Culture Ministry to teach politeness to tourists

Bangkok Post

"(TNA) - Thailand's Ministry of Culture will distribute a handbook on Thai manners and 10 'Do's and Don'ts' in Thailand to foreign tourists to enable the visitors to understand and avoid doing things considered taboo in the kingdom, according to Ministrer of Culture Khunying Khaisri Sri-arun.

Khunying Khaisri said the handbook is designed to create more understanding among foreign tourists regarding Thai etiquette and actions that may not appropriate among the Thai public.

The Fine Arts Department and the Culture Monitoring Centre frequently receives complaints of inappropriate behaviour by foreigners such as placing Buddha image heads at inproper places.

"Some foreigners use the Buddha images as hatracks, some put them at the foot of their beds and some use them as a decoration in the product sales display cases," she said.

Many foreign tourists were found dressing inappropriately when visiting temples in Thailand, she added.

The minister said the handbook would be issued in eight languages including English, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic, and would be given to foreign embassies in Thailand for distribution.

The manual would also available at hotels, Suvarnabhumi Airport and on board Thai Airways International aircraft."



I was amazed this week to see a half page advert in The Bangkok Post for a non Thai Bank I think. The picture was of a massive stone foot - it could not have been anyone but Buddha and a westerner was standing on the statue.

Today on Throntree a western youth was surprised at his Thai girlfriends anger - I kill you - when he pushed her underwater in a pool with his foot on her head.

[TrongpaiExpat]

On the other side, how about teaching Thais not to cut in lines at the 7-11 and else where; providing a check bin in English; giving the correct change and cut the shit about not having change. How about deceptive double pricing and farang price gouging?

Twice today someone cut in front of me. I was at a store and got a phone call and was distracted for an instant leaving just enough space between me and the person in front for the lady behind me cut in front of me. Then at a private postal service I was at the counter, there was no clear line, I was waiting for a long time and then someone who came in long after me just made a side approach to the counter and shoved his package on the desk.

Yesterday it happen twice in Pattaya. I was at the bus station getting a ticket back to Bangkok and I had my bag on the ground in front of me. The line moved and I bent over to get the bag and move forward when this older Thai guy takes advantage and cuts in front of me. Then in the small store at the bus station, again I am limited in movement by luggage, I get a side counter approach by a Thai lady.

I found in my years living there the Brits take their queuing seriously..which is the only way it would work of course. Break ranks on a bus line and you were likely to receive a stern look.

The airlines should really push this book and explain to tourists they should take it seriously. I reckon farangs can be pretty insensitive in Asian countries. Fortunately the gay community seems better behaved than the heteros.

On the other side, how about teaching Thais not to cut in lines at the 7-11 and else where; providing a check bin in English; giving the correct change and cut the shit about not having change. How about deceptive double pricing and farang price gouging?


In other words, you want to impose your culture's views of what's right and what's wrong on the Thais.

Do Thai Buddhist values teach it is good to steal from people (double pricing) and not have regard for other humans (cutting in line)?

I don't think so.

I don't think that Thevada Buddhism has much to say on waiting in line at the 7 - Eleven as Buddha favoured Family Mart and Tesco Lotus. I have seen little of this queue/line jumping during my many years in Thailand. I know that a person of high status will, rarely, walk to the front of a line and other Thais will defer without a murmer. I have also read that in Thai thinking the Post Office belongs to Thais and they expect to be served before non-Thais but I have not seen this in Jomtien Post Office. I am quite impressed to see Thais waiting in neat lines for the skytrain, on either side of the door area - allowing the passengers to exit before entering - something I have not seen anywhere else in the world. How varied are our views of this funny country? Mine is that most Thais defer to me and treat foreigners like 'Queens'.

The double pricing thinggy is an old chestnut which many Foreigners find totally offensive and unfair. Thai culture has no problem with this as it is always expected that the rich should give more than the poor. To the very rare foreigner who is poorer than an Isaan farmboy it is unfair - as are many things are in life.

The differences in cultures are sometimes hard to grasp. In the UK at all formal fucntions we make the loyal toast and raise our glasses (of alchoholic beverage) to salute the Monarch. On Royal festivals the bars and pubs get longer opening hours (that was before the current open anytime). Here in Thailand, respect is shown when bars are, often, closed on The King's birthday - today - will they be open tonight?

Do Thai Buddhist values teach it is good to steal from people (double pricing) and not have regard for other humans (cutting in line)?

I don't think so.

Much of Thai modern culture has nothing to do with Buddhism whatsoever. Anyway, culture is comprised of how people behave on a day to day basis, not what their religion tells them.

Buddhism is just the dominant religion in Thailand but that doesn't mean every single person will adher to the teachings anymore than Europeans who define their country as Christian will.

