Top 5 Reasons You Won’t Like Thailand

[alex8912]

I do live in my home country 6 months a year and can speak basic Thai well but at 5 star hotels and at tourist destinations English is very lacking. I travel a lot around Thailand and it’s getting worse. As I even mentioned in another post I hear better English in my nearby 7/11’s in BKK than at top hotels in Hua Hin, Phuket, Chiangmai Mai etc even the person who answers the MAIN phone numbers are often poor in English. Thailand tourism industry lacks so far behind even places like Vietnam in English ability. As for police you can find dozens of links like this one: 

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35822392/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/police-departments-seeking-more-bilingual-cops/

so your argument is weak on this topic.  

Yes that’s right New York City’s policemen speak 63 languages!!!!

[StevieAus]

On 3/7/2018 at 9:31 AM, stament said:

Definitely sounds dogs. I got bitten before and my cousin got bitten just this week. They said he needs 5 different shots whereas I only needed one. Overcharging hospital exaggerating?

 

Can't believe bad drivers didn't make the list or taxi and tuk tuk scammers

If they gave him the rabies shot it has to be followed up with I think 4 more maybe you had it before or they didn’t give to you

[StreetCowboy]

As a tourist,

1) I'd probably get a bit fed up with the long queue at immigration, 

2) The long and slow queue for taxis, despite the number of taxis stuck in the equally long and slow queue of waiting drivers

3) Getting your cash before your card is returned at the ATM; I don't know how often I've left my card in the machine after trousering my winnings; that must be really inconvenient for tourists

4) Baffling road junctions - I can't remember what it is like now, but the very touristed junction at Nana cross-roads, where right-turning two lanes of traffic were stationary at a red light, hiding the speeding cars in the kerb-side lane 

5)  The rapid pace of development - you come back after only five or ten years, and all the nice outdoor restaurants where you used to eat your dinner are now construction sites

[thaibeachlovers]

30 minutes ago, StreetCowboy said:

5)  The rapid pace of development - you come back after only five or ten years, and all the nice outdoor restaurants where you used to eat your dinner are now construction sites

If you are talking about Bkk, that'll be because the price of land makes them uneconomic. 

The world has been taken over by greed and the worship of money. Simple pleasures no longer matter as long as someone can get rich.

Sad.

[Muggi1968]

On 3/7/2018 at 9:01 AM, HLover said:

Funny, I get treated just fine by all the above-mentioned. Maybe a quick look in the mirror would explain why the complainers get treated the way they do?

Strange .... I also have no problems... Maybe this is a #me2Thailand starting .......

 

[Tofer]

On 8 March 2018 at 10:10 AM, sanemax said:

Thais should be given English proficiency tests , before they are given Thai Nationality , like back in the U.K. 

   Thais are not given U.K. citizenship, until they can speak English and have passed the test .

The same should happen in Thailand , they shouldnt be given Thai Citizenship, until they have a certain level of speaking English .

Perhaps foreigners should be given IQ tests before being allowed to post on TVF!

 

Putting it verrrrry simply;

 

Nation - Thailand

Nationality by birth - Thai.

National Language - Thai.

 

Got it?

Edited March 10, 2018 by Tofer
Amendment

[Rimmer]

More off topic posts trying to hijack the thread have been removed

[Tofer]

On 8 March 2018 at 1:33 AM, Thian said:

Because english is the worldlanguage, is that so hard to understand? And it will never be chinese, there's not even 1 chinese language but several different ones.

English is the international business language, not 'the world language'.

 

If tourists wish to travel independently they should come prepared to manage the language barrier and embrace the hurdles as part of the experience of travelling in an under developed country. Alternatively they should join a tour group and have their hands held by a tour guide / representative.

[Thian]

14 hours ago, Tofer said:

English is the international business language, not 'the world language'.

 

If tourists wish to travel independently they should come prepared to manage the language barrier and embrace the hurdles as part of the experience of travelling in an under developed country. Alternatively they should join a tour group and have their hands held by a tour guide / representative.

People often talk about English as a global language or lingua franca. With more than 350 million people around the world speaking English as a first language and more than 430 million speaking it as a second language, there are English speakers in most countries around the world. Why is English so popular, though? And why has it become a global language?

 

https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/english-in-the-real-world/english-became-global-language/

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by Rimmer
Edited for Fair use

[owl sees all]

On 3/8/2018 at 2:31 PM, jak2002003 said:

Don't you remember the days when we are allowed to have a bonfire in the garden.  I don't remember the air being so polluted back them from that.  Also we used to have rubbish in one single bin.  We could have this outside the house.  There were no piles of rubbish all over the place then either.  In fact it looked neater without all the different huge bright coloured plastic bins on wheels they have everywhere now... they clutter up the street a lot too.

 

Was not talking about dangerous dogs roaming around freely.  I meant when someone has a pet dog in the park, or on a deserted beach and lets it off the lead.  Now there are signs everywhere saying dogs must be kept on a lead, or not even allowed on the beach.  Before these laws I can't remember every getting bothered by a dog off a lead.

I can remember, in East London,  packs of dogs in the 1950s. As many as 50/60 strong. Scared to go out sometimes.

 

The man who used to walk in front of the bus with a lantern. It was so foggy. Started about mid-November.

