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About LinkBacksWho made that statement?I search all pages for the word "speak" and found nothing relevantOriginally Posted by Evilbaz
Who made that statement?I search all pages for the word "speak" and found nothing relevant
So the daytime stuff has been changed to a more general Other Things to note section which I'll post next.
thx .
There should be plenty to add to this, anything goes that's useful to newbies.
Other things to note
Some random general things that are just different in Thailand.
Cutlery. When eating Thai food you will be given a spoon and fork, no knife. The food is already cut into bite size portions, for western food you will get a knife. Chopsticks are rare too.
Toilets particularly public ones, at bars etc, there’s usually no toilet paper, ladies are given a bowl with some water, don’t be surprised if there’s a gogo dancer getting changed while you’re in the toilet, it may be the only place there’s room, also Thai’s usually don’t flush toilet paper if there is some to be used, the pipes usually can’t take it so it’s put in a bin beside the toilet.
Sewerage in Thailand isn’t good, you will experience a lot of bad smells just walking down the road and in public toilets.
Paying: If you’re out with your Thai lady you pay for everything, this may include some gifts or bring back some food for her friends. This will gain face for her and don’t forget you’re a foreigner so are therefore rich! Thais love to eat and you’ll be surprised how much they can put away.
Don’t be surprised to see street carts selling all sorts of fried insects, they’re very popular in Thailand.
Although a lot of stuff is cheaper in Thailand electronics tend not to be even though there is a huge selection of IT stuff and phones.
Haggling is expected in markets but not shops, the usual excuse is the price is fixed on the computer. General rule of thumb with haggling is to half the first offer and work from there, buying more will get you more of a discount, also treat haggling as fun and don’t get too stressed about it. That would involve losing face.
Thais don’t do punctuality, expect them to be late and don’t moan when they are.
It’s easy to travel light in Thailand, in the main tourist spots convenience shops will sell everything you need 24/7 and there’s loads of them, clothes and laundry are all cheap.
It’s ok for Thai’s to tell little lies to save face, this covers a lot of things like lying about their age and how long they’ve worked in the bar to having a boyfriend who’s sending them money from abroad.
Thai ladies will tell you every phone call is their brother or father – it’s their Thai boyfriend most likely, also they’ve a habit of calling all their female friends sisters so don’t worry if you think they don’t look anything like each other.
Sponsorship from a foreigner is like winning the lotto to a lot of Thai ladies. A sob story is usually supplied to get you to part with your hard earned cash, these are called sick buffalo stories as a lot of bargirls come from rural backgrounds so tell the new love of their life their family back home needs money as their buffalo has become sick.
Buying property in Thailand can be a daunting experience, technically foreigners aren’t allowed own property but as with a lot of things there’s ways and means around this, get yourself a good lawyer recommended by someone you trust who’s been through the experience. You could of course just put it in your new girlfriends name but that’s not a good idea.
Aircon: Shopping centres and cinemas tend to be quite cold so you may want to change from the beachwear if you want to watch a movie. Also cheaper accomodation tends to come with a fan and not aircon which is a must.
Dentistry tends to be cheap and of very good quality so if you’ve some spare time it could be time to get the smile upgraded.
Bar Opening hours A lot of bars don’t open until the evening and don’t get going fully till 10pm so keep an eye out for happy hours(which last longer than 1 hour) for early openers.
Massage come in a lot of varieties, the legit massage shops are great value and a nice way to pass an hour or two during the day for between 100-200 baht an hour. Be aware that Thai massage can be quite vigorous. The legit places will usually have open plan and lots of windows, also the ladies will be well covered up. The “special” massage places will be more behind closed doors, a curtain pulled around you and your masseuse, she’ll be showing a bit more skin and usually make it obvious she’s willing to go further. Some ladies will just ask if you want a special, others will wait for you. Then it’s up to you to negotiate.
Soapies are a body to body massage most definitely of the special variety, there are specialist places where you pick from a wide variety of ladies who are sitting in what is called the fishbowl, they’ll wave and smile and try and grab your attention, each lady has a number and when you decide on one tell the papasan(men seem to be in charge in soapies) who will call her out. You can have a drink and bring it to your room. Soapies are like hotels and are for a more upmarket experience and the price reflects this. Typically 2000-3000 baht + the lady will expect a tip. The usual routine in the room is shower, bath, move onto an air mattress where you lie down and she grinds and slips her way around you until it’s time to shower again and move onto the bed. The whole experience takes about 90 minutes.
Slightly O.T but a bit of fun.
21 Signs You've Spent Too Much Time In Thailand
I do believe they have public toilets other places than gogo bars.
Suggestion to replace some of your text, it may need some improvement by a native English speaker:
Thai people do not use toilet paper the way we do. They use a bum gun, which is a water hose next to the toilet, to cleanse themselves, and they use the toilet paper to wipe off the water. They do not flush the toilet paper as the pipes in many older buildings cannot take it, instead they put it in a bin beside the toilet. In newer buildings plumbing is better, thus you can flush the toilet paper. If in doubt, do as the Thais and use the bum gun instead of throwing dirty toilet paper in the bin.
Some places you can safely start by a third of the price. Remember to always haggle with a smile. At some point, if you can not get the price further down, you can say "No, thank you" and walk away. Typically the seller will call you back with yet another offer.
"... which is a must" should probably be "... which for many is a must".
^^ All good points I'll update the master document to include.
Ok ladies and gents that's pretty much it bar the Thai language basics, please get back to me as soon as you can with anything that's been left out or you'd like to see changed or updated. I think we'll have a very good concise document at the end of all this which should be useful to newbie travellers as well as helping site content.
Let me know how you want to handle the posting and stickying aspects.. Along with editing in the future..
A great bit of work..
just read this from the beginning, pretty good work there mate.
1 observation, around post 40ish you mentioned Bangkok, Pattaya and 'Bangla', would Patong or Phuket be more appropriate??
The areas mentioned are cities and then 'a single street'.??
Well done DP ...excellent work there
Well done DP....#1 on google for 'newbie guide to thailand' for this would surely be the icing on cake
Early on under Airports there are two different spellings of Don Muang (there are probably 3 on the road signs 555!).
Sipping from the Fountain of Youth that is Thailand.
Yes that should be changed to Phuket I think, and then highlight the various nightlife areas like Patong, Karon and Kata.
I'd settle for top 5Well done DP....#1 on google for 'newbie guide to thailand' for this would surely be the icing on cake
Thanks I'll change that, at least I got Suvarnabhumi right
Cool guide
Just to update, I've some time off work around Easter so I'll put in the additions and suggestions and send on a master document to Lil to put up as a sticky.
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