For better or worse? Expats think Thailand is going down the pan, poll

[HalfLight]

15 minutes ago, HuskerDo said:

Some Chinese, some British, some American, some Canadian, some Swedish, some Aussie...….

Jesus. Really?

 

Bloody hell...

 

Swedish? Bloody Hell...

 

 

[DrTuner]

9 minutes ago, Rod the Sod said:

1. Asia is growing and alive whilst Europe is dying on its feet and the US, well, work it out yourself. By the time they have no state workers and are all walled in (having made enemies with every country in the world including their allies) the US is less attractive - sorry US TVers ????

And they are making sure all of that growth goes to the 0.1% of the local oligarchs, not even scraps to expats. So it's actually a negative.

[marcusarelus]

28 minutes ago, JackGats said:

But before a doctor makes house calls, surely you need to barfine him/her from the hospital. This is Thailand.

The doctor has his own clinic across the street from my house.  I feel this may be important as I get older and need advanced care at home. 

[BritManToo]

18 minutes ago, Rod the Sod said:

Oh come on...broaden that small mind a tad why don't you? Here are ten off the top of my head reasons:

 

 

I didn't bother to copy your list because there was nothing on it that couldn't be done better in another SEA country.

Even cannabis is easier in Cambodia, openly on sale everywhere for $10 a bag.

There were even bars selling joints over the counter, and everyone smoking them in the bar.

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by BritManToo

[Rod the Sod]

2 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

And they are making sure all of that growth goes to the 0.1% of the local oligarchs, not even scraps to expats. So it's actually a negative.

You missed the many many millions of emerging affluent classes in every Asian country.....not sure there are so many in the Old World.

[HalfLight]

10 minutes ago, ramr said:

Tell me something I don't know.  ????  I fully support inebriation in those whose constitutions can take it.

 

Just pointing out that HalfLight knows next to <deleted>-all about me personally, his armchair psychology notwithstanding.

Not exactly armchair psychology friend, though I appreciate the benefits which accrue by saying so, What was that you were saying about attacking the person rather than the message?

 

 

 

[Rod the Sod]

Just now, BritManToo said:

I didn't bother to copy your list because there was nothing on it that couldn't be done better in another SEA country.

What all 10 in any one country in SEA. Let's see....Indonesia - nope. Philippines....again nope. Malaysia perhaps....nope. Singapore and HK...definitely not. Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, China, India, Papua New Guinea, Myanmar..... sorry. Which one(s) were you actually thinking of?

[DrTuner]

3 minutes ago, Rod the Sod said:

You missed the many many millions of emerging affluent classes in every Asian country.....not sure there are so many in the Old World.

Probably because the middle class in the west is already large.

 

You might want to take a look at China's recent developments after Donald turned off the tap though, first ones to get squeezed are the same "burgeoning middle class" members. In Thailand the "emerging middle class" is mostly credit backed, up to the eyeballs. 

 

Never really understood why people use GDP as some indicator of how much $$$ the inhabitants get. When inequality is as bad as it is in Thailand, most get sod all.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, Rod the Sod said:

What all 10 in any one country in SEA. Let's see....Indonesia - nope. Philippines....again nope. Malaysia perhaps....nope. Singapore and HK...definitely not. Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, China, India, Papua New Guinea, Myanmar..... sorry. Which one(s) were you actually thinking of?

I think I had you on ignore in your previous incarnation, so I'll just add you to the list again.

[ramr]

2 minutes ago, HalfLight said:

Not exactly armchair psychology friend, though I appreciate the benefits which accrue by saying so, What was that you were saying about attacking the person rather than the message?

  

 

 

I was attacking your method; it wasn't meant as a personal attack.  Hate the sin, love the sinner, etc.  Certainly different than assuming I as a person love to wallow in misery, hang out with similar types, and get blind drunk as a matter of habit.  Based on...well, as you suggested...boredom?  

