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Is Thailand loosing its charm?


Crazy chef 1

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I know modernisation is happening all over the world but I haven't seen it so fast as here.this week I had to attend a meeting in Bangkok and I realised it is just a mega city such as New York,London,Berlin and so on...it is loosing its character,charm and identity.peoples behaviour their way to dress their outlook has changed dramatically ( not judging just observed). The once exotic ladies becoming the same as their western counterparts...blond,pale and attached to their mobile devices...

Where there has been street markets and vendors are now gigantic shopping malls( with all the western products) ,sure there are some left but for how long?

Also here in phuket things are changing the friendly and genuine attitude by the locals is mostly disappeared.where there were beautiful surroundings there are now hotel complexes...

The exotic,common and charming Thailand is slowly disappearing...

And please don't come with:then go to Issan...ubon,udon,mukdahan are also changing just that the locals are more genuine and friendly...

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"Take paradise and put up a parking lot "

But was it really paradise or just a black market country for sex, copies, dirty street stands, scams, trafficking, drugs etc etc .....

I think we all were in amazement at how everything was possible and around every bend we were shocked or surprised and now it is getting cleaned up and brought under control, sort of.....

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I agree about the general trend, but want to remind: Bangkok is not Thailand, Thailand is not Bangkok.

I live upcountry.

Little except some fancy shopping/sightseeing motivates me to visit Bangkok not to speak of living there.

After four decades of living in a crowded city I got enough of that.

Edited by KhunBENQ
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I tend to view this as a change in perspective even more than a change in Thailand. After dinner the other night I stopped to talk with a group of first-timers at another table. They seemed to be as enthralled with Thailand as any visitors I have talked with over the last forty years.

If the initial appeal for anything is its newness or novelty then you are going to hit a phase where you either find some deeper affinity for that thing or you lament it having become familiar and go off in search of something new again.
I do not buy into the arguments over where the ‘real Thailand’ resides. When I moved to Thailand in the 70s people in my life would ask when I was returning to the ‘real world’ and they had a hard time understanding that where you live is ‘real’ regardless of where that might be.
Edited by villagefarang
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"Take paradise and put up a parking lot "

But was it really paradise or just a black market country for sex, copies, dirty street stands, scams, trafficking, drugs etc etc .....

I think we all were in amazement at how everything was possible and around every bend we were shocked or surprised and now it is getting cleaned up and brought under control, sort of.....

In a nutshell...if visiting the respective places...

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Personally I find it fascinating to witness at first hand a country becoming more sophisticated and modern. But if you fetishise the undeveloped and primitive as 'exotic', I can see how progress might disappoint you. Seems unfair to deny a people development just to keep them in a state that pleases you, though.

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I tend to view this as a change in perspective even more than a change in Thailand. After dinner the other night I stopped to talk with a group of first-timers at another table. They seemed to be as enthralled with Thailand as any visitors I have talked with over the last forty years.

If the initial appeal for anything is its newness or novelty then you are going to hit a phase where you either find some deeper affinity for that thing or you lament it having become familiar and go off in search of something new again.

I do not buy into the arguments over where the real Thailand resides. When I moved to Thailand in the 70s people in my life would ask when I was returning to the real world and they had a hard time understanding that where you live is real regardless of where that might be.

Change/ innovation are good things if applied within an appropriate time because people need the time to adapt...if done too fast difficult to handle...

As example when the Berlin Wall disappeared ( me behind the iron curtain at this time)I was sixteen and within one year thousand of new things were available- chaos for the next 3-4 years and to adopt completely it took about ten years...but here it is more like a time warp without the time to adapt ...just my two cents

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Personally I find it fascinating to witness at first hand a country becoming more sophisticated and modern. But if you fetishise the undeveloped and primitive as 'exotic', I can see how progress might disappoint you. Seems unfair to deny a people development just to keep them in a state that pleases you, though.

Modernisation for the price of loosing your heritage???

...and is not a bit arrogant or insulting to name Thais 10-15 years ago undeveloped and primitive???

Edited by Crazy chef 1
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I tend to view this as a change in perspective even more than a change in Thailand. After dinner the other night I stopped to talk with a group of first-timers at another table. They seemed to be as enthralled with Thailand as any visitors I have talked with over the last forty years.

If the initial appeal for anything is its newness or novelty then you are going to hit a phase where you either find some deeper affinity for that thing or you lament it having become familiar and go off in search of something new again.

I do not buy into the arguments over where the real Thailand resides. When I moved to Thailand in the 70s people in my life would ask when I was returning to the real world and they had a hard time understanding that where you live is real regardless of where that might be.

