My Thailand Diary

What is a farang? In simple terms, a farang is a westerner, usually of European descent, an outsider. Farangs don’t have to be Caucasian, but many assumptions about farangs are based on appearance and skin colour. (Thais don’t consider it inappropriate to talk about skin colour.) Thais admire farangs for their big noses, their light skin, and the women for their full figures. On the other side of the coin, they think farangs are a little bit strange, moody, self-centered, ill-mannered, and sexually promiscuous. Many Thais also believe that ALL farangs are rich and that it is okay to overcharge them or ask them for money. Farang isn’t used in a negative way, even though we farangs often feel offended. Its just their way of saying the obvious. Chinese and Japanese are not called Farang, they are called .. japanese people etc. Sometimes it would be nice if they made a diffrence between an American ,Israeli,  Russian, German or Swiss