Bangkok Local Custom Tips by trisanna

Before you go into the bot (interior and sacred part of the wat) you must take your shoes off. There are usually nice little shelves for this. Otherwise you just push them to the side-neatly, so others can get by.
As the picture says, they are not responsible for shoe thieves. I have never heard any incidents of this-but if you are worried about this, you can put them in a bag and carry them with you.

At most temple, women and men wear shoes that slip off easily and the put to the side. At Wat Phra Kaew, you are not allowed to wear shoes that are open toed or show the heel. They don't enforce this too much. They will enforce the clothes part. For shoes, it's not bad to wear snearkers anway. You will be doing a lot of walking and then standing on pavement that's hot or quite dirty (due to all the people visiting).

For instance, at Wat Phra Kaew and some others, when you sit in the bot of the wat with others. Never point your feet or toes at a Buddha image. If there are many-just worry about the main image up front. women should sit with their legs to the side.

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While in Thailand or bangok, you should respect the way other Thais treat each other. Here are a few Thai etiquette tips
- respect religon
-respect the King and the royal family. Never say anything that could be construed as criticial about them.
-the government plays the Thai anthem on every day at 8 am and 6pm. Before all sporting events and movies the anthem is heard. Please stand up for this.
-Please dress respectively
-never point toes at a Buddha image
-women should not approach or talk to monks, unless stated somewhere (like monk chat or they come to you)
-Don't touch anyone's head
-Don't pass things with your left hand
-Always keep cool and never loose your temper. You and the person you are talking to will loose face. Losing face is a major issue in Asia. It's very disrespectual.
-Don't wear shoes in a long Thai's houe or in a bot (at a wat).

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I have fallen in love with the Thai spirit house. There are two kinds-the wooden old fashioned kinds and the painted cement ones. The cement ones have different styles of architecture-thai, khmer with a giant prang.

Spirit houses are placed in a certain corner of a person's property. They believe that their deceased relatives will come and stay here on their journeys. People will put offerings, such as food, cigarettes, toys and will wrap the spirit house in colorful ribbon. Many will be adorned with strings of fresh flowers-such as jasmine and marigolds.

if you really love spirit houses-you can buy small wooden ones at chatuchak weekend

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Once you come to Thailand and asia you will become more familiar with bargaining-if you aren't already. This comes in handy for chatuchak market. Once you know the price of the hotel item you are interested and you should NEVER start haggling on something you don't want to buy-bad manners. You should decide, okay what's the most you would pay for this item. Usually you can get the seller down 40-30%. I start with half and work my way up. It's a game. The seller will throw his or her's dramatic bodylanguage into the mix. Lots of sighing and acting like you want the world. Forget the act. They wouldn't sell you something unless they were making a profit. Usually, the seller will pass you a calculator and you can punch in the amount.

If they don't want to haggle, you can say "what's your best price?" Usually this works and you can start haggling. If they are not or seem not interested-than walk away. Then they usually grab and say okay. Recently at chatuchak, the sellers have been quite harder. So if you really love it-then buy it. It's only a few cents or a buck difference.

Also, if you find out something you want to buy cost 40baht-like one usd. I don't even haggle - i just pay the price. You are paying higher cause you are a tourist, but it shouldn't make much difference to you. It's only a dollar.

At the patpong night market, some of the sellers are deaf. A few deaf families did this to make money. A lot of people felt sympathy for them and didn't haggle (and they made more money than other sellers). Other vendors started acting deaf. So now you aren't sure, whose legitimate-well, unless you know Thai sign language.

But the sellers at these markets work quite hard, so don't be stingy over 20-40 baht. It's not worth it.

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In Thailand, there are two main local beers.
Beer Chang and Beer Singha. They are watery and light-good for a hot day.

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On some buses and river taxis, there are special seats allocated to monks. They are usually located close to the entry/exit points. They are reserved for monks and you should never sit in them-even if you are quite tired.

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