Things That Frustrate Tourists in Thailand

Number 1: The Smells from the Drains

Number one was the smells from the drains. I didn’t think about that, but yeah, there is you know, I tell you where it’s really bad. I haven’t been there for about a year now, but it used to be Pattaya. You’d walk along the beachfront and there was an awful, awful smell coming from the drains.

The smells don’t bother me too much, but obviously they bother this guy, and that’s why he sent it in.

Number 2: Street Hawkers Not Taking No for an Answer

Number two: street hawkers not taking no for an answer. Yeah, I’m right with you there. There are a few of them about, but it’s terrible. They come up to you in the street and show you these bangles or some model that they’ve made a wooden motorbike, normally.

You say no, and in the West we’re so polite we’ll say “no thank you” and smile. They take that as a kind of… they just won’t give up. They keep following you down the street, tapping you. That’s really annoying. So I’m with you on that one.

Number 3: The Lack of Garbage Cans

Number three: the lack of garbage cans around the streets. I don’t know what it’s like where you live, but in the UK, wherever you go, there are a lot of garbage cans on the street. If you’re drinking a can of coke or a bottle of water, or you’ve finished a fast food takeaway wrapper, you don’t throw it on the floor. It’s just a few hundred yards to the nearest bin you keep it until you get there.

This guy wrote to me and said that there’s a lack of garbage cans. He said what happens with him is he’ll buy a small bottle of water from 7-Eleven, finish it, and not want to just throw it onto the sidewalk. He looks for a bin and can’t find one. He said he often walks around for 20 minutes carrying this bottle until he has to discreetly leave it on a ledge or something like that which I think we’ve all done.

Number 4: Not Knowing Which Shops Have Fixed Pricing

Number four I’ve not really come across this myself, but he’s written: not knowing which shops have fixed pricing. In the UK and I’m sure it’s the same where you live you go into a shop and there’s no bartering unless it’s a market. Everything has got a price on it, and whatever the price says on the ticket is what you pay.

A lot of shops in Thailand obviously don’t have prices on them. You have to ask them what the price is, and I’m sure it changes depending on what country you come from. So that’s a little niggle for the person who sent that in.

Number 5: Street Hawkers in Restaurants

Number five this one I really… it’s about street hawkers again, and it really, really bugs me big-time. I’m glad the guy sent this one in. It’s street hawkers being allowed in the restaurants.

How many times have you been sitting in a nice open-air restaurant in, say, Pattaya or Jomtien or one of the other beach resorts? It’s a real nice restaurant it’s open, there are no walls, you’re looking out at the ocean, you’re enjoying a meal with your favorite friend that day and you get these guys coming in. If you try to ignore them, they tap you. You’re trying to have a meal, talking to your friend or whoever you’re with, and every two minutes they’re tapping you. That’s really, really annoying.

But the Thais look at it differently to us. First of all, they’re not paying out good money to enjoy a nice meal with a nice atmosphere they’re working, so it doesn’t really bother them too much. The other thing is they just think, “Why stop them making a chance to make money from these guys? They may need to eat as well.” And that’s how they think.

But it is really, really annoying. And what’s more annoying than them coming in asking you if you want to buy something when you’re in the middle of your meal whatever it is you’re eating is them just not going away. You say “no thank you” and smile, and they just will not go away. You’re trying to have a meal. That’s a big one for me as well.

Number 6: Hawkers on the Beach

That leads us into number six again hawkers. I think this is the last one about hawkers. It’s hawkers on the beach. You’re sitting on the beach in Pattaya. If you’ve had a heavy night on the booze and you’re out on the beach, you have a drink and you kick back. Because of all the umbrellas, the sun isn’t directly on you and you can actually doze off and have a snooze.

The times I’ve just sort of dropped off and someone’s been tapping my shoulder again it’s some guy with, again, a wooden motorbike or something stupid that I wouldn’t take with me if he gave it to me because I wouldn’t want to cart it around with me for the rest of the day. Again, they’re just so annoying those street hawkers on the beaches.