It's just simple politeness to be more aware of customs in a host country if you are a visitor but expecting locals to adher some set standard of behaviour isn't going to get you very far.

If people have a problem with how Thais behave, they could always go to another country where there are less Thais. Thais seem to be quite prevalent in Thailand, so you have to get used to their ways if you intend to stay there. I believe there are not so many problems with people queue-jumping in Baghdad.

If people have a problem with how Thais behave, they could always go to another country where there are less Thais. Thais seem to be quite prevalent in Thailand, so you have to get used to their ways if you intend to stay there. I believe there are not so many problems with people queue-jumping in Baghdad.

Seems the British are the only ones who know how to queue anyway, they like this order it gives them a feeling of security and they like being led, a bit like sheep. You would be surprised at how doggy dog the Europeans can be, and the Americans. The Dutch are the worst (far more sensible in other ways) even resorting to brawling to get ahead. I find the Thais are very polite I have never had anyone nudge into a queue. For real irritation try the Chinese in Hong-Kong they wont even let you out of the tube before they start pilling in, you literally have to bark "stay!" so you dont miss your stop and end up flattened against the opposite side of the car.
As for being cheated in the shops, who cares one way or the other if you get one $ less than you expected, I am sure it wont break the bank.

On the other side, how about teaching Thais not to cut in lines at the 7-11 and else where; providing a check bin in English; giving the correct change and cut the shit about not having change. How about deceptive double pricing and farang price gouging?

.

Are you for real?

A few weeks ago I took b/f for a visit to England, when to we spoke mainly Thai to each other but b/f practiced his English when buying/asking for anything, so locals considered us as ripe tourists:

In a taxi in Brighton the fare on the meter was ┬г7.30 and b/f gave the driver a ┬г20 note and was given change from ┬г10. The driver insisted it was a ┬г10 note until I interjected and offered to produce the next sequentially numbered ┬г20 note that had been withdrawn from an ATM an hour earlier. He paid up.

We went into restaurants and the check-bin was in English, how dare they not produce one in Thai, Chinese, Danish or Swahili!

We visited the Royal Pavilion in Brighton the entry fee was ┬г8.50 each, locals pay ┬г2, typical English double standards on pricing.

The Spinnaker Tower at Portsmouth was ┬г12 each whilst locals pay ┬г5

Trafalgar Square, Ice Cream seller advertising ice cream cones at 1.60 each tried to charge us ┬г6 for two.

We caught a train from Victoria Station in the rush hour and the qauint custom of queuing went out of the window with commuters shoving and pusing to get on the train first. Then having to pit up with the crass idiots who insisted on smoking in non-smoking carriages.

Stop trying to impose what you consider to be prim and proper on a country that you are a guest in and adopting a hoiler than thou attitude, if you don't like the way Thais do things then we have a nice new airport welcoming departing ex-pats. :bom:

....

We went into restaurants and the check-bin was in English, how dare they not produce one in Thai, Chinese, Danish or Swahili!


I can fully understand this complaint, the rest was your own fault for going to such dumps in the first place. I cant bear the way the English get all uppity because there are no English menus for example or they get drunk and start "matey" everyone and helping themselves to everyone's cigarets, but not to have a Swahili check-bin (what is that by the way?) is truly beyond the pale. They dont seem to offer any assistance to those common wealth countries at all, its all just a bloody hobby for Brenda, so she can get free safaris in winter for the extended spawn.
I think you should take the Boyfriend on the grand tour, starting in Tuscany, far more civilised, poor little tyke, next you will have him eating fried mars bars.

Swiss man charged with lese majeste

(Compiled by Bangkokpost.com from Agencies)

A Swiss man was arrested on charges of insulting the monarchy by painting over images of His Majesty the King, police said today.

Jufer Oliver Rudolf, 57, was caught Tuesday on surveillance cameras spray painting over portraits of His Majesty with black paint at several locations in Chiang Mai, police Lt. Col Kittiphan Kamwan said. He was detained Wednesday night, and faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted, the police said.

Pol Lt Col Kittiphan said Rudolf claimed he was drunk.

The military has launched a separate investigation into the incident, suggesting Rudolf may have been hired by someone opposed to the Sept 19 coup.

"The suspect must have been hired by someone so I have ordered soldiers to investigate the incident and bring the mastermind of this crime to justice,' said Saprang Kanlayanamitr, a member of the Council for National Security.

Fortunately the gay community seems better behaved than the heteros.

Better behaved ??? - you've got to be kidding! There is nothing less well-behaved than a few (re)tired old Queens have a bitchfest. You obviously haven't been reading the Gay Thailand and Bahtstop message boards where their royal highnesses are fighting between themselves like alley cats and bitching and complaining when someone says something about Pattaya (and Sunee Plaza in particular) which they don't like. They all believe in freedom of expression (as long as the expression is only in accordance with their views) :geek:

[bao-bao]

Fortunately the gay community seems better behaved than the heteros.

