Strangers talking on baht buses in these "interesting" times

[Jingthing]

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.

Funny that you mention that. I didn't notice any Iranians or generic middle easterners on that ride but if their had been it could have sparked something. The "trump" fanatic was no diplomat. It was like he was calling all Iranians terrorists.

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[Skallywag]

I have gotten off the songthaew when a group of highly pungent "Brut" wearing Indians get on and all start screaming.  I swear they scream even when their friend is sitting next to them.  And they never stop,  I mean never stop talking.   And their cheap cologne is overpowering.

 

So my story is about "not" talking to strangers, but getting off the baht bus 555

 

Mai pen rai

[sunnyboy2018]

On 5/20/2019 at 11:20 AM, 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.

There are also pleasant, informative people. You dont have to be scared.

[Jingthing]

I have gotten off the songthaew when a group of highly pungent "Brut" wearing Indians get on and all start screaming.  I swear they scream even when their friend is sitting next to them.  And they never stop,  I mean never stop talking.   And their cheap cologne is overpowering.
 
So my story is about "not" talking to strangers, but getting off the baht bus 555
 
Mai pen rai

It doesn't count unless you can understand the conversation and tell us about what was said.

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[sunnyboy2018]

On 11/9/2018 at 1:14 AM, champers said:

Didn't your mother tell you to never speak to strsngers?

That warning is for children not adults.

[Jingthing]

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.

Well again when strangers do engage on the baht buses more often than not and usually early on identifying nationality comes up.

 

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[champers]

43 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

That warning is for children not adults.

Took you a while to reach that opinion. There's slow and then....

[sunnyboy2018]

On 5/30/2019 at 6:56 AM, Jingthing said:

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.

I was on a baht bus when I heard a guy talking about an Arab country I had worked in so I started talking to him when it transpired we had both lived in the same province, then we realised we had both worked for the same company, then we discovered we both worked in the same department in the same office. However, he had retired the week before i joined the company so we had never met.

[scorecard]

On 6/23/2019 at 5:32 PM, 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.

 

Really... seems to me that many Americans love the idea of a war regardless of with whom. I recently withdrew from another webboard because of the many many regular daily questions / comments from Americans about why trump doesn't immediately start bombing China etc., etc. 

 

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, scorecard said:

 

Really... seems to me that many Americans love the idea of a war regardless of with whom. I recently withdrew from another webboard because of the many many regular daily questions / comments from Americans about why trump doesn't immediately start bombing China etc., etc. 

 

Americans wanting to bomb China at this point are very rare. You got a weird bunch there. Iran is a different story. 

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Americans wanting to bomb China at this point are very rare. You got a weird bunch there. Iran is a different story. 

By the way where are you located nowadays, Pattaya, Bogota, Medellin???

[Jingthing]

1 minute ago, scorecard said:

By the way where are you located nowadays, Pattaya, Bogota, Medellin???

Jomtien, darling. 

[DrTuner]

35 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Really... seems to me that many Americans love the idea of a war regardless of with whom.

Been like that as long as I can remember. The military spending has to be justified some way, soldiers need jobs to do, tanks need stuff to shoot at, all that jazz.

[Jingthing]

Baht bus conversations. 

[Ulysses G.]

I'm pretty sure I was on a baht bus with Jingthing one time, but I will never know for sure

 

[55Jay]

Give them a confused look and say, "No hablo Ingles". 

[Songkran18]

As an American, I travel 9600 miles to take a break from these type of conversations. It's something not worthy of engagement.  I try my best not to be the " Ugly American" when I travel. These opportunities are less so on a baht bus, compared to a traveler that shares van transportation and an hour or two of shared space. But it's  a circumstance too busy to talk about world affairs, as we unite and bitch about the driver's tactics, hold on and protest.  

 

Talking world affairs in Thailand is at another level. Most of Thailand is within a 3000 mi. radius of 50% of Earth's population. Thai people perhaps don't dwell on that, but when I traveled to Thailand for the first time, Main St. USA didn't mean a thing to me. Visiting the "dark side" of the globe was an illumination. It's why affairs in India should be of high importance.

 

Why argue about health systems, while your host country is perhaps a better option than back home ?  

 

I'm sure conversations in Pattaya's (s)ex-pat bar scene are more contentious and mundane than a quick baht bus ride. This forum is evidence of that. 

[Jingthing]

Colombia based vlogger LIVE on a baht bus talking AT strangers.

 

This might be good more for people that have never been to Pattaya (or ex-residents) to get a feel for our wonderful BAHT BUS EXPERIENCE. (Unless you fall off.)

 

 

[fhickson]

im wary of all free speech discussions here. it always feels loaded like i need to watch what i say or 

On 11/9/2018 at 7:54 AM, Jingthing said:

I'm easily amused, but thanks for asking.

Generally I avoid these conversations. 

Avert eye contact. Stare into mobile. Repeat.

 

But sometimes I'm tempted to pipe in.

Like the other night when an aggressive old American man spouting xenophobic ideology was talking to a Swedish couple in pigeon English as if he was talking to a non-English speaking child. I really felt like saying -- Dude, they're Swedish. They speak English much better than you and you sound like a moron. Have some dignity and speak in proper sentences, you old fool!

 

But I shut up. 

whats up with that stupid childish pigeon talk? esp when its a dude talkjng to a thai gf.

 

i started talking to everyone in slang american english over here just so they can learn the language properly.

[fhickson]

i steer clear of political discussion regarding usa on foreign soil.

 

its just too uncomfortable, esp in places where wars have raged and exo are still blowing peoples legs off.

 

fortunately, the natives in sea have a great trait of separating the deeds of a government from those of its citizens. probably learned from years living under the commies.