Amazing Thailand, What's the most shocking/amazing thing you seen in Thailand?

[lmfao]

Thailand always seem's to amaze me everyday, what are the most amazing experiences or wildest stories, or events you have seen or experience while in Thailand?

Your amazing stories big or small.. it would be interesting to hear them

Edited January 24, 2014 by lmfao

[mikebike]

What amazes me most is how this same thread gets started every week or two...

[Thongkorn]

Old drunk Expat falangs, not to many now because a lot have gone home because of the Economic Recession.

[krisb]

That's ok, always a new tale to tell.

Shocking was the guy begging for money in Chiang Mai so badly burned and deformed it was truly awful to see. Never seem to forget that guy.

Amazing would be life in the village. What the tourists never get to see..even though technically I am a tourist. The guy who walks his cows at 7am, puu yai baan blabbering over the loud speaker, people selling food from carts down the streets, families building a little more on their 15 year house builds, me buying cheap beer and watching the beautiful sun go down while the wife cooks a Thai buffet, Phad Krapow is amazing. My half Thai daughter now she is very cute and amazing,The local hotel/karaoke bar that has main courses for 50 baht totally delicious food and the waiter stands there and re fills the glass, both of them are amazing.

To top that off we can now get return tickets to Thailand for $500 all year round. How amazing is that!!

I could go on and on....

[CharlieH]

Shocking.......would be the bus driver running over a body in the road without stopping, never forgotten it, never will !

Amazing, everytime I sit on my verandah and watch the early evening sun drop behind the mountains

The peacful quiet of village life. Krisb summed it up beautifully !

Edited January 24, 2014 by CharlieH

[Clutch]

Getting street directions from a Thai. Amazing!

Ordering one dish and receiving something completely different. Amazing!

Driving 80km OVER the limit. Also Amazing!

But, gorgeous people and country so wouldn't swap it for anything!

[ABCer]

charlie and krisb, I almost envy you. You make it sound very poetic.

unfortunately I am not a country boy. couldn't live without the sea.

for me the amazing part of life in Thailand is that I live virtually on the beach, see the water with many islands from any point of any room (even from the toilet seat).

sun up, sun down plus the valley ringed by the mountains (hills). never in my life I could afford it except here. hope I die here in due time.

nothing else could amaze or shock me - I've seen it all.

[3NUMBAS]

the very worst was a beggar in nong khai with no arms and legs at all just small stumps at each limb .seated on a small stool .i cant imagine how he ended up like this .

very depressing sight that never leaves me .

and the young boy biker in BKK who had crashed and his head was squashed as flat as a pancake with blood all over the road

[wym]

Shocking - finding out that burnt limbless beggar and the kidnapped-trafficked 13-y.o. sex worker were slaves of high-up police officers.

That most people supported drug dealers being summarily executed by police, even though they knew it was largely to eliminate the competition.

Shocked to learn just how bad the quality of education is in Thai-managed schools, even very expensive "elite" ones patronized by relatively wealthy Bangkokians.

Shocked that some people think the leaders of Thailand are capable of coming up with some form of government that works better than the psudo-democracy imported from the west.

Amazing how the poorest upcountry people are the kindest and happiest people in the Kingdom.

Amazing how much trouble poor people would go to to return my valuable lost property and then refuse a thank you tip.

Amazing how lovely the girls and delicious the food.

Amazing how tolerant and accepting Thais are of the shenanigans we foreigners get up to.

Edited January 24, 2014 by wym

[lmfao]

After that last post I am sorry I put shocking in the equation..

[wym]

But hey mai pen rai right?

[lmfao]

Shocking - finding out that burnt limbless beggar and the kidnapped-trafficked 13-y.o. sex worker were slaves of high-up police officers.

That most people supported drug dealers being summarily executed by police, even though they knew it was largely to eliminate the competition.

Shocked to learn just how bad the quality of education is in Thai-managed schools, even very expensive "elite" ones patronized by relatively wealthy Bangkokians.

Shocked that some people think the leaders of Thailand are capable of coming up with some form of government that works better than the psudo-democracy imported from the west.

Amazing how the poorest upcountry people are the kindest and happiest people in the Kingdom.

Amazing how much trouble poor people would go to to return my valuable lost property and then refuse a thank you tip.

Amazing how lovely the girls and delicious the food.

Amazing how tolerant and accepting Thais are of the shenanigans we foreigners get up to.

"Amazing how the poorest upcountry people are the kindest and happiest people in the Kingdom.

Amazing how much trouble poor people would go to to return my valuable lost property and then refuse a thank you tip.

Amazing how lovely the girls and delicious the food.

Amazing how tolerant and accepting Thais are of the shenanigans we foreigners get up to".

Sorry dude I think your missing out in a large section of life with these views.

I hope you see the light. The spiritual light my brother

[benalibina]

The most shocking and amazing thing i have witnessed, in my innercircle, i have seen worse though but ...., is that in 2005 i saw a young girl selling flowers.....so sweet and lovely....at the age of around 4.....and that in 2009 when i saw her 1st time again....the sweetness in her eyes had changed into a stonecold feeling of only doing her job......an innocent life ruined by her parents/caretakers/bosses.

I will never ever forget those 2 differences in the young girls eyes. Sad !

