People & culture

Thai People & Culture

People: About 80% of Thailand's 60m people are ethnic Thais, and the rest are from China, Malaysia, the various northern hilltribes, and some people from Burma, Laos and Cambodia. The minorities in Thailand, however, are mostly so well integrated that their different origins are barely noticeable or mentioned.  Brown skin and black hair are universal, and on the whole, they're a pretty attractive bunch.  They're careful about personal hygiene, and like to dress and act conservatively.  Having a cool heart (jai yen), and an ability to see the funny side of things are important aspects of the Thai character, and you'll spot them joking around with each other all the time.  At the end of December 1999, with the papers full of Millennium Bug scare stories, I spotted a notice on the door of an Asian toilet (porcelain foot platform with hole in middle, plus large bucket of water for flushing) guaranteeing the equipment as "Y2K Ready".  

Names: The Thais all have nick-names or much-shortened versions of their real names.  When you start asking names, you'll soon gather together a long list of single syllable sounds: Lek, Nid, Sak, Rut, Mem, Tae, Goong, Gai, Boon, Som, Moo.  Some of these are jokey - Moo means Pig - but no offence is intended or taken.  Letters of the alphabet are also popular.  Over the years, I've met people called A, B, C, D, E, I, K, L, M, O, P and Q.

Personal conduct: There are a few simple rules of social and personal etiquette which you should observe when in the company of Thais: 

1. Don't disrespect the King or his family;
2. Dress and act appropriately when you visit temples;
3. Don't raise your voice or lose your cool, even if you're provoked - keep smiling; the Thais place great store on "keeping face" and you should avoid any conduct which embarrasses others or causes someone to lose face in front of other people;
4. The head is regarded as the most sacred part of the body, and the feet the least. Thai adults (with the possible exception of hairdressers) don't touch each other on the head, and don't use their feet to point at things.  This "dirty feet" thing extends further to shoes, which is why you should take these off when you visit a temple or enter someone's home; 
5. Away from tourist beaches, cover up your beautiful bodies and keep your hands and tongues to yourselves.  Thais consider public semi-nudity and displays of affection to be very low class.  Thais even swim with their jeans and t-shirts on, and you're likely to cause offence if you wander round towns in skimpy gear, snogging your partner; 
6. Offer to and accept things from Thais with your right hand, not your left.  Thais use their left hands to wash themselves after visiting the loo.
7. Lastly, you'll see Thais greeting each other with a prayer-like gesture called a wai.  The wai comes in different varieties, depending on the relative social status of the people involved.  Thais can assess instantly which form of wai to use, but as a westerner, you'll get it wrong.  The best advice is not to initiate a wai, but to respond with a copycat version if someone gives one to you.  If it feels too unnatural or forced (and it may), you can acknowledge a wai with a smile and a nod.  Smiles and nods go a long way in Thailand.

Homes:  Thais tend to be generous hosts, and if you find yourself invited to someone's home, it's likely that you'll be treated with food and drink for as long as you're there.  On once occasion when I was in Bangkok, Pong and I turned up at her sister A's house a little after mid-day, intending to say hello and then goodbye an hour or two later.  After we'd been nibbling at bits and pieces for three hours,  A's husband, Lek, went next door to find a bigger table so he could serve up even more food.  It was 10pm before we finally got away, stuffed full of fish, pork, noodles, rice, vegetables, fruit, and beer.  Outside the tourist ghettos, westerners are still something of a curiosity to most Thais, and I was interrogated, in the friendliest way, by a whole host of relatives and neighbours.  You'll get asked how old you are, what you do for a living, and how many children you have.  Have your story well prepared!

Regional variations: I've noticed that when two Thais meet each other for the first time, they quickly get around to asking each other where they're from.  Accents and manner differ around the country, as they do in the UK, and there are recognisable stereotypes in force among the Thais:  according to people from the north, northerners are polite and honest, while people from Bangkok are snooty and untrustworthy;  according to the people from Bangkok, the northerners are country bumpkins, while they themselves are sophisticated and cosmopolitan.  Everyone seems to think the southern Thais are impolite and speak too fast for any reasonable person to understand.  I don't believe any of this, any more than I believe that Mancunians are thieves or Glaswegians are drunks...

Work: Thailand is 70% agricultural, and most people earn a fraction of what we earn in the west.  It's not uncommon for a farm worker to earn only 100B-150B for a back-breaking 10 hour day in the rice paddies.  A friend of mine works as a hotel receptionist in Songkhla, and earns 250B per day, and a policeman once told me he earned 6,000B  per month. After farming and fishing, the next two most important employment sectors are manufacturing and tourism.  Although Bangkok can seem wealthy when you're looking at the gleaming glass and concrete constructions on the way in from the airport, you don't have to look much further to see little corrugated tin shacks perched on the edge of main roads and along the banks of the river.  The grinding poverty in the rural areas, especially in the north-eastern Isaan region, is what fuels Thailand's notorious sex industry.

