Ummm, I don't really notice it too much to be honest. I never goto the villages anymore though, as they piss me off. Mothers dragging their kids over to gawk at the white guy, everyone gathers around hoping for a free party on your bill, all the while talking shit about you right in front of you, because they think you don't understand, have no shortage of sob stories, ask for your help but are totally disrespectful when you provide it, they have absolutely no decision making capability whatsoever, etc. Fuck 'em. Just keep the rice and chicken coming, as that's all they're good for.
That's not just village behavior. That's Bangkok behavior. And it's not just the poor people. Let's see . . . I was sitting in a Burger King waiting for some "certified" translations I needed at the US embassy when a 5 year old Thai starts yelling "Farang! Farang! Farang!" pointing at me. His mother was an obviously upper-middle class lady and turned beet red.
But the thing that bothers me is if you know Thai culture you know how rude that just was. I think that's another part of why the culture-shock works in reverse. Once you learn all of the little ins-and-outs of Thai culture you realize they often act very rude and disrespectfully towards us thinking we won't get it.
The mother mouthed, "Sorry" to me and I do believe she was genuinely embarrassed but not because her child had been rude to me, per se, but because his creating a scene had caused her to lose face. The racism of the situation probably never occurred to her.
But yeah, there are lots of lazy cunts with a victim mentality around, and I'm not sure why. I'm guessing Thaksin and the red-shirts instilled an entitlement mindset into everyone up here? (btw... Americans, you think Obama is good at that? He has nothing on Thaksin). You do have to learn how to be firm (with a smile of course), but once you learn the ropes, and learn how to conduct yourself (again, with a smile), then it's fine, and you'll never have any issues whatsoever. Or at least I don't. Then again, doesn't hurt to have a few Thais who'll watch your back for you too. From my experience, lots of Thais will gladly up their price by 20%+ (eg. electrician, food stall, whatever) for a foreigner, but will never spite another Thai in doing it.
It has nothing to do with Thaksin. Thaksin is like a black/grey hat SEO. And the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful (and the people that can't be spoken about) are Google or white hats. The Elite set up a system with poor educational opportunities and a patronage style governance (which is very common in Asia in general) so that the people had little upward mobility and prospered only by showing extreme loyalty to those above them who rewarded their loyalty with hand outs.
Thaksin simply tapped into that and harnessed the pent up anger. He paid farmers more than the other guys would for their votes. He promised crazy-stupid schemes (like the current rice scheme his sister rode to the PM spot on) that were going to make everyone rich.
But my all time favorite Thaksin family stunt is when things like the flooding happen, when the US and the rest of the world start dumping relief supplies in, they get their hands on them, repackage them or slap a sticker on them, saying that these are a personal gift from Thaksin.
All depends who you surround yourself with. There's loads of great, hard working people around, who really don't give a flying fuck about how much you make, and will never ask you for anything. For example, take my neighborhood. By no means rich, but everyone has a nice house, couple vehicles, many are putting a kid or two through uni, going on vacations, one lady just went to the UK, another guy is heading to New York shortly, etc. And these aren't rich Thais. Just typical middle class.
That's nice, in theory. However, I know sooo many people who have been ripped off by people who they've known for years. For instance, about a year ago, one of my good friends living in BKK was flying back to the US on vacation with his family and when he arrived in Chicago for a layover he was told that he had to pay for the rest of his ticket. He only had a reservation on his connection flight. No confirmed seat.
On the way back, none of his flight was paid for. He called his agent that had booked the trip for him back in BKK and she told him it was all a big mistake. She told him to just pay it and they would get a refund for him when he got back.
He had no reason not to trust her. He had been booking all of his travel with her for 7 years. He had referred millions of baht in business to her.
And not just business. She had been invited over to his home for holiday parties and such. She had come over and given a gift to his child when she was first born. This was someone you could consider a family friend at this point.
But when he got back, the business was closed, and she had taken off for the villages to hide out from her customers.
Fortunately, my friend speaks Thai almost fluently and he remembered her talking about her village in the past so he was able to track her down. She started giving him some BS excuses and such but he wasn't having any of it.
He finally had to out her publicly on Facebook (in Thai) and in other forums (in Thai) and threatened to have the police come get her. She finally agreed to a payment plan to pay him back.
Or another friend who had a business emergency in Singapore and asked a Thai friend he had known for 10 years to look after his condo while he was away. He offered her a few thousand baht per month for her troubles.
When he returned, she sold everything of value from his apartment and had then disappeared up into Issan.
It's not that people rip you off in Thailand. It's that no matter how long you've known them, how much you've helped them, or how close you've been with them and their family, if you leave your guard down, many of them will strip you like a car in a bad neighborhood.
If you want to meet good people, don't hang out in the farang ghettos, or with poverty stricken peasants, that's all. There's a small farang ghetto here with some girlie bars, but you'll never see myself or anyone worth befriending there. That's why it can be hard to find decent expat friends, because you'll never see us in the expat areas. If we go for a few beers, it'll be at one of the local neighborhood drinking holes. If we go out for dinner, it'll be at a decent Thai restaurant, and definitely not an expat restaurant where you're charged triple for mediocre food and half-assed service. If we go for a night out, it's either a house party, or a larger Thai club with live music, but definitely not in the farang ghetto.
Whew, long enough... I could talk forever about this subject.
But because of the low English fluency rate, your chances of meeting the types of people you're talking about are slim and none for a n00b in Thailand. You go to places where they speak English so you end up at the same old farang ghetto places.
I think it takes a good year or two before you figure out the difference. Some never do.
That's why I literally LOL when I hear someone from Pattaya complaining about Thai people. You couldn't pick a worse farang ghetto. It's the worst of the expats mixed with the worst of the Thais. What a combination!
Oh, and one comment about the racism thing. That goes both ways, eh guys? Just look at this thread for an example. If you talked about me like that, I'd think you're a total cunt too. And you guys are talking about the expat areas, where there's loads of tourists who show up, and treat Thais like sub-human pieces of meat that can be bought and sold, so how do you expect them to react?
I actually get into this debate with Thai friends (and my wife) all the time. Thais usually shoot back that all Thais aren't like that. Then I ask, "Did you complete high school?" They say, "Yes." Then I remind them that just based on percentages, they aren't the majority of Thais. Did you go to university? Oh, you did, so that puts you into about the upper 20% of Thais.
I can safely say I don't generally experience any racism whatsoever. Sure when I first moved here eyebrows were raised, but once we all got to know each other, it was fine. Same as if you're in a white community, and some immigrant from Jamaica moves in. Granted I'm not treated like a Thai, because well, I'm not Thai (and don't want to be), but I am treated like a very welcomed immigrant, which is the best I can hope for. I'm definitely not treated badly due to my white skin, that's for sure. If I was, I'd leave.
Hate to break it to you but all of the things you've said you've experienced like being gawked at, expected to let people party on your tab, raised eyebrows, dual pricing, etc is racism. They're treating you differently because of your race.
And the fact that you aren't treated like a Thai is racism too.
