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[Paul]

Since you first visited Thailand / first started living here / were born - what are the changes you have noticed / witnessed in Thailand and Thai life?

[Paul]

OK, I'll start then shall I?

The traffic in Chiang Mai has gotten really busy / crowded / yucky.

Short skirts have spread from Bangkok to other cities.

Bread and milk have become easily available.

Hua Hin seems to have become a new version of Pattaya - or in the process of it.

Koh Chang has been developed and reportedly spoilt.

More Thai people now live in cities - more than 50%.

Thai people are richer.

Thai people are in general fatter - there is a big increase in fat kids.

In many small hill tribe villages - houses are now made of concrete.

Yellow and Pink shirts have become very fashionable.

Krabi has grown and ___ (can't think of the name - that little street and beach on the outskirts of Krabi) has become well over developed with bars and crap

.....

What else have you guys seen?

[thellie]

i haven't been here for quite a full year et, so am only seeing the first cycle of hopefully many to come.

i can say that i see too many farangs (being one myself, i shouldn't complain toooooo much. but i don't like seeing westerners walking into bars, shops or tourist places and treating it, and the people, like crap. it happens, i've seen it.)

i am suprised at the amount of fat thais too though

[stevejames]

i haven't been here for quite a full year et, so am only seeing the first cycle of hopefully many to come.

I've been out of the loop here a bit... did you settle in Thailand then? Nice one! I look forward to getting back there. $1 massages, red curry and Singha beer? I'm there!

[thellie]

cheers steve...

settled? ...pretty much yeah... after going off to see my mate in korea (she's the one i'm heading to india/nepal/tibet/china with next month for 3-4 months), i realised i missed thailand, and the people, a helluva lot. i was coming back anyway, but by this time had decided to make it a base.

so here i am, in my apartment in chiang rai, living with my thai girlfriend (who's a nurse and hoping to go to australia for 1-3 years asap), and still loving it. learning more about the culture and history of the country every day, working with the mirror foundation in various ways (with paul), and generally having a stress-free, cheap, fun life... much better than the crap you have to go through back in the uk.

[stevejames]

Good stufff, sounds like you have carved yourself a nice little life out there.

much better than the crap you have to go through back in the uk.

It's a good job I'm in Estonia then, isn't it?

[starlagurl]

OK, I'll start then shall I?

Yellow and Pink shirts have become very fashionable.

Hahaha, why???

[Paul]

Estonia - interesting.


Yellow shirts because it is the colour of the day the King was born on.
Pink shirts because it was the colour the King wore when he left hospital after a long stay last year.

Ha ha - mainly not pink and yellow together. Although there are some shirts like that.

[starlagurl]

Strange!

[wakingdream]

Too bad about Krabi and too bad about Chiang Mai but inevitable.

In many small hill tribe villages - houses are now made of concrete.

This sounds good. Material that will last longer and stand up better to the elements. Is there an increased supply of funds or is concrete more affordable/readily available?

Hua Hin seems to have become a new version of Pattaya - or in the process of it.

Wow, last I was in Hua Hin, back in 2005, it was pretty quiet, although there were brochures everywhere for all these big, modern housing and retail developments.

So it seems a more 'Western' way of thinking is burgeoning. It's sad that so many developing and undeveloped nations idealize the west when in reality we're slowly killing the planet and ourselves off by all our consuming and developing and consuming and developing.....

I'm sure when we go back we'll be in for a bit of a shock and wish things were the way they were. Wishful thinking huh?

[Paul]

"strange"

Why strange?


Concrete in the hill tribes - no not necessarily better. Often it is done when a family gets some extra money and they want to show off. Concrete is hot in summer and cold in winter. It lets through no breeze. There are no gaps in the floor to easily feed the chickens and pigs underneath - and in fact normally these houses aren't raised and there is no room to keep the chickens and pigs underneath. Raising the houses off the ground would cost too much.

