If you don’t want to confuse your Thais friends and business partners you should know about public behavior rules in Thailand differ from Western and are based on common sense in terms of hot climate and Buddhism ethic rules.
Do not ask questions about Royal family and religion. Such questions counts as extreme rudeness.
Thai greeting — wai — should be used properly. Wai has strict rules and you shouldn’t use it unless you know these rules. Thais usually expect to shake hands with farangs. Do not wai first being a tourist unless you are greeting an eldrerly person or a monk — in this case your tumbs have to be at upper lip level or nose tip level (while greeting monks). If someone wai to you — always answer with same position.
Do not hug Thais. Close physical contacts in public aren’t welcomed — include hugs between wife and husband.
Kisses, hugs and other tenderness in public between men and women aren’t acceptable. However lately you can see younger Thais couples in bigger cities walking hand in hand…
Do not touch someone’s head (include chidlren).
Do not use your fingers to point at anyone.
Accept and pass items using right hand only.
Do not step over someone’s legs, arms, body.
Do not walk into someone’s house or temple in footwear.
Do not step on door threshold. Thai belief the souls of the deceased live there. This is an echo of ancient burial traditions which were common all over Eurasia: people buried family members in front of house’s door (or near cave’s entrance) thus door threshold is a symbol of these graves.
Ask home owner there to sit.
Keep both feet on ground while sitting.
Do not point your feet at persons around. If there is a Royal family member portraits or religious images around — avoid to point your feet to them too.
Do not step on paper money because they have King’s portraits.
If you see Thais standing at 8.00 am and 6.00 pm while listening to national hymn — show some respect and stand up too.
There is a public dress code in Thailand.
There are certain ethic rules in restaurants in Thailand.
Do not touch Buddhist monks if you are a woman. If you want to give them anything — put it on the floor or pass to a man. That isn’t too serious rules however monks have to perform certain rituals after contacts with women.
Be careful with your language: Thais are very sensitive people and words “I like you very much” could be comprehend as “I love you and have serious intentions about you”.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Hi,
Fascinating! I`m a college student at the University of North Texas majoring in anthropology. I am considering participating in a student exchange program for Summer 2010 to Bangkok.
I have learnd some Thai greetings and language.
But it always helps to be polite to all people when visiting their home.
Your site is very informative.
Thank you