Wear a Chang beer singlet. Get groped by a ladyboy. This is the advice you need if you want to fit in with the local tourist crowd . .
1. Live the Khao San life
Khao San Road is the first port of call for many travelers to Thailand -– particularly the under-25 set. The sensory overload you experience is akin to being smashed over the head with a golf club.
Take a deep breath and, if you don't start coughing, savor the sight of pirated CDs, fisherman's pants, sweet 'n' sour chicken and buckets of low-grade booze mixed with red bull.
2. Get your hair braided
Much like in Mexico and the Caribbean, It's an unwritten rule that foreign women visiting Bangkok have to have their hair braided at some point.
Nobody is quite sure why this tradition became embedded in the backpacker psyche, but if you are a woman and you have hair, you'll want to have it braided almost as soon as you set foot outside your hotel room.
Pick up a Chang beer from 7-Eleven, take a seat and let the good Thai women of Khao San work their magic. Men who feel like they’re missing out can opt for dreadlock extensions.
3. Wear beer apparel
This one isn't exclusive to Bangkok, as similar phenomena occur all over Southeast Asia. The gist of this shebang is that you need to show how in touch with the locals you are by wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of your favorite Thai beer.
Popular choices are Chang and Singha.
4. Get hustled at pool and ‘Connect 4’
Bangkok is a city for players, and nowhere does this become more apparent than in the darkest depths of the nightlife districts, where doey-eyed temptresses will try and cajole you into sinking a few balls or else aiming for "four in a row" in games that inevitably end up with beer as a wager.
5. Start fights with the locals
No I'm just joking. Be a good citizen.
6. Have your photo taken next to a beast
Thailand presents plenty of photo ops that your online friends will soon drool over, but nothing says “I'm the boss” quite like a pic of you crouched down next to an enormous, docile tiger.
Snap away and upload straight to your Facebook profile for all to see.
7. Wear novelty headwear (note from hhfarang - where can I get these in Hua Hin; looks like a great way to keep the sweat out of my eyes!)
Travelers in Bangkok are dedicated followers of fashion, so you should be aware of the latest trends, which include bandanas, novelty plastic trilbys and, of course, those pointy hats the costumed-out hill tribe ladies try and sell alongside little wooden frogs.
8. Take your shirt off
This one's aimed more at the lads because it's almost unheard of for women to let their baps out in public in Bangkok.
Due to the unbearable heat of the city, local men usually just roll their T-shirts up and wear them like bras, thus exposing their glorious guts for the world to see.
You'll want to go the whole hog and give the world a glimpse of your glistening man boobs.
9. Take a crash course in Thai affairs
There is no better way to impress fellow travellers than by launching into a monologue about how screwed the Thai economy is and how backwards political affairs are and how coups have become part of daily life in the Land of Smiles.
10. Get fondled -- or robbed -- by a ladyboy
Female travellers usually have sufficient wits about them to avoid being robbed by Thailand's few unscrupulous ladyboys, but guy backpackers find it difficult to escape the Medusa-like gazes of the nighthawks as they swoop, grope and strut off into the distance -- sometimes with your pocket change and cellphone.
(credit to Matt Crook and CNNGO Asia)
http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/visit/10-e ... 9?page=0,0
... and speaking of head gear for golf, I used to see (actually had one) caps and visors made for golf in Florida that had terrycloth sweatbands built into them, but removable via Velcro for washing. Wish they had those here!
