What happened to you, Thailand?

[bob smith]

13 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

Dont call me -

I wasn't planning on doing.

 

EVER!

 

bob.

[RSD1]

18 hours ago, John Drake said:

I live in a part of Bangkok where I may not see another Westerner for six months or so.

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. 

[simon43]

7 minutes 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. 

Bet his guide/seeing eye dog notices the Westerners 🙂

[Andyfez]

You'll probably find that hawker couldn't understand you in Thai either.

[bob smith]

1 minute ago, Andyfez said:

You'll probably find that hawker couldn't understand you in Thai either.

...she complained about me not buying anything in Thai.

 

bob.

[Rumpelstilskin]

18 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Affordable .....

Housing, restaurants, women, utilities, divorce.

It isn't Iran, Russia, Ukraine,Haiti, Burma, N Korea, Iraq or USA. People here are lovely sweet and kind. Some ain't, but that isn't news.

[RSD1]

22 minutes ago, bob smith said:

...she complained about me not buying anything in Thai.

 

bob.

bob (key neow) smith

[bob smith]

1 minute ago, Rumpelstilskin said:

People here are lovely sweet and kind.

...only on the surface.

 

or when you are paying the bill.

 

bob.

[thaibeachlovers]

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.

[richard_smith237]

31 minutes ago, bob smith said:

...she complained about me not buying anything in Thai.

After that interaction do you reckon she also went online & stated all foreigners are bad ??? 🤔
 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

50 minutes 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. 

Rubbish. Plenty of places in Bkk that don't have farangs. You have to look for them though, which is why they don't have farangs.

 

How many farangs live in Klong Toey, or China Town?

 

Even been up river far as the river bus goes, or to the end of one of the big canals? I had a GF that lived at the end of a canal and you wouldn't find any farangs up there either.

[RSD1]

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

How many farangs live in Klong Toey, or China Town?

Over 30 years ago I lived in a small, crappy little building at the end of a winding Soi in Khlongtoey close to the big filthy market. I wasn't living there for more than 2 weeks before meeting a bunch of Scandinavians also living in the building. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, bob smith said:

I am not the only foreigner living in Thailand that has had bad experiences lately.

 

bob.

True, but most of us put it down to experience and moved on. Unless someone that believed the myth and bought her a house, a car, and paid for multiple sick buffaloes, then found themselves living alone in a very small airless room in a grotty soi off Buakahao.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, RSD1 said:

Over 30 years ago I lived in a small, crappy little building at the end of a winding Soi in Khlongtoey close to the big filthy market. I wasn't living there for more than 2 weeks before meeting a bunch of Scandinavians also living in the building. 

Thanks for that. Have to say I'm a bit surprised that you were still alive after 2 weeks though, or at least robbed of everything you owned and dumped in a canal.

 

I walked through it once and that was enough for me. I didn't see any other farangs while there.

[RSD1]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Thanks for that. Have to say I'm a bit surprised that you were still alive after 2 weeks though, or at least robbed of everything you owned and dumped in a canal.

 

I walked through it once and that was enough for me. I didn't see any other farangs while there.

I wasn't actually in the slum area of Khlongtoey, but it was still pretty unappealing actually and there were a number of roughnecks around. I was attacked once by some drunk local neighbors. I was really lucky I didn't get badly hurt. But I was also attacked once in a really good neighborhood in Bangkok by a guy who wanted my phone. So it can happen anywhere. That attack was worse. I was injured, but again I got pretty lucky. 

[marin]

1 hour 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. 

You are a funny newbie. 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Thailand has changed enormously over all those years. Many more people, hitherto quiet beauty spots now swamped by visitors, traffic appalling in Bangkok. However, the food is still great, the girls are still lovely, and the famous Thai smile still exists. All things considered I would rather be here, in my old age, than anywhere else.

It has indeed. Back in the 70s I was up the top of the Golden Mount and mostly shophouses to be seen.

 

I assure you traffic was just as bad in Bkk in the 70s. I got on a bus and 10 minutes later got off as we had moved not a millimeter. Quicker to walk. The Skytrain has made Bkk far more livable than in the 70s.

 

IMO the smile died last century. It all changed when Thaksin was PM. Corruption became out of control, the farang night scene was destroyed and never recovered.

 

 

All things considered I would rather be here, in my old age, than anywhere else.

