Thai Attitude's to farrang

richard · Ace Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Posts: 1649 Location: Hua Hin

Don't like it. Shut up and move on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Enjoy the silence, enjoy the silence, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy the silence (Digweed)

Khun Richard of Yorkshire (Halifax) and Hua Hin

HHTel · Professional Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 351

Great comment, Richard. Constructive as ever!

buksida · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:35 pm Post subject:

A few things I agree with and a few I don't.

Firstly respect needs to be earnt, you cant just fall off a plane and expect everyone to treat you with respect because you have enough money to come here. Most of the tourists I have seen barely even respect themselves let alone the people around them, they pay no heed to the culture and behave here often worse than they would back home.

If you are polite and make the effort you will be rewarded.

Secondly I do agree with the environmental issues, I have seen some beautiful places completely trashed with plastic and litter, I guess this comes down to a lack of education about it. In the west we have run out of beautiful places as its all developed - we try to preserve what we have left. Here with less development and wide open spaces it is the opposite, nobody really cares ... until its gone.
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HHTel · Professional Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Posts: 351

Well said Buksida,

Yes there are tourists that are complete prats. The problem is that bad behaviour is much more noticeable than good behaviour. I would hope the bad is in the minority and that the majority of tourists/visitors/expats can hold their heads high.

Glyn · Rookie Joined: 07 Feb 2007 Posts: 16

I know that there is a two-tier pricing system in Thailand, and I disagree with it as much as anyone, but I have found that in the Cha-Am market it operates that the locals pay one price and the Bangkok Thai's down for the weekend pay another more expensive price, I always pay the same as my thai wife when buying anything from the market. It probably works the same in Hua Hin market, if they recognise you as being a regular you will get the local price. The same goes if you show your Thai driving license in some of the 'attractions' around Thailand you get the Thai rate.

Burger · Ace Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 1114 Location: Hua Hin

Foreigners come over here, tourists or expats and too many of us (not all of us) but enough of us, give it the big 'un with our attitude towards Thai's cos we think we can get/have what we want as we have money. Grope and generally disrespect their best looking women, drive big cars.
And I think we generally look down on Thais and treat them as lower class citizens than us.

For me that's why Thai's may have an attitutde towards us because of ours to them.

Many tourists and expats are complete bellends.

Burger

Jockey · Ace Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 1851

Thais seem jaded with tourists. The novelty factor is gone. They've seen through us. A few rotten apples spoil the cart.

buksida · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:54 pm Post subject:

lomuamart · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:41 pm Post subject:

There have been other threads on this board that have touched on the same thing.
One of my wife's sisters is being offered some serious money to move on and let her place be developed into a house. This is in HH and I forget how much she was being offered.
One thing I will say is that I've had good times at that tin shack. I've refused to say anything about value except "it seems a lot of money and where are you going to live afterwards?".
I bet they sell sometime.
Afterwards?
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"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

caller · Ace Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 1959 Location: Londonistan

kellyt · Rookie Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Italy

I have been fortunate to spend some time in Thailand, my curiosity made me scratch the surface, sometimes i wish I hadn't! I read a lot of the books that have aided the bad reputation of both sides (private dancer to name one) but there were two personal occasions that come to mind when I try and work out the Thai and westerners issue.

One was when I rolled my moped rigshaw - tuk tuk thingy speeding down the cha-am beach road. A group of westerners were standing on the other side of the road and witnessed my impersonation of buzz light years, only falling with very little style over the handlebars, ( I hit a large pot hole, am a fantastic driver really!). The only people who came running to my aid were the Thai's on the beach! Their kindness and help moping up all my blood, even though they did not speak any English, has left me in no doubt that the people of Thailand (that night) are much more caring as a community than the westerners who were standing on the other side of the road that night! (although if it had been a dog hit by a car I am sure it would be the other way round.)

The other was when I was working my way through the phrase book and I came to the section on ‘love’. The ‘do you come here often?’ phrase struck me as hilarious. That a phrase book would think it was an important enough phrase for westerners to require and that they put it under ‘love’ confirmed that the Thai’s really do think that the western men are here for one thing.
I showed it to the girls that work for my parents and one of them pointed out to me that my parents are one of the very few western couples that live in the area, nearly all of the westerners that have moved to the area are men and maybe they do need a line as bad as that!

There is no resolving this age old issue, if the western community are always going to be looked upon as being dirty old men by the rest of the world then how do you expect the Thai community to think you are not all painted with the same brush? The Thai women with western men are always going to be looked upon as bar girls. If westerners do not take the time to understand the very basics such as, if you are affectionate in public, even simple hand holding, then the rest of the Thai community are going to look upon the westerner as a ‘water buffalo’ and the Thai girl as a prostitute.

A lovely old Thai lady once asked me why I did not find a nice Thai boy, get married and move full time to Cha-am… my reply was simple they are too short for me!

So I put to you, if you are as rich as your reputation and you are taller than my 5ft 9inch, are as handsome as a classic GQ gentleman then contact me!
Wink

DawnHRD · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 9:07 am Post subject:

kellyt · Rookie Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Italy

Babe funnily enough the important thing is he must be taller than me, make more money than me (the hunter gather thing to make then feel like a man) and the hard bit… be mentally stronger than me, and that is almost imposable to find in a man! Let alone a man in Thailand.
Am convinced the sun does something to their brains…

I am sure you are right, it is a strange country sometimes I am amazed at how they help one another and their energy and need for fun, and at other times I can not understand why it takes so many of them to get anything done.
How they can close their eyes to a dog who is sick at the side of the road… or how the wealthier Thai’s do not help the orphanage and home for children with HIV and Aids. Some things are important to them and others just are not!

At the end of the day we are only guests in their country and very few will every get to understand their Thai neighbours.

matthew80 · Specialist Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 199 Location: Canada

Well...er...I have one of your criteria covered. Shocked

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alleykat · Member Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 64 Location: Bangkok