Cultural Differences

One of the interesting features of Bangkok is that 7 Eleven stores can be found EVERYWHERE.  There is usually a 7 Eleven on every block we pass, and that store easily predominates those in the city.  Further, the 7 Elevens in Bangkok carry a lot more of the everyday necessities that people frequently purchase.  For instance, you can buy minutes for your cell phone, breakfast, or a cold beer at 7 Eleven.  I visit the stores near the apartment of the school at least once, if not many more times, a day.  In Bangkok, 7 Eleven really is the first name in convenience. 

 

Fruit has become a large part of my diet in Thailand.  I have been trying a lot of seemingly strange and exotic fruits, which can seem quite intimidating at first.  I was used to eating yellow mangoes in Winnipeg, and I have been eating a lot of fresh ones in the areas we visited outside of Bangkok.  They have been delicious so far, and the vendors will even cut and peel them for you as you buy them.  Usually, mangos cost between 10 and 20 baht (about 33-66 cents each).  In Bangkok, right outside of Lertlah, I have been buying green mangoes as an afternoon snack.  They have a texture that is much more near an apple, and are more sour than the yellow mangoes, but I like them as well.  The Thai people eat them with a mixture of salt and sugar, which I have yet to try.  Another new fruit I have tried are mangosteens, which are actually completely different from mangoes.  They are small, round fruit with a hard purple exterior.  Inside, the mangosteen has a layer of bright red flesh, surrounding a clear white fruit, similar to that of a litchi fruit.  They are very tasty, but also difficult to open.  Also, there is not much fruit on them, surrounding a pit.  The most foreign-looking fruit I have tried are called rambutans.  They are small, round, and red, with bright green “hairs” coming out of them.  You crack them open between your palms, and the inside is also very similar to the litchi, although very sweet.  I have yet to try a durian, which is a larger brown fruit with what appears to be spikes on the surface.  They are notorious for smelling terrible, and are said to be an “acquired” taste.  There are many other new fruits to try, that I will get around to at some point.  A lot of times, I will buy fruit smoothies on the Soi, which consist of only blended fruit, water, and ice.  They are very refreshing in the heat.  I have also tried a coconut, which is much more tasty here than the types you can buy from grocery stores in Winnipeg.  The liquid gives you energy, while the coconut meat is the consistency of jelly, and is not as potent as I think it is in Winnipeg.  Also in Thailand, you can frequently find watermelon (with seeds) and pineapple from street vendors.  Overall, fruit is easy to buy and snack on, for a much more reasonable price than in Winnipeg. 

 

Alice buying fruit from the vendor outside the school.

Roaming the streets of Bangkok (and everywhere else we have visited so far) are many scruffy dogs.  At first, I thought these dogs were content just to sit near their owners while they worked (outside the 7 Eleven, for instance).  I have recently learned, however, that these dogs do not have homes or owners, and live on the streets.  I have only ever seen the street dogs as docile, although Alice tells me that they often chase her while she is running.  All of the dogs are roughly of the same build, medium-sized and fairly thin, with short hair.  I have heard that people feed them scraps of food to supply their diet.  None of the dogs I have seen so far have been fixed, either.  It is interesting to see how these animals live, outside of the home, as opposed to most of the animals in Winnipeg. 

A wild dog outside of 7 Eleven.

Since coming to Thailand, I have been experiencing an interesting cultural phenomenon: Thai people everywhere I go have been telling me that I am pretty.  I am not trying to be conceited; at first I was quite weary about receiving these compliments.  I then thought that the Thai’s might just be being polite to a foreigner.  This escalated to a point when while during our trip to Kanchanaburi, some Thai boys asked to take their picture with me.  What I have learned, however, is that in Thai culture white skin is considered to be very beautiful, and is highly valued.  Thai people will wear long pants and full-length sleeves when going to the beach, for instance, to avoid contact with the sun that may make their skin darker.  They sit under beach umbrellas as well.  At Lertlah, the walkways are covered to protect from the sun.  7 Eleven even carries rows of different skin whitening products, in place of sunscreen.  This phenomenon seems strange at first, but I liken it to the western perception of tanned skin as beautiful. Many of my friends from Winnipeg will spend hours in the sun tanning, or go to tanning salons to bronze their skin.  Some people even apply tanning cream to darken their skin.  To me, the Thai focus on light skin mirrors the obsession with tanning in the West.  People are singling me out on the street because, as a foreigner who just went through a Winnipeg winter, my skin is still pasty white. 

These are just some of my observations of ways in which Thailand is unique, and vastly different than Winnipeg.  It took some getting used to, but I am starting to settle in to living this type of life.