220/120

Post by **parrot** » April 24, 2014, 2:25 pm

40 years of marriage to a Thai, going on 20 years living in Thailand....there are some things I still don't understand.
Yesterday, my wife and I were sucking down a plate of extra spicy lahb at our favorite lahb restaurant........wicked hot outside, no aircon inside, but reasonably cool with very high ceilings. In walks a lottery vendor.........who was dressed for 40 degree weather. 40 degree as in Fahrenheit, not Celcius. Large brim hat, pah-kao-ma wrapped around her neck, long sleeve flannel shirt with another pah-kao-ma wrapped around her waist (?to prevent any cool air from chilling her body?), long pants, socks, and shoes. She could easily have been going to a snowball fight back in the US!
Today I went to a rice mill with our gardener to buy several bags of rice hulls. I went in shorts and a t-shirt, my gardener in long pants and a long sleeved shirt. When we started bagging the hulls, he put on another long sleeved shirt just as I was considering shedding my short sleeved t-shirt.
The good news is that more and more Thai men are sporting shorts now....even when out and about in town or in restaurants. When we moved here to live, about the only males you'd see in town wearing shorts were samlor drivers or the rare tourist (I have never ever seen a samlor driver in long pants........not even in the coldest weather Udon has to offer.........is it because of fear of catching the pants' leg on the chain or is it because shorts are the de rigueur uniform of samlor drivers?). I guess, sort of like it was when I was a kid and no one but no one would have considered wearing jeans to church.

Post by **maaka** » April 24, 2014, 3:12 pm

its to keep the sun off..she probably wasnt even sweating..
have you ever seen a sweating Thai..
as for the shorts..it use to be a cultural thing, no baring to much flesh..
I remember back in 74 lying in my speedo's on the Beach of Passionate Love, Songkhla, getting fried all myself and next thing the locals come strolling along the beach dressed like Presbyterians on their way to church..I was forced to get suitably attired..

Post by **noosard** » April 24, 2014, 3:23 pm

The Thais do seem to dress for the Artic
My local beer supplier always has a snow jacket on
and its not for the sun as she rarely ventures outside
the local men often tend only to wear the wrap around dress thingy and their skin is quite dark

Post by **FrazeeDK** » April 24, 2014, 3:42 pm

normal attire for the hot weather.. Probably not much different than a Berber or Arab wrapped up in their robes while in the desert. When visiting our nephew, our great-niece was heading out to do her bit "liang kwai" watching the buffaloes out in the fields. She had two pairs of jeans on, two shirts, the scarf wrapped around her face, sunglasses, the straw hat and loosely woven gloves.. When we asked, she said, "it keeps me cooler."... Not something I could do without suffering heat stroke.

Post by **GT93** » April 24, 2014, 4:42 pm

maaka wrote:its to keep the sun off..she probably wasnt even sweating..
have you ever seen a sweating Thai..
as for the shorts..it use to be a cultural thing, no baring to much flesh..
I remember back in 74 lying in my speedo's on the Beach of Passionate Love, Songkhla, getting fried all myself and next thing the locals come strolling along the beach dressed like Presbyterians on their way to church..I was forced to get suitably attired..

I'm pleased that you covered up maaka. You might have been young enough back then to get too pleased to see some of the best looking Presbyterian girls. 555.

Post by **Sakhonnick** » April 24, 2014, 5:30 pm

Can someone explain 220/120?

Post by **parrot** » April 24, 2014, 7:15 pm

Voltage.....left side driving/right side driving.......eastern way of thinking/western way of thinking.

Post by **GARYZX6R** » April 24, 2014, 7:19 pm

Thought it was your blood pressure ?

Post by **parrot** » April 24, 2014, 8:00 pm

GARYZX6R wrote:Thought it was your blood pressure ?

Zen
112/77.....back when we moved into our home here, the voltage was sometimes that low as well!

Post by **Sakhonnick** » April 24, 2014, 8:55 pm

North America 120, Europe 220, UK 240, of course single phase

Post by **Earnest** » April 26, 2014, 12:51 am

parrot wrote:I have never ever seen a samlor driver in long pants........not even in the coldest weather Udon has to offer.........is it because of fear of catching the pants' leg on the chain or is it because shorts are the de rigueur uniform of samlor drivers?

Interesting, I can't remember the last time I saw a Thai shop selling gentlemens' cycle clips.

That said, any samlor driver worth his onions will work up a sweat pushing his pedals about town so it's far more sensible to wear a sturdy pair of khaki drill shorts with ample ventilation.

See English chap in cycle clips below demonstrating the potential for one's legs to get a little sticky when cycling about the city.