Country of Contrasts
It was nice to get some positive feedback on the blog...I will try and get some more pictures for you - I feel like such a tourist getting my camera out...of course I'm sure that other than that everyone would think I was a local! It's quite strange actually, there are still loads of people here who think it's really funny to see a farang (foreigner)...people point and stare and laugh...actually now that I think about it - that happens to me in the UK as well...
Anyway, one of the things that I've noticed is that Thailand is a country of contrasts (and contradictions):
-The people are really laid back here...a very popular saying is "mai bpenrai" which basically means "don't worry about it". In contrast though people seem to work really hard - they start early and finish late...people also seem to work 7 days a week...they get a few more public holidays than us but still I doubt that makes up for it.
-People are generally very polite and smiling is very important here. People tend not to tell someone if they are doing something they object to. But at the same time - people will tell you - "you are fat" or "you have a big spot on your face"...again that's probably just me! Actually one of the workers at the orphanage did say that she thought I was handsome - and you know, I think it's really good that the visually impaired find it easy to get work out here.
-The very rich and the very poor live almost side-by-side here...in the town we are in, there are some very big houses just along from corrugated iron shacks.
-People here have a lot of respect for the monarchy and you can't say anything bad about them, in fact you can be put in jail for doing so. My question though is, if everyone does respect them - why would they have to make such a law?
-Another thing is that the general religion here is Buddhism...they don't kill animals because they believe in re-incarnation and all that stuff...so you might find it quite strange that pretty much all of their dishes have meat in them...how do they get around the problem? They get the Catholics to kill them!
Anyway, one of the things that I've noticed is that Thailand is a country of contrasts (and contradictions):
-The people are really laid back here...a very popular saying is "mai bpenrai" which basically means "don't worry about it". In contrast though people seem to work really hard - they start early and finish late...people also seem to work 7 days a week...they get a few more public holidays than us but still I doubt that makes up for it.
-People are generally very polite and smiling is very important here. People tend not to tell someone if they are doing something they object to. But at the same time - people will tell you - "you are fat" or "you have a big spot on your face"...again that's probably just me! Actually one of the workers at the orphanage did say that she thought I was handsome - and you know, I think it's really good that the visually impaired find it easy to get work out here.
-The very rich and the very poor live almost side-by-side here...in the town we are in, there are some very big houses just along from corrugated iron shacks.
-People here have a lot of respect for the monarchy and you can't say anything bad about them, in fact you can be put in jail for doing so. My question though is, if everyone does respect them - why would they have to make such a law?
-Another thing is that the general religion here is Buddhism...they don't kill animals because they believe in re-incarnation and all that stuff...so you might find it quite strange that pretty much all of their dishes have meat in them...how do they get around the problem? They get the Catholics to kill them!
posted by Paul McG @ 5:16 AM
3 Comments:
At 7:36 PM,
embest said…
hello!
House looks great. Good luck learning Thai. If there is anything in terms of resources you need for the school, let me know and I can have an ask...
Look forward to hearing about the kids and work.
Emx
At 9:18 AM,
Anonymous said…
I like their philosophy - insult someone really badly, then just smile! Hey dude, you're so ugly I can't believe it....smile, smile, wanna come round for dinner some time?....sure fat ass, that would be lovely, are you going to burn it like normal? Damn right man!
So what's it like looking after the kids? Are they well behaved etc?
At 12:59 PM,
Anonymous said…
Hi Paul,
Nice to see you are having a good time. Keep up the good work on the Blog.
FYI: Mighty Wigan are in the League cup final! But so are ManU :-(
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