What Was Thailand Like Years Ago

[tominchaam]

My first memory from Bangkok is from 1973. I stayed at Siam Intercontinental - today Siam Paragon is there. Rama I road and Sukhumvit was busy as today. But walking next to impossible. I think one of the highest building in Bangkok was the Dusit. Most building maximum three stories. Just a few hundred yards from Siam Intercontinental was a small building where I got shoes made according to my feet - cost me 8 us dollars - at that time 160 baht.

I spent a lot of time in Thailand untill 1980. But I fell in love with the country and has now been living here for many years.

Pattaya during the 70th was just two streets. A few hotel incl. Royal Cliff. Very quiet except for saturdays when the massage places got busy. No go-go bars could be seen. We went waterskiing outside a countryside - that is Jomtien today.

The attitude from Thais were friendly - but not very open. The knowledge of English was very limited and those who spoke it were those well off - and among those ladies farangs were not very popular.

Don Muang was the airport. It was a beutiful wooden building. You walked out to the aircraft.

Sometimes it could take a long time to go through the immigration - remember once it took over two hours. But I never had any bad experience from the officers who always treated the passengers well.

At that time I could never imagine the changes that later has taken place in specially Bangkok - and Pattaya but in the wrong direction.

I was living in Singapore at that time which already had changed quite a bit. But I feel sorry for Thailand that has not been able to take care of "the good possibilities" that could have made our country a much better place to live in - specially for the not so well off thais. Those that make up for more than 90% of the population.

One thing I enjoy more today is the Thais attitude to farangs. It has certainly got more open - maybe because we are many today. The fact that some farangs are not well liked is simular to the situation in any other countries and certainly there are farangs - as well as there are thais - that it is likely to be right to dislike.

[samran]

I went to Thailand along with about 50 other college grads in 1969.

We were all Peace Corps volunteers signed up for two years of English teaching in Thailand

Back then the population of Bangkok was only about 3 million

The beaches in Phuket were beautiful...and deserted.

Houses didn't have air condition

There was no hot water

and teachers got paid 1200 baht a month

Here's some of the pictures we took of our lives back then

http://www.thai27.com/thai27/gallery/album03

There's little left of the Thailand we used to know.

Those are an excellent collection of photo's. Thank you so much for posting and sharing them. It is truely a unique perspective of Thailand that few get to see. And to see HM the King in a bow tie....you don't get to see that every day!

[kopite]

the best thread ever on TV- FACT!

for a young lad like me who has been here for only 4 years, and to read some of these stories/accounts is amazing.

i remember seeing photos of where i live now (pattaya) in the late sixties and was knocked out by them.

im also very jealous, simply because Thailand (i believe) sooner rather than later will become exactly the same as the place i have escaped from.

the good ol days eh? fair play lads, fair play. you lucky, lucky wrinkly old gits!!!

[jEFFREYk44]

This was the best ever thread I have read on TV, just fascinating except for the CPT thin, hoping to revive it.

I knew a guy, Joe, in the old Thermae, always sat in the corner of the bar near the bathrooms, claimed to be o\ex-x\cia or whatever, interesting guy or good bs'er, he was there every single time I went in! Also quite a number of deaf woman in there.

[bruceboy]

Probably the best thread I have seen here.

[JR Texas]

Probably the best thread I have seen here.

Would like to add that Thailand was much, MUCH BETTER in the past in many ways. No, it did not have a Skytrain and good Subway shop (only advantages of today). But it had so much that has now been lost. I can only talk what it was like since 1986 and the changes since then.

First, it was far less crowded (less people pollution)

Second, the people were far nicer (both Thai and the limited number of farang expats)

Third, it still had a sense of mystery about it......not totally Westernized

Fourth, everything was much less expensive in real terms

Fifth, there were far fewer farangs and almost no Rush Limbaugh clones selling real estate (the latter have ruined Thailand)

Sixth, the air was bad in the cities but it is worse today

Seventh, it was incredibly easy to live and work in Thailand.......no problems......nobody even thought about immigration rules/regulations

Eighth, it was a place that seemed like an oasis from the insanity in the West...now, of course, that feeling has long since gone

Ninth, it was a place that in many ways seemed like the Land of Smiles......now it is the land of smiling thieves, cheats and liars

In short, it is much worse today and there are no signs it will be getting any better in the near future. Too bad........but all things change. If only those in positions of leadership had done what is right for the majority and not the 1% minority.

[jazzbo]

"...I can only talk what it was like since 1986 and the changes since then."

Make it 1982 and much of the above can be said about Houston.

[yaketyak]

I think i have come into this a day or so too late as its mostly all been said.

I can only talk from 1993 but i have noticed a few changes even in this shortish space of time.

1) Traffic...there is no doubt in my mind that it is VASTLY better than in the 1990's. Its been a while since i have seen a real belter of a traffic jam , the kind that were commonplace in the 1990's. I remember getting stuck in a taxi around the Victory Monument for 2 hours. And Monday and Friday afternoons used to snarl up into virtual gridlock all around Silom , Sukhumvit, Sathorn , around MBK etc.

As someone who liked to stand and watch the traffic choas i actually am a bit sad the traffic is better. I liked it as it was !!

2) Prices ... have generally risen but not by as much as our western wealth has, so effectivally that , with the devaluation in 1997, now means that prices are about half what they were then in real terms pre 1997. How good is that??!!

3) Nightlife.... was very much anything goes in the 1990's, now , unfortunately , it is much more controlled with far too much "can't do this ... can't do that" about it. Shows are more tame and are performed by ever older models (interfering western governments influence here) to the point where sometimes i feel younger than the models in the "shows".

Another change for the worse is that now clubs and pubs in the tourist areas (i'm talking about the famous , obvious ones , not the tucked away ones where i am sure all hours still operate) have to close at a stupidly early time, unlike the 90's where they stayed open until 3/4 am .

