Thailand Traditions

There are a large number of peculiar dogmas and traditions, so you should be extremely cautious in their actions, or better yet - to closely monitor the behavior of Thais and repeat their actions in case of doubt the correctness of their actions.

The traditional greeting in Thailand - "wai" - composed of "boat" hands, affixed to the head or chest. This is not just a gesture of greeting, but more a status effect with a certain etiquette. The order of the commission of "wai" is very strict and is subject to a wide Code - hand position and the duration of a gesture is determined by the acclaimed social status - the greater the person, the higher rise palms and take longer "wai". Can not "return the wai" to children and support staff, so the tourists is better not to blindly adopt this custom, not previously studied in detail all the subtleties of its application. In daily life, Thais are very cost friendly nod and a universal "Hello", to shake hands with each other is not accepted. Do not touch the head of the Thai people (including young children and to) - would be a devastating insult. Sitting man, especially when he crossed his legs, in no event shall pay the feet toward the people, the statues of Buddha and the King.

Thais are extremely tolerant of expressions chuzhyh customs and calm - to raise his voice and even more so - to scream, is considered a sign of bad taste. To the Thai police may be contacted with any questions. Often referred to colloquially used 6-hour intervals of time of day, ie you can hear about the 5 hours of the day and 5 hours of the evening (17.00 and 23.00 in the European sense).

The royal house has tremendous respect for people in the country, Thais are necessarily arise in the exercise of the royal anthem (performed at 8.00 and 18.00 on all television and radio channels), and in cinemas before each treatment is shown a portrait of the king. Foreigners also encouraged to get up and respectfully stop on the street in case of execution of the royal anthem.

All the statues of Buddha, in whatever form and state they are, are sacred. Therefore, should not climb on them to be photographed (the penalty is usually quite hard - until the destruction of the film, which were sealed such blasphemy), or in any other form of disrespect them.

Women do not have the right to appeal to the monks, in turn, Buddhist monks allowed to touch a woman or take anything from her. Therefore, a woman who wishes to make donations to the monks must first pass this man, who, in turn, will give a monk. Perhaps, and just put an offering on the edge of saffron cloak or shawl, which is on the other hand holds a monk. The mosque men should wear hats, and women are permitted to enter into only wearing pants or long skirt, blouse with long sleeves, buttoned up to the top and scarf covering the head. Before entering the mosque should also take off our shoes. During the service stay in the mosque is forbidden to outsiders.

Its beaches, most hotels do not. On the beaches of high-standard hotels are put up flags, denoting the state of the sea - green indicates a calm state of the surface and swim without restrictions, yellow - the sea storm and rescuers are closely monitoring swimmers. If you posted a red flag, it is forbidden to bathe and even rescuers have the right not to allow the water. Over the deck chairs on the beach charge 20-30 baht. Sunbathing and swimming is prohibited without a bathing suit - are charged a heavy fine. Also, many hotels there are restrictions on night swimming.

It is strictly not recommended to accept free trips, excursions, offer food or drinks from strangers (often suggested by taxi drivers and tuk-fertilizer). Should always clearly find out whether you knew the driver. From the hotel, you should always take a card on which was written in Thai hotel address and driving directions to the hotel - it is necessary to clarify the way the taxi driver (sometimes come across drivers who can not even read). Particular problem in recent years have become a rather "free" on the customs of some popular resorts of the country. Almost non-stop dance halls with essential use of soft drugs, braziers with questionable content directly at the edge of the beach, the ubiquitous pseudo-prostitutes and beggars, as well as the questionable "massage parlors" filled the resort cities of the West Coast. Therefore the choice of hotel should be closely consulted on the subject of orders in this particular place.