The Pattaya window into Thailand

We enjoyed a brief and impromptu one night stay in Pattaya last week.

The weather was fantastic and we love to be around the beach (and in a nice hotel) so the break is always a welcomed one.

That said, for me, Pattaya has a self-life of around 24 hours. Any longer in the city and I will start to go crazy. I love the sea air but a number of things make Pattaya a land where normality is amiss.

In Pattaya, universal logic is reversed...the older and fatter you are, the more appealing men are to the local women.

At least, that is based on my evidence during day time hours.

At night, if you are male, with a regular-ish pulse and walking (walking sticks and other assitance permitted) then any women will come after you, even if you happen to be out with your wife and young son.

Then there is good old Jonny Foreigner (not referring to myself, I hope) who is living the lap of luxury here on a month long holiday.

Jonny (me) overheard Jonny (one of them) talking to the internet cafe/travel agent manager about his business back at home (Australia, if you're interested).

He's got a lot of "boys" doing things for him...apparently...while business is going great, so great that he can afford to spent a little time out here with "my girl" (his, of course).

There's not a lot to say about this, the self-deluded, chest puffing 50 something year old who is clucking around trying to impress the none-too-interested man working the shop desk.

They say a sucker if born every minute but I'm sure the statistics from Pattaya have pushed this up for a minute. I'm not how catchy the 'a sucker is born every two minutes when we ignore the data from Pattaya, Thailand' phrase sounds?

If Pattaya is expats' window into Thailand, no wonder so many expats living out here are so f*cked up.

As for the guys sporting the 'good guy go to hell, bad guy go to Pattaya, Thailand' t-shirt...there's not a great deal I have to add.

I do love the sea air by the way.

The door policy

This is one of the funniest photos I've seen on Twitter for a while.

I've seen some funny reasons for a one-in-one-out policy in my time but this beats them all...I wonder if girls with short skirts are excused from this policy too?

To give some context, the sign was outside a bar (with internet access) in Austin, Texas, during this year's South by South West, an annual festival devoted to music, film and technology.

The focus on bloggers is such because many of the world's most popular blog personalities attend the show. The show was certainly very hyped and much publicised, to give an indication of its significance Google launched its latest feature there.

Image via Ekai

Thai football violence

Thais are renowned for living life at a relaxed pace.

The popular phrase 'jai yen' (cool heart) symbolises this calm demeanour and, as Buddhists, Thais are generally known for being well mannered.

Football is a different beast however as the video below from a recent game between Thai Port and Muang Thong United shows.



Hat tip to Jakarta Casual for the vid.

Guardian: Thailand "blank and unwelcoming"

Stumbled upon this interesting piece from (UK) Guardian online promoting Burma as underestimated tourist spot.

I've long been tempted to take a better look at the country know as Myanmar ever since my brother spent a week there in between a couple of stays with us last year.

He was full of praise of the country, particularly its temples, beautiful countryside, friendly locals and value for money (even cheaper than Thailand) prices.

Burma can sell itself based on its merits, so why on earth writer Jonathan Steele feels the need to jab at Thailand in the process is beyond me.

In the piece Steele writes:

In contrast to Thailand, where linguistic communication is a struggle and faces in public transport are blank and unwelcoming, Burmese friendliness is a delight. Burma is multi-ethnic and, until the military coup of 1962, was open to the world. For decades its elite spoke good English and even today most people in Rangoon and Mandalay have a smattering. Keenness for contact with foreigners is strong, for its own sake and as resistance to enforced isolation.

It is clearly a case of whacking the popular kid.

Yes, Thailand is more popular than Burma. It has been a long established holiday destination, one of the world's favourites (give or take the ebb/flow of holiday makers put off by political issues.)

Thailand isn't prefect but why Steele highlights faces on public transport I'll never know?!

Most Londoners are less than sociable on the tube or train but that doesn't make London any less of a destination for tourists, and so it shouldn't.

Thailand is know as the land of the smiles and, whilst I don't often agree with this (in time I've found Thais are smiley and be friendly once you engage first) it gets in name for a reason and - if we're going to dish out generalisations - Thais are incredibly friendly.

As for linguistic issues, sure if you venture off the beaten track English is not widely spoken but many locals are keen to practice and in general being understood is not a problem. As for the tourist destinations (where one finds locals are unfriendly on public transport) is English not only widely spoken, but locals will often approach foreigners to practice their English speaking skills.

So I'm sorry Mr Steele, whilst I am keen to visit Burma (mainly from my brother's recommendation) I think you're chatting utter rubbish. Then again, that can probably be down to the blank and unwelcoming demeanour I've inherited from Thailand.

For more on Thais smiles check out this post from a fellow Thai blogger.

Thailand Voice

While I've blogged about the use of Thailand blogs before (see here) I'm yet to mention Thailand Voice, an incredibly useful site which I stumbled upon last year.

The website aggregates (posts) content from Thai blogs making it a one-stop-shop for finding content and information about Thailand on the web. Blogs range from Politic sites like Bangkok Pundit, Absolutely Bangkok and New Mandala to expat blogs like this one of others listed in the blogroll on the left hand side.

As well as finding the latest posts, the search feature can be used to find information about Thailand from the site's archieve which is rapidly approaching 6,000 posts.

For example, I was interviewed by students from Singapore Management University as part of their research into the social media landscape in Thailand. I was flattered to be interviewed by wondered how they had found me, turns out they searched Thailand Voice and stumbled upon an entry of mine before reading more at the blog.

In practical terms, if you're looking to holiday in Phuket, for example, you can search the term on Thailand Voice and a range of content relating to Phuket. It may not all be relevent but it provides an excellent, local angle in addition to the traditional Google search.

For those of us blogging in Thailand, Thailand Voice does a great job of spreading our content. It uses just the first paragraph to preview posts, providing a link to the original content which in turn encourages new visitors to your site.

If you're not already on the list I suggest you contact them through the site by clicking here.

As if that wasn't enough, Thailand Voice just got even better by joining Twitter (@thailandvoice).

Now I can keep up with new content from the Thai blogosphere without racking up hundreds of unread posts on Google Reader. I definitely recommend following.