The 'Land of Smiles'..? Yeah right.
All tourists please take note..all Thai people you come into contact with are smiling & giving you a wai because they are gonna get money from you..be it the waitress, room-maid..(tips), or market-trader (a sale) etc.
If you want to try dealing with 'real' Thai folk go to Tesco in Market Village..wait for your wai & smile from the check-out women there..they must practice at home being surley to farangs..I hate shopping there & stopped saying thank you at the check-out a long time ago!
Big C on the Pala U Rd..great girls on checkout..always smiling & happy..guess who gets my money..?
BUT..I do realise that %age-wise they may feel we are taking over here in town..It's only the same feeling as the locals in my home-town where 100's of Polish migrant workers now live.
Yes there's many Thai folk who can scrape a living from us..be-it the taxi-men, ice-cream sellers, etc, but way to many may resent us living here..so those folk may be the ones giving us that stare.
Changing the subject slightly..do many Thais feel they've no need to say hello any more..the 'other' HH tourists are Bangkonians, & Hi-So Thai/Chinese..who feel so 'up there' status-wise that they would never be polite to say a market trader, in fact are happy to talk 'down' to them all the time..if I was a trader then I'd be in a mood to skip the 'hello, how are you today' banter.
"What you want?".."No..no-have..f*** o**, try buy somewhere else" (just practicing to be an M.V. Tesco girl
)
But never mind..All of you keep smiling, & keep saying hello
to our hosts..they WILL remember you for it...