I came across a useful article about some dress code rules in Thailand, especially for women. Of course the most common rule in Thailand is about removing one's shoes before entering a wat, the Thai word for one of their many temples. This rule is easy to follow, because you will always see a big collection of shoes outside the entrance to a temple. That's one reason I encouraged all of you to bring some good sandals along with you on your trip to Thailand.  

I only ran afoul of the rules one time. We were exploring a very new and impressive wat. There was a very light rain as we came up the many steps to this amazing temple. The large marble expanse that extended from the top of the steps to the entrance to the wat was quite perfect and slick as glass from the rain. I made my way verrrry carefully and managed not to fall. My guess is they're going to have to deal with a lot of slip and fall incidents there. 

Anyway, I was wearing a baseball cap to keep my head dry from the light sprinkle of rain. Once we had removed our footwear and went inside, the footing was good again. It was quite gorgeous inside and I did a lot of exploring. Suddenly a guy zoomed up toward me from out of the blue. He was not a monk, but clearly someone with authority. He came up pretty close and looked right at my cap and did a little nod. I don't remember whether he said anything, but the message was clear enough. I took off my cap, he nodded with a bit of a smile and was on his way. 

I checked with Paula later and learned this is not a universal rule that applies to all wats, like the ban on footwear inside. And in fact it had never come up before in the many wats that we had explored. Maybe there had been a sign I had missed, but I was easily corrected about their local rule, so no big deal.  

The image of the temple is by Bill Bradley, probably not the Knicks NBA star.