Foreigners Must do things the Thai Way

Sandra and John bought a double plot on a project in Chiangmai. It was quite a select development with reasonable space from the other houses.

They put a lot of thought into the design of the house and garden, both planned to high western standards. Pride of place in the garden is their full-length swimming pool.

They were alarmed when they saw the builders erecting very tall scaffolding on a new house build right next to their home. Sandra, always the one “wearing the trousers,” asked the owners if the house was going to be so high that it would overlook their swimming pool and invade their privacy.

Thais do not like blunt questions being asked of them and indeed a Thai would never ask such a question in such a forceful and rude manner. They’ll gossip about it but they won’t respond directly to the questioner.

Someone may make a comment to her in passing and suggest she tries to find a compromise, perhaps by putting up some screening. That would be the Thai way. But Sandra is not Thai, so that may not happen. She has blotted her copy book with her neighbour now.

In the West, planning regulations may well have prevented a house being built looking straight into a neighbour’s swimming pool.