What happened to you, Thailand?

[mikebike]

20 hours ago, John Drake said:

 

I'm in the far Western suburbs. I walk around my area a lot, go to the local Foodland, Gourmet Market, and Taling Chan post office on a regular basis. I never see another Westerner in those places. Never. Go to Central Pinklao or the Eye, Ear, Nose, Throat Hospital regularly and never see any there either. Go into Petcharat Pharmacy near Siriraj Hospital and they are always stunned to see me there because no other Westerner comes in. Same thing for Thonburi Market, Don Wai Market, and my trips to the banks. 

I see you changed your original "foreigner" to "westerner". Good on ya!

[johnnybangkok]

20 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

The concept that Bob and others hold, suggesting that conditions are deteriorating, is termed 'Declinism' and represents a psychological bias.

 

This bias is closely related to 'loss aversion,' where individuals disproportionately focus on current negative aspects while their memory tends to filter out adverse experiences from the past—resulting in cognitive distortion.

 

In this example (Op), Bob exhibits a pronounced instance of cognitive distortion concerning the past while simultaneously emphasising a degree of declinism regarding the present.

 

 

The issue of course, in all of Bob's threads - he is simply unable to recognise this in himself. 

 

 

Absolutely spot on.

 

I see this a cognitive bias quite a lot on this forum, especially when talking politics. If someone wants to see a problem, they will and it just feeds into their negativity. I have been in the same situation with street hawkers like the example Bob gave, but rather seeing it as indicative of a whole nation, I see it as an individual at the bottom of the social order (they are street hawkers after all) who is just unhappy and perhaps (although of course this is pure speculation) with problems of their own. They are not particularly representative of Thais but Bob is looking for examples to back up his rather obvious bias so he sees the situation in a completely different way than others (myself included) would.  

[John Drake]

3 minutes ago, mikebike said:

Apparently he thinks all foreigners are white 😂 and doesn't realize he sees Laos, Cambodia, Vietnamese, Burmese, Chinese, Philipino foreigners every day in BKK...

.

 

Of course, I didn't say "foreigners" did I, you liar. I said "Westerner," using it in place of farang. 

[johnnybangkok]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

What happened to you, Thailand?

 

Simples, it became westernised. Perhaps you didn't notice but the west is <deleted> now and Thailand is just following the same path to despair, misery and tragedy as our civilization is rightly consigned to the dustbin of history. Politicians too busy encouraging multiple genders, illegal immigrant "rights" and "climate change" malarky to give the people who pay their bloated wages a decent life.

 

Yes Thailand used to be a wonderful country, and then Thaksin happened and it became full on greed.

 

Can the trend to doom be reversed? Not IMO. Too far down the rabbit hole to climb out now.

 

Soooo, what's to be done about it? Fornication is one way to avoid thinking about the end of life as we knew it, and LOS is just the place to end with a "bang", if you know what I mean.

Talking of cognitive bias..............

[John Drake]

3 minutes ago, mikebike said:

I see you changed your original "foreigner" to "westerner". Good on ya!

 

Then why doesn't it have an edit notification, liar.

[johnnybangkok]

40 minutes ago, RSD1 said:

Well, I used to live in Khlongtoey and now I live in Thonglor. Both are ghettos. In fact, is any part of Bangkok not a ghetto except for Taling Chan where there aren't any foreigners living?
 

I'll also be heading to the DLT office in Taling Chan in the near future. Just giving you a heads up so you can make sure you don't see me. Don't want to ruin your blissful paradise. 

I live in Thonglor. I can assure you it isn't a 'ghetto'. Or if it is it's the poshest one I've ever lived in.

[daveAustin]

How do you roll, dress, manner? Thais can work people out real fast.

 

Personally don't have these kinds of issues. Not in a highly touristed area but tend to interact well with the locals wherever I am. Thailand is not what it was 20y ago, even 10 or 5, but neither is anywhere else. My own town in the west is a joke of a place; people tend to be just miserable and sh1tty, esp on the roads. Covid has a lot to answer for, putting a big downer on the world. But still find the Thais cool to be around... certainly more so than my own.

[RSD1]

8 minutes ago, johnnybangkok said:

I live in Thonglor. I can assure you it isn't a 'ghetto'. Or if it is it's the poshest one I've ever lived in.

Ghetto has become a word used in modern English to define anywhere that has a collective of something. So, yes, Thonglor is a ghetto for the rich. 

[rabas]

2 hours ago, RSD1 said:

Hard to imagine that is possible unless you live at the end of a dead end Soi and never leave the area around the house. 

