Strangers talking on baht buses in these "interesting" times

[Seth1a2a]

"To compare Pattaya to Bangkok as transport equivalents is ridiculous"

 

I beg to differ, if you read

what I wrote. You would see that I was specifically refering to the baht buses used on the long narrow sois of the On-Nut area in Bangkok .

 

the baht buses in that area not skytrains city buses or mrt trains

 

If you are in the On-Nut

area that I mentioned they are exclusively

Using baht buses , moto taxis and regular taxis.

Buses don't run through those long narrow Sois only on the major Soi On-Nut.

My ex lived in one of the large apartment complexes there 

(Westerners in

that area are paying 5000 to 6000 per month)

. I visited her regularly and would have to walk several miles to get back to normal buses if it was after hours.

Back to Pattaya.... as time went on I walked everywhere including

Jomtien

except to and from the bus terminals on arrival with bag's  .    I learned to map my journeys.

 

Here are a few questions

I should have asked from the start. Are your experiences 

with strangers on baht buses any different than anywhere else you see them?

Are you riding at all times of the day on all routes and hearing the same type conversations.?

This is your thread, I responded because I always noticed that there was a certain class of people who I never saw on baht buses who I did meet or see when I stopped using Pattaya baht buses on a regulat basis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Seth1a2a

[Happystance]

I just steer any conversation towards food. Not many people want to fight about food.

Edited May 15, 2019 by Happystance

[Happystance]

On 11/8/2018 at 5:59 PM, Spidey said:

I'm yet to see a Russian on a baht bus that speaks English.

You've yet to ride a Jomtiem baht bus then

[Patriot1066]

On 5/11/2019 at 1:44 AM, pegman said:

True, most Americans are wearing gear with the Maple Leaf on it.

Why would an American wear the Maple leaf?

[Golden Triangle]

Thank gawd I have my own car, I have never in my life conversed with a total stranger on any form of public transport in any country and have no desire to do so now, far too many looney,s out there.

[pegman]

On May 20, 2019 at 4:27 AM, Patriot1066 said:

Why would an American wear the Maple leaf?

I think it's for a couple different reasons. Some are understandably embarrassed by the behavior of their fellow obnoxious American expats/tourists. Like the one described in the OP. Others are concerned for their safety coming from a war monger nation. This explains it well:

 

https://www.taylorstracks.com/a-letter-to-americans/

[observer90210]

It's not that one is a sociopath or similar...but there are just some of those nasty or antipathic looking people,  with whom one just does not want to chat or socialise, despite not even knowing them.... ok ok I am as bad to say such a nasty thing...

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎11‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 1:53 PM, Spidey said:

I remember meeting a young Russian guy in a club in Samui. He was living and working there. Very switched on and Westernised. I thought he, at least might have something negative to say about Putin. Nope, absolutely loved the guy.

Of course. Putin gives his citizens pride in being Russian.

Seems Americans are too busy hating Trump to take pride in their own country. Remember that a country divided against itself will fail, and America is pretty broken right now. Americans can either grow up and get behind the president, or see their country fail. At least they can elect someone else next year, something Russians probably can't do easily. 

Edited May 29, 2019 by thaibeachlovers

[sunnyboy2018]

People ask me about Brexit.  I laugh.  Russians seem ro love Putin.

I think Trump is an interesting president in an age of divisionary extremist identity politics. 

[sunnyboy2018]

On 5/20/2019 at 5:20 PM, Golden Triangle said:

Thank gawd I have my own car, I have never in my life conversed with a total stranger on any form of public transport in any country and have no desire to do so now, far too many looney,s out there.

living in a self created bubble of irrational fear.

[sunnyboy2018]

On 5/12/2019 at 12:55 AM, DingDongLing said:

Is there ettiquite on the bus?  I talk to many people/. 

yes its cool.

[Rimmer]

A post in some weird dialect has been removed also a reply

[sunnyboy2018]

19 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

A post in some weird dialect has been removed also a reply

It was Bogan Australian i believe. Just wait till people start writing in mandep/roadman English or speaking it in thailand! 

[Jingthing]

I can now report two of my own funny encounters.

