DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - What are foreigners perceptions of Thailand?

**casinobonyanes** · 03-12-2006, 08:00 AM

When a westerner loses his temper you can see it coming; not so with the Thai in my experience. I think it's because they bottle things up more and keep the smile on. Until the can't hold out any more.

This is something that seems to be a commonly held notion, that Thais in general have 'mai pen rai' and will avoid all conflicts and whatnot. This isn't necessarily true. I was in a taxi once and it gave a mild ding to a car in the next lane in the middle of a busy Bangkok street. They both got out and the other driver was all attitude and was angry, and the taxi driver started yelling too. Thankfully a cop came by but I was afraid they were going to go at it.

I think Thais like anyone else in the world won't necessarily avoid conflict.

03-12-2006, 08:00 AM	#20
casinobonyanes Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 472 Senior Member	When a westerner loses his temper you can see it coming; not so with the Thai in my experience. I think it's because they bottle things up more and keep the smile on. Until the can't hold out any more. This is something that seems to be a commonly held notion, that Thais in general have 'mai pen rai' and will avoid all conflicts and whatnot. This isn't necessarily true. I was in a taxi once and it gave a mild ding to a car in the next lane in the middle of a busy Bangkok street. They both got out and the other driver was all attitude and was angry, and the taxi driver started yelling too. Thankfully a cop came by but I was afraid they were going to go at it. I think Thais like anyone else in the world won't necessarily avoid conflict.
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