please tell me how thailand was 20 years ago?

[NoshowJones]

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.

Not just here, everywhere.

[NoshowJones]

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.

I have never been involved with any violence or felt threatened here in ten years, If you don't get drunk and mind your own business, you will be 99.9% safe.

[NoshowJones]

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.

Bangkok taxis were unmetered and you always got done if you were a foreigner. You still do, along with the tuk tuks and motorbike taxes.

[springheeled jack]

yes times have certainly changed a lot over the years pattaya has certainly changed from being a small fishing village to a large thriving city it is today 20 years ago people were more obliging more friendly you very rarely saw a fat person now they are everywhere and walking street didn't exist in those days it was called the strip and there really wasn't much of anything I suppose it was the beginning not really my bag of tricks I preferred it 20 years ago today it has attracted all the undesirables on the planet the scum of the earth .

[huawei]

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

I read through some of that, even the replies were more polite and less antagonistic than what is on Thai visa today.

It's not just the country that has changed but also the people who now come on here.

[Fallangpakwan]

It's been all change change change for me; started coming for many short trips from Nam in 66 then from Singapore right through till 81 when I came here to work; Patpong in 66 had just been invented then Tiger Rydberg was up and running;Rick Menard got Superstar going; a taxi from Nana Hotel to Patpong was less than 10 baht and you would end up sometimes getting 50 satang change.Speaking of taxis from Nana during the day on a Sunday you would have to stand in the middle of Skvt Rd and look for miles towards Asoke to see if one was coming;Asoke then was way out of town; except Thai Heaven was out there in Petchburi goat track as it was way back then.I could go on all night about it.For me it all started turning crappy around 95 when we had built all the plants at Mab-Ta-Put

[shaggy851]

There's plenty of YouTube videos that show Bangkok and Pattaya in 80s and 90s. Looked weird to me but I'd reckon a great place to be. Seeing a as everyone's on the subject already of bar girls and phones I read a book about a guy who toured all Se Asia and particularly bkk and pttya who never payed more than 500 baht for girls and they would just show up at his hotel room un announced. To find the girls he would have to return to look at the same spots on beach road or to the bars they worked and ask around. Or he checked his msgs at the hotel front desk as to who called. I think hiv was quite prevalent then and he caught gonnorea in his throat.

I'd love to hear a follow up on where all the girls are now after the looks faded. Maybe some dead maybe some kicking back with a foreign husband, gone overseas or still in the bars the old one that no one wants but has a lot to talk about.

I'd reckon the food would have been less westernised and the beaches much cleaner and sleepier towns.

Bangkok was just looking crazy, the traffic was horrendous as usual and the skytrain starting. Wasn't there an Asian financial crisis too?,there's still a lot of half built buildings out there that just ran out of money to build.

I'm always keen to hear on the subject too Thailand is all post 2008 to me. But that was glory days for me earning a foreign wage and getting 32 baht to the audollar.

I only just put 29 years behind me.

[mic59]

First time I came was in 1997 and stayed in Bangkok and Koh Chang. A lot of places still had squat toilets which were fun to use and gave you practice with your aim as to flush you filled up a sort of large spoon with water and hurled it at the offending object. Exchange rate at the time was over 40 baht to 1 USD. Had a beach hut on Koh Chang for 200 baht per night. At the time there was a curfew of 10 pm on Koh Chang as they had to conserve electricity, which was generated on the island. Lost a good bit of weight as there were a lot less places that served western food.

The number of people trying to relieve you of your hard-earned hasn't changed, but that's the same everywhere. Didn't go to Pattaya in 1997 (I did in later visits) but I heard it was a lot sleazier then.

[Rayinbkk]

Twenty years ago is a bit recent for me. Forty years ago almost no-one spoke English (which made it easier to learn proper Thai), skirts were five times as long, people were all slim, smiles were genuine, and there were no moaning foreigners who wished they were somewhere else.

[khunPer]

I can tell little about 28 years ago (1987) when I was in LoS first time, but unfortunately not 20-years ago, I regrettably did not come back again before 14-years ago (2001).

28 years ago the exchange rate for baht was like 37 baht for a euro will be today. For a private car with driver we paid 800 bath a day + gasoline. Cannot remember meal prices, but cheaper in baht than today of course – however there ware some outstanding expensive Chinese restaurants, we had to avoid – and hotel accommodation was included in our package, so I don’t know the price level. My general impression was, that it was (very) cheap compared to Europe.

There was not that many tourist, so foreigners still little attractive many places, when showing up. I was up Bangkok and visiting a very crowded Wat Poh and Grand Palace just two weeks ago – many, many Chinese – and that made me think of April 1987. I had just some month earlier scanned the old paper-print-photos – there were literally no visitors, just my little group of 5 people and a monk walking around (he might even have been inventory).

