TRIPxCORE Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Being that most of us on this forum are not Thai and we all have a connection to Thailand one way or another, are you at least a little surprised at how many farang are connected to Thailand in their own way? This isnt our country, we are all from somewhere else yet the sheer number of non-thai people living or visiting there is staggering. The first time I ever came to LOS, I never could have imagined how many other non-thais would be there and the numbers have grown exponentially. The people on this forum are just a fraction of the actual number too. Are any of you surprised, shocked, saddened, or happy when you really think about the immense population of non-thai people inhabiting LOS? How many other third-world countries have this many foreigners running around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Mee Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrkactjob Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 I smell a conspiracy theory comming on! Lets burn an owl and hunt for that missing jet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rod_kalashnikov Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRIPxCORE Posted October 4, 2004 Author Share Posted October 4, 2004 I smell a conspiracy theory comming on!Lets burn an owl and hunt for that missing jet! Why? My avatar has nothing to do with my post or question. Dont confuse things now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Burrito Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Are any of you surprised, shocked, saddened, or happy when you really think about the immense population of non-thai people inhabiting LOS? How many other third-world countries have this many foreigners running around? Not in the least. Frankly seem like a silly issue, but I'm sure some, like Kwiz, who thinks all us Americans are Buddha hating, culture killing ogres, would disagree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! A bit more than that Boon, there was 76 provinces at the last count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astral Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Are any of you surprised, shocked, saddened, or happy when you really think about the immense population of non-thai people inhabiting LOS? Statistics on foreigners were not very well correlated prior to the establishment of the Tourism Organization of Thailand, but apart from brief periods during Mongol and Japanese invasions, it is doubtful that there were more than around 80,000 foreigners in Thailand at any one time prior to 1960. In 1960 I was one of those 80,000. In 2003 I was one of 10,000.000. I suffer from culture shock! I think you are getting confused here. The 10 million you refer to is tourist arrivals during that year, of all nationalities. The word Farang only refers to westerners!! Most of those tourists only stayed a few days. It does not reflect in anyway the number of farangs living here. It would be interesting to see statistics for the number of Non Immigrant visa's renewed each year. That would give a better idea. Quite a small number, I suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sriracha john Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! Insert: 76 for 51 Thai Town portion of Los Angeles for California (1st mention) 77th for 52nd and... perhaps.... Texas for 2nd mention of California Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Mee Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! Insert: 76 for 51 Thai Town portion of Los Angeles for California (1st mention) 77th for 52nd and... perhaps.... Texas for 2nd mention of California You guys are right! I stand corrected... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rod_kalashnikov Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_Pat_Pong Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! A bit more than that Boon, there was 76 provinces at the last count. Absolutely so. 76 unless the PM has sold a few off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pluto_manibo Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 It would be interesting to find out exactly how many Farangs are living here....so the authorities would realise how much money they would lose with this continuing reversal descrimination and xenophobic implementations... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tornado Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! There is 76 Boon Mee. You would be wrong to state otherwise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Mee Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! There is 76 Boon Mee. You would be wrong to state otherwise Right...how many times do you want me to say I stand corrected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tornado Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! There is 76 Boon Mee. You would be wrong to state otherwise Right...how many times do you want me to say I stand corrected? he he he Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sriracha john Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! A bit more than that Boon, there was 76 provinces at the last count. Absolutely so. 76 unless the PM has sold a few off. I don't know about "sold" off, but there are three I know he wants to "write" off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Mee Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 There are 51 provinces/changwats in Thailand. California is referred to as the 52nd due to the sheer numbers of Thais there. A lot of folks consider California a "3rd world country"! A bit more than that Boon, there was 76 provinces at the last count. Absolutely so. 76 unless the PM has sold a few off. I don't know about "sold" off, but there are three I know he wants to "write" off. If you're referring to the three southern provinces, he's obligated to keep them if nothing more than a buffer zone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Are any of you surprised, shocked, saddened, or happy when you really think about the immense population of non-thai people inhabiting LOS? 15 years ago if you travelled upcountry or even to some areas of Bangkok I often heard cries of 'farang! farang!'