Embarassing Things Westerners Do

[eldragon]

What's the most embarrassing things your fellow westerners do in Thailand? What things give us a bad name or make you feel ashamed of your own people? Even things you might be guilty of yourself from time to time.

For me, the most embarrassing thing is when westerners blatantly disregard instructions from an authority figure in Thailand. It's like they've basically decided that this figure is being illogical or unreasonable (although, sometimes they are) and just decide they're going to maintain a western standard. Like, "No one would ask me to do that in the west, so I'm not gonna do it."

For example, I was on the express river boat here in BKK yesterday. I saw two tourists standing on the steps that lead down to the main portion of the boat. The fare attendant came by and asked them- in passable English- to move further into the boat. The attendant also pointed at a sign that said "do not stand on the steps". They looked at each other, then began to move down the steps, but stopped on the last one as soon as the attendant was out of sight and remained there. Of course she returned and once again asked them to move, which they eventually did, although you could see they were not happy about it. Part of me wanted to see them complain and get thrown off the boat.

What about you? Let's put sex tourism or anything related to aside for this one. Kinda an easy target there.

[SoiBiker]

Dress terribly. 

[johnnygimbo]

19 minutes ago, SoiBiker said:

Dress terribly. 

Can you expand on that?

Edited August 1, 2016 by johnnygimbo
fix typo

[villagefarang]

Losing one's temper with an inappropriate display of anger.

Edited August 1, 2016 by villagefarang

[SoiBiker]

1 minute ago, johnnygimbo said:

Can you expand on hat?

Vests, cargo shorts, cheap ill-fitting t-shirts on people who should have stopped wearing them years ago, flip flops as evening wear, elephant trousers, those weird tops backpacker girls wear that show off the side of a manky bra, socks and sandals, baggy speedos, exposed armpit hair in the vicinity of people's food, etc etc

[johnnygimbo]

There's nothing like a nice Chang wifebeater, and tidy pair of cargo shorts, and do not forget about the tattoos, to impress these young Thai birds.

Oh! Did I forget the bulging pockets?

[Fabricus]

24 minutes ago, villagefarang said:

Losing ones temper with an inappropriate display of anger.

Dropping apostrophes. It damages our reputation beyond repair.

Awful habit!

 

[swissie]

At least in "Tourist-Hub's", Thai's are quite tolerant when it comes to embarrassing things that Farangs do.

It gets only truly embarrassing, when Farangs still invest their live savings in a country where Democracy has been abolished and "legal-certainty" is non-existent.

THAT is embarrassing !

Cheers.

[neverdie]

Really a lot of folk just do a disservice to their people by leaving their own country.

Passports should only be issued to folk who can pass certain basic tests.  Most of the quality tourists that lob in LOS would be flat out printing their names in the appropriate place on the test yet alone passing the exam.

[canuckamuck]

9 hours ago, SoiBiker said:

Vests, cargo shorts, cheap ill-fitting t-shirts on people who should have stopped wearing them years ago, flip flops as evening wear, elephant trousers, those weird tops backpacker girls wear that show off the side of a manky bra, socks and sandals, baggy speedos, exposed armpit hair in the vicinity of people's food, etc etc

I may be inclined to agree with you on a few points. but this is a tropical holiday destination. What you are describing is basically what people pack to wear on a tropical vacation.

And why do cargo shorts get such a bad rap. There are some good versions and some bad ones.

[StreetCowboy]

Sweat like a horse while and after walking.

But I'm still not going to stop walking. 

[SoiBiker]

5 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

I may be inclined to agree with you on a few points. but this is a tropical holiday destination. What you are describing is basically what people pack to wear on a tropical vacation.

And why do cargo shorts get such a bad rap. There are some good versions and some bad ones.

Sure, if you're at the beach. But not in a nice restaurant in Bangkok, at an office, or in the supermarket.

[Watchful]

15 minutes ago, SoiBiker said:

Sure, if you're at the beach. But not in a nice restaurant in Bangkok, at an office, or in the supermarket.

Right on!  Like you I'd wear nothing but a three piece suit to the supermarket.  I mean those vegies deserve our respect!

[pgrahmm]

38 minutes ago, Watchful said:

Right on!  Like you I'd wear nothing but a three piece suit to the supermarket.  I mean those vegies deserve our respect!

If farang's would observe & dress as the Thais' do when they are out & about 70+% of the Farangi's would have to upgrade their closet....

Thai's dress nicely & appropriately, with a clean, well groomed, well ironed look about themselves - always caught off guard when I see one that isn't.....And it's just the flip side with farangs, more of a surprise to see dressed looking clean + nicely & appropriately attired......

Edited August 2, 2016 by pgrahmm
spell ck

[pgrahmm]

Kind of like this explains.....

[SoiBiker]

2 hours ago, Watchful said:

Right on!  Like you I'd wear nothing but a three piece suit to the supermarket.  I mean those vegies deserve our respect!

