Talk: Only in Thailand

If you’ve ever find yourself in Thailand, you probably know the phase called “Thailand only.” This sums up an event or things that only exist in the land of smiles. So I make a list of my favorite things that happen only in this beautiful country. Some can be funny and hilarious but some can sounds weird as well.

picture from http://pantip.com/topic/33822909

1. Putting soft drink into a carrying plastic bag.
I’m pretty sure that everybody who was born and raise up in Thailand has experience this. When you buy a soft drink from a small convenience store, they will put your drink into a carrying plastic bag! Believe it or not, it tastes a whole lot better than drinking it from a bottle or a can because they also put ices in it. What a creative idea.

2. This car’s color is *insert your favorite color here* 
This hilarious sign that some Thais put on the back of their vehicles, saying that this car is colored white or even pink when the actual color is not even close to what they say. They do this because they believe that it will makes them luckier and to be more fortunate. This is very common thing to do in Thailand and a best rock band in Thailand called, Bodyslam, even made a song about it. Give it a listen, it’s a great song.

3. Bird, Thongchai McIntyre
Everybody in Thailand knows this guy, I mean literally everyone from the younger ages to the older one. He is the most iconic person in a Thai music industry and that’s the fact. He is also an ideal for a good person in Thai society. Almost every songs he sang become a hits and he has been a role model for younger singers for generations. This guy deserved a title”Legend.”  If you want to study more on Thai society, he is pretty much all you have to do a research for. He has been everywhere and I bet if you ask anyone that’s sitting or standing next to you right now, they would recognize him. He’s almost like a religion for Thai people.

4. The longest name for a capital city in the world.
A lot of you guys probably be familiar with this one. In case you didn’t know the full name of Bangkok a.k.a. Krung Thep is “Krung Thep Mahanakhon amon Rattanakosin mahintara ayuthaya mahadilok phop noppharat Ratchathani Burirom udomratchaniwet mahasathan amon piman awatan Sathit sakkathattiya witsanukam Prast.” I can’t even remember that in case you’re wondering.

5. Social Network addiction, syndrome or whatever.
Do you know how many accounts of Facebook that people in Thailand have? 28 millions! that’s more than 1/4 of the population. Growing over 53% in a last couple of years. Also Siam Paragon and Suvarnabhumi Airport have been ranked at number 1 and 2 on a list by Instagram as a most Instagrammed places in the world. Recently there’s also a new Thai song that reached 100 million views in only just a month. Can you believe it? Thai people can’t live without social media anymore.

6. Asking a ghost’s permission.
Thailand might not be the only place that does this but for sure we’re famous from it. Historically, overnight visitors to a Thai home were requested to ask permission from spirit ghost of the land to stay in the house. Some Thais will even perform this ritual before going to sleep in a hotel room. I do this every now and then because I believe that’s the way to show respect to each place I stay over night or even just for a little while. Beautiful tradition.

7. Grengjai
There is not even a single word exist in an English dictionary that can define the word “Grengjai” in Thai culture. There are so many articles trying to make foreigners understand this incredible word and so many have failed. I manage to find a good one that explain a lot on this beautiful culture. The simple answer is it means to be considerate, unobtrusive, not causing another person problems.

After all these things I put on the list today, I just want to make sure that there’s no right or wrong in this kind of things. We have different cultures but we are not different in terms of human-being. Just because the other don’t believe the same thing as you, it isn’t wrong. It’s just a different belief as long as it doesn’t affect others. So please respect and accept these different traditions and cultures.