Do’s and Dont’s

How To Do The Wai Greeting

Thai people are in general very friendly and helpful people. The Thai people greets each other with a so called Wai. The Wai is performed by putting the palms together and raise them in front of ones face. Depending on age and if the other person for example is a monk the placement varies. Guidelines can be set as.

• You greet a person younger then you – No Wai is performed, only vocal greeting.

• You greet a person in the same age as you – The Wai is performed in the same height as your chin.

• You greet a person who is older than you – The Wai is performed slightly higher, about nose position.

• You greet a monk – The Wai is performed in a high position, in from of your forehead.

The Thai Smiles

The Thai people are a smiling kind of people. They smile when the are happy but can also smile when they are angry or frustrated. I personally don’t think its such a big deal with this smiling and nor do the Thai themselves. It all comes down to that it is not ok to lose ones face and be angry. Therefor it is NOT advised to make someone loose their face, not least among other people. This can be seen almost as an assault.
I have read manuals on different kinds of smiles and even seen smiles different names.
I skip that since it would be just the same as if you would name the smiles you do, I bet you as well sometimes smiles even when you are not happy.

General Info

You might have heard about things that you should not do in Thailand, or maybe you have not?
First off, with common sense you will probably never encounter anything that will offend the Thai people. However there are some things that you might think is good to know.

• The king of Thailand is holy and almost like a demigod that you should never speak bad about or even questioning anything in a way that might be thought of as negative. According to Thai law it is forbidden to do anything of the above mentioned things and this is a law that is applied with very harsh sentences.

• If you drop a coin or other money, never stop it with your feet since the picture of the king is printed and casted in all money.

• Do not point with your feet to anyone or even anything, doing this is considered very rude.

• To touch peoples heads is not recommended since this is your highest part of the body and might be seen as an insult. Rubbing the head of a child might be ok but only if you know the people well.

• In temples you should always wear pants covering your knees, especially if you are a woman. Also use a long sleeve shirt. This rules are not very applied now days in all temples, due to all tourists the rules been less applied but to show proper respect this is anyway recommended and in some places you will not be able to enter if you do not fulfill these demands.

• Always take off your shoes when entering a temple and do not touch the holy sculptures inside or outside. Taking off the shoes is also something that is common when entering stores. If you see shoes outside of if there are a mat in the entrance it is ment that you should take your shoes off before entering.

• If you in any situation need to complain about anything, do this in a polite way. Loosing temper or raising the voice is considered very impolite and it might end up in people just ignore you and you will not be able to solve the situation at all. This does in any way not mean that you should not confront any problems but do it right.

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