Just back from last weeks vist to HH I also have had many examples of honest Thais.
My first incident was drinking out side a bar on a deck chair when I felt a tap on my shoulder it was one of the dreaded wooden frog sellers she smiled and held my wallet up which had fallen out of my back pocket, I now own severall wooden frogs and wrist braclets
Second was I was having a little drink in the Hilton brewing tap outside and left a small tip loose change and a couple of 20 baht notes. Walking down the soi when the waitress comes running down and shows me that I had mixed up a 1000 baht with a 20 baht note.
I have found that the generous honest Thai more than out weighs the crooked Thai stereotype much banded about.
While I have read many accounts of bad experiences; in my eight year love affair with Thailand; I have only been ripped off one time...
By a British Farang Tailor in Bangkok.
All my interactions and experiences with Thais have been normal to wonderful and memorable. I love it here
"I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know."
Epicurus
A similar tale from Phuket. I was in a go-go bar fairly late and very drunk. I find it tough enough telling the difference between a 100B and 1,000B note at the best of times, let alone in a dark go-go bar with a dozen Singha's inside me. Predictably, I tried to pay my drinks bill of say around 300 or 400B with a bunch of 100 notes and a thousand. The drinks waitress looked very confused, gave me the 1000 back and asked for the 100 I should have used. I would never ever have known.
Let me know what beach in Jomtien BB, I'll go look to see if any oversized chairs still there.
The name painted on the inner tubes was 'MA LIAM' - down the far end of the beach. However, the key thing was that they always put it in to storage on my departure, and only brought it out again whenever I returned.
In the 5 years you haven't been here BB, the beach has gotten a lot longer, it doesn't end where it used to, but keeps going and going. There are now houses and condos going up along the shoreline all the way from where the Jomtien beach used to end, to about where the Ambassador City hotel is. After Ambassador City it starts again all through the Bang Sarae area and then stops on the outskirts of Sattahip. So one day in the not to distant future, the entire coastline will be developed from Naklua north of Pattaya, to Sattahip. You can rest assured that the quality of the sea water will horrendous. Pete
One of the reasons we stopped coming to Pattaya was the quality of the water. It got to the stage where my son (who was about 9/10 the last time we visited) could not go in to the water without coming out in a rash.
However, having said that, we always had a great time in Pattaya, and I do intend to return one day - just to see the changes.
One of the reasons we stopped coming to Pattaya was the quality of the water. It got to the stage where my son (who was about 9/10 the last time we visited) could not go in to the water without coming out in a rash.
However, having said that, we always had a great time in Pattaya, and I do intend to return one day - just to see the changes.
I'm a bit off thread so I'll end with this one. Believe it or not, the sea water along Pattaya beach road is now 10 times better than the beach water in Jomtien, it's actually an emerald green and clear most days. Why? waste water treatment plant(s) in Pattaya but none in Jomtien, and...the construction along Jomtien beach is much greater than in Pattaya. They need to act on this. Pete
My electricity went this morning (the electrical system in this house is so primitive it's downright scary). I phoned my Mum's helper & she had a guy here at 8:30 am in the pouring rain. Spent half an hour fiddling, electricity back on! Great! How much? Nothing. It got me thinking, since Du died I've had to call these odd-job men out quite a few times for electrics, stuck doors etc, often at very inconvenient hours. They've always come & virtually always told me "no charge". I've had to force a couple of hundred baht on them!
Don't know if they feel sorry for me or what, but how often do you think I could call an electrician/carpenter out in UK out-of-hours & get the problem fixed & told "Never mind. No charge"?
"The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?" - Jeremy Bentham, philosopher, 1748-1832
Hi terry
Thanks for that and glad i am not alone and hope it carries on forever.
I am very capable of getting myself into scrapes but mrs sarge always gets me out she learnt in 6 months to talk english to olympic nagging standard but she does it in a way i get the message without getting the hump.
she can handle thai officialdom with such ease and without her i wouldnt survive.
last month she was ill with a cold and said she was going to die being a good husband i told her she couldnt, her brother could cook our son could clean the floors and our daughter could wash and iron but only she could look after the money so dying was out of the question. She shrugged her shoulders and said took dong na cap (correct) what a diamond
p.s. she handles every penny/satang in our house works perfick
tried to contact you when fam visiting (me and son are mad anglers)
PM me is your park open and how much
On leaving Thailand at the end of one of our holidays we checked through Don Muang at about 10:30 on a Sunday night and went through emigration (past the point of no return). It was then that I noticed that I'd lost my digital camera and assumed that I'd left it in the car that had taken us from a Bangkok Hotel to Don Muang. (The car was arranged by an independant Thai tour operator) I phoned the tour operator who asked me to call back in 5 mins. which I did to find that the driver was now at home in Chinatown but was setting out to meet me at Don Muang with the camera. After allowing the airline to liase with the tour operator they arranged for me to meet the driver. FANTASTIC (He was embarresed when I hugged him and gave him his tip)
Like Jim's experience, I had similar in a go-go at Nana Plaza quite a few years ago. Was there with a friend and two girls were spending all their time with us when they weren't dancing. As I had to be up really early the next morning, I wasn't interested in going with "my" girl, but as I was about to leave - my mate was staying - I decided a tip was in order.
Counted out the money in my pocket - about 3,800 - and separated 3x100s into my shirt pocket. Called the girl over from the stage, intending to put the 300 into her boot, but stupidly put the stash in my pocket in!!! She was off the stage in an instant and when I realised my mistake, I went after her to the loos, which the girls also used as a dressing room. Needless to say, she was nowhere to be seen.
My friend bought me another drink to drown my sorrows and explained the situation to the other girl, who was a friend of the first. She went off for a few minutes and returned with 2,000. I said I've given 3,500 and she just looked at me and smiled. I took that as my cue to leave and did so thanking the second girl profusely. I was lucky to get anything back.
