barky

No more than normal,it's just becoming more visible due to an increased use of social media and the like.

You are very uninformed. The fact is that this phenomena is vastly increasing world-wide as the pressure of life is becoming unbearable for the 99% of non-elite. To say its normal is totally wrong (and dangerous for unsuspecting visitors), and Im surprised that so many equally ill-informed people agreed with you. However, I do agree that it is becoming more visible as taking a video of an atrocity is seen as "popular and cool and funny" rather than intervening as an individual/group/community as it detracts from the enjoyment of watching an innocent family being brutally mugged. But, more importantly, changing the culture of many Thais of being so aggressive and hateful toward innocent foreigners is necessary. As long as the culture of corruption (both financial and moral) prevail in Thailand the problem will never be solved. Clearly as there has been a very long hideous history of this in Thailand, I can only surmise that many Thais (particularly the authorities) just don't care and probably get off on it.

Why are there those that have been living here for some time and still dont know the "rules" ? After all it's not that difficult a custom to understand and follow.

If you are older, you don't initiate the wai. If someone wais you then depending on their age and status you reciprocate with either a "nod and a smile" , a wai at chest level, a wai at chin level, (A wai higher than this is absolutely unnecessary unless you have just met your God.

The ridiculous myth that westerners should automatically wai all and sundry has been propagated by Thais and books such as Lonely Planet. ( I cringe every time I witness some westerner initiating a wai to the 7-11 staff or Tuk Tuk driver)

A higher wai does in fact apply to some,Royalty or Monks.

Why are there those that have been living here for some time and still dont know the "rules" ? After all it's not that difficult a custom to understand and follow, isn't that what you just wrote.

My God you are thick aren't you! I indicated clearly for the non-foggy minded that there IS a higher wai But instead of God a perceptive mind would have inserted Royal/Monk.

Why are there those that have been living here for some time and still dont know the "rules" ? After all it's not that difficult a custom to understand and follow.

If you are older, you don't initiate the wai. If someone wais you then depending on their age and status you reciprocate with either a "nod and a smile" , a wai at chest level, a wai at chin level, (A wai higher than this is absolutely unnecessary unless you have just met your God.

The ridiculous myth that westerners should automatically wai all and sundry has been propagated by Thais and books such as Lonely Planet. ( I cringe every time I witness some westerner initiating a wai to the 7-11 staff or Tuk Tuk driver)

Perhaps these people you laugh at just want to show the natives that they are not one of the xxxxxxx influx, and are making an effort eh.

This is utter tripe but great PC though. You'd be a great polly. I didnt say laugh, I said cringe..look it up in a dictionary. Just observe the Thais themselves. Maybe you just don't know what you're talking about.

Why are there those that have been living here for some time and still dont know the "rules" ? After all it's not that difficult a custom to understand and follow.

If you are older, you don't initiate the wai. If someone wais you then depending on their age and status you reciprocate with either a "nod and a smile" , a wai at chest level, a wai at chin level, (A wai higher than this is absolutely unnecessary unless you have just met your God.

The ridiculous myth that westerners should automatically wai all and sundry has been propagated by Thais and books such as Lonely Planet. ( I cringe every time I witness some westerner initiating a wai to the 7-11 staff or Tuk Tuk driver)

they are not horrible drivers but actually excellent drivers with really poor etiquette.

No, they are, without doubt, both!!!

I not understand everything you write but

sometimes one person buy but the whole family use

I know this crazy thinking for you

sorry but this our way, our thinking

No you didn't understand. He said clearly that the vast majority of people who were riding the bike were NOT family!

Oftentimes wondered if its really the sales policies, or the lack of well spoken Thai language, that cause many of these problems.

In a small part yes. But, by in large, most are just dumb as*es. And, you cant fix dumb.

The 90 day thing shows just your status as a (permanent) tourist. Tourists leave after 90 days max, they allow you to report in country - courtesy of TH government.

