What have you learned in Thailand? What is still surprising you?

[303player]

What about some remarkable and inspiring stories?

I was eating at a small restaurant in Chiang Mai recently when the proprietor came up to me and said she felt I should eat this herb (she gave a fresh green herb to me). She felt it was important for my health. A Thai translated and said it was a natural remedy, good to regulate blood pressure. Nowhere else has a chef ever cared about my health and offered advice to improve it.

[bobthomas]

Thanks for all these, experienced many of them...

A friend told me something very nice the other day. He said in England (where he's from), people listen to what you say and evaluate it intellectually. In Thailand, he felt it's more important how you say something, and people evaluate you emotionally.

That's what they know how to do! Analysis by epistemological methodology is largely unknown to the greater majority of Thais, therefore when confronted with an unknown, they go by feeling, limited past experiences, superstition, or just plain denial based on a

loss of face for not knowing.

[casualbiker]

Everything is half a job!

[JAFO]

Hmmm..................

Learned:

• Never drink that custom alcohol concoction(Lao Khao or Ya Dong) made and sold in used RedBull bottles at the daily market unless you plan on walking back home.
• Its hard to keep track of your bottle caps when playing checkers at the market
• Always carry baby wipes
• When hiking in the jungle areas be on the look out for Golden Orb Weaver spider webs
• That foreigners spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to get darker where as conversely Thais try and become whiter
• That backing into parking places makes better sense
• Tinting your windshield is not really an advisable thing to do yet they all do it
• If you happen to be in BKK the best time is during Songkran
• If you are traveling around, have your Thai friends set it up, it will save that infamous "Foreigner fee"
• If you are moving to Thailand, bring your own tools

Surprised;

• How many people a Thai family can put on one scooter
• That Thais never seem to ever check tire pressure in their cars or scooters.
• That Thai workers will work 5 stories up welding with shorts and flip flops on
• That foreigners always seem to complain about Thailand

Again above is just a small sample. I think some of us here could fill up a few pages. I find great humor and fun living here.

[bobthomas]

What about some remarkable and inspiring stories?

I was eating at a small restaurant in Chiang Mai recently when the proprietor came up to me and said she felt I should eat this herb (she gave a fresh green herb to me). She felt it was important for my health. A Thai translated and said it was a natural remedy, good to regulate blood pressure. Nowhere else has a chef ever cared about my health and offered advice to improve it.

Sure! You will encounter many many more such entreaties- but to be fair, this is one way Thais try to create a relationship of reciprocity. You help them by being a patron and increasing their business, and they do things that maybe you wouldn't encounter in the West like giving you that super big Thai smile, acting like you are a long lost relative, when they just saw you yesterday, as they slather you with Grengjai and sappy platitudes.

Then, they can just as easily turn cold and indifferent if you stop eating there for a while.

With Thais, it's less important the establishing of a relationship than the maintaining and prolonging of it.

[namdocmai]

To never use your horn in the traffic, no matter what happens don't do it........

[mrfaroukh]

What still surprise me is that still people put the post here for how they had been scam by a Thai village girl.

[TacoGuy]

Learned that Thais have no qualms about showing very violent or very gory movie trailers in public or to young audiences. In fact they laugh when the little ones get scared. Cultural differences!

[BKKdreaming]

We are not in Kansas anymore !

[tomyumchai]

I thought Thailand was a third-world country which had great potential to become something much better.

My big surprise has been to learn it is going absolutely nowhere. Corruption and greed destroy anything good before it has chance to take root.

It's this kind of over-generalisation that I find nonsensical. There is plenty of corruption and greed but not so much that it destroys anything good. Plenty good in Thailand. It just gets better and better each year.

please show me something thats got better each year....the pound has gone back to 72 baht, right?

the visa costs have gone down, right?

i dont need a doctors certificate and police check just to come here and spend more money in 1 week than 5000 chinese do in a month, right?

they follow the laws of the country and dont do the complete opposite of what the law says, right?

beer has got cheaper, right?

where is the 'plenty good' that you praise???

[phanangpete]

RIight what you want know newbe ?

[phanangpete]

How do repair a tyre ? Well take it off and put a new one on , Thai way .

Sorry cannot repair.

Get used to it !

[tmcard]

2) I'm surprised many expats still haven't figured this place out yet.

Tell us please.

It is futile to try to change the way the people live here, you will only bring stress upon yourself if you do so.

Absolutely right, take things the way they are, not the way you want them to be !

[beautifulthailand99]

The things you have to stand up do in a cinema just before the movie starts and similar "Requirements". It worries me that my kids are being brought up with this indoctrination and I legally cannot tell them otherwise

Tried to be as vague as possible

Off with your 112 head.

[fozzy58uk]

What I find surprising is , there have been English teachers in this country for I don't know how many years .

If the system and the teaching was on such a high standard , I would have thought that all English teachers here now would be Thai nationals.

I was a teacher in Thailand for many years. A large proportion of my ex-students have excellent jobs in multi-national companies in Thailand and in Europe and the USA.

There are not enough QUALIFIED or at least DEDICATED native speaking English teachers in Thailand mostly due to the pathetic wages on offer and/or the ridiculous hoop jumping necessary to acquire a WP.

