Living In Thailand Blog
Monday 14th April 2008
I wasn't sure if I would venture outside later in the day yesterday but, as it turned out, I spent the whole day indoors. I realise I might sound like one of Harry Enfield's 'Miserable Old Gits' but I simply could not be bothered with the juvenile water-throwing antics that take place at Songkran.
It turned into quite a productive day. I wrote the syllabus for an academic writing course that I have been asked to deliver to groups of dental students studying Master's degrees and I also got some Thai language studying done as well.
Last year I picked up a copy of Benjawan Poomsan Becker's 'Thai for Advanced Readers' and it is very good. Beyond the basics, I found it difficult to get suitable learning material. I wanted passages in Thai - rather than words or phrases - that I could listen to and read in Thai.
This package, which consists of a book and CD, provides just that. There are English translations but no stupid transliterations, and therefore it is necessary to be able to read basic Thai. My progress has been slow but (I think) reasonably steady.
My approach to studying Thai now is quite different compared to when I first started. If I was starting now, or if asked for advice, this is what I would suggest.
To get started, take some lessons from a Thai or, by all means, buy one of the many phrase books available that have transliterations of Thai words into English but make sure that the phrases are also written in Thai.
At the same time, buy one or both of the following: 'Teach Yourself Thai' by David Smyth; 'Thai for Beginners' by Benjawan Poomsan Becker.
Anything written by either of these authors will be far superior to anything else on the market and what is important about these two books is they will get you on the first steps to learning how to read Thai.
I know this sounds scary but it is essential. When I took my initial conversation course, my Thai teacher asked if I wanted to learn how to read. I answered without even thinking with an unequivocal, "No!" It just seemed too much at the time. That was a mistake.
Learn how Thai words are written in Thai right from the beginning and learn what letters make the different sounds. It's not Chinese or Japanese. Written Thai consists simply of consonants and vowels - the same as English.
People will try to scare you by saying how many there are but many of the consonants are never - or very rarely - used. There are lots of vowels but only because each vowel has one sound in Thai (well, almost).
English only has five vowels people will tell you, but it isn't quite as simple as that, is it? The 'oo' in 'book' and 'boot' is written the same but pronounced differently (unless you're from Yorkshire). Thai has two different vowels for those two different sounds.
The 'u' in 'but' is pronounced differently to the 'u' in put. And it's different again when we put an 'e' on the end, as in 'cute'. Not to mention the many and various 'ough' sounds. English isn't as easy or straightforward as some native speakers make out. The message really is not to be afraid of written Thai.
Let's look at a very simple and common word: ครับ
There are three consonants and one vowel. All four letters are very common so they need to be remembered. There are other letters you don't even need to remember because you probably won't ever see them.
The first two letters คร make 'k' and 'r' sounds respectively and form a consonant cluster. That isn't always the case and quite often there are implied vowels (pronounced but not written) that go between consonants but you soon start to recognise when this happens.
The single vowel used in this word -ั is written above the preceding consonant. After a consonant cluster, it is written above the second consonant in the cluster.
Some vowels are written below the consonant, some before, some after, and some surrounding the consonant (or consonant cluster) but the convention is always consistent so it isn't as difficult as it sounds.
The final letter บ makes a 'b' sound at the beginning of a word or syllable but a 'p' sound at the end. This is the case for many Thai consonants where the sound of the letter changes depending on whether they are in an initial or final position.
The sound we get is k-r-u-p which is the polite particle for male speakers. Some phrase books will tell you 'khrap' because of their insistence for (unnecessarily) using an 'h' to indicate aspirated consonant sounds.
Using English words to demonstrate this, instead of telling you to get the 'key for the gate', this convention would actually tell you to get the 'khey for the kate'. It's ridiculous and just adds an unnecessary level of confusion to an already tricky subject but almost every transliteration system uses it.
When English speakers see an 'h' after a 'p' or 't' they don't regard the 'h' as being there to make the preceding letter aspirated, they look at it as a consonant cluster with a very different sound.
Hence, Lonely Planet podcast broadcaster, Ben Curtis, who referred to the area on the other side of the river to Bangkok (Thonburi, as it is commonly written in English) with the same 'th' sound as in 'thorn'. Wrong. You can click on the link to hear for yourself.
Presumably he had been issued with the Lonely Planet Thai phrase book, or perhaps it's because he speaks fluent Spanish and every word in Spanish begins with a lispy 'th'?
Just for Ben's sake, it's ธนบุรี with a big, fat 'T' sound up front.
When reading Thai words in Thai, this nonsense never arises.
Other phrase books might tell you the word is 'krab' as in crab because - incorrectly - they use the sound the final consonant makes as if it were an initial consonant. Also, most transliteration systems change the vowel in this word to 'a' whereas if they actually opened their ears they would hear 'u', as in 'cut' or 'fun'.
