What makes a Thai a “Thai”

ok, before anyone goes, WHAT??!!! another post of Thailand again, let me assure that it will be the last post about it.

during the whole duration of our trip to Bangkok (and also during our previous trip to Phuket), the Thais thought us as their fellow countrymen too.

yup, whenever we are in the market (and almost everywhere else), they will speak to us in Thai. why? most probably due to our skin colour, especially GF’s.

but what really makes someone truly Thai? or maybe it is more like what are the must-haves to be a true Bangkok citizen.

based on my observation, the main thing you’ll need is this:

can you guess what is this stick?

No? does it give you any clue?

this is what it looks like when opened

Main ingereidents are eucalyptus oil, menthor, camphor & borneol. still dun get it? ok, the photo below will reveal you the answer:

i look like a druggie

yes, we saw a lot of them shoving this magic stick up their nostril and gave it a big snort.

and i thought people only use it when they had flu or something. but no!! these people are really crazy about it. you see many of them, regardless of:

• sex. who cares if it doesn’t look feminine as long as they got a shot of it.
• Occupation. peddlars to white collars to students
• Age. for the young one, it looks cool!!! for the older folks, holding it alone makes you 20 years younger.

they are so obsessed till i even saw one guy who snorts it even when wearing a face mask!

out of curiosity, i decided to buy one and give it a try, much to the chagrin of GF.

true to the product’s slogan (Poy-Sian), we will definitely get a RELIEF OF VERTIGO! one snort, a signal will be sent to your brain faster than the speed of light and the next thing you know, you’ll be in seventh heaven.

the second thing i noticed that is very common is Thai University students. in tight white shirt and black short (and sometimes tight) skirts.

here’s one that i got from the internet (don’t drool…):

how i wish university students in Malaysia wear this uniform…

you can see them in their uniform all over the place and anytime of the day (early in the morning or late at night and even during weekends). either they like their uniform so much or they didn’t bother to change after class.

there’s no way to differentiate their university except their badge and their belt. which leads me to the next must-haves if you are a Thai (university student, that is).

they do wear belts but the odd thing is, the skirts does not have any belt loops. to keep the belts secure,they use (of all things) this:

apologize for the blur image. was using my old camera phone to take this…

yes, a paper clip…

by the time you read until here, you will either get 2 conclusion, that i am:

1. a very observant person. or,
2. i’m a pervert who spends a lot of time gawking at university girls’ ass.

i’m a combination of the above two, actually…

unfortunately, we dare not take photos of the paper clips that holds the belt. i wouldn’t dare to take the photos of their ass…

but a search in the internet will return a lot of results:

photo taken from www.myitchyfingers.wordpress.com

but to be fair, there are also those who take the effort to put on some fancy clips instead of those ugly looking paper clips.

all this paper clip-that-hold-the-belt only applies to females students. as for males, we didn’t really get to see them. either they feel ashamed of their uniform or the ratio between male and female university students is significantly unbalanced.

what do the Thais eat then? beats me, although i saw a lot of them buying som tam.

what we really noticed is what they drink. from the first day itself, we noticed that they seem to drink yogurt drink a lot. one of it is Yakult.

but Yakult does not really appeal to both of us as it was too small. not enough for both of us. instead, we go for the made in Thailand brand. introducing Betagen!!!

at last, there is something that is big enough for two of us!!!

it taste just like Yakult or Vitagen. in fact, the name itself rhymes with Vitagen. makes us wonder if it is a fake version of Vitagen. haha!

so, go on and bring this around if you got bored of the fruits or lime juice to replenish your thirst.

if not, just grab a Pepsi

i didn’t remember anyone having Coke there anyway…

and, this is the last must-haves (applicable in Bangkok only). no, actually i’m just lazy to type anymore. haha!

BTS Smart Pass

yes, this is the Thai version of our Touch n’ Go. i think i had posted it in the previous post too. taking BTS without these is a hassle. the reason being:

1. the machines only accept coins.
2. yes, there is a counter at the station, but when we went there, instead of dispensing us the tickets, they gave us coins to get it from the machines instead. pfft!!!

but strange enough, we also noticed that there are a lot of them who don’t use the Pass. maybe they don’t take BTS very often? ok then, maybe Thai’s don’t really need it.

Please take not, this is only my observation. don’t take it too seriously. haha!

**btw, congratz to GF a.k.a. fatpig for posting her first post. keep it going, girl!!!