The Thailand of today.

[swissie]

16 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I live and work here since 20 years and I can't confirm such element.

I insist: A deeply rooted Patriotism is Omni-present.

Polls regularily show overwhelmingly that Thai's find Thailand "a great country". Never found a population that sings the National-Anthem with more conviction.
Make the test: Say something "bad" about Thailand. No, they will not yell at you, but the following is likely to happen: The conversation will freeze instanly. Their facial expression changes immediately, 2 ice-cold eyes looking back at you.

Most long-term Farangs have developped a set of invisable antennas, indicating to them at an early stage when they are about to violate "Thai-National-Pride".

To be sure: This invisible Antenna is best mounted on a Farangs forehead. Studies have shown, that if this invisible Antenna is tucked away in a Farangs underwear, the sensitivity of said Antenna is greatly reduced.

[OneMoreFarang]

5 hours ago, swissie said:

I insist: A deeply rooted Patriotism is Omni-present.

Polls regularily show overwhelmingly that Thai's find Thailand "a great country". Never found a population that sings the National-Anthem with more conviction.
Make the test: Say something "bad" about Thailand. No, they will not yell at you, but the following is likely to happen: The conversation will freeze instanly. Their facial expression changes immediately, 2 ice-cold eyes looking back at you.

Most long-term Farangs have developped a set of invisable antennas, indicating to them at an early stage when they are about to violate "Thai-National-Pride".

To be sure: This invisible Antenna is best mounted on a Farangs forehead. Studies have shown, that if this invisible Antenna is tucked away in a Farangs underwear, the sensitivity of said Antenna is greatly reduced.

Is this supposed to be funny?

Many people are proud of their country - anywhere in this world.

And if an outsider criticizes their country why does it surprise you that they don't like that? You don't need any antenna for that, a little bit of common sense is enough.

[CH1961]

On 10/19/2019 at 8:49 PM, swissie said:

leave behind 50% of his immovable assets

Why are the assets immovable? 

[KhunBENQ]

On 10/20/2019 at 8:34 AM, Samui Bodoh said:

Respectfully, this is flat out, completely, utterly, 100% incorrect.

100.00

A country where rag and bone man pushes his cart for many miles through the scorching sun to the junkyard. Seeing this yesterday reminded me of how big the wealth gap is.

 

It's one of the worst in the world and that was in the headlines recently.

 

The biggest junk of the countries economy is divided between a handful of (Dollar) billionaire families killing competition, keeping prices high, extorting the masses.

 

Many neighbors are making brooms for maybe 200 Baht a day if no work on the fields.

Others have their dinner for two at Lebusa for 10000 Baht while their Bentley is in the VIP garage, driver waiting at the "drivers lounge" having a smoke.

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2019 by KhunBENQ

[Anythingleft?]

Thailand is basically becoming, or has already become, the place that I wanted to leave behind

I enjoyed the slower life and the more care free attitude to almost everything

Seems nothing stays the same for better or worse...........

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[Dumbastheycome]

On 10/20/2019 at 8:48 AM, villagefarang said:

My wife and I are treated pretty much the same by our Thai friends, except that she is prettier and younger than I am.  I am welcome and encouraged to join in conversations or activities.  I speak polite Thai and I don’t encounter any animosity from the people in my life.  The only thing which seems to fluster them is finding out I am much older than they think I am at first.

 

Sure things have changed since the mid-70s but even back then the purveyors of doom were hard at work predicting the demise of Thailand and lamenting the loss of the good old days.  I have watched as people have come and gone over the years, and yes some are magnets for misfortune but I somehow doubt they could be protected from themselves.

 

We age, circumstances change, and we adapt, at least that is the way I look at it.  I prefer to focus on my own ability to adapt than some fantasy that the world is going to change just to make me happier.  I have always found it pretty easy to navigate the ins and outs of life in Thailand but I get that not everyone finds life here as easy as I do.  The choice seems pretty simple to me...you either adapt or move.

Yes !

[swissie]

13 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Is this supposed to be funny?

Many people are proud of their country - anywhere in this world.

And if an outsider criticizes their country why does it surprise you that they don't like that? You don't need any antenna for that, a little bit of common sense is enough.

Well, You mentioned not having noticed any patriotic element, not me.

[swissie]

3 hours ago, CH1961 said:

Why are the assets immovable? 

Hard to pack an unsellable 10 room mansion into a suitcase.

[MadMuhammad]

Or people could just not take themselves so seriously and drop the entitled attitudes and superiority complex IDK

[thaibeachlovers]

14 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

100.00

A country where rag and bone man pushes his cart for many miles through the scorching sun to the junkyard. Seeing this yesterday reminded me of how big the wealth gap is.

