Thoughts

[doppa]

well that was an experience and a half, just 48hrs after arriving in the uk, the whole sky literally fell in, with white flaky snow, that hadn't been seen since the late 70's, and although it made everyone's garden look beautiful , it became tedious , especially trying to get around[ including an ingroing toe nail] nevertheless it was a splendid visit,[ family and friends and uk architecture ] but it was oh so nice to feel the warmth in the air stepping off the plane yesterday, and for those who havn't been to blighty for some time, heres my thoughts.

1. so dam expensive, food prices are just incredible,fish and chips 6 squid!!!!!

2. apart from myself, what an ugly nation we appear to be, or is it just my neck of the woods, young girls plaster the make up on, and it seems to be a national contest of who's got the biggest, barest, midrift, with tracksuits a popular fashion [ scaggs]

3. binge drinking is just a norm across the nation, how they afford to do it , beats me, to blow 100 pounds on a saturday apparently is common.

4. with an average salary of 26k, its hardly surprising that average debt is higher than any other european country.

5. the pace of life feels like it's a 'dog eat dog'

6. the door of sensible govt. policies has been blown off it's hinges, going for a crap these days, there's a certain govt.' white' paper to explain procedures, as not to upset any migrant who might take offense.

7.the air of aggression in the air is there for anyone to feel, never in my 7.5yrs in thailand have i felt the equivalent, the amount of respect given to anyone, and for anything is zero within a great deal of the population.

8. its not the country i was brought up in anymore, sad for me to say.

9. although many european traits seem to be adapted by various countries, let's hope that thailand escapes some of the worst, it would be interesting to hear what some older thais have to say with regards of their countries 'progress'.

of course this may be me just getting older and more grumpy!

[ThaiPauly]

No I don't think its just you been grumpy.

I have lived in Thailand nearly 7 years now and I really dislike going back to the UK....in fact I would not go at all if it was not for my family.

Every time I go back makes me appreciate Thailand even more !!!

[Slaps]

Not been back for 6 years but you laid it out just as I expected it to be now

Sad

And it's all to late to change

[ThaiPauly]

^ Blimey...you do like to post don't you Slaps !!!!!LOL

[Slaps]

^ Blimey...you do like to post don't you Slaps !!!!!LOL

Yeah sorry don't know what happened have pmd a Mod

[SeanMoran]

I'm all muddled up inside now. I can relate a little to that same statement that I first remember reading years ago in the Stickman Weekly, when he wrote that "The country I grew up in doesn't exist anymore." or words to that effect.

Like OP mentioned about the UK that they grew up in has changed, so has Australia, to the extent that I just don't want to even go there while things are that bad there, but what about here in Thailand too?

I had a girlfriend in Don Muang in 2549/2006, born on Sukhumvit Soi 3 a few years before I was, back in the early sixties, and she told me once that the Thailand she grew up in didn't exist anymore, (her exact words in English). To me it was heavenly back then, although I noticed a difference in people's attitudes in Bangkok and Nonthaburi, to back in the village in Nikhom Pattana, and much preferred the country life, where I felt a little less despised and thus more easily fit in to be at least temporarily part of the crowd.

Now though, after three years of waiting to get back once more, with the various economic and government changes, (and maybe some concerns about higher levels of Thailand's health), it's obvious that the mood of these same people back in the village has changed significantly, and it's saddening, even uncomfortable without feigining ignorance and forcing a smile.

I came back here because I've seen the western world become a rat-race and thought it would be wise to emigrate to a civilised country. Now it might be that Thailand too is following in the footsteps of Australia and the United Kingdom too, and it's become a question of which rat-race do you prefer?

I hope that there's a turn around of the situation in Thailand soon, because it's too good to turn into another rat-race, but I once thought that about Australia too, and it will take years of work to save it now. Good luck to Thailand.

[PeaceBlondie]

I dread and postpone going back.The trips themselves. Nights in strange rooms. Fitting into their schedules. $80 meals, Trying not to mention I've been openly gay since 2001...

