why are we here in Thailand lets not forget.

[GroveHillWanderer]

5 hours ago, KKBrian said:

 

5 hours ago, KKBrian said:

I think we should not forget why we are here I am from the UK and to be honest I have lost all hope in my home country.

Fair enough, that's why you are here - but I don't think you can speak for everyone else and say it's why we are all here. It's not why I'm here and I'm pretty sure it's not the case for plenty of others as well.

[falangjim]

I love the cranky old men who adorn this page with their bile-ridden stories, gross generalizations, and grammatically incorrect rants about their personal struggles in Thailand.  Without them, I wouldn't feel so good about myself.  Some of the most inspiring reading comes from them.  Did you know there's a jet-skier thanking his lucky stars right now because of their posts?  He's just wrung out his swimming trunks in a Pattaya hotel bathroom thinking, You know what? I could have been ripped off by a scam!  

 

The collective wisdom of the bar-stool mentality on this sobering forum has no bounds, and should be respected as such.  Just the other day I read some comments about a man who has to live in the same condo with a German.  I mean, that in itself should be grounds for offering a round of virtual drinks, warm hugs, and understanding.  But this poster was actually reporting on how his dog was being threatened.  His dog!  And not a single Thai gave a hoot.  Wait, this was about how some posters bash Thais and I am sorry for the digression. 

 

Lately it seems that in lieu of stories about the darker shades of hookers on Sukhumvit, a different element is attacking the streets: the military.  Not with coups, but with sanitizing them with ... well eff me, actual laws.  Poor Kao San Road will never be the same since they took away the rights of the Hill Tribes walking the daylight hours stroking a wooden frog.  I know.  Many on here were crushed.  But this isn't where cranky old men hangout anymore, anyhow.  If they did, they'd enlighten you with stories about how the beers used to be 30 baht, and street phad Thai 10 baht.  Oh, the good old days!  You young folk don't know what I had to endure 30, 40 years ago. 

 

In Bangkok, the only real city in the country, the traffic sucks, the beer is crap, and it's pretty stinking hot most of the year.  When I'm not swearing under my breath as a metered taxi inches up a soi, I'm usually calm.  But isn't that part of the charm?  I remember coming off a plane to Duan Muang ages ago, and the first thing that hit me was the smell of tropical flowers.  I still remember that wonderful moment, and at the same time also feeling conflicted by the sight of a gorgeous girl in a customer service booth alternating between combing her and long black hair and picking her nose.  I will never forget those moments.  None of us should. To the OP, I salute you on your post. We should all take a good hard look at how we lost and found part of our lives here in Thailand.  

[rumak]

2 hours ago, blackhorse said:

It's not only thailand. The haters also hate their home countries

i think they hate mirrors most of all

[bwpage3]

The OP should thank Thailand for NOT letting him own any land.

[CGW]

8 hours ago, KKBrian said:

As a foreigner to Thailand I am but a guest and as a guest should conduct myself in my actions and in my comments.

I am a guest for sure, a paying guest ???? 

[ravip]

7 minutes ago, CGW said:

I am a guest for sure, a paying guest ???? 

Even in our home countries we are paying citizens!

Nothing comes free... ????

[seajae]

5 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Thats an easy one, a much higher standard of living here than I could possibly attain in the UK. 

I could never have the land the property and this relaxed country lifestyle.

The fact my wife is from here is also a very strong influencial factor.????.

this has summed it up perfectly and my wife is a huge part of it, I love living here and have found I no longer get as much satisfaction when we travel back to Australia for any length of time, this is my home. Thing is I have always been open and honest no matter where I lived, if I see fault I say so and there are faults in Thailand same as in every other country, while living here we have to accept faults but when we see blatant things it can really upset the apple cart, venting in here is much  better than venting at the thais, only common sense, if people take offence then maybe they need to toughen up a bit. I know I would not be living here if I didnt enjoy it and as these pages are forum pages they are here for everyone to express themselves even if we dont agree with some of what is said and there are those that seem to dislike everything thai, they do make it hard to understand why they are actually here but most of us are simply enjoying our lifestyle, beautiful Thailand, sunny one day, p*ssing down rain the next????

