Thai's getting tired of us

[Guest]

:

up: Agree...very overrated...best go someplace else guys...Yep, try PI...
hear the place is clean, food is great, very safe and ladies aren't greedy at all...

Go to the PI because ...... what???

Clean
Food
Safe
Not Greedy


 

Much as I love Daphne (gone but never forgotten) I struggle to reconcile any of those "virtues" (well maybe the food but then again I always have eaten nearly anything put in front of me!!) with the PI I have come to know through many trips there.

[kahuna]

(thaitslover @ Mar. 22 2007,18:19)

:

up: Agree...very overrated...best go someplace else guys...Yep, try PI...
hear the place is clean, food is great, very safe and ladies aren't greedy at all...

Go to the PI because ...... what???

Clean
Food
Safe
Not Greedy


 

Much as I love Daphne (gone but never forgotten) I struggle to reconcile any of those "virtues" (well maybe the food but then again I always have eaten nearly anything put in front of me!!) with the PI I have come to know through many trips there.

It was a joke...learn to read...

[rob69in]

(stogie bear @ Mar. 22 2007,15:43)

(Bravo @ Mar. 21 2007,10:53)

(olekunde @ Mar. 21 2007,04:30) nattaya is the brightest bulb. "they", ie us farangs turn Thailand into a land of prostitutes? eh,

Prostitution aimed at farangs is the tip of the iceberg. It's the Thais that are customers for the vast majority of prostitutes. But why bother with the facts when there is a handy scapegoat to blame.

One of the masses conned by the propaganda machine, i wonder how much world travel these niave people managed in there lives.

[viking1960]

No country likes foreigners period. During WWII when the Americans were in Britain helping to defeat the NAZIs the British were fond of saying, "There are only three things wrong wtih the Yanks."

1. They are overpaid.
2. They are oversexed.
3. They are over here.

Its the same thing everywhere you go.

[moe666]

I visited friends in Wales several years ago went to a pub and drank a few beers with some of my friends mates from work. Later we hooked up at a club one chap I had talked to earlier says, as an American you are not what I expected you are not loud and in everyones face, it has been nice talking to you.
I says to him glad to disspell a few myths.

[diablo80]

Guys and Dolls

I do not agree with the statement that Thai people are getting tired with the FARANGS. It is true that in the last 5 years Thailand has opened up to much to the rest of the WORLD but Thailand has opened up because they need the money of TOURISM and Tourism is one of the Fast Lanes of making money. For every penny (dollar-euro) spend directly by a tourist here in Thailand the "multiplier effect"increases this money by 3 or maybe 4 times thus pushing slowly the country out of the absolute poverty that existed 20 years ago.

It may be true that some "stupid" farangs are pushing situations and "VIRTUAL FREEDOM" of Thailand to the LIMITS by doing extreme things like pedophilia and bestialities but these I want to believe are extreme and rare cases. Pedophilia is not longer permitted officially in Thailand and other things like going out with Gays and/or LBs is not hapilly "seen" by locals but it is well accepted.

On the contrary of what many Thais think about us, the farangs who love the company of LBs, we are doing a favour to the society of Thailand by offering money (love and hope being more important) to a segment of the Thai society which is out-casted and marginalized. LBs all over thailand do not currently have many possibilities to find a good job even if they have studied and thus are pushed to take average but decent jobs like waitresses, make-up artist, salespersons or to take not so good and decent jobs like Gogo Girls etc. This is the IMAGE and MESSAGE we have to pass and express to Thai society. We - the farangs- are hapilly spending time and money with some Thai people (LBs) that otherwise are doomed to serve a society which allows them to become what they want to be and then without justice marginalize them. We also spend money to a marginalized segment which is usually the poorest one and thus enriching and helping to survive families which otherwise would not have the opportunity to easily do so. We should not consider ourselves Messiahs but simply by doing what we currently do (go out and spend time and money with LBs) are helping them out of poverty and misery (especially for the most unlucky ones). As the famous proverb says: The trash of someone may be the Gem of another one... (do not know the exact phrase).

I am looking forward to hearing more on this subject BUT my impression of the Thai society is that it is quite open and the more farangs Thai people see the more it is going to open up.

Diablo Le Grec

[Snick]

Editorial from Today's Nation Newspaper in Bangkok

During an interview yesterday, a German executive working in Bangkok told me he was rather concerned about a front-page article on Thailand published the other day by The International Herald Tribune.

The article, "Famed Thai hospitality showing signs of strain: Foreigner-driven growth is re-evaluated" (March 21, 2007), painted a rather gloomy picture on what it perceived to be a shifting sentiment inside Thailand. It portrayed a changing Thailand, which was not only embracing economic nationalism but was also expressing its suspicions toward foreigners.