 

I too rarely see Westerners. I live out along Chaengwattana, hardly a dead end. We have everything, Government complex, TOT & CAT  headquarters, Thaipost center, Joint Chiefs of staff, three small army bases (did I mention safe?), lots of courts, DSI, hospitals, Central Dept Store, etc. 

 

The difference is Chaengwattana is not a tourist area. So maybe it's your view that's limited. You go where farang go.

 

As for change, Thai have probably changed less than many others. Their friendly, smiley nature is still in tack though maybe a bit more sophisticated. I still goof with them everywhere I go.

 

What has changed (around 2000 as mentioned above) is the tourist/bar scene as it grew from a fairly spontaneous homey style to a sleazier big money dark industry. I can remember when Pattaya was a sleepy seaside strip with a little bus stop and no one in it. I remember watching Patong Beach lay its first paved road along the beach.

 

As much as the rest of the world has changed, I think Thailand is a better deal now than ever, especially if you can break away from the tourist scene at least occasionally.  Learn Thai, it opens doors and hearts among other things. 

[johnnybangkok]

24 minutes ago, RSD1 said:

Ghetto has become a word used in modern English to define anywhere that has a collective of something. So, yes, Thonglor is a ghetto for the rich. 

That's not what it means at all. Or at least to the VAST majority of English speakers. 

ghet·to - a poor urban area occupied primarily by a minority group or groups.

Edited June 29 by johnnybangkok

[RSD1]

4 minutes ago, rabas said:

 

I too rarely see Westerners. I live out along Chaengwattana, hardly a dead end. We have everything, Government complex, TOT & CAT  headquarters, Thaipost center, Joint Chiefs of staff, three small army bases (did I mention safe?), lots of courts, DSI, hospitals, Central Dept Store, etc. 

 

The difference is Chaengwattana is not a tourist area. So maybe it's your view that's limited. You go where farang go.

 

As for change, Thai have probably changed less than many others. Their friendly, smiley nature is still in tack though maybe a bit more sophisticated. I still goof with them everywhere I go.

 

What has changed (around 2000 as mentioned above) is the tourist/bar scene as it grew from a fairly spontaneous homey style to a sleazier big money dark industry. I can remember when Pattaya was a sleepy seaside strip with a little bus stop and no one in it. I remember watching Patong Beach lay its first paved road along the beach.

 

As much as the rest of the world has changed, I think Thailand is a better deal now than ever, especially if you can break away from the tourist scene at least occasionally.  Learn Thai, it opens doors and hearts among other things. 

I know you don't mean to be condescending, but so many punters like you on AN who assume they are always talking at a Newb if they've been here for a minute. 
 

I've been to nearly every part of Bangkok imaginable. I don't live in a Soi Nowhere, thankfully, but I've seen many of them. They all get foreigners from time to time too. And I am happy to live where there is a greater concentration of expats, not because I want to be surrounded by them, but because it makes the services I want more readily available. Everything I need is within walking distance as a result. So it's an issue of convenience. 
 

Unfortunately most of us have been to Chaengwattana, many more times than we'd like to in fact. Thousands of foreigners going out there everyday for a bit more ink in their passports. 
 

First time I was in Phuket, Bangla Road was just dirt and not paved. The potholes could be daunting driving along on the GSXR I had rented. But the smiles of the girls back then made up for it. 
 

I also used to teach a course at a Thai university and in Thai 😉

[harryviking]

Strange. After 35 years of being a regular in Thailand, I cannot say I feel any difference at all. I smile, the Thais smile. Always polite where ever I go.  I stay 5+ months every year, even lived 5 years in Pattaya -85 to -92, and Koh Samui 2000 to 2005. I will continue to come to Thailand as I really feel relaxed there!🤗

[save the frogs]

Even if, for argument's sake, Thailand is not as great as it used to be 20 years ago, does it give someone the right to be a curmudgeon on AN and make everyone else miserable?

 

 

[bob smith]

4 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

Even if, for argument's sake, Thailand is not as great as it used to be 20 years ago, does it give someone the right to be a curmudgeon on AN and make everyone else miserable?

 

 

if you don't like it then don't read/comment on it!

 

why is it so hard for you to grasp that simple concept, frogs?

 

bob.

Edited June 29 by bob smith

[Acharn]

When I was stationed in Sattahip, in the Army in 1973, the kingdom was like the American frontier. Everybody was confident, optimistic, free. Lots of land was available, as the Thai Army deforested the Northeast. The country still dominated the culture. At least half the people in Bangkok only stayed there for three months at a time. Thaksin did a lot of good stuff around 2000. His sister did a lot of good stuff. Now we're just a couple of years out from a repressive coup/military dictatorship under a humorless, fun-hating man. People haven't had time to adjust. I like it almost as well now as I did in 1973.

