Breath Of Fresh Air

[losworld]

Being as how I am consdering relocating to Thailand and the current political upheaval I had a very uplifting experience tonight. I went down to a local Irish bar here in Los Angeles and saw an attractive young woman who appeared to be Thai to me. I approached her and asked her if she was Thai and we had a very nice conversation. Not only was she quite attractive but she had that certain Thai demeanor that exudes an easy going outlook on life. We discussed the current situation in Thailand and she believed all would work out. It's this attitude amongst the Thais that I do really appreciate. A certain go with the flow type of outlook or "don't think too much" type of existence. Live for the day.

I also spoke with a Thai friend from a well established Thai family and he seemed quite calm. Amazing given the sequence of events.

Am I missing something here?

Just a side note the Thai woman is eagerly anticipating her return to Thailand.

Life goes on.

[roietrory]

Am I missing something here?

YES - come here lose your money and then you will find out

[mizzi39]

quote:

It's this attitude amongst the Thais that I do really appreciate. A certain go with the flow type of outlook or "don't think too much" type of existence. Live for the day.

Yes, the majority of Thais have this attitude, my wife included, but remember at times this "attitude" can be a double edged sword.

[simpathy]

you have to do things to make things work out!

ps. ive never seen an attractive thai girl living in the usa. i thought attractive girls werent given visa to leave!

[losworld]

quote:

It's this attitude amongst the Thais that I do really appreciate. A certain go with the flow type of outlook or "don't think too much" type of existence. Live for the day.

Yes, the majority of Thais have this attitude, my wife included, but remember at times this "attitude" can be a double edged sword.

Yes I do understand.

[JimmyTheMook]

quote:

It's this attitude amongst the Thais that I do really appreciate. A certain go with the flow type of outlook or "don't think too much" type of existence. Live for the day.

Yes, the majority of Thais have this attitude, my wife included, but remember at times this "attitude" can be a double edged sword.

Yes I do understand.

Yes the symptom is called 'happy go lucky ignorance'

[losworld]

you have to do things to make things work out!

ps. ive never seen an attractive thai girl living in the usa. i thought attractive girls werent given visa to leave!

This one was quite attractive... and I think from an well to do Thai family from the north. She is merely here to work and improve her english language skills for one year prior to returning.

[losworld]

quote:

It's this attitude amongst the Thais that I do really appreciate. A certain go with the flow type of outlook or "don't think too much" type of existence. Live for the day.

Yes, the majority of Thais have this attitude, my wife included, but remember at times this "attitude" can be a double edged sword.

Yes I do understand.

Yes the symptom is called 'happy go lucky ignorance'

Yes and no. I think there is a happy medium somewhere between their attitude and ours. When I look at all my friends here who are quite successful not many are truly happy in my opinion. So the balance lies between the two extremes?

Edited April 11, 2010 by losworld

[vicco]

The one thing you can absolutely guarantee is that if you post anything positive about Thai women, or Thailand on here you will bring out every bitter, disgruntled jerk in SE Asia...and there are lots of them. Bear in mind that they chose to come and live here because they were bitter and disgruntled in their own country and many of them in a few other countries before arriving here. They arrive in Thailand...make all the same bad decisions about women and everything else that they probably made in other places and

blame the locals for it...esp the girls. There are many lovely Thai women and many lovely Thai people in general...and like everywhere else there are liars, cheats and crooks....

Those are the Thai's you will always hear about from these guys...who don't have the street smarts and common sense to know the difference in the first place...and probably never will. Just read some of the threads on the current political troubles here and you will get a good sense of the kind of foreign residents we have to suffer with.

All the best to you.....

[simpathy]

pardon me. she needs to get educated and vote for what she believes in.

buts whats positive about saying a girl is bascially clueless? things will work out that is true..........but to get to the endgame requires more than happy go lucky attitude.

Edited April 11, 2010 by simpathy

[carmine]

quote:

It's this attitude amongst the Thais that I do really appreciate. A certain go with the flow type of outlook or "don't think too much" type of existence. Live for the day.

Yes, the majority of Thais have this attitude, my wife included, but remember at times this "attitude" can be a double edged sword.

