On 9/19/2025 at 1:26 AM, Sig said:

But the show I saw was almost more like an invitation to enjoy Thailand

Yep.

Thats why they were allowed by the Thai authorities to do it.

Reminds me of a show about "overtourism" that I watched last week: A commercial for Mallorca and Phuket.

20 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Hysterical, in fact....

 

You mentioned that you must get back to work.

What type of work is it that you do, if I might be so bold to ask...

 

 

 

I used the word 'work' , I am a retired freelance software engineer. UK, Germany, Sweden, Holland, Denmark, USA.

 

But I still write my own iPhone apps and put them on the App Store for sale, it is interesting, keeps my brain active and allows me to keep on learning new things on a daily basis.

 

Living in Thailand we have to find such things to do as we can only walk on the beach, go for a beer, restaurant etc so many times  before it becomes monotonous. 

 

I 'work' from home and I am free to do as I please with no team pressure, my development system is under my own control.

 

That is the reason I write comments on this blog as I take breaks now and then as I wish to do something simple to give my brain a rest for ten minutes plus some of the characters who live in a pretend world on this blog make me laugh.

 

I do get offers of work in the UK and USA etc, my first thought is that is interesting, then I think of having to go into work, team pressures, good money but time would be ticking away.

 

Time is now more important than extra money to me so I turn the jobs down.

 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, Maxbkkcm said:

But Asia is obssesed with consumption and money. They want those, not the frugalist or backpacker. 

 

Not Japan.

 

Also, in Taiwan, everyone lives in unheated hovels.

 

4 hours ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

Living in Thailand we have to find such things to do as we can only walk on the beach, go for a beer, restaurant etc so many times  before it becomes monotonous. 

 

So then...

You are fluent in Thai, already, after having been coming to Thailand since 1987?

 

Barely anyone in the UK has watched this. It's not on their mainstream channel. 

 

They are constantly doing documentaries like this, sensationalised, be it Dubai, America, etc

 

 

On 9/20/2025 at 6:18 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

 

So then...

You are fluent in Thai, already, after having been coming to Thailand since 1987?

 

 

I can speak English, German but that is no use and some French, also useless.

 

Thai, no not fluent, it is a waste of time trying to be fluent as I do not work here, Phuket is international and so the banks etc speak English in order to be able to speak to all the tourists from around the world.

 

Hence they would speak English to Germans, Swedes, Indians etc, some Thai sales people do speak some Chineses, phrases I think.

 

I remember being in Portugal, a woman spoke English, Portuguese, French, German, Spanish and Dutch, she was selling french fries.

 

It is much more interesting and a better financially to learn programming languages in my case.

 

I have not met a farang who is fluent in Thai, so many farangs claim to be fluent but what I have seen is they only have the ability to spout out a few sentences, I have never met one who is able to read a technical/professional document.

 

I used to go to an Australian bar in Phuket where a lot of farangs would meet up weekly, the owner of the bar was in Phuket on a student visa and was learning Thai three days a week at a school.

 

He laughed and said it is still a waste of time as all of the girls working at the bar including his wife were from Issan and so spoke Loas.

 

1 hour ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

French, also useless.

 

Yes.

Agree,

 

French is mostly useless, these days, except....

 

Good for places like Quebec City.

 

21 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

 

Yes.

Agree,

 

French is mostly useless, these days, except....

 

Good for places like Quebec City.

 

 

Or North Africa or Chad etc 😀

On 9/20/2025 at 7:17 PM, DonniePeverley said:

Barely anyone in the UK has watched this. It's not on their mainstream channel. 

 

They are constantly doing documentaries like this, sensationalised, be it Dubai, America, etc

 

 

 

Such documentaries are not taken seriously I think.

 

Imagine doing a snapshot of the legalised brothels in Germany which sit on industrial estates near all major cities and then making it look like it is the norm and all Germans behave in that way. 

 

Or even the brothels in Hamburg's Reeperbahn.

 

Its 500 bars and nightclubs attract 30 million visitors a year.

 

The prostitutes operate in the open but do not represent Germany as a whole.

 

Same for Amsterdam.

 

Some states in the USA have open prostituion I think?

 

1 hour ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

 

Such documentaries are not taken seriously I think.

 

Imagine doing a snapshot of the legalised brothels in Germany which sit on industrial estates near all major cities and then making it look like it is the norm and all Germans behave in that way. 

 

Or even the brothels in Hamburg's Reeperbahn.

 

Its 500 bars and nightclubs attract 30 million visitors a year.

 

The prostitutes operate in the open but do not represent Germany as a whole.

 

Same for Amsterdam.

 

Some states in the USA have open prostituion I think?

 

Only in Nevada and only in some counties.

On 9/19/2025 at 4:00 PM, Cameroni said:

 

You pay for your woman like everyone else, you hypocrite and liar.

 

Stop pretending you're special.  You're not.

Plenty of Thai women pay their own way, and some even financially support their farang bf. Paying for your Thai gf isn't universal.

On 9/17/2025 at 7:58 AM, Peter Crow said:

"Purported corruption"...

So you've never been stopped by MIB or customs never caused you a problem? 

It ranks 107 out of 180 on corruption index. 

On 9/19/2025 at 3:05 PM, JamesPhuket10 said:

 

Yes, Thailand has a very clear set of social levels, most of the farangs will never see this as they only deal with the lower level in general as far as I have seen, but there are some exceptions.

 

I live on a gated private road estate with about 350 detached houses, 99% of the people living in it are Thai, it seems both husband and wives work, not a bar girls in site, all decent hard working Thai families.

 

I remember going to dinner with an Australian once and he introduced me to four of his friends , various Western nationalities, who all knew each other well.

 

They were talking about how much they give their Thai wives who were all from Issan, the car they had bought them, the house they had build on her land in the sticks in the middle of nowhere, the money they gave to the wife's family etc, they said, " you know the normal".

 

I said that is not normal, I said as far as I can see most of the Thais I had mixed with is where couples both work and contribute, I said I do not give an allowance to my Thai partner as she has her own income, property etc, and as far as sending money to the extended family I said I had never heard of it.

 

They thought I was lying, I just laughed to myself.

 

They also told me of how their wives like to party and booze, get drunk etc, "you know as most Thai women do" they said, I just laughed to myself as I was not going to waste my time with them.

 

I also laugh when the farangs talk big and then leave on a motorbike.

 

Good to hear some common sense...an American i know who had being paying out big money to his thai girl friend, ridiculed the thai couple living next door in the housing estate for their cheap car they had...a month later the thai couple bought a Bentley , and that certainly put the loud mouth yank back in his place...

9 minutes ago, Dont confuse me said:

So you've never been stopped by MIB or customs never caused you a problem? 

It ranks 107 out of 180 on corruption index. 

Never in 20 years. What are you up to if you have encounters with them? I got pulled over once for doing a U turn on a red light and paid a fine. That's the only encounter I have ever had, and it was all done legitimately, no bribes.

The floozy the BBC chose to do the reporting will go on to do a click bait report on the Dominican Republic. She will feast on local black bamboo, then tell the World predatory white men are abusing local women for money, while she of course only travelled to learn salsa and Spanish.

15 minutes ago, Johno57 said:

Good to hear some common sense...an American i know who had being paying out big money to his thai girl friend, ridiculed the thai couple living next door in the housing estate for their cheap car they had...a month later the thai couple bought a Bentley , and that certainly put the loud mouth yank back in his place...

 Ridiculing someone for their cheap car - speaks volumes about that guy and his 'standard' or class!

Where can I watch this thing online? 

Due to the backlash, decided to watch this and found there was absolutely nothing inaccurate. The only thing I would say is it focused on Moon Party and Phuket so obviously its not representative of all of Thailand. That said, these places are where a lot if not most visitors come to visit. I had to laugh when the Real Estate women showed a highest of the high end dream house in the country and says "obviously Thailand is not a 3rd World Country" or "the Dangers of Thailand".  Maybe not but one house does not make the case.

 

Probably I would give the film another title like "some things you maybe didn't know about Thailand".  The criticisms of the presenter really wanting to paint an ugly picture of Thailand are real unfounded. I wont develop the laundry list here but she could have easily done so if that was her objective.

 

 

34 minutes ago, Ebumbu said:

Where can I watch this thing online? 

 

Dailymotion

12 hours ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

I have not met a farang who is fluent in Thai, so many farangs claim to be fluent but what I have seen is they only have the ability to spout out a few sentences, I have never met one who is able to read a technical/professional document.

 

This is simply a function of the circles you move in. and to be fair I imagine it is the common experience of most on this forum.You can see from the forum content that many (most?) are current or former sex tourists.There always was an element but its influence has increased in recent years.I could not possibly comment on why this might be so. It's a shame really - at one time 

it was possible to have a serious discussion  on Thai politics.Not so now. 

 

Anyway I know several farang who speak, read and write excellent Thai.Most but not all are either academics or development specialists.

 

The criticism of the melodramatic BBC programmes is ridiculous.No sane person would argue they were meant to be representative of Thailand.It only focused on the beaches/sex tourist/yobbo lads and prostitution.Perhaps why so many members of the forum have been affronted - the presenters had the temerity to enter into their territory.

The story about that Valium is maybe the most freighting of all.

