please tell me how thailand was 20 years ago?

[yadongbreakfast]

one old fella sayed it was great with good exchange rates cheap shopping, beerd and food and available young hot women.

now its a strict boring expensive place (rents still cheap) under martial law .

please some one explain how it used to be as im still in my 20s and would like to know.

thanks

[krisb]

They always say it was better back then.

[Anthony5]

20 years ago the exchange rates were very bad.

25 Baht to the dollar, and however the Euro didn't exist yet, for 1 BF you got 0.65 Bht. In Euro terms that would translate to about 27 Bht for a Euro.

[asdecas]

It was paradise on Earth. Sorry you missed it, son.

[abrahamzvi]

It was paradise on Earth. Sorry you missed it, son.

This may be a view held by some, but I entirely disagree. I have known Thailand for at least 25-27 years and compared to what it was then - A paradise???- it's a much better, albeit more expensive and western, place than then. I most certainly prefer it as it is now.

[Borzandy]

20 years ago there are only very slim women, no "smart-phone" so the girls had plenty of time to take care of foreigners. It was really the paradise.

[Andrew65]

I have been coming here since 1985. Memory a bit fuzzy, but it seemed like there was a power cut every other evening (during the said power-cuts, the girls in Soi Cowboy would be knitting by candlelight in their bikinis!) . No meters in taxis. And, in comparison with today, obviously much cheaper. Bangkok is no longer the cheap & cheerful place that it was.

Also only Singha, Kloster, or Amarit beer and Krong Thip (translation: chronic bronchitis!) cigarettes.

Here is a URL for some footage of Bangkok from the mid-eighties.

http://reallifephuket.com/en/featured/amazing-video-of-lovely-old-bangkok-from-1980-s/

[yadongbreakfast]

20 years ago there are only very slim women, no "smart-phone" so the girls had plenty of time to take care of foreigners. It was really the paradise.

smartphones are all good can use thaifriendly on the go

[Andrew65]

20 years ago there are only very slim women, no "smart-phone" so the girls had plenty of time to take care of foreigners. It was really the paradise.

smartphones are all good can use thaifriendly on the go

Mobile phones changed "the game/scene" so much here.

[worgeordie]

The 60s were the time to be a young lad,(but not in Thailand)

drugs,sex rock and roll.plenty free pussy and no HIV.

30 years ago Chiang Mai,a delightful little place,you could cycle

around town,the first tv i bought was 21" Toshiba 12,000 THB,

so the electrical stuff has gotten cheaper ,everything else much

more expensive,anything a little out of the ordinary had to be ordered

from Bangkok,

Now Malls,Shophouses,motors,signs everywhere,but you can just get

about everything you need.if i had arrived last week,i don't think i

would stay.

regards Worgeordie

[chiang mai]

It was better back then!

It was 1996 and I was walking down Sukhumvit on my way to work, early on a Saturday morning, the sky train track was under construction and Suckie. was a real mess. At 6am the last remnants of the night before were leaving the Thermae, as I walked by a group of eight or ten fairly attractive young females bid for my attention with one calling out, 90 baht for everything, poor girl needed money for food I suppose - I continued to my office. Later that day I flew up to Chiang Mai which at the time I didn't like as much as Bangkok, it was too sleepy and nothing ever seemed to happen there, very few people seemed to speak English and trying to find decent western food was difficult and for me invariably that meant Riverside.

On the weekend I would fly to Koh Samui which was a great place to escape to and relax, in the mid 1990's there was only a dirt road through Chaweng Beach (miserable when it rained but hey) and the place hadn't been westernized/invaded - a decent room at a decent hotel on the beach was about 1,500/2k baht as I recall. A couple of the beach bars on the North end of Chaweng still had that laid back tropical island feel about them, people were friendly and I don't recall being hustled other than by tailor shop employees, the idea of violence or feeling threatened were never part of any picture here.

[yadongbreakfast]

The 60s were the time to be a young lad,(but not in Thailand)

drugs,sex rock and roll.plenty free pussy and no HIV.