Traditional Thai Massage: Leave behind all the giggling about "body massages" and soapy baths.  A Traditional Thai Massage is an excellent (non-sexual) way to unwind.  It's an invigorating combination of shiatsu, reflexology and osteopathic manipulation - in simple terms you get assaulted.  A full workout will last between 90 minutes and two hours, and shouldn't cost more than B400-B500.  For first-timers, the routine is that you undress and slip on a pair of very loose baggy cotton trousers.  The masseuse will then spend ages torturing you with lots of kneading and pressing, bending you into strange positions and applying pressure with knees and elbows.  She may also walk up and down on your back and the backs of your thighs.  During the last 10 minutes or so, you may get a face massage with some warm towels, and sometimes a little tiger balm massaged into you temples.  At the end of the session, your muscles and limbs should be loose and relaxed, and you should feel great.  Or you may feel like you just had a date with Mike Tyson.

Religion: Buddhism is a big deal in a lot of Thais' lives.  Over 90% of the population consider themselves to be Theravada Buddhists, and the guiding principle is following "The Middle Way" - which I've paraphrased grossly as not working too hard and not having too much fun.  Life is regarded as an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth, until the achievement of enlightenment - when you break out of the cycle and enter the blissful state of Nirvana.  You can achieve greater enlightenment (and thereby move up the ladder away from the pond life) by exhibiting compassion, respect and restraint, and by acknowledging that the world and all its goodies are impermanent and not worth craving.  Pragmatically, the Thais also view the possession of a comfortable lifestyle as a sign of enlightenment.  In Thai Buddhism, there is no God.  You're on your own, and you're responsible for what you do.  Your actions in one life determine your karma - or destiny - in the next.  Most Thai males therefore spend a period in the saffron robes of the monkhood to improve on their enlightenment and to earn merit for the next life.  When you visit a Buddhist temple (wat), dress conservatively, be discreet, and take your shoes off. 

Religion 2: Thailand's conversion to Buddhism, however, hasn't wiped out a whole host of other older superstitions and quasi-religious beliefs.  For instance, Thais erect little wooden spirit houses outside their homes and workplaces, and these are places for spirits (Pee) to dwell, instead of living inside the house and bothering the inhabitants.  These spirits come in all shapes and sizes, some good and some bad, and live in trees, rivers, caves and public buildings when they can't get a spirit house of their own.  They're a temperamental lot, and need to be mollified regularly with incense, candles and jasmine, and well as whiskey and fruit.  Thais tend to turn to these spirits and to Hindu deities for help with everyday problems, such as recovering from accidents and help with exams.  That's why the Buddhist temples are frequently decked out with Hindu statues of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra and Ganesh, who can also help you pick out the lottery numbers. 

Shopping: Don't forget to bargain with a big smile when you're buying things from street traders.  Haggling is not part of English culture, and for many people it's difficult to get used to.  The trick is, if you see something you like, decide how much you would be prepared to pay for it, then ask the price, express surprise that it's so expensive, give a big grin, and offer less than you think it's worth.  When you've both converged on a price you're prepared to pay, bingo.  Sounds easy doesn't it?  Don't forget the traders do this for a living, and if you find yourself arguing about the last 20B, you're probably taking it too seriously.  You're just on holiday, but they're trying to feed a family.

Music: If your stay in Thailand is confined to the beaches of Phuket and Samui, you will miss out on the huge home-made music industry in Thailand.  Most of this is bubble-gum pop sung by impossibly attractive teenaged pop stars, but there is some good stuff mixed in.  Over the years, I've become quite attached to hearing "Songs for Life" played live by bands all over the country.  "Songs for Life" - or pua chee-wit - are folky/rocky songs with a social message, often about democracy, corruption, tourism or the environment.  Thailand's favourite pua chee-wit band is Carabao, but I prefer the gentle melodies and mournful lyrics of the old man of the genre, Caravan (pronounced calawan), and the fresher-faced guitarist, Pongsit Kampee.  If you find yourself in a bar where Thai songs are being played, you'll see Thai customers passing requests to the waiters and waitresses.  If you want to have a go yourself but don't know the name of any Thai songs, my two favourites are "Jotmai Tung Por" (Letter to Father), and "Rak Kao Tam-mai" (Why Do I Love Her?).  

Carabao's logo is the skull of a water buffalo (Hua kwai)

Music 2: There's another curious side to Thai night-time entertainment, and it's an import from Japan which you may have heard of:  karaoke.  If you hang around Thai towns for long enough, you'll spot two kinds of karaoke establishments.  Firstly, there are enormous barn-sized clubs with thumping sound systems, and strings of Thai women dressed up in tiny skirts and long glittery leather boots, singing songs on a stage.  The girls are there to earn money, and they seem to do this by persuading customers to buy them garlands of flowers, which are hung around their necks while they're warbling.  They exchange these later for money.  The second kind of karaoke places are karaoke lounges behind dark-glass shopfronts, and once you're inside, it'll be pitch black and icy cold with the air conditioning.  I ventured into one of these lounges once in a town called Trang, and the idea is that a waitress will bring you two menus:  one for your food and drink, and one with a selection of songs for you to pick from.  When your song comes on the TV, the waitress will bring you a radio-microphone, and off you go.  You're unlikely to find the Prodigy's "Smack my Bitch Up" on the menu of songs, so you may have to settle for the Carpenters' "Mr Postman".