panadolsandwich

Yes very painful to watch. In a way it's touching to see a grown man with that level of naivety. I remember myself, after a few years in Thailand the sun and wind whisking my hair as the speedboat made it's way to Koh Samet, a girl tucked under each arm before climbing on to the beach and into the hotel. Oh wait, I wasn't naive. It never occurred to me to make a youtube video and splash it on social media thank fuck. I do remember my first fumbling steps with the language. Like him I felt like the king of the world if I could say - "Hey, I'm off to the market, you want anything?". Not really knowing I didn't know a damn thing. Being a superb mimic I picked it up very quickly though - still took the best part of ten years. This youtuber, you get angry at this unbelievable gall to tell you what to watch out for, but then you realize you're incredibly sorry for him. There is another side to Thailand behind the smiles and friendliness, a very sharp and realistic edge that will rob you of everything and cast you aside, even bill you for the pleasure; if you're lucky to make it out alive that is. The thing is, even if I decided to slap some sense into him - you just know he wouldn't get it - he's too cosy in that little bubble of his. So what? Are we reduced to the Kiwi sport of watching these idiots humiliate themselves and then moan the blues? I suppose it's more interesting than the cricket at the moment...

Well who doesn't know a French pimp? I can regard the experience as being bigger than the money; it damaged your self-esteem. I'm glad you're getting over it, and Happy New Year to you!!!

Best wishes, from BrisVegas, was hit by an amazing electrical storm last night, but the rain was very welcome. Some how seemed quite appropriate, 'specially after Barnaby Joyce's mad rant about the sky (he's really looking quite rough these days, mind you he never looked much better than that. The beetroot never stops giving.) And I might talk, but that guy should really lay off the grog, at least for a while. Cheers! Merry Christmas!!!

Radioman, that was a brilliant analysis! Nailed it!

Do you ever wonder why the first British family live so long? Oh sorry forgot about poor Di. Well long live the Queen!

Anyhow very off topic. Sorry about that. Okay let's get back on track. It was cheap, and it wasn't really. The man's proclamation that he'd have better off stayed in the US. Fairly heartless I would have thought. But I agree with that sentiment. His every encounter with Thai culture left him - brain dead. So what do you do? You make a Youtube video. And get this, he tried to push back. Fair enough I can understand that. It kind of displays another unfortunate misunderstanding I suppose.

I mind that time, I hadn't much money, in Poipet. I took $1000 to the casino and changed it up to 6000 before they very politely asked me nicely to leave. Because you and I know the odds. But a little a bit of education, and you can still game them. And I find nothing more special then gaming the gamers. 5000 USD in the pocket. Who said mathematics were boring?

Yeah, I hear you brother. I've watched the bubbles rise in my beer, super hyper-aware. I've watched the coming and goings in Nana plaza, with a girl jabbering by my side. And it changed me, it did. I acutely observed everything. I was kind of a young vulture like Proust - I could vivisect someone's emotions just by looking at them. That was when I truly knew I could understand Thai - because all around me I could hear it and needless to say I didn't like it. I'll let you in on a little technique I used to learn Thai intonation. You need to focus on one sense. See when you fill a glass, notice the way the sound changes. Pretty soon you don't have to look. After discovering that Thai was bloody simple. Don't know why people have problems with it.

I always liked probability theory. It seems to confuse a lot of people, but it really shouldn't. Let's examine a normal distribution: Now, let's superimpose this on farang in Thailand. The 'mean', or the middle, where most people sit is the top of the bell. As part of my studies, I was made aware of the the central limit theorem. Which is just a fancy way to say that the more spurious elements you gather as specimens, they will adapt a normal distribution as illustrated above. What Coss is referring too is Pattaya Addicts on the extreme left side of the graph, and Thai360 as being on the other side. But naturally that is an exaggeration, because by very definition a the bulk of people are in the middle. Where things get really interesting is when you start to apply a fourier transform to the data - a mathematical way of examining frequency - but yeah I realise I've just gone completely off-topic.

Yeah sure I agree Coss, and I did warn you I didn't really watch it myself. And I think you pretty much nailed it. After three years he's become a 'self-anointed expert' on all things Thai. I often wonder why Thai360 isn't more popular, what with all us experts just sitting around being untapped. Oh yeah I know they're all over at Pattaya addicts raving at each other like monkeys on speed. Popular topics being how to put it up her arse when she's not looking, how to never pay for a girl (we all know they do) and how to avoid being ripped off (you have to be reasonably clever to pull that one off - and none of them are clever). As well as the usual moaning, she stole all my money (you gave it to her on a silver platter you prat). To the more sanguine, how to bribe a cop. It's like a fucking zoo over there - and Youtuber - well don't laugh - he's considered the font of all wisdom over there. LMAO

So please I thought I should apologise about posting the initial video. I barely skimmed it. Also dismayed to find this I didn't even bother to watch it - just skimmed it. Again he seems like a nice guy, but how to say this nicely, deluded. He's just got it all wrong - nearly everything! I mean what a mess. If this guy doesn't shape up, then he should leave Thailand immediately. It's like watching a slow train wreck that derailed and hit an army munitions site about to trigger a nuclear weapon type of bad.

Hey Coss I value your posts. Perhaps I'm finally approaching some level of enlightenment! I would like to hear from the likes of Stickman and Flash as well. How did you adapt to the culture? I was happily clueless. In my own bubble initially. It's hard to explain, but I became hyper-aware, being hangover you kind of have to fend for yourself, and knowing a bit of Thai helps to kick a girl out of room.

