[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” max_width=”1200px” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”20px|0px|20px|30px|false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”|10px||30px|false|false” custom_padding_phone=”|0px||20px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”97.8%” max_width=”1140px” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|20px||0px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Roboto|500|||||||” text_text_color=”#333333″ text_font_size=”30px” header_font=”Roboto||||||||” header_text_color=”#000000″ custom_margin=”||1px|||” header_font_size_tablet=”” header_font_size_phone=”24px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90aXRsZSIsInNldHRpbmdzIjp7ImJlZm9yZSI6IiIsImFmdGVyIjoiIn19@<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_title title=”off” author=”off” categories=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” meta_font=”Roboto||||||||” meta_text_align=”left” meta_text_color=”#000000″ meta_font_size=”15px” custom_margin=”||-3px|||” custom_padding=”15px||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/thailand-airplane.jpg” title_text=”thailand-airplane” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” max_width=”100%” module_alignment=”center” custom_padding=”|1px|4px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” custom_css_main_element=”display: inline-block;||vertical-align: top;||width: 48%;||margin-right: 2%;” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Roboto||||||||” text_text_color=”#7a7a7a” text_font_size=”15px” custom_padding=”|0px|||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” custom_css_main_element=”display: inline-block;||vertical-align: top;||width: 50%;” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
I was a soldier stationed in Bangkok, Thailand back in the early 1970\u2019s. Not always having a bunch of money, I used to eat food from the local street vendors. Most of my meals were served wrapped in either a banana leaf or yesterday\u2019s newspaper. Some meals were even served off of unclassified military paperwork that was recovered from the rubbish.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, everywhere in Thailand the vast majority of street vendors serve food and drink in plastic bags. McDonalds has nothing on this fast food experience.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Roboto||||||||” text_text_color=”#7a7a7a” text_font_size=”15px” custom_padding=”10px|0px|10px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Whatever you order, be it a rice or noodle dish, is scooped up into a plastic bag and then sealed with a rubber band. This also includes soups and drinks.<\/p>\n
Smaller bags of sauces and spices are also provided. You can even get fresh sliced fruit to go in a small bag with a skewer to stab each sweet morsel.<\/p>\n
Shopping on the streets, markets, and malls will also expose you to bags and bags of plastic. It doesn\u2019t matter what the size of the item, it will go in a plastic bag.<\/p>\n
I have had numerous occasions where I acquired a large plastic bag to hold a variety of articles and each successive purchase resulted in a small plastic bag being put into the larger. Despite my objections that the smaller plastic bag was not required, I was turned away with a confused look and a smile.<\/p>\n
Needles to say, after a day or two in Thailand, you tend to acquire a pile of plastic bags. I do manage to use a couple of them for dirty laundry or to keep items separated, but most of the plastic goes straight into the trash.<\/p>\n
I really don\u2019t know what the Thai people would do today without plastic bags. If the tree-hugging environmentalists ever came to Thailand, they wouldn\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n
Where would they put their sticky rice and beef jerky?<\/p>\n
How would vendors sell coke to go?<\/p>\n
How would the bootleg software and DVDs be distributed?<\/p>\n
How would I get my bowl of Thai soup home?<\/p>\n
Would they be able to revert back to banana leaves and yesterday\u2019s newspapers?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think that the Thai people could live without plastic bags. And any attempt o stop the usage would result in disastrous results.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Life Without…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travelling-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1353,"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/1353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.masteryace.com\/sites\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}