Always kept in contact with my Thai aquanintances by way of internet. But of half of them I had no contact address.
So I hired a dubious guy living on Baker Street in London, calling himself "Sherlock Holmes", claiming to have offices in Thailand.
Lo and behold, he found all of my "missing-persons" internet-wise in Thailand.
-----------------------------
With this expanded adress portfolio, I asked all of my Thai aquaintances the simple question: How are you doing during those hard times?

Much to my surprise: Yes, hard times, but no overall gloom and doom comments. General consensus: "If it gets any worse, I go back to the family-farm". No panic-mode, just like this would be the most natural thing to do in such a situation. At the same time indicating, that they would see no reason to miss any Party's, taking place in the village.

 

Under the same severe circumstances, I wonder how Europeans would react, as the family-farm was sold a 100 years ago and "Family-Bondage" has been declared as "a relict of the past".
Replaced by the concept of "Social-Security". Leaving the recipiants of "Social-Security" unhappy, as well as the remaining Taxpayers that have to pay for it.

 

What's left to say exept "Thailand/Thais are different". Fortunately, a little bit more "different" than the rest of the world. May it last a while longer.

Don't give up your day job, making up stories isn't your forte.

If you know 3 Thai (what Sherlock find you) ! Sherlock finding's not tell sht about many peoples situation here!

 

 

there's more to thailand than the poor, often uneducated, farmers and their families. get out of the bar and find the real thailand, it's a great place and great people.

Strong Suff Then.

can you get me some !

20 hours ago, swissie said:

General consensus: "If it gets any worse, I go back to the family-farm".

And what would be the reply of Thai's who are from Bangkok, with children and an mortgage?  Is there room for them on a farm in issan?   ????

Thai's are mild mannered and don't emotionally panic the way they do in the west.

 

You also seem to have no clue how Thai farm families even work.

 

 

2 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

You also seem to have no clue how Thai farm families even work.

Not all Thai's are from the farm.  

 

How does a Thai from Bangkok, and living in a condo in Bangkok, with a mortgage, "live off the land?"

 

If they worked in hospitality or tourism etc, they are stressed out, the same as westerners are.     

11 hours ago, Leaver said:

And what would be the reply of Thai's who are from Bangkok, with children and an mortgage?  Is there room for them on a farm in issan?   ????

Most of them would still have links to the land, if not owning some. Yes most would be able to go back to the village and good for them to be able to do so.

Westerners are so divorced from teh land that some don't even know that milk comes from cows and probably have never seen a live cow, sheep or pig.

Soooo, which race is better off- Thais that can go back to the village and survive very nicely, or westerners that will starve?

 

Well said OP.

8 hours ago, Leaver said:

Not all Thai's are from the farm.  

 

How does a Thai from Bangkok, and living in a condo in Bangkok, with a mortgage, "live off the land?"

 

If they worked in hospitality or tourism etc, they are stressed out, the same as westerners are.     

Anyone can work the land if given instructions. It's not rocket science.

11 hours ago, Leaver said:

And what would be the reply of Thai's who are from Bangkok, with children and an mortgage?  Is there room for them on a farm in issan?   ????

Yes, if it's family on the Issan farm, and Issan isn't the only agricultural area of LOS.

On 10/8/2020 at 11:46 PM, swissie said:

I wonder how Europeans would react, as the family-farm was sold a 100 years ago and "Family-Bondage" has been declared as "a relict of the past".

Now they go into servitude to Harrod's department store..

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Most of them would still have links to the land, if not owning some.

Really?  So all the millions of Thai's living in Bangkok, are all from farm land, or still have links to farm land.  I don't think so.   

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Anyone can work the land if given instructions. It's not rocket science.

Yes, but what land?

 

A Thai couple in their 30's, with two kids, who were born and raised in Bangkok, and have a mortgage, and were working in hospitality or the tourism industry, don't have a land to work.  

 

There is no "village" for them to return home to.   