Yes I do understand.

Yes the symptom is called 'happy go lucky ignorance'

Yes and no. I think there is a happy medium somewhere between their attitude and ours. When I look at all my friends here who are quite successful not many are truly happy in my opinion. So the balance lies between the two extremes?

I think you are probably right, as in the balance lies between. I have lost count of the amount of times i've heard a Thai say "you think too much" to someone. Often i felt they were probably right and that the person had lost their sense of proportion

[SiangDeeMahk]

I've also seen this casual, unconcerned, nearly uninterested reaction from Thais in the USA before, during other political crisis in the LOS. It confused me too, until I started to spend more time in Thailand, where I live, now.

Let's just put it this way: most Thais that you meet OUTSIDE of Thailand (especially in the USA), are indeed easygoing. It's because they're RICH.. (often, filthy stinking rich), and resultantly, have not a care in the world!

These "international Thais" have enough money/influence/connections to receive a visa to go to the USA (nearly impossible for average Thais to EVER do), enough to pay for a ticket to get there and back, pay for rent, pay for school, or for traveling/sightseeing in the US, often for extended periods of time (sometimes, years). So accordingly, they (and family back in Thailand) have plenty enough money to keep out of harms way, no matter what the poors do to each other in the streets of Bangkok. They really have no fear that their pampered way of life will change; nothing EVER changes in Thailand.

They actually have the fundage, to back up a casual "don't think too much" stance (unlike the poor impoverished masses back home, who subscribe to the same indoctrinated "don't think too much" mantra, but suffer terribly from the result). No drive to be smarter, to gain skills, to learn how to use planning, logic and prediction, to better know about the world = no advancement in your station in life. Actually, that's just how the "Have's" want it to be, for the "HaveNots". It's a concept that's been drilled into them for generations, by the .. well, we're not allowed to talk about who's been drilling it into them on this site, but that's the way things have been "done here", for eons.

It should be said that you can chalk up a lot of the Thais (especially poor ones) "don't think too much" approach to life, from Buddhist teachings, but that doesn't change the fact the the rich Thais can afford not to think "too much", but the poor Thais really can't afford to. In fact, I feel it's the primary reason they're poor.

As for what's happening in the streets right now, well.. even if the poor rural Thais have a valid complaint about their lot in life, these particular demonstrations have little to do with that; These protests and clashes are all just far reaching (and tragic) political string-pullings of the massively corrupt ousted former PM, Taksin. A coward, hiding in another country, paying poor rural Thais to give up their lives for him, as part of a thinly-veiled bid to return to power in Thailand.

[maahuanao]

The one thing you can absolutely guarantee is that if you post anything positive about Thai women, or Thailand on here you will bring out every bitter, disgruntled jerk in SE Asia...and there are lots of them. Bear in mind that they chose to come and live here because they were bitter and disgruntled in their own country and many of them in a few other countries before arriving here. They arrive in Thailand...make all the same bad decisions about women and everything else that they probably made in other places and

blame the locals for it...esp the girls. There are many lovely Thai women and many lovely Thai people in general...and like everywhere else there are liars, cheats and crooks....

Those are the Thai's you will always hear about from these guys...who don't have the street smarts and common sense to know the difference in the first place...and probably never will. Just read some of the threads on the current political troubles here and you will get a good sense of the kind of foreign residents we have to suffer with.

All the best to you.....

Spot on.

[Tonto21]

I've also seen this casual, unconcerned, nearly uninterested reaction from Thais in the USA before, during other political crisis in the LOS. It confused me too, until I started to spend more time in Thailand, where I live, now.

Let's just put it this way: most Thais that you meet OUTSIDE of Thailand (especially in the USA), are indeed easygoing. It's because they're RICH.. (often, filthy stinking rich), and resultantly, have not a care in the world!

These "international Thais" have enough money/influence/connections to receive a visa to go to the USA (nearly impossible for average Thais to EVER do), enough to pay for a ticket to get there and back, pay for rent, pay for school, or for traveling/sightseeing in the US, often for extended periods of time (sometimes, years). So accordingly, they (and family back in Thailand) have plenty enough money to keep out of harms way, no matter what the poors do to each other in the streets of Bangkok. They really have no fear that their pampered way of life will change; nothing EVER changes in Thailand.