Better behaved ??? - you've got to be kidding! There is nothing less well-behaved than a few (re)tired old Queens have a bitchfest.

Snowkat, let's remember that it is just a few who are the bitchy, miserable souls here. Despite their unwelcome catfights (and the regular needless negative remarks by a very few) this is the only gay Thailand board worth participating in.

Snowkat, let's remember that it is just a few who are the bitchy, miserable souls here. Despite their unwelcome catfights (and the regular needless negative remarks by a very few) this is the only gay Thailand board worth participating in.
Given the latest postings from Thaiwonon, with his request to be deleted from the board, and the ensuing comments from others, the highlighted part of your post above might be a bit premature. :cheers:

I have simply asked for some defamatory posts to be removed..apparently the moderators and particularly Smiles who bores everyone to tears with his mindless and endless stories about his friggin holidays in Pattaya believes it's all a joke. So be it. We shall see who starts screaming first as I reveal he truth about some Sawatdee members.

If you cannot see a well crafted plan by 2 other posters to decimate Sawatdee then there s little hope for it under the present moderators, and indeed , the Thai gay community would be better of without this board. The others are fading fast because they have allowed 4 to 5 people to dominate, abuse, flame and insult and spread lies.

I know the game that is being played and I know who is doing it and why...

This book on "manners" would be wasted on the dopey queens who frequent Pattaya chasing boys. If they haven't got the manners now to actually read my complaints but act in a knee jerk manner and just slag me off like the bunch of ignorant twits they are, why would they have sensibilities about Thai people.

Lets face it..all you do is come to Thailand for a poke.

[Smiles]

" ... Given the latest postings from Thaiwonon, with his request to be deleted from the board, and the ensuing comments from others, the highlighted part of your post above might be a bit premature ... "
Nahhh ... just a bit of comic relief just before High Season.
Looks like Thaiwonon has not yet been deleted, so all the more laughs the rest of us. That dude just can't help himself.

It's posters like him who provide some respite from the Heaviness of Being on slow days, and I for one would not like to lose that.

Cheers ... :flower:

[Brad the Impala]

I have simply asked for some defamatory posts to be removed...

While also posting comments like this about me!

"I've heard enough stories about you Brad the Impala frequenting the Amigo Bar with underage boys so I'm surprised you weren't carted off in the raids the other night. I believe you were caught once and bribed the police to let you go. "

I think that a phrase including the words pot, kettle and black comes to mind! Still, for someone calling this board vile, and asking to be deleted, it's entertaining that you are obviously continuing to read and post.

If you wish to cast aspersions on other posters, you might do better to get at least somewhere close to the truth. I have been to Pattaya once in the last ten years, with my boyfriend of very legal age. I can understand how in your mind this translates to "frequenting the Amigo bar with underage boys", but that says rather more about your state of mind, and your preoccupations, than it does about me.

If I was a gambling man, I would say that there are currently two individuals spewing their bile over this and other forums, and Thaiwonon is an incarnation of one of those individuals.

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

Why do you feel you have to defend yourself if what taiwonon said isn't true Brad ? ( who are the others. Tel us more. It sounds like fun)

I think there should a law to protect the innocent sons of Thailand from shady old vulturines. They travel in flocks of 55-76 their voices sounding like creaking wagon wheels. :albino:

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Police are looking to prosecute a Swiss who defaced images of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej during a drunken rampage on the monarch\'s birthday with five separate acts of lese majeste which could land him in jail for up to 75 years.
Oliver Rudolf Jufer, 57 and a long-term resident of the northern province of Chiang Mai, was arrested earlier this month after several portraits of King Bhumibol, whom many Thais regards as semi-divine, were daubed in black paint.

He has been in jail ever since while police investigated an incident which falls under draconian lese majeste laws that carry a penalty of between three and 15 years in jail for any insult to a royal.

\"He committed five counts of the crime so he faces five times the penalty,\" a Chiang Mai police official said. \"I\'m not sure when he will be prosecuted. It might be the end of this month or in January.\"

The Matichon newspaper said Jufer had confessed to being drunk at the time. Dried paint was found on his fingers and he was caught on security cameras going into a shop which sold a spray can found discarded near one of the images, it added.

As is customary in Thai detective work, he had to return to the scene of the crime for a police re-enactment -- but early in the morning to avoid the risk of being lynched by passers-by.
The Swiss embassy in Bangkok made no comment, saying it was still trying to obtain information on the case.

Matichon was the only Thai newspaper to report the episode after Chiang Mai police asked local journalists to kill their coverage to minimise the disrespect to King Bhumibol, the world\'s longest-reigning monarch.
Posted: 21 Dec 2006
4:41pm Lonely Planet Thorntree