Thailand: the Germans

The Germans and the German-speaking people travelling with them were so ubiquitous in Thailand, I started to wonder if Thailand was once a former German Schutzgebiete (it was not, and surprisingly Thailand remained independent through out the colonial era--I learned this at the National Museum of Thailand History in Bangkok). And not just the Germans, but other German-speaking tourists from Switzerland and Austria were also more numerous than native English-speakers. Simona speaks German, so she never failed to point them out and translate any juicy eavesdroppings for me.

And all of them, without exception, spoke English more fluently than probably some Americans do. I have heard before that most Europeans are functionally multi-lingual, but the fact really impressed upon me in Thailand. To wit: all of my SCUBA dives were led by German divemasters and all were joined by German divers, but for this dumb-Chinese-American's convenience, all the instructions were in English. And not one German diver in my dive groups even shrugged his/her shoulders at switching to the non-native language in a potentially (but unlikely) life-threatening SCUBA situation.

There were another couple of German girls who split the taxi ride from Thong Sala to Ao Thong Nai Pan Yoi with us. The 4 of us paid 200 baht each for the ride, which evidently was enough to hire 2 taxis (the initial driver dropped us off to be picked up by a 2nd driver). Both girls spoke perfect English, one worked as an admin for McKinsey and the other one sells airplanes. We talked about everything from Bangkok traffic to Bird flu to change of address forms in the German postal system. Even as we chatted happily and smoothly without missing a beat, I couldn't help but feel inept, embarassed, and ashamed to be just an English-spitting American. Oh yeah, of all the shopping malls in all of Thailand, we ran into these two again 5 days later in Siam Square in Bangkok, right as we were about to catch a taxi to beat the traffic to the airport.

side note:

Thailand, for all its sexual tourism, is a surprisingly conservative country that finds public nudity offensive. Toplessness is discouraged on most beaches and is actually outlawed in national parks. Nevertheless, the Germans and other Euros bring their Euro brand of immodesty to Thailand with casual disregard for the Thai sensitivity. Just off the top of my head, I could recall 8.5 incidences of toplessness on beaches. The galls of these women! Simona found this inconsiderate, tasteless, and offensive. I agree too (nod nod).

Especially after I found that bottomlessness by men on inflatable floaties were just as common, and frequently obstructs the beach docking of long boat water taxi's.