Why are Thais such happy people? Relationships between men and women. This is Buddhism, baby

Thais and cars

For the most part, Thais behave very calmly on the roads, do not honk, do not cut off, just stand and wait in traffic jams.

The downside of such endurance is stupidity. It's okay to spread out like a herd of sheep.
on a 4-lane road and drive at a speed of 40-60 km per hour, ignoring the dedicated lane for fast-moving cars (In Thailand, on the right side)

Also, unfrightened Thai motorists park like hell, since the “stop boor” traffic does not exist, and getting a hole in the wheel
or a car marked with a key is unrealistic here.
In the same way, everyone leaves their cars anywhere without fear, radios are not stolen here, windows are not broken.
In general, they say that cars are stolen, mopeds too. For such cases, there is insurance.
Thai cars are clean, they wash them often, decorate the inside and take care of the car. It’s very possible to buy a used car here.

Thais and food

It’s really customary here for the whole collective farm to eat a hundred times a day.
No one really needs a kitchen in an apartment; the morning for a Thai woman begins with a sleepy crawl out to a passing
past the house there are carts in which every morning they sell all sorts of “goodies”

If in our cafes it is mostly wealthy people who eat, then there is no such division here.
Any Burmese construction worker can afford to eat off the rack.

food in Thailand is sacred

I heard that Thai girls are very conscious of their figure, stick to diets and make fun of fat women.
Anyone over 50 kg is fat.
In reality, I didn’t notice anything like that. Young girls, women, eat constantly.
And God forbid you need something between 12 and 13 days. Lunch time is a sacred concept. All of Pattaya is this time is running lunch.

There will also be a lot of rather well-fed compatriots for tiny miniature women with children's clothing sizes.

eating is favorite hobby in Thailand

Take, for example, the girls athletes who play tennis and whom we often see at tournaments.
In my opinion, the only time they don’t eat is when they’re playing on the court. And then, during the breaks, they manage to eat some nasty stuff.

I also remembered about food promiscuity.
In Thailand, people drink carbonated drinks from a young age. For example, on children's day birth, children drink Fanta, Cola, Sprite,
other drinks are simply not provided. Nobody looks askance. A 2-year-old child guzzling Pepsi-Cola is the norm.
And this happens in all segments of the population.

In the same way, fast food has vigorously joined the Thai diet. And if McDonald's sometimes stands empty, then KFC uses
hyper popular. It is customary for the whole family to come here on holidays and weekends, and at the same time take the children for a walk in the nearest children's room.
That is, leisure is very similar in content to Russian leisure. Go to the shopping center on the weekend, eat there, buy something and go to the children's room.

Culture and education

It is not customary to read here. From the word absolutely. Nobody reads books here, and there are practically no bookstores.
The most famous bookstore - B2S or Asia Books - is so modest in its assortment that it is difficult to call them bookstores.

Mostly sold here reference books, biographies of the king and family, culinary recipes, guidebooks,
children's literature. Children's books stand like a cast iron bridge. They aren’t cheap here either, but here it’s just a plague, not the prices.
Bookstores also sell stationery, music, candy, and so on.

And until recently I thought that maybe this only applies to Pattaya? But no. Same song in Bangkok.
In the Bangkok metro, for example, no one reads; they just sit, chat, and stare at their phones.

Teenagers are much more uninhibited than ours. They say about such people, “Did he fall out of the forest yesterday?”
I don’t know how else to explain it to you, but something like this.

For example, there was a reception in honor of the final tournament, which brought together the best tennis players by age.
The Tennis Association pays for everything, cool hotel, food and drinks, everything upper class.
There were participants and their parents. Everything is very decorous, decent, long speeches, certificates, cups.

And you just had to give the go-ahead that the buffet was open - you should have seen these lines. As if for the last time
once for rice.
And also songs and dances. Karaoke is a favorite Thai entertainment. It doesn't matter that you have neither hearing nor voice,
Every Thai considers it his duty to yell into a microphone.

I was a little shocked when the girls from Mashina age group, after whispering, tumbled onto the stage and began
wagging your hips and howling some utter nonsense in bad voices.
This was not a prepared number, but an improvisation. Uh, terrible improvisation.
After that, one of the mothers came to the stage and handed out 100 baht tips to the girls.

