Is it just my experience or do others find that thai people take forever and a day to get ready for an outing.

If you want to go out at eight in the morning I suggest lying and telling them six,they may make it.

Watching them get ready is painful,organisation is non existent,they do everything in no particular order.

The more going the more people to mess up.

I have never done business with them or employed any as many of you may have,does this carry on into their professional life,looking at the power lines out my window and the security guard sleeping down stairs I'm guessing it may.

Another thing,do town planners exist in bkk.

My wife would say it's the other way round...

I dialed the speaking clock here once. It said "The time a beep will be looooooooong tiiiiime".

The Town Planning Department has been replaced by the Town Disorganisation Department.....didn't you get the memo?

As for Thai Time, you have to purchase a 27 hour watch and then it all makes sense. I mean seriously, why do today what can be delayed by that critical 3 hours.

You can purchase any brand of watch on Suk in BKK or Pattaya Beach Road.....Rolex, Omega, Tag, nothings a problem. Provided they have the super slow mechanism and are calibrated to 27 hours, logic will quickly replace the real world.

Don't buy the version with the built in Flux Capacitor or you'll really be screwed - they go backwards and are known for their unreliability.

Problem solved.

After taking hours,you sit down to relax,then they begin to make a move,look at you and say come on we in a hurry.

You get up and they take another ten minutes in the car park doing god knows what,one of them always forgets something,back up to the room,another ten minutes.

Meanwhile someone else decides to use those ten minutes to do something and takes twenty,by then they are hungry again.

My wife would say it's the other way round...

Damn you must be laid back,I envy you.

Umm, it's called pensive, uhh no, it's pre-menstrual, wait, that's not it, but I know it starts with a P. Hmmmm. Oh yeah! Passive aggressive! That's it! Their way of dealing with the negativity in their lives.

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A farang friend put on a fantastic Christmas dinner last week.

Invitations said Dinner served at 5:00 pm.

All Farangs showed up at 5:00 or a little before with their Thai families in tow.

The FIRST Thais to arrive started trickling in a little after 7:00 PM.

The host is a great guy and a great cook.

He and his wife spent all day preparing a meal that would be served hot at 5:00.

Serving cold after 7:00 kind of spoiled the evening for him I'm afraid.

Edited December 31, 201312 yr by willyumiii

The Thais would have stopped off for 'real' food before they had to endure farang stuff. I'm not joking.

But yes, Thai and Lao can take forever to get ready to go out.

Edited December 31, 201312 yr by laobali

I've been waiting for one hour and fifteen minutes as of right now (not married) soon I will get in the shower ( 5 min) get my hair beautiful ( one minute) get dressed ( 3 minutes) go back to the couch and wait another hour. . But dinner is really at 7 and I said its at 6.

I'll see you at 8 p.m. (to an old Thai friend).

9, 9-15, 9-30 he would roll up at the meeting place until I started telling him, Farang time, not Thai time. And farang time means 8 p.m. is 8 p.m. and not 9 or later.

Always fun to try and get some people to understand you mean the time you say. Very lax attitude to time here.

Waiting for the women to get ready seems to be a world wide problem. They seem to have more bits to shower than we do

In my experience lack of punctuality, efficiency, and organization, responsibility are cultural not withsnding their "world class education system" Positive consequences don't seem to motivate them much eg; a nice dinner with a gracious host.

Negative consequences like loss of job = difficult to eat seem to be required. Exceptions duly noted.

I have gone out with some truly exceptional women. Walk Japanese speed and in a straight line from point A - B.

Don't play with their hair. Arent fixated on soap operas or gossip. Punctual, reliable, reasonable and posses a good knowledge of the world out side of Siam.

If you ever dated Korean or Japanese then try in Thailand it is a huge shock.

To each their own but personally I have yet to see the big attraction for the women, even less so the low end ones. Cest la vie.

2 or 3 times a year I will invite the family out for a Moo gata (all you can eat, do it yourself barbecue)

I pace my eating during the day so that I am at the right level of hungriness when we get there. When I say that we leave at 6 PM, I mean it. They are slowly learning that when I state a time, I mean that time. If they are not in the pick-up, I am gone without them. I used to allow a bit of leeway, but when the leeway extends to more than an hour, I have to have something to eat. Then I don't go at all!