At that time a typical 2-week tourist package would be Bangkok, Chiang Mai and then relaxing at a beach, which would be Pattaya (Phuket and many of the other beach destinations was just about to begin, or not yet invented). I remember Pattaya as a cozy place with no tall buildings (maybe I’m wrong, but that’s my memory-image), many beach-style restaurants, and also quite a number of bars in a long raw alongside the road, with girls waving when a so-called “baht-bus” (song thaew) with tourist passed by; however, it was a family trip, so I have no details at all about the night life there at those days. We stayed outside the beach village, up at Royal Cliff (still there), a huge hotel and probably the place where tourist groups were parked at; they had their own beach and arranged boat trips in Chinese junkies to the islands out in the bay.

What a change when I revisited Pattaya in 2004...

Also Chiang Mai was very cozy, a small town without much traffic and bicycle rickshaws instead of tuc-tucs; which we had been used to in Bangkok, when getting out for dinner in the evenings. My GF and I hired a rickshaw to drive us to a travel agency to see if we could rent a car with driver for a daytrip out to a so-called elephant school, way outside Chang Mai; not the normal tourist attraction north of the city. When the rickshaw driver realized that, he asked if he could come with us, as he so much wanted to see elephants. My cleaver GF said, that he had to pay a share then, 50 baht and be our guide as the car driver could not speak English, which he agreed to and asked, if he could drive around the whole day, could that make it up for 50 baht? He got his money, 50 baht for the day – we did not expect to see him again – but he did show up timely next morning in fine clothes, a big smile, and 50 baht (he got them back at the end of the day, together with 50 baht tip for being a guide)...

The temple with the long stair to the top of the cliff outside Chiang May, was very crowded by mainly Asian visitors. Seemed like most shopping where on the market, and especially the night market was considered a tourist attraction. At that time I felt, that Chiang Mai was a place I could settle one day – however I came back in 2003, and is was not the same.

Yes, Thailand was different some 20+ years back – if you “live in the back time”, you would probably say it was much better, and is completely spoiled now – but I’m back, and I don’t regret to live here now, so I’ll stick to the saying: “same, same, but different”...

[DrTuner]

Makes me a bit sad to read these. I could have made it here 20 years ago and I'm sure I would have enjoyed it. Instead I came eight years ago and the country been steadily going downhill since. Makes me wonder when did Thailand peak, in the 80's?

[gemguy]

Well...first of all there was no Thai Visa website so no one had to listen to the inane ramblings of disgruntled foreigners who long for the good ole days.....LOL

But seriously folks......Visually it was different as what we see now is the effects of time gone by ....20 years to be precise ...so think about half the buildings and infrastructure was not here and certainly not as many buildings and cars and as many people for that matter..... with the outskirts of Bangkok more or less being out there at the intersection of Sukhumvite Road and Bang Na Trad highway going east.

Any further than that and you were considered near living in the boonies and half baked if you lived that far out and down the road

The girls more or less look the same in regards to the percent of how many are pretty verses very pretty or cute or very cute or not so pretty verses those that are Arf, Arf looking while the fashion of the girls has changed while all the more women are trying hard to look their best ...even if they do not have a lot of money the girls in Thailand can look really fashionable and trendy...what ever that may entail ....whether we like the look or not......they are still chasing the "look of fashion" at high speed and near desperate to look beautiful and Sexy,,,hey hey hey!

20 years ago they were just as attractive but in a more subtle way and more conservative while all the more Thai women are interested in Foreigners.

I think their attitudes have changed for the better while they are more open and not as shy as before while befriending foreigners and been seen with foreigners does not carry the same believed to be stigma that it once did carry only 20 short years ago.

The Baht was around 25 to 1 while most everything cost more or less about half of what it is now while some items and services where about 1/ 3 of what the prices are now....while it is hard to say or explain what exactly was considered cheap because even back then most men were whining and whinging about the price of a Beer at 40 baht and a bar fine over 300 baht would make their blood boil while a Go Go Bar Girl asking more than 1000 baht for a short time and not all night was sanctimonious in the eyes of most expats who live here and gauge the economy by way of the current cost of beer and bar fines and the cost of short time sex.

The sky train was not here then and the traffic was actually worse while it is not much better now but the sky train is a big plus and was sorely needed back in the day.

The old Don Muang airport was more interesting with a feel of old Siam lurking in the shadows of the airport infrastructure with all the feeling of Vietnam era and more intriguing than the new airport ..but there certainly was a need for a new modern airport while all the more people were discovering Thailand and causing the costs to rise and rise year by year.

