I remember reading an World Atlas/Encyclopaedia long ago, and as it moved into the Asian section it started off with a headline that went something like this: ‘The West might be able to show the East how to make a living, but the East can certainly show the West how to live’, or words to that effect.
Here where I live up in CM, the main streets (citywide) are crowded every night with Thai party goers, street performances, and a plethora of entertaining surprises, plus a zillion diners in all kinds of restaurants chatting among themselves and having a good ole time. That’s 7 days a week!
Where I come from in the UK, from Sunday to Thursday, you can hear a pin drop in the streets after the workers have returned home for the day.
This kind of relates to the post about how we (the westerners) are always running around like headless chickens, which is more often than not so that we can make more money in order to buy more stuff. Stuff, I hasten to add, that we’re usually far too busy to enjoy anyway.
Yes, Thais love their cars and other material possessions like everyone else, but this doesn’t seem to get in the way of them taking life one day at a time and enjoying the ‘living experience’.
Aitch
Hi James,
no offence taken, it’s just, as the politicians and diplomats like to say, “a frank exchange of views”.
Yes, you make a good point about how parents in Thailand will go out of their way to spend money pushing their kids through school and paying for extra things like English classes.
Not sure I would agree though that this is “at odds with a sabaii sabaii culture”. I think this is simply a parental wish to see the best for their kids and, commendable though it is, I don’t think it is representative of all Thais in general.
I suspect you’ll find too, that many of those who do this are Thai-Chinese, and they are also in the lucky position of having a greater disposable income to be able to spend on extra activities for the kids.
I feel I should clarify a point here: I’m not suggesting that Thais are lazy or unmotivated; that they have no desire to better their lot or that of their children. I just believe that they have a different ontological persuasion, a different orientation through life’s cultural conundrum, and that they have a unique way of expending their energy when compared to, say, us farangs.
In many ways, I think it can be seen in a positive light as Thais make much more of an effort to get “quality time” or what the Americans like to call “down time “than us farangs, especially where that relates to the family and close friends and to their immediate community.
In effect they do something that we westerners often fail to do - they “take the time to smell the roses”. In that sense, they are probably much wiser than us and maybe even get more out of life because of it instead of being e.g. someone like me who is often running around like a headless chicken looking for something that never arrives, like Beckett’s Godot in “Waiting for Godot”!
thanks for your post.
Tom
Phil,
that’s a nice story and an amusing one too. Interesting too that both sets of cultures probably learned something in the exchange, and that can never be a bad thing.
Your local Thai neighbours learned that they couldn’t ruffle your feathers by using one of the oldest tricks in the book, what is I believe also mentioned in that well-known book, “The Art of War”, e.g. using something that you cared about (the banana tree) as a weapon against you, cutting it down in and effort to rile you. Good for you that you saw through the trick and resisted the temptation to get “groat” or “jai rorn” about it!
You no doubt learned, as you have said, that it is pointless to try to impose your own value system on another culture, though I’m not sure I would go as far as to say, as you have, that you were “trying to educate uneducatable people”.
That seems a tad harsh and I would prefer to opt for “people who don’t wish to be educated by an outside culture” preferring instead to hold onto the vestiges of their own value system.
Thanks for sharing your story though. No doubt there are many expats who have had similar run ins with local Thais and found that in the mutual exchange, something has been learned (on both sides).
Tom
Hi Tom,
Sorry I didn’t mean to infer that you are racist, you obviously care about Thailand. I wanted to compliment you on a well written article, with the good advice, which will hit home with many people. I just thought you didn’t need to make it Thailand specific; it applies equally to people all over the world.
I’m from the UK and I’ve been teaching in Bangkok since 2005. I realise that BKK may not be representative of the rest of Thailand, but I feel differently about the culture. Firstly, the coup and political protests, and working on yearly contracts has kept me on my toes, not set me in a rut. I agree with you about doing the same things, having routines, but I’d do that back home, as I’m sure everyone does. That’s why your article is so good, it’s relevant to many people, especially expats, and it spurs people to think and re-evaluate things, which they need to, everyone does.
Also, I teach kids and their parents always explain why they do so many extra classes as being ‘Thai culture’, there really is a market for extra schools here that doesn’t exist in the UK. This may only be Bangkok, granted, but it’s at odds with any notion of a ‘Sabai-Sabai-culture’. Lastly, many Thais I’ve met spend a large part of their disposable income on transportation, usually their cars, and you should look at the sheer numbers of bookings taken at the current motor show. Far from taking things easy, many Thais are brave enough to shoulder huge financial burdens to improve their lives materially and socially. Maybe us expats could take a leaf from their book?
I liked the article, it definitely made me reflect about my own life more critically.
“When you come home for example, don’t do what 95% of expat men do in Thailand and head for the fridge for a cold beer”
What do you think 95% of the men do in the UK, US or the western civilized world?????? Give me a break! Thailand has nothing to do with it!
By JD, BK on 2010-04-14