30 years ago Chiang Mai,a delightful little place,you could cycle

around town,the first tv i bought was 21" Toshiba 12,000 THB,

so the electrical stuff has gotten cheaper ,everything else much

more expensive,anything a little out of the ordinary had to be ordered

from Bangkok,

Now Malls,Shophouses,motors,signs everywhere,but you can just get

about everything you need.if i had arrived last week,i don't think i

would stay.

regards Worgeordie

hope it bounces back.

[DoctorB]

As with everyhere else: in someways it was better but in someways much worse. Some downsides:-

There were no 7-11s or Family Marts, they only appeared, along with large foreign supermarkets like Tesco, after the 1997 bailout when the IMF insisted Thailand had to open its markets. To buy small things you went to a mom-and-pop store where nothing was priced and you just knew that if you were a Falang you were paying more than the locals. For larger items, eg TVs or Stereos, everything had to be haggled for and the only way to get a decent price was to get a local to buy it for you. At least now prices are mostly shown and discriminatory pricing has largely disappeared from shops.

Before mobile phones you might have got more attention in the bars but communicating any distance could be a nightmare. Many villages had only 1 landline and if you wanted to contact your GF you might have to phone some Somchai who would tell her brother to tell her to be by the phone at 7.30 pm, or some such nonsense. Similarly, the ladies desperate to keep in touch with a potential boyfriend who had just gone home would have to go to a phone office and pay for 3 minutes of small talk in advance. The idea that someday you would be able to send a message half way around the world for 10 baht was the stuff of science fiction.

Bangkok taxis were unmetered and you always got done if you were a foreigner. Also if you walked anywhere the taxi drivers, whatever direction they were going, would slow down touting for business, shouting 'taxi, taxi'. Believe me, one soon got sick of this.

No doubt others will have their own pet peeves from those supposedly golden days.

[schlog]

Last year Saigon gave me nearly the same vibe like Bangkok did 20 years ago. So i advise you try Saigon.

[kinmaew]

It was so much better even just 15 years ago when I was there teaching. Loved Samui, Phuket, all over, cheap, absolutely beautiful girls and all was cheap and good. Hey, things to in cycles, good times will return...20 years ago when I first came there (I cant believe I am wring this!!!) most places were still mahem traffic, bars etc but it was nothing like it is now. Far too many Russians and all these other undesirables and international crime gangs they have now. It was quiet Mahem then now its disaster now.

[samthefish]

As with everyhere else: in someways it was better but in someways much worse. Some downsides:-

There were no 7-11s or Family Marts, they only appeared, along with large foreign supermarkets like Tesco, after the 1997 bailout when the IMF insisted Thailand had to open its markets. To buy small things you went to a mom-and-pop store where nothing was priced and you just knew that if you were a Falang you were paying more than the locals. For larger items, eg TVs or Stereos, everything had to be haggled for and the only way to get a decent price was to get a local to buy it for you. At least now prices are mostly shown and discriminatory pricing has largely disappeared from shops.

Before mobile phones you might have got more attention in the bars but communicating any distance could be a nightmare. Many villages had only 1 landline and if you wanted to contact your GF you might have to phone some Somchai who would tell her brother to tell her to be by the phone at 7.30 pm, or some such nonsense. Similarly, the ladies desperate to keep in touch with a potential boyfriend who had just gone home would have to go to a phone office and pay for 3 minutes of small talk in advance. The idea that someday you would be able to send a message half way around the world for 10 baht was the stuff of science fiction.

Bangkok taxis were unmetered and you always got done if you were a foreigner. Also if you walked anywhere the taxi drivers, whatever direction they were going, would slow down touting for business, shouting 'taxi, taxi'. Believe me, one soon got sick of this.

No doubt others will have their own pet peeves from those supposedly golden days.

Not sure if Your memory is 100% correct.I remember a guy who basically only ate 7 eleven Big Bites,foot long hot dog.Year was 1991.

Girls were more hyper and less demanding. Fun place to be when you are 20 years old and full of energy.

Edited August 13, 2015 by samthefish

[dotpoom]

It was paradise on Earth. Sorry you missed it, son.

This may be a view held by some, but I entirely disagree. I have known Thailand for at least 25-27 years and compared to what it was then - A paradise???- it's a much better, albeit more expensive and western, place than then. I most certainly prefer it as it is now.