 

First was with a very nice young South Korean man who lives in Pattaya. He was with a Thai bar girl type on the way to walking street. The encounter started with hostility as he was smoking a ciggie and I gave him a dirty look and the Thai girl noticed and told him and then he apologetically put it out. Most times dirty looks don't help. I was feeling a little bad for giving the dirty look considering how well he reacted so then we started talking.

 

We asked each other's nationalities and then it became political. He is a "trump" fan. I asked him why. He's a South Korean hawk and he sees "trump" as very strong on defense towards North Korea. He's very afraid of unification which the more liberal South Koreans are for. My impression is that most younger South Koreans are more liberal though. 

 

So I asked him why he thinks "trump" is so strong on defense of South Korea. He couldn't answer. I mentioned that "trump" had cancelled military exercises with South Korea (which he calls "war games") and that he had basically made such concessions without getting anything in return. He was not aware of that and couldn't refute it.

 

He then very touchingly said that South Korea "needs" the USA. I found that a little awkward. I am hardly a diplomat yet I appreciate the long standing alliance between the two nations.

 

Seemed like a decent enough guy and it was nice to have a basically calm political discussion even though it didn't go very deep, something almost impossible between conflicting Americans these days. Cute too.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

Second funny encounter. 

Two Indian men that looked close enough in age but it turned out to be an uncle aged 40 with his nephew aged 23.

We got talking after I gave them some information about where the baht bus was going and whether it was going to turn or not.

So it turns out they are from Delhi and the older guy is in business and the younger man is clearly in the process of still finding himself.

So they find out I am from the USA and living here and it seems to deeply bother them in that both of them would very much like to move to the USA and live the American dream and yet here I was, legal to live there, and not doing so.

I have had similar interactions with other Indians.

Saying things like it's the greatest country.

Odd to feel that way about a place you've never been. 

So the younger one clearly can't get a visa to the USA but says he can get a visa to Canada. I assumed maybe he had finished uni but then I asked him what work field he will be in and he said his plans were to drive truck in Vancouver, Canada.

I told him some basic things about Vancouver that he didn't seem to know such as that the rents are very expensive and that it is heavily Chinese.

Maybe this visa is a fantasy, who knows.

So I kind of confronted them a little bit, so you want to move to the USA for the money, right?

They agreed.

It had nothing to do with any other values, good or bad, that the USA might represent these days or in the past.

The young man revealed (as he has basically settled with his second choice Canada) that he had a master plan and was sure of success. Meet a Canadian girl and marry her and then become a citizen. He said he had friends and relatives that had done exactly the same thing.

I wished him good luck.

More than once they questioned me on whether I was "really" an American. They couldn't seem to process my story. They may have thought I had been an immigrant there, perhaps Latino. 

[DrTuner]

This is starting to sound like a beginning of a book. Entertaining, keep it up.

[Happystance]

On 5/20/2019 at 3:27 AM, Patriot1066 said:

Why would an American wear the Maple leaf?

So you do not understand that Canadians are also Americans? They live in North America. Argentinians are also Americans, they live in South America.

Get it yet?

 

Let me guess: you are from the USA, so you think the world revolves around you. Either you haven't travelled much, or you don't interact much with others when you do, is my guess based on your words.

 

Everybody likes Canadians.

Does everybody like those from the USA? Not so much. The response is radically different, in fact, depending upon which country you say you are from.

 

I happen to be from both countries, but long ago I started wearing only the maple leaf, to avoid unpleasant political conversations, arguments, accusations, and worse.

 

Try it. You'll be amazed.

 

[Jingthing]

Strangers talking on the baht buses WAR alert.

While strongly discouraging a political debate on THIS thread (the thread is about encounters on baht buses, that is the topic) it's hard to not notice that the USA and Iran may be on the brink of war.

We have Americans and Iranians in Pattaya, tourists and residents. 

While of course people of these nationalies have divergent political views (over things like whether they support their OWN governments, much less a war), potential tension on baht buses may be magnified during crisis times such as these.

So I'm posting this as something to be aware of, something to watch out for. 

Edited June 21, 2019 by Jingthing

[Jingthing]

OK, dodged a bullet on that one, for now.

But I'd still like to hear people's responses on the proper etiquette on a baht bus when nationals encounter each other and realize that they are warring nationals and/or on the brink of warring nationals.

