As a recent arrival in Thailand, I definitely sympathize. Of course, I'm not even trying to learn Thai since I have to learn Karen for my job. Not that that makes it any easier since it's a tonal language as well. Where in Thailand are you?

Not anymore than the various tsunami videos (e.g. http://videosift.com/video/The-Thai-Boxing-Day-Tsunami-Unbelievable-Footage), where you can assume people died but without actually seeing it.

Good stuff -- I've been in Thailand 6 years and I know that while I may some day be a fluent listener in Thai, I'll never be a fluent, "sounds like a native" speaker. Tonal languages are a bitch for anyone who didn't grow up with one.

>> ^enon:

I'm sorry, but these people seem slightly brain dead. Maybe I'm wrong but I thought it was common knowledge that water always recedes before a tsunami. The second I saw the water receding there wouldn't be any amount of money that could keep me there any longer let alone some bs mystifying effect of filming a dry beach.


Exactly my thought. I've never lived near a beach or an ocean, not even within 200 miles of one. But I know this. If the ocean recedes, run and don't look back. Or ya know, maybe start yelling and screaming at others as you go.

Ok come on...is EVERY Thai Ladyboy hot? There have GOT to be some ugly ones but I've never seen one.

My understanding is that they're men, as opposed to transgendered males who feel female. And it goes back a long way in Thai culture and is more readily accepted.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Father, Mute, Deaf, Daughter' to 'Father, Mute, Deaf, Daughter, Thailand, Thai, commercial' - edited by JTZ

I honestly thought it was this guy for a sec


How To Make Thai Green Curry Chicken

I've commented on some other durian videos here before, so I won't ramble too much. Suffice it to say that after almost 6 years of living in Thailand, I'm a pretty major durian fan. I came around to accepting or even liking the taste pretty quickly, but now I even like the smell -- which I found neutral to slightly negative at first.

I wonder if it has some sort of "taster/non-taster" compound in it, but more directed at smell. I'd say 80%+ of the westerners that I know here hate durian, with only 1 in 5 or 10 coming around to appreciating it, like me. Amongst native Thais, I'd say the ratio is more like 60% like it and 40% don't. That seems to hint to me that there might be a genetic root cause.

One more thing that this brings to mind is people's descriptions of the smell. I can't give a good description that compares it to anything, and I never really agree with any that I hear. I certainly don't agree with fish, shit, feet, or any of the other descriptors in the video here. It is sort of similar to people's reactions to cilantro/coriander. I love cilantro, but lots of people that I know hate it and describe it as tasting "like soap", which I don't get at all. Perhaps that is some other genetic taster/non-taster type of thing.

This video has been seconded as a duplicate; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof seconded with isdupe by kulpims.

*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Thai-Temple-Tourists-Teasing-Tigers

This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by pumkinandstorm. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

Would you rather them in the cheap ass Thai zoo or maybe the Thai jungle where the poachers are? Didn't think so.

Thai -- there have been several good Thai commercials recently, including some others that have been sifted here like the smoking PSA, etc.

I asked my wife, who is Thai. She said she has seen the clip before on Thai TV news as well as via internet sources. According to her, the standard reaction/assumption amongst Thais who watch it is that it was a real event, not staged.

I/She/we could be wrong, but I still think it is most likely real.

From my own teaching experiences here, suffice it to say that the cultural aversion to confrontation or showing emotion can be ... difficult for Westerners to deal with. There is a Thai phrase "mai pen lai", which basically means "no problem", "forget about it", or "nevermind". Very frequently, some smallish issue will crop up that the Western mind sees and says "let's nip this in the bud right now before it gets any bigger". But present that train of thought to a Thai, and you'll get derailed by a wall of "mai pen lai".

Sometimes, from a Western perspective, it seems like that system of suppression can perhaps limit the number of temper-related "snaps", but the ones that ones that do break through are likely to be more intense and less controlled. Maybe that is a good thing, maybe not -- a very subjective question. But, Thais seem very comfortable with their system, so I guess I'm just along for the ride as long as I'm here.