Nice pics of the brains
MrP.
On another note, there's no "Saving Thailand" from itself because, in their eyes, it would be a loss of face to admit that it's anything other than perfect already. If you get caught out, whether it's a girl in a bar or a government official etc, then lie your way out of it. People/countries/companies/organisations etc have to want to be "saved" in the first place and here is not one of them. There's no point whinging about it but it is a good target for humour and if they actually sorted it out properly and became like Singapore then most of us would leave. It's a double edged sword, like most things.
The only way, as we have said before on other threads, is through the education system and the family environment set-up, both of which are flawed. It is interesting how many Thais strive to emulate a western lifestyle but fail miserably with how to prioritise the aquisition process, as Sandman mentioned.
There is nothing wrong with observations or criticism on any subject. However, it is true that westerners over-estimate their importance, the Thais don't give a toss about anything to do with us, we are just a necessary evil that is tolerated because some of them make some money out of us and they don't want to be labelled as openly racist internationally. I know for sure many of the locals would be quite happy if their government just decided to send us all home and ban tourism by non Thais in Thailand.
Their system is geared up, and has been for centuries, to just get on with it in their class-rigid structure and to hell with all. They dislike it when we turn up and bypass the rules which is in their eyes sacrilege but they forget that they have become so spell-bound by western culture and lifestyle, mixed with the communication revolution (Internet/mobiles etc) that everyone including people in rice fields in a village have seen the "promised land" and are unwilling just to forget about the bright lights, money, fast cars, supermarkets which is barely in it's infancy here but has already gained such a firm grip on everyone's mental desires. This has all happened in less than a generation. That's the threat we and our cultures pose to the Thai way, which is, emansipating people that they consider shouldn't be freed from their "Thai" situation, it's a threat to the pyramid. However, it's inevitable that it will slowly retreat/change no matter whether they kick and scream along the way.
HH is not a representitive example of general Thailand as it's, as mentioned earlier, a get away beach town for the Thais from Bangkok at the weekend, which.....ironically, is just what I mentioned in the paragraph above. That's westerised Thais from Bangkok rushing down in their big cars to the beach for a night or two to bloww some money and get away from the concrete jungle.
Hmmmmmmm.
TAT is a hopeless organisation that understands little about effectively promoting tourism, probably becuase it's staff have no experience of what tourists want and just relies upon the fact that foreigners will come no matter what. Not sure for how much longer they can rely on that avenue of approach though.
Having said all of that above, it is all just possible conclusions drawn from observations over the last 10 years.
