Thailand - my impressions

[Twobrains]

I can't pretend to be an expert, but I did just have an intense, 4 month relationship with a Thai woman, including one month travelling with her in northern Thailand and Bangkok. I've got a lot from this site, and I hope in this, my first post, to give something back. I'm a fifty-ish caucasian of European extraction, well-educated and widely-travelled.

My impressions of Thailand were:
1. An incredibly high level of market activity - buying and selling is going on everywhere, at all times. It felt very shallow and materialistic, but you've got to admire their energy.
2. The climate (in May) was very uncomfortable - hot and humid.
3. The scenery in the north is fairly nice, but not up to the level of France or NZ, for example, and you can't enjoy it much because of the climate.
4. Bangkok is a vibrant, noisy, congested melting pot with lots of naughty activities going on, but it felt pretty safe.
5. Not too much hassle from the locals, but then I was accompanied at all times by a local. No one seemed to be bothered that a farang was walking hand in hand with one of their own, even in the rural north. We turned FAR more heads in Europe.
6. It could be a difficult society to figure out without someone local to help you see through the illusion. Behind the smiles there's some very hard-headed calculating going on. There's something unfathomable and unreachable about Thais, based on my sample of one and going by what I witnessed and was told.
7. There's a lot of corruption. My friend bought her driving license for about £20 - never had a driving lesson in her life!

And of the women:
1. It's all about money, even outside of the P4P scene (which I didn't have a chance to indulge in). My lady companion was quite open in saying that "women should be paid for sex", and she's a good girl - hard working, principled and honest to a fault, never a bargirl. All males visiting Thailand should read a book called "Money number one".
2. A Thai degree is no guarantee of advanced thinking and reasoning skills.
3. Sex is seen as natural and healthy, but you will be expected to pay for it, in one way or another. Women from the rural north may still have very traditional values, although that may have changed in the younger generation. There's a lot of ignorance about HIV and other STDs, so don't go bareback until you have both been tested and have some promises of fidelity, if then.
4. Thai women are soft on the outside but tough on the inside, the opposite to Western European women. I think it's their Buddhist training, and the hard lives many of them have.
5. Cultural differences that seem charming at first can eventually become grating and frustrating. That submissive, sweet girl you met can become as stubborn as hell when she feels like it.

So, I'm back in Europe, on my own, and feeling fine about that. I learned a lot and I wouldn't have missed it, but maybe my equivalent of this website would be called "Happier without a broad"! Her brown, smooth surface was lovely to touch, though.

[NorthAmericanguy]

Thank you for the information! I'm going to look into that book you mentioned.

[MrPeabody]

I checked the book "Money Number One" on Amazon.com, but it is out of print. It does give a description of it as the "Pattaya Bible" meaning it was a book to guide whore mongers. If you really were going out with a non-bar girl, why would you recommend such a book for understanding all Thai women? Where did you meet your girlfriend?

[NorthAmericanguy]

I checked the book "Money Number One" on Amazon.com, but it is out of print. It does give a description of it as the "Pattaya Bible" meaning it was a book to guide whore mongers. If you really were going out with a non-bar girl, why would you recommend such a book for understanding all Thai women? Where did you meet your girlfriend?

http://moneynumberone.net/money-still-number-one/

[MrPeabody]

I checked the book "Money Number One" on Amazon.com, but it is out of print. It does give a description of it as the "Pattaya Bible" meaning it was a book to guide whore mongers. If you really were going out with a non-bar girl, why would you recommend such a book for understanding all Thai women? Where did you meet your girlfriend?

http://moneynumberone.net/money-still-number-one/

It looks like a pdf download and there is an update "Money is still number one". But, my point is that it is written by a whoremonger for whoremongers. It would be nice to get an opinion from a man who really didn't monger in Thailand about the women, so we have an unpolluted view of the women. There is a book called "Thailand Fever" written by a man who married a Thai women, and it goes into the cultural differences and talks in detail about the money issue.

[NorthAmericanguy]

I checked the book "Money Number One" on Amazon.com, but it is out of print. It does give a description of it as the "Pattaya Bible" meaning it was a book to guide whore mongers. If you really were going out with a non-bar girl, why would you recommend such a book for understanding all Thai women? Where did you meet your girlfriend?

http://moneynumberone.net/money-still-number-one/

It looks like a pdf download and there is an update "Money is still number one". But, my point is that it is written by a whoremonger for whoremongers. It would be nice to get an opinion from a man who really didn't monger in Thailand about the women, so we have an unpolluted view of the women. There is a book called "Thailand Fever" written by a man who married a Thai women, and it goes into the cultural differences and talks in detail about the money issue.

Oh, yes, I know about that book (it's on my reading list) and I understand your point.

