A Different View

As a follower of this website since it's early days I fell it as my duty, to send my opinion on Thailand, the Thais, the nightlife.

I'm from a non English speaking country, pls. bare this in mind when spelling mistakes etc. occurs.

I'm late thirties, happily married with kids and running my own company in the textile business. I have been travelling the world for business since 1990 and my first trip to Thailand was back in 91' as a buyer for a menswear retail
chain.

From 91' to 95' I as was in Thailand 2-3 times a year and then I didn't visit Thailand until 99' again. Since 99' I have been coming to Thailand 4-5 times a year.

So on my +40 trips to Thailand I have only been to BKK (and the suburbs around) and never been in BKK for more than max. 4 days. So not the typical stickman reader I guess.

Thailand

Thailand is a great country to visit; lovely weather (maybe a little hot/rainy sometimes), great food, great hotels (if you compare on prices/service), quality products (at least in my business area), low prices on food – transportation –
hotels -nightlife (if you compare with Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei, the other cities in Asia I frequently visit).
Where else can you find elephants in the streets? Not in Shanghai I can assure you.
Of course the prices has increased
over the years, that's the same everywhere.
120 bath for a beer in the more expensive bars are still cheap compared to Hong Kong where a beer in the popular bars can set you back with 60 HK$/300 bath.
So my conclusion are that Thailand
still is good "value for money".

The Thais
In general the Thais are very friendly people. The only places I have met really unfriendly Thais, are in the nightlife industry. During my many visits to Thailand I have never had one single problem with the boys in brown or
other Thai officials.

They have always been helpful when asking for direction or whatever I've asked them.
Honestly speaking I think that it takes a lot to make Thais angry (except maybe on the nightlife scene). But it's not only positive; Thais
are bad at dealing with problems / mistakes, which have caused me many problems during my business years in Thailand. It is very difficult just to make Thais realise that there is a problem. The problem has to be presented to the Thais in a very
delicate way so nobody will loose face….

My best business partners in Thailand are the business partners where the management are from India, the Netherlands or Thai Chinese.

Today I have some good business partners in Thailand, but it taken years to find the right ones for my business. This is much easier in China/HK/Singapore.

For all the guys married to a Thai (including sir Stickman) I wish you luck, because in my humble opinion it is difficult to find a country in Asia where the cultural/social differences are bigger than between the westerners and the Thais.

Try to go to Hong Kong/Singapore where the girls are way more western minded and in general would make better marriage material (but I agree that the tg's are better looking)

The most westerners only meet the famous ladyboys in the nightlife industry, but when doing business in Thailand you meet them occasionally in "normal" jobs. On my first business trip to BKK in 91' one of the merchandisers
of the factory we worked with was a ladyboy. As a rookie it took some time for me to get used to the he/she merchandiser. But he/she was very good at the job, and gained my respect over the next 4-5 years we worked together. He/she was a very
nice, hardworking, honest person, so don't judge all ladyboys from the ones surfing the Nana parking lot…..

The Nightlife:
Nightlife is for me still fun in Thailand (even though I don't misbehave anymore). I like going to the bars, watch the girls, talk with the girls, and watch the people.
I often take my customers from Europe to
the BKK nightlife scene when they are in
BKK for business and it can still be great fun hitting the bars of BKK.

But in the "old days" the nightlife was more relaxed, more fun, had a more wild, wild west feeling. Today the nightlife has become tougher and more businesslike.

The best city in Asia for party are in my opinion Hong Kong, but the availability of
bargirls are lesser and the prices higher, so I guess a lot of the fans of Thailand will stick to Thailand….

But a piece of advise to the bar crawlers "don't let a kiss fool you, or a fool kiss you". Following this advise a lot of you guys would have been better off I guess.

So one of the positive postings on Thailand, and there are many more out there.
Write them down and share them with your fellow readers.

Stickman's thoughts:

No comments today as I'm away from Bangkok and pressed for time.