Welcome to Thailandblog.nl
With 275.000 visits per month, Thailandblog is the largest Thailand community in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Sign up for our free e-mail newsletter and stay informed!
Newsletter
Language setting
Rate Thai Baht
Sponsor
Latest comments
- Eric Kuypers: If you change the command line, such as https://www.iqair.com/thailand/nong-khai, you will get a different city or region. But you
- Cornelis: Well, GeertP, I am absolutely not a 'Brussels sprouts supporter' or THE Red Brand addict, but that does not mean that I don't like the Thai cuisine.
- Rudolf: It depends on what you are looking for in Thailand, but to be honest you don't have much choice in my opinion. The big cities are falling apart
- RonnyLatYa: Also take a look at this. https://www.iqair.com/thailand/kanchanaburi Also scroll down a bit and they will also give you some explanation
- Peter (editor): I also enjoy the Thai food and yes, the price is very attractive. But it's just a fact that Thai farmers are unbelievable
- Jacks: It is best to go in the period November to February. Someone with asthma should absolutely not come here from March to May
- GeertP: Dear Ronald, I completely agree with your story, I also enjoy Thai cuisine every day and even after 45 years of Thai
- Eric Kuypers: Wilma, bad air is not in all of Thailand. Thailand is more than 12x the Netherlands! These are the big cities (traffic) and some
- Pjotter: kopi luwak regularly bought and drunk in the Netherlands. Usually only available some time before Christmas. You get the best coffee taste
- Jack S: Oh dear…. Except for the fact that I also start the day with a coffee, everything is different for me... my coffee is just a
- hans: Tastes differ, but this just looks beautiful.
- Lenaerts: Dear, I went to immigration yesterday to apply for a retirement visa, very friendly people and they helped quickly
- Aad: I buy my coffee at Lotus. Add a teaspoon of that coffee to warm water and enjoy
- Berbod: Beautiful story Lieven and recognizable in many ways. In recent years I have been drinking coffee from the Boloven plateau in the South
- Jos Verbrugge: Dear KeesP, Would it be possible to provide the details of the visa office in Chiang Mai? Thanks in advance
Sponsor
Bangkok again
Menu
Arrivals Bangkok Airport
DOSSIERS
Learning objectives and topics
- Background
- Activities
- Advertorial
- Agenda
- Tax question
- Belgium question
- Sights
- Bizarre
- Buddhism
- Book reviews
- Column
- Corona crisis
- The Culture
- Diary
- Dating
- The week of
- Dossier
- To dive
- Economy
- A day in the life of…..
- Islands
- Food and drink
- Events and festivals
- Balloon Festival
- Bo Sang Umbrella Festival
- Buffalo races
- Chiang Mai Flower Festival
- Chinese New Year
- Full Moon Party
- Christmas
- Lotus Festival – Rub Bua
- Loy Krathong
- Naga Fireball Festival
- New Years Eve celebration
- Phi ta khon
- Phuket Vegetarian Festival
- Rocket festival – Bun Bang Fai
- Songkran – Thai New Year
- Fireworks Festival Pattaya
- Expats and retirees
- state pension
- Car insurance
- Banking
- Tax in the Netherlands
- Thailand tax
- Belgian Embassy
- Belgian tax authorities
- Proof of life
- DigiD
- emigrate
- To rent a house
- Buy a house
- In memoriam
- Income statement
- King's day
- Cost of living
- Dutch embassy
- Dutch government
- Dutch Association
- News
- Passing away
- Passport
- Retirement
- Drivers license
- Distributions
- Elections
- Insurance in general
- Visa
- work
- Hospital
- Health insurance
- Flora and fauna
- Photo of the week
- Gadgets
- Money and finance
- History
- Health
- Charities
- Hotels
- Looking at houses
- Isaan
- Khan Peter
- Koh Mook
- King Bhumibol
- Living in Thailand
- Reader Submission
- Reader call
- Reader tips
- Reader question
- Society
- marketplace
- Medical tourism
- Environment
- Nightlife
- News from the Netherlands and Belgium
- News from Thailand
- Entrepreneurs and companies
- Education
- Research
- Discover Thailand
- Opinions
- Remarkable
- Calls
- Floods 2011
- Floods 2012
- Floods 2013
- Floods 2014
- Winter prices
- Politics
- Poll
- Travel stories
- Travel
- Organizations
- Shopping
- Social media
- Spa & wellness
- Sport
- Cities
- Position of the week
- The beach
- Language
- For sale
- TEV procedure
- Thailand in general
- Thailand with children
- thai tips
- Thai massage
- Tourism
- Going out
- Currency – Thai Baht
- From the editors
- Real estate law; and
- Traffic and transport
- Visa Short Stay
- Long stay visa
- Visa question
- Flight tickets
- Question of the week
- Weather and climate
Sponsor
Disclaimer translations
Thailandblog uses machine translations in multiple languages. Use of translated information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for errors in translations.
