Some acts of kindness I have experienced in the last few days

[nglodnig]

I read so many negative comments on this forum about life in Thailand, I would like to mention some small things that have happened to me in the last few days (I am a part-time resident in Hang Dong, with early retirement looming up it will soon be more full-time):

 

The sweet old gentleman who runs the bike repair shop down a little alley round the corner from us in Rungaroon 3 checked my brakes, my tyres, lube on the chain of my (push-) bike  and refused my offer of money.

 

Out riding I stopped at a little shop to buy some "nam yen" small bottles but they had none in the fridge. The nice young lady opened a big bottle,  filled up my bike drink container thing - and again refused payment.

 

Riding back I saw a hardware shop closing and wanted to fix the annoying cheap bike-locks dangling around my cross-bar where the key had broken in the lock. He went round the back and returned with a reasonable bolt-cutter and snipped them off. Again (I think you'll see the pattern here) - he refused payment.

 

It helps I suppose I was wearing the regulation black T-shirt my wife has bought a job lot of - and I speak a little Thai - and in each case I gave sincere thanks to the person involved.

 

It's not all rip-off with a smile in this country, this is a nice place to live, with nice people.

 

[rijb]

32 minutes ago, nglodnig said:

the regulation black T-shirt

 

I must have missed a meeting.

[evenstevens]

  O/P ...how true cobber,55555

over the years have experienced such kindness as your post,  as for the knockers on the C/Mai forum,  in particular the immgr  dept  posters

they really don,t know how lucky they are, to  lead  a comfortable retired life here  in  C/Mai .

its a Them sweet dreams to all

[lkn]

Reading TV can sometimes make you think that you’re the luckiest foreigner in Thailand.

 

But then hundreds of thousands of foreigners would probably not retire here if it was really as miserable as some TV posters make it seem like.

 

[seedy]

Nonsense post Removed. OP describing acts of kindness done for him. Keep the Personal Attacks off this Forum.

Edited November 13, 2016 by seedy
gender

[CMBob]

I suspect that the majority of falang appreciate and generally share the views expressed by the OP.   I certainly do, having rarely experienced any of the negative events too often painted by the unhappy vocal minority.  Then again, I attempt to treat the Thais I encounter with the same friendliness and respect that they offer me on almost all occasions.   

[trainman34014]

A little kindness goes a long way.  If you understand and appreciate that, your life becomes better wherever you are.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

I know what you mean.  Very considerate people.  I was just crossing the street in front of one of the top universities in the country.  A Thai man actually had the decency to flash his lights on his pickup truck before he stepped hard on the gas just giving me enough time to jump into a mosh pit of freshmen girls standing on the side of the road.

[nglodnig]

23 hours ago, seedy said:

Nonsense post Removed. OP describing acts of kindness done for him. Keep the Personal Attacks off this Forum.

Hi thanks for this but OP "her" is inaccurate. maybe I shouldn't have used words like "sweet" cos I'm a dude dude! Maybe keeping in touch with my feminst side

[sharktooth]

My girl found 1000 baht lying on the road one night on our way back from local restaurant. She told her mother next day and she said it looked like it belonged to a poor person. She want straight to the temple and donated it.

Edited November 13, 2016 by sharktooth

[anto]

^Poor people dont usually have B1,000 ,but i get your point .

[rogeroc]

2 hours ago, nglodnig said:

Hi thanks for this but OP "her" is inaccurate. maybe I shouldn't have used words like "sweet" cos I'm a dude dude! Maybe keeping in touch with my feminst side

 

I would have thought mentioning your wife was a clue to your gender as well.

 

Maybe an assumption that men are only kind to women, not other men ! I could understand that one.

Edited November 13, 2016 by rogeroc

[Thaiwrath]

2 hours ago, sharktooth said:

My girl found 1000 baht lying on the road one night on our way back from local restaurant. She told her mother next day and she said it looked like it belonged to a poor person. She want straight to the temple and donated it.

Unfortunately, that may well go towards the purchase of a nice new Samsung phone.

I am with the OP though, it costs nothing to be nice.

[seedy]

My OP edited.  And Wife is not gender specific - as the LGBT community uses the term as well.

[alex8912]

I had a day earlier this year when as I left my place I saw my eye glasses hinge came off. The shop nearby fixed it and would not take money. Then got back on my bicycle and went to a bar/ restaurant to get a ticket for an upcoming sporting event. When I came out to go to the ATM to get baht to purchase the ticket my rear tire was locked. Went back to restaurant to see if they had a tool and 3 different staff tried to help fix it.  They did get it to work a little but not completely. I went to a bike shop and the guy worked on it several minutes and fixed it. He would not take any money. I asked shop owner/ manager can you take some baht. She said no. This was all the same day and  I was friendly and very appreciative towards everyone.  I think a large percentage of TVF posters are negative and probably outwardly nasty old men who get what they deserve in LOS.  This was in BKK as a side note.  I find most Thais pleasant but so am I.  Thanks for your post OP.  

[Honthy]

After 6 years of living here, I would say that the majority of the Thais are kind and like to speak to falangs, even if they cannot speak English. There are some places and occupations, where business-minded people has gathered. Sorry to say, but Pattaya, tuk-tuk drivers, jet sky owners are a good example. 
There are some areas   e.g. Satun, where I always been offered a lift by students or elderly people when I am trying to walk a bit.
Taken as a whole, I would agree Thais are kind people.