 

We might just have to differ on this.  And, anyway, who cares anymore?

[HuskerDo]

1 hour ago, Fex Bluse said:

1. 90 reporting online was plagued with issues until recently. But, sure a VERY MINOR win. 

 

2. Lotus and Tops are better stocked only in some locations. In others, entire sections of imported goods vanished a couple years ago. Some were replaced with horrific quality items from places like Russia. 

 

3. Internet is OK, but the speed within the country is mostly irrelevant as the vast majority of content we want is not in Thailand. The international bandwidth is still horrible. 

 

4. At prices far, far higher than they available in western countries. Excessive prices. 

 

5. The Thailand Netflix database is one of the SMALLEST in the world. Thailand has about 10% of the Netflix content available in the US. 

 

6. Distribution of that wealth has gone almost exclusively to the already wealthy. Recall the recent World Bank reporting on Thailand having the worst wealth gap in the world. 

 

7. OK very minor 

 

8. Also minor

Seems like many want Thailand to have everything they had "back home" just 50% cheaper. People who chose to move there also have the choice to return home or move elsewhere. If people are unhappy then fix it or quit complaining. Thailand is it's own country and they do things their way. You have to accept that fact. You don't have to agree with how they do things but you have to accept it. Who cares about Netflix when there is so much to experience outside of your home. The wealth gap is huge everywhere. Thailand doesn't have any worse issues than other countries.

[HalfLight]

2 minutes ago, ramr said:

I was attacking your method; it wasn't meant as a personal attack.  Hate the sin, love the sinner, etc.  Certainly different than assuming I as a person love to wallow in misery, hang out with similar types, and get blind drunk as a matter of habit.  Based on...well, as you suggested...boredom?  

 

We might just have to differ on this.  And, anyway, who cares anymore?

Not I.

 

I don't think I assumed any of those things, I certainly didn't say them. Are you perhaps... inferring?

 

Anyway, not important. And I don't really care if they are. We are what we have learned to be, you, me, all of us. I'm happy with what I am and what I've done, same as you're happy with what you are and what you've done. Comparing them doesn't achieve anything useful and not doing so brings advantages. Over and out.

[sandrabbit]

6 hours ago, connda said:

If Myanmar ever wakes up and start to promote tourism on their coasts of the Andaman Sea, beach tourism in Thailand is, well, down the pan.  If Myanman could replicate the cost and pristineness of Thailand circa 1980, that would make a lot of tourist and expat feet move due West or Northwest.

no you are wrong because they have the Indian Ocean monsoon rainy season and it's worse than anything on the gulf coast. 

[HalfLight]

8 minutes ago, HuskerDo said:

Seems like many want Thailand to have everything they had "back home" just 50% cheaper. People who chose to move there also have the choice to return home or move elsewhere. If people are unhappy then fix it or quit complaining. Thailand is it's own country and they do things their way. You have to accept that fact. You don't have to agree with how they do things but you have to accept it. Who cares about Netflix when there is so much to experience outside of your home. The wealth gap is huge everywhere. Thailand doesn't have any worse issues than other countries.

 

Sounds fair, although I have way more here than I ever had in UK, except for capital assets I should not have sold the houses and I'll partly blame my first Thai wife for that, as well as for trying to cheat me out of it. The wealth gap is indeed huge everywhere but it's the bottom level which worries me and which partly accounts for the Thai love of money and cheating/stealing. Not all places are equivalent though the raw material (people) starts out that way.

 

Thais must like squalour a lot because there's so much of it in Thailand, and that's down to laziness and incompetence.

Edited January 25, 2019 by HalfLight

[bulldogtwo]

Sorry but I don't live here, anymore that is. But I have been coming to Thailand for the past 38 years at least every other year. 

 

My opinion on this is most definitely the economy. More and more greed with the businesses. Pretty soon the only ones that will be able to afford, at least Bangkok will be the upper middle class and the rich.