Edited October 7, 2018 by seajae

[NonthaburiBear]

5 hours ago, Pete1980 said:

where did the OP meet his two failed marriages?

i tot you're the one who introduce to his Exes????

[White Christmas13]

7 hours ago, Pete1980 said:

A guest because they let us in and let us stay. Uninvited guests, but still guests.

if 80% plus of us didnt marry or live with prostitutes the Thais would probably respect us a bit more.

Speak for your self

[seasia]

8 hours ago, Thian said:

Speak for yourself mate. I still love Europe as well, especially during summers. Everything high standard, i love it.

So do I

 

Although I have lived in Thailand many years, some aspects I do not like, poor safety standards, poor service standards, poor transport standards, I could go on.

Ordinary Thai people generally nice,climate good but have more or less decided as of next year, summer months in Europe, here for winter or take a closer look at Vietnam.

[totally thaied up]

I have been here 10 years now and I think Thailand is about as close to a home I can have at this current time. I am married to a Thai, she owns her own house, she does not cost me much as she works but as other posters said here, back home I could not live as easy. I am not talking about monetary wise but in the sense of being free and easy. I think I have a sense of freedom here that I enjoy more so then back in Australia. Less stress. Being cordial to other people is easy and I never really had many problems here. I mainly see people make problems and that is the issue. People leave there home country full of problems and bring them here. Those problems spill over. How many guys have I seen with two or three marriages back in the homeland show up here thinking it may be any different? 

 

We do have some crusty people posting here but I will read everything and try to take a grain of knowledge from it if possible. TV has over the years made me stop and think about a few things and most likely has saved me a bucket load of heartache in my formative years here as a Newbie. The cranky guys on this forum have a space to fill and not all of the things spewed out is that bad. 

 

Thailand for me really has only two bad issues. The road toll and the health insurance expense merry-go-round. These are about the only things that concern me these days apart from the Australian FX rate just falling off a cliff. With the main current Thai issues, well, my wife just tells me not to worry about them. She just tells me nothing is really ever going to change here and just to let it go. I just look at all of this now and just shrug my shoulders. That is just how I deal with things here and Thai bashing is certainly going to help no one and is only just going to make you resent this place if you go down that track.

[gunderhill]

9 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

There's a big difference between people who are negative toward all Thais as a people vs. being negative about many of the things here that any thinking person should be negative about, and those who are responsible for those maladies.

 

I'm not negative toward all Thais, nor do I spend my days/hours bitching about everything here on TVF. However, at the same time, just because I'm living in a different country from my home country doesn't mean I'm going to lose or surrender my values of what is right and what is wrong.

 

When it comes to Thailand, it's simply and flatly wrong that:

--the country has regressed from its path toward representative government and democracy.

--that the country has one of the highest road fatality rates in the world, and the authorities don't care.

--that the authorities allow the country's environment to be fouled and degraded in so many ways and do little to nothing to stop it.

--that a lot of the food in the country is grown or processed with harmful chemicals and pesticides that are banned elsewhere in the world.

--that the justice system often reaches absurd results, handing out extremely harsh penalties in some minor cases and yet murderers and other violent criminals often get off with lighter punishments.

--that there's a tremendous and probably growing income inequality here with the richest getting richer and the average Thai treading water or regressing financially.

Etc etc etc...

 

I don't spend my days dwelling or posting constantly on those things. But it would be kind of hard for any thinking person to ignore or not see them, and recognize that are all things that ultimately are bad and harmful for this country and everyone in it, Thais or others.

 

Hmmmmmm time for some  "attitude adjustment" laddie............now wheres the pale  pink tint glasses???

[fanjita]

11 hours ago, KKBrian said:

I actually still love Thailand after 15 years of travelling and living here despite two failed marriages to Thai women.

I'm welling up.  

[tropo]

11 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

OK, Thank you Thailand for allowing we to have some beers at a bar and not worry about the drive home.

Actually, you do have to worry about the drive home - in Pattaya. They do random breath testing all over town these days. I've been tested just up the road from where I live numerous times on the way back from my local 7Eleven at 4 am. They even sit one cop at the last left turn before the checkpoint, just in case you try to avoid them. By the time you see them, it's already too late. I'm not complaining about this. Any steps to get drunken idiots off the roads is a good thing.

