Is Stickmans outlook correct?

[Guest]

I agree, and maybe I took his closing question, "Hell, reading back through all of this, why does anyone return to the West after a stint in Thailand?" too seriously.

 

 

 

I am seriously contemplating returning to the West.

 

 

 

If stickmans closing question was serious, then I hope i have provided him with an adequate answer )

 

 

[changnoi]

You think this is a troll

 

 

 

You consider it inflammatory

 

 

 

You would delete this thread

 

 

 

 

 

Oh dear

[Guest]

Great topic!

 

 

 

When I read Stick's column and the 5 point, I felt the guy has been in Thailand for too long and is losing a perspective on the real world. Now, don't take me wrong, he obviously likes the place and has a great time, good for him, but his rationalizations are not very realistic. I don't know about NZ but I'll compare with the US.

 

 

 

1. Very complex issue, and I have mixed feelings. Lots of nice people, but lots of not so nice people too.

 

 

 

2. Food is good, except I can have Thai food in the US every day if I want to (and there are weeks that I do) but I can also have other types of food, many of which I like just as much as I like Thai food, something which is more of a problem in Thailand, though getting less so.

 

 

 

3. Ease of getting things done. This is where Stick blew it, IMO. Compared to the US, Thailand is a poster child of incompetence, complications, waiting, etc., etc. Simple things can turn into nightmares.

 

 

 

4. Agree with first part, can't judge the second.

 

 

 

5. Cheap? Yes, when you visit from the West. If you live in Thailand, unless you are on a fat expat salary, you're making say 50-100k and even that's pushing it. Now true, things may be cheap by Western standards, but when you are making a fraction of a Western wage they are not cheap. Reasonable, perhaps, but not cheap. On a professional salary in the US you not only cover your expenses (including a car), but you go for vacations overseas if you so desire, save up for retirement, buy a house, etc. In BKK, 100k/month would be a lot of dough; still you can't do all those things that people can and do with the money they earn in the West. So yes, you can get excited about having a dinner for 30 Baht but it's very myopic. If you look at the big picture you may find out that the $10 dinners in Max's Diner were actually cheaper.

[Pom_Jao_Choo]

[color:blue]"2) The food. Its ok, and very available everywhere, but could that be just because many Thais are too lazy to cook at home?"color=blue>

 

 

 

My perspective is limited by my longest stay having been 11 weeks. However I find Thai food to be amazingly good and extremely diverse.

 

I understood the great availability of food stalls and resteraunts to be the result of the climate making it too hot for people to be cooking in their homes.

[pattaya127]

Apologies if i mistook your intentions. It really seemed antagonistic for the sake of it.. t i thought you overdid it on the contrasts between Limbless and mercedez, hardly India IMO, or even Cambodia as far as misery on the street. I just had the strong feeling you meant to put anything down about Thailand by using stats and comparisons for easy criticism. I saw others would build on that, 2 camps on each side, as usual. To me it's very simple, Thailand is a 3rd world country. 3rd world countries are no paradise, so it's easy to find stuff that is not quite heavenly. Now, some country dispell something more than the sum of their parts, including the annoying aspects, I guess it's the essence of the place and its people that keeps us attracted towards it. I did not quite get the thing about thai women. Are they supposed to be easy, always available? isn't it nice just to be around a lot of thai women, even if you don't "score"?

 

 

[ThaiGirlLover]

I would say Stickman?s outlook is correct for Stickman. This is what he feels and believes. I do not live in Thailand, so I am in no position to contradict his conclusions.

 

 

 

On the converse, just because Stickman has a web site, it doesn?t make his views absolute nor does it make him the leading authority on Thailand. Remember this is just one man?s opinion (as he clearly states on his web page).

 

 

 

I enjoy reading his opinions but I do not take them as gospel.

 

 

[pattaya127]

moreover, after reading about Stickman's new view on the sex scene, it would be hard to say he's got a rose-tinted view of all things thai. If he was not balanced in his latest prose, the best way to answer is to be balanced in one's answer to him. What's the point of saying the exact contrary of what he said. Smeg, himself, enjoys many things about Thailand. It just did not seem so in his first post. And obviously, these negatives were not his whole take about Thailand.

[pattaya127]

a decent appartment runs into 1500$ in paris, minimum, same thing for SF and NY. 25000 bahts is only 450$. No way you get the same for even double that in the west.

[pattaya127]

oops, 650 is it. still same same. 1300, you'lle get a one bedroom appartment and not central in the places i mentionned.

[Guest]

I am not american..I dont know american prices.. Compare apt to most places in New Zealand, Australain, Canada and apt are not cheap.. The rest of the world is not San Fran with its high tech over priced markets.