Long timers - Is Thailand better or worse than 10 years ago?

[thelongshoot]

Because frankly, I cant be arsed with the place. I am coming up to my 11th full time year here, a mixed bag of initially going nuts for the first 2 years in Samui, then as I grew bored of getting steaming drunk every night (best 2 years of my life, top laugh) I settled in Central Thailand for a few years and soaked up a bit of culture (basically calmed down, and started exploring Thailand much more, learning the language etc which I also loved, top laugh but on a different level) and for the last few years Hua Hin which has drove me nuts as I have never found my feet here. I just returned from my longest trip to the UK in that 11 years (4 weeks back there). Usually i am there 1 week and cant wait to get back to Thailand. By week 3 of this trip it started to dawn on me that England isn't quite so bad after all and when I landed at swampy on Monday I was already homesick before I even left the plane - and for the first time ever got a total drilling by the immigration officer - I genuinely thought 'I really don't care if I don't get in here'

It was that drilling by the Immigration Officer that set me off on a bad vibe from the start. Not that I needed anyone to give me a bad vibe about Thailand as I have been feeling that way for the last 6 months or so anyway.

I remember the days of Don Muang when it was all smiles and jokes. Now its like dealing with the Gestapo. Conversation went like this:

IO: You have many tourist visas. Why.

Me: Because every time I ask for one, you guys give me one.

IO: Why so many. You not tourist. Look like you live here long time.

ME: Yah. I guess i do. I'm not sure what you want me to say. I suppose I do live here. As a tourist. If you don't want me to be here as a tourist, you need to stop giving me tourist visas I guess.

IO: You live here, you need work permit

ME: I don't work. Not really.

IO: hmmmm.... Not really?

Me: No. Not really. You know how a tourist comes here for 2 weeks but keeps up to date with his email for his business back home? Well I'm like that. I have a business back home in Europe, and I keep an eye on it from here. I'm not going to lie to you as I don't feel I am doing anything wrong. Its a business overseas, with overseas customers, and money going into an overseas account. Nothing to do with Thailand in any way. I spend most of the money I earn from this business here, in your country, as a long term tourist I'm just like like that 2 week tourist guy, but for longer periods.

IO: New rules from big boss, we can not be land of smile like everyone think. Now we have to be careful who we let in. Maybe you English teacher or like that and you not true about correct visa. (she genuinely said that. I haven't made that up. She really said "we can not be like land of smiles any more")

ME: You see many English teachers standing in the Business Class section of Immigration carrying a Hugo Boss suit bag?

IO: You have suit? Why you need suit for holiday?

ME: I don't need a suit for a holiday and I will probably never use this suit in Thailand, ever. To be honest, I don't want to explain why I have this suit and I don't want to be rude to you, but I don't care anymore. If you don't want me to come in to Thailand, I am happy to book a flight back home. Its up to you. If you don't want to stamp me in, Ill get the next flight back home.

She stamped me in of course and I don't see her as being an idiot here.... I genuinely just think they have new orders to be strict and the poor girl just wants to stamp everyone in without any questions, but that's what she has been told to do. More strict. I didn't have an attitude with her, I was just being honest and I had a smile on my face the whole time. She did say the next time I come back in they may take me to the office for further questions. Thats another new one on me. Besides all this, why is a country which is on the bones of its arse and in total chaos suddenly being so selective. Its a cliche that will irritate many of you but don't they need more tourists to help get this country back on its feet?

Next....My phone has been cut off. despite having the number for 7 years and being a contract phone with an average monthly bill of around 5000 baht, they cut it off after just 4 weeks being away. Went to True Move to pay the bill, woman with massive attitude tells me I need my passport. I ask why. She repeats. I ask why again. She just repeats the word passport with a face like thunder. Drive back home, get passport, back to True Move. I hold up a whole line of Thais behind me, all looking equally as impatient as the next, while she pisses around taking photo copies of my passport and natters with staff repeating the word 'ferang' over and over with a tone of contempt. I eventually hand over the money, and she tells me 5 days wait before phone will be put back on. Another nail in the coffin for me and another sign that they truly cant be arsed with us anymore.