Some Thai vowels get quite complicated and some of the lesser used consonants can be difficult to remember but you don't actually need to learn many letters to be able to read lots of words.
If you break down a few other simple words, as I've done above, you will soon learn all the commonly used letters and be reading basic phrases in no time.
This emphasis on learning to read Thai is to wean learners off the various systems of transliteration which are an absolute nightmare. I honestly can't believe how bad some transliterations are and it is no surprise to me that Thais cannot understand foreigners who attempt to speak using words that have been transliterated into English.
Not only do these awful transliterations not help but they actually hinder and confuse. If the weather was cold in Thailand and I needed to light a fire to keep warm I would have a use for my Lonely Planet phrase book but, as such, it just sits on the bookshelf gathering dust.
Another little gem of a book I picked up recently was P. Sethaputra's English-Thai Dictionary of Contemporary Usage which I wholeheartedly recommend (ISBN 974-9907-69-8). It is sold in Thailand for the bargain price of Bt225.
(Note: Learning resources aimed at 'poor' Thais to teach them English are generally a lot cheaper than learning resources aimed at 'rich' foreigners to teach them Thai. However, if you can read Thai, you can take advantage of all the cheap material on sale in Thailand.)
This is the only English-Thai dictionary I have seen so far that gives example sentences for each word and that is just SO useful.
For each word, it gives an example sentence written in English and Thai. Some of the English sentences are a little weird but this doesn't detract from the usefulness of the dictionary.
Once again, you need to be able to read Thai but that is the case with all of the best learning material. If you haven't started learning to read yet, do not delay any longer. Not only is it the best way to really start making progress with speaking but there are so many other benefits as well.
When the mystery of signs, restaurant names, menus, bus destinations, etc., stops being a mystery, it starts to make Thailand seem like a very different (and better) place.
I'm not pretending that learning to read Thai is easy, and I still have a long way to go myself. A long way. The written language is generally more formal than the spoken language and you start to encounter new words that are more formal versions of the familiar words used in everyday spoken Thai.
There are a number of rules that need to be learned and also a few 'funnies' (not to mention the tone rules) - but it can be done. If I can do it, anyone can. All it takes is time, perseverance and commitment.
It also helps if you are in Thailand where there is no shortage of practice material, and lots of friendly people to help you. Thais love everything about their own country and nothing impresses them more than foreigners being able to read Thai. It's something they approve of very much and they love to help if you have a problem.
Depending on whose figures you believe, there have been either 104 or 143 Thais killed in road accidents in the first two days of the Songkran festival so far this year. My guess is that once the figures are finalised, the number will actually be a lot higher. And the fun isn't over yet. By the end of the week, a lot more Thais will have been killed and injured in road accidents. Maybe a few foreigners too.
This is as easy to predict as the sun coming up in the morning. Every year at Songkran, it's the same. If as many people were killed on the same day in a western country, it would be a major news story. If one person dies from Bird Flu in Thailand it's a major news story but Thai road deaths seem to be regarded as so 'normal' that it's just another sideline story along with how Manchester United did against Arsenal and the price of rice.
You can't blame the government. They try to get people to stop drinking and to act responsibility but it never happens. The first problem is that there is very little law enforcement and the second is that so many Thais seem to have so little regard for their own or other people's safety.
I'm sure they don't go out in the morning with the intention of killing themselves or other people but they get so carried away with having a sanook experience, that everything else becomes secondary. It's a cultural thing.
One thing is for sure and that is if I'm still here next year, or in 20 years time even, it will be just the same. Some things in Thailand never change, unfortunately, and culture doesn't change overnight.
Sunday 13th April 2008
Are Thais rude?
The Reader's Digest courtesy survey gives Bangkok a score of 45% for good manners and civility, placing the Thai capital above several other South and Southeast Asian cities but well below other cities in North America, Europe and Scandinavia.
A problem with this type of survey is that culture varies so much around the world, and behaviour that seems impolite to some people is perfectly normal to others.
Part of this survey was based on observing people holding doors open for others. I always do in Thailand; it's just how I was brought up but apparently it's not something that Thais were brought up with. Some Thais thank me but others completely ignore me as if I was a paid doorman. Some Thais hold the door open for me, while others don't. It varies from person to person.
Restaurant and shop staff are normally very polite in Thailand, even those working in American fast food chains. This is not always the case at Thai markets. 'Market mouth' (bpaak dta-laat) is a Thai term used for foul-mouthed people and one of my dictionaries actually classifies certain foul language as paa-saa dta-laat (market language).
When I go to certain places (not only markets, but also the cheaper variety of massage shops), some Thais give a running commentary on me to their friends. "He's doing this, he's doing that, all he does is smile, all he does is look, he doesn't buy," etc etc.