Number 7: Tourists Treating Thai People Like Rubbish

Okay, we’re going to change the subject now. We’re on to number seven no more hawkers. But as you can guess, a lot of people just don’t like those hawkers.

Number seven: tourists who treat Thai people like rubbish. I don’t like that as well. They’ve got this air of superiority. They think that all Thais are stupid I don’t know why they go to Thailand. They carry this air of superiority even though they’re not, and they kind of talk down to the Thais. It gives everybody a bad reputation.

Number 8: Shouting Louder When Someone Doesn’t Understand

Number eight this is a funny one. It’s true as well. I shouldn’t laugh it’s not funny but if someone doesn’t understand, they just shout louder.

They’ll talk to a Thai in a restaurant. You know what the Thais do? They giggle, don’t they? If they don’t understand you, they giggle. They’re not laughing at you it’s just their way of covering up embarrassment. They’re embarrassed because they don’t understand you and why should they? They’re Thai. They’re not going to speak your language unless they’ve been formally educated.

You’ll ask them a question, they don’t understand, and they giggle. I’ve seen it before the guy asks the same question, but he shouts it at them because he thinks if he says it louder, they’ll suddenly understand English. That’s not good.

Number 9: Expats Who Whinge About the Country They Choose to Live In

There are a few like this they’ve got little bits of variations on them. Number nine: expats who continually whinge about the country they choose to live in.

I’ve experienced this a lot. You’re in a bar and a guy will say, “Oh, Thailand’s rubbish, isn’t it? Look at the streets. All the sidewalks are uneven. There’s rubbish everywhere. Back in [my country], they sweep the streets. You won’t find a can on the floor.”

You think, “Just shut up. What are you doing here? Did you come to complain?” Just go with the flow.

I’ve personally experienced being in bars where guys have actually been telling Thais, “In my country, we don’t have this. We have that. It’s so much better.” It’s embarrassing, actually.

Number 10: Indian Tailors Everywhere

Number 10: Indian tailors everywhere. “How many suits can a guy have?” I’m reading it just as it was sent to me.

Yeah, I know what you mean, but I kind of have quite a tolerance for stuff like this. At the end of the day, most of those Indians that grab you as you walk by their shop don’t forget, they are Indian but most are born in Thailand. They’re just trying to make a living. They’ve all got families. They’re good salesmen, aren’t they? If you were in business, would you do it? I’d probably be a bit shy to accost people in the street like that, but they’re not. They do it.

As much as it doesn’t annoy you I can understand it it doesn’t really annoy me. I just smile and say “no thank you,” and they’re not as bad as the hawkers. So that obviously upsets or really annoys the person who sent this in to me, but it doesn’t bother me.

Number 11: Thai Visa Forums (The Keyboard Warriors)

Number eleven now before I read this one out, guys, this isn’t me, okay? So don’t start sending me vicious emails saying you didn’t like this point. This has been sent by somebody. I’ll read it out just as he sent it to me. Again, just to reiterate, it’s not my pet hate, so don’t involve me in it when you start getting angry.

Number eleven: Thai Visa. For anybody who doesn’t know what Thai Visa is, it’s a website. It’s not a Thai website it’s a foreign language website. Thai Visa you can type it into Google. It has a lot of things on there about Thailand, but it has a lot of input from expats who live in Thailand. I wouldn’t always accept the news or anything that’s said on there because there is a lot of nonsense on there. I’ve read things and thought, “Now, I’ve known it not to be true.”

So when we talk about the next point, when I say Thai Visa, that’s what it is.

The viewer wrote: “Thai Visa where almost all the regular posters have so little going on in their sad, boring, pathetic lives that the only joy they get in life is moaning and complaining about Thailand.”

I know what he means. And as I said how many times am I going to say it? it’s not me writing this. But I do know where he’s coming from. I’ve been in bars and guys are there and they’re just bitter. They’re complaining about everything “The Thais don’t know how to do this, they don’t know how to do that, they’re stupid.” You look at them and think, “Why are you here? Why are you in Thailand? You obviously hate all Thai people, you obviously hate the country, you obviously hate everything about it. What are you doing here?”

