Ubiquity

Of course there are the obvious things you can’t miss when you visit Thailand—rice fields, temples, and orange-clad monks. Instead of the obvious, here’s a list of things I didn’t expect.

1. Spirit houses. I touched on this briefly before, but most Thais believe that when you build or use a space, you should provide a home for the spirits you're displacing. This includes homes, businesses, and sometimes fields. Here in the north there are two types of houses, one of them being the traditional Lanna style (which looks almost like a doll house, pictured below). Many Thais make offerings to the spirits in their houses everyday.
   
2. The King. His image is everywhere and there’s no way you’ll miss it. Thais love their king!
3. Shoes. Thais respectfully remove their shoes when entering homes (and some small businesses) so there are always neat (usually) rows of shoes left outside. The students also leave their shoes outside the classrooms.
4. Wais. Thais always greet each other with a wai—hands together in front of the face or chest (height depends on status) with a bow. They only shake hands if they are meeting a westerner. My students know they don’t have to wai me but some of them still do it in addition to a wave. I’ve noticed that when some Thais do wave, they do it with 2 hands. Maybe because the wai uses both hands?
5. Balls. They're on dogs and cats everywhere. Animals are left unspayed/unneutered even when kept as pets. Because of this, there are strays everywhere. The sad thing is that pet shops still sell dogs when there is an abundance of homeless ones roaming the streets. I’ve also seen many chickens, water buffalo, and a few rabbits. Usually the buffalo are not fenced in and you can find them grazing along even the busiest highways.
6. Restaurants. This is probably my favorite thing about Thailand. It seems like almost every third business is a restaurant, with many people cooking right out of their homes and some only having a cart along the side of the street. Unlike the US, price is not dependent on quality and you can often get the most delicious food for under a dollar. Pictured here is, in our opinion, the world’s best chef Lung Dang. Side note about the food here: The meat isn’t as funky as I expected. Sure, you can get chicken dishes with feet, beaks, and innards, but you don’t have to eat that if you don’t want to!
7. Coffee. Whether it's in a coffee shop, at a coffee stand, or prepared at home with instant, Thais love their coffee. They have perfected their instant blends and far surpassed American quality in this category. Even some coffee stands serve instant (~$.50), and you have to look for fresh coffee (~$1) if you're picky. Also, espresso is everywhere (lattes for ~$1.50).
8. Motorbikes. Jack and I are renting one and we love it! It's convenient, cheap ($50 per month), and quick. We are probably the most cautious drivers here, as you will often see 3-4 people crammed onto a bike with only one or two wearing helmets. It's not unusual for people to have a small seat installed on the front for their toddlers to ride on, sans buckle or helmet. Many Thais also play fast and loose with traffic laws, which don’t seem to be enforced too strictly. From what we can tell, blinkers are optional and lane lines are mere suggestions. When I first got here, I was shocked at the women riding side-saddle on bikes without holding on. Now, it something I do on almost a daily basis (it’s the only way to ride on the back of a motorbike in a skirt!)
9. Merit. I have read that Thais are very superstitious, so it makes sense that there are so many ways to make merit and collect good luck. Sometimes it’s as simple as making an offering at a spirit house or ringing the temple bells; other times it’s more rigorous like climbing the 330 steps to Doi Suthep (the temple on top of a mountain).
   