Thomas Fuller, the correspondent who wrote the article, interviewed several Thais and his subjects all expressed their doubts toward foreigners in one way or another. I am quite amazed by the thrust of this article, which claims that the Thai people have become anti-foreigner only seven months after the coup. This is rather funny. How can the interim government and military leadership persuade the general Thai public to change their feelings toward foreigners in such a short time?

However, the German executive said that when this kind of article is published and read internationally, the people who read it no longer feel confident enough to visit or do business in Thailand. Now Thailand is not only competing against neighbouring countries for investment and tourism, it also has to be aware that countries in the Middle East - Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates - are opening up their countries and attracting visitors from Europe and elsewhere. It also takes less time to fly from Europe to the Middle East than it does to the Far East.

Thailand needs to do a lot of explaining. The German executive told me that contrary to the prevailing negative perception, it is still easy to do business in Thailand.

Let me say this. Thais in general welcome foreigners. They welcomed foreigners in the past, they welcome them now and they will continue to welcome them in the future. Foreigners have contributed to Thailand's economic growth, though some of them have tried to take advantage of us - child sexual abuse or unfair labour treatment, for instance. This should not be unexpected.

Unfortunately, I must say that it is far more convenient for foreigners to visit Thailand and do business here than it is for Thais to travel abroad and do business in other countries. It is not easy for the average Thai citizen to get a visa to the United States, Europe or Japan, but we can't complain because nobody is listening to us. Our voice is not loud enough.

Even now, it is definitely easier to do business in Thailand than it is in China. But I guess China knows what it is doing and writes its own rules, so no foreigner would dare complain. Besides, they dare not bash China because they know how the Chinese can respond in kind.

Probably, it is convenient for them to bash Thailand. The Thais do have a high level of tolerance toward foreigners.

I have never read an article in any foreign media outlet calling for Vietnam or China to set a timetable for a return to democracy. Most foreign articles now praise the economic opportunities in Vietnam and China. Is Singapore now enjoying more democracy than Thailand? Several foreign articles have been attacking the process to draft the new constitution in Thailand, but they have hardly reported on China's charter. Has anybody cared to read the Chinese or the Singaporean constitutions?

It is difficult to compare the different political systems of the countries in this region. Yes, Thailand is in a big transitional mess, but over the medium term, it should emerge all right. But in the meantime, can we fully claim that countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Brunei, Hong Kong, China are enjoying more democracy than Thailand?

The Surayud government and the military leadership might have shot themselves in the foot by introducing a series of bad policies or by giving some stupid interviews. However, I don't think they have been able to influence the average Thai to become anti-foreigner like the International Herald Tribune tried to suggest. And I don't think they are deliberately drawing up policies to go after foreigners. They are just incompetent. And they have an agenda to go after the remnants of the Thaksin regime. That's all.

The Bank of Thailand erred on the 30 per cent capital controls, but this technical measure has nothing to do with the Surayud government. Yet this measure was the start of the downfall in its confidence index. The Commerce Ministry has to revise the Foreign Business Act because of the political ramifications of the Temasek-Shin Corp deal. One of the reasons that the Thaksin government was toppled was because the Shinawatra family sold off Shin Corp to Singapore. Shin Corp also held sensitive assets such as iTV and Shin Satellite. To prove that Thaksin Shinawatra was wrong in selling off iTV or Shin Satellite to Singapore, the military leadership, for political reasons, has to build up a case against it.

When Singapore learnt that the Surayud government might move against the Shin Corp deal, its authorities sent out a message that Singapore should not be singled out. They also signalled that there should be a level playing field in Thai business law.

This led the Commerce Ministry to work on the amendments of the Foreign Business Act to create this level playing field, although the amendments were not a priority policy in the first place. When the Cabinet approved the draft amendments, foreign investors and foreign businessmen were scared off. And they characterised the 30-per cent reserve requirement and the amendments to the foreign business law as being Thailand's attempt to turn inward.

If Temasek had announced that it would dispose of iTV and Shin Satellite from the outset, it would have helped reduce the pressure on the Surayud government since Temasek had made it known that its original intention was to acquire Advanced Info Services.

I am writing this column because I feel sick and tired of the growing Thailand bashing. Yes, we are in a mess. Yes, we are living in the aftermath of a coup. Yes, we make lots of mistakes. Yes, we need time to resolve our problems. But we don't deserve this bashing because the country has yet to overcome the political divide, which is the root of all the uncertainty.



Thanong Khanthong

[D33]

Trust me when I say to them, "The feeling is mutual."