Welcome to Land of Smiles.

If you want to integrate with the local culture at least a bit, there are some DOs and DON’Ts that you should keep in mind at all times.

94% of Thai population is Buddhist. And you can feel it around. The gentle and calm Buddhist approach is something that you can feel from behaviour of chilled locals.

That is the reason why all of them smile all the time. It is really important to smile BACK:) In Thai culture not being nice is considered as impolite and being angry and arguing is a complete rudeness.

What a great country, I wish we could learn this.

Vitajte v Krajine Usmevov.

Ak sa chcete co najlepsie zintegrovat s lokalnou kulturou tu je zopar rad co Ano a co Nie.

Usmievajte sa!

94% populacie su Budhisti.A skutocne jemny a pokojny budhisticky postoj je nieco co mozete citit vsade naokolo. To je dovod preco sa vsetci stale usmievaju. Nezabudajte: Je velmi dolezite usmievat sa naspat!

V Thajsku sa clovek, ktory je nahnevany, nevrly alebo ak sa niekto nebodaj zacne hadat… toto spravanie sa proste povazuje za najhorsie porusenie spolocenskej etikety. Je to proste jedna z najneslusnejsich veci akych sa mozete dopustit. (Toto je ake super, to by sa mohli nasi predavaci, uradnicky a politici naucit)

No Bare Feet

The head is regarded as the highest part of the body and you should never touch another person on the head. By contrast, the foot is regarded as the lowest and dirtiest part of the body.

It is considered extremely offensive to show someone the sole of your foot. It is also very rude to have your foot higher than someone else's head. Also, it is customary for anyone to remove his or her shoes or other footwear when going inside a house, shop, restaurant, internet café, palace or museum.

This is a little fact that might seem so insignificant because nobody will ever tell you.

But it is not OK. People hate it.

There'll be no one to come to you and say "hey, don't do that"(it’s also rude to be angry as you remember) On the other hand they know that visitors "don't know" so it's forgivable. But deep down. I can tell you, everybody here hates it.

Safest way is to keep your feet lower than knee-level. Just don't go crazy with them.


Neukazujte nikomu bose chodidla.
Hlava sa povazuje za najvyssiu a najdolezitejsiu cast tela. Preto, by ste nikdy nemali nikoho chytat za hlavu. Toto pravidlo mi vzdy pride dost vtipne, lebo si nedokazem uplne predstavit z akeho dovodu by som niekedy chcela niekoho chytat za hlavu. No nevadi. Proste si zapamatajte, ze nemate stracat hlavu(vlastnu ani cudziu) a vsetko bude ok.
Na druhej strane chodidla sa povazuju za najnizsiu a najspinavejsiu cast tela. Povazuje sa za neslusne ak:
• Niekomu ukazete bose chodidlo ーcize ziadne vykladanie si noh na stolicky, na stol ani nikde inde.
• Mate svoje chodidlo vyssie ako ma druhy clovek hlavu
• Nevyzujete sa predtym ako vstupite do chramu, obchodu, restautacie, internetovej kaviarne. Toto nie je pravidlo v uplne vsetkych pripadoch, ale proste ak mate znacnu kopku flipflopov pred dverami asi si viete domysliet co treba spravit.
• Ukazujete na nieco bosou nohou.
• To nieco je napriklad socha Buddhu.
Toto vsetko su male drobnosti, ktore sa mozu zdat nedolezite. Ak sa nahodou rozhodnete ich vsetky nasilu porusit, nic ocividnesa nestane. Preco? Pozrite sa napredchadzajuce pravidlo. Nie je slusne sa rozculovat.
Cize nikto k vam nepride aby vam povedal, toto sa nema, nepatri je to strasne slusne. Ale v skutku ludia budu urazeny a jednoducho nemaju to radi.

Monks

Thailand is a country with one of the highest numbers of monks. And you should always remember to treat them in a special way.

If you are a woman, never ever touch them. They are not allowed to touch a woman, even their own mothers, during the time they are monks. Even if you want to give them a gift, as a woman you can never pass it directly just put it to other man or somewhere where they can pick it up on their own.