They actually have the fundage, to back up a casual "don't think too much" stance (unlike the poor impoverished masses back home, who subscribe to the same indoctrinated "don't think too much" mantra, but suffer terribly from the result). No drive to be smarter, to gain skills, to learn how to use planning, logic and prediction, to better know about the world = no advancement in your station in life. Actually, that's just how the "Have's" want it to be, for the "HaveNots". It's a concept that's been drilled into them for generations, by the .. well, we're not allowed to talk about who's been drilling it into them on this site, but that's the way things have been "done here", for eons.

It should be said that you can chalk up a lot of the Thais (especially poor ones) "don't think too much" approach to life, from Buddhist teachings, but that doesn't change the fact the the rich Thais can afford not to think "too much", but the poor Thais really can't afford to. In fact, I feel it's the primary reason they're poor.

As for what's happening in the streets right now, well.. even if the poor rural Thais have a valid complaint about their lot in life, these particular demonstrations have little to do with that; These protests and clashes are all just far reaching (and tragic) political string-pullings of the massively corrupt ousted former PM, Taksin. A coward, hiding in another country, paying poor rural Thais to give up their lives for him, as part of a thinly-veiled bid to return to power in Thailand.

Nicely put, I agree with all you’ve said 100%.

[bifftastic]

I've also seen this casual, unconcerned, nearly uninterested reaction from Thais in the USA before, during other political crisis in the LOS. It confused me too, until I started to spend more time in Thailand, where I live, now.

Let's just put it this way: most Thais that you meet OUTSIDE of Thailand (especially in the USA), are indeed easygoing. It's because they're RICH.. (often, filthy stinking rich), and resultantly, have not a care in the world!

In fact, I feel it's the primary reason they're poor.

As for what's happening in the streets right now, well.. even if the poor rural Thais have a valid complaint about their lot in life, these particular demonstrations have little to do with that; These protests and clashes are all just far reaching (and tragic) political string-pullings of the massively corrupt ousted former PM, Taksin. A coward, hiding in another country, paying poor rural Thais to give up their lives for him, as part of a thinly-veiled bid to return to power in Thailand.

Nicely put, I agree with all you've said 100%.

Me too, very well said.

[Ulysses G.]

The one thing you can absolutely guarantee is that if you post anything positive about Thai women, or Thailand on here you will bring out every bitter, disgruntled jerk in SE Asia...and there are lots of them. Bear in mind that they chose to come and live here because they were bitter and disgruntled in their own country and many of them in a few other countries before arriving here. They arrive in Thailand...make all the same bad decisions about women and everything else that they probably made in other places and

blame the locals for it...esp the girls. There are many lovely Thai women and many lovely Thai people in general...and like everywhere else there are liars, cheats and crooks....

Those are the Thai's you will always hear about from these guys...who don't have the street smarts and common sense to know the difference in the first place...and probably never will. Just read some of the threads on the current political troubles here and you will get a good sense of the kind of foreign residents we have to suffer with.

All the best to you.....

Spot on.

I also concur with you (not Poison Annie)!

Edited April 11, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[Heng]

Actually, that's just how the "Have's" want it to be, for the "HaveNots".

Actually, the haves could care less either way. It's the same philosophy the 'have nots' use.

[vicco]

string-pullings of the massively corrupt ousted former PM, Taksin. A coward, hiding in another country, paying poor rural Thais to give up their lives for him, as part of a thinly-veiled bid to return to power in Thailand.

Another thing which you can not avoid when you ask anything about Thailand is Thaksin. Even when your question has nothing to do with politics----people here are just obsessed with Thaksin. There is one guy on this Forum who averages over 100 posts a day.....95% of which are condemnations of Thaksin.... even if the subject matter of the thread is apple pie...he will bring Thaksin into it. If you decide to move here, learn all you can about everybody's favorite ex-politician. He is even responsible for the unusually dry weather and will be held responsible for any flooding when the rainy season returns.....

