chuckwoww Posted August 3, 2004 Report Share Posted August 3, 2004 Romp....I understand the need to define, label, pin down....whatever it is we do. By naming something we are able to explain it and file it away. I don't think it's a particularly western phenomenon but perhaps some of us take it too seriously. I enjoy thinking myself, playing back old tapes and conversations, remembering places and incidents. It passes the time on airplanes but it's like nailing jelly to a tree most of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 Sir Stamford, A truer post was never written. However, I always seem to get skewered when I suggest that Thailand is the pretty much the same as Asia in general (for the most part). I am glad that someone with greater experience than I also agrees! Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 Still, this is the place where you elected to live, and/or if i am not wrong, where you married a national. What was the context that has you (and a lot) stay in Thailand, not Taiwan, for example? Absolutely nothing intrinsec to the place itself, the way life goes on there, for the most part? Really? Could move, no problems? I'd think there is a feel about Thailand that has to be related to a few cultural diversities of its own, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.. Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 pattaya127 said:Still, this is the place where you elected to live, and/or if i am not wrong, where you married a national. What was the context that has you (and a lot) stay in Thailand, not Taiwan, for example? Absolutely nothing intrinsec to the place itself, the way life goes on there, for the most part? Really? Could move, no problems? I'd think there is a feel about Thailand that has to be related to a few cultural diversities of its own, no? Not saying Thailand is exactly the same as the rest of Asia, but generally yes. Each country has it's own flavour, but the difference like comparing an orange to a pomelo versus comparing it to an apple. Why did I marry a Thai national? I was stationed here for a Fortune 5 company then and it was at that time in my life that I felt that I should be settling down and looking for a wife. When I met my wife, I knew that I would never find a better match. Why/How? I dated lots of women from all over the world and she was the winner, she fit what I wanted and I her. It was that simple. It really had nothing to do with the fact that she was a certain ethnicity or her family's status. Why did I settle here? Pretty pragmatic really. I have my own business and travel to customer sites from Dubai to Japan to New Zealand on a very regular basis. Bangkok is a) in the center of all that so it is convenient, flights out of Bangkok are pretty much the cheapest in the region, c) since I am married to a Thai national with a "hi-so" family, I get special privileges (easy visa, good government connections, a way to avoid hassles from police, etc.), d) since I am an American, I get special business privileges (Amity treaty, etc.), e) cost of living is low (but that is changing rapidly), f) I speak the language reasonably well. Of all the Asian countries in which I have lived -- Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Sillypore -- I would chose to live in Hong Kong (if money were no object, that is) first, then Singapore (again, expensive) a close second. But I am looking seriously at returning to Kuala Lumpur depending upon what tax advantages I may receive since I am in a high-tech biz (keeping in mind that the cost of living is lower than BKK, but flights are not as plentiful and are much more expensive), and how much further the mainfestations of anti-farang sentiment advance here in LoS. It boils down to what is best for my company and family. I find that all Asian countries give me the joie-de-vive that is lost in Western countries. Yes, even the highly developed ones like Japan are significantly more like Thailand than they are like the States. But I do not do well with any higher levels of corruption and "third-worldness" than Thailand offers. So living in places like Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India and the Philippines is a no go for me. I am a city guy, not a country bumpkin! Cheers, SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrX Posted August 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 Chuck wrote: "it's like nailing jelly to a tree most of the time. " OK here's the hammer...... In the blue corner we have typical post from newly minted ex-newbie: " she lied to me about how long she worked bar and about her Thai boy friend and her other sponsors and how she drugged me while I was sucking her nipples which had fucking stretch marks anyway and all that after she had said she never had a kid...." In the red corner we have grizzled old hand, Mr Washington Square..." dont think about..... TIT.....I remember when they used live frogs, and when you have been here a few years sonny you too will realize too it all comes round, and anyway nobody can never understand Thainess ( women) anyway....." Actually as I want to see it the two corners are facets of same " happenings" and are widely represented on this board My point was only that Old Hands could perhaps manage better than the red corner though IMHO they rarely do here..IMHO (IMHO repeated...absolutely no wish to antagonise and anyway suspect constraints, if they exist, reside apart from deficiencies in Old Hands!) Or, (as a last gasp) ...How is this board evolving , maturing if you like?... And... scribbly notes towards an answer to this question; ..... certainly it is less exclusively peppered by posts like " Number 7 let me fuck her up the ass all night for free" and more posts about; "family/ shopping/ things to do other than women orientated etc".... also, it is more controlled........ but how is it evolving in terms of getting at Thainess... as the members grow older and hopefully wiser? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soongmak Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 So basically you are telling us that most scriblings on this board are just scratching the surface when it comes to an understanding of all things thai, and that we mostly talke about things happening from a western perspective? I can agree with that. Cheers, soongmak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrX Posted August 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 soongmak wrote: "So basically you are telling us that ...." Sturdy anti-intellectualism sure has an honourable tradition but may just occasionally overstate its case IMHO.... ..what I was really trying to say was.....( oh God, here we go again... this will be the third time I have tried.......and anyway (theatrical glance at watch)..its almost time to go to Midnite..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soongmak Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 oh God, here we go again... this will be the third time I have tried.......and anyway (theatrical glance at watch)..its almost time to go to Midnite..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
check_bin_krap Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 "sometimes i feel that many tend to place Thailand in its own special little box. I am not sure that Thai culture is so very different from S.E Asian culture in general. I have spent what amounts to nigh on half my life in the region, and the more time and greater my understanding of the languages, the more i see the countries interwoven. Seeking to analyse Thais and Thailand in isolation imho tends to muddy things up, stepping back and looking at Thailand within the ASEAN persepective helps explain an awful lot" ............................................................................ Its much the same dilemmas faced and which we have to relate to in SEA countries as ex-pats or tourists. On the surface before we scratch it. One hotel or a short stay in any country is like another. Do not relate that to LIFE there for locals. Don't tell me Thai society is anyting like in Vietnam. I have felt that in a strong way recently, trying to get a birth certificate there which would be done fast in Thailand. My son is 13 months years old now, and we have still not gotten that paper with me as accepted father. My ex-wife got my step sons out of Thailand during 2 weeks, it included a sig by her ex. In Vietnam, you do not get a passport if a member of your family has been in prison. You can not invite foreigners to stay in your house without a permission, and you have to be married or similar links to get it. Expect a bribe at district office to do it. Ownership of land is another issue, you have to have owned your land for about 25 yrs or the government can grab it for free for whatever they like - no compensation. Just cause you don't see it and it does not affect you, it does not mean it is not there!! Would that stuff be accepted in Thailand? NO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
check_bin_krap Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Don't even get me started on how they view eachother.. Thai, Phillipines and Viets share nada in their own view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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