[treehouse_ monkey]

Without a doubt there are Thai's who are so nice to be around.  Our registered NGO organization Tolo-thailand Foundation has been constructing the Juta Memorial Sports Center at the Ban Yoei Sakae Elementary School here in Buriram. Twelve schools with many indigent children will be using the facilities free of charge  Funds came in from around the world.  While we are in the final stages of building the facilities to honor the beloved principal from the school who passed away seven years ago due to cancer, thirty Buriram  Rajabhat University Second Year students  came to the school  and painted all the children's playground equipment, and helped to prepare the ground for a beautiful patio for children to sit under the trees in front of the school classroom building.  The next week 10  superb Thai soldiers from the local Military Garrison arrived to construct the patio and stayed to work for an entire week. The kids absolutely loved having them around. So far we have had volunteers from 50 different nationalities who raised money and came out to work along side the Thai's on numerous projects we have undertaken here over the past 19 years, including many English, Canadians, Americans, Australians, Dutch, Belgians, French.   Buriram is a better place because of this.

[1FinickyOne]

Thanks for the positive post - I have had so many positive experiences in Thailand, near every day occurrences for me - and so rarely a negative, that I often wonder if the complainers are living in a different country...

[playboy]

Yesterday, I ran out of gas on motorbike on the way to Sunday market which about 8 km from my home.  I did not bring the key for my bik's gas tank (my bike needs no key to start!) so I did hitchi the car passed by back home.  He stopped and I asked him to drop me at the soi.. so he did.  On the way he stopped pick up some bags of chili and brought 3 bottle of cokes and handed me one!  When we got to the front of soi.. he stopped and i went to his window to thanks.  He asked me how far from the soi... to my home?  I said another 2 km.  He said then hopped back so he will take me to my home!  Thank you for being so kind!

[dotpoom]

What saddens me about theses type of stories is that when a person comes across a small act of kindness, it is felt that it should be shouted from the rooftops....does that not tell something...is it really that rare, how sad if it is.... There are hugh acts of kindness being done every second of every day, by the rich and the poor to help their fellow man. I listened to a programme recently about people who will donate one of their organs to help a stranger, give blood, marrow, eggs, etc., etc., etc., help and care for an ageing or disabled family member or neighbour...the list is endless. these people go unnoticed simply because they don't seek notice.. 

[cmtg1]

i recently stopped at a pharmacy to ask directions. the pharmacist came out and showed exactly where i had to go. they wouldn't accept any money. i then found my destination sayuri complex stayed 2 hours with #16. again no charge. on the way home i got stopped by the police. had all my papers in order. NO charge


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[lkn]

11 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

What saddens me about theses type of stories is that when a person comes across a small act of kindness, it is felt that it should be shouted from the rooftops....does that not tell something...is it really that rare, how sad if it is.... […]

 

Random acts of kindness is not that rare, I have experienced it in many countries, even China (but less so though). The reason people feel the need to share on this forum is because there are a surprisingly many negative posts about Thais here.

 

[maximillian]

1 hour ago, alex8912 said:

I think a large percentage of TVF posters are negative and probably outwardly nasty old men who get what they deserve in LOS.

 

That's negative too.

[transam]

OP, I reckon you must be as hansum as me.................

[ThailandLOS]

On 2016-11-12 at 11:39 PM, lkn said:

Reading TV can sometimes make you think that you’re the luckiest foreigner in Thailand.

 

But then hundreds of thousands of foreigners would probably not retire here if it was really as miserable as some TV posters make it seem like.

 

 

People who're looking for trouble will always find trouble wherever they go.

 

There is a great deal of those who escaped their self inflicted issues somewhere else, thinking it would be different in Thailand. Those are also they most frequent moaners on TV. Just my 2 cents.

 

For people with decent behavior, who don't gravitate towards red light districts and the Thai/internal filth around these places Thailand is a nice and friendly place. More so than the majority of other countries on earth.

Edited November 14, 2016 by ThailandLOS

[whatproblem]

I was out a couple of months ago on my bicycle and got punctures in both tyres ,a Thai man walking by stopped to try help me ,when he saw I had in both tyres but only one spare tube he went away ,5 minutes later he was back in his pickup to take me home ,wouldn't take a tip or drink ,there's lots of good and some bad Thais but it's easy to get a bad name and hard to get a good 

[Penefattore]

13 hours ago, sharktooth said:

My girl found 1000 baht lying on the road one night on our way back from local restaurant. She told her mother next day and she said it looked like it belonged to a poor person. She want straight to the temple and donated it.

I fail to see any logic 

[samsensam]

 

where i come from it's the norm for people to help each other, so much so that it's not note worthy.

 

it says something when an act of kindness is so unusual that people feel the need to comment on it.

 

 

[georgemandm]

I for one have never had a problem with Thais , I think most are very good and respect people but like all  people around the world you will have problems with some .

of what I have seen and read most of the problems are with the ex thai wife or the ex thai girlfriends and not the thai people.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Dont forget that these acts of random kindness may have a lot to do with the sad passing of his Majesty.A lot of businesses have promised,small jobs free of charge for the mourning period.You may not be so lucky after the year of mourning is over.