Whenever I Come Back To Bangkok...

[think_too_mut]

From a western and Thai point of view (I would think) foot paths or sidewalks need minimal repair at times though unfortunately due to the lack of resources ( or care or priority not sure which one) slowly disintegrate into a major job that never get fixed.

Thai footpaths...Sukhumvit:

Look at Japanese:

Thai street:

Japanese:

It just shows the neglect that stretches out the every pore of Thai life.

And I have not gotten into the omnipresent stray dogs yet.

[patklang]

Bangkok is a SUPER DUMP.

For me the biggest problem is pollution not holes in the road.Both are dangerous but the BK pollution could kill you in a few years,and its getting worse.I know the bangkokonians will scorn this as they condemn Pattaya,then sneak over for a long weekend lol.If you dont like bk dont live there is the answer.

[Insight]

It's hardly the most attractive place on earth, but there's plenty of hi-so ho joints here Dave has previously displayed a kindling for. Give it a bit of time, Dave.

[Birdman]

More museums and parks as well (Suan Luang R9 is huge but it should have a play area and perhaps a third or quarter scale locomotive). Also, I'd like more malls/shopping centers with monorail systems built in.

and longer happy hours and 50% discount (at THAT times) for bar fines.

[Birdman]

Bangkok is a SUPER DUMP.

For me the biggest problem is pollution not holes in the road.Both are dangerous but the BK pollution could kill you in a few years,and its getting worse.I know the bangkokonians will scorn this as they condemn Pattaya,then sneak over for a long weekend lol.If you dont like bk dont live there is the answer.

Right, pollution is still a problem in BKK, but PTY...?

But 20 years ago it was much worse than now. I have lived in BKK then and breathing at places like Pratunam felt like chemical suicide, especial at intersections like Petchburi/Ratchaprarop.

[Heng]

Bangkok is a SUPER DUMP.

For me the biggest problem is pollution not holes in the road.Both are dangerous but the BK pollution could kill you in a few years,and its getting worse.I know the bangkokonians will scorn this as they condemn Pattaya,then sneak over for a long weekend lol.If you dont like bk dont live there is the answer.

Right, pollution is still a problem in BKK, but PTY...?

But 20 years ago it was much worse than now. I have lived in BKK then and breathing at places like Pratunam felt like chemical suicide, especial at intersections like Petchburi/Ratchaprarop.

You can avoid unclean air. The indoor areas in those areas are fine. It's the same as not hanging out on your factory floor breathing in epoxy vapors or complaining about the air and water quality in the sewer system beneath your condo.

[Birdman]

Bangkok is a SUPER DUMP.

For me the biggest problem is pollution not holes in the road.Both are dangerous but the BK pollution could kill you in a few years,and its getting worse.I know the bangkokonians will scorn this as they condemn Pattaya,then sneak over for a long weekend lol.If you dont like bk dont live there is the answer.

Right, pollution is still a problem in BKK, but PTY...?

But 20 years ago it was much worse than now. I have lived in BKK then and breathing at places like Pratunam felt like chemical suicide, especial at intersections like Petchburi/Ratchaprarop.

You can avoid unclean air. The indoor areas in those areas are fine. It's the same as not hanging out on your factory floor breathing in epoxy vapors or complaining about the air and water quality in the sewer system beneath your condo.

good advice.

To add: you can stay outside with fresh air at this areas...

...if you use a gas mask

[Heng]

Or just keeping your car windows up.

[IMA_FARANG]

i am hoping that by the time i am ready to have children that i can afford to live the lifestyle i am living here, in these places cause i feel that bangkok leaves a lot to be desired.

its a complete dump.

Bangkok is what you make it. I have lived in a lot of places in BKK. I've lived on Soi 38 off of Sukhumvit. At the intersection of Sukhumvit and Soi 38 the traffic is terrible, it is noisy, there is smog and traffic fumes. Go 100 meters or so down Soi 38 and it all changes. It's much quieter, the trees are green, birds songs wake you every morning, etc. You wouldn't believe you are in the same city. Bangkok has a lot of places like that, it just takes getting to know the place, and finding those places.

I'm not excusing Bangkok. The traffic, the noise, the garbage, and all that...they can be pretty overwhelming. So why do I like Bangkok? Because I have family there...and the people are friendly...if you take the time to actually get to know them. I once lived in a Thai government apartment building. Not pretty, a lot of trash, and bad smells. But just outside was a food cart with good noodles and the Roti man came around everyday with his good tasting kanoms. The mamasan who ran the food cart was a great person, always joking with me and my Thai family...called me Farang Mak Mak. Good fried rice and good noodles always available for only a few Baht.

