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Thai culture - About Thai people and Thai customs
These pages are designed to give you a very brief snapshot of Thai culture, customs and considerations. It is not an extensive resource and is not intended as such. Should you want to learn more about Thais and their fascinating country then there is a mountain of information online and in print readily available.
The Land of Smiles
Thailand is affectionately known the world over as “The Land Of Smiles”. Why? Because Thais smile a lot, in fact when you travel around Thailand, you'd be forgiven for thinking everyone is happy to see you. There are nuances to the Thai smile that we westerners can not hope to understand without taking into account the situation and circumstances of each. For example, theres the The polite smile used for strangers, the truly happy smile, the “sorry-but-you-are-wrong-again” smile, the “sorry-I-am-wrong” smile, the “I am embarrassed” smile, the “I am embarrassed for you” smile, The admiring smile, The forced smile, The smile to apologize, The nervous smile, The “it-cannot-get-any-worse” smile, the “this is not really happening” smile and there are a host of others. All confusion aside, Thais are genuinely friendly, tollerant, respectful and are a vibrant people who strive for balance, harmony and fun in their lives!
Thai greetings
You will often be greeted with a smile and a “wai”, palms pressed together in a prayer like gesture with a slight bow or nod of the head. The wai is the traditional Thai greeting offered as a sign of respect, for example, children will wai their parents or teachers, employees will wai their employer, hotel staff will wai their guests and so on. Friends will often perform a casual wai when greeting each other at a social gathering or chance meeting. As a foreigner, you are not expected to “wai” and you certainly would not wai people in service to you such as your taxi driver, but as a general rule, if someone of similar social status wais to you, then you would return the wai. Traditionally, it is considered disrespectful for people to physically touch each other, however in popular tourist areas and around Bangkok, it is not uncommon nowadays to be offered a handshake as a greeting.
Whats in a name
Thai names are normally long and hard to pronounce, even by Thais themselves. For this reason, Thais use nicknames for most situations. Thais use their formal name only when required, such as government forms, opening bank accounts etc. Most nicknames are short, one or two syllable words and they will usually have a meaning behind them like Lek or Noi meaning small. Other names are hilarious like Moo (pig), Goong (prawn), Gop (frog), Gai (chicken), KooKai or Kai (Little chicken or egg)