A lot of people buy statue of Buddha, because it just looks very cool, however they are not too many who are that keen on understanding what is behind. 

Buddhism isn't actually seen as a "religion", it is a non-theistic philosophy & a system of psychology. According to Buddhist belief, the current Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of a past lama who decided to be reborn to continue his important work. 

Buddhism is quite a laissez faire concept, and apparently you can choose to be a monk for any length of time during your life. From devoting your entire life to being a monk for just one day...

 Yes. I know. Monk with a mobile phone! :)

O mnichoch.

Thajsko je jedna z krajin s najvacsim poctom mnichov, ku ktorym sa vzdy treba spravat specialne.

Ako zena, nikdy sa ich nesmiete dotknut. Ani omylom.

Thajski mnisi nemaju povolene dotknut sa zeny, dokonca ani vlastnej matky. Ak im chcete nieco podarovat,bud to podajte nejakemu muzovi, alebo po polozte niekam kde si to mozu zdvyhnut.

Vela ludi si prinesie z dovolenky na pamiatku sosku buddhu, ktora doda do kazdeho interieru trocha exotiky a spirituality. Na druhej strane nie je mnoho tych, ktory si daju tu namahu objavit, ze za touto “dekoraciou” je aj nieco viac.

Buddhizmus vlastne nie je nabozenstvo. Je to zivotna filozofia, ktora neuznava jedneho boha ale skor veri v urcite hodnoty. Buddhizmus je dost laissez faire koncept, pocas vasho zivota sa mozete rozhodnut stat sa mnichom na presne taku dobu aku chcete. Moze to bytjeden den alebo aj cely zivot.

To Bargain or Not To Bargain ?

Everything is open to discussion and you will never find a price tag on something.

When to Bargain?

1) Always bargain for a cab.

Basically you have two choices before you hop in:

• Either agree to put it on the meter ーThere is no way you will know how to get somewhere in city like Bangkok, so just forget about it, as I have to inform you they will drive you all around just to make the number higher.    
• Agree on the price before you sit in the cab ー just try to guess how far it is, and how much you should pay, agree on expected price and he will take you straight to where you want to go.

2) On the market. It is meant to be fun, so just don’t get angry with the sellers(remember it’s rude). Most probably they will show you a calculator with a figure and they will want you to see the same. The best way to start is to go 50ー60 % down, they will laugh at you, you will laugh too, and in the end you will settle down on 20ー30% discount.

When not to bargain?

• Don’t bargain for 10 Baht. This is just pure ridiculousness and that 5p does not mean anything for you so just smile and enjoy giving a bit and supporting these poor happy people.
• Don’t bargain if you know you are not going to buy something. This is so rude, and poor guy will loose customer cuz of wasting time with you.

Prices of everything are so cheap, and you will be having a great time, so don’t worry too much about getting ripped off. Whatever you do, you will be ripped of at some point. This is not that they are bad people, it is just the way economy is. Rather enjoy supporting local producers and enjoying the feeling that they will be a  bit better of because of you.




