Land of smiles . Ha ha

[trubrit]

Just listening to this mornings radio news . They are reporting that a 77 year old Dutch man on his first ever visit to Thailand was crossing beach road in Pattaya,he was walking rather slowly with the aid of a stick, when a tour bus with a load of Chinese tourists on board came to a stop . The passengers thought the driver was going to help in, but no, He actually attacked him from behind, knocking him to the ground whilst shouting " Why you walk so slow " The old guy was taken to hospital where he was found to have fractured his hip . The police were called as there were many witnesses to the assault and eventually traced the culprit to a nearby hotel where he was dropping his passengers. They have charged a 43 year old man with the offence . A police spokesman said," We take this very seriously as it doesn't portray Thailand as a good place to take your holiday ". Can't really add to that can I ? :-"

[21again]

LOS,yeh right, Land Of Sh*theads more like.

[DermotC]

Where ever there are people you are going to have incidents. Thats a fact of life and its not restricted to Thailand. You never hear the good stories only the bad. I have had a host of thais do really nice things for me on all of my holidays here and now living here. The good out weighs the bad and if you think about it you'll probably decide Im right. If you dont then you should go home.

[grozza]

he was never going to get away with that was he.with a bus load of chinese tourists i bet they all had cameras in hand and took a thousand pictures each.on a serious note your right not a good look for thailand right now when they need every tourist they can get.

[trubrit]

Where ever there are people you are going to have incidents. Thats a fact of life and its not restricted to Thailand. You never hear the good stories only the bad. I have had a host of thais do really nice things for me on all of my holidays here and now living here. The good out weighs the bad and if you think about it you'll probably decide Im right. If you dont then you should go home.

Of course you are right the good should outweigh the bad. I am sure it does but one story like this will deter far more prospective visitors than would be attracted by a thousand good stories .Its what I am constantly trying to say with the farang image here in Udon. Most of us are fairly reasonable , polite guys, but no one remembers us, but get one a "'hole and everyone remembers him .. My old mother used to say,'People remember those that are very good or very bad" Unfortunately the majority of us are in the middle so we are judged along with the very bad .Not fair is it? However thats life .

[DermotC]

Good Point TB!

[treehugger]

" The evil that men do lives after them, but the good is oft interred with their bones"

Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar - Act 3 Scene 2

[Philip101]

in my opinion Thailand is still the land of smiles.

I just think of all the villages i have cycled past, all of the little roadside restraunts ive stopped by, all of the towns ive visted...the people ive met.

I think its only natural that horrible things like what happened to that dutch man will happen, but bare in mind these stories are rare.......very rare.

But Pattaya i would keep an eye on closely. the amount of murders and accidents there is alot even by english standards, i went there ounce in 2005....and i never, and will never go back. The place is turning, or turned into another 'malaga' or 'magaluf'.

Atleast most of the louts are confined to those places and dont bother the rest of us in places such as udon

[fatbas***d]

Agree with you there Phil, in daily life the people u meet here are genuinely friendly, (except for the expat Fortuner driver I met last night ), but in general the experiences are good.
Every country has its share of buttholes, the trick is to avoid them.
I guess the bus driver was a pissed that he had the job of driving a bunch of Chinese tourists around all day, that really would induce road rage for me.

[nkstan]

They probably asked to many questions The Land of Smiles is not denied,it is ,whats behind the smile!The smile could be big and continuous if they have if they have a sucker on the hook!

I doubt it will deter to many tourists!If it does,they will just raise the prices and the newbies and some tourists will say,''this is much cheaper than home,and warm also,besides things like this happen everywhere,did you see that beauty that smiled at me?''.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

I guess the bus driver was a pissed that he had the job of driving a bunch of Chinese tourists around all day, that really would induce road rage for me.

Don't know why the guy would be angry, it is his job after all, and that is what he is getting paid to do. Presumably, the tour company is owned by a Sino-Thai so he must know how to deal with Chinese.

[Shado]

Perhaps a bit off topic, but interesting none the less.


The (Thai) smile is perceived as being just about the most appropriate “answer” to any possible situation. It’s used to show happiness, embarrassment, fear, tension, resignation, remorse. Just imagine how many different smiles there are in Thailand! For foreigners they look all the same, but for Thais their smiles offer an amazing array of shadows and tones:

- yim tak tai: The polite smile, used for strangers

- feun yim: The “I-am-forced-to-smile-even-I-do-not-want-to” smile

- yim cheuat cheuan: The winner’s smile over a rival

- yim tang nam dtah: The truly happy smile

- yim tak tan: The “sorry-you-are-wrong-again” smile

- yim sao: The smile masking sadness or unhappiness

- yim mee lay-nai: The evil smile

- yim cheun chom: The admiring smile

- yim yor: The arrogant smile

- yim mai ork: The forced smile

- yim yair-yair: The smile to apologize and take the heat out of an awkward, embarrassing situation

- yim hairng: The nervous, apologetic smile

- yim soo: The “it-cannot-get-any-worse-therefore-I-better-smile” smile

Source and Full Article: http://absolutelybangkok.com/the-thai-smile/

[Laan Yaa Mo]

How do you tell these different smiles apart from one another?

[trubrit]

Further to my original story which was based on a radio news report, it has been brought to my attention that the topic has been picked up on that other forum Where I have been accused and abused by some who cannot find a link to it. Its even suggested that I may have made it up . So now i attach the article with photo from Thai Rath .
http://www.thairath.co.th/content/region/144164

I will reiterate. I only post genuine stories from recognised sources on this forum .

[21again]

Drat, that's another conspiracy theory gone out the window.What to do today now.

[LilRed]

"The (Thai) smile is perceived as being just about the most appropriate “answer” to any possible situation. It’s used to show happiness, embarrassment, fear, tension, resignation, remorse. Just imagine how many different smiles there are in Thailand! For foreigners they look all the same, but for Thais their smiles offer an amazing array of shadows and tones:

- yim tak tai: The polite smile, used for strangers

- feun yim: The “I-am-forced-to-smile-even-I-do-not-want-to” smile

- yim cheuat cheuan: The winner’s smile over a rival

- yim tang nam dtah: The truly happy smile

- yim tak tan: The “sorry-you-are-wrong-again” smile

- yim sao: The smile masking sadness or unhappiness

- yim mee lay-nai: The evil smile

- yim cheun chom: The admiring smile

- yim yor: The arrogant smile

- yim mai ork: The forced smile

- yim yair-yair: The smile to apologize and take the heat out of an awkward, embarrassing situation

- yim hairng: The nervous, apologetic smile

- yim soo: The “it-cannot-get-any-worse-therefore-I-better-smile” smile

Source and Full Article: http://absolutelybangkok.com/the-thai-smile"


Shado, Good on you!

This smile thing in Thailand is 180 deg out from most western cultures... And, very difficult for a westerner to stay aware of...

For example, we had a pump fail here at the house. The wife comes to tell me, a great big grin on her face, like she really enjoyed reporting bad news to me... From my western perspective.

From her Thai perspective, it was a smile of irritation and resignation... I started to take her head off, and then realized... Had to apologize sincerely...

This is sort of facial expression communication different than western, is not peculiar to Thailand. It is common throughout Asia... In the PI, reputable sources reckon that up to 40% of communication between folks in da boonies is by non-verbal facial expression... I can't tell you how many times I witnessed Filipinos miscommunicate over the telephone, because they could not see each others' faces...