[Amavel]

My wedding night in Isaan when a neighbor flew several kites throughout the night. The kites were huge and had strings on them that made a musical note. All night long they hummed this hypnotic, ethereal tone.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Soutpeel]

the very worst was a beggar in nong khai with no arms and legs at all just small stumps at each limb .seated on a small stool .i cant imagine how he ended up like this .

very depressing sight that never leaves me .

and the young boy biker in BKK who had crashed and his head was squashed as flat as a pancake with blood all over the road

Similar, seeing a old beggar in a similar state, but not on a stool just lying just about face down to the pavement trying to move along the pavement on his stumps just outside an upmarket shopping mall in Bkk with all the hi so waking around him and I wondered the same, and for the first and only time in my life I put my hand in my wallet and dropped THB 1000 in his cup, if was a "scam" ie he was put there by a "gang" running the beggars I lost USD 30, big deal, but it was the real deal, I really hope the money helped him and the people who take care of him as someone must be looking after him

I have never seen such a pitiful sight in all my life

[wym]

Yes went to his gang handler/owners.

Better to buy him nutritious food.

[plachon]

My wedding night in Isaan when a neighbor flew several kites throughout the night. The kites were huge and had strings on them that made a musical note. All night long they hummed this hypnotic, ethereal tone.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Mmmmmm......to me that sound will always remind me of cool season nights in Mahasarakham. At night, even when there is seemingly no wind at ground level, those kites seem to pick up a breeze and sing mournfully through to dawn. By the way, hope you weren't so hypnotised by the sound of the kites that you forgot what wedding nights are supposed to be all about!

[jackr]

Five people on a Dream with dog in basket.

[Nignoy]

Shocking!! returning back to camp with a young squaddie on his first visit to an isaan village, being stopped by 2 thai men ,who immediately opened fire with automatic weapons, the young fella died of his injuries, sadly it was a case of mistaken identities!!

amazing 45 years of great and generous friendship with my extensive thai/lao/Khmer family indeepest Isaan!!

[umbanda]

Many things..but one just got me. In "my" village in Lampang.The appreciation of my free work and interest by the village children at the local school and its parents. Makes me feel necessary and part of the community. I loved to go to the local market everyday to see them smiling at me, trying to communicate with me, offering me free food, playing and joking with me. I was the only farang around there, the "kroo" farang of their children..

One particular day, in 2011, a tourist bus in the way to Phayao stopped to the market and its was "invaded" by farangs. After few minutes, the Thai tour guide show up calling all to get back on the bus. She comes back to check and saw me, and calls me loudly to get into the bus...Everybody responded at her.. yelling in Thai... "NO!!!! HE IS LAMPANG...HE IS LAMPANG!!"...I cry every time I remember that moment of love....and the moment in 2013 when I told them that I was moving to Chiang Rai to get married... I saw some of them crying with me...

Edited January 25, 2014 by umbanda

[mca]

Not shocking but an overturned tanker on mittraparp highway in khon kaen with about 50 locals standing there with as many containers as they could handle waiting to collect the fuel made me do a double take. Like something out of mad max 2.

[tim armstrong]

Enough of shocking. Amazing - another cow story. We were driving home along a narrow river track yesterday about midday. Water very clear, sparkling but cold. Came across some cows being fed corn husks in their small compound overlooking the river. One of them had just given birth to a beautiful grey and red coloured calf. All the other cows were busy munching the corn. The air smelt good. Everyone, including us, the farmer and the cows were very happy.

- Its the small things that really matter

[ABCer]

Nothing new under the Sun or Moon.

The most beautiful and needed things are free.

Possessions do not make happiness.

Do not get attached - stay free.

And some are more poetic than others, - cannot help this.

[Soutpeel]

Yes went to his gang handler/owners.

Better to buy him nutritious food.

Your most likely right, I should point out I have been in Thailand long enough to know the "scams" and have worked in enough other 3rd world countries to know these "scams" go on all over, and have never been " taken in" by a sob story , but to this day I still don't know why I did what I did with this particular guy

Even if his handlers did take all the money, one can only hope he got a better meal that day from them for being a "good earner" on his "shift"

[kotsak]

Getting street directions from a Thai. Amazing!

Ordering one dish and receiving something completely different. Amazing!

Driving 80km OVER the limit. Also Amazing!

But, gorgeous people and country so wouldn't swap it for anything!

About the driving, I would add "driving over the limit while towing another car AND doing an overtake"..

[namdocmai]

Last week,a guy on a scooter on the highway in BKK and between his legs was a huge Saint Bernard standing on it's back legs. Front legs over the steer.

[Crazy chef 1]

most shocking/ amazing- hey bro: i am working here!!!

[lmfao]

I think this topic maybe over staged so here is a documentary which is amazingly realistic and entertaining for some, its over 1 hour so strap in and open your mind TV take your mind of the simple and into the large, Enjoy.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUmWdL3F7z0

[mogandave]

I saw a kid in zorries and a loin cloth, climbing up and down a rickety bamboo ladder, dipping molten aluminum from a giant crucible and pouring ingot.

The "Moon Smiling Over Thailand" was pretty cool as well.

[mogandave]

The most shocking and amazing thing i have witnessed, in my innercircle, i have seen worse though but ...., is that in 2005 i saw a young girl selling flowers.....so sweet and lovely....at the age of around 4.....and that in 2009 when i saw her 1st time again....the sweetness in her eyes had changed into a stonecold feeling of only doing her job......an innocent life ruined by her parents/caretakers/bosses.

I will never ever forget those 2 differences in the young girls eyes. Sad !

I saw something similar beginning in about 2000. Father with two young boys selling flowers on the median at an intersection in town. Drove by them a couple times a week since then. The old man is still there, the one boy disappeared, and the other bow has a wife and baby on the median.