[Damrongsak]

10 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

OK, Thank you Thailand for allowing we to have some beers at a bar and not worry about the drive home.

Thank you Thailand for my bride, whom I've been married to for 40 years.  Today is our anniversary.  Also thank you for our two children (though we helped) and many in-laws, nieces and nephews.  Saved us the trouble, expense and danger of going out to bars.  Just partied at home and sent the kids out on a mini-bike to buy cold beer twice an hour. 

 

 

 

 

[tropo]

10 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

Also lived in Thailand for several years and try to look on the positive side of living here. When I read posts on many of these threads, there does seem to be more negatives than positives about the Thais and Thailand and those that continuously moan and complain, have to wonder who they are, where they live and that these people must be living very miserable existences.

Or, rather than being a mindless cheer squad, they may be offering good solid information that could prevent some people back in Farangland from making a huge mistake by relocating. There's a lot of bad sh*t that goes on in Thailand that most people are blissfully unaware of until they become the victim... then, when they talk about it they are cast as grumpy old men with a chip on their shoulder. I don't know why people like the OP and others take negative comments about Thailand so personally.

[tropo]

10 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

I agree with the OP that we should not disrespect Thailand and its people.

 

 

Come on now... this is an internet forum. People from every country get loads of disrespect here every single day. People need to grow a pair if they want to read forums like this. Do you think Thai people all respect foreign tourists and guests? No way! Mostly it's harmless back and forth. If the kitchen gets too hot, the moderators know what to do.

[tropo]

9 hours ago, Pete1980 said:

A guest because they let us in and let us stay. Uninvited guests, but still guests.

if 80% plus of us didnt marry or live with prostitutes the Thais would probably respect us a bit more.

You can't change history.

[EVENKEEL]

3 hours ago, tropo said:

Actually, you do have to worry about the drive home - in Pattaya. They do random breath testing all over town these days. I've been tested just up the road from where I live numerous times on the way back from my local 7Eleven at 4 am. They even sit one cop at the last left turn before the checkpoint, just in case you try to avoid them. By the time you see them, it's already too late. I'm not complaining about this. Any steps to get drunken idiots off the roads is a good thing.

Nothing good happens after 11pm. No complaints about the breath tests. If I have a few (afternoon beers)  in this small town south of Pattaya, more than 3-4 small beers gives me a headache, that's it for me.

[bwpage3]

4 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Thank you Thailand for my bride, whom I've been married to for 40 years.  Today is our anniversary.  Also thank you for our two children (though we helped) and many in-laws, nieces and nephews.  Saved us the trouble, expense and danger of going out to bars.  Just partied at home and sent the kids out on a mini-bike to buy cold beer twice an hour. 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations! You deserve a round of applause for 40 years!

[mauGR1]

4 hours ago, tropo said:

14 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

I agree with the OP that we should not disrespect Thailand and its people.

 

 

Come on now... this is an internet forum. People from every country get loads of disrespect here every single day. People need to grow a pair if they want to read forums like this. Do you think Thai people all respect foreign tourists and guests? No way! Mostly it's harmless back and forth. If the kitchen gets too hot, the moderators know what to do.

I understand that it is harmless, but i prefer a constructive discussion to a useless rant.

Now, everybody know that in every country there are good and bad people, so i think that disrespecting any country, or any nationality, or any race or belief is plainly wrong.

I have the same feeling when i hear the same generalisations about ANY group of people, including TVF members.

Sometimes i don't understand some people, does it mean they are bad ? No, it just means that i don't understand them.

 

[Damrongsak]

1 hour ago, bwpage3 said:

Congratulations! You deserve a round of applause for 40 years!

Actually, she deserves a round of applause for putting up with me for 40 years. I have family, friends and witnesses who will attest to that, damn them all!

 

 

[transam]

14 hours ago, blackhorse said:

Depends. I live lower Sukhumvit and only socialize with my own people. I live exactly like I did in the West except its warmer and the ladies are always available and thais working in resteraunts /bars speak English

The problems start when a londoner chases a skirt into the jungle then tries to fit in with the locals. I ignore the my life is amazing living on a farm posts..