PS He is considered a criminal. He was convicted of "conflict of interest" and sentenced to 2 years in prison. By US standards that would be about the same as a shoplifting conviction ..but the ex-pats here have him listed along with Hitler, Stalin, Saddam and Polpot........Politics here is much more colorful than were you live.....fighting over healthcare and silly things like that.... Have we scared you away yet??..

[Ulysses G.]

Even when your question has nothing to do with politics----people here are just obsessed with Thaksin. There is one guy on this Forum who averages over 100 posts a day.....95% of which are condemnations of Thaksin.... even if the subject matter of the thread is apple pie...he will bring Thaksin into it.

rixalex or jdinasia?

[KhunG]

you have to do things to make things work out!

ps. ive never seen an attractive thai girl living in the usa. i thought attractive girls werent given visa to leave!

Then you've never been to the USA.

[KhunG]

The one thing you can absolutely guarantee is that if you post anything positive about Thai women, or Thailand on here you will bring out every bitter, disgruntled jerk in SE Asia...and there are lots of them. Bear in mind that they chose to come and live here because they were bitter and disgruntled in their own country and many of them in a few other countries before arriving here. They arrive in Thailand...make all the same bad decisions about women and everything else that they probably made in other places and

blame the locals for it...esp the girls. There are many lovely Thai women and many lovely Thai people in general...and like everywhere else there are liars, cheats and crooks....

Those are the Thai's you will always hear about from these guys...who don't have the street smarts and common sense to know the difference in the first place...and probably never will. Just read some of the threads on the current political troubles here and you will get a good sense of the kind of foreign residents we have to suffer with.

All the best to you.....

Spot on.

I also concur with you (not Poison Annie)!

+1000

[Spee]

The one thing you can absolutely guarantee is that if you post anything positive about Thai women, or Thailand on here you will bring out every bitter, disgruntled jerk in SE Asia...and there are lots of them. Bear in mind that they chose to come and live here because they were bitter and disgruntled in their own country and many of them in a few other countries before arriving here. They arrive in Thailand...make all the same bad decisions about women and everything else that they probably made in other places and

blame the locals for it...esp the girls. There are many lovely Thai women and many lovely Thai people in general...and like everywhere else there are liars, cheats and crooks....

Those are the Thai's you will always hear about from these guys...who don't have the street smarts and common sense to know the difference in the first place...and probably never will. Just read some of the threads on the current political troubles here and you will get a good sense of the kind of foreign residents we have to suffer with.

All the best to you.....

Spot on.

Same same me.

[SiangDeeMahk]

Actually, that's just how the "Have's" want it to be, for the "HaveNots".

Actually, the haves could care less either way. It's the same philosophy the 'have nots' use.

Oh.. I dunno.. You may think the Haves don't care, and about many things (in their simplistically non-western Karmatic "don't think too much" ways), they don't. But I don't believe they're unaware that they are only able to enjoy their lofty upper status because there are hoards of HaveNots far below them on the totem pole, picking rice, raising and slaughtering edible livestock, sweating in factories, cleaning bathrooms/sweeping sidewalks, and generally living the hard brownskinned life out in the sun.

And they surely wouldn't want the roles to be switched, or brought closer together.

I'm pretty sure they actually DO care about that. And they're also not too "unproud" of their high status. The difficult and expensive membership schemes of the hi-so nightclubs on Ekkamai Rd aren't just a way for those clubs to get a little more coin from the patrons, it's clearly a tactic to keep the HaveNots (and frequently, Farang) well out of their hoity toity Hi-So lives.

I'd say someone would have to care, to go through that much trouble to keep the Have/HaveNot divide as wide and uncrossable as it is.

Hay!!! I made it all the way through a post without mentioning Taksin!! GAH!!! oh shit.. i just did.

[Heng]

But I don't believe they're unaware that they are only able to enjoy their lofty upper status because there are hoards of HaveNots far below them on the totem pole, picking rice, raising and slaughtering edible livestock, sweating in factories, cleaning bathrooms/sweeping sidewalks, and generally living the hard brownskinned life out in the sun.....