4) One thing that hasn't changed .. taxi fares. Although there were still unmetered taxis in 1993 they were on their way out and if you got a metered taxi, they would charge 35 baht to start . Its still 35 baht.

I could go on but its all been said.

On balance I would definately say i think life was better and much more fun and free back then.

When Taksin got in, the government pursued an almost puritan clensing of the nightlife. Shame , a lot of fun went out of Thailand after that.

[chicowoodduck]

My first trip to LOS was part of a package tour that also took in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines.

That was 1978 and it was my first trip outside of Australia.

In Australia I had lived through the free sex days of the seventies where an average looking guy only needed to snap his fingers to have a one night stand with the girl of his choice. In those days my fingers snapped quite a lot.

Bangkok was the second leg for our tour group and we were booked into the Indra Regent Hotel for four nights.

An older Australian acquaintance on mine was a part owner of the Kings Group of go-go bars on Patpong and he took me under his wing and showed me around.

There was no need to snap any fingers, swarms of girls were all over me. I thought that all of my Christmases had come at once. I was a kid in a candy shop.

Over the years, Patpong hasn't changed much, except for prices, but I do feel that most of the women there are now much harder than they were in the late 70's.

The development of Bangkok over the years is nothing short of amazing. The transport system, shopping centres, high rise hotels, business etc. has more than kept up with the times, in many respects it has exceeded it.

The following year I returned to Thailand but went to Pattaya and Phuket for the first time.

For me Pattaya was so much more relaxing as it had developed from a small fishing village and was being built around the beach scene.

Short pants, singlets and thongs were the dress of the day, as they are today.

Open beer bars took my fancy as I could actually have a quiet conversation with the girls rather than having to shout to be heard in the Bangkok go-go bars.

Bar fines were 100 baht and a girl for the night cost between 300 and 500 baht.

The AIDS scare did not exist in those days but other STD's were floating around.

Girls are girls, they are just as pretty today as they were twenty years ago. (More tattoos today though)

I often wonder where some of the girls from earlier years went to. Every now and then I see some of them walking around Pattaya with their kids in tow.

Pattaya's night scene centred around Walking Street (as it is now known) with mostly beer bars, the Marine Bar being the main beer bar. Marine disco was number one and a few go-go bars were operating. Outer areas were still developing and the bar scene was expanding. (and it seems still is)

Etty had just opened The Buffalo Bar on Third Road but it was considered too far away from the main action.

Take a look at Third Road today and the Buffalo Bar is right in the middle of that action.

The former Royal Garden Hotel was probably the main Pattaya Hotel but other high rise hotels were starting to spring up everywhere. Now the Royal Garden Shopping Arcade occupies the site.

Over the years, accommodation has improved in quality but room prices generally are still relatively cheap.

Most of the Indian tailors have now moved out of Walking Street (probably because or rising rents) and the number of beer bars has increased.

The big improvement is food outlets. So many restaurants now from which to have a meal.

When I first visited Phuket, there was only one high rise hotel with others in the process of being built. We stayed in beach bungalows. I virtually had the whole of Patong Beach to myself.

A small scattering of beer bars were available to quench the thirst (sexual thirst too) but I had to walk through the jungle to get to the next beer bar.

Today it, in my opinion, has been spoilt be over development.

Pattaya will always be my choice of ideal holiday destination. It still retains much of its primitive feel, but modern development will eventually overtake it.

Great story and information.....sadly what you say about Pattaya is true......before long it will be over run by the development.......pity.

[chownah]

Last Songkran I went to the home of the oldest woman in our village to get her blessing and after I got blessed I asked her (through my wife) if things were better when she was a girl or is it better today....without hesitation she said it was better when she was young. One of her examples was that back then you could carry enough money in your pocket to buy a house (ten baht) but now if you wanted to carry enough money to buy a house it would be way to big to carry in your pocket!!!!

Chownah

[Theyreallrubbish]

I first arrived in 1992 and was working in a small town called Fang which is between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

I remember the day I got off the bus at the bus station at Fang and got in a pedal song taew that as we pedalled down the only (partly) tarmaced road in town, all the other pedalos started following us in a pack. When I got to the guest house it was set up as single rooms around a courtyard and the owner could speak some English and before I'd even agreed to take the room he gave me some english language novels that a previous farang guest had left behind a few months previously.

When I went into the room he showed me the light switch, the fan switch then the shower room at the back. As I turned around from the shower room I saw the window and doorway were just full of faces. All of them started smiling and giggling as they saw me look at them. I could see over them to see the courtyard was packed with people. The entire town seemed to have turned out to see me.

I was invited to dinner with the local Round Table and at the dinner was the chief doctor of the local hospital, the regional air force commander, the police chief, an admiral!!, and various other big wigs. I was asked to stand up and give a speach, even though I was only a 22 year old kid at the time.

I got to know a Thai family that lived nearby that had 6 sisters and 7 brothers and all their husbands and wives and kids and parents and grandparents living in one house or some connected houses. They used to take me out with them on fishing trips at a local lake or to the local disco in the only air conditioned bar in town, and if was raining heavily wouldn't let me leave their house. The first time this happened there were only 2 sisters in the house we were in. They showed me to a room with a matress on the floor. I said thanks and lay down. They looked at me with a puzzled expression and waved at me to stand up, which I did. They then carried the matress to the other bedroom and lay it down next to a matress already there. Then me and the two sisters got in the bed. Nothing untoward happened.

