So, once again I'll apologise for any offence to any hi-so's here or any hi-so GFs any of you may have...(I know there are none around here but I gotta cover my arse)
So look around you, the hi-so magazine, Thailand Tatler, would have you believe that Thailand is on a par with the UK, US, Europe, with its perfect beaches, great cuisine, luxury hotels, luxury cars, national airline, Skytrain and subway systems, Expressways and fashion hub. Wow!! That's something eh?
Thailand is one big illusion to these people, they travel from one air conditioned bubble to another in their motorcades, eat at fashionable restaurants, (Pad thai at the greyhound cafe) shop at Gaysorn, and take holidays abroad (though they still take offence at being interviewed like a whore at the UK embassy).
When you meet a hi-so, the conversation will be very labourious, because they will be trying to show you how much better than you they are, so if you say "How was your day?" (sorry, very American I know), they won't just say, "Had a busy day looking for a new Lexus" they will say "I'm bought a new car today, then booked my ticket for a shopping trip to London"
For me, in my experience, they have always had to let me know they can travel abroard without hindrance, (unlike their lower class cousins), which kinda gives away their ingrained third world mentality a bit. They always tell me of trips to Oxford street and Selfridges, trips to Italy and Germany (visas are easier to obtain for those nations), planned soujorns to New York, but they will never want to tell of their days when they studied in London or wherever, because in many cases it will involve them having worked at a Thai restaurant serving farangs farang-ised Thai food and they are embarressed about that, sharing the same duities as an ex-bargirl who married a farang for the visa.
Other conversation killers are the fact that you didn't (well I didn't anyway) study at university, I've lost many aquaintances this way when I was naiive, it's like "So where did you graduate?"
"I left school at 16 and worked"
"Oh"
Much like cheerleading in the USA, University is a big part of Thai credibility culture in these circles, and the graduation ceremony is a very important event. I've seen photo albums almost 40-50 pages long all with the same photo but at different angles..it's scary.
Another big factor in the hi-so heirachy is your family name. Many family names will atuomatically induct you to the soap star status despite you having a huge fat arse (many hi-so girls do) and scowl, and many names will also guaruntee you work at prestigious posts such as GMM, (a company that only takes graduates from Chula..unless you are lucky) But the downside to this life is that at some stage these hi-so people will have to, albiet briefly, share the same space as the commoner, ie, a fashion show at the Emporium or yet another mobile phone launch at Gaysorn, or a new trainers launch at the Paragon, or the launch of a new bread roll with a coffee flavoured crust.These are all places to be seen and it's important to keep up appearances at these events. Well to them it is anyway.
Most hi-so girls are incredibly promiscuous from my findings, and they hide it very well. Many, while in the company of common farangs like myself will act as though their vaginas are constructed from solid gold, and put on an adult-orientated childishness (giggling but with a straighter face) much removed from the common version displayed by regular Thai females.
Hi-so boys on the other hand can be more blokish but still act spoiled and be guilty of the occasional petulant outburst, like when they need to deal with a lower class person. They can in many cases posess an annoying accent with an American twang and think its cool, but many of us know that's an awful cliche. Hi-so boys require less 'maintainence' than their female counterparts because simply, they are male.
My friend was on holiday (vacation to you Yanks) in January and had pre-arranged three different girls to meet up with from various social websites that are available online.
He met three totally different classes in one holiday:
Tik (not real name), hi-so, obliglitary fat arse, tall, works for an airline as a hostess, snobby, double barrelled surname, when she got wind that I was half Thai and knew the culture inside out, she was edgy and uneasy due to the fact that she knew that I knew that she would be unable to start with all that "I'm a virginal innocent Thai girl bollocks" with my mate.
Nat, working class, not rich, not poor, works at Duty Free (King Power), fun loving girl, been abroad, had an American BF, liked sex, went out a lot, spoke decent english and smoked and drank...Great girl in my eyes, told everything like it was, laughed, joked, basically on the level.
Pom, worked at an office in Asoke, lived in Udom Suk, from Chonburi, poor parents, was quiet, smiled politely but was also very cagey, spoke not much english, but was great in bed (so my mate said)
So those above three girls show pretty much the three catagories of female in Thailand.
So what's your (limited?) experience of the hi-so's in Thailand?
These are not hi-so claims to fame by the way: (Sadly I used to think they were)
*Sat in the VIP lounge of the Ministry Of Sound club in 2002/3
*Attended a perfume launch party at Bar-Bu-Ree
*Was in the same club at the same time as Shinawatra junior
*Saw a fashion show at the Emporium whilst looking down from the top floor
*Went to a Yacht fair at the Impact Arena
*Played pool with the Chief Of police's daughter
Etc etc
COme on!