Attitude to appearance

For some reason, there is an opinion that the Thais are incredibly clean, they feed tourists stories that the Thais wash themselves a hundred times a day.
Of course, I didn’t smell it, but observing a lot of Thai people I knew, I didn’t notice that they were at all eager to wash themselves and were familiar with a comb.

One of our friends radically solved the problem of tangled hair - he took scissors and with a slight movement of his hand he turned from Mulan
to Anna Wintour. We're talking about a man, yes.
And I repeat, I’m not telling you about Cambodian guest workers, but about people who drive jeeps, engage their children in sports,
they are not homeless, in short.
I can’t get used to the fact that at tennis tournaments girls’ sneakers are often 2-3 sizes too large.
As if they were following their brother (although this is not the case), a girl walks, and her sneakers, like a little mug’s, clap. And how are they like this?
How do they manage to play without constantly stumbling?

It's the same with clothes. In my opinion, only my Masha selects outfits and everything is arranged according to styles, colors, style and other feng shui.
These don't care. Were you given a synthetic T-shirt for participating in a tournament? OK! Let's play in it!
90 percent of the time it all looks weird and sloppy. So I can’t agree about a multi-stage approach to my appearance.
Maybe this concerns the madam who spends hundreds of thousands per hour in Siam Paragon?

Business, competition, attitude towards the client

The Thais have a very strange approach to business, trade, making deals and generally everything related to finance.

If you are used to haggling in Turkey or Egypt, they will have conversations with you, run after you, offering an ever better price
and better yet, there is no such thing in Thailand.
I don’t know who started the rumor that you need to bargain everywhere here; to be honest, I don’t even know where you can bargain here.
On the market? Well, perhaps on a tourist one, if the price is too high, and even then, it’s not a fact that they will reduce the price for you.
In shops? Forget it.
I most often go to the Thai market for Thais to buy fruits and vegetables. Nobody bargains there.
At the same time, on a tiny piece of land (in the market), the price, for example, of a mango can fluctuate from 50 to 80 baht, no one
it doesn't bother me.
Just yesterday I bought a watermelon from one aunt for 30 baht a piece, her neighbor sold the same one for 80.

Skilled tourists can reduce the price of housing when concluding a contract, but this scenario also does not occur often.
If an agency rents out an apartment to you, then Thai agents are generally indifferent to renting - if you want, rent, if you don’t want, leave.

They have a markup on the apartment and are in no hurry to reduce it. If you come directly to the condo and communicate with local Thai women
in the office, then in 90 percent of cases you will come across complete indifference, and sometimes aggression.
They are too lazy to even show apartments, let alone talk about the price.

I’ll give you an example of my friends who wanted to rent an office, agreed on a price, but they weren’t happy with the
the entrance fee must be paid immediately, they asked not even to reduce it, but to break it down monthly.
The Thais were not happy with this option. This office has been empty for four years now. This is the kind of business.

No flexibility or desire to solve a problem, make money with a little effort. No.
At the same time, I cannot call Thais lazy. Many people get up early, sweep, clean, roll their carts,
they trade from morning to night, trying and trying to somehow get out of this life.

There are few beggars here. But there are professional beggars. From year to year, you can meet some
and the same cripples with mutilations who sit right on the floor in the rows at the night market and beg for alms.
They are served.
A girl plays the violin, a blind man strums some kind of guitar, no one is chasing them.
Many disabled people sell something. Lottery tickets, homemade dolls, whoever can do what.

Losing face

I wrote about loss of face. Yes it important point. There is no point in accusing the Thais of something shameful; sarcasm, irony, such concepts are not in use here.
They will spin any tales, deny the obvious, turn on the fool and contradict
reality, just not to admit your mistakes, because this is not comme il faut.

If you don’t like a Thai employee, cleaner, assistant, salesperson, it’s easier to fire and hire
new, than to teach something or reach out to common sense someone whose work you are not happy with.

Visitors often notice that Thai children behave calmer, less capricious, they are not hit or yelled at.
Think back side This medal lies in the fact that, in principle, children are not particularly cared for.

They grow like grass. There are no developmental activities provided; many do not know how to read or write at all.
Thai kindergartens do not have as many classes as ours. The level of development here is certainly lower, no doubt.

The school curriculum is also lame. The student may not be respected by the teacher, the teacher cannot directly scold the student,
catch him in lying, in cheating.
But they can publicly humiliate you, hit you on the hand and even on the head.

