His Majesty the King, and all the Royal Family – Do take care not to mention anything negative about any member of the Thai Royal Family as Thai people love and adore them. There are harsh penalties for Les Majeste and there are foreigners in Thai jails at this moment because they did something considered disrespectful in this regard. Be very careful about your speech and other behavior toward this most important subject.
Standing during Thai national anthem – Do stand still and quiet like everybody else during the playing of the Thai national anthem. They play it before all movies in the cinema and at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily in various places. Rule of thumb, if everyone is standing quietly – you should too.
Politics – The country is split considerably about what group is best to rule their nation. Currently there are demonstrations, sometimes violent, in protest to the current ruling party. Stay away from discussions of political nature and don’t give your opinion if asked about it. Let Thais work the issue out for themselves, don’t be vocal about your opinion on how corrupt government, police, military and anyone else seems to be.
Face – Losing face, gaining face. This is a topic that deserves a separate post, and indeed I will create it in the near future. Face is the underlying guide for Thai behavior. Thais are very concerned about losing face which is akin to losing respect among their friends or strangers. It’s similar to embarrassment. If a Thai loses respect in front of his friends especially he may resort to violence in a few seconds. Thais explode when face is lost. It’s too much to handle in a society in which face means everything. A person with a lot of face is someone well respected in society and someone that others like a lot.A Thai gains face by doing things that help the flow of social interaction go smoothly. If one overlooks small or large transgressions one gains large amounts of face. If one insults people then face is easily lost and hard to regain. During your stay try hard not to cause anyone to lose face. Try to build face with each social encounter and you’ll do well in Thailand.
Raising your voice – Thais go to exceptional lengths to keep smiling even when they’re boiling inside. Thailand is often referred to as the “land of smiles”. The reason for this is that Thais seem to be able to smile regardless of the situation. In Thai culture it is more polite and more gracious to smile and overlook offenses and differences of opinion with smiles instead of harsh words.In fact, the only time harsh words are spoken is during a physical fight or a verbal argument that will quickly lead to a physical fight. When Thais blow up emotionally it gets physical and sometimes deadly very quickly. Don’t raise your voice to anyone, regardless what the issue. If you’re going to lose some sum of money because of the issue take it up with the tourist police, don’t attempt to resolve it with words if it looks like you’re getting nowhere.
Physical altercations – Thais fight in groups. They will all join in to fight you if you choose to fight a Thai. You can’t win. You and three other guys cannot win against twenty or thirty Thai men. Be very careful not to provoke Thais to anger because your first hint that you might have gone over the edge is a bottle or stick to the back of your head. Very few people have problems of this nature in Thailand, but it’s worth saying something about.