Culture and politics forum

Although i've only been to Cambodia and Laos once each, i was accompanied by a female and she wore whatever she wanted. I don't believe its a problem in those countries to worry about dressing too conservatively...

You might get some looks of admiration, but you would get the same thing anywhere...

Hi,

If you'll be staying only in places frequented by tourists/travellers then dress however you would in hot weather in your home country. You won't see many local women wearing bikinis at the beach, but the locals are used to seeing tourists wear them all the time. Vietnam is a little more conservative than Laos or Cambodia, but still tourists are tourists wherever you go, including Vietnam. Northern Vietnam is also more conservative than the south, so there you may want to wear something that covers your shoulders if you want to make an effort to be respectful. But if not, it's no big deal.

I should mention that if you're visiting Buddhist temples or sites in any country, it is very important to cover the shoulders and legs to below the knees for both men and women. Many temples that are also tourist hot spots will not allow you to enter with sleeveless shirts. If you will be temple sightseeing in somewhere like Angkor or Hue, it's smart to have a sarong or something to cover your shoulders when entering temples. Most Southeast Asians are used to seeing foreigners dressed sloppily and skimpilly, but if you do that in a temple you are sure to offend the them.

Southeast Asia's a wonderful place - have fun!

Locals will never say anything about what you wear. A long hard look at local women might tell you a little, not many shorts, especially short ones. They show some skin above the top of jeans but usually tshirts have sleaves, not much in the way of bare shoulders. Check out a beach outside bangkok like Koh Samet, often young Thai women wear shorts and a T shirt over their swimsuits: Crazy I know but I see it all the time.

Because tourists so often offend without meaning to the Lao Govt in cooperation with the award winning Ecotourism Lao: published a little guide of things to do or not do in Laos so as not to offend.

Look at how the Lao people are dressed and look at the tourists.dos and dont's #6:

Most of their suggestions could well go for other countries in the region. You'd be amazed how difficult or easy things can be when one just adapts to the local way. I've heard of foreign long stayers getting the run around from office to office for lack of knowing a few simple rules. Read story #7 here: you know those guys were just having a laugh sending him on one impossible mission after another.

I think a lot depends on where you are in each country -- they're big places with lots of localised scenes...

For instance, it's probably considered "acceptable" for tourists to walk the main drag in Vang Vieng wearing sarongs and bikini tops, or for the guys just in boardies, but probably less so in Sekong or Salavan.

Likewise I never saw many Thai women getting around in spagetti gear in the far far south -- the waterfalls in Narathiwat and Pattani were all "full shirt affairs" -- or even the backside of Ko Jum for that matter.

It's all about the local sensibilities -- people should be able to pick it up pretty quick -- look at what the locals are wearing... and act accordingly.

Regarding public affection, I'd say it's a funny situation where (broad strokes here) public snogging is frowned upon while same sex hand holding is no issue what so ever. In Sydney, I'd say it's the opposite you can snog all you want but whatever you do don't hold another fella's hand!

When a cousin from country Oz came to visit us in Bangkok, he was gobsmacked that so many of the women were gay -- we had to point out that just because they were holding hands didn't actually mean they were sleeping together.

I've noticed that the locals too, are keeping up with the times (and TV). It's fairly easy to tell what class people belong to by their dress. In Hanoi, I've noticed, the young middle class dress almost exactly as their Western counterparts. It's a totally different story when it comes to a poor food vendor.

James
I second your vote.

That's interesting Abi. Around here, the bigger issue (such as it is - we don't have hardly any tourists) is dressing like a bum. The tourists I do see come in basically two colors - men who married Thai women and are here to visit the family, and backpackers. Of the backpackers, at least half are poorly groomed and poorly dressed. They seem to think the SEA is the place to be this way, but I don't know why. We get a fair number of drunken expats who fit this description as well.

