The Land of Smiles

Everywhere I walk in Bangkok people smile at me. Coming from a small town, I grew up smiling at strangers... mostly because it is hard to meet a stranger when your hometown was as minuscule as mine. I smiled at plenty of strangers in Macon but the realities of urban living jaded me to the habit of smiling at EVERY person I encountered. I slowly became one of those emotionless, blank stares walking down the sidewalk. It wasn’t that I was unhappy (usually it was quite the opposite) it was just that smiling in an urban environment often invited unwelcome attention. I would often smile at people only to have them give me a quizzical stare or, in some cases, a frown in return. Furthermore, I didn’t want the cat calls of construction workers or passing cars. Nor did I need to hear the unsolicited commentary men I passed on the sidewalk who assumed my smile was a form of flirtation when, in my mind, it was a mere nicety. I slowly subdued my smile for the sake of practicality and, sadly, safety.

Well, I am here to say that my smile is slowly creeping back into my daily commute. When you hear of Thailand being called the ‘Land of Smiles’, there is no exaggeration. Now, don’t assume that people here just walk around with a grin plastered to their face, my point is that thais know how to reciprocate a smile. Every single random smile I have flashed has been met with a stranger’s. Every single one. People smile at me and I freely smile back. So far, I have yet to feel as though my smile is being interpreted as anything beyond the kind pleasantry that I intend it to be. In short, it is refreshing not to have to put on a glum face to meet the world.