I travel a lot, so it does not bother me much. But basically you are a tourist, even with family here.

Exactly !! And, there's the rub!!!

To expand a bit more. I do 90 address reports here and will continue to do 90 day address reports as long as I live here, no matter how many years. Or decades. That kind of place can't really be your home in reality. You can decide to delude yourself that it is if it makes you happier.

Exactly Jingthing.

Many of the expat community here are totally deluded.

The fact is, until you're not living from one 12 moth visa to another, and you don't need to submit 90 day reports, own & operate your own business 100% and employ who you want, buy land, vote (if you really want to), be able to apply for and hold any job you are qualified for, come and go as you please, not be over-charged, don't need a work visa, get a lifetime DL, hold a Thai passport (as well as your bith country's passport) etc, etc...you can never really call this or any place HOME.

Is anyone even ALLOWED to write of commentate in the media like that?

NO!!!!!

The actual answer is probably they just don't understand it.

I just drove my TGF's motorbike to a massage place to drop her off for a 2 hour thai massage. I pulled off and stopped because a guy in front of me stopped and opened his door wide open to get out of his car and another person was following me right on my ass. It was potentially ugly. I avoided what could have been an accident. They didn't lose face.

I doubt either one of them did it to be malicious but at the same time both of them probably knew less than the basics of safe driving habits.

I'll always give way to ignorance.

Then you'd be giving way to more than half the drivers in Thailand.

Over the past month I've been the subject of minor road rage on two separate occasions by young (20's) Thai male drivers. One was tailgateing me at 80klm and got angry that I touched my brakes to warn him that he was far too close (about 2 mtrs) He then sped up and forced his way between me and the car in front even though there was no room to do so.

The other time while crawling along in bumper to bumper traffic the guy to my left decided he was going to instantly move in front of me into my lane. Again, there was no space but he forced his way even nudging (a slight touch) my car and then blameing me for the contact <deleted>. He then weaved all over the road trying to block my path. This was in the middle of 5 lane wide peak hour traffic.He was certifiable, supper aggressive, and downright dangerous...other than that he was a model of Thai youth.

Thailand has more than its fair share of road rage and selfish, aggressive, dangerous drivers.

Personally, I absolutely don't care if they kill themselves. In fact, I'm relieved. As long as they don't take me with them!!!!!

I'm of the opinion that most Thais feel (particularly in the case of a weterner) they can do almost any negative thing to you they want and you just have to suck it up!

From memory, this kinda thing happened to me only once here in BKK about 8 or 9 years ago in Hard Rock Cafe Siam Square. Some dumb ass agressive (western) prick was itching to fight someone for reasons only he understood. I unfortunately sat on a bar stool next to him to have a drink and listen to the band. He then muttered some agreesive thing at me and then he got up and moved away. Anyhow 30 minutes later I also move with a friend to the other side of the bar and unfortunately passed by this asshol_e again, as I was on the way to the toilet he said some agressive coment again and at that point, I lost it a little and shouted at him to meet outside. After I came out of the toilet, he had gone.....I was relieved and went about enjoying the evening.

This kinda thing is fairly common in my home country and Thai males are guilty of this on the odd ocassion. I think some males are just born <deleted> and deserve a shitty life for making other peoples lives unnecessarily unpleasant. A pox on en all.

_{I watched the series. Very poorly researched. Almost not worth watching.}

In terms of partial integration, my best experience is being accepted for who and what I am, i.e. a young white english guy, by older and other Thai people who appreciate the effort I make to behave politely in a Thai sense of the word (and speak the language). Then also that these people will help me, be kind to me, have my back and genuinely seem to care about me (and I them). This is a warm feeling and necessary to any life, no?

The worst experience would be along the same lines; the realisation that even if I lived here the rest of my life, had a Thai family, with half Thai kids, spoke and read/wrote Thai fluently, gained Thai citizenship one day, contributed everything I could to Thailand, I would still never integrate into Thai society and will always have been farang.

