Not just any sunglasses, but very dark, or reflective sunglasses. Possibly wrap-around. Maybe even a welding helmet…
Yes, the sun can get pretty bright here. But that’s not the reason you NEED sunglasses. No, the real reason is to hide your eyes and avoid harassment by street vendors and taxi drivers.
Have you ever seen video of gazelles on an African plain, suddenly alert because they spotted nothing more than a lion’s tail at a hundred yards? That’s pretty good vision, but nothing like that of Thai touts, vendors, and taxi drivers.
Let’s say you’re walking along the sidewalk (by which I mean hopping over gaping holes and mostly walking in the street since vehicles needed to park all over the sidewalk), and you happen to glance out at traffic.
*Honk honk* “Hey, where you going?” Suddenly at least one motorcycle taxi has stopped directly in your path. Obviously, despite the fact that this same guy has seen you walking around the area of your guest house several times already, and despite the fact that you made absolutely no sort of gesture whatsoever which would indicate any kind of desire for a ride, it’s *possible* that you were *maybe* considering hiring a taxi this time. So he’d better check.
Similarly, perhaps you were leaping back out of the road, since a fast-moving scooter was using up the only space available for a pedestrian, and your eyes happen to catch something glinting high on the wall.
“Aaaah, you like?” Immediately the proprietor of the stand you accidentally stepped toward is fetching an amulet of some sort that you accidentally looked at. “400 baht” You shake your head and begin to walk again, “okay, 300 baht!” “No, I didn’t want…” “200 baht!” Well, now you actually take a second look, despite yourself, since hey, 50% is 50%, right? Oops, now you’ve completely committed yourself to haggling.
Realizing that you don’t actually need a silver amulet of a tiger with a comically large penis, you shake your head and begin to walk on. “150 baht!” More shouting follows, since obviously you were merely toying with this poor vendor. You are now a bad person. All because you glanced at something out of the corner of your eye.