1 hour ago, praguecr said:

Due to the backlash, decided to watch this and found there was absolutely nothing inaccurate. The only thing I would say is it focused on Moon Party and Phuket so obviously its not representative of all of Thailand. That said, these places are where a lot if not most visitors come to visit. I had to laugh when the Real Estate women showed a highest of the high end dream house in the country and says "obviously Thailand is not a 3rd World Country" or "the Dangers of Thailand".  Maybe not but one house does not make the case.

 

Probably I would give the film another title like "some things you maybe didn't know about Thailand".  The criticisms of the presenter really wanting to paint an ugly picture of Thailand are real unfounded. I wont develop the laundry list here but she could have easily done so if that was her objective.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, jayboy said:

 

This is simply a function of the circles you move in. and to be fair I imagine it is the common experience of most on this forum.You can see from the forum content that many (most?) are current or former sex tourists.There always was an element but its influence has increased in recent years.I could not possibly comment on why this might be so. It's a shame really - at one time 

it was possible to have a serious discussion  on Thai politics.Not so now. 

 

Anyway I know several farang who speak, read and write excellent Thai.Most but not all are either academics or development specialists.

 

The criticism of the melodramatic BBC programmes is ridiculous.No sane person would argue they were meant to be representative of Thailand.It only focused on the beaches/sex tourist/yobbo lads and prostitution.Perhaps why so many members of the forum have been affronted - the presenters had the temerity to enter into their territory.

 

"This is simply a function of the circles you move in. and to be fair I imagine it is the common experience of most on this forum."

 

In my case, professional, educated Thais do speak very good English as it is the world language, it is hardly worth us trying to learn Thai to that level, after all there are thousands of languages in the world, English being the most significant so why bother with the other languages, educated Thais seem to follow the same reasoning.

 

If German for example was the world language then I would be fluent is that as would the educated Thais, but as I already know English there is no point. 

 

I can speak German to a certain standard as I worked in Germany for a number of years but outside of the country the language is useless, in fact it was almost useless in Germany as many Germans would speak to me in English as they felt proud of knowing the world language. 

 

Discussion on Thai politics? You are joking, my Thai partner is always on about the government and what they are up to, she never stops, well that is a bit of an overstatement but you get my drift.

 

As far as the program being representative of the facts, it make no difference, forty million people a year have been visiting the country for decades, most are couples, groups and families and they know what they have experienced here.

 

I see what you mean about the affront of many people on this forum, if I mention bar girls etc in a negative way I get all sorts of abuse sent my way, but it does make me laugh. 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Oz82 said:

Plenty of Thai women pay their own way, and some even financially support their farang bf. Paying for your Thai gf isn't universal.

 

You are wasting your time replying to the idiot you replied to,  he is one of those guys who moves in girly bar circles and thinks it is the norm, I gave up replying to him a while ago.

4 hours ago, Johno57 said:

Good to hear some common sense...an American i know who had being paying out big money to his thai girl friend, ridiculed the thai couple living next door in the housing estate for their cheap car they had...a month later the thai couple bought a Bentley , and that certainly put the loud mouth yank back in his place...

 

My car is a twenty one year old Toyota Avanza, only 90k kms on the clock and drives like new.

 

I will keep it until the wheels fall off.

 

When I worked in the UK and Europe I drove Mercs and a Porsche, it sounds silly but I prefer this car, it never breaks down, is comfortable and does the job, if it gets scratched or dented I do not care. 

 

Also it is best time to keep a low profile in Thailand, nothng flashy, no cheap gold around my neck, just blend in with the crowd

 

The gold wearing guys do make me laugh though, I mean if Bill Gates etc were to show their wealth off in such a way they would have to push a wheelbarrow of gold in public plus three truck full of the stuff would have to follow them. 

1 hour ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

Discussion on Thai politics? You are joking, my Thai partner is always on about the government and what they are up to, she never stops, well that is a bit of an overstatement but you get my drift.

 

I meant discussion on this forum.There used to be some excellent political debate here, often impassioned, but that has disappeared now - in my view because the forum has been taken downmarket and the punters interests are elsewhere.

1 hour ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

As far as the program being representative of the facts, it make no difference, forty million people a year have been visiting the country for decades, most are couples, groups and families and they know what they have experienced here.

 

Yes, they will make up their own mind and the BBC series will have no effect.I can't speak for other nationalities but of the 700,000 odd British visitors the vast majority are not from the higher social classes.The exception is the young cohort which still has a fair proportion of posh types.But overall the smarter crowd don't come to Thailand much these days.

Terrible lazy reporting.
1    The programme was from a backpacker perspective.
2    The reporter was not on Strictly but Love Island.
 