They do this quite openly, right in front of me, on the basis that all foreigners are unable to understand any Thai. I find it quite rude but they are low-class people and don't know any different.
Something else quite noticeable is the rudeness of Thais while driving vehicles. Many Thais I have encountered who drive for a living have been very rude. But, more than this, Thais who would normally be polite face-to-face can change when driving a vehicle.
I have enormous problems sometimes crossing roads. At traffic lights there should be a break in the traffic when the lights change but because Thais always run red lights, there never is. They never stop at zebra crossings - never - and even make it difficult when I am trying to walk between stopped cars waiting at traffic lights.
Even though they can't go anywhere, they inch up to the car in front to make it difficult for me to cross. In some places where I would expect more courteous driving, such as supermarket car parks and the university campus, it's just the same.
As I've said over and over again though, Thailand is full of contrasts and contradictions - probably more so than in other countries. When making observations about the country we all tend to generalise but there are always exceptions.
One other point is that I am treated very differently depending on my appearance, especially by lower class Thais. When dressed for work and wearing my ID badge that says 'aajarn' they almost start to bow down in my presence.
However, dressed normally I am just another farang sex tourist in their eyes and if I'm downtown in the evening I get a constant stream of tuk-tuk drivers asking if I want a lady. Again, I don't find this very polite but the type of Thai who asks knows no better.
On the subject of courtesy, I noticed that someone had given this blog a link from their blog. I clicked to see where it had come from and was quite shocked at what I saw.
** Warning **
The following link shows images of an extremely graphic nature; view with caution: Buddhist monk hacked to death in Burma
The world has a situation now where two countries have held elections (to give the impression of being democratic) but where the ruling juntas have not allowed the election results to stand. Burma in 1990 and Zimbabwe in 2008. Mugabe is still in power and Aung San Suu Kyi is still under detention.
I find it difficult to understand how western countries can justify the invasion of Iraq by saying that regime change was needed for the good of the people but then stand by and not do anything while innocent people endure immense suffering in Burma and Zimbabwe under oppressive dictators.
Rhetoric and condemnation do no good; while sanctions are ineffective when the countries in question have allies nearby that continue to trade with and invest heavily in them. Maybe there are other factors that I just don't know about but to me it simply doesn't seem right.
One example of supporting an oppressive regime was the individual who, upon acquiring political office, became very friendly with the Burmese military junta and allegedly forced one of his country's banks to provide an enormous soft loan to them at rates so favourable that the loan was to the bank's disadvantage.
The junta, allegedly, then used this money to buy telecommunications equipment from the individual's private family company, thus further increasing his own personal wealth.
Saturday 12th April 2008
Songkran, the Thai New Year festival, is just about to begin. Unlike Loy Gratong, the other major Thai festival which I thoroughly enjoy, I dread Songkran. This morning, I stocked up with food in the event I decide not to go outside tomorrow.
The traditional aspects of Songkran are very pleasant. It's a time for family reunions and the water you see being splashed around is believed to wash away bad luck. It's also the hottest time of the year in Thailand so a little water can be quite refreshing.
Buddhist merit-making ceremonies take place in the morning and it is a time to pay respect to older people by gently pouring scented water over their hands. Buddha images are also washed respectfully with water. This is all very pleasant and I have no problem with the traditional customs. However, there is another side to Songkran.
Last year, I experienced both. At work on the final working day before Songkran, monks arrived for the merit-making ceremony and then there was some very gentle water play with lots of wai-ing and lots of respect being paid. My faith having been restored in Songkran a little, I ventured out on Songkran day afternoon.
At first, it wasn't too bad. Thai kids set up water stations on the street from which they douse anyone that passes. Some do, in fact, wait for an indication from the other person that it is OK before throwing water whereas others don't.
I didn't have any real problems until I got all the way into town but up until that point I had encountered only Thais who understand Thai culture.
The deep south of Thailand is overrun with Malaysians (mostly of Chinese origin) who regard southern Thailand as their own personal playground. I won't go into why many of them visit Thailand so often but many are single males and it is quite obvious.
Coach loads of them arrive at Songkran for the festivities and they use it as an opportunity to go wild without really understanding anything about Thai culture.
One enduring legacy I will always have from my time in Thailand is irregular astigmatism in one eye as a result of a nasty fungal infection I picked up a few years ago. I was lucky to keep my eye, apparently, but now the vision isn't good.
I need to wear a hard contact lens in one eye to correct the shape of the cornea for the irregular astigmatism, plus glasses for the mild myopia I have had for years.
I therefore did not take kindly to Chinese Malaysians offloading high-powered water guns into my face at point-blank range and then laughing among themselves while waiting for the next person to come by. With my contact lens dislodged, I was forced to return home and that was my Songkran over.