This guy’s obviously talking about the keyboard warriors. There are a lot of guys who I think what it is they’ve retired too early. They haven’t necessarily got enough money to retire on. They’re stretched out as far as they can, sitting in a small room somewhere, and they get really bitter.

Because what happens is, when people come in on vacation, those people have got plenty of cash because they’ve saved up for the vacation. They can afford to go out and have nice meals, lots of drinks, entertain the ladies. The retired guys can’t they’re watching every penny, buying a beer from 7-Eleven if they want to have a treat. They just turn bitter because they look at people on vacation and get jealous.

But at the end of the day, if I go on vacation, I’m a holiday millionaire. That doesn’t mean I live like that in the UK.

Number 12: A Fork and Spoon with Every Dish

Number twelve a guy sent this in. I put it on the list, but I think it’s a little bit irrelevant really because it’s Thailand.

He says: “A fork and spoon with every dish.” He went on to say that once he ordered a steak and he got a spoon and a fork.

Obviously, if you’re in Thailand okay, let’s not say “all” because somebody will prove me wrong let’s say 99% of all meals can be eaten with a spoon and a fork. You get soup you can use a spoon. You get rice you can use a spoon and a fork. Vegetables spoon and a fork. Just about everything you eat with a spoon and a fork.

Obviously, it’s geared up for Thailand. They’re Thai. It’s their food. That’s why they serve you with a fork and a spoon. If you go and order a steak, I don’t think it’s a big deal to say, “Excuse me, could I have a knife please?” They’ll bring you a knife, and that’s the end of it.

Number 13: Putting Sugar in Everything

Number 13 next one. I kind of agree with this one. It’s putting sugar in everything.

If you go to somewhere like Costa Coffee or one of the big chains, they’ll do coffee like they do in your country espressos, lattes, all those sorts of coffees and they’ll be exactly the same as in your country. But a lot of Thai cafes you go to, order coffee, and they always put syrup in everything.

I remember years ago I don’t know if they still do it because I haven’t bought bread from 7-Eleven for a long, long time but going back 25 years, I was in Chinatown and I was hungry. I couldn’t find anything in Chinatown it was all chicken feet and awful stuff, which is not me. In desperation, I went into 7-Eleven. I didn’t want anything sweet I didn’t want a bag of Lays crisps I wanted something a bit more substantial.

I looked in the fridge. There were some sandwiches. There was some green filling didn’t go for that but there was something that resembled ham. I bought it. It was a sandwich that looked like a regular ham sandwich. But when I ate it outside, it was sweet. They obviously put sugar in the bread.

Number 14: Traffic Not Stopping at Pedestrian Crossings

Number fourteen: traffic not stopping at pedestrian crossings. Yeah, again, I agree with that.

I remember once it was recently, actually. I went to Patpong from the Silom end. Where the taxi dropped me off, it was right outside the McDonald’s, so I had to cross over to get to the other side of the road. There was a pedestrian crossing there. There were no cars coming and I wouldn’t be as foolish to actually step onto the zebra crossing when cars were coming. I would wait until I knew it was safe because in the UK, cars will stop. But not in Thailand you’re taking your life in your hands.

I made sure there was nothing coming, walked across on the zebra crossing (which we call a pedestrian crossing in the UK), and I was halfway across when this black Mercedes Benz was coming down Silom. She must have been doing 50 or 60 miles an hour. It was a lady driver. She was looking at me. I actually froze because I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have time to think she was coming so fast. I was on the pedestrian crossing. I was shocked at the speed she was coming at me. I just stopped and froze on the pedestrian crossing. Eventually, she did stop, and I carried on. It was a little bit embarrassing, actually.

So yeah traffic not stopping at pedestrian crossings.

Number 15: Fast Food Being More Expensive Than in the West

Number 15: fast food being more expensive than it is in the West.

I’m not a fan of things like McDonald’s, but occasionally if I’m in Thailand for a month or two months I do like fried rice and soups and all the rest of it but occasionally I’ve had it where I wake up in the morning and think, “You know what? I want a McDonald’s.”