....,by then they are hungry again.

Priceless but oh so true!!!

The same applies once you arrive at the restaurant. Years of experience makes me just forget about that as invariably, once you get seated and the menu's are handed out, they aren't hungry because they had a plate of cold rice, fried grass and stinky sauce while you were shaving.

Yes, it's also like that in their professional life - some days they don't want to get up and go to work, so they just don't and nobody cares.

Generally, when they don't show up on time it's best to do what they do amongst each other, which is not care - it's the only way not to go mad and somehow it all clicks into place at some point.

After living for 25 years on "island time", I can assure you that this issue is not confined to Thailand. I have always felt that being late to a meeting or function was a way of saying "I am more important than you, so you can wait for me".

Reminds me of my favourite quote from the Abbott in 'Bangkok 8': "Fortunately the peoples of Southeast Asia have never been poisoned by Western logic!" Great book...even better wisdom.

2 or 3 times a year I will invite the family out for a Moo gata (all you can eat, do it yourself barbecue)

I pace my eating during the day so that I am at the right level of hungriness when we get there. When I say that we leave at 6 PM, I mean it. They are slowly learning that when I state a time, I mean that time. If they are not in the pick-up, I am gone without them. I used to allow a bit of leeway, but when the leeway extends to more than an hour, I have to have something to eat. Then I don't go at all!

I also love that EAT ALL YOU CAN!

I don't want to be late in time like this

My missus is exactly the same. If i want to go out for lunch i say " get ready honey, i'm taking you out for breakfast". Problem solved,

My missus is exactly the same. If i want to go out for lunch i say " get ready honey, i'm taking you out for breakfast". Problem solved,

hahhaha..out of likes today, but I like your comment. And women are the same the world over

Try to get to a meeting on time, and you'll be happy that Thai Time exists.

I knew I was in trouble when TW asked me after one of my rants about being prompt, "so time is important in America?"

When my neighbour asks me when her brother (my friend) comes home I answer: "He is Thai but he mentioned something about 6pm." When her husband (Thai!) asks the same question and I give the same reply he smiles and says. "So that means about 9pm."

I work on GMT (Grenwich Mean Time) My wife works on TMT (Thai Maybe Time)

Time in Thai is measured in Soon? Not long? Later?

But never now!

Five-minutes!

Thailand minutes or by the clock minutes?

Thailand minutes!!! (laughing)

hahahahaha, so true, we are yet to be at a wedding at the stated time, or someones house, or anywhere else for that matter. I am told to get ready then I find my wife doing the washing or starting a job that will take her ages, they cannot understand that when you give a time you stick to it. As for meals, if I cook and give a time and people dont show up they miss out, I refuse to let it be ruined because they get side tracked, same as when I ask how many I cook for. Usually get given a number then an extra 4 or 5 rock up, I simply put the food out then go out for dinner or up to our bedroom until they have all gone then cook myself something. They are actually learniong that they need to stick to times and the amount of people they give, seems thais just cant help themselves.

thai time

either 1 hour early or 2 hours late

Indonesian time = Karet Jam 'rubber time"

I tried to post a topic about Chiang Mai Time a while ago,

But no one wanted to comment.

hahahahaha, so true, we are yet to be at a wedding at the stated time, or someones house, or anywhere else for that matter. I am told to get ready then I find my wife doing the washing or starting a job that will take her ages, they cannot understand that when you give a time you stick to it. As for meals, if I cook and give a time and people dont show up they miss out, I refuse to let it be ruined because they get side tracked, same as when I ask how many I cook for. Usually get given a number then an extra 4 or 5 rock up, I simply put the food out then go out for dinner or up to our bedroom until they have all gone then cook myself something. They are actually learniong that they need to stick to times and the amount of people they give, seems thais just cant help themselves.

Every morning every school in Thailand and every child in Thailand and every teacher in Thailand sings the National Anthem at the same time. How many people is that every day at the same time on time every day? 10 million?

You all are so full of kway kee it is difficult to type without getting stinky fingers.

Edited December 31, 201312 yr by thailiketoo