Read our full here disclaimer.
Royalty
© Copyright Thailandblog 2024. All rights reserved. Unless stated otherwise, all rights to information (text, image, sound, video, etc.) that you find on this site rest with Thailandblog.nl and its authors (bloggers).
Whole or partial takeover, placement on other sites, reproduction in any other way and/or commercial use of this information is not permitted, unless express written permission has been granted by Thailandblog.
Linking and referring to the pages on this website is permitted.
Home » Reader question » Reader question: Why do I see few Thai people wearing glasses?
Reader question: Why do I see few Thai people wearing glasses?
Dear readers,
What always strikes me when I'm in Thailand is that you see relatively few Thai people wearing glasses. Is there a reason for that?
I can't imagine that Thais have better eyes than we Westerners. Maybe glasses are too expensive for many or inconvenient?
Who can tell me more about this?
Regards,
Ben
Good observation. I have never been able to combine this with the relatively large number of eyewear stores. Who buys those glasses?
If I have to gamble, it's vanity. Incidentally, it is frightening to think that there would be many drivers who would need glasses, but do not wear them.
@ Kees, indeed vanity. My wife has glasses that she does not want to use outside the door. Vanity and still (without glasses) on the motorcycle. But I have a Dutch acquaintance who lives in southern Thailand and is as chicken as possible. Makes long car journeys without glasses. I also know a Scot who also refuses to put on his glasses and who can't even pour his coffee into a cup because he can't see it, but he can operate heavy machinery. Fortunately, he is now retired. So occurs everywhere, not just in Thailand. It is true that the Thai is a vain person.
That's an interesting question. I searched for good research in this area and found this article:
https://www.a-new-shape.co.uk/attachments/24052016124214_full_120202_20130625_1030.pdf?
This shows that myopia is common in Thailand and not much different from other countries.
By age:
Less than 10 years at 11%
10-20 years at 15%
21-30 years at 31%
31-40 years at 17%
After that it decreases sharply, which is a natural process.
Indeed, based on the above figures, you see very few people wearing glasses in Thailand. You may wonder how much negative influence that has on education (large classes!), work and quality of life. Could this be an additional and perhaps an important reason for the poor educational results in Thailand? I think so.
The above research cites as factors why myopia has received so little attention: lack of awareness and acknowledgment of the problem at the personal, family and community level, lack of opportunities for testing and correction, the cost of acquisition and perhaps cultural factors.
Perhaps people should take an example from the late King Bhumibol who wore glasses and was blind in his right eye after a car accident near Lausanne in 1948.
More attention to this problem is absolutely necessary.
Charles Darwin already discovered that different human races/species have different skull structures and contents.
In particular, the frontal lobe, where the part of the brain that processes impulse control, problem solving, and planning, and the occipital lobes, where information from the eyes are processed, are quite different, he says.
The latter is more developed, especially among the Negroes and Asians, than among whites. The first again more with whites.
Nice discovery by Charles Darwin! Humanity has known that for a long time.
Brain size has little to do with how it functions. Some whales have 8 kg of brains, elephants 5 kg, males average 1.342 kg and females 1.222 kg. Some geniuses, like Anatole France, had small brains.
The size of the brain as a whole correlates most closely with body weight. The weight of the individual parts says nothing at all about their function, similar to computers and transistors.
Hi Ben,
Maybe you should buy glasses yourself, because I see a lot of Thais wearing glasses. Especially young people. However, many contact lenses are also worn. It is also teeming with eyewear shops. Thais generally read less than Westerners. So the number of reading glasses will be
be less.
Poverty or vanity!
I see it differently. Just see as many spectacle wearers in Thailand as in the Netherlands. What is striking is that the glasses are much larger than in the Netherlands. That's probably the fashion.
That is purely out of vanity, rather not being able to read what it says than wearing glasses. This indicates that you are getting older.
Dear sir ,
glasses are simply too expensive for most Thais.
mvg
But all smartphones?
Dear Ben,
The answer is quite simple.
Most Thai have no money for it.
I have also experienced that they simply do not want to spend money on it.
Every time I travel to Thailand I buy reading glasses for some family members.
Why? if they are going to fix something or if I want to show them something on my mobile, book,
drawing etc, would they like to borrow my reading glasses.
Yours faithfully,
Erwin
have your eyes measured somewhere for free and buy at any market or shopping mall eg prescription glasses: +1.75 from 50 baht to 150 baht.
I myself have been reading it for more than 10 years and with me many relatives and Thai acquaintances.
every year on holiday take back a note from family or friends with about 10 prescription glasses price 2-3 euros each.
The Thai do not have a nasal bone. So glasses keep falling off.