One other notable is the amount of violence that I see, read about and hear about. Shocking. Used to be such a peaceful country. What ever happened to Mai Phen Rai?

Too sad

[Fairynuff]

8 hours ago, BritManToo said:

My pals were sinking 10 pints a day, so 800bht in a Thai girly bar Vs 150bht in a Cambodian freelancer bar.

Add on a couple of drinks for the girls on your lap Thailand 300bht Vs Cambodia 30bht.

 

That adds up to a 1,100bht ($40) night out Vs a 180bht ($6) night out which is a big difference.

Such important criteria for choosing where to live

[HalfLight]

8 minutes ago, bulldogtwo said:

Sorry but I don't live here, anymore that is. But I have been coming to Thailand for the past 38 years at least every other year. 

 

My opinion on this is most definitely the economy. More and more greed with the businesses. Pretty soon the only ones that will be able to afford, at least Bangkok will be the upper middle class and the rich.

One other notable is the amount of violence that I see, read about and hear about. Shocking. Used to be such a peaceful country. What ever happened to Mai Phen Rai?

Too sad

I wouldn't worry, the coming floods in BKK will make a huge difference.

 

 

[HalfLight]

11 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

Such important criteria for choosing where to live

Sort of vindicates what I've been saying about the B&P Brigade really. Nothing quite like  few good pints to blank out the desperation and a large erection to transform Mickey Mouse into Superman.

 

Like I said before, anesthesia and a superman cape abet delusions which are addictive. And no erection looks larger than the one seen through the bottom of a beer glass.

 

*shrug*. It's important to a certain category of person. Narcissism helps.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by HalfLight

[Fairynuff]

Correct, Thailand isn’t as cheap as it used to be, where is? Thailand is more polluted than it used to be, name me a country that’s less polluted. Imported products have always been very expensive. Life is harder everywhere. In many ways Thailand is better than it used to be for Thais and for us. In some ways it’s worse. I could say exactly the same about my home country. My cost of living here is still much less than back home but that’s just a part of the reasons I’m here and have no plan to move elsewhere even though I visit most of the neighbouring regularly. 

[348GTS]

7 hours ago, ice4351 said:

I love living here.  It does get frustrating at times, but life is great in general, I love the climate, and at least we don't have Donald Trump here!!!!!

 

What you have "running" the country in Thailand is way worse than anything the delusional left wing media make up about Donald Trump, but hey, please don't let facts get in the way of your Trump Derangement Syndrome.

[Pattaya46]

2 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

5. The Thailand Netflix database is one of the SMALLEST in the world.

Thailand has about 10% of the Netflix content available in the US. 

Crazy how some people are ready to say whatever big lie

to try to legitimate their false opinion... 

FYI the number of movies of Netflix Thailand is about 3/4 of the USA one,

certainly not 1/10, and certainly not one of the SMALLEST in the World!

 

USA: https://www.finder.com/netflix-movies

26 Jan 2019. There are 4049 movies in Netflix library.

 

TH: https://www.finder.com/th/netflix-movies

26 Jan 2019. There are 2942 movies in Netflix library.

[anexpat]

11 hours ago, villagefarang said:

I like living here and it is better than when I first arrived.

I’m glad you feel that way; good for you! I first came in ‘84, for me, now, prices are up (even more than The West) service is down. I live in other S.E. Asian countries, Thailand *generally* beats them in medical. Thailand is greedy. Maybe I just got bored... :)

[348GTS]

3 hours ago, Donaldo said:

I understand where you are coming from, and to a certain degree I could go along. Thailand however is becoming increasingly arrogant and racist in it's attitude. Everybody who is "allowed" to live here should already consider themselves lucky to be allowed this priveledge. We in Europe are being overrun by illegal migrants who think it's their God given right to be entitled and to be welcomed with open arms. Just for the record. Check how many migrants have been allowed in to Thailand in search of refuge. They even wanted to send that Saudi girl back to a certain death sentence. You can try to be as apolegetic as you can, but the fact remains that Thailand is among the most racist societies I have come across. It has it's merits but they are becoming less and less by the day. And the present dictatorship preaching Thainess to distract from everything else is certainly not helping. 

