Shopping
It can be said without fear of contradiction that shopping in Thailand is a wonderful experience!
Naturally the cheaper cost of the vast majority of things in Thailand adds a certain "kid in a sweetshop" kind of mentality, but it is far more than just cheapness that makes shopping in Thailand such an adventure.
Quite simply, shopping in Thailand is FUN!
An early morning trip to the local market swamps all the senses, mixing strange exotic smells with the wonderful variety of shapes, sizes and colours of the produce on sale... some recognizable now that U.K. supermarkets import from all around the world, but many still wonderfully unrecognizable.
The smiles and banter of the stall owners, and their attempts to speak English (quite often far better than our attempts to speak Thai!) only add to the cross-cultural experience that is shopping in Thailand.
I would encourage every visitor to Thailand to make that dawn excursion to the local market, and to try (and buy) something you have never seen, or tasted, before. Just don't forget your camera!
Even the more everyday, mundane type of shopping expeditions - for gifts and souvenirs etc - can be just as much fun. However, many tourists these days seem to be under the impression that bartering and haggling with the seller to lower the cost of something, is both a requirement as well as some kind of a "battle"… and a battle which they must win at all costs!
In actual fact it would be difficult to get any further away from the reality of the situation, which is that the haggling and bantering should be acted out as a game… a game which should be played in fun, and with a huge beaming smile on the faces of each of the "contestants"!
This game is an unusual one in the sense that there should be no losers, but two "winners", each finishing the game still in possession of their smiles!
As far as Thais are concerned, haggling, and its accompanying banter, is an opportunity to spend a little time having a bit of fun, ('sanuk') and getting to know someone. It is most certainly not a battle, and, if at any point it becomes serious, the whole purpose of the game is lost… along with the goodwill and the smile of the seller!
At the risk of sounding a little patronizing, it is most likely that what you carry in your purse or wallet whilst shopping is considerably more than an average Market stall holder's income for a fair few months… so… if you have had a bit of fun, and got the price of something down a little bit… is it really worth losing the goodwill and smile of that stall holder by trying to push for another 5 baht reduction?
I hope that you can see that it is not.
In many places haggling is actually not appropriate, the price for something being "fixed price", as many Thais would say. In these situations what you see on the ticket is what you pay.
This "fixed price" situation is common in many shops, stores and food markets/stalls, where haggling would simply be met with a stare and a shake of the head.
A fairly basic "rule of thumb" for us foreigners ('ferang' or "felang" in Thai) to follow, is that the stalls and small shops which are specifically aimed at the tourist market (nick-nacks, bracelets, clothing etc) are normally open to a bit of gentle haggling, whereas the stalls and small stores aimed at providing everyday foods and goods to the local Thai population are generally not.
Whatever the situation, remember that it is supposed to be FUN!
Prison Visits
Sadly, there are many foreigners that inhabit Thai prisons up and down the country. Many are serving long or life-sentences related to drugs.
If you want to visit someone in a prison in Thailand, there is plenty of information help and advice on the internet. It is a relatively straightforward thing to do, and most foreign prisoners would welcome a visit, if for no other reason than the change of routine that a prison visit would bring.
Look on the website belonging to "Prisoners Abroad", which has valuable information on foreign prisons. You will also find links to other appropriate websites, some of which have the names and details of foreign prisons. (You will need the name of a prisoner if you wish to visit someone in a Thai prison. It is not possible simply to turn-up and ask to visit "someone British").
Speaking Thai - An Introduction
The Thai language consists almost exclusively of "mono-syllabic" words, and initially may appear to be relatively easy to speak. For example 'Sa-wa-dee' - which is Thai for "hello" or "good morning" and made up of the 3 syllables (Thai words) 'sa', "wa", and "dee". However, as well as having an "alphabet" almost 3 times larger than our own (44 consonants and a whopping 32 vowels!), and sounds that we simply don't have letters for, some Thai words also have up to 5 different ways to pronounce them (using "tones") … each tone giving the word a completely different meaning!
