Thailand Has Lost Its Allure

[BenDan]

When I first started coming to Thailand just 9 years ago it felt exotic; it was raw, it was exhilarating. Thai people related to me with enthusiasm and I felt genuinely welcome in their country.

The escalating tourism is taking away everything that attracted me to Thailand. The shear number of tourists seems to have made the Thai people jaded and generally disinterested in visitors. With cheap air travel and westerners becoming wealthier, places that were once havens of Thai culture and tranquillity are now soulless places; the streets now clogged with scum-bag tourists that may previously have gone to Majorca or Tenerife.

Yes, mass-tourism is inevitable and of course Thailand is just one of many countries that are affected. I’m also well aware that increased tourism has huge financial and social benefits to the citizens of these countries, but my Thailand is on its deathbed and I’m selfishly in mourning.

[wileycoyote]

Dear BenDan,

I was also mesmerised when I came to Thailand in 1978.

Today,I am still in love with her,yes like an interesting woman she is changing.

However,as some features sag and become mundane,other facets of her open ,new areas to explore and find interesting.

To be honest ,I remember visiting Majorca at the same time and feeling sad and disgruntled ,but lots of those mass-hotels have gone,eco-tourism ,wide avenues and greeney have flourished. Majorca sells itself as "Chic".

I am not saying that Thailand can be as small tourist island,but there areas of hope,evolution and always the people who make the difference .

Enjoy your time in Thailand.

Wiley Coyote

[ColPyat]

When I first started coming to Thailand just 9 years ago it felt exotic; it was raw, it was exhilarating. Thai people related to me with enthusiasm and I felt genuinely welcome in their country.

Sorry, but when i came first to Thailand 20 years ago it wasn't "exotic" anymore. Maybe 50 years ago it still was, but i wasn't even born then.

The problem i believe is more with you and your perception than with mass tourism, which was well established 9 years ago, as it was 20 years ago.

[TheExpat]

Where do you hang your hat? Pattaya? Silom? Just wondering. I have made it a point to find out of the way destinations within Thailand. I still find Thailand exotic and wonderful.

Get away from the well traveled areas and see the country. it will help. Also take afew trips to other countries like Nam, Maldives etc. Go back home for 3 months - anywhere will look exotic after 90 days in the west!!!!! Good luck and don't give up on the LOS!

[FarangNoi21]

i love these threads, they always turn into a contest of who was here first, and who was the first one to witness thailand changing, etc etc etc. i cant wait to hear about pattayya being a fishing village and phuket being a swamp, etc etc

[FarangNoi21]

btw, i am only in my early twenties, six-teen lifes ago, i was the first farang to visit thailand. let me tell you guys, it has changed ALOT since the 1500's. those were the good old days my friends. it hasnt been the same since. i blame the burmese.

[crowbait]

Maybe we're all lokking for different stuff.

For me, Thailand still twirls all my knobs, presses buttons and dings bells and I can't wait to get back.

It'll take a whole lot to spoil it for me.......and Thailand is a big place, there are still loads of "unspoilt" areas if that's what you need as well as the "spoilt" bits - which I happen to think are mostly fun anyway.

[britmaveric]

The more thailand changes the more it stays the same.

[rio666uk]

i love these threads, they always turn into a contest of who was here first, and who was the first one to witness thailand changing, etc etc etc. i cant wait to hear about pattayya being a fishing village and phuket being a swamp, etc etc

love-it!

[lannarebirth]

I like the way I feel, when I'm here. For the most part, even the bad days are pretty good.

[mrbojangles]

When I first started coming to Thailand just 9 years ago it felt exotic; it was raw, it was exhilarating. Thai people related to me with enthusiasm and I felt genuinely welcome in their country.

The escalating tourism is taking away everything that attracted me to Thailand. The shear number of tourists seems to have made the Thai people jaded and generally disinterested in visitors. With cheap air travel and westerners becoming wealthier, places that were once havens of Thai culture and tranquillity are now soulless places; the streets now clogged with scum-bag tourists that may previously have gone to Majorca or Tenerife.

So, as you where a tourist, your'e partly to blame for your problem then !!

Edited October 1, 2007 by mrbojangles

[paulsmithson]

it is bloody loverly living here! No rates to pay on my luxurious home that cost a pittance-cheap car purchase-cheaper fuel-no tV licence- No local taxation- delicious food that makes eating an adventure and so many choices-No gas bills--water and electricity at give away prices-no speed cameras-gorgeous ladies both young and old everywhere I look, Friendlt peopleChildren that are polite-school uniforms ( and that is not kinky)-

Absolutely everything about where I live is soooooooo good.

Yes I have previously been visiting here for many years and even met old man Patpong when he was alive-and tiger from Lucies Tiiger Den ( old timers may remember the record).

