Things that you don't know about thailand!

   Here we go!

1.) Picking your nose is an acceptable social activity. I read this somewhere. Also, 30% of the male students do it in class constantly. 

2.) In the taxis here there are no separation barriers between you and the driver. Violent crime is not too common here. 

3.) Thailand has a completely different alphabet. There are about 44 consanants and something like 20 vowels. The transliteration system they use to get from the Thai alphabet to English is terrible. Often, you will see signs and try to pronounce them, only to find that it sounds nothing like it is written. "Lard Phrao," for example is pronounced "Lat Praew." There are better examples, but I cannot think of them.

4.) The people absolutely worship the King. There is a tremendous amount of respect for the entire Royal family. It's a bad idea to criticize anything they do or even to step on a coin! (because it has a picture of the King) Almost every home/place of business has numerous large portraits of the current King or King Chulalongkorn (a.k.a. Rama 5) who was the key figure in Thailand's modernization. I don't know too much about either of them, but I will before I go. 

5.) Most houses/ places of business also have what are called spirit houses. These are small, extremely ornamental models of houses that are lavishly decorated in order to attract all of the spirits within a dwelling. The logic is that if the spirit house is very nice maybe the spirits will live there and not haunt the actual house.

6.) Almost every Thai person is terrified of ghosts. It's almost comical. People constantly say that our building is haunted. We also live on the 13th floor. Double-scary!!! 

7.) Thai words and phrases for things are usually a very literal description of the object. For instance, the word for "ice" in Thai, directly translated, is "water solid." I don't think they are too big on epithets either.

8.) Criticism of a superior is a huge social taboo. I've been reading a book about Thai culture lately and it says that even if a person is dead wrong and stupid, if they are your superior you do not complain or criticize them in any way. You cannot even make a suggestion to a superior as it is seen as a form of criticism. It is also considered disrespectful to ask a teacher questions during a lecture, as it implies that the lecture was not prepared carefully enough. 

9.) In another strange twist of culture, it is normal for a social superior to pay for everything. Superiors are supposed to show that they are superior at every social oppurtunity. This means if you go out to dinner with someone older than you they will pay for it. It also means that if a rich guy and a poor guy get into a car accident, the rich guy will pay for both cars. 

10.) The wai is the socially acceptable greeting. It is not used as often as a wave and is a gesture of respect to another person. It is not used for "saying hi." The hands are placed together in a prayer-like gesture and the head is bowed. The person with lower social status usually wai's first. The higher the hands are held and the lower the head is bowed the more respect the gesture has. For example, students will place their hands very close to their face and bow their head slightly when greeting a teacher. A teacher may nod as a response or wai with his/her hands at about chest-level. Placing the wai above the head is a gesture reserved for the King/Buddha only. (Note: the King is not the Buddha).

11.) They don't have any dumpsters here for some reason. Public trash bins are also nonexistant. Most people just pile trash out in the street. Yummy.

12.) Grilled bananas are a popular Thai snack. Christina just tried some recently. I was not a fan.

13.) McDonalds in Thailand has a delivery service -- a guy on a motorbike decked out in McDonald's racing gear. There are no drive-thrus, they take up too much property space. KFC and Pizza Hut also have the same deal. The menu is also quite different. They offer a rice dish and a Samurai Pork Burger. Most people just go to McDonald's to get a soda and sit there, I don't know why.(update: I lied, there is one drive-thru McDonalds) 

14.) They drive on the left side of the road. Usually. Passing cars by using the right lane is not uncommon, in fact, it seems to be the norm. Road signs, speed limits, traffic cops, etc, are often ignored by all drivers. Leading to...

15.) Car accidents are the leading cause of death in Thailand. 80% of all car accidents involve motorcycles, which are rampant throughout the entire country.

16.) Police corruption is also the norm. The police here don't get paid too much so they will frequently overlook minor and major crimes if the price is right. This apparently goes right to the top of the administration in the government. There was a huge scandal in the recent past about a guy who was supposedly paying police millions and millions of baht to keep his "Massage Parlor" businesses open. 

17.) In Thailand, "Massage Parlor" usually means "Brothel." Prostitution is not legal but it might as well be. There are also plenty of legit places, the shady ones often also advertise "Entertainment Services." 

18.) There are tranvestites everywhere. In Thai, they are called "Ka-Toy", so often our Thai friends will point when they see one and tell us, "You see, Ka-toy." "Lady-boy" is the most often used English equivalent. These are more popular in the downtown areas, but our friends often point them out at RCA also. Thais are very good at picking them out. 

19.) Thai people look and act extraordinarily young. If you try and guess a Thai person's age you will often have to add 10 years (at least) to get to their actual age. Our tutor looks and acts our age, but she is well over thirty. She also drives a motorbike. 

20.) Glass bottles for soda and water are pretty common. I feel like I've gone back in time 30 years when I drink from them. It's good for recycling purposes if nothing else.

21.) A lot of Thai people love to eat suki. Suki is very much a communal meal. They give you a big bowl of soup and then you get to toss 20-30 of your favorite dishes into it. Then, you eat the murky, strange results. Christina and I went with a Thai teacher that I had met and there seems to be no method to the madness. You just toss whatever you want into the soup including: fish, eggs, vegetables, pork balls, noodles...anything goes. I was a little apprehensive about the eggs and raw meat...didn't look too healthy to me. It wasn't very good either.

22.) Taxi drivers will almost always ask you if you want to take the tollway, even if where you are going happens to be miles and miles from it. The tollways usually don't help much, since they are often jammed with traffic as well.

23.) Most Thais put ketchup on pizza. If you order Pizza Hut they will give you about 5 packets of ketchup and chili powder as condiments.

24.) The Thai prime minister is the richest man in Thailand. He also owns most of the newspapers and TV stations. Convenient, eh?

25.)There is a Seven-Eleven or other minimart approximately every ten feet. There must be some sort of law in Thailand that states no person can be out of eye sight of a minimart.

26.) Little common courtesies like holding a door open for someone, saying "bless you" (or anything) when a person sneezes, waiting to walk through a narrow passageway or letting an elderly person off the bus are not obeyed or expected here. It's every man, woman and child for hisself.

27.) Thai beer is strong. The local beers contain 6-7% alcohol.
28.) Salt is not usually found on tables. The Thai equivalent is nam plaa or fish sauce. It sounds disgusting but is actually really delicious once you aquire the taste.

29.) People bargain for nearly everything here. Unless you are in a department store or chain you could probably try to hack a few baht off your price with some good-natured offers. This is very difficult to get used to since you could never get away with it at home. Imagine, going to the supermarket and offering them $22.50 when they ring you up for $25.00.

30.) They call take-out food "take-away." I think this is a British thing but its still strange to hear the first few times. I can't wait to come home and say this and see the bewildered expression on the face of my server.
 thanks you http://havok118.tripod.com/30things.htm