My Thai friends tell me that back in their homes in rural areas it is a very nice occasion but it seems that wherever there are high concentrations of foreigners who understand nothing of the culture, they just use Songkran as an excuse for being obnoxious towards strangers without fear of reprisal. But that's not the only problem.
Squirting water is a non-contact activity but another 'custom' is mixing talcum powder with water to make a paste and then smearing it over strangers. This involves contact and it isn't unknown for males to take the opportunity to grope females at Songkran. Almost without exception, my Thai female friends tell me they do not go outside at Songkran.
Teenagers (along with adults who have teenage brains) have a field day on Songkran but I quickly get bored with one joke that lasts all day. Young teenage kids ride around on motorbikes drinking beer and the road death rate goes through the roof at Songkran.
Another favourite pastime is riding around on the back of pickup trucks loaded up with barrels of iced water, throwing it indiscriminately at pedestrians and people in the back of other pickup trucks. Some scented water poured gently over your hands might be refreshing but a couple of gallons of iced water over your head isn't much fun.
The road death rate is exacerbated by the fact that so many people travel at Songkran to return home to their families. If you need to travel at that time, it can be a real nightmare.
Some people love it. The first couple of years I experienced Songkran it was OK but now, this being my fifth consecutive Songkran, I'm afraid I find it all a little boring.
I haven't had a TV in my room in Thailand for several years. When I want to be entertained, I go outside and watch Thai drivers.
The photo shows a location at the end of a bridge. As is usually the case, the bridge has solid double yellow lines to indicate that no overtaking is allowed but - naturally - this means nothing in Thailand. There are also signs telling drivers that they cannot turn right, go straight ahead, or do U-turns. However, this is Thailand.
I almost got run down here on one occasion while trying to get half way across the road because (foolishly) I only looked in one direction. This is a mistake in Thailand where you must always look both ways, even if cars should only be coming in one direction.
At this particular location, there is a constant succession of cars going over the bridge that cross the double yellow lines to go on to the wrong side of the road, passing on the wrong side of the 'No right turn' sign to turn right.
Obviously, if right turns were allowed, drivers would stay on the left side of the road until after the sign - and the end of the double yellow lines - before turning.
Why is this type of thing so common in Thailand? Is it because there are no rules or regulations for road users? That's how it seems but official traffic laws are about the same as in any other country. The sign here showing all the different traffic signs is located near to the scene above.
Is it because there are no police around? Well, yes and no. If we change the camera angle slightly, you can see that just behind the 'No right turn' sign there is a traffic police control box (complete with air-conditioning and a TV tuned into the latest Thai soap opera).
You may even have noticed a couple of Thailand's finest in the background but, for whatever reason, they just seem uninterested in this kind of thing and turn a blind eye.
Something else that was rather disturbing was that I showed the first photo to a Thai friend and she couldn't see anything wrong. When I tried to explain, she told me she didn't understand 'those' signs either. She drives a motorbike and a pickup truck.
I was being facetious when I said I find it entertaining. Considering how many people die on Thailand's roads each year and how many accidents are caused by drunkenness and/or high speed and/or crass stupidity, it's actually quite tragic. And with the annual Songkran festival just about to begin, the road death figures will be even higher than usual during the next week.
Simply put, most of the problems stem from the fact that Thais don't like laws or, at least, don't place any importance in them. I was interested to understand more about why this is so turned to Mulder. (Inside Thai Society - Religion, Everyday Life, Change by Niels Mulder.)
It is related to the strictly hierarchical structure of Thai society where individuals do not feel empowered and do not take responsibility for wider issues.
Mulder explains that, "... keeping society in good order is definitely the task of the government, culminating in a personalized leader, a 'man of prowess' capable of dominating the external world."
This is definitely the case where Thais will not seek to fix problems themselves but will revere other people who they then put their trust in to resolve the problems. These patron/client relationships are extremely powerful in Thailand.
Mulder continues, "He (the man of prowess) enforces desirable order, and what is good for him, as a father, should be good for all. It is, therefore, loyalty to him, and the collectivity he stands for, that is far more important than law as a means of maintaining good order. Consequently, the seeking of patronage defines political behaviour, while the group - nation, state, region, country, people - is seen and defined in moral rather than in legal terms; society is a moral construct."
And this, indeed, is exactly what you see; fierce loyalty to patrons and contempt for this thing called law which just seems to be a western concept that has been thrust upon the Thais.
Another reason is poor driver training. In all my time in Thailand, I have never seen a learner driver taking instruction from an instructor out on the roads. From what I can gather, Thai driver training and driving tests are conducted in car parks where all the driver has to do is drive around traffic cones.
It is not until after they get their driving license that they will meet other cars and real traffic conditions out on the roads. They then 'learn' from what they see other drivers doing and, of course, the situation never gets any better.