 

It's one of the worst in the world and that was in the headlines recently.

 

The biggest junk of the countries economy is divided between a handful of (Dollar) billionaire families killing competition, keeping prices high, extorting the masses.

 

Many neighbors are making brooms for maybe 200 Baht a day if no work on the fields.

Others have their dinner for two at Lebusa for 10000 Baht while their Bentley is in the VIP garage, driver waiting at the "drivers lounge" having a smoke.

 

 

 

Always been so, always will be so.

Ask yourself how many Chinese are ripped off so China can have so many ultra rich?

The French killed many of their ultra rich. Are the poor any better off today?

A I/ robotics has the possibility of making everyone well off, but will the ultra rich own them and get even richer while the poor stay poor- no need to answer. We know who is going to benefit.

[elgenon]

I remember that batteries were hard to find, so I made sure to bring enough. Ah, the good old days.

 

I remember here at the beach in SoCal in the 70's it was kids living at the beach. No one had much, so few doors closed or locked. Now it's rich people who come home and lock her up.

[thaibeachlovers]

12 hours ago, Anythingleft? said:

Thailand is basically becoming, or has already become, the place that I wanted to leave behind

I enjoyed the slower life and the more care free attitude to almost everything

Seems nothing stays the same for better or worse...........

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

Soooo, what's different to back in the day?

The girls are slowly becoming westernised, PC is infiltrating slowly ( but not slowly enough )

Women are becoming way fatter. Used to be only rich women, IMO, were fat, but now it's all demographics. Also the ratio of frankly unattractive women is increasing. Now the number of unattractive fat girls in gogos is astounding, and never seen last century.

Music played in gogos is horrible now, unlike back when they played proper rock and roll.

The smile has departed and sanuk is following.

The infrastructure is decaying.

Nothing seems to get better. On the contrary, legally living in LOS is becoming outright difficult.

Everything except basic food is becoming too pricey too fast.

 

I'd like to believe that things will get better, but I doubt it.

[baansgr]

On 10/20/2019 at 2:48 AM, Isaanbiker said:

You don't have to go back 40 years.

 

Thailand was different 20 years ago, and foreigners were usually welcome, teaching positions were readily available all over the country.

 

Everything was cheap, and people were much friendlier than they are now.

 

    Seventeen years ago, my ex-neighbor, a now-retired female teacher who calls me her younger brother, was glad to see foreigners and have a chat with them. 

 

 But that's over now for various reasons. Foreigners have done too many criminal activities and did a huge damage to the picture Thais have of us. 

 

Some foreigners bet the shi_e out of their wives, more and more foreigners got arrested with drugs, some of them were even dealing bigger amounts of drugs, or got caught smuggling them.  

 

But that has changed. She doesn't want to make new foreign friends these days.

 

Too many things have happened where foreigners were involved in all sorts of suspicious activities, and that changed her mind.

 

Foreign pedophiles were too often topic in Thai news, thieves and killers, pretty much all crimes you can think of where foreigners were involved. 

 

 Working at a school was pure fun. Thai colleagues were way more open-minded and happy to work with somebody so different.

 

Before Thaksin's war on drugs, you could buy 24/7 companionship for 500 baht, plus a little bar fine. 

 

 But then more and more, unfortunately, many criminals came to Thailand in all shapes and sizes and committing so many crimes that the word Farang rapidly changed into something very negative. 

 

From pedophiles to bank robbers, bag snatchers, more and more beggars received enough cash to continue their holiday in SEA, but then there were guys like the big legged German who later made fun of the "stupid Thais" who's spending the cash on girls and booze and posted photos of it on Facebook. 

 

 There's the one-legged guy who had Aids and slept with countless women without telling them what he had. I don't know if it's true, he denied a test, but that's what all the locals believed. 

 

After a short period, he got deported, just to be back after only two weeks.

 

 It's true that a lot of foreigners had (have) motorbike accidents and couldn't (can't) pay for their hospital bills.

 

You can hardly blame the rental shops for it if they don't check if the foreigners have a license. It's their income to rent out bikes, you can hardly blame them when a drunk foreigner's crashing. 

 

Thais are used to drive without one.

 

 Then there were countless drug-related stories about drug dealing foreigners, even some of them in Isaan. Foreigners who killed their wives, burnt down houses, and other weird things.

 

  Too many foreigners called the police and committed insurance fraud, but the cops mostly found the "stolen items" in their hotel rooms or homes. 

 

Way too many foreigners who worked on fake degrees, lies after lies. 

 

 We are a minority in Thailand and would Thais behave like that in any European country we'd also have our opinion about Thais in general. 

 

 Sadly, many of us were planning to live here until we die, but that has obviously changed.

 

Many of us can't afford it to have some good money just sitting on a bank account, and the new insurance policy seems to do the rest.

 

I've never done anything against the law, I pay my annual taxes, raise my family, try to help the extended family and I know some foreigners who are honest guys, living their lives in the same situation. 

 

I've learned the language well enough to have a conversation, but I've also realized that fewer Thais like foreigners.

 

That was different when I settled down here.

 

 And I think I know why immigration regularly changed laws.

 

There's always a reason for it, and in my humble opinion, we can thank these people who messed it up for the rest of us.

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

    

 

  

No riots in the UK until 1981 which was predominantly by second generation  immigrants..... So Its OK I can shun every single foreigner because of that?..... Judging nooks by its cover etc.... Come on

[rickudon]

On 10/20/2019 at 8:08 AM, Skallywag said:

Again, tourism accounts for around 12% of GDP, expats around 0.02% GDP

One of the stupidest comments i have seen. UK expats alone make up about 0.1% of the countries population, so i am sure our expenditure is more than 0.1% of GDP. And that is just one nationality. So for all farang in Thailand, more like 1%. Only out by a factor of fifty (or more). Do you work for TAT?

[andy72]

12% equals 20% and they keep driving for more

 

poor Thais deluded as those in the  west 

that superiority

 

we all come down with a bump in the end

 

especially when we live a life debt ridden to drive our big cars to have our big screen tvs

 

we always look towards a minority to blame

 

and of course it is everyone here on TV that is consuming those thousands of kilos of meth amphetamine and yaba tablets

 

the same yaba perhaps sold at filling stations say 20 years ago

 

and of course out of the 20 million tourists of western countries the few that do commit crime are a minority but good tabloid media

 

and Thailand being such an honest nation with no sex industry would ever attract the wrong type

 

and the Thais that kill farang to empty their bank accounts have only themselves to blame because if they were not here the crime would not exist.

 

and there are currently no Thais in jail for killing their wives 

getting drunk and shooting the place up 

 

and all the road deaths are the fault of the tourists 

coz were drinking San Song

SanSong Sansong

and were getting ting tong 

ting tong ting tong

you know the lyrics sing along

 

Hon Thong hon thong .......

 

lets make america great ???? again?

 

 

[Nyezhov]

On 10/22/2019 at 7:54 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

Many people are proud of their country - anywhere in this world.

I think Thai patriotism is wonderful. I think they got a great country. It isnt the US, but then 99% of the world isnt. So Thailand is OK and they are lucky to live here, there are far worse places, like International Falls or Aberdeen in the winter or Detroit anythime

[thaibeachlovers]

12 hours ago, rickudon said:

One of the stupidest comments i have seen. UK expats alone make up about 0.1% of the countries population, so i am sure our expenditure is more than 0.1% of GDP. And that is just one nationality. So for all farang in Thailand, more like 1%. Only out by a factor of fifty (or more). Do you work for TAT?

Sure about that?

I can't be <deleted> working out what 0.1% equates to in numbers out of 70 million, but a load of old guys living in cheap rooms in back sois of Pattaya, spending their days looking at the cars going by isn't contributing much GDP.

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

I think Thai patriotism is wonderful. I think they got a great country. It isnt the US, but then 99% of the world isnt. So Thailand is OK and they are lucky to live here, there are far worse places, like International Falls or Aberdeen in the winter or Detroit anythime

Even luckier they haven't allowed a load of rich foreigners buy land and push the cost of buying any beyond the reach of ordinary Thais, as has happened in western countries. 

[rickudon]

16 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Sure about that?

I can't be <deleted> working out what 0.1% equates to in numbers out of 70 million, but a load of old guys living in cheap rooms in back sois of Pattaya, spending their days looking at the cars going by isn't contributing much GDP.

UK expats make up about 70,000 people (good and up to date info hard to get). There are about 69 million Thais. So easy to see one in a thousand people in Thailand would be British. Some working, some not.

You may live in a room on a back soi in Pattaya, but many live in houses, run cars, support families......

 

I did once calculate that in Udon Thani expats account for about 3% of GDP in the province.

[thaibeachlovers]

7 hours ago, rickudon said:

UK expats make up about 70,000 people (good and up to date info hard to get). There are about 69 million Thais. So easy to see one in a thousand people in Thailand would be British. Some working, some not.

You may live in a room on a back soi in Pattaya, but many live in houses, run cars, support families......

 

I did once calculate that in Udon Thani expats account for about 3% of GDP in the province.

I didn't live in a room in a back soi in Pattaya, I lived with my wife in a room in a front soi in Pattaya, then we went to live in the family house. 

I didn't buy a car, though I did drive hers ( and fill the tank on trips to the village ), the only things I bought were one off items like fans, stoves and fridges, fish tanks, hamsters etc. 

Though some farangs in the rural areas like to boast how wealthy they are by building mansions amongst the hovels, not all do. Not all farangs buy expensive cars, not all farangs eat at the Dukes ( or equivalent ).

It's a brave man that tries to put an amount that farangs contribute to the local economy without asking each and every farang.

Actually, I once was one of the believers in the fallacy that farang expats contributed a large amount to the local economy. Then one day in the bank, a local small businessman came in to deposit an extremely large sum of money from the business takings. I don't know how many thousands of baht he deposited, but a lot. I realised at that instant, that compared to him I was a pauper. I no longer believe that farangs contribute much, as a percentage, to the local economy, though some of us think we do.

[rickudon]

15 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I didn't live in a room in a back soi in Pattaya, I lived with my wife in a room in a front soi in Pattaya, then we went to live in the family house. 

I didn't buy a car, though I did drive hers ( and fill the tank on trips to the village ), the only things I bought were one off items like fans, stoves and fridges, fish tanks, hamsters etc. 

Though some farangs in the rural areas like to boast how wealthy they are by building mansions amongst the hovels, not all do. Not all farangs buy expensive cars, not all farangs eat at the Dukes ( or equivalent ).

It's a brave man that tries to put an amount that farangs contribute to the local economy without asking each and every farang.

Actually, I once was one of the believers in the fallacy that farang expats contributed a large amount to the local economy. Then one day in the bank, a local small businessman came in to deposit an extremely large sum of money from the business takings. I don't know how many thousands of baht he deposited, but a lot. I realised at that instant, that compared to him I was a pauper. I no longer believe that farangs contribute much, as a percentage, to the local economy, though some of us think we do.

It is relatively easy to come up with an approximate figure of farang contributions to the local economy if you have some facts. Just need population, GDP per capita, number of farangs (here we are assuming that figures provided by immigration are accurate) and a conservative estimate of expenditure (50,000 baht a month, as a figure between requirement for marriage and retirement extensions). I did this a couple of years ago and came up with a figure of 3%. It does not include those only on visas, so was probably higher. At 50,000 a month, a farang is worth 7.5 Thais in GDP terms

 

As for seeing the money being deposited in the bank by some Thais, well that is inequality at work. Remember many rural Thais hardly ever use the bank, and a 1,000 baht is something they rarely see. 

[rickudon]

15 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I didn't live in a room in a back soi in Pattaya, I lived with my wife in a room in a front soi in Pattaya, then we went to live in the family house. 

I didn't buy a car, though I did drive hers ( and fill the tank on trips to the village ), the only things I bought were one off items like fans, stoves and fridges, fish tanks, hamsters etc. 

Though some farangs in the rural areas like to boast how wealthy they are by building mansions amongst the hovels, not all do. Not all farangs buy expensive cars, not all farangs eat at the Dukes ( or equivalent ).

It's a brave man that tries to put an amount that farangs contribute to the local economy without asking each and every farang.

Actually, I once was one of the believers in the fallacy that farang expats contributed a large amount to the local economy. Then one day in the bank, a local small businessman came in to deposit an extremely large sum of money from the business takings. I don't know how many thousands of baht he deposited, but a lot. I realised at that instant, that compared to him I was a pauper. I no longer believe that farangs contribute much, as a percentage, to the local economy, though some of us think we do.

It is relatively easy to come up with an approximate figure of farang contributions to the local economy if you have some facts. Just need population, GDP per capita, number of farangs (here we are assuming that figures provided by immigration are accurate) and a conservative estimate of expenditure (50,000 baht a month, as a figure between requirement for marriage and retirement extensions). I did this a couple of years ago and came up with a figure of 3%. It does not include those only on visas, so was probably higher. At 50,000 a month, a farang is worth 7.5 Thais in GDP terms

 

As for seeing the money being deposited in the bank by some Thais, well that is inequality at work. Remember many rural Thais hardly ever use the bank, and a 1,000 baht is something they rarely see. 

[DaRoadrunner]

On 10/22/2019 at 9:55 PM, swissie said:

Hard to pack an unsellable 10 room mansion into a suitcase.

I noticed that real estate prices have gone through the roof (pun intended), yet many remain unsold. Does anyone else see a real estate crash coming?

 

Thailand could always be compared to a castle built on sand and the tide will eventually come in.

[DaRoadrunner]

I think the Thai attitude changed as they got greedy. Meanwhile they have a Govt that is self serving… greed again.

 

The thing that gets me down is immigration and the lack of stability and security. If someone is granted a Retirement Visa, that person is making a long term commitment to stay. Yet he has to put up with ever changing regulations and hurdles like TM 30, 90 day reports and likely, upcoming life insurance that he may not even be able to obtain as his age advances. Thanks Thailand for the Retirement Visa that leads to a dead end.

 

Despite the fact that many support Thai families, Thailand has not treated Farangs fairly.

 

I still see it as a third world country, it has just got more expensive, but the Thais have not progressed.

 

Plan B? …. I checked out Vietnam and Da Phils but could see neither being a solution. Similar system, foreigners are not allowed to own land, no pathway to residency, life on a temporary visa, no stability or security. … Now what?

Edited October 25, 2019 by DaRoadrunner

[thaibeachlovers]

On 10/26/2019 at 4:07 AM, rickudon said:

It is relatively easy to come up with an approximate figure of farang contributions to the local economy if you have some facts. Just need population, GDP per capita, number of farangs (here we are assuming that figures provided by immigration are accurate) and a conservative estimate of expenditure (50,000 baht a month, as a figure between requirement for marriage and retirement extensions). I did this a couple of years ago and came up with a figure of 3%. It does not include those only on visas, so was probably higher. At 50,000 a month, a farang is worth 7.5 Thais in GDP terms

 

As for seeing the money being deposited in the bank by some Thais, well that is inequality at work. Remember many rural Thais hardly ever use the bank, and a 1,000 baht is something they rarely see. 

I never touched the 800,000, and took it all out of Thailand when I left. I'm not the only one does that.

My monthly outgoings were about 20,000, far short of your 50,000. 

Without a lot more statistics, your calculations are just speculation.

For every farang that eats at Dukes there are probably two that eat 25 baht Thai dishes.

 

We ain't discussing rural Thais without a pot.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 10/26/2019 at 5:00 AM, DaRoadrunner said:

Despite the fact that many support Thai families, Thailand has not treated Farangs fairly.

To quote my ungrateful Thai SIL, no one asked farangs to support Thai families.

If Farangs want to support Thai families, they do so at their own choice and risk. Why should Thais make special treatment for farangs? They never asked us to live in LOS long time.

 

On 10/26/2019 at 5:00 AM, DaRoadrunner said:

The thing that gets me down is immigration and the lack of stability and security. If someone is granted a Retirement Visa, that person is making a long term commitment to stay. Yet he has to put up with ever changing regulations and hurdles like TM 30, 90 day reports and likely, upcoming life insurance that he may not even be able to obtain as his age advances. Thanks Thailand for the Retirement Visa that leads to a dead end.

Things like immigration rules change all the time in every country.

No one asked farangs to make a long term commitment. It's been nice that they made it so easy up till now.

TM 30 and 90 day has always been a factor. Just because they are enforcing the rules why is that their fault?

Health insurance actually, and it should have been in force since the beginning. Thank dead beat farangs without any money to pay hospital bills for that one.

Hmmmm. You did know that a retirement visa isn't a path to residency when you decided to go live in LOS, didn't you? There is a way to gain PR, which is available for everyone to pursue.

[BritManToo]

4 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

There is a way to gain PR, which is available for everyone to pursue.

I'm 64, being part of 'everyone' can you tell me my path to PR?

Edited October 31, 2019 by BritManToo

[thaibeachlovers]

On 10/26/2019 at 4:43 AM, DaRoadrunner said:

I noticed that real estate prices have gone through the roof (pun intended), yet many remain unsold. Does anyone else see a real estate crash coming?

 

Thailand could always be compared to a castle built on sand and the tide will eventually come in.

Never let it be said that Thais considered what might happen in the future and acted accordingly. It's like them putting up the price of hotels because less tourists come.

 

If the crash comes before I am too decrepit, I might actually be able to move back there, as prices will fall like they did in Phuket after the tsunami.

[BritManToo]

15 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

For every farang that eats at Dukes there are probably two that eat 25 baht Thai dishes.

25bht is far too expensive for me, I prefer to cook my own food at home for 10bht.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

I'm 64, being part of 'everybody' can you tell me my path to PR?

I take it I didn't take age into consideration. My apologies.

Never having been keen to go through the process, I hadn't inquired deeply into the mechanics of it.