One time they took me out on the family motorbike (5 of us!) and we went down miles of dirt track in the dark way way into the jungle when we came into a clearing where there was a huge neon lit building that had 4 storeys. There were loads of staff around, beautiful girls in traditional Thai dress and lots of men in western waiter style uniforms. Each of the floors was a different type of bar. Regular bar, karoake, disco, hostess bar, etc. The equipment, sound system, decor, light system and furnishings were state of the art and very high end. The entire place was deserted apart from the staff, me and the Thai family I was with and on the karaoke bar floor some tough looking guys. I sang a song in the karaoke bar and the tough looking guys came over and they all hung jasmine garlands around my neck.

At the time I didn't realise it, but looking back its obvious it was a local drug lords pleasure palace. Fang was known as a shipment point for drugs from Burma at that time.

Speaking of jasmine garlands they used to be for sale everywhere and everyone wore them on a night out in the bars. All the children hawkers in the bar areas were selling jasmine garlands then rather than the chiclets they sell now. Hardly see them anymore.

The women were much less hardened than they are now. Even hookers from gogo bars would tidy your room and fold up your clothes before they left. On the negative side, not many gave bjs.

And I don't know whether its because I was young and handsome then and I'm not now, but in the early 1990s living in Chiang Mai girls would come to my house and knock on the door at all hours of the day and night just to have sex. No money involved. They just wanted sex. One girl I knew who was engaged to a Danish guy even came around to have sex the day before her fiance arrived with his family even though she'd had a motorcycle accident and broken her arm that day and hadn't had it set or put in plaster! (I met her a week later and she introduced me to him and his family. He seemed a really nice guy and was about my age at the time 23 or so with nice middle class parents. I met her friend about 2 years later who said she'd gone to Denmark and was very happy and had two kids)

The police were a lot more easy going then as well. I remember once being so drunk in Chiang Mai I fell out of my jeep at the intersection in front of Dominos and the bar beer centre. Since my foot came off the clutch when I fell out the jeep shot off across the junction until it stalled. The police came rushing out of their box and they were all laughing. They picked me up, checked I wasn't hurt and helped me back up into the jeep and restarted the engine for me before waving me on my way.

I also remember in 1992 in Chiang Mai it was sometimes hard to find someone who would give change for a 500 Baht note. 1000 Baht notes were unknown.

I once hired an old man on a pedal songtaew to take me to a university department. We agreed on 20 Baht. He took me to where he though it was. When we got there he spoke to some people who said it was somewhere else (I couldn't speak Thai at the time) So off we went. He took me out to the university on the outskirts of town. It was really hot and I was 90 kilos so pulling me there wasn't easy and I was starting to feel really bad for him. Turns out that wasn't the place either so off we went again. I don't remember exactly where we went but I remember him struggling up some hills in the mid day sun in the hot season and he looked to be about 70 with me sitting behind him feeling sick from guilt. He got another set of directions and we headed back into town and found the place which turned out to be within 100 meters of where we first started. I got out and he reminded me it was 20 Baht. I gave him an extra 50 on top just to assuage my guilt slightly, but he never even hinted at a tip or extra fee.

The main thing was, even in the early 90s, in rural areas it was just as much fun and exciting for the Thais to meet a farang as it was for us to meet them and they made an extraordinary effort to make you feel welcome and that gave travelling in Thailand a very special feeling that has been lost now that they see farang every day.

[wamberal]

Does anybody remember the old "Saigon Bakery" on the ground floor of an old building in Silom?

There were always one or two grizzled old farang, who looked like they had some really interesting stories to tell. I regret now being too busy to sit there and listen to them.

[PhilHarries]

Great thread, thanks to those that ressurected it.

First went to Thailand 1992, Pattaya, and have only vague memories of what things were like probably because I was overwhelmed by it all. So these are a few Pattaya memories jotted down in no particular order.

One thing that definately has improved is the journey from/to the airport. Used to take four hours but if you were going for a flight it was best to allow six. Of course on a good day, three hours, this made for some extended imbibing at Don Muang. The record for two of our lads, courtesy of a rainstorm and an accident, was ten hours. They missed the flight. They were just building the elevated Don Muang tollway so that added to the general mayhem of any journeys

Filling in the time off work, Sundays, was not so easy unless you played golf. There was one cinema in town, down south end just the other side of south road, but that only showed Thai films. Manager was willing to show English language films but only if we guaranteed a full house which was just not possible.

No fast food outlets (Maccy Dees, KFC, Pizza Hut etc) but that was part of the attraction (for me). No shopping malls, except for Mikes, and getting western food items particularly condiments was always a problem. Everyone on the project had a standing list of stuff to bring back from the R&R trips back to UK. One of my favourite eating places was the little restaurant at the yacht club, used to be almost opposite Mikes. Best avoided at low tide though, the smell from the residue on the beach was overpowering. When they demolished the yacht club the restaurant relocated to second road but it just wasn't the same again.

Beach was truly filthy in those days with raw sewage churning out of a large concrete weir box direct onto the beach down almost opposite south road. In fact the drainage around the entire town was woefully inadequate and it wouldn't take much of a rainstorm to bring things to a standstill.

The nightlife scene hasn't changed except it was less pushy then, you could actually sit and talk to a girl without getting the impression she was on a bender or trying to set a new record for the number of lady drinks from one customer. The thing that has changed is the amount of beer bars and gogo bars in town. My first place of residence was Siri Homes apartments off soi eight opposite the immigration office. Soi eight itself was busy but nothing like it is today. Soi seven, apart from a few places at either end was deserted. The plot of land behind the immigration was waste land and the loudest noise heard was the frogs singing after the rain.

Soi Buakhaw was a sleepy little lane, before they installed the stormwater drains, and there was only about two bars on it one associated with Diana Apartments.

Third road between north and central wasn't there and between central and south it was a narrow little lane known as soi Choomsai. It was down a little dirt track off that I rented my first house in '94 for the princely sum of 4000 Baht a month. Fan only, no a/c, and no hot water when we had water at all. House is still there but many of the eatery shacks and other assorted accommodations are now no more, replaced by small apartment blocks.