Vyjednavat, ci nevyjednavat ?To je otazka
Ceny nie su nikdy presne stanovene a vsetci obchodnici su vacsinou otvoreni diskusii.Kedy vyjednavat?1) pred jazdou v taxiku. Tu je dolezite podciarknut Pred jazdou v taxiku. Ak naskocite bez dohodnutia, uz je proste neskoro , prehrali ste a ohdalili ste ze ste proste turista, ktory, zaplati sumu, ktoru sofer nadiktuje:)
Takze pred tym ako nasokcite mate 2 moznosti:
• Bud sa dohodnite nech si to pekne odmeria. Moznoze,tymto stylom usetrite peniaze, ale urcite nie cas, pretoze na stopro nepojdete tou najkratsou a najefektivnejsou cestou akou sa dostat k vytuzenemu cielu.
• Dohodnite sa na cene. Ak si myslite, ze sa to da zjendat aj nizsie, kludne povedzte nie, v priebehu dalsich piatich sekund vam zastavi dalsi.
2) Na trhu
Hlavne sa nezacnite rozculovat. Pamatate si prvu radu, je to neslusne!  Hociaku cenu Vam povedia, povedzte nieco co bude o 50 alebo 60 percent nizsie, oni san a va zasmeju, vy sa tiez zasmejete a stretnete sa niekde pri zlave 20, 30 ak sa podari 40 percent. Moja najoblubenejsia taktika je odist ked mi predavac povie, ze nie uz nizsie sa to neda, ja sa otocim, zacnem kracat prec, v duchu napocitam do 4, a zrazu pocujem, ze predavac krici, ze ok on mi to da za moju cenu.
Kedy nevyjednavat?
Nevyjednavajte za 10 bathov.Tych 10 korun za to nestoji. Je to proste strata casu a energie.
Nevyjednavajte ak si dany product nechcete kupit a robite to iba pre srandu kralikov. Chudak predavac, sa musi sa vami natahovat a v priebeju vasho rozhovoru pravdepodobne strati zakaznika. Tentokrat skutocneho.
Netrapte sa prilis tym, ze Vas niekto oklame pri cenach, lebo skor ci neskor sa to urcite stane. Skor sa teste z toho, ze cenova hladina je vo vseobecnosti velmi pozitivne nizka.

Bangkok. Gate to South East Asia.

As sweet as Thai people are, from time to time they can be quite unhelpful or in better words completely useless.

During my first days in Bangkok I was just wandering around, trying to find my way, and couple of beautiful spots that I’ve seen on the map. Great achievement: I had a map. However if you ever seen Thai Sanskrit, you will see that is it quite a challenge to actually define: "Where on the map am I, exactly?"

I have the suspicion that Thai people maybe don’t use maps. It happened to me so many times, that I showed the map to tuk tuk or cab driver, he looked at it with this very curious grin (like when I see new issue of fashion magazine) looked in very different place then were we should be and then just gave it back.  Great.

It was around 6pm, I knew it is going to be dark quite soon and my tuk tuk driver just left me on a random spot where I was supposed to have a quick look at some Buddha temple and then come back and go to my hostel. That would be fine, if he didn’t left me in a place that I really could not indentify with not too many Baths, as I was bargaining for the whole day and went slightly over the budget. Brilliant. 

 I asked around 6 people how to get to train station called Nana, and all of them pointed in the same direction and said yeah just go straight and then to the right. Then I asked the 7^th.

He made it more than clear to me that I am approximately 20 km from the station and the previous guys did not speak English very well most probably.

That is the tricky thing, that Thai people really don’t want to upset you, and tell you that they actually don't really know, they will always tell you something. Although we both speak English (com si, com sa), we just have very different  understanding of meaning of the words. Perfect example:

ー “ Is this food spicy ?”

ー “Noooo, just a little bit :)”

 In this case, you can be soooo sure it is the most hottest chilli spicy little piece of hell you’ve ever put in your mouth. It will be so hot that you won’t be able to recognize if it is actually spicy or its just the food that has 100 degrees.

2 weeks after I came back from my holiday I went for a dinner with my good friend Mark, I was telling him the same story and what he said just struck me so much.

ー “Don’t you see that there is a parallel between your life and getting lost in Bangkok? “

In our lives we have a map that is showing us where we should go on our journey called ー life.  Now the fact that you have a map, does not mean anything if you cannot read it. There will be a lot of people who you will meet on the way telling you to go straight and to the right, without having any clue where you should actually go. These are our teachers, managers, parents(sorry mum!:) friends, celebrities and whoever else is influencing you. They are also completely clueless.

Great story, but what is the conclusion? Next time, if I go to travel, I’ll buy a compass.  What can be your compass in real life though? For me, I think every single day about the place where I want to get.  If you know what is it exactly that you want to do in your life, if you know what is the direction that you want to take, it will not matter that people might set you on a wrong track.