You’ll pay anywhere from 300 baht up for a set or a meal. The exchange rate is all over the place, but 300 baht at the moment is about £7.50 or $9 US dollars. You go in and get a Big Mac set a drink, maybe a side order and it’s 300 baht. That’s a lot, because in the US fast food is so cheap they almost give it away.

Number 16: Taxi Drivers Asking If You Like Thai Ladies

Number 16: taxi drivers asking if you like Thai ladies. Yeah, I get this all the time. It’s basically a roundabout way of offering you a hooker.

You’ve been to the airport. You try to be a bit friendly to the taxi driver. He doesn’t stop talking. For me, it takes 18 hours from my front door to my hotel room when I go to Bangkok it’s a 12-hour direct flight with Thai Airways and I’m really tired. When I get in the taxi, I just can’t wait to get to the hotel, have a shower, brush my teeth. You just feel dirty, hungry, smelly you want to get back.

Some of these taxi drivers are genuinely friendly, but some of them are just working you. They’re manipulating the situation to try and extract some cash from you either from you or commission somewhere else. They’ll start talking to you, and it always goes the same way: “You like Thai ladies?” with that little grin and that little giggle. You’ll say, “Yeah, you know, I like everybody,” sort of thing, and they’ll offer to take you somewhere.

The lesson about that is a good one. I never thought about it, but it doesn’t annoy me. It is a valid point, though.

Number 17: MRT Guards Whistling

Number 17: MRT guards. If you’ve been living on the moon and you don’t know what the MRT is, it stands for Mass Rapid Transportation System the overhead trains in Bangkok. Very good, by the way.

MRT guards at stations whistling when you get near the yellow line. I’ve had it happen to me. When it first opened I think it was 2001, something like that anyway, like every other country in the world, you’ve got the train tracks and the platform, and about one meter in from the edge of the platform you’ve got a yellow line. If you cross that yellow line, there’s a guard on every station with a nice bright shiny whistle which he can blow. And they do.

In London, for instance, on the Underground, if you step over the line, yes, somebody will say something. But in Thailand, you can be up to the yellow line you’re not over it, you’re not touching it, you’ve probably got a good 10 or 20 centimeters before the line is at your shoe and the guy is blowing his whistle: “Get back, get back!” as if you’re going to jump off onto the track.

It doesn’t really bother me, but obviously it’s an irritant that bothers this guy.

Number 18: Banknotes Have to Be Perfect

Number 18 we touched on this point in the last video, but it’s a valid point which I’ll bring into this one as well. Banknotes have to be perfect.

If you remember that other video, I was telling you that there’s just no flexibility on damaged banknotes. When I say “damaged,” I mean even if somebody’s written a tiny number on it, or there’s a little corner gone, or it’s fraying at the top.

Basically, they’re just really, really fussy on banknotes. The slightest blemish on it and you can’t change it. That’s really annoying because if you go there with 2,000 pounds, you end up bringing 200 pounds back. You don’t lose the money, but you’ve taken it there to spend.

Number 19: People Grabbing You to Pull You into a Bar

We’re nearly done now, guys. Number 19 this doesn’t bother me, but it obviously bothered this guy. He said: people grabbing you to pull you into the bar.

You know what it’s like same as the Indian tailors. Especially in somewhere like Sukhumvit Soi 4 (Nana). You walk down the street. Let’s just say you pass Nana you don’t feel like going into Nana, it’s a bit early, it’s 8 o’clock, you want to go and check out a few more bars.

What happens sometimes and they’re quite charming, actually you get these girls who stand at the entrance and hold a sign that says “Chang Baht Bar All Night” or “Happy Hour.” They try to encourage you into the bar. It’s very competitive. There are a lot of foreigners down in Soi 4, but it’s still very competitive, especially now with fewer tourists going to Thailand.

Sometimes they grab your arm or grab your shirt and try to pull you into the bar. I find it quite fun, really. I mean, that’s what you go to Thailand for, isn’t it? It’s a game. But it obviously annoys some people. It doesn’t annoy me at all, by the way.