 

Fully understand that the Thai family bonds are strong and that does extend beyond immediate family. I have seen 'Bangkok' workers return to regroup and set up residence in a rice barn, climate, available natural food, and the resilient Thai will survive, with or without land. Those in the family that have money will provide rice occasional employment and a beer, such is life in rural Thailand

Clearly not all in Bangkok will have retained relatives on the land but many will all part of the self sufficiency package that has served Thailand so well.

 

My 'western'  family have never lost the family value of looking out for each other, deaths, divorces, loss of work met will solid unconditional support.

As with Thai families we had a parental 'home base'. When that was sold, as we are spread across the country, the natural base is the eldest sisters home she has always been welcoming, I guess from my point of view frequented more when she ran a pub, better than a home from home ???? and not unlike Thailand my sister would encourage me to do the lunchtime work, as I was in the bar anyway, for free beers to give them a day off. It was a natural choice.

Right now my job is as many in the UK probably at risk so I make contingency plans, if I was made redundant I would bail from my expensive rented place, prepare to move to Thailand, and be with my family. I have the choice of 4 sibling places I would be welcomed in the transition, as required, not too different to a Thai family, who knows if things fall into place and covid allows I may get to spend an enjoyable couple of weeks with all my siblings prior to departure

 

So I know my Thai family are special from experience, but then as I have always believed my family are very special too

Just lucky I guess ????

I'm often wondering why Thais have an apostrophe and written Thai's. 

22 minutes ago, 473geo said:

Fully understand that the Thai family bonds are strong and that does extend beyond immediate family.

There's a recently released book written by someone named 'Joseph Henrich' with the very long title of 'The Weirdest People in the World, How the west became psychologically peculiar and particularly prosperous' that looks into this.

 

I haven't read it yet but it looks like we're the weird ones (westerners), the extended family thing has been the norm for millennia.

 

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

Really?  So all the millions of Thai's living in Bangkok, are all from farm land, or still have links to farm land.  I don't think so.   

Probably not all, but at least 80% of the Thai's living in Bangkok still have a strong link

(Family, land, farm, house...) with their rural area, they can back here when the things go south like at the moment

 

A lot of them plan to retire in their rural area too, in each village you can see closed house built by people actually working in Bankgok and waiting back at the village for their old days

On 10/9/2020 at 12:59 AM, samsensam said:

 

there's more to thailand than the poor, often uneducated, farmers and their families. get out of the bar and find the real thailand, it's a great place and great people.

The ''real'' Thailand is still populated mostly with poor, often uneducated farmers and their families.

From my experience they are often great people, money and education alone aren't enough to make

 ''great people'' imo

16 minutes ago, kingofthemountain said:

Probably not all, but at least 80% of the Thai's living in Bangkok still have a strong link

(Family, land, farm, house...) with their rural area, they can back here when the things go south like at the moment

 

A lot of them plan to retire in their rural area too, in each village you can see closed house built by people actually working in Bankgok and waiting back at the village for their old days

When my wife tells me she is cleaning rice usually means she is doing more than our usual supply. I expect there is a visit due from her family in the metropolis, those that travel by coach will frequently see a young Thai lady lugging half a sack of rice on return from the farm.

Much land in Thailand is to be handed down, not sold, hence we have the confusion of chanote and non chanote land. My wife effectively farms the 'hand down' land for all the family that are in the city, they in turn receive rice to take back throughout the year as required

I see there are city based youngsters now chasing any land that comes up for sale mainly small plots in their village of origin, clearly the young Thai are capable of thinking ahead. This in turn is pushing land prices up where 'building' land is in short supply. Kind of like the lovely NZ quarter acre home plot been 'split' to make money and absorb need for more building land.

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Most of them would still have links to the land, if not owning some. Yes most would be able to go back to the village and good for them to be able to do so.

Westerners are so divorced from teh land that some don't even know that milk comes from cows and probably have never seen a live cow, sheep or pig.

Soooo, which race is better off- Thais that can go back to the village and survive very nicely, or westerners that will starve?

 

Well said OP.

Yep,

Back in the UK if the lorries stopped stocking Tesco/ASDA/Waitrose most of the population would be dead in 2 weeks.

