Well, as the airport is open and things are back to ‘normal’ (which in Thailand usually means the political scene could implode at any second), I thought I’d put something light up, in the form of two stickers I saw recently. The range of window decals on vehicles here is always fun to keep tabs on, such as the “I Love Farang – I Speak English!” stickers, which are usually inside taxis where the driver can’t speak English and has no particular feelings on foriegners either way (although this guy has the regular mass-produced variety beat hands down). But at least it’s never boring.
Another oft-seen sticker that has little to do with anything except saving lives, often seen on cars that can barely start, let alone race to the scene of a life-or-death situation. I once saw a truck that had about 8 of these, ranging from around 1cm high to probably a foot.
I have no idea why this sticker can be found everywhere, and neither do several Thai friends I’ve asked. It ranges from thumbnail size to nearly a foot tall and represents… something. Change is good? Naked girls are better? The mystery remains.
This one isn’t one sticker, but I thought it was an interesting placement of two different ones. A Monk – highly revered and admired in Thailand – and a sticker for 50 Cent. Maybe the tuk-tuk driver aspires to some type of monastic thug life?
Reader Strangely_Brown mentioned this one in the comments below, and guess what I saw on the way home today? I find it ironic that there’s a no farting sticker in a taxi, when taxi drivers often treat their hostages, I mean, passengers to smells that would make a cow wince.
Several months back I started collecting stickers for my Thai language blog, and I also wondered about the naked girl getting into the knickers sticker.
The Thais with me are too busy laughing so I haven’t asked what that one is about. But I will now (thanks for reminding me).
One of my favourites is the sticker on the doors and boots of cars instructing to shut softly. All in Thai. So, does this mean only Thais slam doors?
Another mystery…
Obviously, that sticker is a modern take on a Buddhist koan:
“Is she stepping into the underwear, or stepping out of the underwear?”
Your answer is important only in what it reveals about yourself.
My favourite sticker that I saw in a Bangkok taxi was a Ghostbusters-style “No Farting” sticker on the back of a driver’s headrest. At least I think that’s what it meant. Perhaps it was actually “No sitting on small clouds.”
I have the no farthing sticker. I bought two. One small for myself and one large for a friend. Great fun and had her driver laughing for a long time.
No farthing? Is like a stand against old British money? 😛
“the no farthing sticker”
This is what happens when you don’t have the plugin for editing mistakes in comments 😉
(Blah, neither do I as it fought with other plugins…)
I believe the girl-putting-knickers-on sticker is from a famous movie poster. I recall seeing it once and going “Ohhhh, that’s where that’s from.” I will have to scour my brain to remember it. Not a pretty task.