I remember the Buffalo bar on soi Choomsai (3rd road) when it was a quiet beer bar and was attached to a restaurant run by a Frenchman named Joseph. Served up the best steaks in town, amongst other culinary delights. As I remember he split from his wife and went on to run an Argentinian restaurant in the arcade with Kiss on the corner. Later he opened his first Au Bon Coin on second road opposite Mikes which has since relocated, via soi 4, to Jomtien. Still knocks out the best steaks, it's good that some things don't change.

Beer choice has improved enormously, when I was forst there you had a choice of Singha, Singha Light, Kloster and Amarit. Some bars had imported beers but these were extortionately expensive. Draft beer was almost unheard of, I can only recall draft Amarit in the Diana Inn and draft Singha in Kiss restaurant on Nahklua road. Amazingly beer prices are about the same now as back then despite the '97 crash, there may be a few differences but nothing when compared to the hike in UK prices over the same time. seems the Thai government has yet to learn of the annual duty hike revenue earning gravy train.

Traffic round town has definately got worse and these days, when I'm back, I tend to walk when before I'd have jumped a Baht buss or mocy taxi. The cost of Baht bus journeys have changed little over the years. Back then you could get away with 5 Baht, provided you had the 5, if you just used them on their standard route but would often get a bit of verbal abuse. I always gave/give 10 Baht, it's nothing to me and avoids potential conforntation.

Violence has risen dramatically particularly amongst/involving farangs. When I was there in the nineties you almost never heard of a farang getting into bother but now it seems a regular occurrence.

I'll see what I can dredge up from my trips to the islands and up north but unfortunately I have lost all my photos of the times.

[Ulysses G.]

There were more young, gorgeous girls working back in the old days. There were a lot of 16, and 17 year olds in the bars and it wasn't considered perverted or dangerous to desire them and of course prices were cheaper. However, the choice in beer and farang food now is way better than it used to be.

For me, now is the good old days!

[Mosha]

I think it was 1984 or 85 when I first arrived. All the bars played 60's music. Me and my mates used to go in a bar on Sukhumvit called the Cock and Bull I think. They had a decent 3 piece band at nights All the Western Bars had signs in Arabic and English basically telling the Arabs to stay out. A girl was murdered by 3 Arabs in the Grace Hotel the year before.

We met this Aussie called Ali (Alexander), who bribed a taxi driver to take one of the girls from the Bier Kutsche bar (opposite the Grace) to hospital down Soi 3. The girl just collapsed behind one of the bars, and Ali didn't hesitate he picked her up and flagged down the taxi, and paid for the girls treatment. For the rest of the time the girls there couldn't do enough for him, and as we were part of his group by then, us too. It was a German bar and it used to tick the older Germans off to be suddenly ignored when we walked in.

[Boksida]

I moved to Thailand in 1970. As with anywhere else, there has obviously been change but, to me, mostly positive.

I used to hang out in Patpong with my favourite place being the Napoleon. It really became a go-go area after the Grand Prix opened. I moved to Soi Cowboy when that started up although it was till feasible to drive, and park, at Patpong. Moved on to Soi 33 when that started up but never really spent much time at Nana. I don't think the prices have changed that much when adjusted for inflation. Prices for social activities seemed to depend more on the size of the largest bank note in circulation. Bangkok prices jumped from 200 baht to 500 baht and then a thousand when the notes were introduced. I hope for the sake of the young guys that a 5000 baht note is still along way off.

Have worked in most provinces and am really grateful for the continued improvements in roads and accommodation. The original development was mostly centred around wherever there were US military interests but is now it is everywhere. Surely that is a good thing.

The secret to pleasant living here, if you have the opportunity, is to move every ten years or so to somewhere that has a good lifestyle without too much traffic. There are still plenty of places like that and with the improvements in communication, it is still possible to keep in business. And don't live anywhere near your in-laws.

Still a pretty good place I reckon.

[digitele]

Shrimp produced his own naughty calendar featuring dusky Isarn BGs

The BEST calander I've ever seen.....

[paulsmithson]

Anyone remember the song " Lucy's Tiger Den"? Back in the seventies I used to visit there on Suriwongs road.

Tiger was an American vet of the war in Vietnam. Nice guy wheelchair bound when I met him.

Memphis Queen and a guy called Williams? He even hired his thai wife( Pensi) to me one evening!!!!

Tony a Yorkshire guy from the other office and his friend Bernard who was married to a Thai gemologist.

Old man Patpong who owned both streets? Nice guy but not to be crossed!

My frst visit here was with an organised tour and we were advised not to leave the hotel after dark as a few hundred tourists had disappeared without trace the previous year!

Needless to say we hit Patpong that same night!

Pattaya and the Nippa lodge, So few bars then and such innocent girls.

Sex without condoms and little risk---true heaven.

An exchange rate of something like 40+ baht to the english pound and still seemed cheap.

Yeah the old days were ok- at leats then I could cope with sex three times a day!!!!!

[Boksida]

Anyone remember the song " Lucy's Tiger Den"? Back in the seventies I used to visit there on Suriwongs road.

Tiger was an American vet of the war in Vietnam. Nice guy wheelchair bound when I met him.

I used to go there when Tiger was still mobile. My memory is that he was a contruction worker (rigger) rather than a Vietnam vet (too old). Lucy's eventually moved over to a shop house on Silom but Tiger was out of the picture then and it wasn't very good and closed. The girls were good at some entertaining parlour games though.

