Thailand expat myths

Thailand is Cambodia's neighbor to the West, and this forum is dedicated to Thai news, stories, reviews, blogs, videos, Thai people and anything else related to the country. A lot of expats have both lived and worked in Cambodia and Thailand, and this area is a place to discuss all aspects of life in Thailand and what's going on there. Most topics are about Bangkok and Pattaya because of their larger populations of expatriates and tourists in those cities, but this is for all things Thai.
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Kung-fu Hillbilly
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Thailand expat myths

Post by Kung-fu Hillbilly »

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By Tim newton
June 28, 2019

If you read the internet, particularly one particular website we won’t name (thaivisa.com)… whoops, then you’d think that Thailand is a dreadful place to visit, filled with hate-filled expats who live in fear and loathing of, well, everything.

"This has been a popular conspiracy theory for decades. As the numbers of tourists continued to rise, so did the comment “they’re making it up”. With no evidence to back their claims, keyboard warriors, seemingly unhappy that there is a rise in the number of tourists coming to Thailand, claim passionately that the TAT are just inventing numbers to appease their bosses."

"Whilst you can pay 300+ baht for a pad thai in a tourist area, locals can still get the same meal for under 50 baht. Is the price higher than it was 10 years ago? Of course. The differences in prices between the popular tourist magnets and the outlying areas of the country continues to become more apparent though. If you’re going to live in Pattaya, Phuket or Sukhumvit Road, then you will find many prices have risen along with the popularity of the locations and the rising real estate prices."

"Most of the changes come in the form of enforcement of existing rules and a general ‘clean up’ of procedures at Thai Immigration offices. There have been many improvements, well… attempts at improvements, along the way as well – things like drive-thru services.Bottomline, if you think it’s difficult to live, work and stay in Thailand, just check how difficult it is for a Thai citizen to move to your country."

"But old perceptions die hard and the typical Thai expat is still thought to be white, older and enjoys dating younger Thai bar girls. Statistically this is a tiny proportion of the 300,000 or so expats thought to be living and working in Thailand in 2019."

"We’ll tread a little carefully here. Thailand’s fraught experiment with democracy, since the absolute monarchy was abolished back in 1932, has been fragile. Lots of coups, lots of Army tampering and lots of elections. Thailand now has the dubious distinction of being the world’s only current Military-led government. But is it a ‘dictatorship’ in the historical use of the phrase? Probably not."

Full https://thethaiger.com/news/national/to ... xpat-myths
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Yerg
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Re: Thailand expat myths

Post by Yerg »

Is this any different to the balance of SEA? So a tourist pays 300 in a tourist spot and a monger pays 50 in a monger spot? Not exactly new News, is it? Let's shift this conversation to, say, central London? Tourist pays £15-£20 for a burger at TGI's, local pays £3-£5 at a burger joint next door. It's no different.

The only difference is why people are in Thailand (or SEA) compared to why people are in Central London. Expats love to pontificate as to why they know the place better than anyone else, and this is no different to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos et al. Expats know better, you don't know what you're talking about, I've been here 3 years blah blah blah.

I've a friend who spends 6 months a year in UK, 6 moths in LOS. He's a borderline alcoholic, obese, and treats ladies with absolute disdain. Is he right or wrong??

I prefer to let my missus show me the way around Cambodia, and lead me when it comes to the best places to eat and how to respect the culture. Not the barang/farang knobbers that think they know best.
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