Being (really) white in the golden Land of Smiles

Looking back over the nearly seven months living in Bangkok one thing that stands out is, well, me. Just hear me out; being a young (most westerners here are older), white (really, really white these days), tall guy with light brown hair and blue eyes - let's just say people notice. Those aren't exactly common features among the Thais. Ok, enough about me - let me generalize to being white here in Thailand and what it means in the day-to-day life.

I suppose I should first start out by stating something else I've learned while being here. I now believe there is nowhere in the world where racism isn't prevelent. It's all a matter of how people deal with it. For example, Thai people joke about how "black" their friends are, as if it means they are also inherantly stuped because their skin is darker. They even give each other nicknames and the darkest one from a group of friends will be called "Dam" or "Dam-Dam" meaning black. Imagine if we referred to our friends as Darky or something back in the States - I don't think that would fly. The Thai people also go to extreme lengths to lighten their skin. At super markets and high end department stores, there are entire walls dedicated to skin whitenning creams and bleaches. There are even dermatology centers that offer laser whitenning processes that are openned 24 hours a day - and the waiting room is always packed.
Anytime someone steps out of their office, they hold a clip board or jacket up to shield the sun from hitting their faces... heaven forbid the rays of the sun touch their golden skin and turn it a bit more copper! I also overhear conversations about people of other Asian countries are so beautiful because their skin is lighter or so ugly because they are darker... it would seem that everyone in the world would like to be white - unless, of course, you are white and then you go to great lengths to darken that pastiness to look a bit more "ethnic."

Back to the original point: my experiences being white in Thailand. As it turns out, there are some fairly valid reasons for the Thais to want to be more fair-toned. Anytime I go to a club that requires ID (and I always forget to bring mine - passports are a pain to carry), I'm immediately let in without a question. 90% of the time, they don't even ask me if I have my ID. Also, at these same clubs they often pat-down the customers for weapons, and I'm yet to be touched at one of them. I guess because I'm white, I'm no threat. Hell, we get treated a bit like celebrities and even are escorted past lines of people waiting to get in - without ourselves waiting a moment. You can't help but feel a little bad, but I guess it helps explain the obsession over the skin whitenning products...

There are other benefits to being white here too. Just the other day, our money was rejected at a favorite street-side noodle stand. The owner said it was a gift, and we soon figured out that having two white guys dressed in nice business attire eating there was in turn good for his business. Another example of our whiteness affecting our dining experiences; at any number of restaurants that J.W. and I frequent for lunch or dinner, this funny thing often happens within minutes of us sitting down. The music will suddenly shift from whatever Thai rock or Thai sappy music was playing to English music. It doesn't matter if there are forty Thai people there and we are the only two people in the place that speak English - we are getting English music. The only problem with that is that the music is most likely some mid 90's Whitney Huston or similar soft rock that just isn't worth listening to for anyone, white or Thai. I take that back - Thais love sappy English songs about love-lost and longing.

Taxis. Undoubtably, a taxi driver 8 out of 10 times will pull up to the white person before they will pull up to the Thai person if they are standing on the same side of the street waiting. Now the reasons for this is plain enough - white people tip more and prestige. Just like it is fashionable among younger Thais (particularly women) to date a white person (usually man), it is seen as a bit of a social booster for the taxi to be seen around his area of town with a couple of pale people in the back seats.

The truth is I could go on and on (many of you are thinking I already have), but I'll skip ahead to the other side of things. There are the drawbacks, few that they may be, to being white here in Thailand - and they all center on one thing. Money. Living here, you quickly either get used to or get fed up with the fact that when given the option, you will be charged more for the same item/service as a Thai person. It is not so much that you are being ripped off all the time (though it can happen), but that it goes along with the Thai culture. Those who can give, should give. They just don't really present the option. In fact, just tonight a friend of mine asked how much we paid for our office sofa and coffee table. When I told her she said, "next time you want to buy anything, call me. Because you are foreigner, the price will always be too high." Simple as that - we are white so we get the benefits but there is, quite literally, a price to pay.

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~Bear