Hmmm, I am all for the families getting a better standard of life - but often this change has occurred without thought and for the wrong reason. It hasn't given people a better life. It appears so - they have more stuff. Stronger houses. But that doesn't equal increased happiness, security, peace nor knowledge.

Bamboo and wooden houses can be built in a day or two Cost very little and come from resources largely available in the local area and so people are largely self sufficient when they use this housing. Added to that - they generally have the skills to do it themselves with their friends from the village - promoting a community. These houses last about 10 - 15 years before some of the walls, floors or roof need replacing - but that costs very little. Again it is something they can do themselves. I think there is more happiness in knowing you can build and repair your own home, can afford to do so. More knowledge. More community. More peace of mind and more security when you know that whether or not you have money, you can build a house.

Concrete leads to people needing money. Needing outside help. Having less of a community. Not necessarily good.

Plus - if some people in the village get some income from tourism - people visiting traditional villages - but others are busy putting up concrete houses for a show of wealth - what do you reckon happens to the prospects of tourism for that village?

[wakingdream]

Concrete leads to people needing money. Needing outside help. Having less of a community. Not necessarily good.

Thanks for the insight Paul. I was thinking longer-lasting but it's evident there are tons more downs than ups with using concrete.

[Paul]

No probs - for sure sometimes it can be good and a useful building material, but not always.

After the Tsunami many International aid organisations rushed to build new concrete houses and even gave some steel boats away. In some cases this is good, but in some cases these things are not very comfortable, not suitable to the normal local lifestyle and occasionally not useful or used at all. They definitely get very hot in summer. I wonder how much all that concrete adds to global warming also - reflecting heat back into the atmosphere.

All this seemed to be a case of giving people fish instead of teaching them to fish. With a bit more thought, understanding and planning - the money spent could have gone much further.

Not to be ungrateful - but just to point these things out for future reference.

Another example - recently a Mien village approached us and asked for help. Some missionaries had built the village a big, brand new concrete church right in the middle of their village. It looked very fancy and impressive. At first the villagers were happy about that. But soon they discovered that the tour companies no longer wanted to visit their village. The village didn't look in need of help, it didn't look traditional or interesting. It looked quite wealthy and Western. A large source of income for the village had disappeared, due to their fancy concrete church. Now the village was asking us what they could do. Pretty difficult question to answer.

Again, bigger stronger buildings are fine and good. But all of us on this planet need a reality check on when enough is enough.

Anyway - what other changes have you seen?

[Paul]

That's a good point.

Hey I looked up your site on hotel discussion forum also - interesting.

[starlagurl]

Paul: I just meant the pink and yellow shirt thing is different and interesting! Haha!

[lunthom]

Hi there,

Thanks for your talking about Thailand where is my home , I agreed with you but not at all.

Really that we are the development country so you always see the developing.

Some place is very fast growth with uncontrolable then it became the bad place like Koh Chang and Pattaya and the next one is Huahin.

Thailand still has many things and place interesting depend on your choosing.

Wishing you come to proof it by yourself .

Welcome all of you to Thailand.

[lunthom]

Hi Thellie,

Do you work for the Mirror Foundation? I just join in Feb project to taught the hill tribe children at Doi Lan , Chiangrai.
It's very wonderful activities for me maybe I will join for the next project at Ranong on Apr.

How about you?

[greg34]

Really that we are the development country so you always see the developing.

Some place is very fast growth with uncontrolable then it became the bad place like Koh Chang and Pattaya and the next one is Huahin.

Thailand still has many things and place interesting depend on your choosing.

Wishing you come to proof it by yourself .

Welcome all of you to Thailand.

Thanks for wishes, lunthom. Thailand is really surprising country. I find something new and interesting in each arrival.

[starlagurl]

Hi Thellie,

Do you work for the Mirror Foundation? I just join in Feb project to taught the hill tribe children at Doi Lan , Chiangrai.
It's very wonderful activities for me maybe I will join for the next project at Ranong on Apr.

How about you?

What kind of things do you teach there?

[lunthom]

You can desire the subject which you can . My taughting is painting to a small children.