Chinese love Chiang Mai, but vice versa…

They don't flush the toilet, spit on the street, push ahead, are stingy, talk loudly in the street: these are just a few of the complaints about Chinese tourists, who since the film Lost in Thailand Chiang Mai flood.

They are good for 50 billion baht a year, but catering entrepreneurs would rather see them go than come and tuk-tuk and song taew drivers suck because they always ping.

Pee, owner of a well-known restaurant in Chiang Mai famous for crab soup, says they come in groups of four, order one bowl of noodle soup and one bowl of crab soup, which they then share. They carelessly leave the gnawed bones on the table.

In mu kata (barbecue à la Thai) restaurants they are no longer allowed to come. They gorged on it and when they left, they ransacked the buffet and filled their bags with meat.

Surachai Benjasathaporn, owner of a coffee shop, says that sometimes large groups come and order one cup of coffee. The rest don't order anything and sometimes they even bring their own food to eat in his place. He has no problem with that though. Surachai benefits from its proximity to Chiang Mai University, which appears in the film and which many Chinese tourists want to see in real life.

Looking looking not buying

Let's continue with the lamentations. The owner of a jewelry store: 'They come to my store and pretend to be interested in my jewelry. They touch them, try them on, but they never buy anything. If I catch them stealing, they call me names and pretend they're innocent and walk away.'

A tuk-tuk driver: 'Usually they try to negotiate the price. They are quite stingy. If I take a tour of the city with a group of four or five, they don't want to pay more than 5 baht per person. And then when I say the rate is 100 baht they try to make it 40 baht. Sometimes I take them to out-of-town attractions and they scold me for having to pay an entrance fee.'

The police also complain: 'They sometimes stop in the middle of the road to talk to each other or take pictures, while other cars cannot get through. There are many accidents with Chinese, especially on the road to Doi Suthep. The language is a problem. Many do not speak English, which makes conflict resolution difficult. Song taew drivers often call on us because they refuse to pay the set price.'

Spitting, shoving and talking loudly are quite normal in China

But it's not all doom and gloom. Young Chinese tourists and city dwellers, better educated, know how to behave. Cherry (21): 'It is quite possible that the older generation of Chinese behave in a way that disturbs Thais. But spitting, shoving and talking loudly are quite normal in China and that attitude is only slowly changing.'

So says Wenyu Zhou (37), who has settled in Chiang Mai after decades of traveling back and forth for work and vacation: 'Not flushing a toilet is really a Chinese thing. Even in the big cities you come across toilets that are not clean. They grew up with that. I grew up with an old-fashioned toilet that you didn't have to flush.'

In China itself, the complaints have not gone unnoticed. A week ago, China's National Tourism Administration published it Guidebook for Civilized Tourism. Not a silly book, because it has 64 illustrated pages with do's and don'ts. The Tourism Authority of Thailand, which is doing everything it can to stimulate Chinese tourism, previously published brochures in English and Chinese.

The influx of Chinese tourists does not seem to be coming to an end for the time being. In 2012 there were 2,5 million, this year 4 million Chinese are expected. There may soon be a dip, because the Chinese government has banned the sale of so-called 'zero-dollar tours'. These are cheap package tours, where a tourist in Thailand is faced with all kinds of extra expenses. From now on, an all-in price must be calculated.

(Source: Spectrum, Bangkok Post, October 13, 2013)

Photos: Song taew and fare board to Doi Suthep. The price is not negotiated.

Photo homepage: Chinese tourists at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar.