I have been coming to Thailand since 1997, and living here since 2004 and I have to say I have never ever felt that the Thais are as unhappy as they are now.  They really seem to be getting rather angry the way things are going.

A couple of instances - The first being a bit minor really but it is the supposed banning of plastic bags. The people I know around my village are just laughing at it, where are you going to put the curry or Laab you buy from the local stall, in your pocket? They are well miffed at this and are totally defiant. (I agree the plastic has to stop but what is the alternative around the villages - take soup bowls to buy food? What about the flies? Will they ban elastic bands next? My 7-11 and my local Tesco is still supplying plastic bags. The funniest "Act of Defiance" is from my local mom and pop store, they now give you your change in.....wait for it....a plastic bag! (Never done this in 20 years.)

 

Next is the yearly ritual of the "Thai Calendar" These get given out with let's just say "Very well known" people featured on them and usually are put up in the Thai home with a godlike reverence - Boy oh boy, not this year, my wife got her first calendar this year and rolled it up and told me just to stick it in the bin! Never ever has anything like that ever happened here where I am. If I had suggested something like that in previous years (which I must admit, I often thought about) I would have been spat on like a dog. Is it a Northern Thai thing or is the discontent nationwide? 

42 minutes ago, Formaleins said:

Is it a Northern Thai thing or is the discontent nationwide?

Of course not limited to the north.

I won't write down the swearwords heard from my wife as it might give the thread a short life.

 

43 minutes ago, Formaleins said:

old me just to stick it in the bin!

Seriously: don't get caught/watched doing this.

You know why.

1 minute ago, KhunBENQ said:

Of course not limited to the north.

I won't write down the swearwords heard from my wife as it might give the thread a short life.

 

Seriously: don't get caught/watched doing this.

You know why.

I know what you mean...it has to be discretely - I am just really surprised as this sort of thin was just unheard of a couple of years back I think the change began when one lady supported a funeral that caused a big shift. Even more than the ousting of Thaksin and then Yingluck

10 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Of course not limited to the north.

I won't write down the swearwords heard from my wife as it might give the thread a short life.

 

Seriously: don't get caught/watched doing this.

You know why.

My wife and friends saying the same, she showed me some Thais on YouTube living outside of Thailand and what there comments were.

As we speak imin china on a stopover to get back to good old Germany.

 

I probably will not travel again to Thailand....just not worth it.

 

Never been hapier!!!

 

Hans

3 minutes ago, Hans007 said:

As we speak imin china on a stopover to get back to good old Germany.

 

I probably will not travel again to Thailand....just not worth it.

 

Never been hapier!!!

 

Hans

Not the Happy Smiling welcoming place it was a few years ago, it almost feels like they want rid of us just to hide their embarrassment of how bad the place is turning. And have you noticed how much angrier they are? just in general and especially when they are driving? This place has changed a lot. Full to the eye teeth with jealousy, envy, debt and lack of income to pay for it all. A nation of "Fur Coat No Knickers" and everything on credit.

Farang discontent and griping must be rubbing off on the Thais.

 

Let's all just be happy to contribute to the corruption...☺

Being coming to Thailand since '99, being living here since '04, i agree that the place is going downhill since years.

It's a different place than the one i fell in love with, but i cannot really blame the Thai folks, it's a worldwide phenomenon, and there's not much we can do about it.

Why did people ever come to Thailand in the first place?

 

1. It was cheap. Now it is not.

2. It was friendly. Now it is not.

3. It was a care-free and easy life. Now it is not.

4. It had great weather. Well that hasn't changed at least.

5. It had sensational food. Well the worldwide health fascination has put stead to the fried, salty, greasy Thai rubbish.

6. Some single men loved Pattaya. Look at the place now.

7. It was an exotic and exciting destination. Now even the locals in Merthyr Tydfil have been here.

8. It had world-class beaches. Now covered in garbage.

 

Now it's overpriced, xenophobic, with awkward immigration and even opening a bank account has become an outrageous rigmarole with more paperwork requirements than getting a mortgage in your home country for an ultra-basic savings account that you'd normally open for a child.

 

Neighbouring countries should learn a thing or two about how to treat tourists who have money to spend. It seems Vietnam is on the up and up.

54 minutes ago, Formaleins said:

Not the Happy Smiling welcoming place it was a few years ago, it almost feels like they want rid of us just to hide their embarrassment of how bad the place is turning. And have you noticed how much angrier they are? just in general and especially when they are driving? This place has changed a lot. Full to the eye teeth with jealousy, envy, debt and lack of income to pay for it all. A nation of "Fur Coat No Knickers" and everything on credit.

Been visiting Thailand since 1988, living here on and off since 1994. Never have I seen it this bad, the attitudes of the locals is at an all time low. They are so miserable and aggressive these days. it really is not the place I remember,

hoping it will change but I can't see it yet.

There is a fair amount of unrest in Chiang Mai.

 

Item: A Thai tour guide I know says his business has dropped 50% since the junta took over.

 

Item: Another tour guide who had 80% of his business in Thailand, and 20% in Vietnam, now has 90%

         of his business in Vietnam.

 

Item: Prayut is openly mocked by village Thais when he does one of his monologues on TV. I'm not 

        sure if they are using the Thai equivalent of d**khead, but it sounds close.

 

Item: Many restaurants in CM no longer open for lunch, too few customers to be worthwhile.

 

Item: My landlord owns three apartments in my condo. I am his only tenant, the other two units have

         been vacant for 2 years.

 

Item: The smaller shopkeepers and street stalls are not complying with the plastic bag ban.

 

Item: Many condos and houses for sale at less than building cost.

 

Straws in the wind.

1 hour ago, Formaleins said:

A nation of "Fur Coat No Knickers" and everything on credit.

I always enjoyed the "No Knickers' part(s) of Thailand.

30 minutes ago, SteveK said:

Neighbouring countries should learn a thing or two about how to treat tourists who have money to spend. It seems Vietnam is on the up and up.

Certainly as a holiday destination, Vietnam is unbeatable.

Better beaches and sea, better sights to see, friendlier people, cheaper beer, cannabis $10/bag everywhere.

I really can't see why any tourists would choose Thailand over Vietnam as a destination.

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I really can't see why any tourists would choose Thailand over Vietnam as a destination.

Some of us morons got married here.

 

Give me a magic wand and I would be in Vietnam in a heartbeat.

2 minutes ago, SteveK said:

Some of us morons got married here.

Give me a magic wand and I would be in Vietnam in a heartbeat.

Me Too!

If we had married or reproduced with a Viet, we would have a 5 year VISA for $50 with no financials.

But I did specify 'tourists', can't see a single reason for them to come here now.

Just now, BritManToo said:

Me Too!

If we had married or reproduced with a Viet, we would have a 5 year VISA for $50 with no financials.

I recently did my 90-day report in person. The IO was about the rudest official I have ever met in my life. Wouldn't look at me. Wouldn't talk at me. Then when he was done, chucked my passport at me and ignored my khop khun maak khap and wai. Sometimes I don't know why I even bother. Thailand does not want us here at all.

17 minutes ago, SteveK said:

Some of us morons got married here.

 

Give me a magic wand and I would be in Vietnam in a heartbeat.

 

It was your magic wand that ended you up in LOS.

 

 

OP if these are the main complaints people have in their lives i'd say they're doing pretty well.

 

i live in bangkok and my local friends complain about the economy and the government but all drive new or newish cars, have houses here and in provinces, take regular holidays abroad and i dont know anyone who has lost their job. people like to complain.

 

while there is some anti-government discontent isn't that the case in almost every country? overall i find people pretty happy and getting on with their lives

 

 

4 hours ago, SteveK said:

4. It had great weather. Well that hasn't changed at least.

 

I think we were fooling ourselves thinking the weather in Thailand was great. I too used to think the weather was great because it never got cold. But actually, it's too hot for most of the year in Bangkok and the cool season reprieve may only last a week or two. So count me among those who now thinks the weather in Bangkok is not a positive at all.

4 hours ago, SteveK said:

I recently did my 90-day report in person. The IO was about the rudest official I have ever met in my life. Wouldn't look at me. Wouldn't talk at me. Then when he was done, chucked my passport at me and ignored my khop khun maak khap and wai. Sometimes I don't know why I even bother. Thailand does not want us here at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V009SUGaa8Y

 

6 hours ago, Formaleins said:

I know what you mean...it has to be discretely - I am just really surprised as this sort of thin was just unheard of a couple of years back I think the change began when one lady supported a funeral that caused a big shift. Even more than the ousting of Thaksin and then Yingluck

It was only unheard of, until the picture changed.

 

 

 

 

18 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V009SUGaa8Y

 

Well...looking at it from across the sea I have been privy to three conversations about retiring to Thailand.

 

As soon as the Aussie male expresses an interest in said goofy plan their Thai wives promptly slap 'em down with the comment "Lol..don't be so droll.."

 

(Or words to that effect anyway)????

23 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V009SUGaa8Y

 

Good lord what <deleted>.

 

How many times can the voice generator mispronounce thais.

8 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

OP if these are the main complaints people have in their lives i'd say they're doing pretty well.

 

i live in bangkok and my local friends complain about the economy and the government but all drive new or newish cars, have houses here and in provinces, take regular holidays abroad and i dont know anyone who has lost their job. people like to complain.

 

while there is some anti-government discontent isn't that the case in almost every country? overall i find people pretty happy and getting on with their lives

 

 

Bangkok is viewed by the North as the root cause of their problems. I'd say if it were not for the military presence, from Chiang Mai province to Mae Sai would secede in a heartbeat. They speak Lanna, and point that out to me quite often.

8 hours ago, SteveK said:

I recently did my 90-day report in person. The IO was about the rudest official I have ever met in my life. Wouldn't look at me. Wouldn't talk at me. Then when he was done, chucked my passport at me and ignored my khop khun maak khap and wai. Sometimes I don't know why I even bother. Thailand does not want us here at all.

Did mine last week, got a smile from the lady IO (after scanning the entire family) and the man next to her gave my 3 years old daughter a (in-date) bag of crisps. No complaints really. My issue is I just feel like a criminal in my head and feel about to get pounced on

9 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

OP if these are the main complaints people have in their lives i'd say they're doing pretty well.

 

i live in bangkok and my local friends complain about the economy and the government but all drive new or newish cars, have houses here and in provinces, take regular holidays abroad and i dont know anyone who has lost their job. people like to complain.

 

while there is some anti-government discontent isn't that the case in almost every country? overall i find people pretty happy and getting on with their lives

 

 

Ah OAP's always complain. I must say not much has changed where i live. People are as divided as before nothing changed there no huge swings or anything. 

 

I think a lot of the people hate the exchange rate and project their doom and gloom on the Thais. I don't see extra aggression in my village no strange driving no more then usual anti government problems.

 

The only less friendly i see is immigration.

 

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Bangkok is viewed by the North as the root cause of their problems. I'd say if it were not for the military presence, from Chiang Mai province to Mae Sai would secede in a heartbeat. They speak Lanna, and point that out to me quite often.

The north always wanted their guy in power and they lost it again. So i understand the resentment however in my Bangkok area nothing really changed and people are not more angry or anything. I guess its local.

 

Thailand is a lot like the US and UK now totally divided so that means one side will always be unhappy. Thankfully in my country its not like that. Politics have become to extreme.

After what is now approaching two decades in Thailand I can not deny the general atmosphere has changed. Yet I would challenge anyone to deny that wherever in the world the mood of that population  has not also changed. The  general Western perspective of "negative vibes" ignores the reality of the scale and scope of "development" that has occurred in Thailand compared to the established West. 40 years ago in Thailand areas outside of large cities were populated by people living in villages where water supplies were from a communal well somewhere up the road, transport  was a bicycle ridden on roads that were dirt tracks. A motorcycle was a luxury, a television was an asset of the local "wealthy", education was primitive, and the majority were content without any great expectations.

Rapidly many aspects of life changed with urban drift and the realization of so much that urban life offered with industrialization employment. The later advent of mobile phones and now social media has drastically modified self perceptions and the falseness it can provide as much as any meaningful exchanges of opinion or information. The adoption of materialism and the inevitable provision of credit to  sustain it is in accordance with the infection of unfettered capitalist ideology. In a very short time this has also created the stresses social impacts equivalent in Western societies and cultures .  It should not be any surprise  that Thailand is not as it was even a couple of  decades before when it's appeal to many Westerners was still basically because it was not Western. Gone is the intrigue to the Thais of the presence of foreigners in "remote" places. Outside of tourist areas or venues catering to tourists with little regulated business principles foreigners are irrelevant to a large degree.

IMO those who retreat from Thailand back to home country are just as likely to discover social attitudes there have also changed but find comfort and security in being fully entitled citizens. Those that seek a location to rediscover a Past Thailand may or may not but good luck to them in a world that is not standing still.

Songkran this year may just be the opener for civil unrest

13 hours ago, samsensam said:

i live in bangkok and my local friends complain about the economy and the government but all drive new or newish cars, have houses here and in provinces, take regular holidays abroad and i dont know anyone who has lost their job. people like to complain

Sure there are winners in such a system.

Sure Bangkok and eastern seaboard are pumped up with money, some of it for doubtful prestige projects. Shiny decorated subway stations in Bangkok!

 

Here: most of the peasants have never left the country. A once a year bus excursion sponsored by the village admin is a highlight.

Rusty buses kept together by paint, driving from sunrise to sundown.

One granddaughter searching for a job after high school since months.

(of course not here, 0 job chances)

I remember an article saying that 250'000 highschool graduates can't find an adequate job.

The "unemployment statistics" are a complete joke.

 

And don't forget that maybe two out of three of the shiny new cars are on finance.

Some of the highest private debt rates worldwide.

Some couples spending 50% of their income on repayment.