Edited June 29 by Acharn

[Gottfrid]

23 hours ago, RSD1 said:

How about "From baller to letcher, my true life story" by BS bob smith. 

Looks to me he got a few balls left, right Bob?

 

[RSD1]

7 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Looks to me he got a few balls left, right Bob?

 

Most people either go for smart or clever, but you've decided not to go for either one. Congratulations, very original.

[Gottfrid]

2 minutes ago, RSD1 said:

Most people either go for smart or clever, but you've decided not to go for either one. Congratulations, very original.

Just for just information mini man, i will go wherever I tell me, just to shut you up. Please we don´d me the more info out of a keyboard warrior the just like to stay home, right?

[RSD1]

2 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Just for just information mini man, i will go wherever I tell me, just to shut you up. Please we don´d me the more info out of a keyboard warrior the just like to stay home, right?

Doubling down illiterate. Nice!

[Gottfrid]

1 minute ago, RSD1 said:

Doubling down illiterate. Nice!

Place, time?

[Gottfrid]

Just now, Gottfrid said:

Place, time?

Considerate travelling time?

[RSD1]

1 minute ago, Gottfrid said:

Considerate travelling time?

FUBAR

[bob smith]

7 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Considerate travelling time?

,,,if you two carry on i'll deck ya both now shut it

 

bob.

[rickudon]

Yes, i guess it has changed. Also i am older now. In 2008 to 2010, didn't have to go looking for girls, they found me.... would get chatted up every couple of weeks. Every one was very helpful. 

Then i got married, so that cut down my socialising. Also, rather than  attracting attention, just another person. Certainly in Udon the number of farang rose about 50% between 2008 and 2012, or at least seemed too. A mixture of socialising less, farang no longer special, more money after Yingluck raise the basic wage, exchange rate for us went down, and so we spent less. No longer quite as desirable.

 

In the last 10 years, the main changes in the suburbs/villages near to city, has been an explosion of house building, cars, flowers in gardens instead of just chickens, and less litter. Thais are wealthier. The Lao khao alcoholics have mainly died off. Infrastructure has evolved - fibre internet, mains water, more reliable electric, street lighting and most sois now concrete or tarmac. And 7-11, lotus express everywhere.

 

Provincial Thailand is becoming more like the west.

[jts-khorat]

On 6/28/2024 at 11:36 AM, bob smith said:

Ok.

 

what are the positives of living in Thailand in 2024?

 

list them all.

 

bob.

 

This, my, list has not changed since 1998.

- the culture

- the people

- the food

- the weather

 

I am currently living back in Germany and visit only one month a year, so I certainly see the contrast. Still, if I would not be happy internally, I also could get riled up endlessly.

 

Maybe, @bob, try to avoid that. Whereever you go, you carry yourself in your head -- as we all do. Fix this and things will fix themselves.

[EVENKEEL]

22 hours ago, bob smith said:

,,,if you two carry on i'll deck ya both now shut it

 

bob.

This is why it's so healthy to leave Thailand every now and again, just to regroup and realign your thoughts about Thailand.  Take a month and go back to the good ole US of A for some perspective. I guarantee you'll come back refreshed with a new mind set.

[Chris Daley]

I moved here and started working, got a tefl, went to university, worked while studying, graduated, continued working more 12 hour days.  I have nothing but hatred.

[josephbloggs]

2 hours ago, Chris Daley said:

I moved here and started working, got a tefl, went to university, worked while studying, graduated, continued working more 12 hour days.  I have nothing but hatred.

Sorry to hear your life sucks. I'm pretty sure the blame doesn't lie with Thailand or the Thai people.

[bob smith]

14 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Sorry to hear your life sucks. I'm pretty sure the blame doesn't lie with Thailand or the Thai people.

...I'm pretty sure that it plays a big part!

 

bob.

[StreetCowboy]

On 6/28/2024 at 5:17 PM, John Drake said:

I live in a part of Bangkok where I may not see another Westerner for six months or so. I've been here since 2010. The encounters I have with Thai people haven't changed at all. In fact, the more I learn to adapt, the better it gets, year after year.

I agree. You don’t need to ‘go bush’ to become local.  The people you meet every day will learn how you are, and the people you don’t meet every day will treat you with a smile same as they meet any stranger.  And probably slightly happier if you avoid any faux pas.

I guess it also depends how much time you spend in your neighbourhood.  

Some people seem to be forever racing off to the beach, or the mountains, or the islands.  If you don’t appreciate your neighbourhood, you start off on the back foot with your neighbours.