I think I owe Stickman an apology for being overly critical of him. He was dealing with bams who could only see the tip of the iceberg. And what a project to try on! In it's scale it was just immense and he did an admirable job, but ultimately it wore him down. It would wear anyone down. You see being a Westerner doesn't exclude you, but it doesn't include you either. You're always the exception. And I can't see any problem with that - after all look to your own prejudices before you judge someone else - I mean, most people, including myself tend to come up short. We aren't perfect, but we can open up a bit more.

We all view culture differently. I really like this model: There's a hell of a lot going on beneath the surface. I think a lot of foreigners regret they'll never be fully accepted, or object to being called Farang, but as you can see from this model, there's just such a hell of a lot to know, and let's face it a hell of a lot of challenging things to think about.

Hey Coss, very true. At first I was dragged along to temples under sufferance, but then I started to enjoy the leafy peacefulness, the mesmerizing chant at the beginning of the service, and really just the really good natured way people got along. Being honoured and asked sit at the front with the elders, even though I was barely thirty. And the feast of home cooking at the end of service. No one was really trying to ram anything down my throat in terms of religious belief either. You're right, I see it as more a philosophy than anything else. It's not trying to avoid suffering, it's accepting that that is part of existence, the fact of suffering means you're alive. And I never would have said this even 5 years ago, but I think there is some kind of power in prayer - not for me perhaps, I'm just far too cynical, but it seems to work for people I know. Not of some magic kind, but I think it realigns your values, your motivations in a rather serene way. So yeah you're really onto something there.

Well Coss you did say this as well, which I must have replied to, as of course you did say stricter immigration policies - you can understand the confusion no?

Interestingly the biggest leap of faith for foreigners appears to be the Acceptance phase. It's like they're being asked to destroy their ego or something. But if you make it to Acceptance, you're golden. The model isn't a game you need to score top points in. And besides if you made it to Acceptance, you'll more than naturally gravitate to Adaption. I'm not talking about calling yourself Muk and sitting by the sewer grating supping cheap rum with the tuk tuk boys and eating som tam with unwashed hands. But you'll tend to find some of the cultural ideas refreshing, revitalizing even. Everyone here put up your hand if you thought the phrase 'Don't think too much' was ridiculous, stupid even. Be honest - I know I did. But it's just that it gets mangled in the translation. Be mindful, be here for the present, focus on what you're doing. Don't worry so much about what you can't change anyway. But we'll smile and let the thickos joke about how the Thais answer is to just not think, but we know better.

So here is an interesting model. Sadly perhaps the bulk of people hover between the Denial and Defense categories. Being Ethnocentric isn't really morally wrong, but if you continually find yourself stuck here, it's not that your harming anyone else, you're just making yourself miserable. You might wish to consider whether living in a bubble is the right thing for you. BTW, I've been through all these phases, and it took longer then 3 years. I'd say I'm perhaps between Acceptance and Adaption, like most of the members here, although I'm making significant progress on Integration. I speak the language, the dialects, I understand the culture and practice it when I'm in town. But you'll always be a Farang, that's never going to change, but hey I embrace that as well, I'm proud of my heritage. And you know what? That's most likely what the spirit of Integration is - you contribute in your own way.

Well if you're a young grasshopper struggling to understand - there is now a nifty chart you can consult. It's highly racist, and there is no scientific basis for this, but it's a chart, and that means it is science right? So yeah science must be wrong because this is obviously bullshit right?

I must admit, I started to watch this video expecting to just despise this guy - but he actually seems a really nice guy. I guess I thought it was contemptuous to think you could ever understand Thailand in only three years. To his credit he doesn't appear to be a know it all, just searching for understanding. But I couldn't help but think - that poor poor bastard - get out while you can. Because you'll be eaten up and spat out in five minutes if you're not careful.

Sorry Coss, but I agree with Radioman about the central topic of immigration. Although I'm not quite that pessimistic. If you don't pay your mortgage, the bailiff will eventually come around with the help of the police to enforce an outright possession order. Your property will then be sold for pence on the pound and you will still owe the debt. The property won't go to young people, because they're skint, it'll go to various subsidiaries of cashed up slum lords - people like Donald Trump's father. Indeed look for a gradual creep (which is already happening) in disparity. It has to be subtle, because you don't want to provoke people. You want them reading and talking about Prince Harry (the bastard) and Meghan. Meanwhile you de fund the NHS, and make out that it's a public fiasco. All the Europeans leaving the service is a great start. Look for - 'the NHS is a public farce!'; 'it's a bureaucratic nightmare'. And then the coup the grâce the merciful putting it out of it's misery by allowing the US insurance companies to privatise it.

Well for a start, Britain has overwhelmingly voted to stop immigration - so that's a non-starter. And from a rational standpoint, Britain needs the EU a hell of a lot more then they need Britain. Not the best position to negotiate from, I'm sure you'd agree. And that rich-ish tax base, well good luck with that once the global entities carve up the NHS and anything else of value. You might as well put all your faith in a so-called 'trickle down' system.

As optimistic as that sounds Coss - I can't imagine the EU being such pushovers. They'll want to make an example of them. You leave our protection and you're out in the cold. And you know what? I have to say I don't blame them. Certainly not at this stage. Look for Europe to become the 'New London' as a global financial hub - most likely in Frankfurt.

That's a good question. I suppose it depends on whether they would join the EU, and I can't imagine they won't. But yeah I don't know enough about it to be honest. As an optimist I think the EU would accept the Scottish. Of course Northern Ireland is another matter entirely.

Yeah but Shibuya the Scottish are pretty determined people when they want to be - I mean they invented the munchie box. I can easily see them doing it regardless. Meanwhile they should kick the parcel of rogues down the road as Burns so eloquently put it.