I'm just not feeling the warm and fuzzy with this country anymore and its not because of the Immigration/True Move thing. Its a whole stack of things like this that are getting to me now. I haven't been here that long compared to many of you here and I wasn't here for the days when it truly was the land of smiles, but I have been here long enough to notice a difference. I have always made an effort to take all the little quirks on the chin and accept the culture differences. I am aware it is not my country and I am a guest. I am respectful and polite. I take nothing for granted and roll with the punches but lately, its been getting harder to do that. I honestly feel that south of Bangkok at least, they are tired of us and don't appreciate us anymore. They have changed, in my opinion.....That smile suddenly seems real fake to me and I have a massive gut instinct that they just don't want us here.

And the average ferang here has got worse which is another reason I am missing England now: I have good friends back there and a family that genuinely cares for me. I have one, maybe two genuine friends here that I see as real mates and anyone else I meet here that has the potential to be a good pal just turns out to be another <deleted> in the end whose main issue in life seems to be the cost of a bar fine going up by 100 baht and the inconvenience of bar closures on election days. At least back in England I have real pals that I can have the crack with, drink a real beer with and who can hold a decent conversation and whose motives in life are something other than where they can find the cheapest round of golf or the cheapest brass who will take in up the wrong'un for less than 1000 baht short time.

Then there is the land and house. For a brief period a few months back I was considering throwing the towel in with England all together and actually buying some land here and building a house in order to settle here for life but I'm not willing to pay 5 million baht for one Rai of land in a massively average town so I am over that already. If I'm gonna spend that sort of dough, I want beach front land somewhere along the Florida coast.

This is a proper useless rant, and I'm gonna get slated for it I know that. Ill donate 100 baht to a local charity for every reply of "we dont want you here anyway, go home" just to make those inevitable replies less irritating...... There is a point to this rant though: I'm going to maybe have one last stab at this place and check out the North. Chiang Mai area. I have been there many times in the last few years and I dont get a bad vibe up there. The smile seems more real, the people more genuine and the cost of land is far cheaper.

That aside, feel free to pick this apart and call me all the names under the sun. Im a big guy, I can take it. And I know this forum well... Im going to get ripped apart here and basicly called a complete <deleted>. before you do that though, you can maybe agree just even a little bit that I am right - it is changing here? Its not as 'nice' as it used to be, is it. Come on man... Be honest. You agree even just a little?

[MJP]

May I recommend Devon?

[ukrules]

With regards to immigration I suspect it's going to get worse before it gets better.

The supposed 'Out/In' crackdown is only meant to affect people using visa exemptions doing quick turn around return trips so you shouldn't really have been on their radar.

This is yet another report of hostility on entrance to the country even though you had the correct visa and don't fit the profile of the people they're going after.

From August 13th I expect we'll see the full scope of the crackdown, I think some people will be in for a surprise.

[sustento]

Three months in Rotherham will restore a little perspective

[thelongshoot]

May I recommend Devon?

Oh man... You think I'm that guy? Devon? Frigging Devon?

I'm gonna get blasted on this thread. I can see it coming a mile off already.....

[thelongshoot]

Three months in Rotherham will restore a little perspective

Well yeh, I s'pose. Rotheram would bend my head by hour 3.

[Pralaad]

You raise many valid points and i am sure venting it out helps.

You have only experienced half of the problems, there are more when you have a business.

For example i am renewing my extension, keep in mind its my 7th year with WP.

First they want me to make photo's of myself with all the staff, then they want to come for check up.

So if you coming for check up, why the hell do you want the pics?

Fine, do the pics.

Now they want me to come into Immigration to take my photo, but you have my photo already with application and many photo's with my staff.

No, they need to put my photo in computer, so i need to come.

Ok, i go there, make the photo.

Oh solly, we do not need your photo, i forget, your income is over 1 million baht, so no photo is needed.

I am always short of staff, basically because i do not want any of my customers to have the experience you had with True.

So today have a 46 year old, uni educated woman come for interview.

In the advert is says must read, write and speak good English.

She is told to come for interview at 3pm, she shows up at 11am

Cleaner tells her interviews are at 3pm.

She comes back at 2:30 pm and as it turns out can hardly string 2 words in English, mind you in her resume she states she worked in India and Dubai for a decade.

I seriously doubt she spoke HIndi or Arabic.

