5 reasons why all Thais don't like foreigners

It is time to be clear and frank: There are reasons why Thai people don't like foreigners, and I would like to list the 5 reasons I think are most important.

Thai people do not like foreigners because:

1. They make lists why Thai people don't like this and that
2. They generalize all Thai people as if they were all the same
3. They don't even specify what like actually mean (Facebook like?)
4. They like to read lists like that a lot, and lists about 5 ways to date Thai girl even more
5. They don't speak the language.

Oh, there could be a misunderstanding with the least point: It is actually that  many foreigners don't really speak Thai much (I have to admit, my skills aren't as good as I wish for).

And in case you haven't noticed yet: Lists like this are BS, of course. Even IF all Thais do not like foreigners, there would be more than 5 reasons. Lists are the opposite of a differentiated view. Reality isn't black and white, it comes in many grey shades and even colors.

So, it isn't even a question if Thais like something unless you make a survey with a representative number of randomly selected participants and unbiased questions.

Photowalk with Bangkok photographers group in Chinatown

Vegetarian/Vegan Food in Bangkok and southern suburbs

Living a bit outside the city doesn't mean you have to go without all the nice things downtown has to offer. We do have shoppings malls here in the south, and we have delicious vegan restaurant. I haven't actually seen a local (Thai) vegetarian restaurant, most of them go all the way down to vegan food.

That means no milk, no fish sauce, no eggs. Even if it looks like, it is not (the Italian Govinda vegetarian restaurant for example has milk products like cheese).

One of my favourite places is a vegan restaurant just opposite Premier Place on Srinakarin road (right next to the SCB bank). It is open from 6am in the morning until late afternoon every day except Sunday (I haven't see it open in the evening, but that might be because I am usually not in this area at that time). What you get there is everything the Thai cuisine has to offer. They have a Thai style buffet, where you choose the dishes you want. It changes every day. They usually offer Nam Ya, a spicy coconut soup that is served with pickles and vermicelli, and they even have Thai Noodles with soy protein balls as soup or dry.

Per dish you pay about 30-35 baht, you can eat there or take it home. The restaurant also offers a wide range of vegan products, from Palo mushrooms to mock meat like chicken wings and duck breast and soy protein pallets.

Parking there is a bit tricky, there is a SCB bank next to it that has some parking space or you just drive into the small Soi there. I haven't figured out the name of the restaurant yet, maybe you can read it from the banner outside in the picture and let me know (I have some problems reading non-traditional Thai fonts)









Not far from the Srinakarin/Soi Wat Dan Samrong intersection (before Foodland on the left when you come from South)  is another vegan place: This one is selling Japanese vegan food. Yes, I am talking about Sushi galore without any Tuna being harmed. No idea how the do it, but it looks good and it tastes good.

Expect limited English skills, but the menu is in English and we never had a problem with the order. It is not that much crowded, but seem to have a decent followership to survive there.

Other vegan restaurants are Govinda in Sukhumvit 22 (100 meter on the right), and there is also another more fancy vegetarian places right next to it. The food court at the 5th floor at Terminal 21 has a vegetarian stall and so does the food court at Central World (7th floor, walk through the supermarket, the vegetarian booth is on the left). Seri Market at Paradise Park also has one vegetarian stall.

Do you know any more vegetarian or vegan places? Please let me know.

(By the way I am neither vegan nor vegetarian. I just don't like to eat meat too much and vegetarian food is usually cheaper.)

Nam Prik, what else do you need?

There are a lot of snacks in Thailand which are delicious but also high in calories and fat (Hello fried bananas!). But there is a healthier option available: boiled vegetables with Nam Prik. I am getting addicted to the Thai Chili Paste, and since we discovered a vegetarian version of it, I am eating even more.

You should try the mushroom Nam Prik Je that is available at Big C (at least at Mega Bagna), it is awesome. Just boil some beans, broccoli, cauliflower or use carrots and cucumbers, dip in Nam Prik and that's it.

And yes, the white stuff on the right is MSG. I use it mainly for chicken dishes, and no, it is not dangerous. You can eat it and it does no harm (and those who say they are allergic to MSG may tell me if they can eat tomatoes and broccoli)

The issue with English language skills in Thailand

First a disclaimer: I am aware of the fact that my English skills are not A+. That's why I am not calling myself an English writer. It is also not my mother tongue, so native speakers, please be nice.

