In the western world you don’t dare asking a woman how old she is. It is considered rude and intrusive, and many western women will flat out refuse to tell you their age. The idea is that aging is a bad thing for a woman and should be hidden as much as possible. Being secretive about age and even lying about it is considered acceptable.

So here comes our first time Thailand visitor, a woman for our story, and she is taken aback since people regularly ask her how old she is. Why are they so nosy in Thailand? Why do they pry into such intimate subjects?

Little does our traveler know that age has a very different meaning in Thailand than in the west.  Rather than being something to be avoided, it is actually necessary to know people’s age in order to have proper social interactions. Read the rest of this entry

The tourist brochures will tell you that “amazing” Thailand is a tropical lush heaven, the land of smiles, filled with  friendly people, inexpensive, and fun. It is actually all true. But, there is a darker side also. Nothing could be that perfect.  

The north of Thailand is a beautiful region- nine months out of the year. But three months out of the year, specifically during the hot and dry season in February, March and April, the entire area is often covered by a nasty layer of pollution. It is mostly caused by agricultural burning which is a cheap and efficient method of clearing the land, but it also makes your eyes burn, prevents airplanes from landing, and sends thousands of people to the hospitals for respiratory issues. Read the rest of this entry

Many expats or longer term residents in Thailand have to leave the country every two or three months in order to obtain a new visa. Within Asia you can generally only get short term tourist visas. There are exceptions: Retirement visas let you stay in Thailand permanently, but you have to put a big chunk of money in the bank (about US $25,000.-), and you have to be older than 50. Work visas also allow you to stay in the country, but they are only good as long as you are employed by a company.

My visa is good for one year, but I have to leave the country every three months in order to get a  new entry stamp in my passport. And once a year I have to travel to the US or Australia to get a new one year visa. Just recently it was again time to get a new visa, and I went to the US to get it. Read the rest of this entry

We have heard the stories: Westerners go to Thailand and find that suddenly their world is turned upside down. People react to them in ways they cannot understand, the language is not even remotely similar to European languages, the food is strange, the traffic seems chaotic, people are smiling but you have no idea what they are really thinking, relationships don’t work at all like in the west, and the religion can be contrary to western beliefs. It can be confusing indeed, and it is called culture shock. Read the rest of this entry

When you live in Thailand for extended periods of time, most visa types require you to leave the country on a regular basis in order to get a new stamp in your passport. The closest border to Chiang Mai, where I live, is the Burmese border in the very north of Thailand. I have to cross this border every three months to stay current. It is an easy day trip by luxury bus or a multi-day fun excursion on a motorcycle, which is the option I chose this time. Read the rest of this entry

Chiang Mai, Thailand, Flower Festival, Parade Float

Chiang Mai, Thailand, is the undisputed festival capital of Thailand. Between November and April Chiang Mai puts on several huge festivals that draw crowds of tens of thousands, visitors from all over Thailand and from all over the world. A major festival is not just a one day event. Normally they last three days and in one case, Sonkran, even seven days.  During those times Chiang Mai turns into a giant party, a traffic nightmare, and a major holiday destination for Thais. Train tickets in and out of the city are sold out weeks in advance, and it seems that half of the population of Bangkok converges upon Chiang Mai. Read the rest of this entry

Please, anything but your real name!

Would you mind being called a “pig” or a “buffalo”? I didn’t think so. But lots of people in Thailand are called just that and some other names that seem very strange to us. Thais have first and last names like we do, but they are often four or five syllables long and, at least for us, impossible to pronounce, what to speak of remember.

It was not always like that. A few generations ago Thai names were much shorter and simpler. Recently it has become fashionable to take on those monstrosities of names. The Thais actually had to come up with a law that limits the amount of syllables that a name can have. Otherwise those enthusiastic name creators would have made any official business a syllable nightmare. It is quite easy to change your name in Thailand. Don’t like it, no problem, pick another one. It is a relatively simple procedure.

Read the rest of this entry

Why is everyone frozen in time suddenly?

Imagine this: You are walking in a crowded market with thousands of people milling around, and suddenly everyone freezes, standing motionless. What is going on here!? You will get used to it. Every day at 8 am and 6 pm all over Thailand a mini ceremony takes place in honor of the King. A special song is played over the loudspeakers and everyone stops whatever they are doing and is standing motionless until the song ends. At that time everyone just continues with whatever they were doing.

This can happen in all kinds of places. It is a familiar scene at Chiang Mai’s busy Sunday market. While you will not see it in big city traffic, I have been in smaller towns where all traffic just stopped in the middle of the street as soon as the song started to play. If you go to Bangkok’s huge Hualampong train station, all the police and security people will line up in a row and salute while all passengers stand up to honor the king twice a day. Read the rest of this entry

What does it mean to be truthful? In the west we think that there is an easy answer – tell the facts, don’t hide anything, say it as it is. But it turns out to be a confusing fact that other cultures don’t agree with this definition. Thais have a very different relationship with the “truth”. We call it lying, but that is just our own cultural bias, and it is more of a judgment than a correct assessment.

Is there a correct definition for the “truth”?

The western model of truth often places truth ahead of other considerations, like being inconvenienced or put in an uncomfortable position by speaking the truth. We have sayings that confirm this: “Call a spade a spade”, or “Just the truth, nothing but the truth”. Lying is considered totally unacceptable to us, and the truth is upheld as a sacrosanct principle. Read the rest of this entry