Thailand is finally getting the recognition it deserves . . .

[MaeJoMTB]

Yes agree to a point, Driving is mega dangerous and even crossing the road...

Also in some dodgy areas it can be dangerous, but that can be anywhere really.

But we all lone living here, Safety is non existent in any shape or form....

I live in Thailand, and in the last few years an unlikely number of my pals have died here, none of them from being old.

No causes you could directly attribute to Thailand.

UK FO stats suggest a Brit is 20x more likely to die in Thailand than on holiday in any western country.

They seem to be spot on. Australia publishes similar findings.

Edited July 12, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[MatteoBassini]

They say the more freedom you have the less safe you get; I'm surprised people haven't realized this already. In Thailand you have the freedom of buying/renting a motorcycle without a license and the risk is you're 30 times more likely to die than in a car. Don't want to take the risk? Don't ride a motorcycle.

I've noticed a very consistent pattern in the murders on tourists in Thailand. It goes like this

Young teenager who gets drunk and tries to pick a fight. People don't care if you're drunk or not. If you want to have a problem then people will give you one.

Young teenager who keeps eyeballing gang members. You'll get in trouble doing that anywhere. Go eyeball gangs in ANY country in the world and you'll be lucky to get away with just a broken bone.

Young teenager who gets all worked up and angry and tries to pick a fight over a scam. Yeah scams are bad and all, but the people who are scamming you are living in near poverty. They grew up in shady communities where theft is rampant, and they learn from it and think there's no way out in life other than to steal from other people.

Unlike many people, i try to understand and keep an open mind about all this.

[Lissos]

One of the lines - " a little less charming" in one of the posts sums things up accurately I would say. Perhaps a 'lot' less charming, even. Unlike some here, the more I became familiar with Thailand the less interest there was in even considering settling here and my stays have become shorter and shorter. I was there recently but only stayed about a week to get a visa sorted for elsewhere. Went to an island, had a few Thai massages and Som Tam, replaced some electrical bits and pieces in MBK then moved on. I still enjoy those things but interact with the country at a surface level now, because I'm a falang to extract money from and I think that on the whole that's how the country prefer to view the relationship too. Even at that, the surface face has slipped considerably over the years. I prefer to call it the land of strops, of land of sulks. I find the men easier to get in with now, than the grown women who alternate between making me feel charmed to making my blood boil, and I'm talking about things as everyday as getting some money changed. I marvel at how rude they can be sometimes.

[impulse]

They say the more freedom you have the less safe you get;

I think that sums it up pretty well.

I get a kick out of reading one post from a member lamenting how dangerous things are here. Then on the same day, another post from the same member celebrating his escape from the restrictions of the nanny state back home.

The scary thing about freedom is that I have to accept that the others around me get the same freedoms to do stupid things that I get to do. And not everyone exercises those freedoms wisely (myself included sometimes).

[chiang mai]

Horse poo, some blog by some self inflated unknown says absolutely nothing that is supported by fact and evidence. Next!

Agree. And yet, the OP is reporting this with such glee as if to be somehow vindicated or otherwise, rewarded in some way. What is up with Hank and guys like him? Does it make him happy in some kind of perverted way when someone else is as negative as he is?

I lived in Thailand for 20 years, from mid- 1995 until a few months ago. During that time, Thailand devolved from a paradise - to a downright dangerous place. I just think that people should be aware of this, and they certainly won't get the truth from the Tourism Authority of Thailand - or the Thai apologists on Thai Visa.

Of course it is possible to avoid problems in Thailand - I managed to do so for my 20 years there (with one minor exception of a late night run-in with a ladyboy with a knife). But I got tired of walking on eggshells, not being able to utter my opinion without fear, and in general being treated as a second class citizen. (20 years of being a good, law-abiding, not to mention taxpaying member of society - but still being considered an "alien" - who has to report his presence to the authorities every 90 days? No thanks.)

And I won't even mention the kind of "ship" under which the country is currently living . . . Can you really ignore that?

Thailand gave me the best years of my life. But it has changed - for the worse, and it was time for me to move on. I guess people just have different levels of tolerance for discomfort.

Any time a poster introduces the words "Thai Apologist" into a thread it's clear there is no point in trying to debate anything further, simply, that term sets the stage as pro biased for anything that might be written thereafter that could possibly counter any of the OP's arguments - "Thailand is bad", "no it's good", "ah, you're a Thai apologist I see"! I mean really, the term says it all about the quality of the post and even more about the poster!

A second and less attractive aspect of this thread is the way that the OP has chosen to announce his dissatisfaction (via his initial post), at the end of twenty years here and the reasons why. A pseudo article disguised as travel related, goodness me, if the OP has problems with Thailand, as hinted at in his most recent post, why not just come clean and say, I find the following problems exist here and the place is no longer appealing?

Finally, I suspect the issue at the heart of the OP's posts are vested in the following words, "Thailand gave me the best years of my life. But it has changed - for the worse, and it was time for me to move on". Forgive me for thinking that the OP's reasons for leaving have nothing to do with his original post and are instead centered around the demise of a relationship and all that entails, sour grapes included.

Over and out.

[chiang mai]

...whilst Laos remains a communist country

Er... and?

Is that a reason to reject it as a tourist destination or destination for expats?

Not in itself, but I suspect their are precious few expats today who are capable of living in such regimes.

[MaeJoMTB]

...whilst Laos remains a communist country

Er... and?

Is that a reason to reject it as a tourist destination or destination for expats?

Not in itself, but I suspect their are precious few expats today who are capable of living in such regimes.

Communist country Vs Military Dictatorship

Hard to choose really?

[impulse]

...whilst Laos remains a communist country

Er... and?

Is that a reason to reject it as a tourist destination or destination for expats?

Not in itself, but I suspect their are precious few expats today who are capable of living in such regimes.

Communist country Vs Military Dictatorship

Hard to choose really?

Strangely, I didn't notice one iota of change in my life a year ago when the coup happened...

Except the major intersection in front of my office was suddenly open to traffic. Shame, really. I enjoyed walking down the middle of Sukhumvit.

Edited July 12, 2015 by impulse

[chiang mai]

...whilst Laos remains a communist country

Er... and?

Is that a reason to reject it as a tourist destination or destination for expats?

Not in itself, but I suspect their are precious few expats today who are capable of living in such regimes.

Communist country Vs Military Dictatorship

Hard to choose really?

There's a huge difference between the two, ideology is the important part. As far as expats in Thailand are concerned there has been no negative change to their personal circumstances since the coup, the same could not be said if the country were somehow magically transitioned to management under a communist regime. And before I'm asked why, business/inward investment is one reason why, privatized health/business facilities is a second reason, investment/banking is a third.

[MaeJoMTB]

Strangely, I didn't notice one iota of change in my life a year ago when the coup happened...

You missed all the soldiers with guns hanging around?

And you don't have to register your SIM?

I'm assuming you don't associate with any Thais so you won't have noticed the limit on public gathering either?

Course, you never had any vote, so that doesn't affect you.

[impulse]

Strangely, I didn't notice one iota of change in my life a year ago when the coup happened...

You missed all the soldiers with guns hanging around?

Truly scary situation, it was...

When the coup hit the news, I got all kinds of concern from the folks back home, and I recall looking for soldiers with guns in BKK. It was weeks before I saw my first one. (BTW, not me in the photo. I pilfered it from a TVF post around the time of the coup) I think I also reversed it, because the wheel was on the wrong side...

Edited July 12, 2015 by impulse