Less-Refined Farang: Are Farang in Asia now less refined than before?

[georgegeorgia]

2 hours ago, jippytum said:

Thailand still has some nice people to visit.  Thankfully not too many moaners like the poster who probably resides in a tourist location but finds some tourists 

enjoying their holiday annoying

 

Oh theres no need to be condescending 

The OP is a veteran poster of over 25 years service to the community 

[renaissanc]

In my 40 years in Thailand, I have rarely interacted with foreigners here. Occasionally, I meet a foreigner at Immigration or Tesco Lotus, but that's all. Going by the online Forums there are many I would not like to meet because of their rudeness and lack of empathy towards people in distress. I did not use to encounter such behaviour in the 1980s and 1990s even on the Bangkok Post Forum, which has turned into a cesspit of undesirables. I live in a quiet village with 28 loving cats and I'm happy here.

[cjinchiangrai]

20 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Did you ever happen to meet any members of the Biddle family of Philadelphia during your school years?

 

 

He loved boxing.

His idea was to instill character in his progeny through engagement in the art of boxing.

Great book!

 

I read it decades ago, when I happened to find an old dusty copy in a used book store in Taipei.

Don't know what happened to that book.

I had the hardcover published  way back when....

 

 

This book was redone as a musical in "The Happiest Millionaire".

 

The OP is more snobbish nonsense from a prolific whiner.

[GammaGlobulin]

3 hours ago, cjinchiangrai said:

 

This book was redone as a musical in "The Happiest Millionaire".

 

The OP is more snobbish nonsense from a prolific whiner.

 

I will watch it...but....

Maybe not on YT.

 

Thank you.

 

[rickudon]

OP sounds like one character we used to have in Udon Thani. Used to bemoan that farangs dressed improperly when going out, especially when going to government offices. Said we should wear proper leather shoes, long socks, long trousers, button up shirt and a jacket! Hell i am retired, on permanent holiday and the temperature is often in the mid 30s centigrade. I wear for comfort. Sandals, shorts, proper short sleeved shirt. That's it.

 

Udon Thani does tend to have more 'blue collar' retirees than some other places, but there are interesting intellects to be found, if you look in the right places. Just need a few more Bridge players!

[Expat68]

11 hours ago, rickudon said:

OP sounds like one character we used to have in Udon Thani. Used to bemoan that farangs dressed improperly when going out, especially when going to government offices. Said we should wear proper leather shoes, long socks, long trousers, button up shirt and a jacket! Hell i am retired, on permanent holiday and the temperature is often in the mid 30s centigrade. I wear for comfort. Sandals, shorts, proper short sleeved shirt. That's it.

 

Udon Thani does tend to have more 'blue collar' retirees than some other places, but there are interesting intellects to be found, if you look in the right places. Just need a few more Bridge players!

Or Chess players?

[newnative]

The World's less refined.

[Expat68]

6 minutes ago, newnative said:

The World's less refined.

Agree. Will never go back to how it used to be

[black tabby12345]

Quantity turns into quality.

But in case of tourists' influx, often looks like the opposite applies.

More comes in, the greater numbers of riff raffs as well.

 

 

[fondue zoo]

Yes, I hear a lot more spoon against the china these days while the newcomers slurp their soup, disgusting.

 

 

[jwest10]

On 12/23/2024 at 11:03 AM, renaissanc said:

In my 40 years in Thailand, I have rarely interacted with foreigners here. Occasionally, I meet a foreigner at Immigration or Tesco Lotus, but that's all. Going by the online Forums there are many I would not like to meet because of their rudeness and lack of empathy towards people in distress. I did not use to encounter such behaviour in the 1980s and 1990s even on the Bangkok Post Forum, which has turned into a cesspit of undesirables. I live in a quiet village with 28 loving cats and I'm happy here.

28 cats!! WOW

[Nid_Noi]

7 hours ago, Expat68 said:

Agree. Will never go back to how it used to be

It’s called lack of self-esteem and respect for others. Just watch pictures or movies from the late 1800s or early 1900s. Blue collar workers leaving the factories or employees punching the clock wore white shirts, ties and hats. People would put their best suits and dresses to walk through the parks. Women wore long dresses never leaving their home without her hat.

[Nid_Noi]

 

This movie was done in 1896 by Lumière. He was colorized and sound was added  almost 60 years later.

But notice how adults and children were nicely dressed. And this is a local train in Provence (La Ciotat) where the weather is sunny and balmy.

People would dress to go to church or to the fair.

Even poor immigrants would dress to travel by boat even in steerage. They wanted to show their best to immigration officers when landing in New York.

 

https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/overview-history/

 

In the 1950s and 60s you would have never boarded a commercial aircraft in shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. 
Nowadays, even in business class, some passengers are not much covered than going to the beach. I remember a trip from New York to Bangkok via Tokyo some 20 years ago. A group of American teenage girls (posh school students I suppose) boarded the flight with tiny hot pants and bras as tops. Some were fat (not to say obese) but wanted to match their friends’ attires. Flight attendants had to give them blankets to cover up so they did not freeze for the 24 hour trip.