My opinion is that when you realize you're in that kind of situation the wisest thing is to make an effort to AVOID a conversation at all. If you are nudged into a conversation, then what? Are you supposed to act like your nations are not in conflict? It seems to me the absolutely worst thing would be to try to have a political discussion. You have no idea where they're coming from politically and vice versa about you.

I have had such tensions talking to Russians who have pretty much told me that as far as they're concerned my country is their enemy (sometimes graphically shown by them raising their fists and hitting themselves with both fists) but there hasn't been any explicit armed conflict between those two parties recently. So I wouldn't think it's necessary to avoid speaking to Russians. But the USA - Iran thing is already much hotter.

[sfokevin]

On 5/20/2019 at 4:27 PM, Patriot1066 said:

Why would an American wear the Maple leaf?

It’s a convenient way to show you are unarmed and have health insurance... 

Edited June 23, 2019 by sfokevin

[sanemax]

13 hours ago, Jingthing said:

OK, dodged a bullet on that one, for now.

But I'd still like to hear people's responses on the proper etiquette on a baht bus when nationals encounter each other and realize that they are warring nationals and/or on the brink of warring nationals.

My opinion is that when you realize you're in that kind of situation the wisest thing is to make an effort to AVOID a conversation at all. If you are nudged into a conversation, then what? Are you supposed to act like your nations are not in conflict? It seems to me the absolutely worst thing would be to try to have a political discussion. You have no idea where they're coming from politically and vice versa about you.

I have had such tensions talking to Russians who have pretty much told me that as far as they're concerned my country is their enemy (sometimes graphically shown by them raising their fists and hitting themselves with both fists) but there hasn't been any explicit armed conflict between those two parties recently. So I wouldn't think it's necessary to avoid speaking to Russians. But the USA - Iran thing is already much hotter.

Your Countries are at war , you are not personally at war with anyone .

Let Donald and Putin have a quarrel  , you and Sergei can be friends 

[Jingthing]

5 hours ago, sanemax said:

Your Countries are at war , you are not personally at war with anyone .

Let Donald and Putin have a quarrel  , you and Sergei can be friends 

Well I don't think the USA and Russia are at war at this point.

The USA and Iran though seem very close though to actually being at war.

The question here is what to do or not do if encountering nationals that your country is actually AT ACTIVE WAR with on a baht bus.

You are talking in platitudes but if you are following this topic, I'm talking about the situation specifically on BAHT BUSES.

These are a specific social environment of total strangers being put together often packed in like sardines in an enclosed space.

Often people are already grumpy being there with no additional triggers.

Again, there is no way you can really know the political feelings of a stranger in such a situation (unless you overhear a conversation that you can understand) and the risks are higher if there is a conflict on the buses because of the nature of that enclosed space.

 

Edited June 24, 2019 by Jingthing

[sanemax]

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Well I don't think the USA and Russia are at war at this point.

The USA and Iran seems very close though to actually being at war.

The question here is what to do or not do if encountering nationals that your country is actually AT ACTIVE WAR with on a baht bus.

You are talking in platitudes but if you are following this topic, I'm talking about the situation specifically on BAHT BUSES.

These are a specific social environment of total strangers being put together often packed in like sardines in an enclosed space.

Again, there is no way you can know the political feelings of a stranger in such a situation and the risks are higher if there is a conflict because of the nature of that enclosed space.

 

Yes, I do know that Russia and the USA are not at war , my point was that citizens of a Country should not be concerned about citizens of other Countries, just because both their Countries are hostile to each other .

   I cannot fathom why anyone would want to talk to anyone else on a baht bus  , you are there to get to somewhere , you arent there to make friends 

[scorecard]

On 11/9/2018 at 10:44 AM, Spidey said:

Most Thais think that America is part of Australia, or vice-versa.

No, no Australia is part of Austria, different part of the world.

 

Then again some Americans think that Taiwan and Thailand are the same country. Must be, they're both Chinese aren't they?

 

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Yes, I do know that Russia and the USA are not at war , my point was that citizens of a Country should not be concerned about citizens of other Countries, just because both their Countries are hostile to each other .

