Out and about in the Land of Smiles

Hey everyone,

I'm sure you know what I am talking about when I say you sometimes just need to break out of your daily routines, pack your bag and go somewhere unknown, somewhere completely different from home. Someplace that inspires you and that you're keen to discover.

For me that place was Thailand.



In fact, the continent of Asia has been attracting me for quite a long time. To be honest, I didn't really know a lot about its culture beforehand, I just knew it'd be way different to ours - but that was the point. I wanted to find out what people are like and how they live from day to day, what their perspectives are on religion, education, resources and more.

My trip to Thailand turned out to be one of the most interesting, diverse and fun trips I've had and I am actually really excited to share my experiences with all of you. As there's just too much to write about in one post, I'll start off with this introductory report on Thai culture, language, religion and other impressions of the country and its inhabitants. Enjoy :)

Where even is Thailand? What's the weather like over there?

The country I am talking about is situated roughly in the south-east of Asia, adjoining its neighbours Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Most of its landmass is mainland, the remaining part at the bottom, including many islands, has an elongated shape and is surrounded by the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean).
Thailand's capital is Bangkok.

If you want to travel this country, make sure you carefully choose the month you're going. For me, someone who is used to four different seasons a year, Thailand's tropical monsoon climate appeared to be a bit strange. In most regions, especially in the northern and central ones, you hardly don't expect any rain from November until the beginning of April. The rain season then lasts from April until October; however temperatures are still high, from 20 to 35 degrees over the whole year!

Language

Most people in Thailand speak their official language, Thai. In some parts of the country there exist different dialects, too, but as a tourist you probably won't be able to tell.

It is probably a good idea to learn some Thai beforehand, just some basic words and phrases, because the majority of Thai (that's also how you call the people) doesn't speak any English.
Here are some useful words we learned at a Thai crash course:

Religion

Wherever you are in the country, you'll quickly find that there are a lot of temples.

Thai people are very religious, only less than 1 % of the population claims to be atheistic. The biggest group by far are the Buddhists.

Not only tourists, but also lots of locals regularly visit temples in order to pray and to make a wish. After visiting numerous temples, I discovered that there are many different ways to make a wish. It was very interesting to be taught some of them, I'd like to share them with you:

Let all of these bells ring, touch each one of them with the stick while passing.

Swing the cleppel so that it makes a noise. Do it three times and make a wish.

Try to throw a coin into the buddha's open hand, that brings you luck and allows you to make a wish.

These flower chains apparently bring you luck - you see them in peoples' cars, on Buddha statues as an offering, ... You can buy them pretty much anywhere, I even saw people walking between cars selling them while the traffic lights were red.

One really important thing you must not forget when entering a temple is: Wear long clothes! Thai people consider it to be very rude if you're wearing shorts or a singlet. What's best to wear in summer are long, wide pants of thin texture (or shorts at least reaching your knees for boys) and a t-shirt covering your shoulders and the rest of your upper body.

In some of the big temples, such as Wat Po in Bangkok, there are Thai "guards" standing at the doors and handing out long skirts and big scarfs to people who are not dressed properly. You won't find these guards in smaller temples to inform you, so just be aware it's not polite to put on your beach outfit for the temple ;)

the skirts you're given when wearing shorts

I was told that at school they often hold up some kind of ceremony at the start of the day where everyone comes together and prays, the children and the teachers.
Besides you can find little Buddha statues and pictures everywhere around school: in the teachers' room, in class rooms, .. :)

Loyalty towards the King's family

Another thing you will perceive all around the country are blue and yellow flags. We were explained that the yellow one is for the king and the blue one for the queen.

Furthermore it is not unusual to see huge portraits of the king in the streets, on roundabouts and at many other places.

Thai people show a lot of loyalty towards their king and his family.

This is the Thai flag:

Red for the nation, white for religion and blue for the royal family.

Thai mentality: What are Thai people like?