This country has changed a lot yes- for the better of the Thai people and as I love them( on average) I think that is good.

we are living in times of great change and Europe will surely soon take a back seat to the Asian Tiger---which includes my adopted country

[Johpa]

When I first started coming to Thailand just 9 years ago it felt exotic; it was raw, it was exhilarating. Thai people related to me with enthusiasm and I felt genuinely welcome in their country.

Sorry, but when i came first to Thailand 20 years ago it wasn't "exotic" anymore. Maybe 50 years ago it still was, but i wasn't even born then.

The problem i believe is more with you and your perception than with mass tourism, which was well established 9 years ago, as it was 20 years ago.

I reckon that what determines a locale to be "exotic" is a rather subjective concept . I would prefer to use the term traditional.

Twenty years ago mass tourism was well established, but only in the tourist centers (tourist ghettos) of Bangkok, Phuket & Samui, Chiang Mai, and Pattatya, ands for the Malays down in Hat Yai. In my mind it was still possible then to find traditional locations in Thailand, but you had to go outside the bubble as even in the rural provincial centers modern mass culture was becoming dominant. Today that mass "pop" culture permeates even many of the more remote villages.

But I agree with ColPyat that if one is complaining about such things after arriving a mere nine years ago the problem is more internal to the original poster than to changes within Thailand as the rapid acceleration in change had already begun to lose steam within that most recent period of time.

[papaya9]

Thailand is simply awesome, and it gets greater with its modernization.

[Dustoff]

At the risk of being judged for being competitive in the "who was here first contest", I cannot say that I like Thailand any less now than I did 41 years ago; but then that is perhaps because I understand that change is the only constant.

If you are looking for the same Thailand you experienced nine years ago, maybe you gotta learn to expect/swallow reality, eh?

Just poking fun of course but we all eventually find that we 'cannot go back' and expect anything/anyone to match our memory or meet our expectations.

"You can try sometimes

but you may find

you get what you need..."

[endure]

Any advances on 1966?

[sohn]

it is bloody loverly living here! No rates to pay on my luxurious home that cost a pittance-cheap car purchase-cheaper fuel-no tV licence- No local taxation- delicious food that makes eating an adventure and so many choices-No gas bills--water and electricity at give away prices-no speed cameras-gorgeous ladies both young and old everywhere I look, Friendlt peopleChildren that are polite-school uniforms ( and that is not kinky)-

Absolutely everything about where I live is soooooooo good.

Yes I have previously been visiting here for many years and even met old man Patpong when he was alive-and tiger from Lucies Tiiger Den ( old timers may remember the record).

This country has changed a lot yes- for the better of the Thai people and as I love them( on average) I think that is good.

we are living in times of great change and Europe will surely soon take a back seat to the Asian Tiger---which includes my adopted country

Europe has nothing to fear whilst the Asian Tigers

Acts like school children. As we so often see.

Thailand wont change much.

Edited October 1, 2007 by sohn

[meom]

"You can try sometimes

but you may find

you get what you need..."

Rolling Stones 1969. Excellent choice Dustoff

[geriatrickid]

When I first visited Thailand in the early 90's I still didn't have a hair on my chest and had a full head of hair. The Aids epidemic was in full swing and there were hundreds of thousands of infected people. But the government under the sage leadership of Prime Minister Panyarachun had instituted a prevention program. When I came back in the late 90's the crisis was under control and infections were down. My friends were running around testing and in awe of the Thai brilliance at controlling an epidemic. Best of all I was in love with a beautiful epidemiologist that made everything seem perfect.

I came back in 2000 and 2001 and Aids prevention programs had been slashed. There was a reliance on medication to deal with a problem. And to top it off, the beautiful epidemiologist dumped me for a guy with big muscles and an IQ of 98.

Now as I have commuted back and forth since 2004 I see that things have returned to the scary days of the early 1990's just before the epidemic exploded. Aids prevention programs are a fraction of what they once were, infection rates are increasing, the virus is resistant to treatment and has prohibitive costs. I now have hair on my chest but am losing it on my head. The vaccine clinical trials have failed miserably. Oh, and that epidemiologist, last I heard she was working for some mega pharma company looking to cash in on the next big disease.

In Thailand it goes through cycles and sometimes you have to be patient. The situation may be grim where one is on that magical roller coaster ride.

But now, with the awesome minister of Health, Dr. M. reviving the cost effective prevention programs and the new clinical trials ready to go ( recruiting in Pattaya for folks fluent in Thai), the good news part of the cycle just might be starting again.

And yea, I have a new special friend. Aside from his bad breath and insistence at waking me up at 4 am for breakfast, his paws are certainly warmer than the lady with the cold feet.

[brahmburgers]

it's much like being married. Some people adapt well to their spouses and possibly love them even more as time rolls by. Others, like myself, are tempted to play the field (good thing I'm not married, eh?).