As would I. It's the greatest tragedy of my life that my dream of living there till I die never came to pass.

[georgegeorgia]

4 minutes ago, marin said:

You are a funny newbie. 

You Marin are even calling the pot calling the kettle black or whatever the saying is !

 

Marin, What is the saying and what is the origin ?

 

[RSD1]

4 minutes ago, marin said:

You are a funny newbie. 

ok

[RSD1]

6 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO the smile died last century. It all changed when Thaksin was PM. Corruption became out of control, the farang night scene was destroyed and never recovered.

Agree. They also killed street food and knocked down lots of old buildings which gave many of the neighborhoods some grit and charm.
 

Those who were here in the eighties and nineties (pre Internet) know how great it was. Anyone who arrived after 2001/911 has no real point of reference as they all came once the Starbucks signs were already up and the gentrification and vanalaization had already started. 

[BritManToo]

16 minutes ago, RSD1 said:

Agree. They also killed street food and knocked down lots of old buildings which gave many of the neighborhoods some grit and charm.
 

Those who were here in the eighties and nineties (pre Internet) know how great it was. Anyone who arrived after 2001/911 has no real point of reference as they all came once the Starbucks signs were already up and the gentrification and vanalaization had already started. 

There's street food everywhere in Chiang Mai.

Plenty of old buildings as well.

 

I like it here the way it is now, when I first came in 2009, internet was slow, True was the only real TV choice, mobile phone coverage was poor. Now I have high speed internet, can download any tv series/movie/book I want, google maps works everywhere, coffee shops all over starting at 25bht.

 

Some things change, usually for the better.

[John Drake]

1 hour 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. 

 

Not so hard to imagine. I just don't live roped into a ghetto where I've been led to believe that Westerners are  so important that you can't imagine a place without them. 

[fondue zoo]

19 hours ago, save the frogs said:

a lot of westerners have a superiority complex 

the locals pick up on that

 

 

That's true, I can feel their disdain now when I arrive on my canopied sedan chair at the local 7/11.

 

[Stevemercer]

I have only lived in Thailand for 10 years. To my mind, everything/people are much the same. I live in a small rural town - no tourists, but a dozen or so foreigners live locally.

 

People still smile and are generally helpful. I've never encountered 'farang pricing' locally and most peple go out of their way to show hospitality.

 

On the bigger picture, I think Thailand is doomed to keep repeating history because people don't learn from past mistakes. They keep trying the same old things, electing the same old people, and hoping things will get better. I think Thailand is the lucky country, despite shooting themselves in the foot all the time, the country will continue to do ok, but it will never get anywhere near its full potential without allowing innovation and change.

 

From an outsider's perspectiveit is hard to see why the military is held in such high esteem. To my knowledge, they have never won a war. Wasn't it the military who forced the monarchy to give up executive power and for the country to become a constitutional monarchy earlier last century?

 

 

[cdemundo]

20 hours ago, bob smith said:

..a friendly word of warning, this is going to be a long winded post. mods, before you close my thread please remember that these are my own experiences that I am posting about and that they are valid, even if they do not align with your own!

 

With that out of the way, let's get down to it.

 

When I first moved to thailand many, many moons ago, it was a vibrant place, full of happy go lucky people enjoying themselves. It was such a blessing to be here and I thoroughly enjoyed the first few years in (what was back then worthy of the name) the land of smiles.

 

I started to notice some big changes around 2013, especially with regards to peoples attitudes toward farang.

Then when the coup hit things slowly started going downhill.

 

Now the Thailand that I live in is unrecognizable to me.

everyone seems stressed, nobody is smiling and the locals seem to have zero patience for farangs in general.

 

Just today I was in a tourist ghetto meeting a friend of mine I haven't seen in a while.

I was sat at my table enjoying a nice cold beer when a hawker walked past and plonked her stuff on my table.

I politely said no thanks in english and smiled.

She persisted.

Then I said the same in Thai, to which she reacted angrily, and gave me the 'oiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii' and stormed off.

I did nothing wrong, other than said no thank you.

 

what has happened to the Thai people?

are they all stressed out because of money?

is it because their politics are a mess?

is it social media that is influencing how they feel about us?

It certainly is not the place that I remember when I first came here. It has now changed beyond almost all recognition. 

