What would you say are the good and bad things of Thailand ?
Good things: we are respectful. We listen to the other people, and believe their
words, more than the people here in the West who doesnt care that much about seniority. Strong family ties: we
stick together, have big family and a lot less of divorces (especially if
compare to Sweden!).
Bad: we try to do things similar to the West (Europe and America). We have
our own things that don't need to change (very good agriculture, but we
try to be good in industries and business).
Nice places to go
Bangkok: good to shopping, it's cheap, there are lots of things. We have
the 'old town', and the 'Palace', and the 'developed part of the city'.
North, to see a mountain like 'Phu chee pha', a really good place for hiking.
For the beach you can go to the South. Phuket is the most popular island
for tourists, but you can find other islands with quiet and nice beaches.
 |
 |
 |
Bangkok |
The Grand Palace |
Phu chee pha |
How is the weather in there?
We say we've got 3 seasons: summer, rainy and winter. Summer is like 40ºC
average, rainy season is hot and very humid, and in winter is 25ºC it's
very nice :). In the South we have 2 beach sides: when in one side the
weather is bad, in the other side it's ok, so you can go to the beach
during the whole year.
Which are the traditional parties in Thailand?
The party on the Island: full moon on Kho Phangan island. There are lots of
foreigners there, they got pissed there and they even have sex on the
beaches in middle of the crowd. Beer is very cheap (about 0.5 euros). The government tries to
stop that, because they think destroys the image, but who dont want crazy blonde wasting money on getting pissed.
There are also night clubs in Bangkok and other big cities.
Old civilizations in Thailand
There are a lot of theories about that. Some people say we are from the
north (China), others say we come from the South... So it's not very
clear. We've been considered thai for thousand years, when we declared to
be a country .
Is the alcohol allowed ?
You can buy alcohol but theoretically cannot drink because of the Buddism.
Thailand is the first consumer of whisky Johnie Walker all over the world and we r proud of that.
Why do you hate people from Lao? Yama Lao!!!
Nooo, they are fine, but we like to make jokes of them. Some times they like
it, they don't get angry.
Have you been angry any time? What do you do if so?
I keep silence. But I try not to be angry, and try not to make anyone else
angry at me.
Why do most of the thai people like the King?
We've been in this system for thousands of years. Especially this one is
very good. He never ask for anything, but always tries to give something to
his people. (Bhumipol is King's name, he'll be 80 this year).
Religion
We are the country where more people is Buddist. It's been always like
this. It affects the people being more relaxed, we don't have that
restrictions as in other religions (christians go to church or muslims
dont eat pig...).
The male people following buddism, they have to be monk for 3 months in
their lifes. That means go to the temple and usually the family provides the stuff to
the monk. During that time, you meditate, you pray, etc. (but I've seen
one temple with PS2 ! ). You wear the yellow cloth called Gee Won (with no underwear),
then you shape your hair.
Many mountains have the temple on the top.
The main temple is called 'The Grand Palace', where the King lives. It's
very touristic, but you can also go for meditation.
Main sports
Futbol. But we had a good tenis player (top 20) and lot of kids turned to
that sport. We expect that Thailand futbol team goes to the World Cup.
How do you catch a girl ?
'Hit on' it's becoming more and more popular. We normally don't dance
together, (we keep distance). It's not typical to see couples kissing each
other (but in discos everytime is more likely to).
(Usually only the guys) First raise your glass so she watches you, if she
does the same you can approach, and start talking. The conversation is
quite common: who are you coming with, where do you study, and then continue the bull shit. The last question 'my place or yours'?
Nightclubs got to close at 1 (we start the party at 9 and get drunk fast),
and any shop cannot sell alcohol after 1 o'clock.
Situation now:
Now situation is cool, we are writing the new Constitution, the last one
was cancelled. Now there is a committees, as a governement. The old prime
minister who was fired, tried to come back. He had some interviews with
CNN etc, he tried to convince he was good, but we know him and dont trust
what he says. But even Bush likes him.
Traditional food:
Mostly we have spicy food concequently cause pain in the ass: especially chilli. The first dish is called Tom
Yum Kung, which is a spicy soap with shimp.
Recommendations for potential tourists:
Cheap, funny, a bit dangerous but who cares (if they see you are a tourist
they can try to get advantage on you, but that's like everywhere)
+Leave any comments about this article in FORO
+info:
| Koko's homepage |
|
| General info |
|
| Main newspaper, translated into english too |
|
26/01/2007 |
