Currently writing this post from my balcony in Patong, Phuket at 20:51 local time. In the evening it’s not too hot over here to sit outside without sweating your ass off.
On this blogpost I want to point out some random topics that i found interesting so far here in Thailand:
General Behaviour of locals & tourists
When traveling you always observe other people, watch how locals do things and how the people behave in general. At least that’s what i like to do.
Now that we have seen a somewhat big variety of places here in Thailand (big citys, small island, big islands and more remote / local places), I can share some patterns in behaviour from the tourist side but also stuff that i noticed about the thai people here:
- Thai staff at the pier which guide you to the right ferry etc are always really loud and hectic and want you to move fast. Leads to stressful times when switching places etc but on the other hand all of our transfers went without complications and also really punctual; makes the Swiss heart beat faster experiencing that level of reliability.
- In general tho, all Thai people here are really polite and thankful for the tourists visits. They always have a smile on their faces ( leaves room for interpretation if that is due to joy in life or being stoned ^^)
- Thai people do not express a lot of emotions in form of shouting, laughing loudly etc, they always behave really quietly and politly in their actions and in their talking. This gives a superbig contrast to the behaviour of the tourists (probaly also due to regular alcohol consumtion and party moods)
- I must say tho, that the majority of the tourists adapt to the manners (like putting of their shoes autmaticly bevore entering a building etc). Some do not and they stand out easily.
- The service staff here is really forthcomming, sometimes too much for me. The 1.65m thai men insist of carrying 3 backpacks up steep stairs etc, its hard to convince them that you can carry your stuff on your own.
Restaurant manners
Im sure we were in more than 50 restaurants so far, so you experience a lot of things there aswell in the meaning of manners etc:
- You leave your shoes on most of the time if your in the city, on the island you take them off for the terrace or so.
- waiters will stand in front of the reastaurant and will try convincing you to come in, show you the menu etc (in citys or crowded places)
- once you sit, you get the menu imidiatly and the waiter will wait right behind you until u give him a sign that you’re ready to order (what i dont really like, makes me nervous).
- they will repeat your order so you get the right thing, big fan of that.
- Mostly you get free water with ice, not in the touristic places tho. (no tap water and no ice out of tapwater, we never had bad experience with this kind of water)
- Most dishes are available with no or less spicyness if you say it while ordering.
- When you are finished eating, the waiters will oftenly not come to your table until you ask for the bill.
- Tipping is not in their culture here (there are tip boxes but they are rare).
- local people dont have a problem with not finishing their food, I have seen it multipile times, that local people leave behind a half full plate.
- locals also tend to order more than one dish per person and share everything, like tapas.
- I think Thai people like it when u can eat a lot or ask for a second portion, maybe it’s like a compliment to them.
- We also experienced cute moments when we revisited places. It can happen that the owners remember you and give you food to try for free as an act of kindness. So I recommend you to revisit a place again if u liked it and you are staying at a area for a longer time.
Manners in temples
Until now we only visited one temple in Krabi, but the rules of behaviours should always be the same accoring to the following picture:
PS: I will publish a blogpost about krabi and koh phi phi the following days, it will be a reduced one tho, but you can look foreward to the pictures, we took some great ones!