These Things Will Annoy You About Thailand
Number 1: The Sidewalks (Pavements)
Number one on my list and I am referring to my trusty clipboard here with it all typed out is the sidewalks. In the UK we call them pavements, but generally we’re talking about the area next to a road that’s designed for pedestrians to walk along safely so they don’t get hit by passing cars.
In Thailand, they seem to be used for everything especially selling things. They are really hard to navigate.
To give you a really good example: Sukhumvit. If you cross over from the police box, you come out of Soi 4, cross over to the police box, you’ll be at the end of Soi 3. Just try walking from Soi 3 down to Asok.
You’ve got stalls on your left that have hanging canopies of plastic. You’ve got owners in front. You’ve got things that they’ve got displayed jutting out onto the pavement. On the right-hand side of the sidewalk, you’ve got people selling drinks with big portable freezer ice boxes. You’ve got beggars lots of kid beggars, children beggars that are probably arranged by the local mafia. You’ve got disabled people on the path in front of you holding tin cups.
Nothing against any of them, but it’s just really hard to walk down the street. In fact, to be honest, it’s actually easier to just step onto the road and walk along the road and that defeats the whole point of having a sidewalk. The point of the sidewalk is so that pedestrians can walk along it safely, but you can’t.
It’s just hell trying to navigate down there. If you’ve done it, you’ll know what I mean. If you haven’t, you’ve got something that you won’t be looking forward to it won’t be a nice experience when you have to navigate down those pavements.
A lot of this has to do with the planning here in the city. This area, Rama 9, grew very quickly you can see all the condos behind me it’s a very busy neighborhood, and yet there’s been very little effort put into developing a walkable infrastructure in the area.
I recommend if you’re planning to stay in the city, move to the city, that you do take a look around, look at the walkability of an area , because it gets annoying when you’re constantly navigating stuff in your way.
Before we move on from those sidewalks, I also have to address the walking culture . A little too often, people in Thailand walk around staring at their phone. And these are on narrow sidewalks, broken-up sidewalks.
Three times this week, somebody walked directly into me. One of them was a really big guy, and afterwards very apologetic. It’s not a deliberate thing it’s not like people are trying to be malicious there’s just a lack of attentiveness to spatial surroundings . This big guy, he bumped into me, and I’m pretty big too. If that had been a little old lady or a woman with children, that would have ended very differently.
Number 2: Foreigners Are Always Wrong (Even When They’re Right)
Number two on my list: foreigners are always wrong, even when they’re right. I know that sounds crazy, but what I mean is you just can’t win an argument with a Thai person.
Number 3: Taxis The Constant Battle
Number three surprise, surprise that this one gets on the list is taxis. In Thailand, there are thousands and thousands of taxis. It’s great that you can get around, but what I really hate about it, being a foreigner, is that every time I want to go somewhere, I don’t want to have to fight every single taxi driver I come across.
But what I really hate is I’ll get in, they’ll take one look at me foreigner and say, “300 baht, 200 baht.” I just get sick of it. It really is an irritation.
Number 5: Pollution and Rubbish on Beaches
Number five: pollution. It’s getting pretty bad in Bangkok now, as it is in most cities. I’ve actually taken to wearing a mask. I remember three decades ago when I first got there, I’d see the Thais walking down the street with these little white masks, and I thought how strange that looks really funny. I never thought back then that when I visit now, I would be doing exactly the same.
It’s just become unbearable. When I go there, my voice actually changes I get gruff. It is really, really getting very polluted.
The other thing I don’t like about Thailand is all the rubbish you get on the beaches. They don’t seem to take it too seriously. They do have guys who pick litter up, but even so, there are a lot of plastic bottles and rubbish lying around. That’s something I don’t really like about Thailand.
Number 6: The Assumption That All Foreigners Are Rich
Number six is more related to people who work in the entertainment industry the girls, the waitresses, bar people, all them sort of people. It really kind of gets me that all these people assume that because you’re a foreigner, you’re automatically rich. You’ve got a big car, you’ve got a big house back home. You’re rich for the pickings a good target.
They don’t seem to grasp the fact that you could be a postman who’s worked hard all his life just for two weeks in the sun. When you get there, you’re what we call a “holiday millionaire.” You’ve got money to splash around for two weeks, but you’ve saved 50 weeks for that two weeks.
I’ve seen guys try to explain it where the guy says, “In my country, I’m not rich. I’ve got money here because I’ve saved up.” And they just don’t believe that. They won’t have it. They’ll think, “No, you’re a foreigner. You must be absolutely rich.” That’s something that’s a little bit irritating.
Number 9: Racism and the Two-Tier Pricing System
Number nine is quite serious. This one doesn’t irritate me at all now because I’m used to it after decades. I’ve come across it, and it used to really irritate me, but it does send some foreigners wild. I can understand why. It’s the racism and the two-tier system that they have in Thailand.
Like I say, these days it doesn’t irritate me because I’m used to it. I just wouldn’t pay. If I drove 100 miles to go to a park and it said I had to pay one baht more than a Thai, I wouldn’t pay it. I’d get back in the car and go. But that’s me I’m just pigheaded. But there you go racism, two-tier pricing. It’s just something I don’t like.
