Whenever I Come Back To Bangkok...

[bkkjames]

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.

well he does have a point. the OP comes on here and whines about how big a dump the city is and wishes he was somewhere else, what are we supposed to say?

"You are right dave, it's terrible here and we feel just as bad as you do, whatever can we do about it"

[DC1066]

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 ....

well, I don't know either....... please elaborate in English

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.

Oh, if saying it made it so.

Absolutely nothing like this and a feeble comparison to my remark and sentiment. Firstly read some of my previous posts, my general response regarding not liking something IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY is to stand up and fight for change.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that Dave is Thai, so I'm not suggesting he leave his home country.

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

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

Dave, did he just call you a pig?

[jaideeguy]

If you find BKK so bad to return to, then just visit manila mumbai and return to BKK and ou will see it in a different light. It will seem soo clean, tidy, safe, unpoluted that you may appreciate it for what it is..........a fun city that isn't so uptite like Singapore, Sul or Tokyo, where fun is not cheap and often forbidden.

[think_too_mut]

well he does have a point. the OP comes on here and whines about how big a dump the city is and wishes he was somewhere else, what are we supposed to say?

"You are right dave, it's terrible here and we feel just as bad as you do, whatever can we do about it"

I did it - evacuated my family from there. Still, I will have to come back.

Nobody can tell me the place is "great". It is not.

But, in a cocoon, I could live there. And not entice anyone to do the same, not even to come for a visit.

Too embarassing to show that I live in a place infested with stray dogs, for start.

[lazygourmet]

If you want to change the way Bangkok looks, change the way you look at Bangkok!

[mgjackson69]

Well, call me strange, I like Bangkok, warts and all...enough so that I keep a room there, even though I am only there a few days/month.

I also like Chok Chai, Korat...which is where I currently stay, and have a house with the wife.

And I like Nong Hin, Loei (just a bit north of our good friend Maigo6)...where I will build my next and hopefully last house, after I am finished with this telecomm/computer work nonsense.

Three very different places, and I truly like and enjoy spending time in all three.

I understand the OP's observations...but I think the comparisons he made are apples vs. oranges...or maybe durian vs baak seeda.

[henryalleman]

Indeed the inner city is not liveable, but there are still some good places to live in the BKK metropolis.

[patklang]

When i said bk is a dump,i am not comparing it to anywhere else in the world,i am making a truthful observation of my visits there.I decided not to visit the place purely because i get headaches and sore eyes,so why go even though there are many nice places in Bangkok.Some expats work in Bangkok so they dont have much choice and make the best of a bad deal.I can chose where i live and Bangkok would be the last palce to live.

[jasreeve17]

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.

Your point being ?

You want to move to Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong ?

Can you afford to ?

We could have a whip round??

Note; Whip round - (English term) where all participants of a group, club or organisation contribute funds towards a cause of mutual benefit.

A whipround to get rid of Maigo6. Count me in!

[jasreeve17]

Or just keeping your car windows up.

and insert the hose...

[sanook2me]

Bangkok wooden houses or could be slums

Bank of Asia Robot building

The famous elephant building.

These photos sum up Bangkok, fantastic modern architecture to match anything in the World.

With slums wooden shacks in the shadows of these buildings.

This is what makes Bkk so exciting. old style mixed with new money...

[girlx]

where in BKK is that building? i have never seen it...

[mommysboy]

where in BKK is that building? i have never seen it...

Phahonyotin Road, at the junction of Ratchdapisek Rd. It's opposite the SCB Complex. The nearest MRT is Lad Prao (Central Store). Then it's a 5 minute bus journey.

Best viewed from afar.

[jasreeve17]

I doubt the people living in those 'wooden houses' would consider Bangkok 'so exciting'.

Thailand is a monied up developing nation that's going backwards compared to neighbours like Malaysia and Vietnam. Its capital city could be so much better, easy changes; good management, planning, investment. Sewage, smog, crippling pavements (if any), building regulations, policing, transportation, etc, really need addressing.

