Thailand is no longer the Land of smiles.

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

On 3/27/2023 at 11:17 AM, brewsterbudgen said:

Did anyone ever really think it was more than a marketing slogan?

It really was a Land of Smiles when I first arrived on the shores of paradise on earth.

It departed long ago though. I wonder if the OP has been in LOS less than 20 years, or just noticed.

Or maybe it was that traumatic and awkward personal relationship experience?

[fredwiggy]

On 3/27/2023 at 11:31 AM, Don Chance said:

Smiles.  They believe that the guest is god.  They also speak englsih.

India has also done well with covid and their economy has rebounded.

Firstly, yes, a lot of people smile here, and back to you, but what is behind those smiles. Acceptance, hate, prejudice, fear, possible money? Secondly, India has over 530,000 Covid deaths that are registered, so that's not doing well. It has people with a lot of money, like here, and also like here, it has millions of poor, that barely get by. It's one of the most water stressed countries also, with 1/3 of it's rivers, that they rely on for most everything, polluted. Almost 500 die daily on the roads,which is on par for here for it's size. Besides that, over 400 are killed each year by tigers and leopards, and over 1000 by crocodiles. But the food taste great.

[NanLaew]

On 3/27/2023 at 1:14 PM, nickmondo said:

yes, a lot of thais smile, a lot are friendly.  but just as many are falsely smiling, and below the smile lurks a me me me personality.  Have you tried to get out of a side street in a car?  nobody lets you out.......also, so many lie about just about anything......so much <deleted> here.  been here 7 years now, and i have to say, it is starting to get on my nerves a bit here.  not enough to go back to UK, nothing will be bad enough to make me do that......but things have changed here....not the same any more.  maybe a month or two break somewhere else is the answer.......and then maybe i will find the Thainess funny and acceptable again.

Stuff of nonsense. Only seven years? They haven't changed one iota but you have.

 

But I totally agree that a couple or three getaways each year makes it easier to keep everything in perspective: a reality check so to speak. Since you've already consigned your incomparably superior homeland to the skip, don't EVER go back there for your reality check as your jaded opinions of how rubbish the UK is will only amplify your hopelessly skewed sensibilities about Thailand.

[fredwiggy]

On 3/27/2023 at 12:18 PM, markclover said:

Yes, it starts at the airport with the disgusting treatment of arrivals.  If you're not being followed around you are being screamed at by immigration staff.  I've had my passport literally thrown at me more than one time.  Heaven forbid if you ask the staff for help.  They will scream at you and go back to chatting with their friends.  One of the worst airports I have passed through.  Certainly not a land of smiles,

I don't like it here anymore for a lot of reasons, but when I flew here, at least 9 times total before I moved here, the immigration were never a problem. Some, yes, have looked at me with the evil eye, but then just stamped my passport and gave it back. Never seen anyone screaming. They are aware that people come here for criminal activity, just like in the US, so they might have suspicion, but that's their job, and I don't blame them a bit.

[thaibeachlovers]

28 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Maybe it wasn't you though. Maybe it was that woman you were with (again).

Do you think that that woman was the only woman I saw in the village for the entire time I lived there?

[thaibeachlovers]

12 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Since you've already consigned your incomparably superior homeland to the skip, don't EVER go back there for your reality check as your jaded opinions of how rubbish the UK is will only amplify your hopelessly skewed sensibilities about Thailand.

LOL. As one that has lived in the UK for 10 years and in Thailand visiting and living for many decades, I'll take Thailand over the UK in a heartbeat.

Thailand isn't perfect, but it's better than any woke, over regulated western country I ever lived in.

[thaibeachlovers]

23 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Firstly, yes, a lot of people smile here, and back to you, but what is behind those smiles. Acceptance, hate, prejudice, fear, possible money? Secondly, India has over 530,000 Covid deaths that are registered, so that's not doing well. It has people with a lot of money, like here, and also like here, it has millions of poor, that barely get by. It's one of the most water stressed countries also, with 1/3 of it's rivers, that they rely on for most everything, polluted. Almost 500 die daily on the roads,which is on par for here for it's size. Besides that, over 400 are killed each year by tigers and leopards, and over 1000 by crocodiles. But the food taste great.

India has over a billion people, so 530,000 deaths from covid isn't large, IMO. Just being too crowded wouldn't have helped.

[itsari]

Smiles cost nothing , ask for your money back from a trader and then there are no smiles .

[thaibeachlovers]

On 3/28/2023 at 3:01 AM, rose33 said:

I failed to read her mind that she wanted my four fingers to already be on the fingerprint scanner. So her opening line was a scream that I should put my fingers on the scanner. Kinda like a psychopathic dictator would behave. 

 

I know you really, really, really wanna paint all Thai women as angels and all western women as evil racist slags... That doesn't fly with me... Sorry buddy. 