However, I am not so sure this is a bad thing, ultimately. Riding the line between both cultures allows you to benefit from both sides, yet it does this while simultaneously preventing you from ever feeling totally "at home". The realisation I have spent all my adult life in a country not of my birth results in feeling at home neither in England nor in Thailand.. and therein lies the rub.

I remain therefore very comfortably lost, a sensation that grows with each year I live here. I am uncertain where it ends and how that might feel.

Wow oxfordWill, this pretty well sums it up for me too.

Fe Fe, could you please explain, exactly how weterners (who dont have the benefit of a Thai parent and all the obvious advantages that flow from that) are "integrated" into Thai society.

When I say integrated, I mean how a person from a western country (eg: N.Z. Aus. USA. Canada.Norway.Switzerland.UK etc) would understand it to be.

To be absolutely honest I've not seen any real, tangible, feel-at-home, feel as though you are a part of the general society kind of evidence.

The year of Miracle Thailand.

Twice as many gun murders per year than the US and a population a quarter of the size.

It seems that many people are suffered from " I am better than others syndrome" need to read sth to get realized. I can't post the link but you can google "total crimes by country" for the full list. Here are the top 5 countries in committing crimes

1. USA 11,877,218

2. UK 6,523,706

3. Germany 6,507,394

4. France 3,771,850

5. Rissia 2,592,370

Oh..I forgot Thailand

20. Thailand 565,108

what about murders not just crimes as most crimes are cleared by the Amenesty and some take 5 years or more to reach court

Some pieces of data that are important are for Thailand vs countries x,y,z,: What is the ratio of gun related crime per capita? What is the ratio of deaths by guns per capita? What is the ratio of muder convictions by guns per capita?

I think it's time these incidents were more widely published. Thailand is a major tourist destination and almost no-one knows how dangerous it is. Perhaps if evidence was discovered that points to a cover-up by Thai authorities, the resultant lawsuits against foreign representatives of Thai tourism companies would change their minds.

Of course the Thai government don't want the news to get out (it's bad for business) that the fact is (comparatively speaking) Thailand is an extremely dangerous place for westerners. Western goverments don't advise their citizens of the dangers in Thailand because they (embassy staff and ambassadors etc) spend most of their time ingratiating themselves to their friends in the Thai goverment and it's departments.

I went to a Thai funeral a couple of years back, and after the ceremony , the Thai whiskey came out along with the pistols. Up until this point I hadn't realized how many Thai's carried guns quite scary really after a couple of hours of drinking.

It's not the gun itself I'm so worried about. The problem is many Thais are loose cannons and/or half wits. People (any where in the world) who feel inadequate or lack backbone or communication skills think they need a gun (it could even be the small dick syndrome).

Why should this be illegal? It is not a scam, it is business.

Correct. Thailand is not a PC nanny state. A business has the freedom to ask more from whiteys, blacks or whatever. They can even refuse you if they don't like your nose.

Shocked? You have the freedom to avoid them too.

Exactly!!! Thats why I never go to any natioal park or monument or similar in Thailand. I won't allow anyone to charge me more than they do others.

I take 2 to 3 overseas holidays per year and spend my hard-earned in other countries....not Thailand, so I guess in the end, they can charge what they like. They just won't get my money!!!

Hub of "undesirables"?

Dr Who, you have moved to "The hub of the hubs"

Thailand sets itself up as the hub for everything and unfortunately it does have a high proportion of rejects from overseas, but that's what you get when you create a whore hub, alcohol hub, paedophile hub, drug hub, scam hub, corruption hub, mafia hub, animal, human and drug trafficing hub, lawless hub, etc. hub.

Nevertheless, there is a proportion of expat men who are not attracted by all the hubs and lead "normal" lives, similar to any other guy living in a sophisticated, westernised country.

Find different places to go and hang out and you'll find them.