They had to buy sweaters in Tokyo otherwise ANA would not have allowed the group to board the flight to Don Mueang.

[daejung]

On 12/22/2024 at 1:59 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

Dear Farang Friends,

 

Are we Farang in Asia, as a whole, far less refined than we once were,...say about three decades ago?

 

For example, I still recall, and even shudder to this day, a small group of Farang “teachers” I happened upon ten years ago, on the campus of Sichuan University.

 

This bunch of Farang teachers were sitting outside one of the classroom buildings drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, and gabbing away in broken English.  They were illkempt and rather rundown and dirty looking.

 

At the time, I was in horror standing near them for a while, and I quickly hurried away. Still, I can’t seem to get their memory out of my mind.

 

All too often, I seem to meet up with these types of individuals who seemingly are unaware that they are not representing their home countries in the proper way.  Why don’t they just stay home if they can’t behave properly?  And, one wonders about their education and their family background, too?

 

Here in Thailand, I have stopped going out so much, just to avoid encountering these low-class types.

 

I will tell you that three or four decades ago, while living in Taiwan, and in Japan, most of the Farang I met had presumably been sent to Asia by their multi-national companies.  By the looks of those guys, I would have said that they were CEOs, or something.  Or, at least they must have been upper-level execs.  And, they knew how to dress.  And they knew how to offer their business cards when meeting others here in Asia.  These days, nobody offers me their card when they meet me at the mall, or in a coffee shop, or on campus, either.

 

What, I do wonder, must the local Thai people think of us?  Because, certainly, I do not think much of us.

 

Truly, as one who has spent most of my life in Asia, I can say that this gradual shift from meeting high-class Farang to now meeting rather low-class Farang is not a welcome change for me. And, for another thing, this evolution has meant that I rarely meet anyone I would enjoy talking to, unlike decades ago.  I miss those days, in fact.

 

Fortunately, there are places to meet the high-class guys, if one looks on-line.  This is why I like to read and post comments on TV, TV being just one venue where I can find like-minded people who share a similar upper-middle class background.

 

But, out on the street, in Thailand?  Forget about it!  99.99-percent of the Farang I see look alien to me.

 

Where once I used to see guys in Bermuda shorts, now I see Farang in cargo pants, and it's as if this new crew can’t even speak English right.

 

It’s not as if I would not like to get out more and socialize with Farang, because I would.  It’s just that after searching for the first several years after arriving in Thailand, without success, I think the much more refined Farang no longer comes to Asia.

 

Have you also noticed this marked shift since the good old days?

 

This is really just so sad….

I think.

 

Best regards,

Gamma

Same in France, young french people don't care about the way they dreess and look. Young Italian look better !

[Kevin_Beethoven]

On 12/22/2024 at 1:59 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

All too often, I seem to meet up with these types of individuals who seemingly are unaware that they are not representing their home countries in the proper way.  Why don’t they just stay home if they can’t behave properly?  And, one wonders about their education and their family background, too?

This too concerns me as I prepare for a working vacation to BKK.
But really I know the writing is on the wall. As I searched on YouTube for information on BKK, all I could find was how to live on a pittance in BKK and still have fun.
Worse still are the posts on how groups of Indians club their money together to go all in on a group shag of a prostitute in order to save money (even commenting on the "bonus" shag to be had by all in the morning).

 

Probably its age-related. I was a backpacker for couple of years out of college but these days I find them irritating.

Couple years ago I met up with a friend in Tokyo. For some incomprehensible reason he brought along 2 European backpackers to dinner with us.

After dinner they argued that I needed to pay more based on their calculation. I said, I couldn't care less and paid for the whole dinner.

Later we went to a bar and they were counting up coins to pay for their drinks. Again I felt so sorry for them I paid the bill myself. Just embarrassing all the way round.

 

So, I will do my best to avoid these situations. As one poster said, just head to the high class places. This is what I am optimistic for BKK - i am hoping to be able to frequent top class venues for a fraction of the price found in Tokyo, Shanghai, HK, etc.

 

I suppose I will do a reconnaissance of Soi-Cowboy and other such places in order to be informed.

 

But, to the OP's point, and with no experience of BKK myself, I would hope there is a high class, top notch experience to be had away from the YouTuber, backpacker, Social-Security brigade.

 

 

[TedG]

5 minutes ago, Kevin_Beethoven said:

Worse still are the posts on how groups of Indians club their money together to go all in on a group shag of a prostitute in order to save money (even commenting on the "bonus" shag to be had by all in the morning).

 

 

It happens.  I once saw three Indians in Pattaya negotiating with a street walker on Beach Road, which is a gross thought.