Life in Thailand

Something most guidebooks to Southeast Asian destinations don’t mention is rudeness. While many countries in Southeast Asia rely heavily on tourism, sometimes their ideas of what’s polite and what’s not is at odds with many Western ideas. Some are even at odds with common sense

This occurred to me as I was having a stroll through Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I couldn’t help noticing that cyclo and motorcycle drivers were much less obnoxious that they were the first time I visited the city some three years ago. Back then, you couldn’t walk the tree-lined boulevards without the constant accompaniment of a motorcycle or cyclo trying to sell you their tour. They could be quite aggressive, to the point that one guy even got off his ride and stood right in front of me as I tried to take a picture of some sight. Did the man really think blocking my shot would make me more likely to utilize his services?

This time around, the motorcycle taxis are still around, but they’re much less aggressive. I think that it’s down to the fact that metered car taxis are now so common. A tourist would have to be a little nuts to use a motorcycle, so the drivers are just going through the motions on the off chance that you might be a crazy Westerner that could easily be relieved of a lot of cash

It’s not like Vietnam has any corner on the rude route, either. From Bali to Bangkok, I often hear the same refrain should I be careless enough to walk by a t-shirt stall: “Hey mister, we have big size for fat guy like you.” Such comments are common throughout Southeast Asia, and they really make you wonder if people think before they open their mouths

Big Budget Rudeness

In the case of Thailand, the answer to the question, “What were they thinking?” Is often “They didn’t think.” It’s taken me many years to understand this, but it just isn’t part of Thai culture to consider someone’s feelings or reaction before opening your mouth. This results in a lot of behavior that at best can be described as politically incorrect, at worst it would be outright sexual harassment anywhere in the West. In Thailand, it’s quite common for the boss to poke fun at his staff, to their face, even if it often involves demeaning comments about where they came from.

Such comments are made without any thought about how it might make the other person feel. This cavalier attitude extends right through society. In my work with Thai companies, I’ve had to help clean up some major faux pas by my Thai masters.  But rather than air any dirty laundry in public, there are a couple of other major boo-boos in the news lately. Both involve movies made in Thailand by Thai companies.

The first film to hit the headlines was a horror flick with a plot line involving a reality show where contestants had to stay in a ‘haunted’ prison where some atrocities had taken place. The trouble was, the prison and the atrocities bore a strong resemblance to a particularly well known place in Phenom Penh during the Pol Pot genocide era. The makers of the filmed were shocked to learn that many Cambodians objected to a particularly painful episode in their past being used as the theme for popular entertainment.

The second movie was a comedy featuring an unlikely Laotian football (’soccer’ to Americans) team that beats the odds to get to the World Cup. I’ve seen trailers for this film, which in themselves were quite funny, but I can just imagine the jokes that the full picture may have made. For most Thais, Laos is synonymous with poor and backward. If someone doesn’t speak Thai properly, they’re accused of speaking Laotian. If they’re unfamiliar with the trappings of the big city, they must be from Laos. Such jokes generally aren’t at all mean-spirited, but there’s never any thought given to how they may make the person on the receiving end feel, and the makers of this movie apparently never thought about how the Laotians may react to their jokes.

Both movies have had their release dates postponed indefinitely, while the producers no doubt try to figure out how to salvage their investment. I’m sure that there are those who are arguing that Laos and Cambodia “just don’t understand” the movie, or perhaps they’re just thinking that these countries don’t have a sense of humor. That’s often the accusation made at individuals who take offense at Thai attempts to be funny, and why, at the end of the day, I don’t think anything will change. It’s much easier to blame the other guy than it is to take responsibility for your actions.

Lately, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the idea of responsible tourism. What’s “responsible tourism” you ask? Well, that’s one of the questions. There are lots of organizations out there with their own definitions, but the one I’m going with for now is the idea that we, as world travelers, should try to ensure that our visits to various places help to maintain the many sights and cultures we’ve come to see, and do not, however indirectly, contribute to their destruction.

You see, as much as I love my adopted home here in Thailand, I’m often dismayed at the rather careless ways some tourist sights get developed. Forests are cut down, big hotels are built without ensuring adequate fresh water supplies or waste water treatment, and little or no attention is paid to maintaining the sights that actually make people want to visit a destination in the first place. Web sites promoting responsible tourism almost always suggest that “responsible tourists” should stay in locally owned accommodations, yet these are almost always the worst offenders. The often railed against big international chains tend to think long term, and thus in more sustainable terms. It’s the locals who tend to think in terms of making a quick buck, no matter what the long term costs.

Now, I’m not for a moment suggesting that really responsible travelers only stay in the big chains. Responsible tourists should get as close to the local culture as possible. They should stay in small, low impact accommodations, if desired. Therein lies the conundrum: How are we, as independent travelers, going to know if the little five bungalow resort on the beach we’ve picked out is acting responsibly? Did they cut down half a virgin jungle to build a road to the place? Do they pump their sewage out into the ocean you’re swimming in? How are we to know? This isn’t exactly the kind of thing resort owners are going to be forth-coming about.

