I have lived in Thailand for over 10 years now, have a Russian wife and have watched the Chinese arrive in huge numbers – and it dawned on me the parallels between the 3 nationalities for being crazy superstitious, from coin throwing into the Pattaya sea to not buying property due to the house number being unlucky…Todays vlog lists many other beliefs and asks who is the most superstitious between the Thais, Russians and Chinese.? Brought to you in association with Alan Bolton Property Services, servicing Pattaya since 1987.

I thought us Brits were a little superstitious when we’d not walk under a ladder, but we are nothing compared to this bunch. When I first took note of some of the local Thai behaviour it left me a little bemused – Pregnant ladies affixing safety pins on their clothes over their bellies, which apparently protects the baby from ghosts and other such problems, well according to the Thai ladies I asked – who were not too sure why they did it actually, but they still did it. And when the baby is born the superstition continues. Babies are cute, there is no doubt in that, but if you are in Thailand don’t even think about saying that some babies are cute because then a ghost will come and kidnap the baby for being so cute. Oh and talking about babies, Thai people believe that those babies who have birthmarks had past lives. And the beliefs just keep on going – Remember too don’t get your hair cut on a Wednesday is this considered bad luck by Thais too…

…So living in Thailand I got used to such idiosycracy and then came along my Russian wife. Whoah – They also have many, many odd beliefs.  Don’t whistle in the house as you will lose all your money, Pratamanak and Naklua must be covered in Thai coins and the reason is this – before a Russian leaves to go home they will walk to the sea and throw a coin for good luck and to suggest that they will be back soon. I was with the family and about to take them to the airport when they all suddenly stopped what they were doing and took a seat in the house and we silent for a good minute…yep more good luck.  I even have two wooden birds hanging my house which the mother in law put up to protect the family apparently…who needs medical insurance?

Now the Chinese, us Westerners find the number 13 very unlucky which is why you wont find a 13th floor in hotels or condos, but developers take note In China, the number four is extremely unlucky…the word in Chinese sounds like the word for ‘death’. In china you will often not see the 4th, 13th or 14th floors.  Eight however is considered lucky as it sounds in Chinese similar to the word for wealth. Wearing white or black is considered unlucky, take note if you are dealing with the chinese in business of this – wear red as its associated with happiness.  If you want to buy a chinese person a gift don’t buy a clock as it is associated with ‘not much time left on their deathbed’. Really I could go on, the Chinese have many superstitions.

Living in Pattaya you will be surrounded by 3 of the most superstitious nations that you can ever expect to meet, who is the most superstitious? Its close but for core beliefs that really does impact on their lives I have to give the Chinese the nod, followed by Thailand and then the Russians.  What a world we live in hey, we don’t make it easy for ourselves.

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