Of course it is easy enough to marry a Thai national get a visa and work illegally, or get a retirement visa on dodgy grounds (any long standing expat knows how to do this) and work illegally.

Pay peanuts get monkeys.

QED.

[TacoGuy]

I thought Thailand was a third-world country which had great potential to become something much better.

My big surprise has been to learn it is going absolutely nowhere. Corruption and greed destroy anything good before it has chance to take root.

It's this kind of over-generalisation that I find nonsensical. There is plenty of corruption and greed but not so much that it destroys anything good. Plenty good in Thailand. It just gets better and better each year.

please show me something thats got better each year....the pound has gone back to 72 baht, right?

the visa costs have gone down, right?

i dont need a doctors certificate and police check just to come here and spend more money in 1 week than 5000 chinese do in a month, right?

they follow the laws of the country and dont do the complete opposite of what the law says, right?

beer has got cheaper, right?

where is the 'plenty good' that you praise???

Those are foreigner issues and fairly petty minded ones at that.

How about the Skytrain? Mobile phone networks. Budget airlines. Variety of food. University uniforms. Etc etc etc.

[smotherb]

I have not really been surprised by the Thais, but I am still surprised at the gullibility of so many farangs.

[yooyoo]

What I find surprising is , there have been English teachers in this country for I don't know how many years .

If the system and the teaching was on such a high standard , I would have thought that all English teachers here now would be Thai nationals.

Interesting .. how are they producing these Thai English language teachers as a Thai that graduate with from a local university cannot speak a word of English... ?

[yooyoo]

How do repair a tyre ? Well take it off and put a new one on , Thai way .

Sorry cannot repair.

Get used to it !

Oh yes... "cannot" and "no have" are the most common English words uttered in Thailand....

[yooyoo]

After 10 years. Why do 7/11 have 12 staff, 3 tills yet just one person serving?

Because you are not supposed to queue .. you simply push in like the Thais ...

[Thai at Heart]

That ghosts are very real despite still no one ever actually having seen or photographed one.

[TacoGuy]

That ghosts are very real despite still no one ever actually having seen or photographed one.

How can they be seen or photographed ? They're spirits! It's like trying to photograph an idea.

[Sena Dave]

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Learned that Thais have no qualms about showing very violent or very gory movie trailers in public or to young audiences. In fact they laugh when the little ones get scared. Cultural differences!

My kids wanted to see insidious 2 a 18 movie (They are 12 and 13), no sexual content in the movie just a bit gory and scary. I agonized about taken them and my missus (Thai) couldn't see the problem.We took them and I was a bit sheepish buying the tickets until I saw people taking 5 year old kid in with them

[me313]

"Things" aren't different here than anywhere else, it's just not as disguised in fake political rhetoric such as bipartisanship or multi-party "Democracy". Too bad freedom of expression is a dangerous thing in Thailand or I would elaborate more on the subject. In other countries whistleblowers and activists get silenced but it's a much more silent process of suppression. I'm waiting for the new Government to learn to do the Goose Step similar to the North Korean government/military

[TacoGuy]

Refreshing frankness in job advertisements. Age, weight, height and looks criteria clearly stated, rather than the hypocritical Western practice of pretending no discrimination will come into play.

[Strangebrew]

Well since I learned that physics's Don't work the same here as it does in the rest of the world. After that nothing surprises me go with the flow. Mai pen rai. or something like that I'm here for the food weather and women and a beer or two. Oh must not forget the constant whining Of Thai visa posters self included next.

[MJP]

I have learnt to book the cesspit vacuum tanker service two weeks in advance.

That is all.

[Benmart]

I've learned that Thailand is as similar as my home country, as it is different.

Just as in my own country, here I find:

Generous people and greedy ones.

Happy people and sad ones

Honest people and downright thieves

Spiritual people and those that use it for personal gain

Courteous people and those that have no concept of the word

Open minded and curious people and those with minds that are welded shut

Benevolent people and those who believe the world revolves around them

What I've found here is peace and serenity. I've found that my life is as happy here, now that I live one day at a time and don't try to run the show.

[2fishin2]

I thought Thailand was a third-world country which had great potential to become something much better.

My big surprise has been to learn it is going absolutely nowhere. Corruption and greed destroy anything good before it has chance to take root.

It's this kind of over-generalisation that I find nonsensical. There is plenty of corruption and greed but not so much that it destroys anything good. Plenty good in Thailand. It just gets better and better each year.

Sure it does....insert sarcastic wink.

Thats why there is a coup every 10 years or so. Gotta reset it back to the beginning in order to get rid of corruption and greed basically start over....at least that's what the military coups keep saying.....bigger sarcastic head shake

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[2fishin2]

I thought Thailand was a third-world country which had great potential to become something much better.

My big surprise has been to learn it is going absolutely nowhere. Corruption and greed destroy anything good before it has chance to take root.

It's this kind of over-generalisation that I find nonsensical. There is plenty of corruption and greed but not so much that it destroys anything good. Plenty good in Thailand. It just gets better and better each year.

Sure it does....insert sarcastic wink.

Thats why there is a coup every 10 years or so. Gotta reset it back to the beginning in order to get rid of corruption and greed basically start over....at least that's what the military coups keep saying.....bigger sarcastic head shake

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand