Goodbye: THAILAND

This may be hard to believe for those of you’ve ridden on the BTS Skytrain in Bangkok lately, but there was a time when you could choose a seat, see happy people on board, and actually talk with each other.

Do you know what generation of soldier said this?
“The army isn’t what it used to be.”
Was it Vietnam? World War II? World War I? All of those answers would be wrong. It was a Roman soldier over two thousand years ago. Old men complaining about how things have gone bad and ain’t what they used to be has been happening forever. When I first arrived in Thailand it was 2001. It was truly awesome for me then. A taxi driver told me that then was nothing. He said that I should’ve been in 1985 when things were truly good. I apologized for being only 5 years old at the time and for never hearing of Thailand back then.

This was the first picture I ever took in Thailand. It was with what was new and cool at the time, a digital camera. As you can tell by the poor resolution it wasn’t that great by today’s standards. It took 6 AA batteries and would drain those batteries very fast. The internal memory could only hold around 20 photos. Looking back, it would have been better to use a film camera. It was during Cobra Gold 2001. Cobra Gold is a yearly training exercise with the Thai and American military. It was a lot of fun. When some Thai sergeant saluted me I told him that I was just a private, not an officer. He said I must be an officer because I was tall, wore sunglasses, had my own driver, didn’t do any work, and only stood around talking to people. (The joys of being a linguist.) I had so much fun on that training exercise that I quickly finished my degree, got out of the military, sold everything I owned, and moved to Thailand permanently.

A poor economy, divisive politics, and the army stealing power and democracy from the people would turn any place bad. Increasing crime rates, terrorism, and a methamphetamine epidemic to make things worse. I was completely sick of Thailand and its horrible government by 2017. I didn’t want my son to grow up like that so I sent him to live with his mom. Once I discovered Luang Prabang in Laos, I completely forgot that Thailand existed.

The Beach

Leonardo DiCaprio and his stupid movie are also to blame for ruining Thailand and it’s beautiful beaches. Before that movie came out the white sand beaches were very unknown. They filmed an old James Bond film back in the 70s there, but it didn’t draw the massive crouds of tourists that The Beach did.

You could stay in bamboo huts for super cheap and get to know everyone on an island in a month before the five star hotels and capitalism invaded. Some of my best memories are of Koh Samui. It’s not that bad today, but it’s very expensive now.

The saddest thing you see at some of these once beautiful beaches is all the trash and plastic washing up ashore. Any driver or anybody involved in tourism has now developed the mentality that you’ll only be there once, so they’ll milk as much cash from you as possible.

About 35 million people visit Thailand each year and the numbers will just keep increasing. Tourism may be up to 20% of the country’s GDP. It’s like a popular restaurant with the best food in town. They can have crappy service because it doesn’t matter. They’ll still make their money.

The Government

If you’ve ever had to go to the massive immigration office in Bangkok, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. The immigration officers must feel like they see a million foreigners a day. That doesn’t mean they should treat us like cattle. They are so rude. I mean truly rude. This experience alone was enough for me to through in the red, white, and blue towel. Even after one officer could clearly see I could speak Thai fluently, she told my visa handler guy to have, it, sit over there. It? Really? I’m sorry you hate your job and your life, but calling people, it, is never cool.

When I first came to Bangkok, the immigration office was this small place. If you came at the right time and day of the week, you could get your extension stamps and the officers were kind and friendly.

There are a thousand things wrong with the Thai government, but to put it simply they are just on a power trip. They don’t care about democracy, their people, or if tourists ever come back, just money.

Visiting

Reading this, you may think I’m saying not to visit. That’s not the case. It’s still an amazing place, it’s just not what it once was and I would never live there again, but I still intend to visit and so should you. Just be prepared to spend a lot of money.

Bangkok is chaos. You should see it just to say you have, but you’ll be way better off booking a one hour flight to Chiang Mai or one of the beautiful islands. Chiang Mai is a place where all the cheap tourists go, so they won’t think they can nickle and dime you to death, but it’s being overun with Chinese tourists now. The islands are still beautiful, but like I said before, you had better be prepared to spend a lot.

The Land of Smiles

Thailand truly was The Land of Smiles back in the day, now it’s the land of grumpy smart phone zombies. Smart phones have made everyone zombies everywhere, but it’s still sad to see.

As an IT guy and a linguist I was like Gandolf back in the day when all people had were PCs and Nokias. I could go to my favorite internet cafe and not pay because the owner would have so many questions and customers would come just because they knew I’d be there. Once everyone had a supercomputer in their pocket my magic powers were greatly diminished. It’s still like that for me now, but it’s a little different today. I’ll help businesses, hotels, or restaurants get their Google Maps, Tripadvisor, or Facebook page up to par here in Laos. Even though my Youtube channel isn’t that big I’ll make a video of the place I’m visiting and I’ll get in free and treated like a VIP because I’m a “Youtuber.” It’s still good being the only IT and linguist most people know, but it’s not as big of deal as it was back in 2001.

Both of my kids are Thai and I have had thousands of great Thai students.

I still keep in contact and am friends with many of my former adult Thai students today. This picture was in 2007, so most of these kids are grown up now. With the exception of some grey hairs and new wrinkles, I look pretty much the same, but I’ll have a hard time remembering my younger students who approach me after they’ve grown up.

I don’t hate Thailand or Thai people, but I never want to live in Thailand ever again. People in Thailand just aren’t happy anymore. The Land of Smiles is gone. I don’t see anyone with a smile on their face these days. It makes sense to me why the Japanese had a policy of no foreigners for hundreds of years now. It was fun to be in there before capitalism and western thinking got out of control, but for me the place is no longer home.

Image Sources

The Beach
https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Beach-9781573227971/6449767

The Picture of a Thai Beach
https://www.pexels.com/search/thailand%20beaches/

The rest of the pictures are my own.

先生 เจ
Jeremiah Lee Custis

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