[doppa]

so lets combine the positives of our countries, and the country of thailand, and see what we come up with, me, european architecture, built by thais, under the supervision of europeans, thai hospitality without any interference from europeans, there's a start....next.

[IanForbes]

I guess I'm just weird then. I stay away from Canada during their winter and only return in the spring when the flowers are blooming and the trout are rising. I leave as soon as the steelhead fishing ends in late October. I always seem to have something good to look forward to. It's nice to see my grown children and my 3 grandkids when I get home to Canada. But, when the days start getting shorter and the fall rains start happening I begin missing my lovely ladies in Thailand, and the warm days I can ride my bike anywhere without bundling up in leathers and gloves. I lead two parallel lives of which both have great benefits but are completely unalike.

[Mapguy]

**apart from myself, what an ugly nation we appear to be, or is it just my neck of the woods, young girls plaster the make up on, and it seems to be a national contest of who's got the biggest, barest, midrift, with tracksuits a popular fashion [ scaggs] **

Apparently, OP has missed enjoying some deliciously shaped Lanna navals! Traditional dress in Northern Thailand can be quite fetching!

The point made later about Western customs migrating to Thailand is certainly something to ponder, however. Now, young Thai women seem quite happy with the caked on makeup and the short shorts. Fortunately, most seem to have the faces and figures to carry both styles off successively.

What staggers me upon arriving at the international terminal is the staggering obesity problem of Western culture evident when watching various tourists arriving and departing. It is more than a little scary to see another MacDonalds in Chiang Mai !

"No place is what it was when I was born!" True for every generation and will always be thus.

[greasemonkey]

I agree with the original poster. I gotta go back to the uk on saturday, after a month in Chiang Mai. Hopefully the shock wont be to bad this time, but after previouse visits to C.mai, lasting four or five months, it takes days or weeks for the harshness of the uk to wear off. I always get the same feeling getting into heathrow. People shouting and screaming at each other, and an aggresive atmosphere.

[SeanMoran]

"No place is what it was when I was born!" True for every generation and will always be thus.

You're not wrong Mapguy.

I used to remember the words Don Henley sang in The Last Resort:

"Call some place paradise, and kiss it goodbye,,,"

and think of the way that us farang have abused the good wonder of Thailand for so many years since Sattahip until it's all one big Major Hollywood McThailand.

Now, I see that same human nature in everyone taking something beautiful and getting all we can for the moment, before throwing this whole country away, just like we did to Australia, and just like it seems they did to the UK too.

Human nature - find paradise and break it into pieces until there's nothing left but the dirty rotting remains.

Thailand will find a way to stand proud and stamp out those remains in that historically proven way that Thailand is famous for, and then we'll recognise why it had to be that way.

---o0o---

Long Live HM the King.

Edited January 17, 2010 by SeanMoran

[BigWheelMan]

so lets combine the positives of our countries, and the country of thailand, and see what we come up with, me, european architecture, built by thais, under the supervision of europeans, thai hospitality without any interference from europeans, there's a start....next.

There are no positives about the UK, it`s a complete scum pit.

My beloved England has long gone and it`s never coming back. They should force the British politicians to read some of the comments by worldwide Brit Ex-pats; just so they can see what a great job they have done destroying the country. Demoralising the British people has been they only thing these politicians have been efficient at.

I hope that Thailand never falls to Western influences, I love it just the way it is. It`s far from perfect, but as the Thais say with affection; THIS IS THAILAND.

[Donnyboy]

ok i'll chime in....

suppose im lucky in regard to where im from. If you havent worked it out yet its NZ

Im still currently there but am coming back to LOS next week

NZs a fab place during summer, and seeing that i hate the cold, im usually back before the chill comes back

got my fill of prime steak, and superb wine, and some kiwi brew, and fresh seafood

i think i gained a few kilos

lifes good

[BLUEEYEDTHAI]

" take paradise and put up a parking lot

[rohitsuk]

Thank you doppa for reminding me of many of the reasons why I have not been back to the UK for seven years now and have spent most of the last twenty-five years somewhere else.

