Thailand vs. Farangland

[admin]

I was having a discussion about this the other night with someone and I even wrote about it on my poker blog, even though there are so many things that are backwards compared to back home Thailand (and many parts of Asia) are remarkably ahead of the curve on others.

For instance, if I walk into my bank and hand them $1000 at many banks I can't access those funds until the next day because my account balance is only updated once a day (except when you withdraw money and then it's immediate).

I can't transfer money or pay my bills at the ATMs back home.

Most fast food places don't deliver (McDonald's, KFC, etc).

What things have you grown used to here in Thailand that when you visit back home you say, "WTF?@!? What do you mean you don't have that?"

[English_Bob]

Motorbike taxis

Bribing policemen

Sunshine

Gogo bars

35 baht taxis

Fantastic, cheap cinemas

Can-do attitude

Less red-tape

Girls under 70 kg

Ladyboys

Elephants

10 hour bus rides

Geckos and monitor lizards

Rats

Thunderstorms that shake the building

Attractive girls working as cleaners

Beer condoms

Hot girls who can play pool

Nights out without having a fight

3 movie channels, 24 hours a day with no adverts

[Guest Lollipop]

Motorbike taxis

Bribing policemen

Sunshine

Gogo bars

35 baht taxis

Fantastic, cheap cinemas

Can-do attitude

Less red-tape

Girls under 70 kg

Ladyboys

Elephants

10 hour bus rides

Geckos and monitor lizards

Rats

Thunderstorms that shake the building

Attractive girls working as cleaners

Beer condoms

Hot girls who can play pool

Nights out without having a fight

3 movie channels, 24 hours a day with no adverts

you forgot putting me! :evil:

[Wicked]

Motorbike taxis

Bribing policemen

Sunshine

Gogo bars

35 baht taxis

Fantastic, cheap cinemas

Can-do attitude

Less red-tape

Girls under 70 kg

Ladyboys

Elephants

10 hour bus rides

Geckos and monitor lizards

Rats

Thunderstorms that shake the building

Attractive girls working as cleaners

Beer condoms

Hot girls who can play pool

Nights out without having a fight

3 movie channels, 24 hours a day with no adverts

you forgot putting me! :evil:

[Crustyjuggler]

Pool, gym and a nice brand new condo 10 meters from the underground train station for £300 a month in a major city with girls everywhere is fk lovely thanks for asking..

[admin]

Nights out without having a fight

One of my favs.

[Dave40]

Nights out without having a fight

One of my favs.

Is that because there are plenty of chicks to choose from?!!!

[Crustyjuggler]

Nights out without having a fight

One of my favs.

Is that because there are plenty of chicks to choose from?!!!

My friend Toby has a great theory about this..

"everyone's having sex so testosterone levels are always low"

[admin]

Nights out without having a fight

One of my favs.

Is that because there are plenty of chicks to choose from?!!!

My friend Toby has a great theory about this..

"everyone's having sex so testosterone levels are always low"

Could be. But could be a lot of other things:

1. Fear of Thai jails

2. Everybody is sort of a stranger in a strange land here and feel more connected.

3. As big as Bangkok is, it's still a fairly small town when it comes to the expat community.

4. Some of the Thai sabai sabai and mai ben rai has rubbed off :-)

[StevieJR]

You can eat anything, anywhere at anytime.

In my home town the council decided to close all fast food outlets at 1am hoping this would cut down on drink related violence in certain areas of the town. Give them they're due it has worked.

Now everyone just knocks **** out of each other at the taxi ranks.

[English_Bob]

I don't think it's fear of jails... Who goes to jail for a punch up? No-one in Bangkok.

And I don't think it's number 2. I don't feel a connection with some of the farang scum wandering the streets of Bangkok.

I'd have to say it's some of the mai ben rainess and some of the testosterone theory.

In UK, people fight over girls, taxis, spilt beer, queue jumping, bad dancing, barking dogs, poor driving and parking and a whole host of other reasons, here, in Thailand, there are so many girls, taxis, cheap beers, everyone jumps queues, no-one owns the barking dogs and everyone drives and parks badly.

There's no need to fight.