Since we are in Thailand, I am wondering why the English language skills here are so low. In the regions economic hub you would expect more people speaking English, and in a famous tourist destination like Bangkok even more. But my personal experience is that very few people I met are able to have a long conversation in English. I also witnessed that many people I know actually know grammar way better than me, and may even have a larger vocabulary. Yet, they just don't speak well or enough.

As a houseman I go shopping a lot for groceries, food, whatever we need. Sometimes it seems the sellers in the small stall at the local market make way more efforts to communicate in English with me than the wannabe-models and guys at Siam Paragon. Yesterday at Central Embassy they had to call the manager on duty to explain me the promotion model in English.

There is some evidence that the English problem isn't new. In 1986, Chualalongkorn University conducted a study about the English skills of students:

1. Matayom Suksa Three students were rather weak in the skills of using English in both the sound modality and the graphic modality, needing improvement, especially in the skills of reading and writing.            2. Matayom Suksa Six students had a medium level of English skills in the sound modality needing improvement, while their skills in the graphic modality were rather weak needing improvement, especially in the writing skill.            3. University students had a medium-level of skills in both the sound and the graphic modalities needing improvement, especially in the integrative skills of reading-writing and the writing skills, which were very weak.            4. Concerning language components, it was discovered that Matayom Suksa Three and Six students had a low level of ability which needed improvement while university students exhibited a medium level of ability.            5. Concerning test score distribution, it was discovered that the scores of Matayom Suksa Three students were most widely spread having 6 levels of dispersion, followed by those of Matayom Suksa Six students with 5 levels and university students with 4 levels.            6. Concerning the skewness of score distribution, it was revealed that while the test scores from the English skill tests and the language component tests of Matayom Suksa Three and Matayom Suksa Six students were generally below the mean scores, those of university students were above.            7. Secondary school students from small and medium sized schools exhibited statistically significantly lower levels of skills in both the sound and the graphic modalities than students from large and extra-large sized schools (p < .01).  It was also discovered that the English skills of first, second and third year university students were significantly different with second-year students having significantly higher scores than first-year students (p < .05).

So there was a warning already that a problem might occur. But it is part of the Thai tradition to ignore signs like that. So teachers went on with what they did all the years before: Speaking something they thought is correct English (or American) and focus on Grammar.


In 2012 Bangkok Post reported:

Thai students' English-language skills rank below those of youngsters in at least three other member countries of Asean, according to a recent survey by Education First (EF), an international language school
Thailand ranked 42nd out of 44 countries surveyed for adult English proficiency -- below Vietnam (39), and Indonesia (34), with Malaysia the top Asean country at No 9.
The Office of the Education Council (ONEC), which revealed the results of the survey, said the level of English proficiency of Thai youth is  below par and cannot compete with other countries. 

In 2013, a conference in Chang Rai concluded that English skills are far from what they should be:

On 15th March, at Ban Mae Jan School in Chiang Rai, the Quality Learning Foundation with Rom Chatra Foundation and Ban Mae Jan School, arranged a conference to discuss preparations for ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). One of the most important factors, it was said, was that Thailand has to vastly improve where English language capabilities are concerned.

And finally, in 2014 The Nation stated that English needs to be improved:

The average TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score in Thailand last year was among the three lowest for Asean countries, Enconcept E-Academy executive Apitha Wonlopsiri said yesterday.

He said the country's average score was 76 points (it was 74 points last year), but was still among the bottom three, which included Cambodia (69) and Laos (68).
Singapore topped the list with 98 points followed by Malaysia and Philippines (89), Indonesia (82), Myanmar (79) and Vietnam (78).
Apitha called on Thai students to urgently improve their English language skills.  

I made a little experiment: I contacted randomly around 80 Thai people on Beetalk and ask if they can speak English. About 80 percent answered to a initial "Hi" with a "Hi". When I asked if they speak English, 60 percent said straight away No, and the remaining answered "A little bit". None was able to have a conversation in English. Their profession was from market seller to hair dresser, accountant, administration officer to microbiology student (the latter scored best, by the way, but still far from fluent). Age group was between 20 and 40. It also seems that older people have better skills than younger, at least when it comes to speaking.

So, the question is "Why"?
Why Are Thailand’s English-Language Skills The Lowest in South East Asia? as Tastythailand is asking.  While he says that Laos has surpassed Thailand (what I strongly reject, Laos is far behind Thailand), some arguments are very reasonable:

• Thailand’s Education is a Rote System – In Thai schools, students are taught to copy what the teacher writes on the board and memorize it. ...
• Critical Thinking Skills Are Not Taught – In Thailand, critical thinking skills are not taught. Students are rarely expected to think for themselves, so don’t question anything the teacher teaches....
• Thai Education Concentrates on Grammar – Throughout most of the years Thai students learn English, classes are normally concentrated on learning English grammar....
• Thai Teachers Are Poorly Trained – As much as most Thai teachers work hard to teach their students, few have the skills to teach English correctly....

