Poottrong

7 minutes ago, Lupatria said:

And in the typical Thai manner they found a way to blame others for their problem. Remember the quote of a government official saying: "There was no corruption in Thailand until the Chinese arrived"? Now they accept it as a vital part of their culture, their Buddhism and Thainess. There will be no end of corruption because the fish stinks from the head.

If it wasn't for the Chinese population of Thailand this country would resemble Laos, Burma or Cambodia much more than it does now.

Generally speaking, with the exception of the odd imported and brutally enforced ideology, governments are a reflection of the people, society and culture of the country. That's why having "crackdowns" or a "lock them up" policy isn't going to work. 

Lee Kwan Yue in Singapore was able to root it out but that has more to do with the fact it is a tiny city state populated by predominately Chinese. Also South Korea made huge steps over the last few decades. East Asians appear to be exceptions though.

Most of S.E Asia, Africa and Middle East are continually mired in corruption to varying degrees. It's probably a fair question to ask whether they will ever completely be able to do so at this point if they haven't managed to already - it's 2018 after all.

On the other hand I guess you could say the Thailand of say, 30 years ago is less corrupt than today? I'm not sure if it's to a very noticeable degree though ?

It's a waste of time to encourage everyone in the country to learn English when only a tiny fraction will ever need to use it in their careers or even socially.

10 hours ago, The manic said:

If you think the South, the North East, central Thailand and all the other regions do not demonstrate diversity then I do not know what does.  There are 14 gender types here plus various tribal groups abd the diversity of music types is almost equal to Africa.  Diversity here does not resolve around artificial Marxist concepts and the politics of the left which is division and discord....not diversity but grim, cultural Marxist conformity.

I think you're stretching it a bit. While there are certainly differences in regional ethnicites and culture between the South, North East and central regions these are by no means obvious to the casual observer - you really have to look for them and they only become apparent after spending a good deal of time here (I'm not referring to the marginal hill tribe type groups). By and large Thais most worship the same religion, eat the same food, have a uniformity of architecture, consume the same type of culture and have pretty similar world views and outlooks.

"diversity of music types is almost equal to Africa"

Eh? No.

10 hours ago, robblok said:

 

It would be nice if they could decrease army spending  

Given that traditionally the elite class has derived their incomes directly and indirectly through the military that would be asking a lot!

On 6/9/2018 at 5:37 PM, khunPer said:

According to a recent Scientific study, 90% of sea pollution comes from rivers – perhaps that's where to begin a campaign, don't dump your garbage in rivers...
Link: 10 rivers are responsible for 90% of the plastic in the ocean (New York Post)

And 8 of those rivers are in Asia ?

Thailand clocks in at number 7 on this chart:

https://www.statista.com/chart/12211/the-countries-polluting-the-oceans-the-most/

Good luck finding a quiet place near the beach without many tourists AND has a good school. I'd pay good money for anyone who can tell me where i can find such a place ?

44 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I look on Thai culture in the same way as I look on women- something I will never understand. I just do what I can to get along and ignore the rest.

Yep, and this is that it's exactly the approach  most Thai's take towards us and our culture.

"IMO some put too much importance on fitting in with Thai culture"

I don't see many farangs going overboard with this. They'd learn the language if they were truly keen. Like you, I think most just want to know the basic do's and don'ts  and this is exactly what the Thai's ask of you - you're not meant to fit in here from their perspective.

49 minutes ago, chingmai331 said:

Yes, the author does comment on his years spent in Thailand and his lack of close local friends. But in the later edition, after thinking this over, he says because the differences between the western idea of friendship and the Thai idea are pretty large and that the Thai need for social structure, each person in his proper place, means that folks outside the proper place, like farangs, cannot find a close bond with ordinary people.

 

Well said. Totally agree.

1 hour ago, chingmai331 said:

For those interested i can strongly recommend this 150 page book, written by a Thai fluent German scholar..

 

If I remember rightly at the end of the book the author reflects on how strange it was that he had had spent all this time in the country and didn't have a single close Thai friend.

Probably the rule rather than the exception I'd say.

On 5/30/2018 at 9:54 AM, seancbk said:

 

What nonsense.  I socialise all the time with my Thai friends, I get invited to their houses for BBQs and they ask me to join them when they go out, or I ask them to join me and my friends.  
Tons of Farangs and Thais socialise in Bangkok all the time.  Just looks at the social groups that are arranged through Facebook and sites like Meetup.

 

I could be wrong but I'm guessing your Thai friends probably speak fluent English and are quite cosmopolitan (work at foreign owned companies etc) and are pretty well off - in other words, a minority. In my experience middle class Thais and down don't regularly socialize with foreigners - partly due to the language barrier and partly because they just don't want to. If there's a free meal going that's a different story but otherwise they just steer clear.

1 hour ago, norrska said:

What about checking the blind spot behind her over the shoulder not visible with the mirror.

My BIL has been driving at taxi for 30 years and I mentioned something about blind spots casually in a conversation about driving. He had never heard of the concept. ?