Alas the country in which we grew up exists only in our memories and I suppose that has always been so for every generation. What I find so painful, however, is that the current version is totally unrecognisable from and entirely incompatible with those memories. I do not even understand what people are talking about anymore and I have a feeling that I should be glad that I do not.

What about, "grab yourself" for instance ? The population are constantly exhorted by advertisers to, "grab yourself" whatever trash it is they are wanting to dump. "Grab yourself" as in smash and grab, snatch and grab, grab and grab. That "grab" ? The rudest and most bad mannered it is possible to be ? That grab ? And this is the example by which we seek to teach our children ? Nowhere better demonstrated than in the Mother of All Parliaments, whose members grabbed themselves everything from Duck Houses to Crenulated Gate Houses, such items clearly being atop the "must have" list.

Not only but also, "Must have". The "must have" whatever trash is being dumped. For human being, "must have" is water, food and possibly clothing and shelter and ideally family, love and affection. All else is want but want and must have, combined with grab yourself seems to be, so very sadly, what currently drives the UK.

But amidst all this grabbing and must having, whatever happened to the ordinary everyday behaviour that we were brought up with ? Common sense, decency, good manners, self-respect, kindness, self-control and plain old fashioned nice, to say nothing of pleasantness and not to even mention charm. Where did it all go ? I am reminded of an Alan Bennett quote about the post war Britain of the 1950's. "A world that vanished so quickly we hardly realised it had gone". Indeed so.

Our beloved country has been irreversibly blighted by the mealy mouthed, mamby pamby, nancy arsed, pseudo intellectual, woolly minded, bread and circuses, PC liberal brigade - our politicians. And, "Yes Prime Minister", I most definitely mean you and I do not make a party point.

It seems to me that everything I ever thought was right, decent, honest, worthwhile and dare I say great about my country, has been ripped to shreds, dragged through the gutter and trashed. It is replaced with, I trample all over other people and their feelings in the name of I do what I want, which is my right in pursuit of grabbing the must have. It reminds me of nothing more that the last days of the Roman Empire and for much the same reasons. We have had the terminal decline and now comes the fall.

No hope, none whatsoever, the UK has totally effed itself, all ends to the middle so let us just thank providence that we do not have to live there.

[glegolo]

Doppa... no England is not at all alone in this. I have exactly the same feeling about my homecountry Sweden, and I think that I can speak for Scandinavia as whole as well.

Expenisive like hel_l, the violence is being closer and closer and people´s mistrust of the politics.

It looks to me that people are not happy at all. And if I compare to Thailand. Oh shit that is

completely impossible.

The only reason for going home is to enjoy the summer in Sweden, which is fantastic with saltwater, islands and

REAL seafood that actually is salted....

Glegolo

[Ricardo]

Our beloved country has been irreversibly blighted by the mealy mouthed, mamby pamby, nancy arsed, pseudo intellectual, woolly minded, bread and circuses, PC liberal brigade - our politicians. And, "Yes Prime Minister", I most definitely mean you and I do not make a party point.

Don't be shy or diplomatic, feel free to say what you really think !

Sadly I can only agree with all that's said here, Thank God that we still have the freedom to pick up our things and move elsewhere, and Thank-You to our new home for letting us stay !

[IanForbes]

There is still lots that is beautiful about the UK, but when you condense all the political directed problems into a small land base then it's a recipe for disaster. Fortunately, I live in Canada. It has the same problems as the UK, but it is far more spread out and with a LOT more wilderness in between. That tends to water down the "in your face" problems that those living in the UK face every day. Add a generally cold, wet climate in the winter and it will turn everyong sour.

Contrast that with Thailand and it's easy to see why there are so many Brits who want to make Thailand their home. Thailand certainly has enough problems of its own, as all the grumpy threads seem to indicate, but when you contrast it to the dreary UK of unsatisfied people its easy to make a choice. Unfortunately, there is not a source for foreigners who want to work and make a living here and getting a work permit is difficult.