Friday 11th April 2008
After visiting for the first time in 2001, I became a fairly frequent visitor to Khaolak for a while. There was little there at that time; just a few big hotels, some small bungalow operations, and not many tourists.
The tourists that were there tended to stay within the confines of their luxury hotels so outside it didn't look like the typical Thai tourist resort. It was a pleasant change from Phuket which had already started turning into the kind of place where I didn't want to be.
Many other people must have felt the same way because all of a sudden development in Khaolak started to go crazy. After I moved to Thailand in 2003, I went back to take a look and to visit some Thais I had become friendly with.
It had started to look completely different with lots of new buildings and a new, widened road. There were also a lot more tourists and that really signalled the end of my brief love affair with the area. I can't stand to be anywhere in Thailand where there are lots of tourists so I lost my desire to return.
While enjoying Christmas with my family in Singapore in 2004, we all found ourselves suddenly paying more attention to the TV on Boxing Day morning. As more news came through, it became apparent that Khaolak had been the worst affected area of Thailand as a result of the Asian tsunami. The rest is history.
I wanted to go back to Khaolak to see how my friends were but it took until May 2005 before I had a chance to do so. One had been killed as a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The others had survived and were trying to rebuild their lives and their businesses.
The whole area resembled a massive building site. Many places I had come to know well had been completely destroyed or were just concrete shells. It was pretty heartbreaking.
I spent some time wandering around trying to take in what had happened. Every morning, big trucks would arrive at the construction sites full of people in the back, thousands of them. It didn't take long to figure out they weren't Thai, they were Burmese.
My friends in Khaolak used to employ Burmese helpers at their restaurant business before their restaurant was completely destroyed by the tsunami. After the tsunami they were trying to build new businesses and, once again, using Burmese workers.
It can be a mutually beneficial arrangement. The Thais get cheap labour and the Burmese workers - who are desperately poor - get an opportunity to earn a small salary. They work for almost nothing but at least it is something.
The system, however, is open to exploitation because the Burmese have no rights and no protection. They often work illegally and, unfortunately, there are people in this world who are beyond evil and prepared to take advantage of people who are in a desperate situation.
I am writing this today after reading an article that quite shocked me - Drive of death - concerning 120 Burmese labourers who were smuggled into Thailand in a sealed container to do work in Phuket.
I don't need to add any more; just read the story. It's a reminder that behind the glittering temples and warm smiles, there is a dark side to what goes on in Thailand. The vast majority of Thais are some of the most compassionate and kindest people you are ever likely to meet but a tiny minority - driven by enormous greed - think nothing of destroying the lives of fellow human beings in their lust for money.
If the Thais involved in this latest human trafficking operation don't get their comeuppance in this life, then they will in the next. There is no escaping the forces of karma.
Thursday 10th April 2008
In terms of job satisfaction, my English teaching experiences in Thailand have been quite mixed. The lowest point was shouting into a microphone in front of 60+ teenage boys while they ran riot in the classroom, knowing that I was just wasting my breath.
Teaching tiny tots has never been for me. Very young Thai kids have an amazing ability to learn language - and they can speak English with almost no trace of a Thai accent - but their shyness can be crippling and they have the attention span of ants.
Adults have a much more mature attitude to learning (obviously) - and some are very good - but quite a few seem to convince themselves that they are beyond learning anything new and this belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
They also have problems remembering so that even if they do appear to have learnt something one week, they have forgotten everything by the next.
Undergraduates fall into two categories. A Bachelor's degree is the minimum qualification in Thailand nowadays for any job - even flipping burgers. It's kind of the equivalent to four 'O' levels when I left school in the 1970s except that back then, people with four 'O' levels were guaranteed a pretty good job.
That isn't the case in Thailand where 700,000 undergraduates are churned out each year, yet around 300,000 can't find suitable jobs and many end up doing unskilled work.
Some of the undergrads who just go through the process of getting a degree have similar attitudes to high school kids. They do the minimum possible and don't show a lot of interest in English. They have a bit of a rude awakening in their final year when they realise they have a project to complete but that is about the only time they really apply themselves.
This is not the case for all undergraduates, especially those that are doing a Bachelor's degree in order to go on to do post-graduate degrees.
Without a doubt, my favourite students are Master's degree and PhD. students. At this level, students study because they want to (not because they feel obliged to). They are very motivated and, in most cases, passionate about their areas of research.
I really admire those who choose to do international programmes because not only do they have to learn an awful lot about their subjects, they have to write their theses in English. It's tough and they work exceptionally hard.
I have worked with a number of such students over the last few years. The work involves getting their theses in good shape first - which isn't always as easy as it might sound. The level of writing can be quite technical and many Thais struggle with sentence structure. It can be very difficult trying to work out what someone is actually trying to say before I can even attempt to correct the grammar and the sentence structure.
