Rainy season clothes

[Kebin]

I'm going to be in Thailand from August 24th to September 6th. What type of clothes should I wear?

I was thinking jean shorts, short sleeved shirt and sandals. Is something like a rain jacket needed? I'm not sure whether I should wear socks with my sandals or not. Usually I do wear socks just because my feet get a little sweaty from walking around and sticky sandals are annoying.

[Curt]

I wear long sleeve shirts, long pants, and regular shoes with socks.
During the rain, I wear a wet long sleeve shirt, long pants and regular shoes with socks.
I could wear a poncho or slicker, but the wet actually has a cooling effect.

I can't use an umbrella; I ride a motorcycle!

You can pick up what, if anything, you need here.

[FaranginPhetch]

Khaki long pants, white T shirt, Deck shoes as they are made to get wet and do not look bad when wet or dry and hold up well, with white socks.

They sell orange rain panchos and the Thai use them a lot.

I see some old men wearing sandals with socks and always get a giggle from that.

[lenss]

Light colored clothing is fine. repels heat. And, wear a smile....

[Kebin]

Oh, so you all wear pants? I checked weather.com and it said it would be around highs of 90 and lows of 70. That seems like weather for shorts and short sleeve shirts to me, or is the temperature going to be different then that because of the rain? Or just your preference?

[FaranginPhetch]

shorts will be no better than long pants as far as being cooler because of the humidity, plus bugs do not bite thru long pants.
It will be some cooler during monsoon generally and the humidity lower, but during hot spells with high humidity at 95% sweat can not evaporate to cool you so there is no reason to wear shorts, unless you want to look cool and show off your fine physique and there fore your frequent trips to the gym.
I do notice tourist farang wearing shorts and sandals with socks, so it is a mark of the tourist I guess, wear what ever you want, or wear nothing at all.

Oh, so you all wear pants?

Yes, mainly because they are just as comfortable and we who live here do not want to look like tourists.

[Kebin]

Oh, I see. Thanks for the info. But don't shorts just increase airflow? I forgot about the humidity. What I've decided I'm going to do is wear some cotton pants I forgot about, that also have zippers that I can detach the bottom half of and make shorts out of the pants if I want to. And maybe I'll wear a pair of crappy old shoes and toss those ones away when I buy new ones in Thailand.

I lived on Okinawa for about 2 months and the humidity there is higher I believe, and I lived in the southern part of South Korea for 10 months, where the humidity is comparable to Thailand I think.

So the Thais all wear pants then? I don't remember what the Okinawans wore. I'm pretty sure a fair amount of Koreans wore shorts.

[lenss]

Kebinl....heat stroke....It happens....if you decide to walk any kind of distance you will sweat. Sometimes profusely....numerous farang are taken to a hospital every day because of heat stroke and hospitalized... I got heat stroke while trying to work the corn fields ... .And rain?? Depends on where your going. ....Rain is unpredictable....even normally rainy seasons can change to drought...Best to keep a small cloth with you in a bag to wipe the sweat off...Humidy is sky high.....

[FaranginPhetch]

Thai will wear what ever they have, and it depends a lot on what they will be doing what they will wear, but I sure would not do things that the Thai do to be more comfortable,,
95 deg. and wearing a ski jacket on my motorcycle with the hood up. or coming in from the fields at close to 100 deg wearing a knit baclava or rags wrapped around my head and my face fully covered except my eyes.
And they do not usually wear long pants if they will be planting rice in mud up their knees.
OH Yes,, I think that those CAMEL pants with the zipper around the knees and dozens of pockets are just so darling, seem to be a hot item with tourists. But I have never saw a pair of shoes in Thailand that I really wanted.
Give me a pair of TIMBERLAND deck shoes with a tennis shoe sole any day. and I do have a pair I wore over here 6 years ago and they are still as good as new and I wear them everytime I go out of the house, no matter where I am going, and in any weather so they have been soaked many many times.

[paul_au]

Get a plastic garbage bag, turn it up side down, cut a hold in the top for your head, and holes in the sides for your arms, and use it as a cheap rain coat.