Doesn't Add Up

Thailand is known as "The Land of Smiles". Everywhere you turn people are laughing and being friendly with one another. They are all so warm and welcoming towards me and my fellow farang (foreigners). I feel incredibly comfortable here, and I very much believe the Thai people are glad to have me.

With that said, there are situations in which I am used to people smiling and being friendly in the states where as here they are merely indifferent, if not even bored.

Public Performances.

In America, we expect our performers to put on a show. Make us laugh, excite us, you know the drill. Here, it's as though they are merely passing the time. I have never seen a Thai person more bored than when in front of an audience. Their faces turn blank and their eyes go dull. They zone out and stare off into space while in the act. They are lacking the skill of captivation. What's that about?

The first time we noticed this, it was our last night of orientation and we all went out as a group. Not sure how we ended up in this sort of bar, but we managed to find ourselves (about 15 of us, men and women) in a club of "dancers" at one point in the night. These women were dancing, and couldn't be bothered to pay attention to anyone around them. No smiles, no emotion whatsoever. Now, I don't have any experience to compare this to, but I would assume in most countries, the women in these bars attempt to engage viewers.

The second example I found was at the Tiger Zoo. During the crocodile show, the performers came out in the beginning and did a traditional Thai dance. They made it incredibly obvious they had done this several times and couldn't care less. They weren't engaging us at all, rather staring blankly into the unknown while moving around and dancing. Their movements weren't sharp or precise, rather very loose and jelly-like. They could not be bothered...