Most thais on the street completely avoid eye contact when they see a farang walking without their mask on.

some even cross over to the other side of the road, or at the least move as far away from them as possible.

 

my honest opinion is I think they are terrified of us.

a combination of negative media portrayals recently and the fact that farangs don't like to wear masks has shaped their current perception of us.

 

Pre 2013 I can count on one hand the amount of times I had a bad experience in Thailand,

now it is almost daily..

 

Also It seems that the economy is in dire straights. So many closed shops, roller shutters down, boarded up buildings etc. Once bustling areas of famous tourist hot-spots now seem to be on their knees. Something just doesn't seem right.

 

How about you? do your experiences align with mine? if not, then do tell me where you are having positive encounters with locals because, as someone who travels around Thailand a lot, I would love to know where this utopia is.

 

bob.

 

 

Intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.

The problem is you.

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, bob smith said:

see, it aint just me!

 

have you ever thought that these foreigners complaining have every right to do so when they see what is going on around them?

 

bob.

 

True - there are also other foreigners who complain a lot.

 

Some are just outright negative characters who'll shoe-horn a negative out of a positive.

 

Others discuss and complain about valid issues, many of those complaints and discussions mirror what the Thai's also find objectionable.

 

 

Some on these forums are unable to distinguish a valid complaint / discussion with relentless and unwarranted Thai-bashing... then there is the 'this is place is perfect brigade' who won't hear a negative word said against Thailand.

 

In between these extremes of opinion is healthy balance which may vary depending on location, time spent here, life out-look etc...  you often get out what you put in.

 

The opinions of some become easily tainted - the mistake some may make is allowing a couple of negative experiences tarnish being here.

 

 

I complain about how authorities do very little towards safety here, particularly road safety - but that negative opinion of one facet of Thailand does not extend across the whole of Thailand - this is where you are being heavily criticised bob, you allow yourself to draw a generalised opinion based on the individual negative encounters and experiences while completely ignoring the positive aspects of life here.

 

For most foreigners living here there is a 'net positive' - we recognise and live with Thailands faults, we also recognise faults in our home nations....  But all in all, we like it here and stay here because of this 'net positive'....     

 

You on the other hand seem to be living here in a complete deficit of any enjoyment or positive experiences - either that, or you are so locked into your negative Thai rhetoric that you refuse to discuss any positives on this forum.

 

 

 

[RSD1]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

There's street food everywhere in Chiang Mai.

Plenty of old buildings as well.

 

I like it here the way it is now, when I first came in 2009, internet was slow, True was the only real TV choice, mobile phone coverage was poor. Now  have high speed internet, can download any tv series/movie/book I want, google maps works everywhere, coffee shops all over starting at 25bht.

 

Some things change, usually for the better.

The BMA has been destroying the charm of old Bangkok for the last 25 years trying to make it look more like Singapore, which it never can/will be. 

Yes, 30 years ago the internet was shiite, mobile phone signals were also shiite, TVs were very small and expensive, new books were too expensive, VHS tapes were the way to go, cable TV programming was hopeless, no online hotel booking, no maps, no online reviews, couldn't find a decent croissant anywhere, there was hardly any edible yogurt, traffic was unbearable, no mass transit, buses belched black diesel smoke into the sky, two stroke motorcycles burning oil, a dollar only got you 25 Baht, but fark me, everything was cheap as chips and the place was fantastic. I would turn the clock back in a heartbeat!

[Fat is a type of crazy]

I went from my airconditioned hotel with pool to my air conditioned restaurant for a nice cold beer with a friend and some hawker working hard in the hot sun all day carrying heavy stuff put their stuff down near me, showed no deference, and was annoyed I didn't buy her stuff. Thailand is terrible now. Boo hoo. 

[richard_smith237]

1 hour ago, RSD1 said:

20 hours ago, John Drake said:

I live in a part of Bangkok where I may not see another Westerner for six months or so.

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. 

 

Thats the 'Livingstone complex'...   When Westerners want to be the only ones... 

 

Its rather delusional...   and in Bangkok, its impossible that someone does not see another Western face unless, as you mention they are a complete hermit.

 

 

 

 

 

[RSD1]

18 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Some things change, usually for the better.

Can't say I agree. Electronics and appliances are cheaper, great. Faster internet, nice! Mass transit helps. The rest, I really couldn't give a toss. I still much prefer the old Thailand.