But then again I would ignore what you "like" where you are, you really are making assumptions via your own thoughts about others lives..

[theonetrueaussie]

I don't think it is so much disrespecting Thailand or slurring the people but more do they really expect us to believe that....Like saying there is absolutely no signs of prostitution in Pattaya main walking street ????

Edited October 8, 2018 by theonetrueaussie

[ReMarKable]

It would be easier to write positive things if there were positive stories in the Nation.  Mostly articles are recounting killings, graft, and other negative news. I could easily write something positive if the nation did, but when you mostly have negative news written by Thais, it is difficult to spin it into a positive.  I am tired of vans killing tourists, scams and pollution news, but that is what the Thais write and what we have to respond to.

[mauGR1]

2 minutes ago, ReMarKable said:

It would be easier to write positive things if there were positive stories in the Nation.  Mostly articles are recounting killings, graft, and other negative news. I could easily write something positive if the nation did, but when you mostly have negative news written by Thais, it is difficult to spin it into a positive.  I am tired of vans killing tourists, scams and pollution news, but that is what the Thais write and what we have to respond to.

When i look at the headlines on Western news, i instinctively click on the football ????

[1FinickyOne]

i would guess that if posters had to state thai language levels,  income level as well as drinking habits and where they live in Thailand, you would see some quite clear demarcation lines being drawn. 

[cardinalblue]

I will give one positive remarks when it is earned...

 

i will criticize usa Australia UK and yes Thailand....

 

and if my neighbor’s dog shits in the walking path around the lake, and she makes no effort to clean it up....

 

tell me again as guest here, why we don’t have the right to say something?

[Capt Rob]

17 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

There's a big difference between people who are negative toward all Thais as a people vs. being negative about many of the things here that any thinking person should be negative about, and those who are responsible for those maladies.

 

I'm not negative toward all Thais, nor do I spend my days/hours bitching about everything here on TVF. However, at the same time, just because I'm living in a different country from my home country doesn't mean I'm going to lose or surrender my values of what is right and what is wrong.

 

When it comes to Thailand, it's simply and flatly wrong that:

--the country has regressed from its path toward representative government and democracy.

--that the country has one of the highest road fatality rates in the world, and the authorities don't care.

--that the authorities allow the country's environment to be fouled and degraded in so many ways and do little to nothing to stop it.

--that a lot of the food in the country is grown or processed with harmful chemicals and pesticides that are banned elsewhere in the world.

--that the justice system often reaches absurd results, handing out extremely harsh penalties in some minor cases and yet murderers and other violent criminals often get off with lighter punishments.

--that there's a tremendous and probably growing income inequality here with the richest getting richer and the average Thai treading water or regressing financially.

Etc etc etc...

 

I don't spend my days dwelling or posting constantly on those things. But it would be kind of hard for any thinking person to ignore or not see them, and recognize that are all things that ultimately are bad and harmful for this country and everyone in it, Thais or others.

 

On Balance a good post.

Still the underlying reality is that as with most of Asia, there is no real commitment to change - in effecting change the whole system would face upheaval and especially in the upper ranks.

Still as previous posters have pointed out one needs to accept the positives as we as individuals define them.

 

[Wake Up]

18 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

I think considering that you have gone to all the effort to grab this photo on-line and post it on this thread that this in-fact typifies the real you and how you really feel about your life, bored, fed up and discontented. As they say, a picture can explain a thousand words.

 

I believe the majority of the negative posters, moan and complain a lot because they want to stay in Thailand being losers in their own countries but are struggling to stay here, being financial or simply have mental and emotional issues, so they blame the country trying not to see the reality, or in other words, it`s not me, it`s all the others. Bet these people don`t have close family relationships or any friends either and it`s obvious why.  

Why personally attack this guy who simply posted a photo? I think the photo shows the dissociation of human life due to computers?  Other people will look at the photo and interpret it differently.

 

Why attack people who don’t have close family relationships and friends? Some of us have experienced extreme amounts of death of family and friends.

 

I think you went overboard attacking the photo poster and others. That is similar to those that go overboard attacking Thailand and Thai people. So the question is why are we attacking Thailand, Thais and others posters on TFV and why do some do it daily?

Edited October 8, 2018 by Wake Up