Of course, I’m going to start paying a lot more attention to these things as I visit places in the future, and I’ll be working my findings into AsiaForVisitors.com as they develop. In the meantime, all comments on this topic are definitely welcome.

Pick up almost any of the books designed to help expats adapt to Thai culture, and you’ll almost certainly find a chapter on “promises.” The gist of these, without the glossing, is that promises aren’t taken as seriously by Thais as they are by most foreigners. It’s a cultural thing, and anyone who lives here for a long time either learns to accept it, or goes postal one day.

The problem arises for those of us (trying) to do business in Thailand. The same ‘loose’ interpretation of a promise is often also applied to contracts. Thai organizations - from small companies up to and including government agencies - will think it right and normal to sign a contract, and then fail to honor the terms should they prove ‘inconvenient’ in any way.

Excuses I’ve heard vary from a simple bureaucratic reasoning such as “The terms are not according to our policy.” To more elaborate excuses that mostly boil down to “It seemed like a good idea at the time, but we’ve changed our minds.” The problems almost always involve payments or delivery schedules.

Why am I whining about this, other than the chance to blow off some steam? Well, Thailand is desperate to be “one of the big boys” on the world stage, but they are extremely stuborn about conforming to the internationally accepted rules of behavior. There’s often a feeling that everyone else should follow the Thai example, rather than requiring Thais to change their own ways. There’s a relatively common belief among Thais that things which work elsewhere won’t work in Thailand, hence a common excuse of simply saying “This is Thailand” to explain everything from the lack of traffic sense up to the failure to honor contracts.

The problem is that it’s very likely that Thais’ attitudes will result in them becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of the world rather than a bigger part of it. I already know of some companies that won’t deal with Thai organizations, simply because of the difficulty of getting things done or getting paid.

I have a bit of a dilemma: a young Thai student I’ve been mentoring is about to graduate, and he wants to follow up with a six month stay in Australia to improve his English skills.

I’m all in favor of this, since Thailand’s biggest challenge in the new world order is the people’s extremely poor grasp of basic English. The dilemma involves whether or not to try and suggest to my young friend that he may want to alter his behavior a bit, to better fit in with western society.

You see, like most young Thais - like most young people everywhere - my friend is extremely self absorbed, and practically obsessed with his looks. Among the many contradictions of Thai culture is that they can be amazingly accepting of people that don’t conform to western ideals of beauty (I’m adequate proof of that), while at the same time being amazingly vain about their own appearance.

I’ve been around my friend enough to observe that he cannot pass a mirror, or even a darkened window, without checking his hair or his face. He is not at all unique in this trait. Keep your eye on a mirror in any public place in Bangkok, and you’ll notice a fair percentage of the people under the age of 30 who pass by will check themselves out, and it’s mostly guys who do this. That may be just because women have mirrors in their purses to do this more discretely.

I’ve been in Thailand since the early 90’s, so I pretty much missed the whole metrosexual thing, but I’m still relatively sure that vanity is still considered a bad thing in western society. Last I heard, it was still one of the seven deadly sins for Catholics.

Part of the dilemma is exactly how to explain this particular concept. There are certain things about western culture that Thais just don’t get, and one of them is the issue of vanity. Thais are often amazed when I show up at a tourist site with a camera, and politely refuse to have them take my picture. To them it often seems as the whole point of visiting any place is to have their picture taken. The old stereotype of Asians and cameras is, I’m afraid, largely true. So, I’m just not sure my friend will understand the concept that people may not look favorably on his spending so much time in front of the mirror.

The 19 January edition of the Bangkok Post contained an interesting 'flip side' to the whole dual pricing issue.

The main topic of the article was the largely unacknowledged part that the internet now plays in delivering billions of Bahts worth of tourism business to Thailand. Web sites such as our own partner Precision Reservations sell discount hotel rooms worth, according to the article, at least five billion Baht (US$125 Million) per year.

What does this have to do with dual pricing? Well, it seems that while these sites are able to offer the best rates on hotel rooms, clauses in the contracts prevent the sites from selling the rooms to Thais. It seems that; “Hotels always want Thai travellers to pay a higher rate.” That's a direct quote from the article. So, while some foreign tourists whine on and on about paying an extra 50 cents or a dollar to get into a national park, pitty the poor Thai who has to pay double for his hotel room.

I've hear rumors of this practice for years, but this is the first time I've seen it confirmed in print. The article didn't give any explainations for the policy, but excuses I've heard in the past include the idea that Thais don't use other hotel services, especially restaurants (what experienced traveller does?) or that Thais tend to make their plans at the last minute. Neither of these excuses, nor any of the others I've ever heard, actually makes sense, especially when it comes to internet bookings. It seems that, as is the case with so many businesses these days, the people who run them don't really understand the internet, and how it's affecting their business.