Change/ innovation are good things if applied within an appropriate time because people need the time to adapt...if done too fast difficult to handle...

As example when the Berlin Wall disappeared ( me behind the iron curtain at this time)I was sixteen and within one year thousand of new things were available- chaos for the next 3-4 years and to adopt completely it took about ten years...but here it is more like a time warp without the time to adapt ...just my two cents

With my view of change in Thailand being spread over such a long period of time, I don’t see it as a time warp. It certainly doesn’t seem as abrupt as the fall of the Berlin Wall. I can see how your experience being so dramatically different from my own could lead you to look at things differently and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We all have our own unique view of the world molded by our life experiences.

I can’t help but wonder, at what point in history are we supposed to stop the clock and move no further? Ones heritage is not lost, it simply resides in history along with many other things from our past.

Edited by villagefarang
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I guess older people come to dislike change wherever they live.

That is an oversimplification in my opinion. I am getting older (61) and change has never been a problem for me.
I should have put the word 'some' in there.

And modernisation,innovation or globalisation is not ALWAYS positive...

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Welcome to mass tourism reality.

Tourist numbers have been multiplied by 3 in 15 years.

TAT"s job is to make sure they shop in expensive malls rather than 20 Baht markets.

If it's mostly only expensive malls that are left, that is one sure way to cut the tourist numbers drastically.

IMO. A lot of tourists come here to shop in these markets because they cannot afford to shop in the expensive malls.

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I guess older people come to dislike change wherever they live.

That is an oversimplification in my opinion. I am getting older (61) and change has never been a problem for me.

There is nothing wrong with any change if it is going in the right direction, and not just for changes sake.

Give most people the authority to make changes in any job, and they will do it, only because they have that authority.

This does not just apply to Thailand.

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Welcome to mass tourism reality.

Tourist numbers have been multiplied by 3 in 15 years.

TAT"s job is to make sure they shop in expensive malls rather than 20 Baht markets.

If it's mostly only expensive malls that are left, that is one sure way to cut the tourist numbers drastically.

IMO. A lot of tourists come here to shop in these markets because they cannot afford to shop in the expensive malls.

There is huge vested interest in those shopping malls which wields a great deal of influence when it comes to tourism - note the current minister for tourism is the granddaughter of the M and B in MBK and her family have many interests in other tourism and leisure related businesses.

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"Take paradise and put up a parking lot "

But was it really paradise or just a black market country for sex, copies, dirty street stands, scams, trafficking, drugs etc etc .....

I think we all were in amazement at how everything was possible and around every bend we were shocked or surprised and now it is getting cleaned up and brought under control, sort of.....

[Adam Duritz]

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

[Vanessa Carlton]

Ooooh, bop bop bop

Ooooh, bop bop bop

[Adam]

They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum

And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them

No, no, no

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot

[Vanessa]

Ooooh, bop bop bop

Ooooh, bop bop bop

[Adam]

Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT

I don't care about spots on my apples,

Leave me the birds and the bees

Please

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

Hey now, they paved paradise to put up a parking lot

Why not?

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"Take paradise and put up a parking lot "

But was it really paradise or just a black market country for sex, copies, dirty street stands, scams, trafficking, drugs etc etc .....

I think we all were in amazement at how everything was possible and around every bend we were shocked or surprised and now it is getting cleaned up and brought under control, sort of.....

[Adam Duritz]

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

[Vanessa Carlton]

Ooooh, bop bop bop

Ooooh, bop bop bop

[Adam]

They took all the trees, and put em in a tree museum

And they charged the people a dollar and a half to see them

No, no, no

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot

[Vanessa]

Ooooh, bop bop bop

Ooooh, bop bop bop

[Adam]

Hey farmer, farmer, put away your DDT

I don't care about spots on my apples,

Leave me the birds and the bees

Please

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

Hey now, they paved paradise to put up a parking lot

Why not?

Especially given her recent health issues, it would only be polite to credit the lyrics to their actual author.

Get well soon, Joni Mitchell.

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I agree about the general trend, but want to remind: Bangkok is not Thailand, Thailand is not Bangkok.

I live upcountry.

Little except some fancy shopping/sightseeing motivates me to visit Bangkok not to speak of living there.

After four decades of living in a crowded city I got enough of that.

I agree wholeheartedly, my colleagues used to get pissed at me when I would say "They're not Thai's, they are Bangkok Thais" my early years in Thailand were all in the South, used to avoid bangkok like the plague, until I got assigned there, I rarely ever went "up north to Bangkok". Sattahip, Pattaya, Baan Sarey were the furthest I ever wanted to go, once took a train to Chiang Mai - now that was Real Thailand.wai2.gif

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