LOL. I unfortunately met more than a few unpleasant Thai women, and many very nice western women in my life, but in the past couple of decades western women, IMO, have become more intolerant of men, and that has yet to become widespread in LOS.

Soooo, all in all, I prefer Thai women.

They are generally prettier as haven't forgotten how to be feminine, and are not as universally chubby.

[nigelforbes]

On 3/27/2023 at 12:18 PM, markclover said:

Yes, it starts at the airport with the disgusting treatment of arrivals.  If you're not being followed around you are being screamed at by immigration staff.  I've had my passport literally thrown at me more than one time.  Heaven forbid if you ask the staff for help.  They will scream at you and go back to chatting with their friends.  One of the worst airports I have passed through.  Certainly not a land of smiles,

I assume you've never actually been to Thailand and that you posted the above from a cold damp cramped bedsit in Burnley, window licking and wishing you had visited at least once in your life. Perhaps when you do visit you'll realize that public displays of what you've described, especially by officials, represents a major loss of face and are almost never seen anywhere in the country.

[Kwasaki]

8 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

got a link or source for this as i have many bargirls on TF telling me to send them money cos they are hungry for food....thanks friend! ????

 

ive been telling them to sell their phone if really that hungry--they dont like that answer tho  ????

If you talk to Thai people you would know some get money from govt.

If you have 5/15 electric PEA supply units up to a certain amount are free.

 

I have bar girl friends they work as you obviously know, they are not poor as in poor they choose to do the work for money. 

 

 

[TimeMachine]

Considering that many Thais are living under a harsh social security system they are doing very calmly and being very friendly. If you offer 10000 baht a month to work in any western country and zero support otherwise imagine what would happen. The divide between counties economic workings is something I will never understand.  Things probably have become harder for most so I am aware and not offended if nobody is smiling much. If I was leader, I would build resource centres for those that need guidance, quick training for a job, simple accomodations for those that abide by rules and help out community. There is the challenge of overcoming corruption and misappropriation of funds to achieve such things. Maybe open accounting to public for starters.

[daviddunham]

On 3/27/2023 at 11:30 AM, Don Chance said:

Try India or Nepal.

"India" for smiles, right ????????‍♀️????

 

they run after you trying to squeeze all the paper out of you everywhere

[nigelforbes]

1 hour ago, TimeMachine said:

Considering that many Thais are living under a harsh social security system they are doing very calmly and being very friendly. If you offer 10000 baht a month to work in any western country and zero support otherwise imagine what would happen. The divide between counties economic workings is something I will never understand.  Things probably have become harder for most so I am aware and not offended if nobody is smiling much. If I was leader, I would build resource centres for those that need guidance, quick training for a job, simple accomodations for those that abide by rules and help out community. There is the challenge of overcoming corruption and misappropriation of funds to achieve such things. Maybe open accounting to public for starters.

Resource centres that you describe, do exist, the problem is the jobs don't pay at a level that unemployed people want, which is why so many have gravitated away from agriculture and into Tourism. Why train in a job that pays 10 or 12k per month when they can earn that cash in hand working at odd jobs, especially for farangs.

 

As for opening the books to public scrutiny: the average readership of AN Forum is arguably far better educated than the average Thai, although there are many times when this appears questionable! That said, a majority of farang can't even get their head around the Baht exchange rate or the idea of budgets etc, as far as they are concerned, everything is manipulated and full of fraud. Those things being true, why would the general population of Thailand be any different.

[shackleton]

When I meet Thai people on my walking exercise they say Sawadee Kap 

With a smile I do the same ????

Same when I meet Thai people in general always greet me  with a smile ???? 

 

 

 

[BigStar]

6 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Stuff of nonsense. Only seven years? They haven't changed one iota but you have.

Eventually, an old bigot loser suffers inevitable disillusionment. He'd washed up in Thailand expecting smiles and servility for a few peanuts thrown at the primitive, dark natives. Alas, paradise doesn't live up to the fantasy. It isn't LOS.

 

 

That said, I get smiles everywhere I go. Before an interaction, I smile first and offer a pleasant Sawasdee krab, correctly pronounced. And it's immediately returned. I've shown myself not one of the usual idiots or potentially a PIA. It all goes pleasantly thereafter.

Everything you do in life will go better if you can get along with people. That includes with Thais.

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by BigStar

[rose33]

9 hours ago, shackleton said:

When I meet Thai people on my walking exercise they say Sawadee Kap 

With a smile I do the same ????

Same when I meet Thai people in general always greet me  with a smile ???? 

 

 

 

No one here is claiming it's difficult to get a surface smile out of a Thai. 