Casey, you did. And you were cool.
Can you believe they didn't renew Jeff's contract. I know full well it's because he's black, as Jim, a teacher there for six years and whose opinion I highly respect, told me Jeff is a good teacher.

that's terrible man - i could tell by talking to him that he's passionate about teaching as well. i hope he finds something better. here in china we have the same problem, a lot of discrimination against africans, african-americans don't have as much of a problem. one reason i like my school is that we hire based on merit - not skin color.

sorry in advance for hijacking the thread a little

Taking Abigail's point.
For girls, visiting Cambodia, nothing untoward will happen to you if you dress in short shorts, revealing tops etc but you will receive a lot of lewd remarks from the motodops hanging around.I suppose it doesn't really matter if you can't understand what they say but you might notice the lascivious grins.
Overall,it's a matter of respect; the tidier you look the better your treatment.
T-shirts are OK as are shorts (in the day) but not if they are scruffy and/or dirty. The guys in Cambodia tend to prefer shirts but that is because the long sleeves protect from the sun.
It perplexes the locals no end that people with money (and all Westerners are perceived that way-mainly because of the leisure time we have to travel) don't want to show their status and like to dress down) at the moment the Khmer are still in awe of us but be careful it used to be the same in Thailand but now they just look down on us.

Madmac
I should have made it clear that I WAS referring to tourist areas.I had a couple of bad experiences in KS area in Bangkok with staff treating me like dirt (and I was relatively well-dressed) for no reason (very UnThai) it dawned on me that we were all being labelled with the same brush.I steer clear of these areas now.
In Isan it's much the same as Cambodia, we are still seen as something special, god-knows why.

"In Isan it's much the same as Cambodia, we are still seen as something special, god-knows why."

Money.

So dressing like the locals - in many areas i've visited that would be some odd and decrepit logo cap, a Buffalo Bills Super Bowl Champions T-shirt, and some plastic flip-flops . . tied together with dirty slacks. Unless you're in a nice part of town where a fake Polo t-shirt and some chinos are in order.

Can I just wear my t-shirt and clean(ish depending) shorts and call it a day?

Ah the pleasure of wearing a sarong around the house.So cooling.
Seriously,the worst clothing faux pas I've seen has got to be those travellers who have clearly just arrived from India walking around KhaoSan Rd dressed like an Indian sadhu.Cringeworthy!
Madmac
I've got two sons who spend a fortune on jeans which are called 'distressed' in other words you pay a lot of money for someone to wear them out for you with plenty of holes and rips.I don't know if this fashion has hit Thailand yet.

MADMAC I think you hit the nail on the head with that one - my point is that the whole idea of 'dressing like a local' is what makes people end up 'dressing like a tourist'. People in SE Asia dress pretty much the same as everyone else around the world these days. The only way you could dress like a local in China is if you really wanted to make a fashion statement involving climbing Huang Mountain in black dress shoes (or high-heels for the ladies). The idea that 'the locals' have some dress you can immulate to fit in better is a bit rediculous to me - A more appropriate description would be if the Laotian in Germany donned some lederhosen.

Just pick comfortable weather appropriate clothing (that doesn't have any special washing requirements) not too tight fitting and natural fibres will be the most comfortable. The same common sense as to whats appropriate where applies the same as at home and be dressed respectfully when visiting temples.

I think you'd be ok avoiding conservative dress. You'd probably stand out more in socks and sandals.

No, can't agree. Thailand may be changing but a girl can wear a million dollar outfit in Cambodia but if she dare have a skirt 6 inches above the knee or wear shorts, heaven forbid or in one case a couple of weeks ago my friend wore a dress with a low back-yes dreadful isn't it, a low back.She was hissed at and jeered at by the local women.Makes you feel right at home, doesn't it.
Maybe she should go native and wear those cute pyjamas with teddy bears on them which are quite fashionable amongst the local women.

Cambodia is Thailand 50 years ago

Sorry this is a late post, but should this and had to comment on this post.

''Dress like the locals. Dress like one you are more likely to be treated like one.''

No, don't dress like the locals.
Most locals are dressing in Western attire nowadays.
If you bum around in fishermen pants and you're not a fisherman, the locals will look down on you.
Just wear something that covers the shoulders (boys and girls), and is not too short on the leg length.
Oh and shower sometimes, that's it.