On 5/27/2018 at 12:54 PM, ChidlomDweller said:

What rankles here is not so much culture as top-down cultural engineering with an agenda.

Absolutely. Totally agree. However it is going on in the West from the top-down in the opposite direction although on a smaller scale and much less heavy handed.

State propaganda isn't a new thing here as there's plenty of Thai history taught in schools that is inaccurate so this is more of an escalation than anything.

The irony is that in the West much energy is expended on going in the opposite direction -  downplaying and bringing our culture down or even denying we have a culture at all. It makes a change to be in a country where its own people actually like their culture and traditions and are quite openly proud of it.

9 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

It is not that difficult to deter/defeat corruption; you need three elements to make a serious dent immediately;

 

• Hire honest people. Yes, I know that sounds superfluous, but remember the entire scandal with regards to payments to the destitute started with ONE honest student. If Thai bureaucrats were taught basic honesty, a large portion of the theft would disappear overnight.
• Use audits properly. Audits, when done properly, usually catch theft, or at least theft on a larger scale. Again, using the recent and on-going theft of monies for the destitute, did anyone ever ask one of the recipients "how much do you get every month?". Yes, it is that simple. If the answer is less that they should have, investigate.
• Punish the thieves. If a bureaucrat is caught stealing, do not 'transfer them to an inactive post', put their photograph on the front page of the newspaper, try them in court on an expedited time-scale, and toss their ass in jail. If the government would do this loudly and publicly, corruption would drop quickly and immediately on a VERY large scale.

 

There are other measures to follow, but the above would likely kill off more than 50% of the theft overnight. 

 

It isn't rocket science. If bureaucrats pay no price for stealing as the current practice goes, then they will steal. If they see their colleagues going to jail, they will think twice.

 

Duh!

 

Clearly it is incredibly difficult to overcome otherwise it would have been accomplished decades ago not only here but in Africa, Middle East etc.

While it sounds simple  your 3 bullet points would require a society wide rewiring of mores, tradition, and culture while at the same time overcoming a highly motivated and entrenched establishment.

Shifting the blame for Thailand's poor education system onto parents. Incredible.

I wonder how he explains the huge industry of after school private tutoring classes that are sourced and paid for by said apathetic parents.

What's with Thai politicians and the heavy metal salute?

9 hours ago, atyclb said:

 

 

how much would a reasonably well to do thai guy dowry amount be to a gal from an average rural issan family?

Assuming you're not getting any of the sinsod back I would guess 100,000 baht, some gold and a decent wedding party is plenty. If the girl has been married before or has a kid already I would drop that down dramatically to maybe a token sinsod of 30k plus a modest wedding.

1 hour ago, KhaoYai said:

 Despite all the bad stories of farangs getting ripped off, chewed up and spat out, such families remain in the minority - at least they are in the ones I know. I guess it depends on which circles you choose to mix in.

 "Despite all the bad stories of farangs getting ripped off, chewed up and spat out, such families remain in the minority"

To be honest I don't think that's true. Let's face it: a good chunk (half?) of farangs marry girls  a good deal younger than them who are mixed up in the bar trade somehow and have an illegitimate kid or too to boot and come from families with dubious ethical principals. Pretty safe to say that's not going to work out too well in the majority of cases (though not all by any means!).

As you say, depends who you know and which circles you mix but overall I think successful farang/thai relationships are probably  a minority rather than a majority.

9 hours ago, The manic said:

I lived in Burma for a year.  Iran was better. Pakistan was better. Really unpleasant people and those who are ok are in a state of fear and oppression forced to inform on each other. Burma is a horror 

Interesting you say that. I went for a holiday to Yangon and Moulmein and surrounds and found the people pretty switched on and friendly. It's amazing how a superficial holiday can mask the reality though :) Did you find them the same throughout the country or just the area you were in?

56 minutes ago, Dibbler said:

For me it would be Sri Lanka. Warm friendly people, cheap to live, great food, good surf, diving, national parks full of wildlife, amazing scenery, cultural attractions. Easy visa on arrival


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Pretend for a moment there are two columns, one with a heading "Thailand" the other with "Sri  Lanka". Down the list there are boxes to be ticked on which one is better in each category. - cost and quality of housing, cost of utilities and level of infrastructure, cost and quality of internet, quality and price of food, level of safety, level of corruption (large and petty), friendliness of locals, ease of visas, cost of transportation (own car and taxis), mating opportunities, scenic beauty, cultural appeal, ease of day to day affairs, cost and quality of healthcare...once that's all totted up, which one has the most ticks and which one would leave you with more money in the pocket for the same quality of life? Genuinely interested.

20 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

Aren't we all?

Yet we don't all have the same budget...so a budget country, or country fitting one's budget, has no clear definition.

For many Japanese, for example, the US is a budget country where they can play golf at a fraction of the cost in Japan...

 

No, not everyone is on a budget. Either way your money goes further here pretty much whatever your budget is. The tighter your budget though the more attractive Thailand becomes.

4 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

What is a "budget" country?

 

A country for people on a budget.