The final stage is for the students to defend their theses and in an international programmes this is also done in English. Helping them prepare and deliver their presentations is something else I have helped students with.
One of the Master's degree students I have been helping recently did her thesis presentation yesterday and, by all accounts, it went well. She got so little sleep last week that I expect she will now sleep solidly for two days.
We did what I thought was the final session on Monday but I received a panicky phone call on Tuesday evening after she had been told she needed to make further changes. She has a motorbike, whereas I don't, so I suggested she come over to my place. She did but I knew there would be a problem.
I met her in the car park downstairs, knowing that she would not want to come to my room alone. As I predicted, she wanted to work in the hot, noisy car park instead of my air-conditioned room. After several reassurances that she would be safe, I persuaded her to go to my room but even then she wanted me to leave the door open.
This is typical behaviour for about 90% of girls I know and for probably 99.9% of the girls at the university. (I'm still trying to track down the other 0.1% - if they exist). In some cases, it might just be lack of trust but for many it is also to preserve their reputations.
As she entered the building with me, I felt the eyes of the receptionist and security guards burning into us. It's not good for my reputation either to be seen taking girls to my room but I have got to the stage where I am past caring what narrow-minded Thais think.
What was strange was that this particular girl had confessed to me the previous day that she was scared of farangs because of a bad experience she had had with an American a few years ago. From the look on her face, I thought she had been raped. She then told me the story.
He had come to the university recruiting students for overseas scholarships and the girl's advisor had suggested to her that she take care of him.
At the time, she was collecting field data for her research so took him on a field trip to collect samples. There were other Thais around so it wasn't just the two of them. I was anxiously waiting to hear what had happened between them. She's a cute girl and maybe it had all got too much for the man from Mississippi? What did he do?
His crime was that he had a habit of touching her arm (and, strangely, her nose). What's more, he did this in front of her Thai friends which was something she really objected to.
It's not that Thais aren't tactile - they are very tactile - but the rules about physical contact are quite complicated. Between the same sex, there isn't generally a problem. Thai men will often touch me in a friendly way and there is no problem.
It's OK to do the same with Thai men but be careful about age differences. I once got told off for touching an old man on the shoulder. Older people must be respected and it is not good to touch them high on their body. Sometimes old ladies will sit down next to me on the bus and, as they do so, rest a hand on my leg. Some leave their hand there for some time but it isn't a problem for them, me, or anyone else around.
Thai females are very tactile with each other and often walk around hand-in-hand. Touching the heads of strangers is generally a no-go area because of Thai cultural beliefs about heads and feet.
At work, I sometimes see people of the opposite sex giving each other shoulder massages. The first thing to note is that they will have known each other for many years. Secondly, this kind of thing is only ever done when there are lots of people around. A girl wouldn't like this if there was no one else around.
What I have talked about so far only regards Thais. When foreigners are involved, the rules change again because of the narrow-minded notions some Thais have about foreign men.
A Thai girl being touched innocuously by a Thai male friend may be seen as one thing but being touched in exactly the same way by a foreign male friend may be seen as something completely different.
My experiences relate to deep southern Thailand where attitudes are very conservative and - even though certain behaviour and attitudes exasperate me - I am used to it now.
Nonetheless, I still receive the occasional e-mail from farang males who tell me this is nonsense and that every Thai girl is a latent sex machine. It couldn't be any further from the truth. Whenever I read such e-mails, I can only imagine that the senders have never been outside of the lower Sukhumvit area of Bangkok or Pattaya and that they have never met any Thai females other than Isaan bar girls.
The other factor with this general misconception (apart from the presence of prostitutes everywhere) is that although many Thai girls may have very conservative attitudes, this isn't always apparent by the way they dress. The girls love to look sexy and alluring but many don't seem to realise what they might be inviting by looking the way they do. Looks, however, can be deceptive.
The Nation ran a story about the 'nightmares' faced by promotion girls. Sexy girls are used to sell everything in Thailand and I see them often, even on visits to the local supermarket.
They are good-looking, normally quite tall and they dress to attract attention, frequently (but not always) wearing revealing tops and very short skirts. They can earn good money but - as the tone of the article in The Nation implies - there is disgust that men might actually want something else rather than just buying whatever product they are promoting.
As the article says, promotion girls of easy virtue may be OK in Japan, South Korea and China, but that isn't the Thai way.
It's just one more contradiction in a country that sends out so many mixed messages.
Tuesday 8th April 2008
There has just been a local election for a new mayor and the campaigning has been pretty intense. Political power is everything in Thailand and Thai politicians will stop at nothing to gain or hang on to it.
