Danny's Weblog

Things to bring: Clothes

The standard advice for travellers to Thailand is to bring nothing: there is plenty available. I would add the following warnings.

1. The selection of sizes large enough for westerners is very limited indeed, even in stores which seem to aim at farangs. I am not particularly tall but have significant difficulty getting shirts and shoes to fit. Someone who is tall for a westerner will have real problems.

2. People who prefer genuine cotton will find that they cannot get a straight answer from the shop assistant. I have tried various experiments like picking out obvious non-cotton and asking, and they will always tell you what they think you want to hear. Presumably this also applies to "Thai Silk"; I think I saw an article in the Bangkok Post which said that the majority of "Thai Silk" is actually artificial fiber.

3. If you stay long enough for the seasons to change at home, you may want to bring your cold-weather clothes with you (ie, in addition to what you may have worn on the outbound trip). Thailand actually manufactures quite a lot of the cold-weather clothes sold in the west, but that does not mean you can find it at a reasonable price when you remember you need it at the last minute. You should probably scout out several sources well in advance of your return.

4. The cheap suits available in Thailand may well remind you of the phrase "he was all over her like a cheap suit". Remember that the tailor's shop you go in may well have no actual tailor inside: just an order-taker, who transfers your order to a sweatshop for a commission. The guy you discuss your requirements with may well have no actual understanding of clothes, and his business plan may well depend on none of his customers wanting to stick around for a court case. Fabrics are almost certainly of the lowest quality and internal stiffening poorly stitched. Seams will be made of irritating viscose thread instead of silk. Linings, even if provided, will not be silk. The fabric will stain and will disintegrate when dry-cleaned. If you need any adjustments, there will not be enough time before your flight leaves. (As an experiment, initially tell him your flight leaves a week before the actual date. Then when he sorrowfully tells you he wishes he had an extra two days to do your adjustments...)

There may be tailors in Thailand of which the foregoing is not true.

5. I have not looked for motorcycle wear, but I would think the issue of finding farang sizes would be even more acute. Additionally, most safety helmets available in Thailand are of completely inadequate construction, resembling children's wear for Halloween.

6. Thais seem to prefer styles which are a little strange and garish to the western eye. This may make the clothes a fun purchase to show off when you get home, or not. For instance, Thai police are notorious for having overstuffed shirts straining at every button. This may be because of their sybaritic lifestyle, but I have noticed that even regular Thai shirts seem to be cut very tight compared with US or European shirts. Additionally, they are cut very short, ie from collar to tails, so when I wear a Thai shirt I have to stuff it back in my pants every couple of minutes. (The shirt.)

7. Because of the problem of counterfeiting, selecting a purchase takes much longer: it is practically certain that any clothing product you buy is fake, so you need to check every detail of the construction before you buy it, rather than being able to rely on your experience of the brand.

8. The airport is one of the most dangerous stages of the trip, so you will want to have pants with built-in moneybelts, etc, ready before you set off.

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