Of course, there are international schools, but sometimes crazy things happen in them too; I heard complaints from many parents.
You can’t baselessly scold everyone, but pick up good school, kindergarten, with an adequate program and attitude towards the child is difficult.

And if you think that Thai parents don't scold or hit their children? They beat and scold, but not in public.
Our friends complained that during a trip to America, dad could not hit the kids with lyuli, and those bastards went wild
at all. And all because you can’t shoot a bottle in the head there, good neighbors will knock on the social service, and hello!

Relationships between men and women

I don’t remember whether I wrote about this or not, but among Thais, lesbian relationships are considered the norm. Can often be found
a couple - a feminine girl, with a masculine girl, short-haired, arm in arm and in an embrace. It's possible.
But hugging a guy or God forbid kissing in public! Noooo. This is a complete taboo.
In mixed marriages, a Thai-European, in most cases the girl is one of those same ones. And no one cares.
No one will whisper behind your back and label you a “prostitute.”

They have no concept of money on benches at all. As well as the benches themselves, however.

External influence on culture

Of course, both music and films are sold, they go to the cinema, but by “ Star Wars", which by the way they go to
only farangs or cars with farangs, filmed in Thailand great amount local films.
They are terrible in their primitiveness, antics and on a level somewhere between “Simply Mary” and “The rich also cry.”

Thais love “their” sports, value domestic tourism and rarely travel abroad.
Most Thais (up to 80 percent) choose resorts inside Thailand for their holidays. And of course this is not due to lack of money.

Poor Thais are also another myth. Guys, this is the fourth most developed economy in Asia, and unlike some,
is considered to be developing.
In addition to tourism, the share of which in Thailand is an unfortunate few percent and rice (these two things come to mind first),
The Thais have a well-developed industry. They successfully produce cars under Japanese licenses, they have developed light and agricultural industries,
and so on.
So even if all Russian tourists put together spit on Thailand and stop coming here, no one will cry.
Remember last year’s situation, all of US was easily replaced by the Chinese.

Yes, the Thais do not like the Chinese, do not respect them, and in some places even despise them. Surprisingly, there are many ethnic Thais
Chinese.
Those Chinese who arrive in Pattaya are noisy, poorly behaved, excessive.
If the Chinese crash into 7/11 as usual, modest company out of 30 people, then after 10 minutes, it’s as if
the typhoon and the swarm of locusts have passed. They spit, grab you from shelves, violate your personal space, push you and behave inappropriately.
Even the women stink of fumes and garlic.

It is for the Chinese that warning signs are posted in restrooms so that they do not wash their feet in sinks and observe
cleanliness in the toilets, but in vain. They wash, they don’t comply.

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If I have already repeated myself somewhere, please forgive me. I probably forgot something, I’ll remember and add it.
See you later!

Having once visited Thailand, a native Irkutsk woman Nelya I decided that I definitely wanted to live in warmer climes. It was not easy to implement our plans - we had to retrain from a journalist to a guide and first hone our professional skills in Turkey. Only a year later the girl arrived in Pattaya. She has been living here for almost seven years. IN new country Nelya got married, gave birth to a son and feels at home. She told AiF.ru how Thailand captivated her.

Tourist, not worker

In Thailand, there are about fifty professions that are legally prohibited for foreigners to occupy. For example, only locals have the right to work in the tourism and beauty industries. These restrictions came about thanks to former king countries Rama IX. Even 40-50 years ago, he understood that foreigners could seriously compete with native residents in these sectors of the economy. For this reason, I couldn’t just come to Thailand to work as a guide, but I started researching the issue and got a job with a large tour operator. I worked my first season as a transfer guide in Turkey and only then came to Thailand. Naturally, my work permit did not say that I was a guide; it said “translator.”

Personally, all my papers were completed legally, although there are a huge number of illegal immigrants here. They say that problems with documents can be easily resolved; supposedly the police in Thailand are willing to negotiate with violators. But, in my opinion, these are all fairy tales. There are constantly a lot of demonstrative arrests taking place in the country. And if there is no money to pay the fine and hire a lawyer, you will simply be deported.