10. Saving face: Many Thai people are really careful not to embarrass themselves. This makes teaching English quite difficult because they would rather not say anything than make a mistake. Getting them to speak is like pulling teeth, especially in classes of 35 kids.
11. Pickin’ & Diggin’. Apparently, embarrassment doesn’t transfer into the public personal hygiene arena. I’ve seen so many people picking at their faces and digging up their noses in their motorcycle mirror or in class. It makes me glad that Americans keep those acts private.
12. Jewelry stores. Our town may only have one stoplight but it still has four or five jewelry stores and they always look the same with their red walls and gold-letter signs.
13. Nicknames. Since Thais have such long names, many of them take nicknames. Sometimes they are Thai words like Fon (rain), Naam (water), Maew (cat), Gung (shrimp), Porn (blessed), Fai (fire or light) or Lek (small). Some take English names like Mary, Pam, Jane, Jack, James, Peter, Max, or Ken. Many take seemingly random English words like Golf, Earth, Mix, Cake, Nut, Pack, Bank, Sun, Icy, Jar, Orange, Sunday, Mind, Mint, Few, or Milk, and some of those English words seem humorous for a name: Dung, Oily, Bum, Big Bum, Topten, Dong, Beer, and Choke. I even have a few students who just use a letter (Q, P, O, M, B, F, V, and X). Their nicknames are not necessarily gender specific as I have a boy named Jane, a girl named Guy, a boy named Dame, and a girl named Garfield.
    
14. Sweetened condensed milk. Coming from America’s dairyland and drinking milk my whole life, I can confidently say that store-bought Thai milk is quite yummy. It has much more flavor than store-bought US milk but does go sour much faster. Maybe it is less processed, I’m not sure. However, Thais differentiate between milk and fresh milk, and if the name is not prefaced by “fresh,” you are getting the canned or the sweetened condensed version. It is used in drinks and desserts all over the place, and you will see at least one Carnation stand at every market and many around the town.
15. Straws (and drinks in bags). Whenever you buy drinks at the 7-11, they will give you a size-appropriate straw for each one. I’m not sure why but as a straw-lover, I get a little excited. Bagged drinks are less common in our town, but I saw them very frequently in Bangkok. I would guess it is a convenience when riding a motorbike, making it easy to hang on the handlebar.
16. Squatter toilets. Probably my least favorite thing here. We have a western toilet in the jungle house (American Standard brand, ha!), but many public toilets including those at the school are squatters. Some of the Americans in my program said, “It’s so much more sanitary—you don’t have to touch anything!” Well, I beg to differ with just one word: spatter.
17. Lizards. We have so many lizards living in the jungle house with us. They range in size with most being about four inches long. Sometimes we come across the babies, which are terribly cute at about one inch, and sometimes we come across a huge one. We call him Ed Truck and he’s about a foot long and we guess about 2 pounds. He’s not big enough to sneak into our house, so we only see him outside.
18. Germs. In many public bathrooms you will not find soap (nor in my school’s bathrooms). Hand sanitizer is expensive and harder to find. This might alarm you, but that is exactly why we got Hep B vaccinations. Living here has really opened my eyes about how sterile America is, for good or bad. There are no restaurant inspections here. There are no sanitation requirements. You shouldn’t even drink the tap water. We haven’t been super sticklers about everything, but we do exercise common sense. And so far we haven’t gotten sick.
19. A fork and a spoon. This might sound funny but Thai food is eaten with both utensils. The fork is used to push the food onto the spoon and only the spoon goes in your mouth. Chopsticks are used for Chinese dishes.
20. Respect. The best example I can give of this is the classroom. Every class (at least at my school) begins with the students standing up, saying “Good morning/afternoon, teacher,” and waiting for me to tell them to sit. Sometimes I like to have fun with them and tell them to jump in the air or twirl around before sitting. Every class ends with them standing up, saying “Thank you, teacher. See you again next week.” In between those very respectful events, some students are terribly naughty, being kids and all.
21. Crazy hard beds. I’m sure it’s good for the back, but I’m not a fan

These differences are the things I really want to remember about Thailand, some of the little things I may miss the most. I’m sure many more will pop into my mind when I return home and think, “Wow, they would never do this in Thailand.” My intention here is not to imply that any difference is better or worse, but there are definitely moments when I wonder why America hasn’t thought of something (iced green tea with milk, come on!) For better or worse, I’m enjoying the differences. That is, after all, why I flew to the other side of the world!