Poll: Foreigners In Thailand: When You're Here, Do You Consider Yourself A "guest" Of Thailand?

[bangarang]

visa runs every 90 days is proof we will always be a guest. Plus constant use of Farang around me.

[Vinny1967]

Unless your holding a passport for the country you live in,you can consider yourself a guest.I lived in Holland for 15 years and did everything by the book,and even after 15 years,I still considered my self a guest there.Even if some of you managed to get thai citizenship,paid your taxes and behaved yourself,the fact that you don't look like a thai will be a major factor in you not being accepted by most as one of their own.It's just something we have to accept.

[Jingthing]

Unless your holding a passport for the country you live in,you can consider yourself a guest.I lived in Holland for 15 years and did everything by the book,and even after 15 years,I still considered my self a guest there.Even if some of you managed to get thai citizenship,paid your taxes and behaved yourself,the fact that you don't look like a thai will be a major factor in you not being accepted by most as one of their own.It's just something we have to accept.

Agree with most everything you say about foreigner status here except the aptness of the label of guest. This really is largely a matter of semantics.

To break this down a little more, many or most of the people who are saying, NO, I don't consider myself a guest are certainly NOT saying that the Thai authorities/society don't have power over their rights to stay or go, etc. Of course they do!

Edited May 7, 2013 by Jingthing

[Vinny1967]

Unless your holding a passport for the country you live in,you can consider yourself a guest.I lived in Holland for 15 years and did everything by the book,and even after 15 years,I still considered my self a guest there.Even if some of you managed to get thai citizenship,paid your taxes and behaved yourself,the fact that you don't look like a thai will be a major factor in you not being accepted by most as one of their own.It's just something we have to accept.

Agree with most everything you say about foreigner status here except the aptness of the label of guest. This really is largely a matter of semantics.

To break this down a little more, many or most of the people who are saying, NO, I don't consider myself a guest are certainly NOT saying that the Thai authorities/society don't have power over their rights to stay or go, etc. Of course they do!

I understand what you're saying JT.The point I'm trying to get across is that although a lot of people call Thailand "home" (myself included) ,we are and will always be a guest of The Kingdom Of Thailand.Nobody has a god given right to go to a foreign land and expect to be fully accepted by the locals.I'm sure if you turned this around and asked people from the UK if all the Polish and other east european refugees are "guests" in the UK,then opinions might differ.

[Naam]

Voted no simply on the basis that guests don't pay to stay. Whilst upmarket hotels use that term, it's really just a touchy-feely version of 'customer'

Errr...all hotels use that term. It is, by definition, the correct one.

these 6*-hotels are using that term:

[asiamaster]

No - the Indian Thais are the guests here. Even though many were born here and have Thai nationality they are called "Khecks" -which translates to "Guest".

We farangs are ALIENS -that's what it says on the forms we have to fill out.

[rascalman]

Did you fly to get here? If you did and were not born here you are a guest!

[itchybum]

Did you fly to get here? If you did and were not born here you are a guest!

At last, an explanation I can relate to.

I did not fly here.

[Jingthing]

Did you fly to get here? If you did and were not born here you are a guest!

At last, an explanation I can relate to.

I did not fly here.

I was sitting on my arse as well ...

Not a guest drops down to 40 percent (ish).

Is there any chance Not a guest will overtake Yes a guest before the game over is reached?

The plot schtickens (sic).

(My goal in life is to bring the horse race excitement of American presidential politics to each and every poll!)

Edited May 7, 2013 by Jingthing

[StreetCowboy]

Did you fly to get here? If you did and were not born here you are a guest!

At last, an explanation I can relate to.

I did not fly here.

I was sitting on my arse as well ...

Not a guest drops down to 40 percent (ish).

Is there any chance Not a guest will overtake Yes a guest before the game over is reached?

The plot schtickens (sic).

(My goal in life is to bring the horse race excitement of American presidential politics to each and every poll!)

