Most people assume that culture shock is something you experience when you come from one cultural environment into a totally different one. Mostly this is happening when visitors from first world developed nations visit a developing nation or a third world country where everything is more chaotic, unorganized and unpredictable.
I have been living in Thailand for many years, and nothing seems unusual or strange to me. Thailand is a developing nation, but is surrounded on three sides by third world countries, namely Myanmar (formerly Burma), Laos and Cambodia. In the USA, a lot of the labor force comes from the poorer countries of Central and South America. They do the jobs that Americans don’t like to do, like agricultural, construction and cleaning work. Read the rest of this entry
My home town of Chiang Mai, Thailand, gets unbearably hot during the months of March and April. This is the perfect time to escape to the beaches of southern Thailand where the climate is much more pleasant at that time. This time I spent a few weeks in Phuket which is Thailand’s largest island. It is not exactly an unspoiled hidden gem, but it is highly developed and quite expensive. But on the upside there are great beaches, lots of different restaurants to choose from, the scenery is beautiful, and there are many interesting excursions you can go on. If you are looking for an undiscovered remote island with budget prices, and you don’t mind roughing it, then Phuket is not for you. But if you like the combination of great beaches and a large variety of things to do along with the convenience of all modern amenities, then Phuket might just be your ticket. I had fun with my camera and even more fun putting together this beautiful video. If you like it, please leave a comment.
Every year Thailand celebrates a nine day long vegetarian food festival. When I tell a Thai person that I am a vegetarian, the usual reaction is something like: ‘Very good, that’s great for your health, I admire that, but I could never do it”. But during those nine days of the vegetarian festival many Thais actually switch to a largely non-meat diet. They consider it quite a sacrifice which is quite amusing for those of us who have been vegetarians for many years or even decades.
There is another aspect to this event. In some areas of Thailand members of the Chinese community practice quite weird and gruesome body piercing rituals while they are in a trance state. This allows them to perform severe mutilations on their body without feeling the pain and without suffering any physical consequences. I wrote an article which shows pictures about those trance piercings.
There are quite a few videos on youtube that show the piercings in action, but I have to warn you – this is not for the faint hearted!
This year I made a video which shows the food festival in action in Chiang Mai. No piercings here, nothing to ruin your appetite. Just the opposite, you will wish you were there and could taste some of the great food.
Recently I went shopping in my local produce market here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and there was a band of blind musicians performing for donations. I thought they were quite good, and I captured one of their songs on video.
There are quite a few blind street musicians in Thailand, but you rarely find any that play quality music. This band had a really good repertoire. It was evening, so there was not that much light, but since this is the best musical street performance by blinds that I have ever heard in Thailand, I thought it worth sharing.
Thailand is known as the land of smiles, but it is also the land of beautiful faces. Here is a stunning visual presentation of one the most endearing aspects of Thai culture, the naturally beautiful faces of the Thai people.
Recently I went to my local fruit and veggie market here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and to my surprise there was a stage set up and there was a whole big show going on. It was put on by a phone company to promote their products, but the unusual thing was that they had some “ladyboys”, transsexuals, do the show. Luckily I had a camera with me and I caught the action. There are some pretty amazing things going on in Thailand, and that was definitely one of them!
So what is the secret? Unlike western countries where you really need to know the traffic rules if you don’t want to get into trouble quickly, in Thailand you might be better off not knowing too much about the traffic rules. This might be a little tongue-in-cheek, but there is definitely some truth to it.
It happened to me in a bus station in Thailand. It was one of those magical moments where a total stranger showed me truly unconditional kindness and reserved a place in my heart for the rest of my life.
Here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I see lots of people getting stopped by the cops for traffic violations. But why does the same cop give you a ticket for not wearing a helmet in the morning, but in the afternoon he could’t care less?
Many people think that driving in Thailand is chaotic. But if you just shift your expectations a little, you will do just fine. I have been driving in Thailand for many years, accident free – knock on wood! Here is my experience of handling traffic. There is no need to be afraid of it, all that is needed is an attitude adjustment. Here is the story on video:
Most people assume that culture shock is something you experience when you come from one cultural environment into a totally different one. Mostly this is happening when visitors from first world developed nations visit a developing nation or a third world country where everything is more chaotic, unorganized and unpredictable.
So what is the secret? Unlike western countries where you really need to know the traffic rules if you don’t want to get into trouble quickly, in Thailand you might be better off not knowing too much about the traffic rules. This might be a little tongue-in-cheek, but there is definitely some truth to it.