"On a pencil"

In Thailand, the migration service works very well: those who constantly travel back and forth on a tourist visa are immediately taken on board. Some 5 years ago you could simply cross the border with neighboring Cambodia, return back and the visa issue was resolved, now such things are stopped. Since my husband came here at the invitation of a foreign company and works under a contract, my son and I were given a “family” visa based on his work visa. The company pays for my spouse, which is about $1,500-2,000 a year; for me and my child it costs about $600 ($300 each). In general, children under 14 years of age do not need to get a visa; authorities often turn a blind eye to this. But, since questions may still arise at the border, I prefer not to skimp on such things.

Quick wedding

In June it was exactly 4 years since my husband and I officially got married in Thailand. Why in this country, and not in the spouse’s homeland or in Russia? The fact is that from a legal point of view it was easiest for us to draw up the documents here.

My Thai friends warned that registering a marriage in the local municipality is almost the same as going to pay utility bills: no one would think of coming there in a white dress in full regalia. The Thais have the most main part- religious, so it is celebrated on a large scale, together with the whole family. Indeed, when we came to submit documents to book a beautiful date - July 7, I realized that even in an ordinary sheath dress and with a bouquet of flowers I would look strange in this setting. What happened next was even more interesting: we gave all the necessary papers, they brought us some forms where we had to sign, as soon as we did it, it dawned on us that this was a marriage certificate! One could forget about the beautiful date. The woman who processed us simply said with a smile: “Your documents are all in order, why come a second time?” So we became husband and wife, but now we have something to remember.

Wedding religious ceremony in Thailand. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Expensive pleasure

Childbirth in Thailand for foreign women is paid, no matter which clinic you go to - public or private. Regular medical insurance will not save you in such situations; you will have to buy a more expensive policy on quite interesting conditions - it must be taken out even before pregnancy occurs. Usually Insurance Company gives a year, if you meet this deadline (get pregnant), then she will bear all the expenses. I have not taken out such insurance and I must say that having a child in Thailand is a expensive pleasure. Because of this, some Russian women go home to give birth. But I didn’t consider this option for myself.

Of course, in another country it is difficult to raise a child without grandparents, sometimes we resort to outside help: there are many Russian nannies here who secretly come to work for the season. The cost of such services depends on the qualifications of the person. average price— 300-400 rubles per hour. A Thai nanny will cost about 2 times less. By the way, the locals themselves also use the services of nannies for the simple reason that maternity leave here lasts only 3 months.

Bribes? No, I have not heard

There is nothing to do here without health insurance, since everything is very expensive. To understand the price range, I’ll just say that when my son and I were in the hospital for 5 days with pneumonia, it cost us 150 thousand rubles. Naturally, each member of my family has insurance; for me and the child it costs approximately 200 thousand rubles.

I have heard more than once that Thailand has terrible medicine, but I fundamentally disagree with this. Firstly, I have something to compare with, and secondly, I often resort to the help of local doctors - I gave birth to my son here and now that he is growing up, we also sometimes visit the doctor. It is naive to think that if the sea is nearby and you live in a warm climate, then the child will get sick less than in Russia. In fact, I face exactly the same problems as any other average mother.

Even in an ordinary public hospital, where the poorest segments of the population go, very decent conditions have been created: normal food, clean toilets, and a shower is required. Some private wards in Russian hospitals look much worse compared to them. In addition, unlike our medical staff, no one here would think of taking any money from you under the counter or just a tip. If you try to thank a Thai person in this way, no matter a nurse or a doctor, the person will look at you with blank eyes. Of course, I cannot say that there is no corruption in this country at all, I just, fortunately, have not encountered it.

Thai baht. Photo: Flickr.com / Karn Bulsuk

The dark side of Pattaya

We settled in Pattaya not only because of my husband’s work, but also because I personally consider this city one of the best for permanent residence. It is located close to Bangkok, it has its own airport, life is in full swing, plus fairly mild climatic conditions - there are no tsunamis or earthquakes, the rainy season is not as pronounced as, for example, on the islands.

As for the not very good reputation of this city, I can say that it is greatly exaggerated. For example, when I was still working as a guide, I often heard stories about how Thais supposedly rejoice at the birth of a girl, because she can be sent to the panel. This is complete nonsense! Yes, there is a lot of prostitution and establishments with a dubious reputation, but this does not mean that the whole of Thailand is like this. By the way, if you look closely, you can understand that among the priestesses of love there are not many secret ones, they are just women from other countries South-East Asia. The locals are not alien to generally accepted moral standards; it would never even occur to them to walk along Walking Street! This is bad manners. I myself live in a very quiet area - Pratamnaki, where there are no hot spots, and no one walks half naked under my windows.