[chiang mai]

I think the year was 1996 and the sky train construction had just begun on Sukhumvit. I was staying in a serviced apartment on Soi 22 and working on Silom and had to go into the office early on a Saturday morning. I walked the first part of the way down Sukhumvit around 6.0am wearing shirt and tie and carrying a briefcase. As I walked past the old Thermae the place was just closing and around a dozen young ladies exited on to the street, minus any male company. As I walked through the small crowd a bidding war erupted for my time and culminated with one girl saying, "90 baht". Poor things had no money to eat and I had to go to work. I did indeed go straight to the office.

[Tinkelbell]

I first arrived in 1992 and was working in a small town called Fang which is between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

I remember the day I got off the bus at the bus station at Fang and got in a pedal song taew that as we pedalled down the only (partly) tarmaced road in town, all the other pedalos started following us in a pack. When I got to the guest house it was set up as single rooms around a courtyard and the owner could speak some English and before I'd even agreed to take the room he gave me some english language novels that a previous farang guest had left behind a few months previously.

When I went into the room he showed me the light switch, the fan switch then the shower room at the back. As I turned around from the shower room I saw the window and doorway were just full of faces. All of them started smiling and giggling as they saw me look at them. I could see over them to see the courtyard was packed with people. The entire town seemed to have turned out to see me.

I was invited to dinner with the local Round Table and at the dinner was the chief doctor of the local hospital, the regional air force commander, the police chief, an admiral!!, and various other big wigs. I was asked to stand up and give a speach, even though I was only a 22 year old kid at the time.

I got to know a Thai family that lived nearby that had 6 sisters and 7 brothers and all their husbands and wives and kids and parents and grandparents living in one house or some connected houses. They used to take me out with them on fishing trips at a local lake or to the local disco in the only air conditioned bar in town, and if was raining heavily wouldn't let me leave their house. The first time this happened there were only 2 sisters in the house we were in. They showed me to a room with a matress on the floor. I said thanks and lay down. They looked at me with a puzzled expression and waved at me to stand up, which I did. They then carried the matress to the other bedroom and lay it down next to a matress already there. Then me and the two sisters got in the bed. Nothing untoward happened.

One time they took me out on the family motorbike (5 of us!) and we went down miles of dirt track in the dark way way into the jungle when we came into a clearing where there was a huge neon lit building that had 4 storeys. There were loads of staff around, beautiful girls in traditional Thai dress and lots of men in western waiter style uniforms. Each of the floors was a different type of bar. Regular bar, karoake, disco, hostess bar, etc. The equipment, sound system, decor, light system and furnishings were state of the art and very high end. The entire place was deserted apart from the staff, me and the Thai family I was with and on the karaoke bar floor some tough looking guys. I sang a song in the karaoke bar and the tough looking guys came over and they all hung jasmine garlands around my neck.

At the time I didn't realise it, but looking back its obvious it was a local drug lords pleasure palace. Fang was known as a shipment point for drugs from Burma at that time.

Speaking of jasmine garlands they used to be for sale everywhere and everyone wore them on a night out in the bars. All the children hawkers in the bar areas were selling jasmine garlands then rather than the chiclets they sell now. Hardly see them anymore.

The women were much less hardened than they are now. Even hookers from gogo bars would tidy your room and fold up your clothes before they left. On the negative side, not many gave bjs.

And I don't know whether its because I was young and handsome then and I'm not now, but in the early 1990s living in Chiang Mai girls would come to my house and knock on the door at all hours of the day and night just to have sex. No money involved. They just wanted sex. One girl I knew who was engaged to a Danish guy even came around to have sex the day before her fiance arrived with his family even though she'd had a motorcycle accident and broken her arm that day and hadn't had it set or put in plaster! (I met her a week later and she introduced me to him and his family. He seemed a really nice guy and was about my age at the time 23 or so with nice middle class parents. I met her friend about 2 years later who said she'd gone to Denmark and was very happy and had two kids)

The police were a lot more easy going then as well. I remember once being so drunk in Chiang Mai I fell out of my jeep at the intersection in front of Dominos and the bar beer centre. Since my foot came off the clutch when I fell out the jeep shot off across the junction until it stalled. The police came rushing out of their box and they were all laughing. They picked me up, checked I wasn't hurt and helped me back up into the jeep and restarted the engine for me before waving me on my way.

I also remember in 1992 in Chiang Mai it was sometimes hard to find someone who would give change for a 500 Baht note. 1000 Baht notes were unknown.

I once hired an old man on a pedal songtaew to take me to a university department. We agreed on 20 Baht. He took me to where he though it was. When we got there he spoke to some people who said it was somewhere else (I couldn't speak Thai at the time) So off we went. He took me out to the university on the outskirts of town. It was really hot and I was 90 kilos so pulling me there wasn't easy and I was starting to feel really bad for him. Turns out that wasn't the place either so off we went again. I don't remember exactly where we went but I remember him struggling up some hills in the mid day sun in the hot season and he looked to be about 70 with me sitting behind him feeling sick from guilt. He got another set of directions and we headed back into town and found the place which turned out to be within 100 meters of where we first started. I got out and he reminded me it was 20 Baht. I gave him an extra 50 on top just to assuage my guilt slightly, but he never even hinted at a tip or extra fee.

The main thing was, even in the early 90s, in rural areas it was just as much fun and exciting for the Thais to meet a farang as it was for us to meet them and they made an extraordinary effort to make you feel welcome and that gave travelling in Thailand a very special feeling that has been lost now that they see farang every day.

theyreallrubbish, that's a great post, really enjoy reading it.

Do you still living in LOS ?

Feel free to share your story with us here.

[grtaylor]

I bet the trams didn't have a two tier pricing policy for us lot then.

I wonder when that all started.

Does anybody know ?

And who was responsible for inventing that one?

Do you think we could bring them to justice like they do with war crimes. LOL

I wasn't aware that any of the current transportation systems have a two-tier pricing system . . . . .