When you hear "Thailand, land of smiles", you think of happy people, laughter, kindness, right? Well, what I experienced first hand was slightly different.
First of all, yes, I think Thai people might smile more than the average human being. Especially Thai kids do! I worked with children for a few days and they were so affective and grateful towards me - their smiles immediately made me happy, too! :)

On the other hand though, I also got quite a few disappointing images... I observed some surprisingly rude behavior... for example many Thai treat their dogs very badly, I don't mean stray dogs, but their actual pets: they hit them very hard, kick them in public... shocking.
However don't get me wrong, I don't mean to present the Thai as antisocial people or something. What I want to say is that I was a little disappointed because of what I had expected and heard before.

Another thing I noticed about Thai mentality is that in many parts of life, they are so relaxed. It was really nice to experience this non-stressed attitude and not getting worried about time, rain or other things too much. :)



Markets

In this country there truly are a lot of street, night and weekend markets!
Apart from the big famous ones like Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok, you'll see numerous small street markets in rural as well as urban areas where mainly freshly prepared food and drinks are sold, but sometimes also clothes or souvenirs.

Pictures taken at Singburi Night Market:

At a market you can negociate with the sellers about the price (don't make a too low suggestion though) - this doesn't include food. These prices are usually pretty fair and already a real good deal! I wouldn't advise negociating here. ;)

Thai currency and prices 

Thai currency is Baht. You might be surprised and get the feeling "Wow, I'm rich! :D" because 1 US Dollar are 32.56 Baht, or 1 Euro are 35,46 Baht. In fact, this feeling might not necessarily be wrong as you will find out that pretty much everything in Thailand is sooo cheap compared to European or American prices!
Be aware that the quality is, of course, not always the best, talking about clothes, accessory and souvenirs.
Concerning meals or food in general, I didn't have any negative experiences at all. In fact, I had some really nice meals in Thailand which, I'm sure, I wouldn't have gotten for double the price in a restaurant at home.
I'll give you some examples:

Mango sticky rice
60 Baht (less than 2 euros / US dollars)
bought at a little street shop

Freshly made Fruit Smoothies
Super tasty and very refreshing! The smoothies are mixed right in front of you, made from only fruit and optional ice. You can either get them at cafés or at little smoothie places such as this one at Chatuchak Weekend Market:

Prices:

1 fruit - 60 Baht 

2 fruit mixed - 70 Baht

3 fruit mixed - 80 Baht

Hygiene

Unfortunately care of health isn't provided at a very high standard in every part of the country yet. It is not advised to drink water out of a tab, so make sure you always take bottled water with you, especially if you're visiting a thinly populated area where there's no shop every few meters.
Also I was told not to order drinks with ice because that water might not be drinkable.
Furthermore, when going to the bathroom, hand sanitizer and tissues will be good friends of yours... there's hardly any public toilet with toilet paper or soap. Be prepared! ;)



DOs and DON'Ts

Doesn't everybody know that embarrassing feeling when you visit a country for the first time and you unknowingly do something completely inappropriate? Well, to prevent you people from getting into such unpleasant situations - here are some things you should and you should better not do in Thailand. I'll try and list as many I can. (:

DOs

- be polite

- try and make an effort to learn some basic Thai words, it's fun and it'll make the Thai smile when they realize you're interested in their language

- fold your hands when greeting somebody ; the more "important" the person is, the deeper the bow you make ; add "Sawaddee Ka / Krab"  and you'll act like a real Thai ;)

- before entering a temple, make sure you take your shoes off and you're wearing appropriate clothing

DON'Ts

- reject food a Thai person would like you to try: It might happen to you that Thai people want you to try local food. Even if it looks strange to you, try it! You will be surprised how good things you've never seen before can taste!

- playing poker with "real" money, you'll get arrested for that

- trying to get a super low price at the markets: for most of the people this is their only or their main income, it is really rude if you try to make the price less than half of what the seller proposed to you ; usually you agree on a price that's between 2/3 and 3/4 of the original one

- wear shoes inside a house - what I experienced was that people ALWAYS take off their shoes when entering a house, even if they only want to get one thing - same rules in accommodations you stay at

So people, we've come to the end of this report. 

If you are keen to find out more about Thai culture, food or different places like Bangkok, holiday destination Ko Samet or nature lovers' paradise Umphang, follow my next posts. :) 

Sawaddee Ka,

Yoko