• Religion: Visitors should dress neatly at all places of worship. They should not wear skimpy tops or shorts or any revealing clothing.
• It is acceptable to wear shoes when walking around the compound of a Buddhist temple, but not inside the chapel where the principal Buddha image is kept. Each Buddha image, even if it is a ruin, is a sacred object. Never climb onto one to take a photograph or do anything which might indicate a lack of respect.
• Buddhist monks are forbidden to touch or be touched by women, and they may not accept anything directly from a woman’s hand. When a woman wishes to make an offering to a monk, she must ?rst hand it to a man, and he will present it.
• Thais do not normally shake hands when they greet one another, but instead press the palms together in a prayer-like gesture called wai. Generally a younger person will wai an elder, who will return the greeting, but even casual acquaintances wai politely when they meet.
• Thais regard the head as the highest part of the body, literally and ?guratively. One should never touch a person’s head and should take care not to point the feet, the lowest part of the body, at anyone or anything. Shoes should be removed when entering a Thai home.
• Public displays of affection between men and women are more common today but still frowned on.
