Looking For Stories

[piete121]

Hi to all TVF'ers,

I know this is probably not the best time to be asking some of you this, and I apologise now if it seems insensitive, but I am looking for any and all interesting stories of those of you affected by the floods.

I don't mind if you are in Bangkok or surrounding areas or in Chiang Mai or in Issan. What I am looking for are people who have some interesting tales of how you have been affected, how you have helped your communities, how your communities have helped you. Anything and everything is interesting. If you can let me know your stories and allow me to contact you once I have had a chance to read them all maybe I can get your tales out into the public eye.

If you think you have a truly powerful story please contact me by pm and maybe we can have a chat online when it is good for you.

I have been watching/lurking around TV for a few years now and know that there are some really interesting people here who can give a deeper and better insight into the Thailand that we all adore. And I think that the people back home would love to know some of the more interesting stories that happen here on a daily basis.

So please, don't hold back. Hit me with your best shot as the old song said. I want it all and I want it asap. This flood will disappear from the news soon and we will all be left to pick up the pieces in any way we can.

Good luck to all of you who are suffering now and I hope that no one takes offense to me requesting this at this time.

Thanks for any kind of help you can be and I wish all the best for you and yours.

Pete

[bkkjames]

Pete: writing a book?

[piete121]

Not necessarily a book but more likely a documentary. I want to show that the foreigners who come to Thailand are not all here for one reason. As soon as anyone says they are going to Thailand for an extended period the nudge nudge wink wink attitude happens and I want to show that the vast majority of non-Thais who live here are here for a far better reason.

If there is anyone you know who is not on TV who could have a good story please let me know.

Cheers.

[bkkjames]

Well that rules me out-over qualified, lots of stories, the good, bad and ugly but don't like to gossip about x-friends, mia nois and giks.

[geriatrickid]

If you are looking for some heros, please go to the soidog website and watch how some people put their own lives at risk to help creatures abandoned and left behind. See how they bring joy to the elderly and families when they help reunite them with a loved one.

[piete121]

Hey, as well as the good stories there always have to be the bad ones to make the good ones look even better so if you have anything that might be interesting maybe you could drop me an outline off post so that I can see if there is anything I can do with it in another doc. (pietepotts(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk)

How long have you lived over here? It might be good just to sit down one day and have a chat about things?

[bkkjames]

Why not interview the ceo's of citi, hsbc and standard chart om how they have helped every thai qualify for a high interest credit card jk.

Like geriatric said, there are plenty of people doing good things here under the radar-i am just not one of them lol

[piete121]

Thanks for the pointers. I will certainly look at each of those as future stories, but the hot story now is the flood and that is the one that can open a production door to getting the others. The soi dogs story is one I have been tinkering with for a while and know that it will be great if more of the right stories can be found.

The financial one would probably be best done as a fairy tale as that is how they can give everyone credit cards!

[bkkjames]

Maybe interview that guy from the daily mail?

I am sure the vast majority of expats here are not on the stereotypical tour de lass. In fact there was a topic in general that asked people what brought them here. Looks like lots of good candidates in there.

[piete121]

Thanks for the advice. Thing is I am looking for human stories, not necessarily heroes, and not just those who are here for being in Thailand. But I am looking for stories of people getting on with their local communities and how they have managed to integrate. After all there is the old adage from the rural communities in the UK that even when you have lived in the village for 20 years you are still deemed the newbie and not part of the 'community'. I'd love to know how people find that over here. Is it that you are welcomed? Or are you shunned? Have you managed to become respected in the communities you live in here or are you still the farang or มัน who is willing to buy everyone beer.

The flood is the one thing that almost every community on the planet can agree is a bad thing to happen if not dealt with properly. But how have you been working through it? How have the people around you dealt with you during this time? Has it made your interaction with Thais change in any way? These are the kind of questions I would love to be able to show everyone back home. Not to make them jealous but just to show that in reality people the world over are actually not that different from each other.

[dick turpin]

Think the term using the words, "horse,dead and flogging" come to mind.