My point is...Bangkok is what you make of it. You can moan and groan about the life in Bangkok, or you can learn to live it as it is. If you do, you can find a lot of small things that make Bangkok a pleasure to live in. Like the Thai bargirls say..."Up to You".

[Birdman]

Or just keeping your car windows up.

and insert the hose...

[Birdman]

Yeah, Bangkok is a dump...but there's no where else I'd rather be. The chaos and mess is the FUN part. And I still feel safer in the dump walking in the wee hours of the morning than in certain parts of Los Angeles. BKK may be a dump, but it's a fairly safe dump.

Just one question: Are you that handsome guy on the picture?

[Heng]

Or just keeping your car windows up.

and insert the hose...

95 Benzene, fill it up! No, don't get the windows, thanks anyway.

[Birdman]

Or just keeping your car windows up.

and insert the hose...

95 Benzene, fill it up! No, don't get the windows, thanks anyway.

no, no

The hose from the exhaust

[Heng]

As many know, the only hoses on my autos pump out Jack Daniels...

[Birdman]

As many know, the only hoses on my autos pump out Jack Daniels...

Edited January 15, 2009 by Birdman

[Cobalt60]

I have to say the way signs and posts are put in the pavements forcing you into the road or the street vendors occupying a large part of the pavement, again forcing you into the road, or the motorcycle taxi's driving at speed along the pavement make life a lottery and also make the city have whole lot of character that many may find hard to cope with.

Me, i like the smell after its rained

[thesunset75]

i am hoping that by the time i am ready to have children that i can afford to live the lifestyle i am living here, in these places cause i feel that bangkok leaves a lot to be desired.

its a complete dump.

Bangkok is what you make it. I have lived in a lot of places in BKK. I've lived on Soi 38 off of Sukhumvit. At the intersection of Sukhumvit and Soi 38 the traffic is terrible, it is noisy, there is smog and traffic fumes. Go 100 meters or so down Soi 38 and it all changes. It's much quieter, the trees are green, birds songs wake you every morning, etc. You wouldn't believe you are in the same city. Bangkok has a lot of places like that, it just takes getting to know the place, and finding those places.

I'm not excusing Bangkok. The traffic, the noise, the garbage, and all that...they can be pretty overwhelming. So why do I like Bangkok? Because I have family there...and the people are friendly...if you take the time to actually get to know them. I once lived in a Thai government apartment building. Not pretty, a lot of trash, and bad smells. But just outside was a food cart with good noodles and the Roti man came around everyday with his good tasting kanoms. The mamasan who ran the food cart was a great person, always joking with me and my Thai family...called me Farang Mak Mak. Good fried rice and good noodles always available for only a few Baht.

My point is...Bangkok is what you make of it. You can moan and groan about the life in Bangkok, or you can learn to live it as it is. If you do, you can find a lot of small things that make Bangkok a pleasure to live in. Like the Thai bargirls say..."Up to You".

I've been to the Face Bars and agree that is very nice place to eat and drink and no noisy.

[Tinkelbell]

quoted......"Bangkok works much better (so does Austin for that matter), when you live in a gated community. Even nicer when they are your own walls and gates..."

..........................................................................

Living a life as a cocoon doesn't appeal me a bit. Thanks but no thanks.

FYI, I live in a gated community, but still going out daily to do some errands around town.

[dave9988]

Spend a week or so in Seoul, or Hong Kong, or Singapore, or Tokyo, or Macau and when you come back to Bangkok and get in a taxi to take the ride to Bangkok and the first thing you are hit with is all the sprawl, graffiti, and how ugly the city is overall. the unfinished ghost buildings. what the people on the street look like. the endless motorcycles. the powerlines hanging all over the place. the sidewalks all cut up and filled with puddles. roads that look like there was a war. crumbling over passes. the terrible infrastructure. homeless people. make shift squatter housing. granted, western cities tend to be just as bad, but man oh man, are there some really nice, clean, wonderful cities in Asia - and no, bangkok is not one of them.

....but its cheap, right?

Gehtto, your kidding me. Are you from a ghetto? Did you ever live in a Ghetto? I did, grew up in West Philly. Thats a Ghetto. Even though I'm from there I actually feel 10 times safer walking ANYWHERE in BKK then I do most places there at night. Now thats not to say thats the worse place in the world, no way by far. Go to Cambodia and you see people that would KILL to live in the crack infested ghetto I came up in.

