Ideal Thailand Vacation: In any travel guide or travel blog, there are about a dozen standard recommendations for tourists targeting Thailand. For example, respectfully treat the king of the country and any of his images, ride only in official taxis, having agreed on the price in advance, store valuables in the hotel safe. But the advice of local residents to foreigners about some important nuances is priceless. So, first-hand exclusive.
Features of communication with Thais
The main rule when talking to locals is a calm and friendly tone, even if the situation is tense and even more critical. You cannot press on a Thai, be rude to him and shout – there is a great risk of bumping into a blank wall of incomprehension. Moreover, any manifestation of dissatisfaction, albeit quite fair, will lead to a similar result.
Ideal Thailand Vacation
Thais always promise a lot – to give a big discount, to bring an exclusive product only for you, to show the “secret” sights, but they do not even fulfill half of it. In some cases, this is done in order to quickly sell something to the tourist, but more often just to maintain the conversation and strive to please the interlocutor. The same applies to the famous Thai smiles – they will always smile at you, but true thoughts may not be rosy.
Transport
Taxis, of course, are only “correct”: municipal, which is in every resort town, or ordered through the Uber or Grab Taxi applications. As a last resort – a private company, but you need to make sure that the driver understands exactly how much he will receive for the trip, and the price list is up-to-date.
Ideal Thailand Vacation
A separate story with tuk-tuk. Unpleasant cases are very common: either the price will suddenly turn out to be much higher than the agreed one, then they will be delivered to the wrong address, but in some store that is in a share with the driver, or they may even be robbed. But in general, you need to trust your intuition and refuse the trip if the offer is already very intrusive.
If possible, it is better not to use public transport at all. Buses have to wait a long time, the route network is so intricate that even the Thais themselves cannot really figure it out, and moving on a songteo (a pickup truck with benches in the back) or a minivan is unsafe, they often get into accidents.
Experiments with street food
Thai cuisine deserves all the praise and is a must-see. But the principle of reasonable care must be followed. The stomachs of local residents are accustomed to their native exotic, but the European ones may not stand it. The first rule of thumb when shopping for street food is to take only thoroughly fried foods (sea creatures, meat, fish and grilled vegetables). Soups, as well as anything steamed or boiled, should be avoided.
Ideal Thailand Vacation
By the way, you shouldn’t worry about the cleanliness of the street carts – they are regularly washed and treated, like the dishes. Products are not stale due to the large flow of customers. But this applies to crowded tourist routes; in less popular places, things can be completely different.
Big cities
Many tourists want to see Bangkok before heading to the sea. It is worth remembering that this is a huge metropolis, where it is rather difficult to navigate. Asking locals for directions is almost useless. They will endlessly send you to the wrong place or consult with other passers-by, who will not help you either. By the way, showing a point on the maps is also useless – Thais are poorly guided by them.
Ideal Thailand Vacation
There are terrible traffic jams on the roads of Bangkok, there are practically no sidewalks, mad motorcyclists rush everywhere. You need to be extremely careful when moving along the city streets. In the rainy season, the situation worsens, it becomes almost impossible to get anywhere by land.