If it's not an Issanite worker (factory force...), then it'll be a Khmer or Lao worker (maid force...), or a Burmese worker (fishing industry...), etc. All interchangeable and relatively unrelated, just like the relationship between a western consumer and Chinese, Indian, or Vietnamese factory workers. It doesn't really matter and no one really cares about who is making their Nike's, and while some misguided line workers might be thinking they are controlling world economies, they might also come back to reality and realize that they are just making shoes.

I'm pretty sure they actually DO care about that. And they're also not too "unproud" of their high status. The difficult and expensive membership schemes of the hi-so nightclubs on Ekkamai Rd aren't just a way for those clubs to get a little more coin from the patrons, it's clearly a tactic to keep the HaveNots (and frequently, Farang) well out of their hoity toity Hi-So lives.

No different than any country club or fraternity in the west. Like minds prefer to mingle with like minds, you're more than welcome to start your own clubs.

I'd say someone would have to care, to go through that much trouble to keep the Have/HaveNot divide as wide and uncrossable as it is.

Just a natural phenomenon.

[IanForbes]

Lots of good replies here. I agree with most of them. Young Thai people DO have a breath of fresh air about them. I've noticed a vast contrast between the youth of Thailand and the youth in North America. The youth in Thailand are noticeably more respectful to older people.

As far as the attractive young woman is concerned my best gues is she DOES come from a wealthy family. Poor Thai women don't have the connections to be allowed to travel. It is the warped North American thinking that ASSUMES that all single Thai women who want to visit North America are automatically going to disappear into the seedy underworld of prostitution. For a Thai woman to visit North America she must have a substantial amount of money or investments in Thailand that would prevent her from leaving permanently.

Thailand is a wonderful country to VISIT. Living in Thailand as an expat from another country is a completely different matter. Just a quick run down on the many problems written frequently on thaivisa is a good example of what can go wrong.

I also agree that a lot of the complainers are people who are losers in whatever country they came from. They couldn't establish a proper relationship at home and assume that it changes when there are young, pretty women so available in Thailand... IT DOESN'T!

[hawthorne]

I understand and I don't. I have much stress in my life and my wife tries to understand but she is as you say happy go lucky. I can go get a simply job and I am sure my life will be happy go lucky but I would be a bored happy go lucky and probably a drunk. But I think back and see how nice it was to be young and in the care of others. Island life is a dream and for some a reality. Why do you think Thailand is so aluring for so many westerners stressed out by the work load.

[Spee]

Thailand is a wonderful country to VISIT. Living in Thailand as an expat from another country is a completely different matter. Just a quick run down on the many problems written frequently on thaivisa is a good example of what can go wrong.

And fortunately there are as many or more threads about all the things that can go right.

Having done expat work in a multitude of countries, life is what you make of it. This isn't the "magical mystery tour." Making a good life in any country is hard work, and even putting in hard work is no guarantee. However, it is much preferable to going through life being negative, miserable and unhappy .... in any country.

[Livinginexile]

you have to do things to make things work out!

ps. ive never seen an attractive thai girl living in the usa. i thought attractive girls werent given visa to leave!

This one was quite attractive... and I think from an well to do Thai family from the north. She is merely here to work and improve her english language skills for one year prior to returning.

lol...dig deeper my friend

[Heng]

Actually I have known dozens in that same scenario. Most are fairly well off, but several were far from it.

As for Thais abroad being well off, again it's a mixed bag. You'll find those on scholarship or as students (and yes those that do the ol' arrive as a tourist thing and try to stay forever ala the visa runner way of life) that hide out under the immigration radar, and of course plenty of Thais that try to have a go at restaurants, supermarkets, whatever and simply don't find success in the long run.

Sure, you won't find too many piss poor farmers, but like all things relative, you'll find plenty of those that are poor when compared to even the average Thai middle class family.

[remy1960]

As for what's happening in the streets right now, well.. even if the poor rural Thais have a valid complaint about their lot in life, these particular demonstrations have little to do with that; These protests and clashes are all just far reaching (and tragic) political string-pullings of the massively corrupt ousted former PM, Taksin. A coward, hiding in another country, paying poor rural Thais to give up their lives for him, as part of a thinly-veiled bid to return to power in Thailand

Spot on, totally agree.