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Thailand
Travel Guide gives you a perfect outline of the
Culture of Thailand. The culture in this unique country
is heavily influenced by Buddhism. Some other influences
include Hinduism, conflict and trade with Southeast
Asian neighbors such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar and
continuous immigration of the Chinese.
Thailand Culture centers largely around Buddhism. The
people in this country have great regard and respect
for seniority, whether in terms of age, status or wealth.
However, monks are given a VIP treatment. If you are
in a bus you will most often notice healthy young monks
sitting and elderly passengers standing. Monks grab
all the attention in Thailand. They get a lot of respect
from the people.
The Culture
of Thailand also caters to a different fact. In
Thailand seniority has different types of connotations.
Here, younger people respect elders, the poor look up
to the rich and common citizens become subservient to
politicians and high ranking military personnels. But
though seniority in years is not clear many times Thais
keep on asking a person's age. As seniority is an established
notion in the country, older people may address the
younger as nong and the youngsters address the older
as pii. Culture in Thailand also typecasts seniority
as complex.
Culture of Thailand involves certain unwritten obligations.
As for example, a manager dining with his or her staff
will automatically pay the bill irrespective of the
ages of the persons present. Though some visitors find
it unfair, during your Thailand Tours you will witness
the fact that foreigners are considered rich and therefore
asked to pay higher prices than locals. Due to this
fact the two tiered pricing system is seen at many of
the tourist
attractions.
Culture of Thailand includes the way of greeting also.
In this country, the traditional greeting is called
the wai. People greet each other by pressing the fingers
and palms together at chest level and slightly bowing
the head. The wai serves many other functions like saying
hello, showing respect to a senior and asking forgiveness.
A wai is always returned until and unless it is from
a child.
Keeping your calm is a part of the Culture of Thailand.
Outward displays of anger are strictly discarded in
this country. Besides, if you come to Thailand
you will notice that people generally overlook minor
misdeeds. Major offenses are dealt with as carefully
as possible. Moreover, patience is a virtue in Thailand.
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