You may have missed the "wise crack", methinks....have been known to be wrong before though.

[mixxer]

They always say it was better back then.

because it was

still pretty good though

[akentryan]

Patatya was a lot different in the mid-80s. All the farangs knew each other and kind of watched each others' backs. Pattaya Sports Club was the social outlet for most with golf outings and softball. Beach Road in Jomtien was a dirt road and the softball field was down at the end. The population then was supposed to be 10,000 swelling to 15,000 in the season. Compare that to the supposed population now of 500,000. It feels like 10% of that is now khatoeys. Rented a 3BR 3BA house across from what is now Bali Hai Pier for a cool 4,000 baht a month.Life was a lot simpler then and in most respects better (the bar girls were much cheaper and a lot less demanding) but in some not (ever had to consume a warm Singha beer on a very hot day?). Not unlike most other places in the world I would guess.

Bangkok had much more to offer with small bars on Soi Cowboy and Washington Square and an occasional trip to the Grand Prix at Patpong. Some real characters were around at that time. Bar owners like Bobby Toombs, George Pipas, Brian O'Gorman and many others.

If I could turn back the clock of course I would.

[krisb]

They always say it was better back then.

because it was

still pretty good though

And in another 20 years they'll be saying the same.

[smotherb]

20 years ago the exchange rates were very bad.

25 Baht to the dollar, and however the Euro didn't exist yet, for 1 BF you got 0.65 Bht. In Euro terms that would translate to about 27 Bht for a Euro.

The exchange rates were less; however, the purchasing power was much greater. A thousand baht may have purchased what B3k buys today.

[Tywais]

One of the best topics ever on Thaivisa - What Was Thailand Like Years Ago

[elgordo38]

The 60s were the time to be a young lad,(but not in Thailand)

drugs,sex rock and roll.plenty free pussy and no HIV.

30 years ago Chiang Mai,a delightful little place,you could cycle

around town,the first tv i bought was 21" Toshiba 12,000 THB,

so the electrical stuff has gotten cheaper ,everything else much

more expensive,anything a little out of the ordinary had to be ordered

from Bangkok,

Now Malls,Shophouses,motors,signs everywhere,but you can just get

about everything you need.if i had arrived last week,i don't think i

would stay.

regards Worgeordie

Yes the electrical stuff is cheaper but shoddier in quality. They change the high tech stuff so fast that in 2 or 3 years you want to throw the old one away and buy a new one with all the bells and whistles.

[Jonathon]

Just a few things which come to mind.

Exchange rate around 40 THB / GBP as I recall, small beer about 40 Baht but limited choice. No BTS or MRT, traffic was horrendous meaning a frequent walk home from the office and the klong taxi the only option to get back to Suk from downtown in a reasonable time. Don't recall the taxis being any different but tuk tuks definitely a lot cheaper.

No Chonburi motorway, the drive back from Pattya was a nightmare on a Sunday evening, Thai drivers taking to the shoulders on both sides then creating absolute chaos at every bridge where the shoulders ended, Lat Krabang a relative oasis then before the airport.

Definitely a better choice of bars on the cowboy, many since ruined by the Arabs. The German beer garden on Soi 23 was a great place to eat with the bonus of the girls there being more than happy to take the kids off to feed the fish and look at the parrots.

[Minnehaha]

It was better back then!

It was 1996 and I was walking down Sukhumvit on my way to work, early on a Saturday morning, the sky train track was under construction and Suckie. was a real mess. At 6am the last remnants of the night before were leaving the Thermae, as I walked by a group of eight or ten fairly attractive young females bid for my attention with one calling out, 90 baht for everything, poor girl needed money for food I suppose - I continued to my office. Later that day I flew up to Chiang Mai which at the time I didn't like as much as Bangkok, it was too sleepy and nothing ever seemed to happen there, very few people seemed to speak English and trying to find decent western food was difficult and for me invariably that meant Riverside.