G

[Theyreallrubbish]

I first arrived in 1992 and was working in a small town called Fang which is between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

I remember the day I got off the bus at the bus station at Fang and got in a pedal song taew that as we pedalled down the only (partly) tarmaced road in town, all the other pedalos started following us in a pack. When I got to the guest house it was set up as single rooms around a courtyard and the owner could speak some English and before I'd even agreed to take the room he gave me some english language novels that a previous farang guest had left behind a few months previously.

When I went into the room he showed me the light switch, the fan switch then the shower room at the back. As I turned around from the shower room I saw the window and doorway were just full of faces. All of them started smiling and giggling as they saw me look at them. I could see over them to see the courtyard was packed with people. The entire town seemed to have turned out to see me.

I was invited to dinner with the local Round Table and at the dinner was the chief doctor of the local hospital, the regional air force commander, the police chief, an admiral!!, and various other big wigs. I was asked to stand up and give a speach, even though I was only a 22 year old kid at the time.

I got to know a Thai family that lived nearby that had 6 sisters and 7 brothers and all their husbands and wives and kids and parents and grandparents living in one house or some connected houses. They used to take me out with them on fishing trips at a local lake or to the local disco in the only air conditioned bar in town, and if was raining heavily wouldn't let me leave their house. The first time this happened there were only 2 sisters in the house we were in. They showed me to a room with a matress on the floor. I said thanks and lay down. They looked at me with a puzzled expression and waved at me to stand up, which I did. They then carried the matress to the other bedroom and lay it down next to a matress already there. Then me and the two sisters got in the bed. Nothing untoward happened.

One time they took me out on the family motorbike (5 of us!) and we went down miles of dirt track in the dark way way into the jungle when we came into a clearing where there was a huge neon lit building that had 4 storeys. There were loads of staff around, beautiful girls in traditional Thai dress and lots of men in western waiter style uniforms. Each of the floors was a different type of bar. Regular bar, karoake, disco, hostess bar, etc. The equipment, sound system, decor, light system and furnishings were state of the art and very high end. The entire place was deserted apart from the staff, me and the Thai family I was with and on the karaoke bar floor some tough looking guys. I sang a song in the karaoke bar and the tough looking guys came over and they all hung jasmine garlands around my neck.

At the time I didn't realise it, but looking back its obvious it was a local drug lords pleasure palace. Fang was known as a shipment point for drugs from Burma at that time.

Speaking of jasmine garlands they used to be for sale everywhere and everyone wore them on a night out in the bars. All the children hawkers in the bar areas were selling jasmine garlands then rather than the chiclets they sell now. Hardly see them anymore.

The women were much less hardened than they are now. Even hookers from gogo bars would tidy your room and fold up your clothes before they left. On the negative side, not many gave bjs.

And I don't know whether its because I was young and handsome then and I'm not now, but in the early 1990s living in Chiang Mai girls would come to my house and knock on the door at all hours of the day and night just to have sex. No money involved. They just wanted sex. One girl I knew who was engaged to a Danish guy even came around to have sex the day before her fiance arrived with his family even though she'd had a motorcycle accident and broken her arm that day and hadn't had it set or put in plaster! (I met her a week later and she introduced me to him and his family. He seemed a really nice guy and was about my age at the time 23 or so with nice middle class parents. I met her friend about 2 years later who said she'd gone to Denmark and was very happy and had two kids)

The police were a lot more easy going then as well. I remember once being so drunk in Chiang Mai I fell out of my jeep at the intersection in front of Dominos and the bar beer centre. Since my foot came off the clutch when I fell out the jeep shot off across the junction until it stalled. The police came rushing out of their box and they were all laughing. They picked me up, checked I wasn't hurt and helped me back up into the jeep and restarted the engine for me before waving me on my way.

I also remember in 1992 in Chiang Mai it was sometimes hard to find someone who would give change for a 500 Baht note. 1000 Baht notes were unknown.

I once hired an old man on a pedal songtaew to take me to a university department. We agreed on 20 Baht. He took me to where he though it was. When we got there he spoke to some people who said it was somewhere else (I couldn't speak Thai at the time) So off we went. He took me out to the university on the outskirts of town. It was really hot and I was 90 kilos so pulling me there wasn't easy and I was starting to feel really bad for him. Turns out that wasn't the place either so off we went again. I don't remember exactly where we went but I remember him struggling up some hills in the mid day sun in the hot season and he looked to be about 70 with me sitting behind him feeling sick from guilt. He got another set of directions and we headed back into town and found the place which turned out to be within 100 meters of where we first started. I got out and he reminded me it was 20 Baht. I gave him an extra 50 on top just to assuage my guilt slightly, but he never even hinted at a tip or extra fee.

The main thing was, even in the early 90s, in rural areas it was just as much fun and exciting for the Thais to meet a farang as it was for us to meet them and they made an extraordinary effort to make you feel welcome and that gave travelling in Thailand a very special feeling that has been lost now that they see farang every day.

theyreallrubbish, that's a great post, really enjoy reading it.

Do you still living in LOS ?

Feel free to share your story with us here.

Tinkelbell, glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know.

I lived in Thailand for many years and have been taking a break from living in Thailand for the last few years but I'll be moving back full time next month.

[PadThaiGuy]

Thais were alot friendlier years ago... before the influx of the disrespctfull, hooligan farang types.

These tattooed up, drunk, football fans have dragged our reputation into the gutter.

[Stephen Cleary]

I first arrived in 1992 and was working in a small town called Fang which is between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

I remember the day I got off the bus at the bus station at Fang and got in a pedal song taew that as we pedalled down the only (partly) tarmaced road in town, all the other pedalos started following us in a pack. When I got to the guest house it was set up as single rooms around a courtyard and the owner could speak some English and before I'd even agreed to take the room he gave me some english language novels that a previous farang guest had left behind a few months previously.

