More Thai Observations

I have been asked to do more random observations posts. Apparently some of you find these random bits of information interesting and for the rest of you, I apologize.

Line Cutters
The Thai people are beyond friendly. I find they are always willing to help and are always smiling, hence the title “The Land of Smiles.”  They, however, have no problem cutting in line. If you are one step back from the counter, they will slide right in. If you stop for a second, they will scoot on around and move in front.  My new name for Thailand: “The Land of Smiles and Line Cutters.”

Water
Do not drink the water. It is said that it must be boiled for 5 minutes before it is consumable.  This leads to drinking bottled water. They do have roadside filtered water dispensers but you can’t be sure when the filters were cleaned or changed.  In fact, it is thought I got sick from the water. I had some digestive issues last week. Did you see The Sex in the City Movie?  Remember Charlotte in Mexico? Yeah, that was me.  While I hate buying water and even more so in plastic bottles, I do not have an alternative at the moment.  I will be looking into alternatives wherever we settle.

Thai Time
OMG.  The reason they are smiling is that it is OK to show up 2 hours late to a meeting.  Just think of all you can get accomplished in 2 hours. I do not understand Thai Time.  You are told to be somewhere at a given time.  You even try to change it to 30 minutes later but are told no.  And then no one shows up for an hour.  What is with that? How do you get the secret code to let you know when the actual time of arrival should be?  For someone who prides themselves on punctuality, this is extremely troublesome.  I have heard of Thai Time also referring to leaving something until it is too late.  The planner in me is rejoicing.

Royal Anthem
The Royal Anthem plays in parks, train stations and other public places twice a day at 8AM and 6PM. You are expected to stand still and pay homage to the King. This is quite interesting during “rush hour”.  They also play the Anthem before every movie in a theater and you are also expected to stand. They do love their King here.

I will keep jotting down my observations as they come to me.  Keep your fingers crossed that we will have an announcement on where will be living tomorrow.  Just waiting for the final call.  Fingers crossed.