 

There was never any proper/designated place to dump big rubbish in the 1950s. Everyone just had a a big burn up and if it was close to bonfire night all the stuff that might burn was saved for the big occasion.

Edited March 10, 2018 by owl sees all

[Tofer]

14 hours ago, Thian said:

People often talk about English as a global language or lingua franca. With more than 350 million people around the world speaking English as a first language and more than 430 million speaking it as a second language, there are English speakers in most countries around the world. Why is English so popular, though? And why has it become a global language?

 

 

Very well presented argument, with which I have no axe to grind.

 

From a tourist point of view I, personally, prefer a bit of a challenge when travelling, and see overcoming the language barrier as a lot of fun and enjoyment. Wouldn't the world be a pretty boring place if we could all drift through it without any hurdles, and have everything handed to us on a plate...

 

By the way I am English and speak the language as my native tongue!

[Tofer]

On 7 March 2018 at 9:57 PM, mok199 said:

me too!!

Look up my post on the subject " Things you don't do in Thailand because you know better, dated 15/07/17, to save me repeating myself.

 

I also had a neighbour offer to lend us their car anytime we needed it when we first arrived to settle in Krabi and we're looking around for a car to buy, with no ulterior motive. We took it 3 times including a 600km / 2 day round trip to Phuket. There was never any payment required although we, as a matter of decency, filled it with petrol, valet cleaned it and gave them some money towards their next servicing. These same neighbours, now friends, politely refused an offer of a loan when in a period of difficulty.

 

In Phuket, 23 years ago, I had several businessman offer better deals than what I requested in a show of empathy for our plight at the hands of some unscrupulous Thais who forced us off of a property and out of our business.

In the same period I had a Thai acquaintance, friend of a friend, lend us his Burmese workers from his development team to carry out some work for us at nothing more than actual labour costs. He also turned up with a trailer water tanker behind his jeep when he heard we had a water shortage - no charge.

 

Thai friends turned up with senior political and police figures to stand our corner in a recent neighbour dispute, with no financial consideration expected.

 

A taxi driver in Bangkok put his licence at risk racing into the city from the airport and back in a 2 hour stopover at the domestic terminal between flights, dropped me at the shop and parked up around the corner on a side street waiting for me to find him for the return journey, all at meter rate, trusting me to find him and pay his fare. Of course I gave him a good tip.

 

Is that enough to be going on with?

 

Edited March 10, 2018 by Tofer
Add

[Tofer]

On 7 March 2018 at 8:47 PM, sanemax said:

You wouldnt be wasting your time, as I would like to hear about them

See post 163.

[stud858]

I don't like that Thailand has no twist off bottle top beers.

So annoying.

[Justfine]

57 minutes ago, stud858 said:

I don't like that Thailand has no twist off bottle top beers.

So annoying.

Beer tastes better after some hard work.

[grollies]

On 3/7/2018 at 9:05 AM, Thian said:

1- the selfishness/lazyness and bad manners of the people.

 

2- the no pricing of goods

 

3- dangerous traffic

 

4- low standards/quality/servicelevels 

 

5 lack of speaking english

Lack of speaking English???

 

Try learning the language of your adoptive county.

[Dick Crank]

For me it's the lack of privacy.

 

Everywhere are crowds with people glaring, thin walls, people sitting on the floor right next to you, someone's window right there, nosy neighbors and security guys. Even out in the stix someone's gonna want to be around pestering me...

 

if your looking for that deserted beach or secluded hut it's gonna take a long time.

[whiteman]

On 5/28/2018 at 9:47 PM, Dick Crank said:

For me it's the lack of privacy.

 

Everywhere are crowds with people glaring, thin walls, people sitting on the floor right next to you, someone's window right there, nosy neighbors and security guys. Even out in the stix someone's gonna want to be around pestering me...

 

if your looking for that deserted beach or secluded hut it's gonna take a long time.

A lot of us live in peace and quite you just have to pay for it eg Phanyar resort Sriracha 10 mins from 2 major private hospitals and 10 mins from central shoping 5 mins from the beach we are right next to a top class golf course life could not be better ?

[Dick Crank]

3 hours ago, whiteman said:

A lot of us live in peace and quite you just have to pay for it eg Phanyar resort Sriracha 10 mins from 2 major private hospitals and 10 mins from central shoping 5 mins from the beach we are right next to a top class golf course life could not be better ?

Living next to a golf course with people peering in is not my idea of privacy. Ditto for being near a public pool, or facing an apartment building with windows. I prefer to keep my drapes open day and night.

 

ome people say well so what if people are looking in. I tell them it's not the looking that's the problem, it's the distraction of attention of me constantly noticing the looking. 

 

So what do u suggest, buying an island?

[whiteman]

4 hours ago, Dick Crank said:

Living next to a golf course with people peering in is not my idea of privacy. Ditto for being near a public pool, or facing an apartment building with windows. I prefer to keep my drapes open day and night.

 

ome people say well so what if people are looking in. I tell them it's not the looking that's the problem, it's the distraction of attention of me constantly noticing the looking. 

 

So what do u suggest, buying an island?

We are far enough away from the people at the golf lets say for you to visualise  it is across the lake that we also live near and can see the golf in the distance across the lake. All homes here have water access.  Paradise found in Thailand.

 

No need to buy an Island, we live on 1 rai plenty of room for our 3 dogs fully fenced.