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About Face.

By Sean Moran, Created on: 14/10/2008, Last updated on: 13/04/2014

» One olde axiom that comes to mind is, '[i:3b539sim]If you can't say something nice, then keep your mouth s.h.u.t.[/i:3b539sim]' Just a thread that pertains to one of the cultural differences one might notice in venturing from a typical 'westernised' society of the assertive kind to the shores of...

• fast eddy commented : Morning Sean, Yes, I'm totally with you too on the vast difference in attitudes when facing village Thais and big city Thais. As I've said before, I'm trying for the perfect balance between friendly, unbiased Thais in my life and the availability of modern living. The extremes are obvious and I have tried big city life both in Bangkok (Samsen Road soi 1) and Nonthaburi (Wat Tagarn, Sai Marr) both of which places saw me make some very good Thai friends (or I should say friends of my Thai wife - she made them and I was the curiosity factor) but any financial transactions needed to be taken with me out of the picture to avoid the price hike. The other extreme doesn't really appeal as my hermit/wandering days are over and I do like a bit of creature comfort. I think I am pretty much where I want to be right now and the search has payed off. Klauskent - you are also spot on. Even Thais have said that they don't have friends as we would class people under that word. As such, alturism doesn't exist out here as every action has an inherent consequence on the scales of Karma. You may argue that if this is the case why don't they just go about helping each other wherever they can and fill up their Karma account? Well, they (the Thais that your everyday westerner would come across in daily life) do tend to live day to day through financial necessity and therefore need to score whenever and wherever they can! Do they 'trade a better tomorrow for a better today?' is their fundemental question of life! It's a constant battle - but you can be sure that it's 'game on' with whomever they transact with - be it Thai or Non-Thai. Not sure that this could be our fault as we introduced this to them. Not sure where that came from. What I do know is that the boy friend of one of my colleagues bought a little bag of pineapple from the fruit vender in front of the Errawan Shrine next to Sogo Department store and was charged 200bt for what should have been 20bt! Now this shrine is very holy and to take such a risk within a stone's throw of the place tells you a lot about Thais! fast eddy

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