And finally, I think fighting is a young man's game - late teens to mid/late-twenties. There aren't that many here in Bangkok young enough to cause problems and start fights..... now in Phuket and Pattaya, that's a different story.

[bigKus]

Nights out without having a fight

One of my favs.

You are more likely to have one in Loso concert, be ready and proud of new experience .

[admin]

I don't think it's fear of jails... Who goes to jail for a punch up? No-one in Bangkok.

And I don't think it's number 2. I don't feel a connection with some of the farang scum wandering the streets of Bangkok.

I'd have to say it's some of the mai ben rainess and some of the testosterone theory.

In UK, people fight over girls, taxis, spilt beer, queue jumping, bad dancing, barking dogs, poor driving and parking and a whole host of other reasons, here, in Thailand, there are so many girls, taxis, cheap beers, everyone jumps queues, no-one owns the barking dogs and everyone drives and parks badly.

There's no need to fight.

And finally, I think fighting is a young man's game - late teens to mid/late-twenties. There aren't that many here in Bangkok young enough to cause problems and start fights..... now in Phuket and Pattaya, that's a different story.

I actually think your last point is probably a heavy contributing factor. Most of the guys here have been there done that or are trying to get away from the sort of violent culture.

Kennon and I were in a bar one night and we just sat down where we saw an available seat. Actually he sat down because there was only one stool. There were no drinks. No left items. Nothing to indicate the spot belonged to anyone.

Some Singaporean dude comes by and throws a shoulder into me. Which was partially funny because I think he got the worst of that. I just turned around and looked at him. It was crowded and he looked drunk so I gave him the benefit of the doubt that it was an accident. Then he starts yapping away that Kennon is sitting in his seat. He said he went to the bathroom and had been sitting there.

Back home, this would normally be the setting for someone getting an a**kicking. But Kennon said, "Hey man, if that's your seat, that's your seat. I didn't see any drink sitting there or anything so I thought it was open."

Instead of just accepting the apology and taking his seat back he starts getting belligerent and Kennon is trying to calm him down saying stuff like "Hey, I apologized. What's your name? Let me buy you a beer or something."

But the guy won't drop it. He's like "Why the f*ck do you need to know my name? F*ck you!" And he was telling me that I was giving him dirty looks across the room. I hadn't even seen the guy's face before he threw the shoulder block on me. And I probably wouldn't have even noticed him if he hadn't.

Kennon and I just looked at each other and said "Let's go." It's not worth the hassle.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties and in the army . . . that guy would have woke up in the hospital. I wouldn't have even given it a second thought to put a bottle over his head.

But today, meh. Whatever. I'm not going to let a pr*ck like that ruin my night. Just move on, wish the guy a good night, and be done with it.

[admin]

Nights out without having a fight

One of my favs.

You are more likely to have one in Loso concert, be ready and proud of new experience .

You think so? I didn't hear about any incidents when they placed Hilary Bar (who also own Climax).

[grezzzy_greer]

I notice that the food serves in western countries are absolutely huge (as well as expensive). I would rather pay less and get less, as I hate to waste it and I find the meals impossible to finish without feeling stuffed and quite uncomfortable or ill later.

The farang version of Asian food is awful too - in Australia just about all the same ingredients can be bought and yet Thai restaurants in Oz fill out the meals with all sorts of crap we dont use in Thailand.

I cant figure this part out at all - when visitors come to Bangkok, they almost always go home after the trip remarking on how great, tasty and healthy the food is...

Thai restaurants in the west (with few exceptions) make food that is nothing at all like real Thai, and I cant see why they dont stick to doing authentic food instead of buggering it up...sad...

[kaunitz]

I notice that the food serves in western countries are absolutely huge (as well as expensive). I would rather pay less and get less, as I hate to waste it and I find the meals impossible to finish without feeling stuffed and quite uncomfortable or ill later.

The farang version of Asian food is awful too - in Australia just about all the same ingredients can be bought and yet Thai restaurants in Oz fill out the meals with all sorts of crap we dont use in Thailand.

I cant figure this part out at all - when visitors come to Bangkok, they almost always go home after the trip remarking on how great, tasty and healthy the food is...

