Monday, July 21, 2014

No Smoking Please

While some cab drivers in Bangkok puff away in the front seat between fares, many cabbies prohibit smoking in their cabs. It's common to see No Smoking signs in Thai taxis, but they're usually the plain kind that have a symbol of a cigarette with a red slash through it. This sticker has those symbols, too, but this one is much more personable and politely asks passengers to kindly refrain from smoking. The Thai government should use this same upbeat tactic to warn people about the dangers of smoking rather than requiring local producers of cigarettes to print gruesome images of black, tar-filled lungs on their packages.  

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Whiff of Relief

Herbs have been used for aromatherapy in this part of the world for centuries. Today, you can readily find herbal nasal inhalers for sale in pharmacies, supermarkets, mom and pop shops, markets and convenience stores throughout Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia. Some people, including this taxi driver, even make their own inhaler using a small bottle and their own recipe of fresh and dried herbs. Thais claim that the herbal inhalers can cure headaches and alleviate cold and flu symptoms, and many people here also use them to relax and de-stress. This cabby was inhaling his bottle of herbs every few minutes to relieve tension in the heavy Bangkok traffic. At one point, we were stuck behind a bus for ten minutes, so I could have used my own inhaler in the backseat to calm my nerves, too.