 

What a truly bizarre post. You complain about the state of Europe and then complain that Thailand has measures in place to avoid exactly what is happening in Europe, along with buzzwords like "racist" to support your case, whilst being totally oblivious to the fact that this type of PC attitude was what led to Europe being overrun by illegal "migrants" in the first place. You can't have it both ways mate.

[anexpat]

10 hours ago, puchooay said:

Judging by this thread, I would say that Thailand will be a much better place to live. All the doomers and gloomers will be gone and will be whinging about there lives somewhere else.

So many times I read in Thaivisa about them kicking farangs out. You can say ‘They’re the bad farangs,’ and that *may* be true, but Thailand seems to be getting more and more arrogant to me. I don’t need to wait to be kicked out, I left. If they don’t want farangs here, I have no problem with that. It’s their country.

[ukrules]

11 hours ago, happy chappie said:

My mrs knows we would be off to Vietnam in the blink of an eye if I could sell my property but in this so called booming economy it's going to take 5-10 years for that to happen.3 years ago I sold a house in the uk privately in 10 minutes to the first person I mentioned it to for 4x the price I paid for it.i will be lucky to recover 75% of this one in 8 years from now.

My next door neightbours paid double the going rate for their house about 4 years ago. They're now attempting to sell it for 30% more.

 

It's been on sale for 2 years. They have no idea they were completely ripped off and paid double and I'm not going to tell them as they're morons.

[GinBoy2]

So just musing here. 

 

But it strikes me that Thai's, well the ruling elite at least, want a tourist population, but not necessarily a retired old man population.

 

And at least it seems to be a philosophy that is gaining momentum

 

In that elite Thai society that seems forever destined to rule Thailand, there is without doubt endemic xenophobia.

 

In all honesty I'm now fine with being a 3 month tourist, no visa extension, 90 reporting, money in the bank etc etc. It's their country, they do what they want

 

But contrast that to my wife, now a US permanent resident. Essentially the same rights, freedom, employment privileges as me, indeed she now works for the Feds!

 

That scenario is probably true for any Thai who ends up in the West. 

 

Can't quite visualize that ever happening in Thailand, at least in my lifetime! 

[NotReallyHere]

6 hours ago, DrTuner said:

That's what I'm eyeballing now, https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Australia&amp;country2=Thailand&amp;city1=Brisbane&amp;city2=Pattaya&amp;tracking=getDispatchComparison

 

#7 in Numbeo's quality of life https://www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/rankings_current.jsp , Bangkok is ... #206. I think that's just about right.

Numbeo is nonsense.  Madison Wisconsin the 5th best quality of life? Numbeo loses all credibility. 

[GinBoy2]

22 minutes ago, NotReallyHere said:

Numbeo is nonsense.  Madison Wisconsin the 5th best quality of life? Numbeo loses all credibility. 

I won't defend any of these comparison sites, they tend to all be subjective garbage.

 

That being said, I actually really like Madison WI, not a bad place at all

Edited January 25, 2019 by GinBoy2

[josephbloggs]

So this is news.  The result of a poll amongst the most negative miserable bunch of people in the country shows that most of them expect things in Thailand will get worse.  No shock there.

 

A sample size of 360 old duffers.

 

Seriously any poll on Thaivisa is hardly going to say Thailand is going to be amazing when the majority of posters absolutely hate living here, look down on Thais, and basically hate their lives.

 

Why is this even a news article?  It's quite ridiculous.

[HuskerDo]

32 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

I won't defend any of these comparison sites, they tend to all be subjective garbage.

 

That being said, I actually really like Madison WI, not a bad place at all

Except for the incredibly cold winters and massively high taxes. Other than that I agree, it's not a bad place.