Loves And Hates

[sayjann]

no country is perfect but i find certain things about thailand slighty irritating.

 

i'n not fussed on A/C,not something i personally don't need.

everyday when the room was cleaned the window was closed and i had to use the A/C to cool down the room as it hot but i find it soon gets chilly.

i just opened the window and got a breeze to clear the heat.

everyday i would ask the maids to leave the window open,but to no avail.....

and why do many thai ladies complain it's hot and then get under the bed covers with clothes on......

and the A/C in shopping malls is so cold......

walk off the street and i often find goose bumps soon rising on my skin and i really find it cold.

 

locals on motorbikes who really piss me off.

they want to go the wrong way down a one-way street so proceed to drive on the pavement/sidewalk....

and they think they have right of way and expect ME to get out the way which on many occasions i have had to take evasive action.....

i sometimes make a slight gesture with my hand indicating i want to push them off their bikes and it's ME who gets the bad looks from those around me as i must not show my displeasure...WHY THE FUCK NOT?....

 

their habit of talking in a group and blocking the way i want to walk and i'm the one who is inconvienced by having to detour around them.

again i get told if when i'm with a lady for saying something loud enough for them to hear.

but i will admit the japanese are worse.......

 

and talking of the japanese......

what's the facination of visiting the night spots in a large group travelling on a coach?

it's got to park somewhere,they all walk off visit a bar,have 1 drink and then fuck off.

most of them are couples and obvious that they will not be taking advantage of any offers they might get.

they troop into a bar/go-go,take up the available space for 30 mins or so and i just don't know why the ladies on offer bother to try and tempt them.

they rarely get drinks and then the ladies expect to go straight to the punter they abandoned and expect things to be normal.

not for me,i just tell the lady i'm not impressed and just pay the bill and walk away or move to another lady.

 

but i do get a liitle annoyed with regular bars and the staff wanting drinks.

my night-time bar was bad for this(quite insistant)but only 3 staff working and after telling them tomorrow,i would eventually buy them all a drink at the end of the night because they were good frinds and had been good company.

 

but there are many things i like.

 

the good manners of the locals.

normally a smile is evident,good service and a thank-you when you leave.

and the way they tolerate the tourist,i know they think many of us are quite silly at times but they just smile and get on with it.

 

if someone approaches you offering a night of the most perverted sex and you turn them down then not their loss,yours in their eyes.

after all the next punter may accept their offer and they will keep trying if they want to.

try turning down a pissed up girl in the uk,she would soon be shouting her mouth off/accussing you of being gay etc as her feminine pride had bben insulted....

 

 

i remember the old days of going to the 7-11 next to sand inn(sadly no longer there)at 6am and having a vast choice of ladies still wanting a chance of getting a man/bed and cash for a few hours.

 

the friendliness/kindness of the ladies.

i've had my bad times over the years but in general i have been treated like a king.

if i fancied food they would go off and get it for me and the same if i ran out of cigarettes.

looked after me when pissed or unwell and thought nothing of it.

 

i remember in 2002 i was assaulted in a bar and 2 ladies took me to hospital and after i had x-rays and 18 stitches/sutures took me back to my room and stayed overnight making sure i was alright.

in the morning/afternoon they refused any kind of payment(maybe happy with a comfortable room/bed for the night).

but i did get their clothes laundered,after all their clothes were covered in blood and a few days later accepted my offer of a t-shirt of their choice bought for them.

 

i am a fan of motorbike taxi's,such a great way to travel around with the wind cooling you down and an easy way to travel.

on my recent trip i used a regular spot and always seemed to get the same fella and he knew exactly where i wanted go and was cheap at 50bt for me and my gal for the journey.....

 

i like the weather and while i enjoy the relaxed atmosphere,that can be spoilt by the locals.

and street meals are wonderful in my eyes and are available just about around the clock.

hotels not minding if you bring your own drinks/meals into their hotel instead of using the mini-bars or their restaurants.......

 

there are a few more likes/dislikes i probably could mention but at the moment my mind is blank.

[Flashermac]

 

 

 

Have you tried the Thermae lately? You might like the selection these days.

 

 

[sayjann]

Have you tried the Thermae lately? You might like the selection these days.

 

only ever been to thermae twice in 2005.

had heard about the place and did'nt really know what to expect and was disappointed.

most of the ladies seemed content to sit with friends/chat/have a drink and not bother with the drunken bums like me.

i suppose i looked upon it as a place where they could go and unwind and socialise with friends if they did'nt want a man and i understood that after a while.

but i did have a lady stolen off of me by the fella i was with.....

2nd visit and i found a friend and ended up staying 3 nights with her,nice lady.

it seemed to me to be packed with crumpet but i don't know how it normally was/is.

 

in the end i liked it better then beergarden which i visited several times and at different times of the day.

not impressed with the place at all but i did find some company one time.

maybe i'm too fussy...........