I totally agree with everything above and want to add some more explanations. I myself learned English in school, but 30 years ago there was no need to speak English in Germany ever. Reading yes, but speaking? No. Even movies were dubbed in German. So only when I started travelling - my now wife forced me, and I am still thankful for this - I began to speak English on our journey through Asia. So I understand the problems of young Thai people who can simply get away with it. There is no real need, unless you have to communicate in English at your work. You have movies, books, music in Thai, your friends speak Thai, and in a country with 80 million people and a still healthy economy and a huge domestic market, only a few need to talk to foreign investors and bosses.

And then there is this strange relationship with foreigners in general. While everyone likes to drive a car and uses and iPhone (both not really invented by Thais), there is still some discrimination and resentment against foreigners.

Thailand is at risk to be stuck in the middle income trap. That means the economy will plateau, and the country won't make it to an higher level. One reason is that people are just doing fine. They have a job, a car, mobile phones, a condo and the kids can go to a international school. Why should the new middle class work harder?

Since new curriculums will focus more on Thainess, Thai culture and history, I doubt English skills are about to improve significantly. And again, it is not so much how you scored in a test. If you keep silent in a business negotiation with a partner from one of the AEC countries next year. nobody cares about Thai people being shy. They will just move on to the company from Cambodia or Myanmar, where staff dares to speak.

The Solution? Radical reform in Education. More English movies, music and documentaries in TV (and less Korean). Selling English as the ASEAN language might help as well. But this takes a long time and maybe comes too late already. Or I am too pessimistic?

Easy to make, cheap and refreshing Thai drink

Although soft drinks are incredible cheap in Thailand, they are also not really healthy and I avoid them wherever I can (although I do have a thing for Pepsi Max, I have to admit). But is actually even cheaper to make your own refreshing soft drink. My favourites are butterfly pea (Cha Am) tea and Pandan leaf (Bai Tuei) tea.

You can buy both at many OTOP sections in supermarkets or at local markets. Pandan is also easy to grow in your garden, and butterfly pea makes a nice colourful hedge on your fence. For me it is more convenient to buy the dried leaves.


For a litre of tea you need about 3-4 table spoons of leaves. Just pour hot water over it (you can use a tea strainer) and let it infuse for 5-8 minutes. You can also mix the leaves to have a even better tasting tea. Use some sugar or sweetener, add lime juice (it will change the color of the butterfly tea to red) and cool it.

The perfect drink for the climate in Asia.

The friendly face of Thailand...

Thailand promotes itself as the land of smiles, and indeed people smiling here a lot. In particular when you are coming from Germany it is obvious. But after living in Thailand for 9 months and being a regular visitor for quite a while, the smiling thing is so so.

As much as not all German people are unfriendly not all Thai people smiling all day. It is also used as a masquerade, or saving face. You can see this when you look someone in the eyes if a smile is honest or just a play.

So, it is of course a stereotype. But sometimes I am surprised in a positive way to see that proved. Like today at the Thalat Nam Bang Nam Phueng, a floating market at the peninsular the Chao Praya rivers forms down south. This is for sure not a tourist place, although some tourists and falangs are seen there. It is quite local. But then you discover more English descriptions on products then in most local shopping malls. We got an amazing service wherever we stopped and asked what kind of food it is, what the name of the fruit is and so on. I always ask in Thai first, but many sellers are kind of proud to answer in (sometimes broken) English.

Our highlight was a beautiful vintage style coffee shop, when a Thai couple introduced us to Miang Kham: They actually offered us some of it they just bought (it is a Thai snack, made of roasted coconut, lime, ginger, shallots, sweet tamarind sauce wrapped in leaves).

Where ever we go at this place, people smile at us, we get a great service and have a good time. A big contrast to what you experience these days in shopping malls, where people get a salary for just being there and checking stock instead of taking care of customers (Seri market in paradise market is one of this place where you never get ask if you want something, they totally ignore you.)

Thalat Rot Fai at Srinakarin road by the way gives you a similar experience with generally good service.

You will see the very unfriendly face soon in downtown Bangkok when the protesters will shut down Bangkok. I predict they will not play nice with anyone who disagrees with them, and showed this already. Some very ugly things will happen, I am pretty sure.