Walking Street in Pattaya. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Transvestites are common here. I worked with some of them while still a guide. Out of curiosity, I even asked our drivers several times, who, by the way, were mostly older people, how they feel about such things? And no one ever said a single harsh word; at most they could grin. It's just that Thais don't like to pry into other people's personal lives. If you behave decently, no one will care about you. The second point is related to religion. In the Thai interpretation of Buddhism, it is believed that if in past life you did a lot of bad things, perhaps in the next one - thanks to reincarnation you will have the body of one person and the soul of another. Roughly speaking, you will be born a man in a woman's body or vice versa.

This is Buddhism, baby

“Work is not a wolf, it won’t run away into the forest” - this is about the Thais. Don’t think that they are lazy and don’t know how to work, they just have a different attitude to life due to climate and religion. Visitors are often offended by locals because they may promise something and not deliver. In fact, it needs to be accepted, understood and forgiven. Everything is explained simply: for example, a Thai plumber cannot tell you that he is unable to do something or does not know how. It is very important for him not to lose face, because this is what special treatment. Most likely, you will hear an encouraging phrase: “Madam, I will come to you in an hour.” But an hour will pass, and maybe even a day or two, and he still won’t be there. In this situation, you just need to remind him with a smile that you are waiting for him. Without aggression, although it is difficult to react calmly in such a situation. However, living here, I learned. This is Buddhism, baby.

It seems to me that we should learn from the Thais how to behave in in public places. For example, locals know how to stand in line; they won’t get in front of you under the pretext of “should I just ask or will I be there for a minute.” Thais in this sense are much more patient than Russians. The second very important point is a sensitive attitude towards people with disabilities. There are ramps everywhere here, unlike my native Irkutsk and other Russian cities. Even if they are not there somewhere, not a single Thai will pass by when someone needs help. And one more thing: there is a law in the country that obliges large companies allocate a certain number of places for people with disabilities. In my opinion, this should be the case in any country in the world.

Photo: Shutterstock.com

No cheating

It is often said that life in Thailand is cheap. But do not confuse the concepts of “tourism” and “emigration”. When you come for 3 months with a child to spend the winter by the sea, rent inexpensive housing and eat only fruit all day long - this is one thing. But when you are in the country permanently, you need a comfortable standard of living, plus legal support - get ready to pay!

Our tourists are often advised to bargain with the Thais. They don't really like it. Yes, get a discount if you make any large purchase in mall It’s possible, but buying a watermelon and trying to pay half as much for it is very strange. Even the locals themselves don’t ask for discounts.

Traditional floating market in Thailand. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Don’t think that everyone here dreams of deceiving a white tourist. Perhaps someone can indeed cheat you, but such things happen everywhere. I live near the popular tourist center of Pattaya Park, where there are many fruit stalls and they are much more expensive there than in other places due to the high rent. I assure you: for both Thais and tourists the prices in such a tent will be the same. Want cheaper? Go to the regular collective farm market, which is open from 5 to 10 am.

The average salary in the country is approximately 20-30 thousand rubles, given that there is no winter, of course, you can live on this money, but it is not easy. Prices for food that Europeans are used to eating are the same as in Moscow. Local kitchen much more accessible, but not every visitor will like it. It seems to me that for more or less a decent life in Thailand, a couple without children will need 2-2.5 thousand dollars, including rent, of course. The times when people rented out apartments in Moscow and lived here without denying themselves anything with this money are long gone.

Pattaya. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Country of comfort

Of course, I have repeatedly asked myself the question: “Can I continue to live here?” In principle, why not? Inflation in the country is very high at a slow pace. For example, in Thailand only civil servants have pensions, everyone else does not. But every Thai knows that if he put 400 thousand baht in the bank 10 years ago, then this money will not depreciate. Many can only dream of such stability.

There are decent universities in the country, in addition, Singapore is nearby, where many people go to study higher education and China. So I’m also calm about my son in this regard. Thailand cannot be called a “third world country”; it is developing quite quickly. In general, I have already adapted to its rhythm and traditions, I feel comfortable and don’t want to leave here.