Number 10: Wild Packs of Dogs
Number 10 we’re halfway through the list, guys and this one I really don’t like. There are one or two things on here that do irritate me and I really don’t like, and I’ll point them out to you. This is the first of a couple of them.
I’ve had two very bad experiences. One was about ten years ago. I was riding down a quiet soi, and these dogs were sitting there. I could see them in the distance, and I actually thought, “I hope they don’t wake up and go wild.” I went past them, and they just went for me. Fangs, saliva coming down the front of their faces.
I put my legs up like this, and nothing happened because I was faster than them. I looked back, and they were chasing me about six of them running after the motorbike. They didn’t get me, but it was frightening, I’ll be honest with you.
The last time was just recently. I was in Hua Hin I tend to hang around Hua Hin these days, not Pattaya and I met a friend there. I rented my motorcycle, and we were going around all these tiny neighborhoods. I looked down a soi, it looked like at the end it went to the right, so I went down there assuming that I could turn right and go out that way.
As I went past, there was a pack of about three or four dogs on the right. They didn’t do anything when I passed them. But when it was a dead end, I had to come back on myself. When I stopped, turned the bike round, and came back again, these dogs were savages. They just ran at the motorbike fangs showing, saliva dripping. They had hatred in their eyes and blood on their brains.
Again, I lifted my legs up, gave it full throttle, and got away. But I thought about it afterwards: if my front wheel had gone from under me, I’d be lying on the ground with these dogs biting my face, biting my neck. Would they have savaged me? I really hate them.
Number 11: The Lack of Privacy
Now I’ve got that one off my chest, we’re going to number 11. Not quite so serious, but it’s the concept of privacy that the Thais don’t have. They don’t have any qualms about asking you personal questions.
In the West, if I was living in my apartment and somebody moved in next door and introduced themselves “My name’s Peter, what’s your name, what do you do?” probably that’s about it. If they wanted to open up and tell me what they did, all good. If they didn’t, no problem.
But in Thailand, it’s not like that. They’ll ask you personal questions from day one, and then they’ll gossip about you to other people. They’ll ask you things like, “Have you got a girlfriend? Have you had a girlfriend?” I can’t think of a really personal question at the moment, but “How much have you got in the bank?” no problem at all asking questions like that.
That doesn’t really irritate me, but I’ve had to think of 20 things, and that’s something that’s a little bit I don’t really like it. It’s one of the things I don’t really like about Thailand this lack of privacy, where they don’t understand the concept of people wanting their privacy.
Number 12: The Expat Community and Heavy Drinking
Number 12: the expat community seems to be comprised of a lot of alcoholic people. Now that sounds bad. What I mean by that is I like to drink as much as the next person. I am quite a heavy drinker when I’m in Thailand it’s just the whole vibe out there.
But it seems that no matter what group you join or what bunch of friends you hang around with in Thailand, it seems to be the norm for expats to be real heavy drinkers. Even in the daytime, I’ve gone to somebody’s house I know that person, but I don’t know the other six people there. I’ve been introduced, and they’ve got a bottle of Thai whisky on the table, and they’re drinking at 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning. They think I’m weird because I’d rather have a coffee.
It’s not something I hate it’s just something that makes me feel uncomfortable. You want to fit into a group, especially if you’ve just been introduced to people. You don’t want to be seen as a bit weird. They’re all drinking whisky and you don’t want to drink, and it just makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable. That’s one of my pet hates, actually.
Number 13: Deodorant Hard to Find and Expensive
Number 13 this is a bit of a strange one. It’s a little bit of an irritant, but you can’t get hold of good deodorant cheaply. If you go into 7-Eleven or these small pharmacies, you can get deodorant, but they tend to use these sticks with a rollerball on the end. I find them sticky and messy. I just don’t like them. I like a good aerosol.
But again, you need to take plenty of deodorant with you. If you’re an expat and you live there, then obviously that’s not an issue. But it’s a little bit irritating.
Number 17: The Loud Advertising Baht Buses
Do you remember I said on this list there are a couple of things that really irritate me? The rest most of them don’t they’re just little things but two or three of them do. We’ve got to another one of them. This one really, really irritates me.
It’s the advertising baht buses. They’ve got two sides to them. Normally they’re advertising Thai boxing or a show or some singing group that’s come to town. They start off real early in the morning like 8:30 and they’ve got a couple of speakers up front, and they are goddamn loud.
When I went to Hua Hin last time, I was in Soi 94. I’d had a late night the night before been down Soi 88, had a skinful, got back to the hotel about 3:00 in the morning, fast asleep. And I could hear this thing getting nearer and nearer. It seems to take forever to get to you and then pass you.
I had the pillow over my head, and it was getting nearer and nearer and louder and louder. They are so irritating it’s unbelievable. They’re loud. By the time it got to the hotel, it was deafening. It passed, it faded away. I laid there and thought, “Thank God for that.” Five minutes later, another one came.
There’s not much I really hate about Thailand, but I really, really hate those baht buses those loud advertising baht buses. Just in case I never mentioned it: I hate those baht buses.