You've managed it, as far as I'm concerned. I'm off to the Lower Leagues to speculate about the Scottish Third Division Play-offs.

[notime]

Yeah, although I have been living here for 7 years I still feel I am a guest pest of Thailand

[Andre0720]

guest? However, doesn't it involve showing respect for one's guests, providing for their needs, and treating them as equals. I think we are not even guests in this country , if we were guests then we would be treated fairly and with respect .. are we guests ....I dont think so.

«Do not expect thais to show more respect to you than they show to themselves....

[maccaroni man]

yes as i can be asked to leave and barred from re-entry at any time.

[NoshowJones]

money number one, see if you are considerd a guest if you have no money

I certainly do not consider myself a guest in Thailand, if I treated guests in my house the way Thailand treated me and other expats, they would not want to be my guest again. To cut a long story short, I am used in many ways to pay money into the Thai economy, but I put up with it because this is still a better place to live as a retiree than the UK.

[itchybum]

The best thing about us being here is that we can leave whenever we want.

I would rather have that opportunity than not be able to leave.

We have the upper hand.

[uptheos]

Just like the perfect host, Thailand makes its guest feel comfortable.

[Bagwan]

guest? However, doesn't it involve showing respect for one's guests, providing for their needs, and treating them as equals. I think we are not even guests in this country , if we were guests then we would be treated fairly and with respect .. are we guests ....I dont think so.

Precisely. I might consider myself a guest when Thailand starts to behave like a considerate host. Open your wallet and say after me "Help yourself'' seems to me the prevailing attitude of most.

BTW Isn't what TAT do classified as extending an invitation to visit?

[rbrooks]

If I were to live in Thailand then no I am no longer a guest but a resident and will try to fit in as best as possible knowing it is not my land of birth and culture. When I am a tourist I always feel I am a guest and act accordingly.

[SteeleJoe]

I'm prompted by the many people who speak of being treated badly and that is why they are or aren't guests...

As I said previously, I don't think of myself as a guest, for whatever that's worth (SFA is the actual value) but I remind you all: nowhere in any definition of "guest" is it stated anything like "one who is treated well or as one thinks one should be".

In other words, there is such a thing as a guest having a bad host. Just because Thailand treats guests badly, that doesn't mean they aren't guests.

[StreetCowboy]

Perhaps another way of looking at it would be to approach it as a multiple-choice question: Which of the following best approximates your role in Thailand:

A) Guest

Prisoner

C) Trespasser

D) Rajah

E) Knight Errant

[SteeleJoe]

Perhaps another way of looking at it would be to approach it as a multiple-choice question: Which of the following best approximates your role in Thailand:

A) Guest

Prisoner

C) Trespasser

D) Rajah

E) Knight Errant

I've been at least a couple of those, sometimes simultaneously, at some point over the years...

[NoshowJones]

I think this topic is quite entertaining actually.

[visionchaser45]

Because we have no 'right' to be in Thailand, I would say we are guests in the kingdom. We have been invited to come (e.g., tourism advertisements) and, if our conduct is unbecoming or we have outstayed our welcome, we may be asked to leave with varying degrees of politeness.

[Bangkokhatter]

Because we have no 'right' to be in Thailand, I would say we are guests in the kingdom. We have been invited to come (e.g., tourism advertisements) and, if our conduct is unbecoming or we have outstayed our welcome, we may be asked to leave with varying degrees of politeness.

Surely if you have the correct visa then you have the "right" to be here. I think if your here for an length of time you don't feel like a guest and i personally don't go along with idea that the powers that be could kick us out at any time. It would not be that simple to do.

[HardenedSoul]

I have lived in the kingdom for 4 years now and I have continued to work in other parts of the world and come home between assignments/contracts

I live in a village in the North and have always been treated as an honoured guest and as a friend by all Thais I have met in the area. I try my hardest to return their respect and friendship.

