The point at which the cultural difference hit me was while at work having a conversation with a Thai colleague. I had worn my flip flops in to work and then changed in to heels for the days work at the office, which would seem the normal thing to do. However in Thailand the done thing was to wear your heels on your commute in to the office, no matter how far you had to walk, then to wear your flip flops while in the office. The idea behind this was to withhold your well dressed, upper class status in public.
See, what I came to realise about Bangkok was that status was very important. Where at home in England some women paid to use sunbeds and fake tan to look 'healthy', in Thailand women used whitening cream and whitening injections to stay pale. The reasoning here being that those with less money work out in the sun all day doing agricultural work causing them to have darker skin.
Definitely the right place for me to be, having been born with my dads pale Scottish genes which never allowed me to tan in the slightest.
(Photos above I took while visiting the Grand Palace)
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