We love traveling around the world and experiencing different cultures, foods, and ways of life. While some of the differences between an American or Canadian life and life in another country are obvious and major, there are some minor and unique things that I also find interesting. Here are a few of those things I have observed in Thailand.
Use of plastics
Reducing the use of plastics – bags, straws, etc. -hasn’t really seemed to have caught on in Thailand. Here are a few unique things about how plastic products are used.
- Selling food in plastic bags held with an elastic band. One of the great things about Thailand is that you really don’t have to cook at home if you don’t want to. You can pick up food in a single serving size at a food stall on almost every street corner for as little as $0.60 per serving. Rice, stews, soups, just about everything is sold in a small plastic bag that is closed with a twisted elastic band. They are airtight and feel like a firm, blown up balloon when you hold them. The plastic used is different than the average zip-lock bag you would find in the USA or Canada, so you can get hot liquids in them without damaging the bag. Undoing the rubber band is something I have yet to master. There must be a technique to getting it off, but I usually end up cutting it off with scissors or mangling it off with the tines of a fork.
These plastic bags closed with an elastic band can be found all over, from street vendors to chain grocery stores. Some restaurants will even put you liquid leftovers in one of these bags for you.
- Drink carrier straps. This is one of those things where I think, “This is great! Why don’t they do this everywhere?” At any place that sells take away cold drinks, they give you the drink in a cup and then put it in a sleeve that allows you to carry it around with one finger like you would carry a plastic grocery bag. Genius! It really makes it more convenient to carry around, and you can carry multiple drinks in one hand.
So handy! You can carry multiple drinks and other things with one hand and not have to worry about spilling things.
- Folding plastic grocery bags into little triangles. We have stayed in a few Airbnb rentals and in many of them, there is a drawer that has a few, or many, little folded plastic triangles. When I first saw them, I wasn’t sure what they were so I opened one up to find a plastic grocery bag neatly folded for future use as a trash bag or to carry something else. I am not sure I would go to the trouble of making all those folds, but it is kind of neat.
Cute and compact, many Thais will fold their left-over grocery bags into little triangles for later reuse. Too much work for me, I use the old, “stuff all your extra bags into another bag,” technique. Not quite as elegant as the triangles, but a lot less work.
- Plastic straws for everything. This one I am still trying to figure out – why do you have to have a straw to drink everything? If you go to a convenience store like 7-eleven and buy any canned or bottled drink, they will automatically throw a straw for each item in the bag. You have to ask NOT to have the straw. I am used to drinking directly out of the can of soda, bottle of water, etc. but for some reason, you always get a straw if you buy a drink, it doesn’t matter what kind of drink.
In the cupboard of our Airbnb, a glass full of the left-over straws, plastic spoons, plastic forks, that automatically get thrown in every time you buy something at the local convenience store that they think will require a straw or plastic utensil.
Energy drinks and “magic potions”
- All kinds of energy drinks. Red Bull energy drinks originated in Thailand and there is still a strong usage of these and other energy drinks. At any convenience store, you will see a couple of rows of the beverage cooler lined with them.
In every drink cooler in a Thai convenience store you will find a couple of rows of Red Bull and Red Bull like energy drinks.
- Little jars of drinks with supposed medicinal or healthy properties. This is another one that I haven’t totally figured out. I call these magic potions. I am sure some Thai people wouldn’t like me calling them that. I first noticed these around New Years’ time. I saw people carrying around gift baskets filled with these tiny jars – about the size of a small baby food jar. From the advertisements I have seen on the subway, if you drink these you will become, smarter, more attractive, healthier, more successful, etc. There appear to be three different categories, birds nest (note: only contains 0.8% birds nest), essence of chicken (whatever the essence of the chicken is), and berry.
Here are some gift baskets full of little jars of various elixirs that are supposed to have some particular health benefit. You will find a couple of rows of individual jars in the cooler at most convenience stores in Thailand.
Nose inhalers
- Like Vicks inhalers, but way better. I love these things! I have always been a fan of Vick’s inhalers, but the Thais have taken this to the next level. I would usually get a Vicks inhaler when I got a cold, but people here seem to use them all the time. You sometimes see people walking down the street with one hanging out of their nose. They come in many different scents. I am going to have to stock up before we leave Thailand.
The top row has a variety of nose inhalers in various scents. The inhalers are closely related to the balms in the lower row. In fact, my favorite, the red and white one in the middle of the top row, does double duty. Twist the top off and you have an inhaler. Twist the bottom off and you can dab the liquid balm on whatever body part you think needs it.
Funny commercials on the subway
I don’t know much about the Thai sense of humor since I don’t speak or understand Thai beyond a few courtesy words, numbers, and taxi directions. However, on the subway, there are video screens in the stations and in the trains that show commercials. A lot of them are pretty funny even if you don’t understand what is being said.
Here are some links to a couple of my favorites:
- Public safety announcement urging people not to give alcohol out as New Year’s gifts. (Deaths due to drunk driving skyrocket around the New Year holiday). In this commercial, there are many gifts on a table at a New Year party that look like they are bottles of alcohol, but they hilariously turn out not to be.
- Travel website advertisement. The gist of this ad is that a guy doesn’t think he can afford a vacation, so he decides to fake it by going to a construction site and uses the sand to make it appear that he is at the beach for his social media posts. Of course, he learns later that through Traveloka he can find inexpensive hotel rooms and really can afford a vacation. What I really like about this one is the kid who offers to take his photo for 100 baht, about $3 USD, and then follows him around trying to collect.
There you have it. Some of the little, and perhaps mundane, things that I have noticed during our time in Thailand. Would you like to see any of these things in your hometown?
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