   I cannot fathom why anyone would want to talk to anyone else on a baht bus  , you are there to get to somewhere , you arent there to make friends 

Yes I agree with your sentiment that people should see other people as people regardless of nationality, but in the real world not everyone feels that way. 

As far as strangers talking on baht buses, it does happen sometimes whether you want it to or not. Also when it does happen it's not generally about making friends (although there is some cruising for sex partners going on) but more like some people are looking for entertainment value and like to mix it up. Some people are very aggressive about that and identifying the other person's NATIONALITY is usually the very first question. 

[TaaSaparot]

On 6/21/2019 at 6:26 AM, Jingthing said:

Strangers talking on the baht buses WAR alert.

While strongly discouraging a political debate on THIS thread (the thread is about encounters on baht buses, that is the topic) it's hard to not notice that the USA and Iran may be on the brink of war.

We have Americans and Iranians in Pattaya, tourists and residents. 

While of course people of these nationalies have divergent political views (over things like whether they support their OWN governments, much less a war), potential tension on baht buses may be magnified during crisis times such as these.

So I'm posting this as something to be aware of, something to watch out for. 

I guess you were not in Pattaya during the Gulf War then?

[Jingthing]

I guess you were not in Pattaya during the Gulf War then?

You guess correctly. So what's your point then?

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Jingthing]

Baht bus "debates" heating up bigly!

 

Observed on a crowded baht bus (mostly Russians onboard other than the players).

 

American talking to a German --

 

So you're having a problem with refugees. In the USA we have Mexicans.

 

German replying --

I like "trump". He's a strong leader.

 

American --

Yes of course. "trump" is very strong. I'm American but I've got German blood. (Then he says his Germanic last name as evidence.)

 

Unlike Obama who gave billions of dollars in cash to the Iranians.

 

Another American -- Hey, that's not true. He didn't give them money. It was their money that had been frozen.

 

Original American -- Iranians are our enemy. Iranians are terrorists.

 

(At one point the "trump" American starting talking about the problem of gypsies in Germany. Hmmm.) 

 

(Russians onboard. This is getting interesting)

 

Yet another American. He's a "trump" supporter. No point in talking to them.

 

Then some full blown predictable back and forth yelling --

 

You're a "trump" hater!

 

You've got TDS!

 

You're brainwashed!

 

Then silence. 

 

Let's hear more of these reports out there, OK?

Edited October 1, 2019 by Jingthing

[NanLaew]

On 6/24/2019 at 1:22 PM, Jingthing said:

Some people are very aggressive about that and identifying the other person's NATIONALITY is usually the very first question.

Only time I was aggressively asked my nationality straight off the bat was by my newly assigned Baluchi driver while working in Pakistan.

 

It was more like, "You American?!" at which point I demurred, quietly declined that day's field trip (despite the 3 armed cops riding shotgun), went to the Contractor's office and suggested I could wait until my regular, friendly old Pashto driver got back from the dentist.

Edited October 1, 2019 by NanLaew

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Baht bus "debates" heating up bigly!

 

Observed on a crowded baht bus (mostly Russians onboard other than the players).

 

American talking to a German --

 

So you're having a problem with refugees. In the USA we have Mexicans.

 

German replying --

I like "trump". He's a strong leader.

 

American --

Yes of course. "trump" is very strong. I'm American but I've got German blood. (Then he says his Germanic last name as evidence.)

 

Unlike Obama who gave billions of dollars in cash to the Iranians.

 

Another American -- Hey, that's not true. He didn't give them money. It was their money that had been frozen.

 

Original American -- Iranians are our enemy. Iranians are terrorists.

 

(At one point the "trump" American starting talking about the problem of gypsies in Germany. Hmmm.) 

 

(Russians onboard. This is getting interesting)

 

Yet another American. He's a "trump" supporter. No point in talking to them.

 

Then some full blown predictable back and forth yelling --

 

You're a "trump" hater!

 

You've got TDS!

 

You're brainwashed!

 

Then silence. 

 

Let's hear more of these reports out there, OK?

Loving it. Should have an Iranian in the mix too. Security shouldn't be a problem if they get too rowdy, the driver will just hop out with his machete. United Nations of Baht Bus.

Edited October 1, 2019 by DrTuner