Bangkok is entertaining, relatively safe, interesting and perhaps event vibrant. It's a far better place than your Manilla's and Phnom Phen's of the world. But, it's still a sh*thole, that's getting worse day by day. I can stand it, just, but I'd never raise a family in Bangkok, yuk, too many bloody Hengs around touting their tuk tuk with shouts of 'wan na girr'...

Good observations Dave. Enjoy the good sides, which are here, and get out before you start a family - Fukuoka with a sweet Japanese girl, go get her before your looks fade... goodluck.

[DC1066]

where in BKK is that building? i have never seen it...

You can get a good view coming in on the express way from Don Muang.

[Heng]

Ah JS, my favorite roadside splash target.

[sanook2me]

Robot you can view from the BTS station at Chong Nonsi

Elephant Phahonyotin Road, at the junction of Ratchdapisek Rd. It's opposite the SCB Complex

Mommysboy.

If you take off from Don Meuang in the day you normally fly over/around the Elephant building...its an impressive site from the air.

[jasreeve17]

Ah JS, my favorite roadside splash target.

Enjoy it while you can; I'm saving up for a car!

It's going well too, what with the new social stimulus package meaning that I don't have to pay for the buses anymore - an extra 14 baht per day into the savings kitty...

[Heng]

No worries, this one's on me. *toggles tuk-tuk wipers* Don't forget to get that LPG conversion... then you'll really be raking in the big Baht.

[jasreeve17]

No worries, this one's on me. *toggles tuk-tuk wipers* Don't forget to get that LPG conversion... then you'll really be raking in the big Baht.

Oh Yes Siree life's on the up.

With that kind Mr Heng paying for my travel and water with his taxes, it's only a matter of time before I've enough money put away to buy a house; we'll become neighbours - I've always dreamed of living in Khlong Toei.

[jcon]

OP is comparing apples to oranges...

A city like Hong Kong is more expensive (and therefore will have better infrastructure, public services, hel_l, anything, on another level) and things there exist on logorithmic orders of magnitudes of difference. So of course, BKK will 'be a dump' in comaprison.

Take for instance, a website for properties in Hong Kong:

http://www.hongkonghomes.com/

Look on the left slider bar after you pick "buy." The LOWEST (aka CHEAP POS place) price you can even pick is 3 million HKD (~13.5 MILLION THB) and the upper scale slides all of the way up to "100 million +" HKD (aka > 450 MILLION THAI BAHT, yeah, you heard correctly, over 450 million... So I would call that almost a perfect order of magnitude in prices (factor of 10). 1.35-45 million in Thailand for properties from low to luxury, 13.5 - 450 million in HK for the same....

It took me about 5 seconds to actually try to slide the bar over to something other than 3 million HKD on the low end (there is no 2, no 1)... just starts at a cool 3 million (~13.5 million THB). And that's 'ghetto' stuff (well in any area you want to live in anyway, I'm sure you can live in Kowloon where another posted pictures, but why?). 10 million HKD and you start to get something respectible in Mid-Levels, which is about 45 million THB.... and the Midlevels are a hel_l of a lot better than Suk 24 I assure you.

Prices aside, I have one giant complaint about Bangkok: NO FREAKING GARBAGE CANS!!!!?!?!?!?? In Hong Kong, I swear there is a nice blue garbage can every 3-5 meters... ALWAYS. I can't tell you how many times I've actually carried trash in BKK trying to find a garbage can and in the end just said fuc_k it and tossed it on the street next to a phone pole where the rest of humanity seems to dump theres...

Bangkok is a dump. Cmon, anybody that says otherwise mus be coming from a bigger dump. But it does has it's charms and BKK is trying, at least... but sanitation in bangkok... brutal. That's my biggest complaint. And the dogs... oh the dogs... and the beggars... taking up the sidewalks... and the street vendors... lower sukhumvit it the biggest dump of it all I would say.