But Bangkok, Ghetto? You lost your mind and you don't appreciate what you have here. Your better off getting out now before your ungreatfullness and discontent rubs off on your kids.

the word ghetto is a slang word in American pop culture. Its kind of hard to define it if you don't already know how its used. I was not saying that Bangkok is an actual ghetto.

[Tinkelbell]

you cant expect to live in a 3rd world city and have 1st world infrastructure,its as simple as that.

I unserstand what you said quite well. Thailand has no property taxes, so don't expect any 1st world intrastructure like....good roads, good schools, reliable public hospitals, first rated public transportation system, modern library, clean tap water etc..... That's why I choose to live in the West. You got what you paid. My property taxes is well over $9000+ ... ( CDD included) a year. I don't mind cos I got 1st rated infrastructure in return. There're always new projects for improvement. My taxes dollars are at work.

[Tinkelbell]

quoted....."Thank God,my life expectancy just went up(Personal joke)...

...........................................................................

ha...ha...ha

Just love your sense of humor, 'tritexengineerin'

I might send you a thousand -years -old -egg just to keep you company if you live that long.

From Tink (the headhunter)

[dave9988]

These are the type of differences which are most bothersome in the first few days of your new 90 days as opposed to the end of your 90 days. After 90 days of isolating yourself from the outside, as Heng and others have suggested, you don't care what the sidewalks look like because you would't bother going outside in the heat. The sidewalks are for the loso Thais, so to speak. The outside is for the poor, the inside for the rich.

As for those saying to live outside Bangkok, what is the point of living by a beach if you can't sit in the sand without a line of vendors coming up to you and starring at you? I was shocked when I was told by a local foreigner that it was standard practice. So, what, just don't go to the beach either? As a human being, its important for me to be able to feel as sense of dignity. The four year old street kids cleaning car windows in front of police officers oblivious to them and the beach vendors and endless diseased dogs make that impossible. Its kind of like having one of those beat up cars that you have to enter and exit from the passenger door and have someone give it a push start and well after that it runs like a dream except the air conditioning does not work.

.....

Those who insist Thais are so friendly, are they really more friendly than other people? Do you not get more out of speaking to educated fluent Hong Kongians or Singaporeans? Are the Japanese less friendly?

From a western and Thai point of view (I would think) foot paths or sidewalks need minimal repair at times though unfortunately due to the lack of resources ( or care or priority not sure which one) slowly disintegrate into a major job that never get fixed.

Thai footpaths...Sukhumvit:

Look at Japanese:

Thai street:

Japanese:

It just shows the neglect that stretches out the every pore of Thai life.

And I have not gotten into the omnipresent stray dogs yet.

[mistresserika]

Spend a week or so in Seoul, or Hong Kong, or Singapore, or Tokyo, or Macau and when you come back to Bangkok and get in a taxi to take the ride to Bangkok and the first thing you are hit with is all the sprawl, graffiti, and how ugly the city is overall. the unfinished ghost buildings. what the people on the street look like. the endless motorcycles. the powerlines hanging all over the place. the sidewalks all cut up and filled with puddles. roads that look like there was a war. crumbling over passes. the terrible infrastructure. homeless people. make shift squatter housing. granted, western cities tend to be just as bad, but man oh man, are there some really nice, clean, wonderful cities in Asia - and no, bangkok is not one of them.

....but its cheap, right?

Don't forget Dave, Thailand is still a very 3rd world country. They try to convice us that BKK isn't, but it is, no doubt about it.

And your right it's still relatively cheap, even with the crippling exchange rate.

[Tinkelbell]

From a western and Thai point of view (I would think) foot paths or sidewalks need minimal repair at times though unfortunately due to the lack of resources ( or care or priority not sure which one) slowly disintegrate into a major job that never get fixed.

Thai footpaths...Sukhumvit:

Look at Japanese:

Thai street:

Japanese:

It just shows the neglect that stretches out the every pore of Thai life.

And I have not gotten into the omnipresent stray dogs yet.

Thanks 'think-too-much'. As the saying " a picture worths a thousand words".

Your pictures said way much better than my tread.

[Heng]

quoted......"Bangkok works much better (so does Austin for that matter), when you live in a gated community. Even nicer when they are your own walls and gates..."