Typical Brits know everything the best at everything and the only one that can be racist now they have a camera they find a Paradise and they all have a point of view with pink hair pinky rings through there noses and holier than thou attitude they know best as the saying goes take the beam out of your eye before you take the splinter out of the other, it seems in recent years since the advent of the Internet and the smart phone everybody has an opinion no more so than the Brit. What should I say,  like it's just their opinion that counts. YouTube is full of people out of Europe taking photos of Thailand with an opinion, It was only a matter of time before the BBC jumped on the bandwagon of BS. Thailand is Thailand it is not Britain it is not  Western Europe, when in Rome do as the Romans do, not as the Brits  do. Things go off in the west in Europe and in Britain far far worse than what goes off in Thailand it's just a lot more covert a lot more sneaky a lot more hidden, but the result is the same. In Thailand at least they're honest they say no money no honey, in England they don't say that they just take you to the cleaners. And offer nothing in return, or very little. In Thailand people are proud to have a national identity that is not the case in the UK people have a little respect for their own country and giving it away and now looking to demonise Thailand. We don't want Thailand to be like Britain we want Thailand to be Thailand that's why we come here if you're not happy go back stay away shut your videos off stay away. I feel half the problem now is experts here wanting to live here and the only way they can make a living is by videoing day-to-day life in Thailand and putting their own connotation to it their own twist to the story. I live in Rotherham my wife is from Thailand we seldom see a white person walked past the door thousands of young girls being molested and it still goes on local being a second-class citizen in their own country and the BBC has got the audacity the cheek to make a film about Thailand what goes off in Rotherham would never be going off in Thailand the people would not allow it. They want the money from the documentary from the BBC then cry I didnt know what they would do with my words BS you took the money you all made the problem with your big mouths and are ruining South East Asia. One by one the Islands are being ruined. When I frist came here in the early 90s it was a paradise now some places are a a hellhole. heads up

3 hours ago, Merrill said:

Typical Brits know everything

well we know about paragraphs and spacing. 

6 hours ago, Merrill said:

Typical Brits know everything the best at everything and the only one that can be racist now they have a camera they find a Paradise and they all have a point of view with pink hair pinky rings through there noses and holier than thou attitude they know best as the saying goes take the beam out of your eye before you take the splinter out of the other, it seems in recent years since the advent of the Internet and the smart phone everybody has an opinion no more so than the Brit. What should I say,  like it's just their opinion that counts. YouTube is full of people out of Europe taking photos of Thailand with an opinion, It was only a matter of time before the BBC jumped on the bandwagon of BS. Thailand is Thailand it is not Britain it is not  Western Europe, when in Rome do as the Romans do, not as the Brits  do. Things go off in the west in Europe and in Britain far far worse than what goes off in Thailand it's just a lot more covert a lot more sneaky a lot more hidden, but the result is the same. In Thailand at least they're honest they say no money no honey, in England they don't say that they just take you to the cleaners. And offer nothing in return, or very little. In Thailand people are proud to have a national identity that is not the case in the UK people have a little respect for their own country and giving it away and now looking to demonise Thailand. We don't want Thailand to be like Britain we want Thailand to be Thailand that's why we come here if you're not happy go back stay away shut your videos off stay away. I feel half the problem now is experts here wanting to live here and the only way they can make a living is by videoing day-to-day life in Thailand and putting their own connotation to it their own twist to the story. I live in Rotherham my wife is from Thailand we seldom see a white person walked past the door thousands of young girls being molested and it still goes on local being a second-class citizen in their own country and the BBC has got the audacity the cheek to make a film about Thailand what goes off in Rotherham would never be going off in Thailand the people would not allow it. They want the money from the documentary from the BBC then cry I didnt know what they would do with my words BS you took the money you all made the problem with your big mouths and are ruining South East Asia. One by one the Islands are being ruined. When I frist came here in the early 90s it was a paradise now some places are a a hellhole. heads up

 

It is a bit of a long shot but you do seem to have a chip on your shoulder about Britain?😄

 

Rotherham, ey up lad, wy don't tha move to a reet better area, like t'Chelmsford like, a were there f'five months this year and it is reet nice, tha can't buy a mansion for two pawnd six shillings and sixpence as you can in Rotherham but people are reet nice there in Chelmsford, tha can walk streets any time of day and thas safe. 

 

A were born int Yorkshire me-sen but I escaped as fast as a cud when a were 15, never looked back like and I learned ow to speek proppa English as soon as a left place.

 

A suppose t'Yorkshire Ripper was from another country, he was not a local bloke at all eh. 😃

2 hours ago, brianburi said:

well we know about paragraphs and spacing. 

 

He is from t'Yorkshire, you have to forgive him. 😄