There are too many items to consider so hard to answer but if it is go go bar scene or the nightlife and entertainment scene then I would say it is all the better in respect that it has flourished all the more...although all the more commercialized and all the more profit driven in near every aspect and all the more in your face and brash and bold and loud and ....double to triple the price it used to be 20 years ago.....but what did you expect???

But it is still some of the best value anywhere in the world and the flavor still tastes good....lol

To me, living in Bangkok has not changed all that much other than visually it looks different and more expensive of course ( it is more expensive everywhere anyhow ) while it is still entertaining and plenty to do and places to enjoy and one can dive right in and go overboard and be a glutton for life or just lay back and enjoy being here or somewhere in-between.

There is something for everyone here while most of it is right in front of you and there for the taking....even if you do not have a lot of money.

Cheers

Edited August 13, 2015 by gemguy

[swissbie]

Loved it in the eighties as a packpacker, loved it in the ninethies as a long term tourist, still love it now as a resident, but would go somewhere else if i would be in my twenties again.

[geisha]

1984 Phuket. We stayed in Patong first for a few weeks,, lovely beach, the beach road was sand and very little cars or traffic.Wooden bars along the road with friendly happy Thais everywhere. Moved then to Kata , which remained the love of my life for many years. I made many friends, had fantastic European food when needed in Papa Karl's, there were a handful of farang at that time. There was one TV in one of the local restaurants, so sometimes we'd go and see a boxing match there on a Sunday. When we wanted to phone home , a local clothes shop had a normal telephone, and we got three minutes with a stop watch!!! Enough too. The beaches had very little on them, just clean white sand happy people and deep blue water, I loved it there. I still have my friends there but only go back to see them once every 2 years or so. Everyone knew everyone, we played the " lottery" and bought beers when someone won.we all sat together, had fun, watched the sun go down, bought peanuts and boiled eggs, that's the Thailand I want to keep in my memory forever. I still spend a lot of time in Thailand, I still love the place, but I suppose everything changes doesn't it?

[Andrew65]

1984 Phuket. We stayed in Patong first for a few weeks,, lovely beach, the beach road was sand and very little cars or traffic.Wooden bars along the road with friendly happy Thais everywhere. Moved then to Kata , which remained the love of my life for many years. I made many friends, had fantastic European food when needed in Papa Karl's, there were a handful of farang at that time. There was one TV in one of the local restaurants, so sometimes we'd go and see a boxing match there on a Sunday. When we wanted to phone home , a local clothes shop had a normal telephone, and we got three minutes with a stop watch!!! Enough too. The beaches had very little on them, just clean white sand happy people and deep blue water, I loved it there. I still have my friends there but only go back to see them once every 2 years or so. Everyone knew everyone, we played the " lottery" and bought beers when someone won.we all sat together, had fun, watched the sun go down, bought peanuts and boiled eggs, that's the Thailand I want to keep in my memory forever. I still spend a lot of time in Thailand, I still love the place, but I suppose everything changes doesn't it?

Your post really reminds me of my first time here in '85 (a week after Live-Aid!). It seemed then to be a simpler place and time (and sooooo exotic then!!).

I have been living in BKK or quite a while now. I'm now fifty years old, If I were twenty years old again today, and coming here for the first time, I strongly doubt that the same magic would be here, for me anyway!

[silverado]

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

friend of mine, has said to me that cambodia by now also is the same as thailand 20 years before...

Edited August 13, 2015 by silverado

[MaeJoMTB]

No internet, no Tv, more drugs & hookers.

Edited August 13, 2015 by MaeJoMTB

[Andrew65]

No internet, no Tv, more drugs & hookers.

I'm not really into drugs, but you put that very succinctly!

[yadongbreakfast]

No internet, no Tv, more drugs & hookers.

love it

[Fairynuff]

What's interesting about this thread is that mostly it centres around 2 things.....sex and money......or maybe that's just one thing

[thaipo7]

Two days I took about 1,000 slides and negatives to have them turned into photos on CDs. Some go back as far as Nov 1970. Many slides are from a trip in 1978. I had photos on most of this developed in Thailand but they did not us Kodak paper and the photos are all a different of orange. You are in your twenties. I have been married to a Thai for 43 years. I plan to put the photos where people like you can access them. My wife's parents would not recognize Thailand today if they were able to come back to life.

[millwall_fan]

Great thread!

I'm in my 20th year now (though only the last 10 as resident), The main difference for me is that back then, Thailand had no rules - or at least non that applied to Farang. So no speed limits, drink driving laws, bar closure days, visa issues (hop across the nearest frontier for another 30 days for as long as you wanted, a small investment got you a 'B' visa), you could open a small business - no questions asked, no taxes to speak of......