..........................................................................

Living a life as a cocoon doesn't appeal me a bit. Thanks but no thanks.

FYI, I live in a gated community, but still going out daily to do some errands around town.

More like the view from the owner's box suite actually. The cocoon or bubble extends to when travelling around town as well.... I just avoid the rush hours, and days/nights when most folks are out and/or have just gotten paid. A lot of the complaints I hear on this thread can be easily dealt with. It just takes some scheduling and human resources.

[sanook2me]

list of countries of the world sorted by their gross domestic product (GDP)

2007 List by the World Bank

2 Japan 4,376,705

33 Thailand 245,818

I see the difference in the photos but also in the list from the World Bank. (even though from 2007 the gap will still be similar)

Your comparisons are hardly fair and are your opinion only with no data to back up your arguement.

But I do agree when you arrive back in BKK the street level is manic and your senses are assaulted by noise and smells......

(drive a car, go to decent restaurants, air con shopping malls)

This way you can avoid what you obviously hate about your second home...

But I love it and keep coming back for more.........

[DC1066]

Spend a week or so in Seoul, or Hong Kong, or Singapore, or Tokyo, or Macau and when you come back to Bangkok and get in a taxi to take the ride to Bangkok and the first thing you are hit with is all the sprawl, graffiti, and how ugly the city is overall. the unfinished ghost buildings. what the people on the street look like. the endless motorcycles. the powerlines hanging all over the place. the sidewalks all cut up and filled with puddles. roads that look like there was a war. crumbling over passes. the terrible infrastructure. homeless people. make shift squatter housing. granted, western cities tend to be just as bad, but man oh man, are there some really nice, clean, wonderful cities in Asia - and no, bangkok is not one of them.

....but its cheap, right?

Gehtto, your kidding me. Are you from a ghetto? Did you ever live in a Ghetto? I did, grew up in West Philly. Thats a Ghetto. Even though I'm from there I actually feel 10 times safer walking ANYWHERE in BKK then I do most places there at night. Now thats not to say thats the worse place in the world, no way by far. Go to Cambodia and you see people that would KILL to live in the crack infested ghetto I came up in.

But Bangkok, Ghetto? You lost your mind and you don't appreciate what you have here. Your better off getting out now before your ungreatfullness and discontent rubs off on your kids.

In West Philadelphia, born and raised, on the playground is where he spent most of his days. Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool......

[think_too_mut]

list of countries of the world sorted by their gross domestic product (GDP)

2007 List by the World Bank

2 Japan 4,376,705

33 Thailand 245,818

I see the difference in the photos but also in the list from the World Bank. (even though from 2007 the gap will still be similar)

Your comparisons are hardly fair and are your opinion only with no data to back up your arguement.

Does not feel like that, from distance.

One would not say that people who have erected more highrises than what Tokyo has, could neglect the basics.

Bangkok, from the Grand hotel, Rachadaphisek:

[DC1066]

I don't think it should come as a surprise to the OP when he posts, "hey I live in Bangkok, what a dump", that he gets some flak, but each to their own.

For me I think that Bangkok is one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the world.

It is all the glorious contradictions that make it such a great place.

You've got Siam Paragon just around the corner from Pratanum market.

There are some of the most beautifal palaces, temples and parks in the world, next to corregated shanti towns.

Take a walk through Chatachak or Chinatown, buy the goods and try the foods.

As a city of 10 million souls, if you want it, you've got all the options you have in major western cities such as London, New York and Sheffield ( ) along with the contrasts of the Thai/Asian cultures.

I don't look at it through rose coloured specs', because I see its flaws, but rather than call it a dump, I'd say its got character

And as for the OP, well if you don't like it.........

[think_too_mut]

For me I think that Bangkok is one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the world.

It is all the glorious contradictions that make it such a great place.

You could be coming from some...well, I don't know ....

As a city of 10 million souls, if you want it, you've got all the options you have in major western cities such as London, New York and Sheffield ( ) along with the contrasts of the Thai/Asian cultures.

It's rather the biggest small place on the planet.

And as for the OP, well if you don't like it.........

My favourite nonsense comment, I have seen it thousand times on this board.

If you don't like George Bush, leave America.

If you don't like Thaksin, leave Thailand.

It's closer to this one:

If you don't like Pakistan, where there are more heroin addicts than taxpayers, leave Pakistan.

People who don't like something, make the change.

As I said, pigs have no intention to improve the shit they swim in.