[sayjann]

i knew i'd think of something else..............beggars.

 

for many years you hardly saw someone asking for a few bt.

yes they were there and in their normal positions around the town.

but now they seemed to mulpiplied tenfold and seem to be everywhere.

i know there are probably many cases of genuine troubles and i do carry a few 5bt coins around with me and do give them out but i do it with hesitation and mainly because the company i am with feel the need to give a little cash to these men/women.

 

but 2 kinds of begger make me suspicious straight away.

women with crying babies(some seem only a few months old) as i have no idea if it is their baby or they have 'borrowed' one for the day.

and(normally older men)those that have a bottle of thai whisky on view on their body or plainly in view in their bag.

now i know there is no evidence that it is whisky and it could be just water but it just makes me suspicious.

 

i know you find beggers in a lot of countries and i don't normally part with my cash but i was just surprised at the huge increase of their numbers.

[Flashermac]

I see absolutely no beggars in my neighbourhood or my old neighbourhood. But Sukhumwit is wall to wall beggars these days. Sure times are hard, but are they that hard? (Actually, the beggars make me think of the red-shirt "protestors", the way they occupied the pavement and expected to have a free ride.)

 

This is the Chinese Vegetarian Festival, but you'd hardly know it compared to previous years. Nowhere near as many vendors out selling delicious Thai veg food. (It is cheap and with the spices you can't tell that it's made with soy protein instead of dead animals.) I also see restaurants and food stalls closing right and left. When times are hard, people eat at home. My taxi driver the other day told me he and his wife had run a successful restaurant for years, but had to close it a few months ago. Not enough customers right now.

[cavanami]

Too many of the beggars involved with the Thai maffia. BKKSW did a story on Stick's site about a beggar he saw roughed up, money taken and left in the gutter.

[dave32]

Too many of the beggars involved with the Thai maffia. BKKSW did a story on Stick's site about a beggar he saw roughed up, money taken and left in the gutter.

 

What trips me out are the ones with missing limbs that prostrate themselves on the sidewalk face down with arm out and a cup. WTF. Surreal. I'll usually drop a 20 baht note in their cup, and get reminded by any Thai companion that I'm probably being snookered.

 

Another annoying thing is if you're sitting at Big Dog in the early evening the guys selling cheap watches, tattoo sleeves, etc. keep coming around every 15 minutes. There was one day this lady kept coming around trying to sell me on a shoe shine, and I was wearing sneakers.

 

There was also a flower girl who wouldn't stop pestering you. I called her psycho. And she understood. Though through sheer force of will she'd wear me out ("so, you'll leave me alone if I buy this one flower right?")and I would end up buying a flower and then giving it to the waitress.

 

Land of Smiles my ass. LoS means Land of Sharks.

 

(On a serious note, I don't mind hustlers... within reason).

[Guest lazyphil]

do thai beggars sell big issues!!!!????

[Flashermac]

Remember when Thailand was hosting APEC and Thaksin went overboard to put on a big show about how wonderful he was? He was determined to prove that he was a world leader equal to the heads of state of the UK, Europe, US, Japan, the PRC etc. Every important visitor got a hand made silk shirt embroidered with real gold thread (cost something like 20,000 baht each). Every building on Rachadamnern was repainted a cheerful yellow and the flowers were replanted. Big walls were erected to block the visitors' view of any low class housing as they travelled through the city, and residents of apartments along the route were ordered not to hang out any laundry. Most intriguingly, all of the beggars and soi dogs were rounded up and taken to temples in the provinces for safe keeping. (The soi dogs were neutered, and critics suggested the beggars should be too.)

 

Then after APEC was over and the visiting heads of state had left, the beggars and soi dogs were brought back, as the rain slowly washed the cheap paint off the buildings. The flowers were allowed to die and Bangkok soon returned to normal.

 

Good old Takky, nothing but sound and fury, mirrors and coloured lights. But the red shirts think he is a god.

[Guest]

I see absolutely no beggars in my neighbourhood or my old neighbourhood. But Sukhumwit is wall to wall beggars these days. Sure times are hard, but are they that hard? (Actually, the beggars make me think of the red-shirt "protestors", the way they occupied the pavement and expected to have a free ride.)

 

This is the Chinese Vegetarian Festival, but you'd hardly know it compared to previous years. Nowhere near as many vendors out selling delicious Thai veg food. (It is cheap and with the spices you can't tell that it's made with soy protein instead of dead animals.) I also see restaurants and food stalls closing right and left. When times are hard, people eat at home. My taxi driver the other day told me he and his wife had run a successful restaurant for years, but had to close it a few months ago. Not enough customers right now.

 

Many of the beggars are imported from the Cambodian border, and are in fact Cambodian. They have to turn in ALL they earn, and they are only [barely] fed for their labors. As for the babies for the "woman with a young baby" beggar TYPE, they are regularly exchanged for a younger version when they get too big to elicit enough sympathy on the part of would-be donors.