One thing that sometimes drives me nuts about living in Thailand is the high number of low-class ‘farangs’ (Caucasian non-Thais) who come here. Bizarrely thinking Thailand is a place where they can be rude, offensive and disrespectful, these low-class farangs get falling down drunk, sunbathe topless on Thailand’s beaches, walk around Bangkok in a bikini or, in the case of one British tourist this weekend wear a ‘mankini’ for a Songkran water fight.
And, no, no, no, a mankini is not acceptable in Thailand anywhere, but certainly not walking down the middle of the street in Chiang Mai.
Now, most of the people in Thailand would not have been aware that a farang wore nothing more than a mankini for a Songkran water fight if it wasn’t for a video posted on YouTube over the weekend. In it, you can see the young blonde western man calmly marching down a Chiang Mai street in a day-glo green ‘mankini’ with nothing else on but a big stupid grin on his face and yellow rubber shoes.
Sure, the Thais might be hollering and throwing water on him but, as soon as the video hit YouTube, half of Thailand seemingly erupted with Thais all over social media calling this idiot “low-so” (the Thai word for “low-class”) and disrespectful to Thailand and Thai culture.
What’s even more sad is this British fool doesn’t even seem to have a clue that what he is doing is rude and disrespectful in Thailand let alone completely ILLEGAL.
In fact, he thought wearing a mankini was so “funny” he even outed himself to Thailand blogger Richard Barrow by tweeting him to “thank him” for posting the pictures. You really have to shake your head in amazement.
All I can say is let’s hope he makes it out of Thailand without being arrested, at the airport or elsewhere. Public nudity is illegal in Thailand, just like it is in many parts of the world and, frankly, no matter how hot it is or how much Songkran water is being thrown, when you’re a guest in the Land of Smiles you should respect that. Before those “smiles” turn to something not quite so accepting.