Good to have my little paradise on the peninsula....

Bang Nam Phueng Floating market

The jungle that's build through the sling of the Chao Phraya river and makes ut the green lung of Bangkok was unknown territory for me until last week. We heard about the Bangkok Tree house just across the river and wanted to see it with our own eyes. A nice small eco-friendly boutique hotel, build treehouse style but with all luxury you need. 

For those who think they stayed everywhere in BKK already, they missed this one propably. 

Studying Google maps while there I saw a floating market and we decided to take a mototaxi and check it out.  A good decision: The Bang Nam Phueng floating market is a hidden gem, at least for foreigners. We didnt see many Falang there although its a well designed, well maintained and well operated place. Of course the boats are gone and nothing is floating anymore, but that makes the market even better.  

You have Boss Coffee, a tiny coffee shop serving delicious coffee for 25 Baht, and offers a seat on the canal. You have restaurants there, small and big, a lot of very cheap but good food, plants, souvenirs etc. 

The market is open on the weekend from 7am to 2pm. Best time to come is early morning. From the Udom Suk BTS go to pier at Wat Bang Na Nok, it costs just 4 Baht to take the ferry and from there 15 Baht for the motocycle taxi.

Chiang Mai Sausage Calzone - just cooking

From the hills of Chiang Mai comes to most delicious sausage in Thailand, at least when it comes to my taste. The Sai Gog is close to the Luang Prabang sausage, full of spices and meat.

 Yesterday, I had the idea to wrap it a bit - kind of a Pizza meets Sausage thing.

What you need is:
A Chiang Mai Sausage
Cheese
Pizza dough
Oven


Cut the sausage a bit so you can flap it. Fill in shredded cheese (I used cheddar and it turned out a good choice). Wrap around some pizza dough just enough to have the whole sausage covered. It baked it for 20 minutes by 230 degrees, but different oven may take longer or shorter. Just wait until it's getting brown. Since the sausage is already cooked and the cheese melts easy, it depends on the thickness of the dough how long it takes.

Any recommendations for improvement are welcome!

My first Thai course at AAA language school

So it is over, my first 20 hours of learning Thai at AAA Language school. The school is approved by the government in 2004. It costs 7,450 Baht for a 60 hours course in groups, but I took private lessons. The reason was that I wanted to focus on learning and not getting distracted (or pushed or slowed down) by others. I was also expecting more flexibility.

What I liked:
The tuition fee is reasonable, compared with other school. No complain about this. Included is a book and a CD. The location is also very convenient just 5 minutes walk from the BTS Chitlom. My teacher was very friendly and helpful, so was the overall experience with the staff.

What I did not like:
The school sticks with a certain system, that is pretty old. My biggest complain is that they don't refer to English. So the teacher wants you to figure out what the word means. I can understand that they might do this because of students from different nationalities, but for me it was a waste of time. I am not sure if they ever changed the books since they opened. One of the first words I learned was rubber eraser and ruler. Not sure if this is up to date.

Since I have some knowledge, in particular with vocabulary, from my time in Laos, I was hoping to learn Thai by speaking and reading/writing. But they stick with phonetic language, and that is quite an outdated system (although it might be helpful as a addition).

So, yes, I learned something, but not as much as I expected. A bit strange was the moment when I was leaving: Neither the teacher nor the receptionist/sales women even tried to sell me another course or asked about my experience. So it seems they just don't need more customers.

Now, I will try to go back to books and learn more reading and writing, and extend my vocabulary. And of course I need to practise.

Learning Thai in Bangkok

So, after doing some research, I subscribed to AAA language school. Main reasons were that a friend recommended it, and its easy to get there (just a few meters from Chitlom BTS). They are operating for a while, got approval from the Ministry of Education, and are reasonable priced. I booked 20 hours private lessons, twice a week 2 hour sessions. As a beginner, I have to start with pronunciation, and this is taught through phonetic language. A big minus. My experience with learning Vietnamese and Lao is, that is way better to learn read and speak right from the beginning.

I understand that this school may want to prepare people for daily life, and that should be mainly speaking. But it isn't, actually. How to understand all the signs, all the promotion messages, the bills etc? Also, one of the first words I had to learn were Ruler, Pencil and Eraser (Whats Abacus in Thai?). Clearly a sign that it is a while ago when the last updated their textbook.

My teacher is good, and at least my pronunciation will get better. In Laos people didn't care so much about it, as long as they got it from the context, but the Thais are like the french: Their language is art, and no derivates allowed.

To be continued....