My gf and I are set to do a five week bike tour through Thailand starting middle of next month. We have a large collection of new baseball type caps to bring with us and give out as 'thank you gifts' to people we meet along the way. My question is, would it be appropriate to give one to either sex or are these types of hats only worn by men or children? Would this kind of gesture be appreciated? Thanks for replies. R&J

I think the hats would be fine for both men or women, although I don't see the amounts of people wearing hats over there that I do here (socal).

I think the real issue is the whole idea of going around giving things to strangers. I've read journals of bike tours in SEA where the person is passing out candies to the little kids, and it always makes me cring (sp?). On my bike trips in Thailand, and non-bike trips, I meet two kinds of people, service providers (and not just that service!, food and lodging also), and regular people. The service providers, well I give them money. The regular people that I meet, it somehow seems like it would cheapen the whole encounter, where at the end, you have to make the decision if they are worthy of a hat or not. When people have stopped me, and given me water, or a soft drink or whatever, I think a big smile and a kop khun krup, is sufficient, rather than pulling a hat out of the panniers. And I'm not just saying this as I will be cycling around there in the start of November and don't want to dissappoint a bunch of people by not pulling out a hat for them.

Have a great trip!