On the weekend I would fly to Koh Samui which was a great place to escape to and relax, in the mid 1990's there was only a dirt road through Chaweng Beach (miserable when it rained but hey) and the place hadn't been westernized/invaded - a decent room at a decent hotel on the beach was about 1,500/2k baht as I recall. A couple of the beach bars on the North end of Chaweng still had that laid back tropical island feel about them, people were friendly and I don't recall being hustled other than by tailor shop employees, the idea of violence or feeling threatened were never part of any picture here.

Chiang Mai was fine in early '90s especially if you could speak Thai. motorcycling up into the mountains in 90 or 91 you could see and do a lot and get lost quite easily. it was always an adventure. problems were there was no western food, as was pointed out. I mean NONE. There was one shop in Gad Luang that was run by an old lady who sold western stuff. Then another on Nimmanhaeman that opened as well. At least you could get jams and some canned goods and packaged chocolate and peanut butter sometimes.

There was no coffee in Thailand, except at 5 star hotels and their coffee was brewed with dirty socks. There were no espresso style steam coffee machines at all. It was Nescafe or Ohliang or cafeyen (market coffee).

[chiang mai]

Certainly, posting and reading on TVF ten years ago was a much more pleasant and less aggressive affair than it is today.

[Tassie Norm]

They always say it was better back then.

because it was

still pretty good though

And in another 20 years they'll be saying the same.

Spot on. Whether, for example, it was Bali 40 yr ago, or my city of birth (enjoyable when I was growing up), they are not the same. However if one doesn't have a 'yard-stick' to go by, then I know nothing else but the 5 years I have enjoyed Thailand. Okay for me. Better at this time in my life than aforementioned Bali and my place of birth.

[menzies233]

I heard 20 years was pretty similar to how it is now regarding currency exchange, but prices were obviously cheaper. The best times were the end of the 90's, I bought my first truck here getting 85 Baht to the pound! - I knew a couple of guys that were here a little before me and they reckoned they were getting up to 93 Baht to the UK pound. (12 Quid for an all nighter! - Marvelous!) Best I managed was 17 Quid a day for a 3 day party, back in 1998.

I sort of use the "Can Of Tuna" gauge to look at pricing.

Standard Tin of Tuna 8 Baht, 85 Baht to the pound = 9 pence for a tin,

2015 Standard tin of Tuna about 38 Baht, 54 Baht to the pound = 70 pence a tin.

As far as how local Thais were managing it was so much better economically for the local farmers here. Diesel was 12 Baht, could fill the truck to the brim for 800 Baht, less than a tenner, we could sell Lam Yai for more than 60 Baht a kilo, so a kilo of Lam Yai would pay for 5.5 litres of Diesel, now (This year is the exception as prices are pretty good) typically, a kilo of Lam Yai buys the farmer (25 Baht a kilo) less than 1 litre of Diesel. So it is ups and downs but as usual, the poorest people here seem to bare the brunt of the hardship.

Edited August 13, 2015 by menzies233

[krisb]

They always say it was better back then.

because it was

still pretty good though

And in another 20 years they'll be saying the same.

Spot on. Whether, for example, it was Bali 40 yr ago, or my city of birth (enjoyable when I was growing up), they are not the same. However if one doesn't have a 'yard-stick' to go by, then I know nothing else but the 5 years I have enjoyed Thailand. Okay for me. Better at this time in my life than aforementioned Bali and my place of birth.

I tell you what was much better back then, the music. Not that repetitive thumping Crap they play these days. Enough to make a man's ears bleed.

[NoshowJones]

It was paradise on Earth. Sorry you missed it, son.

This may be a view held by some, but I entirely disagree. I have known Thailand for at least 25-27 years and compared to what it was then - A paradise???- it's a much better, albeit more expensive and western, place than then. I most certainly prefer it as it is now.

I don't know about twenty years ago, but the fact that Bangkok has the BTS and MRT, that in itself would make it better.

I don't ever see Thailand being anything more than a third world country, the politicians don't have the brains to improve it.

They would need outside help to improve things ie, a competent police force, or to improve the education system.

I also think that there are to many hoops to go through regarding Immigration compared to twenty years ago for people to retire here, not just to be here on a year to year basis. They should make it easier for people who would contribute to the economy and do away with the stupid 90 day reporting, and border runs.