[itsari]

12 hours ago, nigelforbes said:

I assume you've never actually been to Thailand and that you posted the above from a cold damp cramped bedsit in Burnley, window licking and wishing you had visited at least once in your life. Perhaps when you do visit you'll realize that public displays of what you've described, especially by officials, represents a major loss of face and are almost never seen anywhere in the country.

A presumptuous statement that the man has never been to Thailand . 

[nigelforbes]

16 minutes ago, itsari said:

A presumptuous statement that the man has never been to Thailand . 

Indeed, a presumption based on evidence rather than an assumption or outright guess.

[itsari]

1 minute ago, nigelforbes said:

Indeed, a presumption based on evidence rather than an assumption or outright guess.

An outright guess by you I would say . What evidence have you that the man has never been to Thailand ?

[nigelforbes]

11 minutes ago, itsari said:

An outright guess by you I would say . What evidence have you that the man has never been to Thailand ?

His statements about the way Immigration officers at the airport behaved. I don't know about you but in over twenty years here I've never experienced anything like that, nor have I ever seen it of heard of it before yet he says he's experienced it several times...have you?

[rose33]

2 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

His statements about the way Immigration officers at the airport behaved. I don't know about you but in over twenty years here I've never experienced anything like that, nor have I ever seen it of heard of it before yet he says he's experienced it several times...have you?

You're straight up calling him a liar, simply because his perceived experience is different to your perceived experience?

[itsari]

1 minute ago, nigelforbes said:

His statements about the way Immigration officers at the airport behaved. I don't know about you but in over twenty years here I've never experienced anything like that, nor have I ever seen it of heard of it before yet he says he's experienced it several times...have you?

I have experienced ignorance from immigration yes.

The man's experience can not be called lies because you have not experienced the same .

I can't see he has any motive to tell lies either.

[nigelforbes]

Just now, rose33 said:

You're straight up calling him a liar, simply because his perceived experience is different to your perceived experience?

Yup

[nigelforbes]

Just now, itsari said:

I have experienced ignorance from immigration yes.

The man's experience can not be called lies because you have not experienced the same .

I can't see he has any motive to tell lies either.

Trolling, nothing more.

[LaosLover]

On the other hand, full respect for getting a Burnsley bed sit diss and window licker in the same line of text.

[rose33]

57 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

His statements about the way Immigration officers at the airport behaved. I don't know about you but in over twenty years here I've never experienced anything like that, nor have I ever seen it of heard of it before yet he says he's experienced it several times...have you?

Experienced firsthand by markclover and rose33; also reported in the Thai press.

 

An appropriately humble response might be "I stand corrected".

 

https://www.dailynews.co.th/news/2153666/

 

 

 

[nigelforbes]

3 hours ago, rose33 said:

Experienced firsthand by markclover and rose33; also reported in the Thai press.

 

An appropriately humble response might be "I stand corrected".

 

https://www.dailynews.co.th/news/2153666/

 

 

 

 

I do not read Thai and this is an English language forum. From the small part that is in English I see that an investigation is being conducted because somebody reported something somewhere to do with the surliness of an Immigration officer....presumably this was you or your mate and this was on AN forum? What can be said, people are not perfect all the time, even if 99% of them are, 99% of the time, I guess it's the stress of life and working! None of which changes my views about what the OP wrote earlier, that sort of behavior, if it even happened, is very very uncommon and distinctly counter culture. If it did happen, did the poster contribute to it by his/her actions....almost certainly, officials here do not just yell at people, because they can, officials here do not throw things at arriving passengers, just because they can. In over 35 years of flying into and out of Thailand I have experienced Thai officialdom under virtually every stressful scenario imaginable, I've also witnessed atrocious and extremely rude behavior by passengers towards Imm. officers, passengers who think they are still back in Kansas!.  Whinging passengers who don't understand local culture arrive here thinking they are still back home where they can say and act as they please. The fact the OP requested an investigation strongly suggest this is true. You want a response and you want me to apologize, how about this, how about,  go get a life! Respond if you wish, you'll be on my ignore list by that time.

 

 

[NanLaew]

On 3/29/2023 at 8:14 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

On 3/29/2023 at 7:44 AM, NanLaew said:

Maybe it wasn't you though. Maybe it was that woman you were with (again).

Do you think that that woman was the only woman I saw in the village for the entire time I lived there?

 

Not sure if I get your drift but I was suggesting that if you came to that village WITH a female partner, maybe the neighbors didn't like her and that rubbed off on you? Now if you were the new, single farang in town and playing the moobahn Lothario, sitting at the table outside the mom n' pop shop swigging Archa and licking your eyebrows at every bit of female nubility in eye shot,* then you have to take your lumps.

 

* been there, done that

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, rose33 said:

You're straight up calling him a liar, simply because his perceived experience is different to your perceived experience?

Has any other poster said that they had a similar experience? I certainly never did.