When I went into the room he showed me the light switch, the fan switch then the shower room at the back. As I turned around from the shower room I saw the window and doorway were just full of faces. All of them started smiling and giggling as they saw me look at them. I could see over them to see the courtyard was packed with people. The entire town seemed to have turned out to see me.

I was invited to dinner with the local Round Table and at the dinner was the chief doctor of the local hospital, the regional air force commander, the police chief, an admiral!!, and various other big wigs. I was asked to stand up and give a speach, even though I was only a 22 year old kid at the time.

I got to know a Thai family that lived nearby that had 6 sisters and 7 brothers and all their husbands and wives and kids and parents and grandparents living in one house or some connected houses. They used to take me out with them on fishing trips at a local lake or to the local disco in the only air conditioned bar in town, and if was raining heavily wouldn't let me leave their house. The first time this happened there were only 2 sisters in the house we were in. They showed me to a room with a matress on the floor. I said thanks and lay down. They looked at me with a puzzled expression and waved at me to stand up, which I did. They then carried the matress to the other bedroom and lay it down next to a matress already there. Then me and the two sisters got in the bed. Nothing untoward happened.

One time they took me out on the family motorbike (5 of us!) and we went down miles of dirt track in the dark way way into the jungle when we came into a clearing where there was a huge neon lit building that had 4 storeys. There were loads of staff around, beautiful girls in traditional Thai dress and lots of men in western waiter style uniforms. Each of the floors was a different type of bar. Regular bar, karoake, disco, hostess bar, etc. The equipment, sound system, decor, light system and furnishings were state of the art and very high end. The entire place was deserted apart from the staff, me and the Thai family I was with and on the karaoke bar floor some tough looking guys. I sang a song in the karaoke bar and the tough looking guys came over and they all hung jasmine garlands around my neck.

At the time I didn't realise it, but looking back its obvious it was a local drug lords pleasure palace. Fang was known as a shipment point for drugs from Burma at that time.

Speaking of jasmine garlands they used to be for sale everywhere and everyone wore them on a night out in the bars. All the children hawkers in the bar areas were selling jasmine garlands then rather than the chiclets they sell now. Hardly see them anymore.

The women were much less hardened than they are now. Even hookers from gogo bars would tidy your room and fold up your clothes before they left. On the negative side, not many gave bjs.

And I don't know whether its because I was young and handsome then and I'm not now, but in the early 1990s living in Chiang Mai girls would come to my house and knock on the door at all hours of the day and night just to have sex. No money involved. They just wanted sex. One girl I knew who was engaged to a Danish guy even came around to have sex the day before her fiance arrived with his family even though she'd had a motorcycle accident and broken her arm that day and hadn't had it set or put in plaster! (I met her a week later and she introduced me to him and his family. He seemed a really nice guy and was about my age at the time 23 or so with nice middle class parents. I met her friend about 2 years later who said she'd gone to Denmark and was very happy and had two kids)

The police were a lot more easy going then as well. I remember once being so drunk in Chiang Mai I fell out of my jeep at the intersection in front of Dominos and the bar beer centre. Since my foot came off the clutch when I fell out the jeep shot off across the junction until it stalled. The police came rushing out of their box and they were all laughing. They picked me up, checked I wasn't hurt and helped me back up into the jeep and restarted the engine for me before waving me on my way.

I also remember in 1992 in Chiang Mai it was sometimes hard to find someone who would give change for a 500 Baht note. 1000 Baht notes were unknown.

I once hired an old man on a pedal songtaew to take me to a university department. We agreed on 20 Baht. He took me to where he though it was. When we got there he spoke to some people who said it was somewhere else (I couldn't speak Thai at the time) So off we went. He took me out to the university on the outskirts of town. It was really hot and I was 90 kilos so pulling me there wasn't easy and I was starting to feel really bad for him. Turns out that wasn't the place either so off we went again. I don't remember exactly where we went but I remember him struggling up some hills in the mid day sun in the hot season and he looked to be about 70 with me sitting behind him feeling sick from guilt. He got another set of directions and we headed back into town and found the place which turned out to be within 100 meters of where we first started. I got out and he reminded me it was 20 Baht. I gave him an extra 50 on top just to assuage my guilt slightly, but he never even hinted at a tip or extra fee.

The main thing was, even in the early 90s, in rural areas it was just as much fun and exciting for the Thais to meet a farang as it was for us to meet them and they made an extraordinary effort to make you feel welcome and that gave travelling in Thailand a very special feeling that has been lost now that they see farang every day.

Was that just a comment? Or had you already wrote this up before?

If it were just a comment then it's a bit of a pity. Ought to start a blog.

[Nignoy]

Thais were alot friendlier years ago... before the influx of the disrespctfull, hooligan farang types.

These tattooed up, drunk, football fans have dragged our reputation into the gutter.

Personally I think that thailand started to change with the influx of US service personnel in the early 60,s this was long before any tattooed football fans were even born a few of us old farts who were actually in Los in 1963 have watched the downward spiral,Nignoy

[Theyreallrubbish]

I first arrived in 1992 and was working in a small town called Fang which is between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

I remember the day I got off the bus at the bus station at Fang and got in a pedal song taew that as we pedalled down the only (partly) tarmaced road in town, all the other pedalos started following us in a pack. When I got to the guest house it was set up as single rooms around a courtyard and the owner could speak some English and before I'd even agreed to take the room he gave me some english language novels that a previous farang guest had left behind a few months previously.

When I went into the room he showed me the light switch, the fan switch then the shower room at the back. As I turned around from the shower room I saw the window and doorway were just full of faces. All of them started smiling and giggling as they saw me look at them. I could see over them to see the courtyard was packed with people. The entire town seemed to have turned out to see me.