If the electricity/gas/petrol stopped flowing most of the population would die in the first winter.

 

In Thailand most people would survive and the only major loss would be their internet connection.

If you're a serious prepper, waiting for TSHTF or TEOTWAWKI, Thailand is the place to be.

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Yep,

Back in the UK if the lorries stopped stocking Tesco most of the population would be dead in 2 weeks.

If the electricity/gas/petrol stopped flowing most of the population would die in the first winter.

 

In Thailand most people would survive and the only major loss would be their internet connection.

If you're a serious prepper, waiting for TSHTF or TEOTWAWKI, Thailand is the place to be.

OK understand TSHTF but what is this mysterious 'japanese' dish you speak of? Will the world end before I learn to cook it?

Just now, 473geo said:

OK understand TSHTF but what is this mysterious 'japanese' dish you speak of? Will the world end before I learn to cook it?

The End Of The World As We Know It.

Which includes Peak Oil, Asteroid Strike, Zombie Apocalypse,  Deadly Pandemic, Nuclear War, Solar EMP, Alien Invasion, Super Volcano, etc.

38 minutes ago, 473geo said:

Much land in Thailand is to be handed down, not sold, hence we have the confusion of chanote and non chanote land

And its also divided up amongst the Children , which gets smaller and smaller land plots with every generation .

  You have situations know where a plot of land big enough for one house will be getting divided between four kids

3 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

And its also divided up amongst the Children , which gets smaller and smaller land plots with every generation .

  You have situations know where a plot of land big enough for one house will be getting divided between four kids

Agreed can't go on forever as it is, don't know about your experience, but I see families are smaller now maybe 1 or 2 children so effectively this will keep the metropolis labour market in need, and release the pressure on the decreasing available land situation, while still presenting a fall back situation.

3 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

Probably not all, but at least 80% of the Thai's living in Bangkok still have a strong link

Bangkok has approximately 10.5 million people.

 

Are you suggesting round 8 million of them are from rural areas of Thailand?  

20 hours ago, Leaver said:

Not all Thai's are from the farm.  

 

How does a Thai from Bangkok, and living in a condo in Bangkok, with a mortgage, "live off the land?"

 

If they worked in hospitality or tourism etc, they are stressed out, the same as westerners are.     

More so as there is no safety net of social funding..As for the OP, many youngsters in the UK have returned to live with parents, not only because of covid but the increasing cost of private housing....so the family unit is still strong even in the 21st Century

15 minutes ago, baansgr said:

More so as there is no safety net of social funding..As for the OP, many youngsters in the UK have returned to live with parents, not only because of covid but the increasing cost of private housing....so the family unit is still strong even in the 21st Century

The extended family model was becoming more popular in western countries prior to Covid.  Main reason, as you say, higher cost of living, including housing.  

 

The extended family model has been the norm in many European and Asian countries for centuries.  

1 hour ago, Leaver said:

Bangkok has approximately 10.5 million people.

 

Are you suggesting round 8 million of them are from rural areas of Thailand?  

Probably not far off. Population was only 2-3 million in the 1970s. Most of the growth will be people who've come to the capital from rural areas. Yes, a lot will be permanently resident in Bangkok but often they keep the family ties going, visit once a year or once every few years, take the grandchildren to spend the school holidays 'at home', as well as staying in touch with other people from the village who are in Bangkok. 

21 minutes ago, KhaoNiaw said:

Probably not far off. Population was only 2-3 million in the 1970s. Most of the growth will be people who've come to the capital from rural areas. Yes, a lot will be permanently resident in Bangkok but often they keep the family ties going, visit once a year or once every few years, take the grandchildren to spend the school holidays 'at home', as well as staying in touch with other people from the village who are in Bangkok. 

I simply don't believe those stats.  Do you have a link?  Any evidence of these numbers?  

 

There are millions of Thai's that were born in Bangkok, raised in Bangkok, and live in Bangkok, with no link to a rural area, except maybe for generations in the past.  How far do we go back?