With Thailand, I've also been here 9 years, though I 1st visitied 25 years ago. I find fault with any place I lived in. I complained about Nevada County California while I resided there for 25 years - even though it's one of the very nicest places to live on the planet. wanderlust people like me need to take off once in awhile. For me, even just going to the Burmese border town of Tachilek for a day or two makes me appreciate a lot of qualities there that can't be found in Thailand.

I rarely return to visit California, but it's fun to experience things there that aren't found here (garage sales, Mexican retaurants, thrift stores, big natural parks, etc) but it's always a BIG relief to get back to my adopted home of Thailand. So even though I complain a lot, my humble abode in northern Thailand is about as good as it's going to get for me, so I adapt as well as possible.

[Suszzy]

When I first started coming to Thailand just 9 years ago it felt exotic; it was raw, it was exhilarating. Thai people related to me with enthusiasm and I felt genuinely welcome in their country.

The escalating tourism is taking away everything that attracted me to Thailand. The shear number of tourists seems to have made the Thai people jaded and generally disinterested in visitors. With cheap air travel and westerners becoming wealthier, places that were once havens of Thai culture and tranquillity are now soulless places; the streets now clogged with scum-bag tourists that may previously have gone to Majorca or Tenerife.

Yes, mass-tourism is inevitable and of course Thailand is just one of many countries that are affected. I'm also well aware that increased tourism has huge financial and social benefits to the citizens of these countries, but my Thailand is on its deathbed and I'm selfishly in mourning.

Ahh..another unsatisfied customer..

[fletchsmile]

i love these threads, they always turn into a contest of who was here first, and who was the first one to witness thailand changing, etc etc etc. i cant wait to hear about pattayya being a fishing village and phuket being a swamp, etc etc

btw, i am only in my early twenties, six-teen lifes ago, i was the first farang to visit thailand. let me tell you guys, it has changed ALOT since the 1500's. those were the good old days my friends. it hasnt been the same since. i blame the burmese.

Mate, I don't want to worry you but time is running out for you again. You've been living only about 31 years on average. Make the most of it.

Anyway, what is it with you johnny come latelies it was never like that with Khun Bang Klang Tao and khun Pha Muang back in 1238, or 17 lifetimes ago when we were establishing Sukhothai.

Back to the OP, also ask yourself how much you have changed, and how much is simply down to the fact that you understand more than you did 9 years ago. Some of the best times many of us have here, can be when we've little understanding of what is happening

Edited October 2, 2007 by fletchthai68

[morrobay]

Everyplace changes and remember seeing/experiencing a place for the first time is not the same as seeing it after you have been there awhile. If it were possible to see in now for the first time how would that compare to seeing it then for the first time. I have photos of Pattaya beach walk from 5-6 tears ago and it definetly looks better then . Regarding allure: Its still warm, the cost of living is still cheap and there are alot of girls available

[realthaideal]

"I like the way I feel, when I'm here. For the most part, even the bad days are pretty good."

Indeed, indeed. Well put Lanna RB. I think even a bad day in LOS is .... you know. And then I also believe you find what you're looking for. Want to find fun happy people who aren't jaded ? They're there. As are women you can trust, and shopkeepers who don't want to rip you off. It's all the world you live into. The universe will conspire to give you just what you're asking for.

And... after having finally visited Pattaya a couple yrs back for a few days, I had to come to grips with it. My conclusion is that, though sadly many think it is essential Thailand, it is not. However, it is a thing, and way of being, a phenomenon, that could only happen in Thailand and is very Thai in and of itself. It is Thailand. All of Thailand is in fact the real Thailand. Every place changes and has different things going on at different times, and different places. Like LRB, I like to just take it as it is, and focus on all the good.

[PeaceBlondie]

Just another day in paradigms. I'm no longer impressed by yet another wat, or Hill Tribe cheap jewelery, or somtam vendors. But I stay even if I'm bored, because boredom has no borders, even bordellos bore.

[Juzrelax]

The more thailand changes the more it stays the same.

Is that like 'Why does a round pizza come in a square box?'

or 'Why is a semi trailor bigger than a trailor?'

[soundman]

The more thailand changes the more it stays the same.

Is that like 'Why does a round pizza come in a square box?'

or 'Why is a semi trailor bigger than a trailor?'

Yeah - Why does a loaf of sandwich bread always have an odd number of slices??? & I still can't touch my toes.

[PeaceBlondie]

Why don't paradimes cost twenty cents? Why can't I buy non-spicy somtam? Did you know that Chiang Mai probably has 3 Korean churches? Why must a country be constantly titilating? Why aren't men satisfied wth the titilations they have?

[onzestan]

even bordellos bore.

Exactly, but I keep trying new ones.

cheers

onzestan

[chavy]

The more thailand changes the more it stays the same.

Is that like 'Why does a round pizza come in a square box?'

or 'Why is a semi trailor bigger than a trailor?'

Yeah - Why does a loaf of sandwich bread always have an odd number of slices??? & I still can't touch my toes.

Who told you how many slices in the loaf Soundman ??? Was it the kids off your Soi mate