I'm not bashing Bangkok, I live here, I enjoy it here (in my house). Hong Kong was my 2nd (or 1st) home for many years, and it was a nice balance coming and going... but now that I spend less time in HK and more in BKK, I feel the OPs point. Let's not pretend that we're walking around the clean streets of Narita here in BKK... But that doesn't mean we don't want to live here so no need to say things, like, "you don't like it, go home?" Even the worlds most beautiful cities, Paris, NYC, etc.... they will have their fair share of 'dumpiness' but I dare say not on the same level as the blatant disregard for basic sanitation as we have in BKK....

but i'm still here.... And in case some readers didn't get my tone.... I wasn't BKK bashing.... just give me some <deleted> garbage cans!!!!!!!

[Patsycat]

There are homeless people, beggars and wonky pavements in Geneva too. And it is freezing at the moment... Give me a beach with hawkers any day.

[dave9988]

i am curious about some of parts of mainland china that are just being developed. the pictures i have seen would suggest that they are doing a very good job in putting the required effort into these cities.

also, yes, building standards for condos in Thailand are pretty lousy. what gets touted as grade a here is probably like grade c elsewhere, a few exceptions aside.

[Tinkelbell]

QUOTE (DC1066 @ 2009-01-16 18:52:45) 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.

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

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

think_too_mat,

I once had a guy from TV forum said the same to me....."if you don't like, just go back to your country..." Can you imagine a comment like this from a guy (he is not even a Thai, merely a European living in Hong Kong, but has a Thai wife), until some forumers told this air-head about my nationality. So be cool whenever you see a comment like this from a screw loose.

[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.

You don't need to be 2nd country in the world to care about your infrastructure.

Look at this guy, he even wears white (protective) gloves. He is attending the drainage grilles with not a knife but with some combined knife + instrument. It takes mentality above the money to make things work, be in order and look nice.

Just for contrast, another scene from Sukhumvit's "Magnificient Mile":

[think_too_mut]

QUOTE (DC1066 @ 2009-01-16 18:52:45) 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.

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

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

think_too_mat,

I once had a guy from TV forum said the same to me....."if you don't like, just go back to your country..." Can you imagine a comment like this from a guy (he is not even a Thai, merely a European living in Hong Kong, but has a Thai wife), until some forumers told this air-head about my nationality. So be cool whenever you see a comment like this from a screw loose.

That's what I am saying. Dissatisfaction is the motor that propelles most of the changes.

Instead of scuttering home, people enraged by Bangkok traffic jams pushed for the Sky Train and MRT development although they arrived probably 10-15 years later.

In my former building, tap water was declared safe to drink after the building had implemented some purification equipment. Now, in my new building, if I complained about tap water, some prick may tell me "go home" if you don't like.

But, I have seeen reasonable people acting upon complaints.

City that hosts so many monumental, some of the world's most beautiful buildings, deserves a mayor and city council that can take on much simpler and more fundamental things. That's where the problem is. Not that they have no money or skills.

Edited January 17, 2009 by think_too_mut

[think_too_mut]

OP is comparing apples to oranges...

Take for instance, a website for properties in Hong Kong:

That (or any property) web site bears no meaning to most of hongkongians.

How could the majority who earn 400-600US$ a month afford to live in such expensive place without sleeping under the bridhes?

Housing there is not too dissimilar to Singapore government housing arrangements .

[Heng]

No worries, this one's on me. *toggles tuk-tuk wipers* Don't forget to get that LPG conversion... then you'll really be raking in the big Baht.

Oh Yes Siree life's on the up.

With that kind Mr Heng paying for my travel and water with his taxes, it's only a matter of time before I've enough money put away to buy a house; we'll become neighbours - I've always dreamed of living in Khlong Toei.

Got a seasonal home reserved for you. Will even have our builder staple another dozen cardboard boxes so you can have an east and west wing as well. You don't even have to pay rent anymore. Free free free!

[patklang]

The place needs a bomb on it and start again,with huge fines for people who throw rubbish about,which is a main contributor for the shithole

[sanook2me]

jcon

but i'm still here.... smile.gif And in case some readers didn't get my tone.... I wasn't BKK bashing.... just give me some <deleted> garbage cans!!!!!!!

Correct me if i'm wrong but all the rubbish (garbage) bins were removed because of bombs being planted in them by terrorists.

I like Hong Kong bins....the tops of them are for cigarettes only and the sticker says so.