I already wrote a couple of notes about our impressions of Thailand and the Thais. Some things are not immediately visible, so many things remain incomprehensible to tourists, for example,
who come to Thailand on vacation for just a couple of weeks.
I am against “rowing everyone under the same comb” and I ask you not to consider my observations as an axiom, as well as your social circle,
and we all have different experiences. Perhaps you will agree with me on some points, or maybe not.
Today I wanted to describe my observations about Thailand and the Thais, and maybe some situations will become clearer to you.
Why do Thais in some cases behave this way and not otherwise? How does the mentality of the people of Thailand differ from the Russian one?

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Oddly enough, I find it difficult to answer this question, which I get asked quite often. Why is it difficult? - after all, it would seem that the Thais are very friendly and simple people... But they are completely different and their attitude... has completely different characteristics, if it can have any at all.

Thais are just different

They do everything in groups. They live in several families in one house, share rooms with several people, they group together for any reason. Their cult of food is not a cult of food at all - it is a desire to be in a group. They go outside in the morning to eat among others. I can't imagine a Thai having breakfast alone in his apartment in the morning.

We - farangs - are not part of their pack, so it is difficult for us to become a leader or comrade-in-arms in communicating with them - we are generally outside their society.

They are very good, very disciplined, restrained and patient, they are Buddhists and they calmly treat ants, dogs, cats, bad weather, Russians, foreigners... Because sabai-sabai is the main thing in life: calm and tranquility. Nothing should throw a person off balance.

Thais express their relationship with their interlocutor differently than we do. It is difficult for us to understand how they really treat us, even if we communicate with them every day. We will perceive their reactions in our own way and may not even understand their true motives and feelings at all.

In Thailand, it is not customary to say directly what you think about a person, and even more so to say that he is wrong about something - this is tantamount to an insult. I would even say that it is not customary here to treat the interlocutor in any way at all.

To understand the Thais as well as possible for you personally, I recommend reading several books, you can download them in my group about Thailand: https://vk.com/thailive

“These Amazing Thais” (Rainer Krak) - very detailed description Thai culture and psychology and very easy to read!
"Personal Dancer" (Leater Stephen) is a book that will help you understand the psychology of girls involved in prostitution.
Bangkok 8 (John Burdett) - book with interesting story and helps to understand some of the behavior of Thais.

They will smile at you for any reason and turn a blind eye to your antics for a long time, because you - with all your antics - are a temporary phenomenon that will soon end. A smile is just a mask behind which there can be any emotions.

Russians in Thailand are primarily tourists. Even if they live here for years, most often they remain “tourists”, live in tourist places, are dumb and don’t even know how to speak (Thai). In general, tourists come and go - why treat them in any way other than being polite and patient with them? Moreover, these tourists do not always behave ideally.

Loss of face, southern and northern Thais

Losing face - losing your temper, yelling at someone - this is not acceptable for Thais. But this CAN happen and under no circumstances should they be brought to this. Just the other day I read news that very well confirms this - one Thai shot at another because he did not want to give him extra chicken sauce in a cafe. Without causing others to lose face, you will be more whole and gain respect in the eyes of others.

In general, in critical situation It's better to just leave and forget. You won't get anything from them anyway. Getting something from a Thai is not realistic. They say that doing business with Thais is a lost cause. By the way, the Thais say the same thing about farangs).

Of course, Thais, like all people, are different. This also depends to some extent on where they live.

For example, Thais from the northern regions work in Pattaya (as well as many Burmese, Laotians, etc.). If you look more closely, they are very loyal to tourists. Because tourists in Pattaya are just darkness. I honestly don’t understand how they even tolerate us. And if sometimes someone can flare up in relation to tourists here, then this is a rather harmless outburst of emotions. In addition, it is not customary in Thailand to lose one’s temper seriously—a person who has lost his temper “loses face” and instantly loses respect and interest in the eyes of his interlocutor. The term “losing face” is very important in Thailand.

In the South of Thailand, everything is a little different than in the North and Central parts. Here tourism has become an important source of income only recently, and before that the southern Thais always supported themselves through natural resources. Now this has gotten worse, but they still have an inner sense of independence and pride. Southern Thais seem to me to be more vindictive. Their aggression is more noticeable.

For example, if you start speaking Thai in the northern regions or in Pattaya and Bangkok, the Thais will probably be happy about it. And if you speak somewhere in Phuket, you can feel or even hear discontent and anger and feel like a stranger to these people.