Anyhow, after seeing that she can not string 2 words in English, i tell her no, give her back her documents and cut up her application.

She is standing there looking at me like a sheep.

After 5 or so mins she asks if i will interview her?(i guess first sign of being retarded) i reply, no i will not.

Now she tells me but the lady(cleaner) told her blah blah blah.

Now i am pissed off and can no longer take the stupidity, so i ask her how old are you? She reply 46 after thinking for a minute.

Great i say, 46, do you have anything inside your head? meaning do you have any brains at all.

After thinking for another minute or so, she replies, NO.

So i double check what she says, and ask her again,, You do not have any brain?

Response was, No, i do not, its hot outside.

So the moral of the story is , it is not only you , but many others feel or experience the same thing.

NO doubt, many esteemed members married to good girls half their age, living in Isaan never experience much of it, for obvious reasons,

Is it better or worse? I guess it depends on what angle you look at it from.

PS. Forgot to mention, i am in Thailand full time for around 12 years, out of which 7 in the business

Edited July 2, 2014 by Pralaad

[BudRight]

You're totally right. Both about treatment in Thailand and the reception you'll get when the saffron colored glasses crowd wakes up and start telling you to relax and enjoy life and smell and the roses and blah blah blah.

There's a lot of countries besides Thailand that are as nice or better. Really there are. When you go there you'll think 'why the hell did I waste so many years in a place that hated me.'

Places where you can own land in your own name. Places where you really can just show up and stay as long as you want with no hassle.

Really though, it was better ten years ago. It was cheaper, I was younger and you could do visa runs to your heart's content. I did hundreds of them.

[MJP]

May I recommend Devon?

Oh man... You think I'm that guy? Devon? Frigging Devon?

I'm gonna get blasted on this thread. I can see it coming a mile off already.....

Oh no, I don't mean Exeter (or worse Plymouth), I specifically mean the north Devon coast. It's twinned with Cha-am.

[David48]

Yep ... OP, your assessment is correct ... time to leave Thailand.

[Carib]

AS you said yourself: " This is a proper useless rant" . So why bother the rest of us ?

[thelongshoot]

AS you said yourself: " This is a proper useless rant" . So why bother the rest of us ?

Your frigging read it all you tool! You could have easily walked away and stuck the kettle on half way through if it bothered you that much.

Edited July 2, 2014 by thelongshoot

[thelongshoot]

Yep ... OP, your assessment is correct ... time to leave Thailand.

Fair enough

[kevozman1]

I don't remember those days of smiling and jokes at Don Muang tbh.

[David48]

Yep ... OP, your assessment is correct ... time to leave Thailand.

Fair enough

I did read it all (your OP).

Some things that worry some people, don't worry others.

You find a distaste for how you are treated in Thailand then maybe it is a 'tap on the shoulder' to find a place that makes you happy.

That could be your birth country, somewhere else in Asia or possibly South America.

Life is too short not to enjoy it to the Max.

Go check out that greener pasture next door.

Who knows, after a decade here in Thailand, you might wish to return.

Soooooo ... "you'll never never know if you never never go"

This next bit is for the Aussies reading this ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-P0bIpUM50

[MJP]

Tis' the highest quality of rants mind. Rants rarely exhibit such an exemplary standard of grammar and punctuation.

[Carib]

AS you said yourself: " This is a proper useless rant" . So why bother the rest of us ?

Your frigging read it all you tool! You could have easily walked away and stuck the kettle on half way through if it bothered you that much.

It is about time that you an d a lot of others realize that things in live change, here as well as in Blighty, trying to hold on to what there was ones will only result in this type of topics, and it puts you with the rest of the whining lot.

And yes, I read it all, and yes I realized I fell for the same drivel again.

Go home and let us know what changed there, look inside your head and see what you really expect out of life taking into consideration that everything changes, and not just for you.

[Beetlejuice]

What I gather the OP is saying is that he is/was running a business from Thailand online illegally without a work permit and he failed to ensure that his phone bill was paid prior to temporary leaving the country and then feels it`s an injustice when the phone company cut him off.

Good, I am happy to learn that Immigration have now seriously begun cracking down on people like the OP who have an attitude problem and believe that some of the laws of Thailand are a personal affront against them, so why should they abide by the system here as they know better.

