Culture

Ten Commandments for Living in Thailand

thumb Every place has rules - from your school to your job to your girlfriend's apartment, there are just certain tenets you need to follow if you don't want to get a boot to the curb. Countries work the same way. Some rules are legal, some are moral, and some belong to that long and growing list of unwritten rules that govern different parts of our life (such as the one saying that male friends can't touch knees in a movie theater). Below are some of the rules that you need to live by if you plan on staying in Thailand for any length of time. Of course, my list is by no means comprehensive, but it's a start.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:42+00:00Bangkok, Culture, Language, Pop Culture, Thailand, Tips on Visiting, Travel|0 Comments

Why Does Thailand Keep Tripping Itself Up?

scale Before I get started on this little rant, let me assure you - as I have before - that I dearly love living in Thailand and revel in absorbing the vivacious mix of wonderful and awful, inspiring and depressing, beauty and ugliness that it offers. The people are great, the landscape is beautiful, the quality of life is superb, the history is dense and the food kicks ass. But I read something recently that got me thinking that it will be a long, hard slog if Thailand ever wants to reach its full potential. No matter how hard it strains to be the great force it could be, there's one thing that the effort always trips on - greed.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:44+00:00Bangkok, Culture, Politics, Thailand|0 Comments

Thais and “Shit”

thumb The longer you live in a place, the finer the details you begin to notice. My first year in Bangkok was all about learning how the street food system worked, tuk-tuks, social etiquette and the language - things that you notice every day. But after a while, I started noticing the smaller details, the things that you only pick up on if the bigger stuff has become second nature. One of those things is the Thai immodesty when using the word 'shit' and the way in which it's utilized in everyday language.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:45+00:00Culture, Language, Thailand|3 Comments

Welcome to Bangkok! Don’t Forget Your Street Smarts

thumb When you travel to Thailand - Bangkok in particular - you need to bring a lot of stuff. Passport and money, sunblock and music, flip-flops and camera… the list is long and varied. But whether you’re vacationing here or living here, there’s one thing that comes in handy all the time, everyday; the only caveat is that this thing is something you can’t buy. It’s street smarts. Bangkok is a city that requires a healthy dose of skepticism and a whole lot of savviness, without which you might find yourself in a bit of a pickle.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:45+00:00Bangkok, Culture, Tips on Visiting|3 Comments

A Few Things Thailand Has Perfected

check As with most foreigners in Thailand, I sometimes get upset with the many ineffective, inefficient quirks that Thailand has; the type of day where you say "Well, they did it this way in my country, why don't they do it that way here?" The correct answer, of course, is "Then go home, whiner." But while Thailand often lacks a certain refined efficiency in many areas, there are plenty of other areas - some of them creature comforts that we're used to getting at home - that are done far better than they ever were in the Motherland. Of course, I don't mean to dis Canada, but I think it's a fair representation of most western countries. Here's some of my favorite differences.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:45+00:00Culture, Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Thailand|0 Comments

The Yin and Yang of Thai Comedy

yinyang Before I go into a rant here, I want to preface this by saying that, as a guy with some stand-up comedy experience under his belt, I fully understand that comedy is an extremely subjective topic. One guy's knee-slapper is another guy's groaner; one girl's howlingly funny anecdote is another girl's highly offensive gutter tale. So, if anything I say in this post comes off as offensive, keep in mind it's nothing more than my opinion of a highly subjective topic. That being said, Thai comedy, specifically Thai television comedy, is an offense to the word comedy. It's not just bad, it's staggeringly awful. But amid the gloom is a bright light - the unparalleled genius of Thai commercials.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:46+00:00Culture, Pop Culture, Television, Thailand|0 Comments

Self-Censorship in Thailand

zip2 Free speech has the ability to make you behave in much the same way that a child does after a bowl of sugar-coated Corn Flakes - once you've tasted it, going back to how you had it before is a kick in the head. Be it a rant against The Man or a punch-bowl full of sugary goodness, it feels good to exercise our freedom to speak and/or eat. (It's in the Constitution, I checked). So it was interesting a while back when something happened and I thought to myself, "I should put this on my blog" but then decided against it. But the thing that stuck in my craw was the reason I decided against it.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:46+00:00Asia, Culture, Politics, Print Media, Technology, Thailand, Web Media|0 Comments

Some Amusing Reading – “A Description of Siam in 1829”

thumb4 If only I was as interested in history in high school as I am now, I may even have passed a class or two, instead of getting stared at by teachers bewildered as to how I made all the way to 16 without killing myself in a tragic fruit accident. At any rate, it's a topic that sure interests me now, and one that I occasionally give a boost by doing some reading. I thought it would be neat to put up some snippets of a letter that I just finished titled A Description of Siam in 1829 by Frenchman Barthélemy Bruguière. I normally stick to more 'accessible' fare (coughArchiecough). but had some time to kill, and ended up really getting into it. It's an interesting - and slightly funny - read.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:46+00:00Asia, Culture, Education, History, Religion, Thailand|0 Comments

The Conundrum of Thai Education

thumb2 I saw an article in the Bangkok Post yesterday and it inspired me to write this rant post. The headline read "Obec queries benefit of repeated classes", Obec being the Office of the Basic Education Comission, which oversees the rules and regulations that govern the Thai education system. I'll include some quotes below, but essentially the article said that making kids repeat courses if they fail is unfair because it makes them feel bad, and doesn't have any real benefit anyway. Good Lord, someone call the Wah!mbulance. Having done my time in front of a class in Thailand, I thought I'd chime in with some thoughts.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:47+00:00Culture, Education|0 Comments

An Afternoon With a Tea Master

Like many big cities with a strong 'crossroads' element, Bangkok is a place where cultures, personalities, and histories merge into one big socio-economic stew. There exists almost unlimited opportunities to see things you've never heard about; experience things you've never thought of; and talk to people you never would have met otherwise. It's a hell of an opportunity to learn some pretty cool stuff. At a recent lecture at the Siam Society, I met a gentleman named John Toomey, an American who is, ahem, steeped in the ancient and intricate tea ceremonies of Japan and Korea. He very graciously invited myself and a few others to his house to take part in a tea ceremony, and this is how it went down. A warning - if you don't really dig tea or cultural nuance, this post might be a bit long for you.

Greg2016-11-17T15:48:48+00:00Asia, Culture, Food|3 Comments