Dear Hillary,
We live in Jomtien and often go to the beach there as it seems to be very popular with the Thais, as we see them swimming there a lot. Why do the Thai people wear clothes when they go into the sea? Sometimes it looks like shipwreck survivors from the Titanic. Some Thais wear bikinis, but they are in the minority. I even see them going in wearing jeans! Why, Hillary please tell us.
Swimsuit Sue
Dear Sue,
The urban myth is that the Thai women think that if a girl has brown skin it means she is a farmer’s daughter, out in the sun all day planting rice, so down the bottom of the society pecking order. Nothing as naïve as that in reality, my Petal. Thai women want to be like European females and buy skin whitening cream by the bucket load, get their noses elevated by the cosmeticians, dye their hair blonde, have it made curly and call themselves “super models”. So the answer is found in the inbuilt vanity or fear of not looking young and beautiful. That is why Thai women are doing ‘selfies’ every minute of every day! Incidentally, Western women want brown skin (that’s why there is so much of it on display) and dye their hair black and have it straightened.