I'd rather not have to reach past someone's sweaty armpit hair to reach those vegetables.

[lust]

20 minutes ago, SoiBiker said:

I'd rather not have to reach past someone's sweaty armpit hair to reach those vegetables.

Where the hell are you eating?

[StreetCowboy]

3 hours ago, SoiBiker said:

I'd rather not have to reach past someone's sweaty armpit hair to reach those vegetables.

Me  too, almost to the point of politely waiting for them to finish before I barge in.

[AlQaholic]

1. Walk around half naked where everyone else who is Thai is fully clad, such as at a market, shopping center, 7-eleven etc..

2. Being obese and wearing a G-string on the beach.

3. Standing on the beach and sunbathing for an hour, right in front of where my family is sitting.

4. Having a full conversation in English with a Thai who don't have a clue what is said, and then assuming the Thai has understood anything what was said.

[Old Croc]

Many westerners, particularly those from small, cold countries, who overdress to the point of being embarrassingly ridiculous.

They retire to a hot, humid, tropical country, often to an island or seaside resort, yet bring with them the clothes and dress style they wore for a lifetime in their accountancy job in Leeds or wherever. They pack their suits, ties, dress shirts, long, formal trousers, brogues and enough socks to adorn any style of sandal. 

Regardless of the weather, they insist on over dressing whenever they venture out, even to the supermarket where they brusquely push past other shoppers in an effort to get to the vegetables before others in order to rush back to their air-conditioned, one bedroom condo before heat exhaustion catches up with them. 

Looking like a throwback from The Raj, they insist others should follow their lead and bring back formal attire to the Orient, ignoring the fact that the local people dress sensibly for their climate. The most embarrassing thing about them, is that they think they are impressing the hell out of the clerks at the government office, but are in reality the cause of their mirth.

[chicowoodduck]

Don't even get me started....?

 

[Redline]

18 hours ago, villagefarang said:

Losing one's temper with an inappropriate display of anger.

I do this

[recom273]

I have aquatinces who descend upon our house for a couple of days at a time, they have been here for years and still don't get the idea of communal eating.

They pick up the serving plate and scrape their "share" onto their plate.

We always buy too much for a group dinner, like a big fish or a whole duck, the same friends, will shovel up half of one item at the start of the meal knowing the remainder has to feed a further three people.

It may not bother some, but when I first came here, i was given "lessons" by ex-girlfriends and others on how to behave at the table, Thais will say "mai bpen rai" but often my wife is fuming inside.

Edited August 2, 2016 by recom273

[manarak]

8 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

I may be inclined to agree with you on a few points. but this is a tropical holiday destination. What you are describing is basically what people pack to wear on a tropical vacation.

And why do cargo shorts get such a bad rap. There are some good versions and some bad ones.

agree about the cargo shorts.

also, I can't think of anything else giving me enough pockets as this type of shorts do.

[scorecard]

45 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Many westerners, particularly those from small, cold countries, who overdress to the point of being embarrassingly ridiculous.

They retire to a hot, humid, tropical country, often to an island or seaside resort, yet bring with them the clothes and dress style they wore for a lifetime in their accountancy job in Leeds or wherever. They pack their suits, ties, dress shirts, long, formal trousers, brogues and enough socks to adorn any style of sandal. 

Regardless of the weather, they insist on over dressing whenever they venture out, even to the supermarket where they brusquely push past other shoppers in an effort to get to the vegetables before others in order to rush back to their air-conditioned, one bedroom condo before heat exhaustion catches up with them. 

Looking like a throwback from The Raj, they insist others should follow their lead and bring back formal attire to the Orient, ignoring the fact that the local people dress sensibly for their climate. The most embarrassing thing about them, is that they think they are impressing the hell out of the clerks at the government office, but are in reality the cause of their mirth.

You need a hobby.

[recom273]

On the language front .. 

Either ..

Baby talking English to Thais who can speak perfectly good English and benefit from a good conversation with complex vocab and natural pronounciation.

or

Conducting a conversation in Thinglish, again baby talking, everything in the simple present tense and throwing the odd very basic badly pronounced Thai word in the mix to people who can understand English.

Edited August 2, 2016 by recom273

[Fairynuff]

18 hours ago, johnnygimbo said:

There's nothing like a nice Chang wifebeater, and tidy pair of cargo shorts, and do not forget about the tattoos, to impress these young Thai birds.

Oh! Did I forget the bulging pockets?

..... and people who call women birds

[geisha]

Grown men speaking "Thai" English, or baby talk, to other farang.

[NanLaew]

The ubiquitous and perpetual wai-er of the waitress, shoe shine brat, somtam seller...and  just about anything with a pulse.

[dick dasterdly]

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

The ubiquitous and perpetual wai-er of the waitress, shoe shine brat, somtam seller...and  just about anything with a pulse.

That's a tourist trait, because they are trying to be polite - hardly something worthy of getting bad-tempered about.

And yes, I made that mistake when I came here on holiday.