Is Thailand Safe?
A first hand look into the daily life in Thailand
By Jonky Dawson 3/13/23
For the people who’s never been to Thailand this question seems to always come up. Is Thailand safe?
My first experience to this question was while parking my motorbike at a shopping mall in Udon Thani,
all the helmets were just resting on the handle bars for the taking, no locks. Looking further people just
leave all their backpacks and personal items all in plain view.
- At one time I lost my drivers license and to my elation someone actually took the time and paid for a stamp to mail it back to me.
- There’s been multiple times that I’ve forgotten my backpack containing my camera at Starbucks and restaurants, only to come back an hour later after realizing my stupidity forgetfulness and find it’s still just sitting there in view.
- To really cement my opinion of the safety for Thailand was while driving in Chiang mai, I saw my first accident and the driver got out and wai (the act of preying hands together on forehead) to the other driver for his mistake. Observing more, It’s common practice to wai other drivers for cutting one off, clumsy lane changes, or intervening with another person’s drive.
The people in Thailand are impressively kind and thoughtful towards one another. That dark side of
other countries is really nonexistent in Thailand, you can witness it daily.
So what about walking at night. Again people are just out enjoying the nights, there’s never been a time
I’ve ever seen where people or individuals are gathered together out looking for trouble. There’s not
those sort of people in Thailand, if anything you can expect a smile when crossing another’s path late at
night, but typically people just keep to themselves.
I think what really also caught my attention was the providing of food and drinks at an event for free. When the Thais have some sort of event / gathering they always provide a healthy offering of noodles, Danish, or some rice with meat including a beverage typically water or juice. Again for free.
I was planning a bike race for 200 people in Chiang Mai and immediately one of the Thai organizers spoke out to add that we needed over 200 lunch boxes. I immediately spoke up with my Western ways to dispute the paying for over 200 lunch boxes. And with their gentle Thai soft tone reply, they simply stated this is what we always do for events in Thailand; it’s a Thai custom. I slouched down mortified of my ignorance, and then sat back and thought wow, these people are so giving, respectful, gracious and loving human beings. Thais are the best people.
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