I try to obey the rules and to be well mannered at all times, just as I would in anybody else's country or home and I have never been slighted at any time

It is my privilege to be a guest in Thailand and it is my duty to respect the laws and customs of this happy Kingdom.

Thailand is not perfect, but I cannot think of anywhere I would rather live in and retire to.

Silly me . . . I should have read your avatar name and number of posts . . . ogre is cool, troll is better . . . nice one

Ok, Ogre2's post was a little sickly sweet but if that's how he feels, all power to him.

I have to admit that I kinda feel the same even though I don't regard myself as a guest.

For all the talk of Thais being racist/xenophobic/duplicitous and out to get as much money out of you as possible, I can't say I've been ever been treated with anything but respect by the Thais I've met in the 5 years I've lived here

. . . and I ain't white.

[maxme]

I have lived in the kingdom for 4 years now and I have continued to work in other parts of the world and come home between assignments/contracts

I live in a village in the North and have always been treated as an honoured guest and as a friend by all Thais I have met in the area. I try my hardest to return their respect and friendship.

I try to obey the rules and to be well mannered at all times, just as I would in anybody else's country or home and I have never been slighted at any time

It is my privilege to be a guest in Thailand and it is my duty to respect the laws and customs of this happy Kingdom.

Thailand is not perfect, but I cannot think of anywhere I would rather live in and retire to.

Silly me . . . I should have read your avatar name and number of posts . . . ogre is cool, troll is better . . . nice one

Ok, Ogre2's post was a little sickly sweet but if that's how he feels, all power to him.

I have to admit that I kinda feel the same even though I don't regard myself as a guest.

For all the talk of Thais being racist/xenophobic/duplicitous and out to get as much money out of you as possible, I can't say I've been ever been treated with anything but respect by the Thais I've met in the 5 years I've lived here

. . . and I ain't white.

Since you moved here, have you been in BKK the whole time or have you moved around a little?

[HardenedSoul]

Since you moved here, have you been in BKK the whole time or have you moved around a little?

Most of my time's been spent in Bangkok.

[maxme]

Since you moved here, have you been in BKK the whole time or have you moved around a little?

Most of my time's been spent in Bangkok.

While I've only encountered racism (not towards me though) at some places in Bangkok, it's very common in the south. I don´t know about the north but I do have encountered it from time to time in the NE. If you travel a lot you will encounter it, no matter which circles you hang around with.

Though this is not so surprising as this still is an undeveloped country, what I do find surprising is the amount of uneducated tourists that make racial and illogical assumptions about the locals and expats. Everytime I tell myself that "now I have seen everything", there is always someone from the huddle of delusional westerners to prove me wrong.

[HardenedSoul]

Since you moved here, have you been in BKK the whole time or have you moved around a little?

Most of my time's been spent in Bangkok.

While I've only encountered racism (not towards me though) at some places in Bangkok, it's very common in the south. I don´t know about the north but I do have encountered it from time to time in the NE. If you travel a lot you will encounter it, no matter which circles you hang around with.

Though this is not so surprising as this still is an undeveloped country, what I do find surprising is the amount of uneducated tourists that make racial and illogical assumptions about the locals and expats. Everytime I tell myself that "now I have seen everything", there is always someone from the huddle of delusional westerners to prove me wrong.

Funny you should say that, Maxme.

On the rare occasions I've encountered racism in Thailand, it's come from Westerners.

Weird

[Mossfinn]

guest? However, doesn't it involve showing respect for one's guests, providing for their needs, and treating them as equals. I think we are not even guests in this country , if we were guests then we would be treated fairly and with respect .. are we guests ....I dont think so.

OK,.. what would be your interpretation be then? In terminoligy of a Noun?

A person or persons who receives the hospitality of a club, a city, or the like. In general there is not alot of hospitality here towards westerners

I suppose there are a few on this thread, and this is not directed at you kevvy, who would do better in keeping better company.