The real deal is, that the OP is unable to hack it in Thailand and he is right that England is more befitting to people of his ilk, a country where people can practise having bad attitudes to impunity and at least there he will be able to scratch out a living without breaking the rules.

Good luck to all who sail in her.

[benalibina]

It seems that you have a battle going on within yourself.

My suggestion would be to change venues and live in another country ( homecountry ? ).

Being away makes you more aware of yourself probably and what you really want out of life. You will as well see Thailand, its people and culture on a different way. More...or...less appreciative.

You will see after a while feel if Thailand was only a chapter in your life or that will be another, better, chapter in your future life.

Good luck !

[MJP]

What I gather the OP is saying is that he is/was running a business from Thailand online illegally without a work permit and he failed to ensure that his phone bill was paid prior to temporary leaving the country and then feels it`s an injustice when the phone company cut him off.

Good, I am happy to learn that Immigration have now seriously begun cracking down on people like the OP who have an attitude problem and believe that some of the laws of Thailand are a personal affront against them, so why should they abide by the system here as they know better.

The real deal is, that the OP is unable to hack it in Thailand and he is right that England is more befitting to people of his ilk, a country where people can practise having bad attitudes to impunity and at least there he will be able to scratch out a living without breaking the rules.

Good luck to all who sail in her.

I can think of perhaps two people I know in the UK that have bad attitudes to impunity.

And I'm one of them.

[benalibina]

What I gather the OP is saying is that he is/was running a business from Thailand online illegally without a work permit and he failed to ensure that his phone bill was paid prior to temporary leaving the country and then feels it`s an injustice when the phone company cut him off.

Good, I am happy to learn that Immigration have now seriously begun cracking down on people like the OP who have an attitude problem and believe that some of the laws of Thailand are a personal affront against them, so why should they abide by the system here as they know better.

The real deal is, that the OP is unable to hack it in Thailand and he is right that England is more befitting to people of his ilk, a country where people can practise having bad attitudes to impunity and at least there he will be able to scratch out a living without breaking the rules.

Good luck to all who sail in her.

Is your son not a police officer working for the (in)famous Royal Thai Policeforce....and you dare to refer to upholding laws !

[nottocus]

Sounds like the OP is just more jaded 10 years on.

[IMA_FARANG]

I first came here in 1977, and yes Thailand has changed.

Of course that is to be expected ..... what country or person doesn't change with time?.

Thailand is much more of a hectic lifestyle now. The "locals" are not as friendly as they used to be due to the stress of today's lifestyle.

For many working class Thais, what they see on television as the expected Thai lifestyle is beyond their financial reach realistically .... they know it and resent that fact.

The reality of their life and the unrealistic assumptions they are told they can easily obtain causes anger and stress in their daily lives.

Whether you care to admit or not, that economic reality is at the heart of the "Red Shirts" political movement.

Even if it was hijacked by Thaksin and his cohorts for their own self enrichment.

But bottom line, Yes life in Thailand is far less simple now than in 1977, and far more stressful now.

That comment, "We can no longer be those people in the "Land of Smiles" we once were", is one of the most intelligent comments I have heard a Thai or foreigner make in a long time.

How unfortunately true. And it will not get better until that economic problem is resolved somehow.

[MJP]

OP, my advice? Both countries are <deleted> <deleted> <deleted>, but sometimes it's better to have one load of <deleted> to balance out the other sorts of <deleted>. So six months of <deleted> followed by six months in the other <deleted> place . . .

Leading to a balanced and happy existence.

Edited July 2, 2014 by MJP

[Datebayo]

One sentence for ya: Get the hell out of Sukhumvit area.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[Soutpeel]

May I recommend Devon?

May I recommend an insane asylum

[Soutpeel]

AS you said yourself: " This is a proper useless rant" . So why bother the rest of us ?

"Proper useless rant" ah the quality " English teachers " they have in Thailand.... Sounds like an extra out of Eastender's or some other low class British soap..... During empire nobody spoke like this and if they did a good thrashing would be had

[MJP]

May I recommend Devon?

May I recommend an insane asylum

You may if you include a flock of devastatingly attractive sheep.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Thai at Heart]

Did 18 years.

Finally ran out of love for it last year. Came home to the UK. Best thing I ever did.