.

The fact is that the climate in LOS is very humid. What kind of idiot is going to walk around in jeans in this humidity?

To answer the question specifically, the only farang that does not wear shorts in LOS would have to be those from India. Even if you travel to India you will rarely see an Indian guy in shorts. I dont know how they can do it...

I almost always wear jeans, am perfectly comfortable, and the humidity does not bother me at all. And I am not from India. I just don't think they look very good on me, or any other adult male.

It doesn't really bother me when others wear shorts though, up to them. What really irks me is the increasingly common sight of male farang tourists (usually drunk, and often heavily tattooed) walking around the middle of Bangkok with no shirts on. Save it for the beach, for &^%$s sake!

[Soutpeel]

OP sounds a little neurotic.

The fact is that the climate in LOS is very humid. What kind of idiot is going to walk around in jeans in this humidity?

To answer the question specifically, the only farang that does not wear shorts in LOS would have to be those from India. Even if you travel to India you will rarely see an Indian guy in shorts. I dont know how they can do it...

I almost always wear jeans, am perfectly comfortable, and the humidity does not bother me at all. And I am not from India. I just don't think they look very good on me, or any other adult male.

It doesn't really bother me when others wear shorts though, up to them. What really irks me is the increasingly common sight of male farang tourists (usually drunk, and often heavily tattooed) walking around the middle of Bangkok with no shirts on. Save it for the beach, for &^%$s sake!

Now that aspect I will agree with shirtless people whether Thai or farang wondering around in inappropriate places like the supermarket is offensive, even people wondering around in the fresh produce section of supermarket in a vest dropping all their armpit hair on the veggies is just so wrong...

[KuhnPaen]

Shorts all the time unless it's at a night club or a nice restaurant/evening out. Seriously man, your zero tolerance for shorts has some weird Freudian overtones.

[OldChinaHam]

I seem to recall my mentioning this problem with shorts not too long ago:

Is It An Impropriety To Bare A Bit Of Knobby Knee In Los?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/635238-is-it-an-impropriety-to-bare-a-bit-of-knobby-knee-in-los/

How time flies when you are having fun.

[mcdiddly]

All these guy must be over 60 ... During the heat of the day ... on vacation .. it s leisure time and i am wearing shorts, sandals and tshirt ..

[Dancealot]

I just prefer to wear long trousers in LOS because they protect me from infections.