just returned from thailand. in these 5 days I've seen quite a bit. I shall attempt to describe a few of my experiences here.
1) it is damn hot.
if you thought singapore was hot, thailand was just insane. it was like 34 degrees out there in the day, every day. it was so hot the heat seemed to rise from the ground and follow you around, like a bad horror movie.
the sharp-eyed locals there are well trained to look out for tourists. the moment they saw us, they were like "come here, we have aircon!" its uncanny how they can read our minds. Maybe it's because we're the only ones with umbrellas in sunny weather.
2) sawadeeka.
thailand is called the land of a thousand smiles. a lot of it probably has to do with the fact that people there automatically say "sawadeeka", smile, and clasp their palms in front whenever they see a tourist. based on my experiences with the many thais who have said "sawadeeka" to me, it could either mean "welcome", "thank you", "please return me my umbrella", "I can't speak english" or "this is really the only word I know" (smiley).
just joking of course. the thais are really very polite and gentle people. well most of them anyway.
3) biker chicks
one thing that struck me was the number of girls on bikes. and they aren't the tomboyish type, but rather extremely feminine, like all made up and in trendy clothing. some of them were even in school uniform. in singapore, you almost never find young girls on bikes, but there it's like everyone owns a bike.
and somehow they almost always come in pairs. somehow if the girl isn't riding pillion on another guy's bike, two of them would be on a bike together. good things come in pairs they say. unfortunately, with this being thailand you can never be sure if the girl on the bike is really a girl.
you'll never find a guy riding pillion on a girl's bike though. I think this goes to show that guys everywhere have the same ego issues.
4) night market
one thing I love about all night markets is how you can bargain. don't ever feel afraid to bargain in these places. one of their favourite phrases is "I give you discount. best price! $X". promptly take that price, and quote them something like 70% of it. they will then say "cannot, I lose money already". yeah right. if you lose money my name's weili. oh wait, it is. whatever, I don't care anyway.
if you're looking to buy more than one item off the shop, use that to slash the price further. I mean, economies of scale man. what do you think you learn econs for?
I met one exception though. was looking to buy something and the lady quoted me 300 baht. I told her 150. she said "go away! go far far away!". yeah did just that. got the same item off another shop further down for 180.
you know lady, there's a reason why most thais are really friendly to singaporeans. its probably because one sing dollar really goes a very long way, like 25 baht, and we're not afraid to spend.
5) taxis
the taxis there work a little like public buses. they are actually modified pickup trucks, and anyone can join in halfway. it was really weird when my family got into one of those taxis, told the driver our destination, and halfway along the route the driver stopped to pick up another group. it was like hmm, suddenly we're sitting with a bunch of total strangers. there's also no meter so you tell the driver your destination and he quotes you a price depending on the place and how many people are taking the taxi.
beware of the low ceiling too. the roads there mean that if you aren't careful, your head and the roof of the taxi will soon become fast friends. and it'll keep calling on you when you least expect it, something like insurance salesmen.
that's about it for now. will talk about the pretty men there next. yeah you heard that right. that's what they call them over there. pretty men. ugh.