tales from thailand: Thailand Through the Eyes of a Farang

I have been meaning to write this cultural observation post for a while now, but I was trying to capture a photo of a family of 4 on a motorbike before I wrote it. Unfortunately, whenever I see a family cruise by, I am not camera ready so I have no photo evidence, but it is VERY common to see an entire family on one motorbike. Including infants and toddlers. Sometimes they even stand up and hold on to the handle bars in front of where the driver sits. More often than not, the riders are helmet-less which is a terrifying thought because traffic laws are basically non-existent here in good ol' Siam.

UPDATED 2/26/2013 I cannot believe I forgot three of the biggest cultural observations/differences in Thailand when I first wrote this post! The first thing I have to mention is whitening cream. Thai people have naturally tan skin, but all of the actors/models are insanely PALE WHITE. They think that being white is considered beautiful, and many of their skin care products are "whitening" products, they bleach their skin to look pale! I suppose its similar to Americans wearing bronzer... but every time I purchase body wash or deodorant I have to examine the label to make sure it isn't a whitening product!! I want to be tan ! When Thai people go to the beach, they cover their entire bodies from the sun and sit in the shade! They are terrified of catching the sun and all wish to be pale and white. Very interesting. Another observation is how socially acceptable being gay is here in Thailand. For a conservative country I was pleased to learn that being gay is very common, and harassment in school is nothing compared to America. I have many male students as young as M.1 (age 12-14) who are openly gay and it isn't made into a big deal at all. Lady boys are another common occurrence in Thailand- when boys dress as girls. Not like drag shows or for spectacle, its just a very common thing for boys to dress and act like girls. They are surprisingly good at doing hair and make up!! The final thing I forget to mention is squatter toilets.... They are bowls in the ground with two elevated areas to step on. It was a big adjustment at first, but I have gotten pretty used to them now. I still prefer western style toilets, some of the squatters can get a bit smelly because they don't flush! You use a scooping pail to add clean water and manually flush down the contents in the bowl. And toilet paper is nonexistent! Everyone carries around little packs of kleenex. The last thing I will mention is that I pretty much forget about the existence of shower curtains. Our shower is freestanding in the bathroom - very different than the tub unit I have back home !

Alexis and I ride motorcycle taxis to get to nearby destinations. We learned how to say bus stop in Thai ... which sounds something like "Nah-more" and then we hop on the back of the bike and cruise to the local van stop. We also ride a motorbike to and from school for .33 cents. Other modes of transportation include tuk-tuks, which are very small vehicles with bench like seats and bizarre decorations. Song-theaws are another popular option for tourists which are like pick up trucks with bench seats facing each other in the bed of the truck. Most of the time you can bargain the price of a ride in a tuk tuk or song-theaw but in tourist destinations they really love ripping us farangs off. (Farang is the Thai word for foreigner or westerner- can't remember if I mentioned that before...) Getting on any type of vehicle is always an adventure in Thailand. The traffic laws are nonexistent and the traffic is SO heavy in Bangkok. Motorbikes weave in an out of traffic to avoid waiting and red lights are commonly ignored. When there is a traffic police officer on duty, he is usually on foot and blowing a whistle. Thai people LOVE blowing whistles and honking horns. Whenever Alexis and I are walking around Salaya, we get beeped at by truck drivers. Its actually highly agitating and scares me when they come up from behind! Another fun fact about Thailand traffic is they drive on the left side of the road like in England. I was unaware of this until I got in a van at the airport in Bangkok.

Another observation I have made during my 5 months here in Thailand is that Thai people will eat ANYTHING you put in front of them. And 90% of the time the food is made with fish, or at least cooked in some type of fish sauce. There is no such thing as breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods. Meat, rice, spicy soup, chicken feet, chicken's blood, fish on a stick- they're all fair game at any hour of the day. I have seen all of these things be consumed by Thai people and I have to say the chicken's feet thing really gets me. Also, one time when our school was serving a staff breakfast, Alexis and I were hoping for some tea or coffee. Instead, we were given a bowl of noodles with shrimp, squid, pork, and chicken. They added broth to the noodles and when I looked in the pot, there were 2 full chickens floating in the hot soup. The broth had a nice flavor but I was a little disturbed by the concept. You have to turn a blind eye to a lot of things here in Thailand. I have eaten around my fair share of ants on my plate and even though I ask for no fish and no shrimp in my meals, I have consumed a few dried shrimps in my pad thai. Even though Thai people love to snack, Alexis and I have concluded that the food here is way more natural than American processed snacks, which is why Thai people are generally so tiny. Alexis and I have discovered a new love for coconut flavored things here, and one of our favorite desserts is dried shredded coconut with natural flavors from Thai flowers.

