This guy liked twins so much, he married them both!

Every time I hang out with my friend N’Chang I end up learning tons and tons of cool stuff.

We have all heard interesting stories about twins. Feeling each other’s feelings while hundreds of miles away, being able to answer each other’s sentences, etc. There is definitely something very interesting about the lives of twins.

While spending some time with N’Chang recently, I learned that Thai culture has a very interesting perspective on twins and how they are perceived in the family and social pecking order.

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สวัสดีค่ะ

One of the most important aspects of Thai culture is understanding and recognizing the levels of status amongst Thai people. How you talk, how you act around, and certainly how you greet someone is all predicated on where that person fits in the age and social order compared to you.

Many Thai travel books will have a paragraph or two talking about ไหว้ /wâi/ — the way in which Thai people respectfully greet and thank others. I find, however, that the books stop way short of providing accurate information on the proper way to perform a ไหว้ to someone else.

Thai culture, like many Asian cultures, is all about status. Junior, senior, older, younger… it’s all part of a well-developed pecking order used to help maintain both respect and politeness. In this post I delve a bit deeper, beyond what the typical book or website is inclined to tell you, and hopefully shed some light on the right way to do it depending on the situation.

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How shocking is it?

Spend any amount of time talking with someone who has been to Thailand, lived in Thailand, or read about Thailand, and chances are you will be inundated with warnings and stories about how completely 180-degree different Thai culture is to our own. For every person you find that loved it “over there” you will probably find at least five others that will find something about it to complain about. For some reason, Westerners think that everywhere they go should be set up specifically to accommodate their big, clumsy, foreign ways.

As with any trip abroad, good planning is essential. More so than just making sure you pack your underwear (yeah, I forgot to do that once) having at the very least a cursory understanding of what to expect from a cultural perspective is paramount. And so when I came across the book Culture Shock! Thailand: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn a little bit more about my wife’s homeland and the place that fascinates me so much.

But the question lingers: does the book provide enough information for us hulking, loud, sweaty farang to navigate through the murky canals and seedy side streets without losing ourselves?

Let’s find out…

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Christmas in Thailand. Img courtesy of Flickr.

Thailand blogger Newley found this article on GlobalPost.com about Christmas in Thailand. I thought it was very cute and decided to post the video here as well.

If anyone has any interesting Thailand Christmas (or any other Western holiday) stories to share, drop me a line; I would love to hear about it.

Enjoy!

Before I say anything, please watch the following video:

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