There have been campaign posters everywhere with different slogans and policy statements but when I read this one I wasn't sure what it said. I thought at first it was talking about fighting for something but it's the wrong tone mark. I had to consult my Thai-English dictionary.
สู้ - to fight
สู่ - to get into
สากล - international, western
So, what I think it means is something along the lines of (the town) becoming more international or westernised. (Corrections to my Thai translations are always welcome.) The question, though, is what does this policy statement really mean?
Ever since I first started visiting Thailand in 1987 - and for a long time before that - the Thais have been obsessed with becoming more westernised. I find it quite sad and an old saying comes to mind, "Be careful what you wish for because you might just get it."
It's an irony of the human condition that we always seem to want what we don't have. Thais are fully aware of how many foreigners live in Thailand but seem oblivious to the reasons why they left their countries of origin. For many, it was to escape the pressures of western living - the very thing the Thais are relentlessly pursuing.
Coincidentally to me writing this, the BBC put out a story about how increased affluence in the UK since the early 1970s has not made people any happier. Richer, healthier but not happier. However, it's a message you can never get across to people who have never had much money, as is the case with the majority of Thais.
I quit my job and moved to Thailand because it seemed pointless doing a job I had started to hate solely to be able to afford a lifestyle I didn't want. But now I see many Thais falling into the same trap as they give up their traditional way of life to join the rat race.
And for what? The biggest reason for many is so that they can own a car, and for others it is so they can shop in the fancy new shopping malls that are springing up everywhere. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
On my first visit to Bangkok after the BTS Skytrain system had opened, I noticed a big change in the city compared to previous visits. Gone were the happy, smiling faces normally associated with Thailand and in their place were the same gloomy, exhausted and fed up expressions I had gotten so used to seeing as I commuted in and out of London. That's progress for you.
There are lots of good things about the western world that Thailand could adopt. The country could start by improving food hygiene, sorting out road safety, fixing the education system, putting some real initiatives in place to educate the rural poor, and giving poor girls real alternatives in life to that of selling their bodies to foreigners in tourist resorts, etc. etc.
There are so many positive things but 'westernisation', in Thai terms, only ever seems to boil down to catering to the whims of the already wealthy by giving them more shops to shop in and more luxury goods to buy.
The traditional Thai way of life is one of the happiest and most content I have ever observed and, in my humble opinion, to lose it by chasing a culture of western consumerism would be a disaster. It's up to the Thais though; it's their country, after all, and their lives.
Friday 4th April 2008
Is Thailand a poor country?
I always raise an eyebrow when I see evidence of charitable donations from foreign organisations to poor, 'Third World' Thailand. No doubt, the executives of these organisations get free paid trips to wherever they donate the money and two weeks in Phuket with lots of delightful Thai ladies around must be slightly more appealing than visiting some war-torn, poverty-stricken area of Africa.
Before I get any angry e-mails, I acknowledge the fact that there are a lot of poor people in Thailand - a lot of them - but this has nothing to do with Thailand being a poor country. It is that way because of Thai culture and the hierarchical structure of Thai society that perpetuates an obscene wealth gap.
If corrupt Thai businessmen/politicians (the same thing in most cases) who have had billions of dollars in assets frozen don't appear to miss that money and can still afford to buy expensive foreign properties around the world and purchase large English football clubs just as a hobby, we are in serious Russian oligarch territory.
The Nation recently published some details about Forbe's Thai rich list and it makes for interesting reading. Not only are rich people in Thailand rich by Thai standards but they are rich by world standards and, in a country where the cost of living is low, their money goes even further.
Interestingly, the people who are best at promoting the myth that Thailand is a poor country are the Thais themselves.
One school I worked at for a very short time tried to justify the paltry Bt20,000 a month salary they offered by telling me they had no money. The school has over 2,000 students, all of whom pay around Bt8,000 a term, and locally it is regarded as being an expensive option for getting kids educated. So, where does all the money go?
Last year, the school (which is Catholic) built a brand-new church next door to the school and now a multi-million baht construction project is taking place to build huge, new classroom buildings. These showy new buildings will earn a lot of 'face' but, obviously, employing competent teachers by offering a decent salary isn't important. Image always comes before substance in Thailand.
When Nicholas Negroponte started floating the idea of the One Laptop Per Child Project, the Thai PM at the time - himself, one of the richest men in the world - was one of the first to sign up in order to benefit 'poor' Thailand. It's always convenient to be poor if there are some free handouts to be had.
Thais will readily tell you how rich Singapore is compared to 'poor' Thailand but what natural resources does Singapore have? The small island state isn't self-sufficient in anything, having to import everything it needs. That is certainly not the case with Thailand.
With the price of rice currently at record levels, remember that Thailand is the world's biggest rice exporter with rice exports bringing billions of Baht into the economy. But that is just one commodity. What else brings money into the country?