Only the Khmer from Isan do not have a nasal bone
The minimal number of Thai spectacle wearers is indeed striking .
Equally striking is the number of glasses sales shops, opticians if you like, of which Top Charoen Optical is the most common. In every shopping mall, but also in many shopping streets, there are these glasses shops, with a handful of ladies in a nice uniform and who really have nothing to do, but you never see customers there.
There are sometimes 2 shops in the same street!!
Aren't other shopkeepers also obliged to close their doors for lack of business??
Those shops are often also located in top locations with high rents, you can assume.
Or is there something else behind this eyewear phenomenon??
A money laundering organization perhaps?
Why are these shops never closed, I wonder.
New things are added all the time.
Who knows may say……….
They do provide free good service : once they adjusted my frame after I had sat on it and once the glass that had fallen out of the frame after I had dropped the glasses was put back in again free of charge
In the Netherlands, the average profit margin is 50-75 percent on the sale of glasses. Average, it differs per pair of glasses. I just bought one for 27 euros.
The profit margin on glasses is also large in Thailand, I don't know how big. Given the fact that overhead costs (salary, rent) are low in Thailand, a profit will already be made if 2 glasses of 1000 baht are sold per day. Or one (1) glasses of 4000 baht etc.
It is not surprising that there is no chicken at those Top Charoen shops, glasses are almost unaffordable there. On the other hand, reading glasses can be bought everywhere, just like in the Netherlands, for a few pennies
Chelsea, tax evasion and more. Gap in Thai law. No income and therefore no tax losses, while people are busy with "other matters". Some of those stores close or move when it gets too hot underfoot. Yet you can still buy glasses there. There are also bona fide eyewear stores. I live in a village where people stumble over the glasses shops. Top Charoen started in Bangkok, just off Sathorn Road, and had 1 store where I bought glasses, but I didn't get new ones. The boss was a young guy with a heavy gold chain around his neck, which could be used as an anchor chain. Yes, many years ago.
A few possibilities:
It may be that many Thais wear contact lenses for vanity or otherwise .. you can't see them from the outside 🙂
Another possibility is that we Westerners often use our eyes to see close (think reading books and looking at computer and other screens) and that Thais probably do this to a much lesser extent. Young people still have flexible eye muscles, but this often decreases later on.
What can also play a role: in Thailand the intensity of the light is greater than in the Netherlands and then the eyes stop down a bit more and that in turn affects the overall sharpness of the image that the eyes form.
I look forward to comments from others
Vanity and money are the 2 main reasons.
It's a combination of factors; money and vanity play a role. I have worked in Thai offices for almost 20 years, including the PTTEP headquarters. Countless of the Thai workers wore and still wear glasses.
The entire police force in Thailand wears glasses; most of them with dark glasses. In my opinion, not too expensive for a Thai person, you can buy glasses for 100 baht on the market. If you also see that they are used for other things such as cars s and mopeds then have money again, I have my reservations.
Contact lenses are very popular among the young people who usually have problems with clear vision in the distance (nearsightedness).
Older people often need reading glasses. Especially in the tourist areas you see relatively few elderly people, and moreover you don't walk around all day with reading glasses.
The cost of glasses is usually not a deciding factor, I suspect, and the prices are also low.
If glasses were very expensive, then glasses would be a lot more popular among young people, I dare say. Then you can show it off. For example, many ladies walk around with fake braces in their mouths, just to give the impression that money is no problem for this.
If you wait another decade or so, you will see a country full of bespectacled nearsighted Thais.
Eyes, like everything else in your body, adapt to use.
Sure, if you're still young.
The Thai have never been book readers, so their eyes have not adapted to near vision.
Fortunately, every young person nowadays, often from the age of four, has a mobile phone on which they watch films, among other things, on a 10 cm wide screen.
So in a year or so, the Thai youth will need glasses en masse, because they can no longer see anything more than three meters away.
This also applies to non-Thai youth and adults.
And no, Thai parents cannot understand that a mobile is disastrous for the eyes of their toddlers.
You can buy reading glasses in all strengths for 20 Baht. You see many Thais, like my wife, wearing glasses when driving. When you visit offices you also see many people who wear glasses. Only on the street you see fewer people wearing glasses.
I immediately noticed that they don't wear sunglasses either
In any case, our own experience is that we in Thailand do not need the glasses as much when we are outside. Apparently the light there is better for our eyes.
Dear people
Thais wear more lenses… I know from a good source
You can buy reading glasses at big C for a few hundred baht, so you don't have to stop there. Double focus is available in Bangkok for 1500 bath, so not too expensive for farsightedness. Vanity certainly plays a role. My wife always borrows my reading glasses, even though she has three of her own but never takes them with her. Laziness perhaps, who knows. When I talk to her about it I get that disapproving look again, asking what are you doing and I will decide that myself. Yes, constructive criticism is not appreciated.