Etiquette is crucial to Thais, and knowing a few essential dos and don’ts will undoubtedly make life more comfortable during your stay in Thailand. Culturally Thai people are polite and non-aggressive and expect the same of others. They will seldom display their displeasure with your rude behavior. Still, you could be getting yourself into a troubling situation if you disrespect a few crucial aspects of their culture.
Thailand has a long history and a complex hierarchal structure of status. Starting with the Royal family and permeating down, everyone in Thailand recognizes their place in society. A polite Thai will usually quickly identify whether another is of higher status than them and initiate the wai. On a social level, they will refer to someone older them as pii (older sibling) and when talking to someone younger they will refer to the as nong (younger sibling). The formal addition of kha (female) and khrap (male) is affixed to the end of all sentences when addressing each other.
There are many other customs of etiquette, which the foreigner will do well to adopt, one of the most important being losing your temper. In the west, we usually see this as a way of handling things, or sometimes we just laugh it off. However, in Thailand, No matter how annoyed you are as a customer, raising your voice and showing confrontational emotion will get you nowhere. There are other ways to complain, but Thais are extremely insulted by any embarrassment from a public outburst. This also applies to everyday life in Thailand. Even if you get mad at another foreigner in public, the Thais around will see you differently, and it is considered as “losing face.”
The feet are considered filthy and should not be pointed directly at people or raised. In fact, this is regarded as an insult comparable to giving someone the finger. Shoes are ordinarily never worn in indoor living spaces. Don’t forget to take off your shoes when entering a temple or Thai house. Funny story, while living at a gym in Chiang Mai, one of the tourists that came to train for a couple of days would never wear shoes. The trainers believed that he was so poor that they went out and bought him sandals. I had to explain to them that he was not indeed poor but his lifestyle.
*On a side note, don’t be the person that shows up to a gym barefoot. Your feet stay dirty, and you walk on the mats that we use to do pushups and situps.
Contrary to widespread impression, Thais are quite conservative and expect visitors to dress appropriately in public places. They are also wary about showing affection out in public. Holding hands is considered taboo among the older generation. While the newer generation seems to accept this, more traditionalists frown upon these public displays of affection.
The Thais are unbelievably patient and forgiving in a flawed society and are content to endure things as they are. The best you can do is to laugh it off in a testing situation and say ‘Mai-pen-rai’ (never mind) – a frequently-used way to wave off things. Life here moves at a different pace than Western countries and is the reason so many people fall in love with Thailand.
Thai cultural behavior is far-reaching and subtle, and often creates some frustration for foreigners who are unaware of the cultural habits. Taking the extra steps to learn the way of life in Thailand will be very beneficial.
