redness23

Mr. grumpy, "want to make everything as close to the West", should go live in Singapore then. Go on, off ya pop! If Bangkok turned into a Singapore I would be so disappointed. Let's sterilize the country and make it feel lifeless and governed by what we can and can't do. If I want to eat street food I can choose, if I want to eat in a restaurant I can, if i want to do the food court thing I will - likewise with Mr. Article of complaining like a bitch can do as he pleases. Don't eat there if you don't like it!

I thoroughly enjoy sitting down with some pleasant vendors and eating food which they specialize in. Sure there are some pretty average ones out there but there are also some great ones. I would much prefer to go to a street vendor rather than sitting in the food courts trying to hear myself think and having no personal touch or association with the people making me my food.

If you hate the congested walkways, then catch a taxi, lose some weight so you can fit through the gaps or go to Singa-sterile-pore. I love being out and food vendors everywhere knowing that any time I can get a meal.

So Mr. Oliver Raw, if you choose to put together such an article of hate about where you live then there is such a simple method to dealing with it - LEAVE!!! Go home. This is one of the reasons I love Bangkok. I have never had food poisoning from a vendor but only a restaurant. Take your food courts and your Western thinking, pack your bags and head off home while you bypass Singapore for a toss.

**** p.s. The last time I had food poisoning was when i went to Singapore....cheers

One thing I dont understand : Why would anyone be in any bar , any club , where there are Thai males. Its common knowledge that they resent foreign males here. And especially in a club where they are drinking and there are Thai ladies.

I go to this place a bit too often for my own good. I don't really remember seeing any Thai lads there unless it is security or tuk tuk drivers dropping people off. It is a farangs place and loads of them....

Yep, really gives us Aussie's a bad name. Such a shame. Usually it is the kids coming over for their first or second trip to Thailand, getting drunk and thinking they are better than everyone else. Happens all too much in Phuket which makes me avoid it and hit Pattaya instead for a break - and that is saying something!!!!!

Jimbob what are you talking about mate?

Have a class system in my social life? There is a big class system in Thailand if you haven't noticed. I myself and traveled and lived in many countries and I tell you now, I treat everyone as an equal to myself and I pride myself on this fact. I am stating the obvious here with Thailand.

And you seem to see everything in black and white. There are levels of corruption my friend. It is up to you to judge what is an acceptable level of which we won't go into, however I do like less control over what the media and governments force into our lives and heads back in the West. Some rules and regulations are outrageous back home for the sake of politics. So it is nice to know that we don;t always need to succumb to the crap that goes on in the higher offices because their ego's or wallets needed filling.

So you can ease up on your problem farang as I bring a lot of good to this place.

Definitely!

Yea I hear you. I also live here and have for a couple of years now. So still rather new but have also been coming several times a year before that for a long time. You mention taking the tourist out and letting them see Sam Rong etc etc...absolutely. Pretty hard going. However the diversity of the city is what makes it. From the top to the bottom.

Your wife and your friends are entitled to think how you do and they are no doubt correct with everything. I also have many friends here from many different classes and the complaining and bitching about everything is something which is very rarely brought up. In fact it is great you can pay some extra cash to someone if you get in - perhaps - a little bit of an unfortunate circumstance. You live your life here and are free and not dictated by the laws and restrictions which our Western governments place on us. I could bitch all day about home...In the end we are all entitled to our opinions and I would think most of us who read this forum aren't oblivious to how matters are run in this country. It works for good and bad. It is just tiring reading constant crap over and over again about how pathetic this country is from people who live here.

OH!!!! And I am surprised you didn't say Sydney...

"Maybe if you had ever visited Bkk you would understand."

Such a stupid thing to say mate!!!

I have done a heap of travelling myself and I always like coming back to BKK which I call home!!! Yes it is all of what you say, but it has character, it has one extreme to the other. It certainly isn't a city for everyone....I remember talking to a husband and wife, and she hated it and he loved it..not for the women on his account but for colorful society that it is.

If you live here and you think this way, then you must feel like you are in a prison if you cannot go back home....what a horrible feeling being trapped in a dirty, noisy, smelly, stinking, over crowded, polluted, gridlocked traffic city. Given, you could be somewhere else in Thailand and as a result not be part of it all which is fair enough. I am also sure you wouldn't constantly bag everything about the country yourself if you are living outside of the city. You wouldn't be one of those people.

I come from Melbourne and it always rates right up there as the most livable city in the world. I stayed in Paris for a while also which is a gorgeous city. But Bangkok has excitement. 24/7 you can do whatever you like. That is a good start to making it something a little more interesting than many other places. It has a buzz of a large city, a good vibe and is chaotic. There is something always going on. Go to Melbourne and you have to count down the days of the week when things are happening. I love my home at the same time. Just a little boring back there.

As I said, it is not for everyone, however, I just don't see how people come here to live and constantly criticize everything about the place. There must be some pretty horrendous reasons for people not returning to their own countries if they think everything is so terrible.

And the jokes about the T.A.T. and all the same repetitive crap that people say about corruption, and paying off people, and this and that which they relate to just about every single story which is posted on this forum really is old. Not sure if it is a shot of humor but it is pretty lame.

Anyway, great to see some others on this thread respond in an optimistic way. Can see the people enjoying their lives and the difference between the people with the mentality of "a glass half full" and the ones who have finished their glass and have nothing left to fill it up with.