Thai restaurants in the west (with few exceptions) make food that is nothing at all like real Thai, and I cant see why they dont stick to doing authentic food instead of buggering it up...sad...

I think that like the Chinese, also Thai kitchen in Western countries is trying to adapt to the average Western taste. Once you have lived in Thailand for a longer time, for sure, you don't recognize this food as Thai anymore. But there are exceptions like in Vienna, when we went to a thai restaurant and my wife found it really yummy (and if she's not an expert, who would be?).

Maybe the same counts for the amount of food - Westeners just are used to get huge portions and they mostly finish them up without problems. In Thailand, I really sometimes stared at the plate and asked myself if that would be enough. Well, at the beginning it was not, but with time, I also adapted.

[Chatty]

many years ago... an Amer friend told me, he never seen American fried rice in America...It's in Thailand only.

The Note Udom, said the same. haha.

[SweetieBabie]

TIVO !!!!!

is that too much to ask?!

[Admin_2]

Another thing is that I still believe in the genuine good-heartedness of the regular Thai person. It's a point that gets pooped on quite often because the bad Thais stick out more than the good Thais, but overall the Thai people are wonderful.

And EB's point about fighting can't be said enough. I come from Boston (full of Irish and Italians), and fighting is as common as hailing a taxi. However...the fights are usually fair, as in one on one. Once it gets to be a beat down, strangers step in and stop it. If you get in a fight here...it's usually pretty serious.

Knock on wood.

[bigKus]

Nights out without having a fight

One of my favs.

You are more likely to have one in Loso concert, be ready and proud of new experience .

You think so? I didn't hear about any incidents when they placed Hilary Bar (who also own Climax).

Probably their riot fans didnt like Hilary Bar, just hope they dont like climax either.

Seriously, It might not happen no worry, Loso is not craze like before.

[drlovelife8]

Motorbike taxis

Bribing policemen

Sunshine

Gogo bars

35 baht taxis

Fantastic, cheap cinemas

Can-do attitude

Less red-tape

Girls under 70 kg

Ladyboys

Elephants

10 hour bus rides

Geckos and monitor lizards

Rats

Thunderstorms that shake the building

Attractive girls working as cleaners

Beer condoms

Hot girls who can play pool

Nights out without having a fight

3 movie channels, 24 hours a day with no adverts

AND A TOP, SEX MACHINE CALLED LOLLY POP WHO HAS AWESOME TASTE IN PORN

University girls bouncing up and down on me (my fave)

[admin]

TIVO !!!!!

is that too much to ask?!

I love Tivo

[admin]

Nights out without having a fight

One of my favs.

You are more likely to have one in Loso concert, be ready and proud of new experience .

You think so? I didn't hear about any incidents when they placed Hilary Bar (who also own Climax).

Probably their riot fans didnt like Hilary Bar, just hope they dont like climax either.

Seriously, It might not happen no worry, Loso is not craze like before.

I think Khun Meaw is very connected. Nobody is going to trash one of her bars . . . and live. :-)

[admin]

many years ago... an Amer friend told me, he never seen American fried rice in America...It's in Thailand only.

The Note Udom, said the same. haha.

Yes, there is no such thing as American fried rice in America. The only fried rice pegged to a country that I'm familiar with is Chinese fried rice.

In fact, I've always wondered how American fried rice got the name. I could understand if there was something distinctly American about it but there isn't. There isn't a single ingredient that is mostly American or even mostly farang.

[PeeMarc]

for me, the one big difference living in Thailand (actually all Asia) is that its much more dynamic and volotile than, say, living in Oz. Things can and do change so fast and the unpredictability makes it a far more interesting and exciting place to be.

Secondly, and partly because of the above, living here tends to force many different and new parts of myself to come forward, which means i learn far more about myself, who i am and all the things i am capable of. If i just stayed living in Oz, i doubt i would experience this and would just end up being the same guy, doing same things on one ever narrowing path. Thats boring.

[admin]

Getting wai'd by Ronald

Ronald McDonald's Wai (Thailand) by haleyweb, on Flickr