But in general, in all tourist places, it is unlikely that anyone will offend you, unless you “run into it” yourself. And of course, sometimes there are problems in the service sector - after all, a tourist is a source of income and you need to squeeze out of it maximum amount money. And this point is held in high esteem by the Thais.

But to the villages on the border with Malaysia there is a war going on and it’s better not to go there. Here is concentrated most of army of Thailand, a Muslim rebel group is based here and here you can simply be killed. And no one will know about it. All of Thailand except the southern border is good. Southern border - it’s better not to come here. It's really far from all the tourist spots. Since 2004, more than 5 thousand people have died in southern Thailand.

These are the provinces of Yala and Narathiwat (the southernmost provinces of Thailand, bordering the Malaysian state of Kelantan). If we go to Malaysia by land, then we go through Sadao, and these provinces remain to our right.

About Thai smiles

There are many different qualifications: some number 70 different types Thai smiles, some of them mean joy, some mean complete contempt, etc. This is what the farang culture means, which strives to hang its labels everywhere). People, until you don't really care - does a Thai think in this moment about you or about your crocodiles - you will not be able to communicate normally in this country.

Everything is very simple here.

You just walk down the street, meet the eyes of a Thai man and in a split second you can choose what to do next - you can look away, or you can smile at him - and then he will definitely smile at you too and then everything becomes unimportant! Whether it’s a mask or not, whether it’s a different culture or not, whether this person is thinking about you or not, it’s just a SMILE and it’s nice.

The same thing happens in an awkward situation. You may frown - as our culture and upbringing have taught us. Or you can do it in Thai - smile, laugh. And then the situation itself no longer seems so difficult and it is easier to find a way out of it and you do not put the person in an even more awkward position.

And in general, Bob Marley rules, nothing matters - sabai sabai and smiles all over the world! What difference does it make whether it is the 56th variety of Thai loss or the 13th. It could just be a Smile.

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(c) Olga Salii. Copying material

What is happiness and where is it hidden? To answer this question, come to. You will be amazed constantly smiling thai people. It seems that they all feel quite satisfied with life and completely happy. Despite the fact that the huge difference in the property status of the country’s residents is immediately apparent. Thais in Thailand live either fabulously rich or completely poor - there is practically no middle class.

But despite all this, one gets the feeling that the poorest Thais in the country feel calmer and happier than the wealthy. They have practically no material wealth, but they have learned to be content with the minimum, and this is enough for them to be completely happy.

Even in tourist places in Thailand, the hostile attitudes of some, or else, do not stop them from smiling!

Also in Thailand there are corners where they don’t carry foreign tourists. These are the poorest regions; there is nothing to show a spoiled tourist there. But it is in these places Thai life truly happy. Those who have comprehended true values this life. Freedom and family are important to them. Well, they also truly and sincerely love their King. And such conventions and benefits of civilization as the Internet, apartments, cars are unknown to them. And they often do not strive to take possession of it all.

Some Europeans may be jealous in their hearts happiness for Thais. Of course, living in such a fabulous climate and eating delicious fruits is all wonderful. The local residents have no idea what cold and snow are, they don’t need warm clothes. How can you not envy them? But the secret is that the Thais themselves do not seem to envy anyone, and they do not intend to do so.

Their distinguishing feature- deep love for one’s country, respect for one’s own traditions, one’s religion. There are enlightened ones among them Thai monks- they live in harmony with nature and with themselves, devoting a lot of time to meditation and improving their spirit. And those who have comprehended true harmony have no reason to frown.

An inexperienced tourist may be amazed by the local color a large number of hammocks stretched directly on palm trees. It turns out that they live here. Imagine, a person does not have his own home, but he has a bike, thanks to which he can earn money. And if on some day they don’t have any money, the smiling Thais won’t even think about being particularly upset about this - after all, they will definitely show up tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, so why upset yourself today!

A wonderful art is to be able to see what you have, to be grateful for everything. This is probably the main answer to the question, why do thai people smile so often?. They just love life! Therefore, it is quite common to see a Thai relaxing carefree in his hammock. Enjoy life - what more do you need! This is why Thais feel happier than us.

There are also a lot of them. This is due to a number of reasons, such as: reluctance to serve in (now this trick does not work) and the fact that it is easiest for them to make money on.