The Gentleman Scamp Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 When I first came to Thailand travelling, two of the best friends I made were a black woman from London who I met in Krabi and was re-united with in Bangkok and Cambodia and have unfortunatly since lost contact with. The second was a giant of a man who was also from England and like myself, raised by a foster family. He met my first Thai girlfriend who to this day is the most racist, stuck up and childish girl I have ever met and I have yet to meet a Thai who likes her. She didn't like him for obvious reasons and likewise because of it and it soon ended our relationship. I recall one time she asked a Thai girl in the toilets what she was doing with a black guy (not the same guy I Knew) and the girl had replied - "Because I love him". Fair play to that Thai girl for standing by her man, whoever she was! The gentle giant and I had a memorable weekend in Pattaya and we are in touch to this day and meet up when I go to London. I have seen many black expats here and was just wondering what it's like being a black guy living here. Are all Thai girls really that hung up on darkness of skin or is it possible or do black guys and Thai girls get it together? Out of interest, is anyone on this forum black? Incedentally, my Christmas in South Africa confirmed my suspicions that the whiter ones skin, the less friendly the race - that's just my own generalisation and one of the reasons why I am happier in Asia than in the west. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12call Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Out of interest, is anyone on this forum black? The guy you met round my gf's place is Scamp.But he does not post here.He is sometimes in the chat though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20yearsinthai Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 I have several black acquantances here. Mostly embassy, military types, 1 is gay and the rest are here with their families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whattodo Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Was having a drink with a west Indian from london a few months ago in Bangkok, He stated that he had been in Thailand for 7 months and was about to leave due to the fact he was unable to secure a permanent teaching contract which he put down to the colour of his skin, He was indeed a primary school teacher in the UK and held a TEFL certifacate, Shame realy as he was a nice chap and had far more than any backpacker could contribute to the teachings in schools here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britmaveric Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Scamp- I know the Thai ladies I have encountered GF included seem to look down on "chocolate" as they say it. I don't get it really, but I guess it goes back to them prefering light skin on themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Begs Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 The gentle giant and I had a memorable weekend in Pattaya and we are in touch to this day and meet up when I go to London. So you can answer your own question, what was it like for him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gentleman Scamp Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 The gentle giant and I had a memorable weekend in Pattaya and we are in touch to this day and meet up when I go to London. So you can answer your own question, what was it like for him? Expats Begs, expats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nam Kao Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 All of the ones I met there are very nice people. All offering me millions of dollars if I just give them my bank name and bank account number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whattodo Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 All of the ones I met there are very nice people. All offering me millionsof dollars if I just give them my bank name and bank account number. Yes i have had many emails also from Nigeria and Sierra Leone . How do there get your email address ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecat Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Actually, having lived quite a few years in Africa, I think the Black people of Africa and the Thai people share at least one common quality: Loving having fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otherstuff1957 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 One of my first acquaintences here in BKK was a Black man from Southern California. He had been in Thailand for about two years working as an English teacher. He was a "real" teacher with a MA and prior experience in the US and spoke fairly good Thai. He didn't seem to have any problems getting work, but he did eventually leave. I never did ask him if he had any problems because of his skin color. A good friend of mine owns a Condo in Pattaya and is planning to come here, more or less permanently, in a few months. I did warn him via email that life as a black expat might be different than life in LOS as a black tourist. I'll find out how things turn out for him in a few months! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totster Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 All of the ones I met there are very nice people. All offering me millionsof dollars if I just give them my bank name and bank account number. LMFAO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insight Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 I've got a mate out here who's black. Asked him if he ever has any race-related trouble from from the locals - his response: "No, only the tourists..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wie Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 I've got a mate out here who's black. Asked him if he ever has any race-related trouble from from the locals - his response: "No, only the tourists..." Amazing, did he try to get a job here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marquess Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 I am black Briton, who has worked here for four years now. I have had the odd problem in the past, but one can have that anywhere. Thai people as we keep saying are very friendly and I have not had too much trouble getting work (touch wood!). Most Thai people tend to think that I am from the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecat Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Most Thai people tend to think that I am from the US You're lucky. They accepted you. You can't have everything. From the US,... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf5370 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 I don't think black people are looked down on (generally) in LOS for the same reasons that darker skinned Thai's are. The latter is due to the fact that they know that poor people pick rice for a living and therefore have evolved to take more sun (Genetically poor?). Thais in general do not learn much about the outside world in Thai schooling. We all know this and there are loads of threads here as testiment. Therefore, they can only go on what they see in the press, in person or in the movies. We all know how Black people are generally portrayed in Holywood - gang bangers and criminals (Holywood exports more than just entertainment with its type-casting). The majority of black people that Thais meet - especially in BKK - are Nigerians. They read in Thai Rath about Nigerians being caught drug smuggeling often - heck BKK Hilton is full of Drug Smuggling Nigerians. They see Nigerian businessmen buying clothes in the big Thai clothing markets in BKK and at places the deal with exportation. The cutural difference is large (and probably barratone voice doesn't help either) and it often comes across as rude, aggresive and rough. I have seen the interaction and talked with the Thais afterwoods. It is no surprise, therefore, that Thai people - especially the untravelled ones - come to a conclusion that is inaccurately generalised. Ignorance breeds racism (infact most negative -isms), education breeds understanding and thus peace. Educate the world, lets have peace! (I'll live with the slower progression peace causes) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecat Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Educate the world, lets have peace! Are you applying for the next Miss World contest, Wolf? Odds are improving,... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marquess Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 As I said everywhere has it's up's and downs! (Blue Cat you have been very active you your postings.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecat Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 As I said everywhere has it's up's and downs! (Blue Cat you have been very active you your postings.) As usual. By the way, why do you always post in italic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marquess Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Italics have a sense of style about them, reminds me of a bygone age Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecat Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 reminds me of a bygone age Were you there? And you still post. Congratulations,... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas_cars Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 I met one black guy who once came to buy a car in my showroom with his thai gf.A very nice and gentle guy he was,even after he left,I still missed him.He was very Naruk.Hey,don't take me wrong,I m not a gay.But that was just a very nice feeling I got from a black guy.He was from Nigeria as well.But reluctant to tell us that he's from Nigeria,as we all know that what Nigerians are famed of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wamberal Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 I worked in Hong Kong for many years, and can affirm that the colour of one's skin is enormously important in the Chinese psyche...obviously, the lighter the better. In Thailand following the Vietnam war there must have been a lot of kids born from liaisons between American soldiers and Thai women, prostitutes and otherwise. I recall talking to a girl in a bar many years ago whose father must have been a black American soldier from what she said.......it marked her out for life as the daughter of a prostitute who had had sex with a black man. She would have had no chance to break out of the stereotype. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicinebox Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 As I said everywhere has it's up's and downs! (Blue Cat you have been very active you your postings.) As usual. By the way, why do you always post in italic? Blue Cat, you ought not to point out the way people post. I have yet to find one of your short poems that actually rhyme..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Mee Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 The guy who started Soi Cowboy was a Black ex-GI who stayed after Vietnam. Got to know him fairly well and he was an OK fella - was a minor visionary in his time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecat Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 As I said everywhere has it's up's and downs! (Blue Cat you have been very active you your postings.) As usual. By the way, why do you always post in italic? Blue Cat, you ought not to point out the way people post. I have yet to find one of your short poems that actually rhyme..... I'd love them to be poems. But they're not. They're just comments. So they do not rhyme. No, they're not. As for asking Marquess why he posts in italic? It is just curiousity, I'm afraid,... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darknight Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 it's o so easy, to write like blue. No need to rhyme, just do like he do. Press shift-enter, at the end of the line. And you get a comment, That doesn't look like mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluecat Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 That doesn't look like mine True. Far nicer than usual,... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonviveur Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 Hi guys I'm a black guy from the US who has discovered the LOS last year and ever since I have been here five times in 14 months with side trip to Cambodia, Vietnam and Loas. I'm currently contemplating doing business in the LOS and this subject has had me thinking twice about doing business there. I have been warned by one business contact there on how hard it might be for me because of my color to get good staff to work for me or respect me as a boss unless I'm sucessful from the get go. It would have to be a business where i can stay in the background, way in the background because my customers may not come if they know the business is owne by a black person. Is it that bad? I have experience a few looks & whispers but the best is thai or farang business people that you have been exchanging email for a while and they finaly got to meet and to see that look it's priceless. Once it's knowned that I'm american the attitude change, I have to say that the treatment has been great so far but I'm an easy go lucky kind of guy I always have a smile on my face. Because of that I'm friendly with hotel receptionist, shop attendant, street vendors who has give me gift or show me where to get the best food. Since I travel alone I can seat at the bar and no one would talk to me until they hear me speak or the darkess thai girl would come over to talk to me. There are some advantages also, I can walk thru Patpong in Bangkok or Bangla Road in Phuket without being drag by two to three girls to a bar. I can go to bar to watch a great game on the tele while listening to great rock music in peace, if you have sense of humour like I have it can be extremely funny to watch people behaviour around me change before and after you talk to them. I would love to hear experiences from any black person who own small business in the LOS because I really would like to buy a franchise or buy a small guest house. Bonviveur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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