In the end of the day, life is not about reaching the goal. It is about enjoying the journey. 

Swimming with the sharks without being eaten alive.

Koh Phi Phi.

No words can describe the beauty of Koh Phi Phi. You can only see it:

One of the first views that you see once you landed in the main Pier.

Maya bay. This is the beach from the Movie that changed the whole country. The Beach. However is it not exactly the same, as Tsunami and loads of tourists really changed the way it looked 11 years ago.

Luckily, some places are still very difficult to access and you can get there only with your private long boat or your canoe.

 View from the top of the Island.

Dangerously Beautiful and Beautifully Dangerous

Koh Phan Gan.

Oh yes, "Some" people on this Island die. You can hire a scooter for 3 pounds, without having neither helmet nor driving license. It has never been easier and cheaper to buy some serious drugs or plenty of alcohol, and the Haad Rin beach is really dangerous for swimming even during the day. (Actually, Interesting thing, I've never seen any "salvatagio's" in Thailand.)

Full moon party is one in a lifetime experience. Just don't loose all your money, mobile phones, cameras and common sense.

I really loved Phan Gan, please don't take me wrong, I had the time of my life and parties are just awesome. Looking at it now, Koh Phan Gan is simply: Dangerously Beautiful and Beautifully Dangerous, at the same time.

 

Full Moon Party. Morning After. Hundreds of people still enjoying as I call it "Full Sun Party":)

Personally, this was mu favorite place ー Chill house. Calm and relaxed place with beautiful view on crazy Haad Rin beach.

 

Yes I survived. Everybody else survived. However I met couple of Canadian guys, who were driving their scooters quite drunk and for the last party they had to wear very trendy outfits ーloads of bandages.

Zhora dole. Od Akko az po En Gedi.

Izrael je velmi rozmanita krajina, s dobrou infrastrukturou a relativne malymi vzdialenostami medzi jednotlivymi mestami. Ja som okrem Tel Avivu a Jeruzalemu stihla vidiet aj nasledujuce:

Akko. Hranica s Lebanonom.

Jazero Galilei.

 

Haifa. Bahaisky chram a Bahaiske zahrady.

Jaffo. 

Macada.

Engedy a Mrtve more.

Moments...

  

Enjoy London through my eyes. These are my favourite moments from 2011 so far.

 

Very inspirational street in the City...

  

Pillow Fight on Trafalgar Square.

 

Tube.

 

St Pauls

 

British Museum.

 

London Eye overlooking Westminster.

The animal instinct.

Friend of mine once said (and by ‘said’, obviously, I mean his facebook status said): “Fighting for peace is like having sex to reach virginity. “

I would disagree with that. At least, with the first part:)

Last week I had a chance to understand better the addiction of Barney Stinson for laser tag.

You have it all: Adrenalin. Excitement. Fear. Exhausting physical activity (I couldn’t walk down the stairs for 5 days!). Your brain is 100% busy, aiming to the right spot and at the same time thinking about the next best strategy. Surprise when somebody just shot you from the back. Sweet pleasure when you see somebody being shot thanks to you.

I couldn’t help it but wonder about all the previous generations and people who are still today, struggling through so many wars.  Isn’t it a bit absurd, that now that we live in peace, we create fake battle fields? Should I feel guilty?

I was thinking a bit more and I realized how peaceful I was the following days. According to our genetics, we all are made to be angry, furious and aggressive. We all have it inside. The animal instinct.

Whether you are a kindergarten teacher, priest, investment banker or cleaning lady.

You can’t hide it. You can't push it away.
Most of all, you can’t Ignore it.

Because one day all this energy will accumulate and hit you back into your face. Most probably, somebody else’s face.

We are aloud to make a scene and to be angry and I think it is great that we have all the computer games, martial arts classes and boxing rings, where you can do whatever you need to do. After that you will come back to REALITY and you can be calm like Budha and without feeling like running around and shooting your classmates and teachers.

Peace, love and ice-cream everybody!