. For a lot of Thais it was a novelty seeing a farang for possibly the first time or up close. Now, whenever I ride and stop at remote villages off the beaten track somewhere it seems as though they've become indifferent due to over-exposure of farangs. Kids seem to be the only ones now who are amused by seeing a white man. Yeah, I'm surprised to see that farangs living here seem to have penetrated into almost all the little nooks and crannies of Thailand. I suppose it was inevitable. Saddened? No longer seeing villagers in the fields halt what they are doing to give me a wave as I ride passed saddens me a little. Even when I initiate a wave it seems like it's 50-50 as to whether they return the gesture or not. Happy? not really, but then I'm part of the ever growing population of foreigners here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Dude Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 I wonder how the Thai people would feel about being viewed as an anthropological exhibit not to be tainted by outside influence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 I wonder how the Thai people would feel about being viewed as an anthropological exhibit not to be tainted by outside influence. So what are foreigners supposed to do in other countries? Walk around blind folded for fear of treating the native people as exhibits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee Dude Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 I wonder how the Thai people would feel about being viewed as an anthropological exhibit not to be tainted by outside influence. So what are foreigners supposed to do in other countries? Walk around blind folded for fear of treating the native people as exhibits? I would suggest walking around like people and treating others like people. Having the open mind to recognize that all of them are different. Some are amusing, some are dangerous. Didn't mean anything bad with the statement just that it seems a "them and us" kinda thing was happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rod_kalashnikov Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDN Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 When I first stayed in my g/f's family house in Nong Bua Daeng - near Chaiyaphum - I was dead tired, having driven from bkk, and my g/f tells me that an old lady from the village came to the bedroom to look at me while I was asleep because she "wanted to see the farang". I still get little kids pointing at me at shouting "farang!" I love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDN Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Village kids used to love me ... hundreds of them ... they would innocently follow me everywhere I went. Sadly, paedophiles have ruined all that for decent men.... Got to agree with you there, Rod. I f***ing hate them (paedos) for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spee Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 Being that most of us on this forum are not Thai and we all have a connection to Thailand one way or another, are you at least a little surprised at how many farang are connected to Thailand in their own way?This isnt our country, we are all from somewhere else yet the sheer number of non-thai people living or visiting there is staggering. A few random thoughts ... I'm not surprised. Though I could be wrong, most of us are on a search for happiness and a sense of inner peace and tranquility in our lives. We are lucky to have the freedom and opportunity to look in many places for it, and perhaps luckier still to have found it where we have. Same goes for other areas. Having visited and worked in many large cities like Madrid, Barcelona, London, Paris, Berlin, Bucharest, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and so on, it is easy to see that many areas of the little blue ball are becoming melting pots of different colors, cultures, religions, etc. I think by and large, that has to be a good thing. Just as people from countries like Thailand, China, India, and elsewhere are moving to western countries in search of a better life, the reverse is also happening. Here in the UK, there is an entire TV show documenting Brits who have chosen to leave the UK to live in other parts of the world. Personally speaking, I've tried to hard to make other places I've lived my home, to take special interest in the areas and so on. But it never worked out. At least I've never been happy like I am now. On the other hand, I never went out of my way to to seek out a life in Thailand. It just came naturally (and luckily). I don't think Thailand is any different than these other places in other parts of the world. When I go to my fiancee's village, sure I get some strange looks, some frowns and a lot of smiles. But mostly what I get is people treating me well and being very polite and courteous to me. Of course I try to do the same. What's not to like? Of course the little kids are more curious (and sometimes more shy and outgoing) than other people. But isn't that the same with kids all over? That is part of what makes them so cute. As one who has lived in relative wealth, relative poverty and many points in between in my life, I've had the good fortune to see how different people behave with different kinds of money, luxuries, etc., or lack thereof. In general what I see most in the Thai people I've met, and it is something I respect and value, is this. They may not have much, but they share what they have. They may not have much, but they value what they have and try in their own way for something better. It is as if their approach to me, is the same as my approach to them, in that you should treat people in the same manner as you would like to be treated. Maybe this is too simplistic and utopian of an approach. I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDN Posted October 4, 2004 Share Posted October 4, 2004 ...A few random thoughts .... Well said, Spee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baaksida Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 In 2003 I was one of 10,000.000. 10,000,000 foreigners, really?? Let's do the count: 1,000,000 Burmese slave workers (minimum pay, but free dorm bed in LOS) about 1,000,000 Cambodians who fled Pol Pot or poverty; about 500,000 Laos ethnic minorities, who wait for their plane ticket to California; talking of Burma: 500,000 odd Karen, Shan, etc.; from China: 6,000,000 expats; about 200,000 Indians, Pakistanis, Nigerians..., who forgot to buy a return ticket; about 300,000 Malaysians, Singaporeans... from other Asian countries; 400,000 Brits, who retired due to the high cost of buying a home back in England; about 100,000 foreigners from other Western countries That's 10,000,000, alright! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDN Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 ....400,000 Brits, who retired due to the high cost of buying a home back in England.... I'd love to know the real numbers of retirees from all the different countries - the ones with one "retirement" type visas and one-year "extensions of stay". Just curious - maybe it could explain some Thai's attitudes to farangs. I feel as though I've done everything I can to qualify for a peaceful, non-hassled stay in this country, but maybe the majority of farangs are staying here doing visa-runs and monthly extensions and are looked at with suspicion by the authorities. And so, maybe this suspicion is felt towards all farangs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDN Posted October 5, 2004 Share Posted October 5, 2004 duplicate post - deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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