[Twobrains]

I'm not a monger ... yet. I recommended "Money #1" because I read it while in Thailand, and discussed its contents with my companion. I read a lot on the internet (Google Stickman) about the bar scene before going out there and was curious to find out more, so I read that book and went to three go-go bars with my companion (in Bangkok, not Pattaya, but the general lessons are the same). I found it to be a pretty accurate reflection of what I witnessed, but I didn't say it was representative of ALL Thai women. It's just that any western male going to Thailand is probably going to have some experience of the bar scene or street hookers - they will come after you! So, it's best to be aware of what goes on. Many men have gone there looking for love and got their bank accounts emptied by scheming bitches. I was lucky ... and very careful. "Thailand Fever" looks good, but I hazard you'll get just as good an overview for free by reading the readers' submissions section of the Stickman site, as well as the eponymous owner's articles.

[boycottamericanwomen]

Thanks for writing your Thailand report. Very interesting it was.

So you were happy to touch her soft brown skin. Anyway, you must admit that the Thai girls are a 100 times better than western women.

[NorthAmericanguy]

I'm not a monger ... yet. I recommended "Money #1" because I read it while in Thailand, and discussed its contents with my companion. I read a lot on the internet (Google Stickman) about the bar scene before going out there and was curious to find out more, so I read that book and went to three go-go bars with my companion (in Bangkok, not Pattaya, but the general lessons are the same). I found it to be a pretty accurate reflection of what I witnessed, but I didn't say it was representative of ALL Thai women. It's just that any western male going to Thailand is probably going to have some experience of the bar scene or street hookers - they will come after you! So, it's best to be aware of what goes on. Many men have gone there looking for love and got their bank accounts emptied by scheming bitches. I was lucky ... and very careful. "Thailand Fever" looks good, but I hazard you'll get just as good an overview for free by reading the readers' submissions section of the Stickman site, as well as the eponymous owner's articles.

Thanks! +1

[lionchild]

So that means... no to Thailand, thanks for the headsup, ill be going to philippines and S. Korea instead, by pass Thailand all together...

-Lionchild

[Twobrains]

So that means... no to Thailand, thanks for the headsup, ill be going to philippines and S. Korea instead, by pass Thailand all together...

-Lionchild

Hey, I didn't say you should avoid it altogether - it's a very interesting country and the eye-candy quota is high. Just be damn careful and don't get involved.

[lionchild]

So that means... no to Thailand, thanks for the headsup, ill be going to philippines and S. Korea instead, by pass Thailand all together...

-Lionchild

Hey, I didn't say you should avoid it altogether - it's a very interesting country and the eye-candy quota is high. Just be damn careful and don't get involved.

I had an older friend give me some advice on what countries to go to for cultural experience, which is why i am asking many around who have been other countries about their trips. S. Korea, Philippines and China (south) are the places i have chosen so far.. i am not interesting in mongering or looking for foreign love, just looking to indulge in different cultures

-Lionchild

[lavezzi]

I had an older friend give me some advice on what countries to go to for cultural experience, which is why i am asking many around who have been other countries about their trips. S. Korea, Philippines and China (south) are the places i have chosen so far.. i am not interesting in mongering or looking for foreign love, just looking to indulge in different cultures

-Lionchild

I was my impression that the general consensus was that the Philippines is a very insignificant place other than for "mongering or looking for foreign love". What beneficiaries does it have other than that in giving you a "cultural experience"?

[lionchild]

I had an older friend give me some advice on what countries to go to for cultural experience, which is why i am asking many around who have been other countries about their trips. S. Korea, Philippines and China (south) are the places i have chosen so far.. i am not interesting in mongering or looking for foreign love, just looking to indulge in different cultures

-Lionchild

I was my impression that the general consensus was that the Philippines is a very insignificant place other than for "mongering or looking for foreign love". What beneficiaries does it have other than that in giving you a "cultural experience"?

When i was working up in Grande Prairie Alberta Canada, i worked with a many Filipinos, most of them have their work contracts ended and went back to their families, i wanted to go seem them cause i made friends with them, and i also have some close friends i want to see in person, and plus i hear there is some good beaches to relax at. One of them was going to tour me around Mindanao cause she lives their... but of course, if i cant find anything else ill leave to my other destinations.

-Lionchild

[Repatriate]

Just a heads up, but i've been in Thailand a rather long time now (going on 5 years) so I feel qualified to make a few comments. I do think Thai women as a whole make a poor choice as long term partners. This is a generalization and there are exceptions about it but in general the culture is exceedingly superficial with few redeeming qualities on the interior. Everyone pretends to be pleasant on the exterior but there are a lot of disturbing undercurrents to that feigned placidity.

Everyone here on the forum is mostly fed up with the U.S. but believe me Thailand can be much worse in some respects. I'm not quite as negative about Thailand as Ladislav and don't agree with many of his points but there is definitely a harsh reality about the country that many people ignore.