Falang Posted April 24, 2003 Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 Forgot to wrote about what happend to me last march on my trip to LOS. After visiting the Thai family in Tha Thum near Surin I was visiting the Thai family in Khrungthep. Since the Thai family in Khrungthep are at the top of the food chain they have nice cars and they offer me to go visit some Wat I never saw before. We went from Bangkok to Nakhom Pathom to see the biggest cheddi I never saw, Cheddi Phra Pathom. Coming back at night we stop to see the new bridge crossing the Chao Phraya and to see Wat Phra Kaew at night, the bridge look very nice at night with all the lighting and Wat Phra Kaew to. After that they offer me to go to Wat Hin (spelling??) because they had a big fest there that night. I think I was the only farang in the sea of Thai people there, at this Wat you can see a 10 m Buddha standing outside. We went in the temple to receive Holly water from the monks and I left my scandal outside to respect the custom like I always do. Surprise!!!!!! :onfire: Coming out of the temple I didn't see my scandal so we began to search them on the sea of shoes there, nowhere to be seen. After a 15 min. search I had to aknowledge that someone stole my scandal, the family were out of their mind because of that. I had to go back to the car, a 15 min walk and I had to be very carefull not to walk on a cigarette or that kind ok thing. I had to buy new ones but I have farang feet so I can't buy them everywhere so the family said that the better place was at Central on Sukhumvit so we went there. From the eyes of Thai people at Central I was the central thing to see, a farang bare feet with the Thai family in the store and you should see the color of my feet walking bare feet in Bangkok. I found a pair I like and I told the clerk that I didn't want a box or a bag because I intend to wear them right now explaning that mine were stolen at the Wat, the Thai clerk give me a 20% rebate because of that This is Thailand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crofty68 Posted April 24, 2003 Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 I used to go from house to house here in Australia..I could tell you if i knew the fashions how many people lived there & how many were young men or women.. by the kinds of shoes that were outside the house.... mostly asians & slavic peoples... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 24, 2003 Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 That's something I worry about at wat's and MP's because I wear 6000 baht birk's. I think three things have saved me: (1) nothing like them are sold in LOS so no one has an idea the value (2) they are too big to fit thai's (3) while unsurpassed in comfort, they are basically ugly, form follows function type shoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brottbyman Posted April 24, 2003 Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 Reminds me of a story a few years back. I was at a party and as i prepeared to go home and put on my shoes, it wasn`t very easy.One was size 42 the other size 39 ??? I can assure u it isn`t easy walking home with 1 shoe either. :: cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soongmak Posted April 24, 2003 Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 Escaperabbit, To say that Birkenstocks are ugly is the understatement of the year! :: Cheers, soongmak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted April 24, 2003 Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 Now, I see it clearly how they do when there's a ton of plastic green colored 20-bath sandals outside the wat. Just grab a pair. Mai bpen rai! Actually, something (somewhat) similiar has happened to me. I was invited to a birthday party as the only farang. Perhaps, 15-20 Thais around. I basically only knew the host of the party. When I wanted to leave I spotted that my sandals were gone. What the f***!? I asked the host for the sandals and she told me: "Don't worry 'Somchai' borrowed your sandals for driving a couple of people home. He will be back soon." Well, "Somchai" came back after 45 minutes. I took a good look at his feet. They were at least 5 sizes smaller than mine...and with my sandals on... It was Birkenstock sandals, I guess he just wanted to try'em on! :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falang Posted April 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 [color:"blue"]"That's something I worry about at wat's and MP's because I wear 6000 baht birk's. I think three things have saved me: (1) nothing like them are sold in LOS so no one has an idea the value (2) they are too big to fit thai's (3) while unsurpassed in comfort, they are basically ugly, form follows function type shoes." [/color] I use to think the same, mine were 6000 baht Salomon scandal, they don't sell them in Thailand so they don't know the value, they are to big to fit Thai and mine were not ugly. Two possibility here, maybe it's a farang who stolen mine, I didn't see other falang but that night it was a sea of people so maybe I didn't notice, or it's a Thai who stolen them for selling on Sukhumvit or KhaoSan road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falang Posted April 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2003 [color:"blue"] "I asked the host for the sandals and she told me: "Don't worry 'Somchai' borrowed your sandals for driving a couple of people home. He will be back soon." Well, "Somchai" came back after 45 minutes. I took a good look at his feet. They were at least 5 sizes smaller than mine...and with my sandals on... " [/color] I notice that in the village, everybody take any scandal when they go out but they did not take mine because I think they were a bit to big for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Petchburi Pete Posted April 25, 2003 Report Share Posted April 25, 2003 Falang, I am gald that you were able to take this in stride. Seriously, I worry about the same thing beacuse my sandals are Clark's from the U.K. My feet are odd in that the toe box area is very wide, but the heel is narrow. I've tried shoes in a few places with no luck. However, the last time I was in the Tokyo department store at MBK, I saw some excellent sandals on ground, or first level. I only had a quick peek, but there's potential there. When I have the time to go back and look, if the shoes are 'farang-friendly,' I'll do a quick post. The first time I went to my wife's village, the dogs ate my shoe laces while I slept and my shoes were ouyside the door ... glad they didn't eat the shoes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 25, 2003 Report Share Posted April 25, 2003 This is very worrying.. Clearly there is a pattern forming here. I too have suffered the loss of a new pair of Adidas ''Active' sandals, left outside a gym. They were replaced by a mashed up, broken down pair. No one seemed to know who took them. I was the only non Thai in the gym. Maybe a formal protest to the Thai government, so that farangs can be excused from removing their shoes... We should nip it in the bud now, before we are all left barefoot & penniless by the Thais. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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