| carpocratian |
12-03-2014 01:45 AM |
Never touch the top of a person's head in Thailand. It is considered to be a very offensive act.
Never, ever, ever say anything negative about any member of the royal family. Don't intentionally damage money, because it usually bears the picture of a royal. If there is anything that will rile people up in Thailand, it's that - they are very, very protective of their royals. You can get arrested for tearing up a piece of paper money, even.
If you go to get a massage, they may ask you if you want a "traditional" one or not. The traditional massage is done fully clothed (they give you something that looks like a karate gi to wear), and involves liberal use of elbows, knees, knuckles, and (sometimes) short sticks. It can be pretty painful, but it works, and you'll feel better afterwards. A "non-traditional" massage is your standard Western-style one.
Many mid-sized and larger towns have "night markets." After the regular stores shut down, individual dealers set up on the sidewalks and hang around until midnight or later. Haggling is expected, and if you are good at it, you can get the prices way down.
Since the Thai are a generally short and thin people, their clothing is effectively around a size to a size and a half smaller than the American equivalent. Something they label as a "large" is more like something halfway between a small and a medium. Always try clothing on, if you can - don't rely on the label.
In Bangkok, if you go to any of the areas that have a lot of prostitution bars, triple-secure your valuables. The women will come up and paw at you to try to get you to go on a "date" with them, which makes it much more difficult to detect pickpocketing. Some will grab your arm and actually struggle with you to get you to go with them.
Even if I were into prostitutes, I would never visit one there. Many of them were sold into sexual slavery by their families, and many are underage, by any country's standards.
In Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, I was able to eat the food from street vendors without ever getting sick. That surprised me quite a bit. Every vendor is different, but the Thai tend to be a very clean people. Some restaurants may have peeling paint on the outside, but they are clean on the inside.
The one exception to all that is the water - don't drink it. Stick to bottled water (which is everywhere). Many Thai do, too, especially in Bangkok. I have been to Thailand twice (once on business, once on vacation) with two fairly large groups of people, and the only ones who got sick did so after drinking tap water.
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