The next biggest earner after rice is tapioca which is grown in the eastern and northeastern regions. Made from cassava roots, it can be used in cooking or as animal feed for farm livestock. It is another multi-billion Baht earner for the Thai economy.
After rice and tapioca in the export earnings scale come rubber and cane sugar. With ample rain and sunshine, the climate is perfect to grow fruit and flowers year-round. No matter what the time of year, there is always fresh fruit in Thailand. Major fruit exports include longan, pineapple, durian, mango, pomelo, papaya, rambutan, mangosteen, banana and guava.
Not only does Thailand have a cut flower exporting industry but there is also a thriving market producing artificial flowers, most of which go to the US and Canada. The reason for this is that labour rates in those countries are so high that if the goods were made locally, they would be too expensive.
Offshore, Thailand has a huge canned seafood industry although overfishing and a general disregard for the environment could take its toll eventually.
Thailand's huge tourist industry is well known around the world - a combination of beautiful natural areas, an enchanting culture, and a warm and friendly populace making it the ideal destination for many people (not to mention tens - maybe hundreds - of thousands of prostitutes but more on that later).
The Asian Tsunami affected tourism for a while but it will take a lot more than that to stop tourists from visiting. For a while now, there has been a conscious effort by the Thais to improve the quality of tourists.
Following in Singapore's footsteps, the Thais are after rich foreigners who spend lots of money in the country and are no longer interested in scussy farang kee-ngok Lonely Planet readers. Tourism is another industry that brings huge amounts of money into the country and if the Thais are successful in promoting Thailand as a high-class destination, the revenue will increase even further.
What else? Everything I have mentioned so far has been quite obvious but there are some less obvious industries that still earn the country a lot of money.
Old rubber trees that no longer produce sufficient yields of rubber can be made into furniture, as can rattan and other indigenous varieties of wood. Thai furniture is attractive, well made and exports have been gradually growing.
Thai silk, as well as other handicrafts such as umbrellas and silverware are popular in foreign markets. The garment and textile industry is huge. This is another industry in which the availability of lots of cheap labour gives Thailand a huge advantage over developed countries.
For the same reasons, Thailand has a large footwear industry. Some brands are designed locally but there are also production centres for larger international brands.
And it's not just footwear companies that have taken advantage of cheap labour rates in Thailand. Several large Japanese, German and American car manufacturers have set up assembly plants in the kingdom. As an offshoot, Thai companies have sprung up to supply car parts.
There is a large assembly plant in Ayuthaya putting together Nikon cameras and lenses and you will find other factories assembling electronics and integrated circuits.
The workforce has weaknesses as well as strengths. Thais make good workers if shown how to do something but what you don't tend to find is a lot of innovation. Thailand has completely lost out in the lucrative call centre and software support sectors that have benefited other developing countries due to generally poor English language skills.
There are also plastics and leather goods industries that are perhaps not well known outside the country.
To provide energy, the country has a petrochemical industry in the Gulf of Thailand. It may not be enormous compared to some other countries but it is better than nothing.
Other natural resources include gemstones. lignite, tungsten, zinc, lead, gypsum, fluorite, barite, limestone, gold and tin. Tin has been mined in Phuket for centuries and was one of the reasons during the colonial era why greedy British colonialists wanted to add Phuket to Singapore, Malacca and Penang to become part of the Straits Settlements.
So far, everything I have touched on can be regarded as part of the legitimate economy but, according to John Laird, that only accounts for about 80% of the total economy. Published in 2000, Laird's book 'Money Politics, Globalisation, and Crisis - The Case of Thailand' gives one of the best accounts of Thai culture I have ever read.
The book doesn't set out to explain Thai culture but nonetheless, it does a great job in doing this. Here is a one paragraph extract from page 11:
"And then there is the illegal economy, accounting for something like 20 per cent of the country's gross domestic product. Businesses of gambling, drug smuggling, prostitution, smuggling of illegal foreign labour, oil smuggling, and sales of illegal weapons, are almost all owned by politicians, according to researchers, and are worth more than 400 billion baht per year. Under the patronage system, the law cannot touch these politicians."
So, do you still believe that Thailand is a poor country? If you have any doubts, there is no shortage of evidence being driven around on the roads of Thailand. Bearing in mind that exported European cars in Thailand cost considerably more than those same models in Europe and North America, you can see that there are quite a few Thais who definitely aren't poor. And the drivers of these fancy cars are just middle-class Thais, not the ultra rich Thais that I referenced above.
None of this will make any difference, however, when you visit an ancient historic monument or national park and want to know why you have to pay more than Thais to get in.
As for the enormous wealth gap, it is only set to continue expanding. With an abundant and never-ending source of extremely cheap labour that enables the rich to get richer, it is not in the interests of the people who run the country or those that run businesses to change anything.