+ There were loads of real 'characters' from UK, Europe, US, Oz etc, many quite insane, but amazing people - Vietnam vets, Brit tax dodgers, Aussies 'shooting through' etc,

The Thai Amaat didn't flaunt their wealth back then but were part of a genuine mutual respect culture. Thailand was Thailand.

on the downside: no cheese, bread, wine, decent beer and most other Farang goodies. Those dreadful tannoy speakers blared out government propaganda all day have largely disappeared. (they still exist in a few out of the way places). Internet makes it much easier to organise your life and keep in touch with family. I remember sending an 'email' from Khao San Rd in 1998, not believing that this form of communication could reach England (it did!). I can, and do, Skype my dad for free twice a week. back then communication was a nightmare!

So was it better 20 years ago? No it was different, almost unrecognisable from today, but it is still basically a great place to live!

[slipperylobster]

How embarrassing...

Almost every post is about bars and bar hooks.

True colors are coming through.

I was hoping to hear more about farmland, and growing rubber trees.

[Sabaidee Mai]

First came to Thailand 16 years ago Bangkok, Chang Mai, Mai Hong Son and Koh Samui, drove down to Koh Samui last year, tourism has really destroyed that once beautiful Island. There are still some unspoilt places in Thailand but you have to look really hard for them.

[Nemesis7]

life was lillte bit simple 20 years ago, so of laid back.

[TheKnave]

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.

Green monster, eh?

[SoiBiker]

I first came here 15 years ago. It wasn't much different to how it is now, to be honest - apart from the general changes you'd expect from the world having moved on in that period of time.

A lot of people expect Thailand to exist in a kind of bubble of whatever year they first came here. The world doesn't work like that.

Edited August 13, 2015 by SoiBiker

[yadongbreakfast]

still got to love the place even know locals are shaking there head rather than smiling.

[mijako]

I moved in end 1986 and yes it was a paradise. At least on Samui. Phuket was starting to become a city. I met a few people who came from Phuket because they didn't like it anymore. Sure the exchange rate was less but I paid (1986) 30 baths/day for a bungalow on the beach. We had common toilets and showers, no electricity and every evening we were all sitting in the restaurant with petrol lamps or sitting on the beach having some fishes grilled on a fire (this was in Chermon) but Chaweng was also empty (the difference is they had already electricity). No road, only a natural way. No cars, only some motorbikes. The little bridge at the end of Chaweng road was a bunch of planks. NO AIRPORT and this was great.

Sure, the exchange rate was lower but you could eat for 10 baths. Everything was so cheap but I didn't really needed money to eat. I knew thais everywhere and everybody always asked if you had some meal already. If not they automatically invited you to eat. You could eat with them, live in their places and didn't spend any money. You were very welcome. Thai people ARE friendly people. And they are not stupid but most of them didn't go to the same schools as we did, nor to university. They are a bunch of very rich people in Thailand but most of them cannot afford it to send their kids to university.

No bread, no coffee, only Nescafe or the thai coffee which is delicious. By the way, Minnehaha, they are not socks but filters (lol). Only thai food which is just fantastic. One of the beast on Earth. But now some people come to Thailand and go to Mc Donald's... or they want to eat western food or japanese food !!

Bangkok was much dirtier than now. They were lots of big rats around. Already a lot of traffic but everything on the road very very cheap. Kaosan road was also a very good place and very cheap. I had a room in a thai family home. They wanted 40 baths/night and the mother was cooking (I ate with them) and her husband was doing nothing (some things didn't change since then, lol). No big hotels for 4,000 a night. Tiny dirty rooms for nothing and activity on the road until morning. Now they have to go at midnight.

On Samui you could know everybody in less than one month. You know one, you know 50. Everybody knew everybody, they were all someway relatives or friends. Now they all stay in there villas with walls and cameras and have contact with the thai only if they are their maid or gardener or something like this.

THE ROADS ON SAMUI WERE EMPTY, was do you think about this?

[khunPer]

Two days I took about 1,000 slides and negatives to have them turned into photos on CDs. Some go back as far as Nov 1970. Many slides are from a trip in 1978. I had photos on most of this developed in Thailand but they did not us Kodak paper and the photos are all a different of orange. You are in your twenties. I have been married to a Thai for 43 years. I plan to put the photos where people like you can access them. My wife's parents would not recognize Thailand today if they were able to come back to life.

Adobe Photoshop "Auto color"-function can do miracles to orange-faded photos - my old 1987 Thai-photos was like that, one click and they came back to life in what appears like "real colors" (I've made an example, posted below) - probably other image software can also do the trick...