I was invited to dinner with the local Round Table and at the dinner was the chief doctor of the local hospital, the regional air force commander, the police chief, an admiral!!, and various other big wigs. I was asked to stand up and give a speach, even though I was only a 22 year old kid at the time.

I got to know a Thai family that lived nearby that had 6 sisters and 7 brothers and all their husbands and wives and kids and parents and grandparents living in one house or some connected houses. They used to take me out with them on fishing trips at a local lake or to the local disco in the only air conditioned bar in town, and if was raining heavily wouldn't let me leave their house. The first time this happened there were only 2 sisters in the house we were in. They showed me to a room with a matress on the floor. I said thanks and lay down. They looked at me with a puzzled expression and waved at me to stand up, which I did. They then carried the matress to the other bedroom and lay it down next to a matress already there. Then me and the two sisters got in the bed. Nothing untoward happened.

One time they took me out on the family motorbike (5 of us!) and we went down miles of dirt track in the dark way way into the jungle when we came into a clearing where there was a huge neon lit building that had 4 storeys. There were loads of staff around, beautiful girls in traditional Thai dress and lots of men in western waiter style uniforms. Each of the floors was a different type of bar. Regular bar, karoake, disco, hostess bar, etc. The equipment, sound system, decor, light system and furnishings were state of the art and very high end. The entire place was deserted apart from the staff, me and the Thai family I was with and on the karaoke bar floor some tough looking guys. I sang a song in the karaoke bar and the tough looking guys came over and they all hung jasmine garlands around my neck.

At the time I didn't realise it, but looking back its obvious it was a local drug lords pleasure palace. Fang was known as a shipment point for drugs from Burma at that time.

Speaking of jasmine garlands they used to be for sale everywhere and everyone wore them on a night out in the bars. All the children hawkers in the bar areas were selling jasmine garlands then rather than the chiclets they sell now. Hardly see them anymore.

The women were much less hardened than they are now. Even hookers from gogo bars would tidy your room and fold up your clothes before they left. On the negative side, not many gave bjs.

And I don't know whether its because I was young and handsome then and I'm not now, but in the early 1990s living in Chiang Mai girls would come to my house and knock on the door at all hours of the day and night just to have sex. No money involved. They just wanted sex. One girl I knew who was engaged to a Danish guy even came around to have sex the day before her fiance arrived with his family even though she'd had a motorcycle accident and broken her arm that day and hadn't had it set or put in plaster! (I met her a week later and she introduced me to him and his family. He seemed a really nice guy and was about my age at the time 23 or so with nice middle class parents. I met her friend about 2 years later who said she'd gone to Denmark and was very happy and had two kids)

The police were a lot more easy going then as well. I remember once being so drunk in Chiang Mai I fell out of my jeep at the intersection in front of Dominos and the bar beer centre. Since my foot came off the clutch when I fell out the jeep shot off across the junction until it stalled. The police came rushing out of their box and they were all laughing. They picked me up, checked I wasn't hurt and helped me back up into the jeep and restarted the engine for me before waving me on my way.

I also remember in 1992 in Chiang Mai it was sometimes hard to find someone who would give change for a 500 Baht note. 1000 Baht notes were unknown.

I once hired an old man on a pedal songtaew to take me to a university department. We agreed on 20 Baht. He took me to where he though it was. When we got there he spoke to some people who said it was somewhere else (I couldn't speak Thai at the time) So off we went. He took me out to the university on the outskirts of town. It was really hot and I was 90 kilos so pulling me there wasn't easy and I was starting to feel really bad for him. Turns out that wasn't the place either so off we went again. I don't remember exactly where we went but I remember him struggling up some hills in the mid day sun in the hot season and he looked to be about 70 with me sitting behind him feeling sick from guilt. He got another set of directions and we headed back into town and found the place which turned out to be within 100 meters of where we first started. I got out and he reminded me it was 20 Baht. I gave him an extra 50 on top just to assuage my guilt slightly, but he never even hinted at a tip or extra fee.

The main thing was, even in the early 90s, in rural areas it was just as much fun and exciting for the Thais to meet a farang as it was for us to meet them and they made an extraordinary effort to make you feel welcome and that gave travelling in Thailand a very special feeling that has been lost now that they see farang every day.

Was that just a comment? Or had you already wrote this up before?

If it were just a comment then it's a bit of a pity. Ought to start a blog.

It was just a comment. Just some of the first things I thought of regarding the topic.

Why is it a pity its just a comment?

[WaiWai]

It was just a comment. Just some of the first things I thought of regarding the topic.

Why is it a pity its just a comment?

Think he means that if you can toss such an interesting post off on the spur of the moment, it would be a pity if you were not making a lengthier record somewhere.

[Briggsy]

Here's a snippet.

Chatting to a park ranger at Lam Khlong Ngu National Park which is about 50 plus kms past Thong Pha Phoom in Kanjanaburi province. He was telling me many people moved there from Surin and Sri Saket about 30 years ago to clear land and make new villages. Nowadays it takes just over one hour in a pick-up truck to get to Thong Pha Phoom. 30 years ago, he said it took 3 days. In addition, many of the migrants fell seriously ill and some died of malaria.

For one expat picture of Bangkok about 50 (?) years ago, try reading "Women of Bangkok". You'll see things haven't changed much!

[phomsanuk]

i spent a few days in BKK with my new and beautiful Japanese wife. I was told about the soapyies but did not participate, The hotels were small and run by European managers. I don't recall much traffic but many more klongs as well as a beautiful floating mkt, a Siamese dancing show in a "viking restaurant".

Some sanitation was open drains in the streets. I was in love and not impressed by the ladies as I am now. Had a very nice visit if not a thrilling one. That was about 1975. Never expected to come here to spend my waning hears...... ....Aloha