>Thais smile all the time. Means nothing. Most frustrating thing in the world is to try to argue - Western style - with a Thai. they just won't play. But they have raised passive aggressive to an art form almost unknown in the West and communication can be just as blunt - just done differently. Smile - and show the sole of your foot - or approach a table of seated people while standing upright and you'll get the message across faster than shouting across the pub or spitting in somebody's beer would in English.

Showing the sole of your shoe is also bad in arab (moslem?) countries, I understand. Seems stupid to me, how do they buy shoes? Don't they look at them? Now, spitting in someone's beer is a serious offense. Don't do that. (at least with Irish, German, Czech beer - with American it's not as serious a problem as it is not beer anyway).