Street food is actually very delicious, despite the hesitations Alexis and I had when we first arrived. I have mentioned before that everything here comes in a bag- and when I say everything I mean it. If you order food from a street vendor it will 100% be given to you in an air-tight plastic bag tied off with a small red rubber band. Soups come in bags, salads come in bags, SODA even comes in bags and and you stick the straw right in! One day after school a snack vendor was selling soda in a bag and I had to try it. Something about it tasted extra refreshing, but it was probably all in my head....

Another comment on street food- if it doesn't come in a bag- it comes on a stick. I have eaten many chicken on a stick dinners. They are very delicious but what I do NOT like is when I see someone gnawing on a full fish- bones and all - like its a stick of cotton candy. There is a market not far from our apartment and when Alexis and I go there to buy fruit, we only walk around certain areas. The areas selling fish and meats are what we call the "danger zone." We have seen some pretty frightening things on sale at the market, like the skin of a pig's face and pig's feet. The smells are literally un-describable. Raw meat in the Thai heat is a terrible combination.

Ah, the smells of Thailand. Between the seafood, the heat, the street dogs, the curries, and unidentifiable puddles of liquid on the sidewalks, I have smelt some pretty rancid smells. They sell inhalers at 7/11 that are menthol flavored to help with vertigo... but Alexis and I use them to block out the foul smells. We call them sniffy tubes. When I first got here, I swear I thought people were openly snorting drugs on the street, until a woman in our office explained their use to us.

Animal sightings are a common occurrence here in Thailand. Alexis and I have had more than a few unwelcome guests in our apartment ranging from ants to geckos. We also see chickens on the side of the road in very random locations. Like side of the highway, near the train tracks, and even some walking around school grounds. The other day, on the way home from the restaurant we eat at everyday for dinner, something to the left caught my eye and there was a HUGE lizard walking down a long driveway. It looked like a komodo dragon and was easily 4 feet long. It was cool to see but then I got nervous and walked home quickly to our apartment.

Everyone in Thailand goes by their nickname, which they choose at a young age. When I first arrived, all of my students wanted to know what my name was and what my nickname was and they were very confused when I responded with "just Shannon." Some of the nicknames that stuck out to me when reading my student rosters were Jasmine, Max, Ken, Cartoon, Mickey, Potato, Big, First, and Boss. Other common Thai nicknames include Ploy, Tang Mo, and Aum. Many of them I cannot pronounce and the students always laugh at me when I call their names in attendance.

Thailand has a very conservative culture. Wearing tank tops and short shorts/skirts is not socially acceptable in rural areas of the country. Because Bangkok is a more westernized city, its okay to wear whatever you want, but in Salaya I try to wear maxi skirts and short sleeves when I am out and about. I'm sure there have been times when I am traveling to Bangkok in jean shorts and a tank top that I have stood out, but its so hot here I can't help it ! Being polite is very important in Thailand and Alexis and I make sure to "Wai" (the traditional Thai greeting) each of our co-workers every morning and the few phrases of Thai we know we always end with "kha" - the polite female ending of a phrase in Thai. Thai is a very difficult language and I am mildly amazed at myself that I have lived and worked in this country for 5 months with only the knowledge of "hello, thank-you, bus stop, how much?" and the numbers 1-10. Hand gestures and charades are newly acquired talents I have developed while living in Thailand.

Disney is all the rage here in Thailand, which I LOVE. You can buy pretty much any item in the world Disney-themed here and I caved and bought an adorable Winnie the pooh phone case. Its strange though because films that are popular in America are not that well known here, but Stitch can be found on anything and everything. Other fads that are way more popular in Thailand than in America include (but are not limited to) Furby, Crocs, platform sandals, Korean Pop Music, scrunchies, Gangnam Style, denim overalls, and angry birds. Also, I think every single one of my female students is obsessed with One Direction and Justin Bieber.

Okay well I think I have rambled on long enough. I know I have left out a lot of things but I wanted to provide an insight of what it is like to live in Thailand as a farang. This has been a truly fascinating experience and I am so thankful that I was able to have this once in a lifetime opportunity. I truly can't believe Alexis and I only have 3 days of teaching left. Time has gone by SO fast- this trip has been a whirlwind of adventure. And the journey will continue, in less than 2 weeks Alexis and I will be flying to Vietnam to meet up with our friends Skye and Ethan (and Ethan's younger sister Emily! Woop Woop new friends!) where we will be traveling throughout Southeast Asia for 5 weeks. We are traveling from Vietnam to Cambodia, then back to Bangkok for a few days, then flying to BALI for a week and then flying to Singapore for 3 days. Then its back to Bangkok and Salaya for 3 days to pack up our lives and head home. I am SO excited for our travels, we will be seeing so much of the world and an amazing variety of beautiful locations. I can't believe in 7 short weeks I will be boarding a flight back to America, this trip has gone by in the blink of an eye, but I am so thankful for all that I have seen, all that I have learned, and everyone that I have met. I am so sad to say goodbye to my students (more on that later) but I am very much looking forward to our travels.

Below is a random assortment of funny/cultural photos I have randomly acquired throughout the semester.