Outlook for Thailand

[Name Taken]

I see a lot of foreigners in Thailand thinking small, I have seen some members of this forum say things like "Well, What the heck does that have to do with Hua Hin?". That's what i'm talking about here: Thinking Small.
If people in Thailand, both foreigners and Thai's continue to just think small then Thailand is always going to have problems and things will never improve for a lot of people. Thai's and foreigners need to start thinking BIG and for the greater good.
I'm not preaching, I'm telling you people how it is here.
A lot of people look at America and they say "Wow! What a great country". Well, one of the ways America became a great Country was by thinking BIG.

[Name Taken]

Yes, I do realize the name of this forum is Hua Hin Forum. But I like to think of this forum as a 'Thailand Forum' and not just only a 'Hua Hin Forum'.

[oakdale160]

I have been here a few years a very astute guy who has been here much longer and is married into a very HiSo Thai family has been my mentor. After one upheaval I asked him how this would affect Thailand. He replied, You want to get a reputation for being wise about Thailand, then do this. Whenever anybody asks you a question about Thai and what effect this or that will have---Pause, look very thoughtful and then say--"You know in the long run not much will change". Good advice because in the long run, not much will change.
And another thing, nasty things happen here and people say--Oh this will really hurt the tourist trade. You know what, it doesn't. Bad things happen, the western media is full of it but the lines at Swampy remain the same length.

[StevePIraq]

I couldn't agree more with Oakdale. Whilst Thailand likes to have tourism, they don't really want foreign tourists. Very little effort is ever made to accommodate foreigners.
After the Bangkok bomb some on here were saying this is devastating for Thailand, in reality and as I said, it made no difference, it was a ripple in a giant ocean that soon passed and is now all forgotten. If Thailand's foreign tourism dries up so what, they will just go back to their villages, plant rice, sit in the dirt and eat insects.

[Pleng]

A lot of people look at America and they say "Wow! What a great country".

And a lot of people don't...

[Bristolian]

I couldn't agree more with Oakdale. Whilst Thailand likes to have tourism, they don't really want foreign tourists. Very little effort is ever made to accommodate foreigners.
After the Bangkok bomb some on here were saying this is devastating for Thailand, in reality and as I said, it made no difference, it was a ripple in a giant ocean that soon passed and is now all forgotten. If Thailand's foreign tourism dries up so what, they will just go back to their villages, plant rice, sit in the dirt and eat insects.

Very astute Steve.
As the airline, fishing, fruit, rice and rubber industries struggle without support, as the car manufacturing and general exports fail, month on month, what is the reaction. Sod the world, they're all wrong. Let's focus internally where those pesky farangs have no influence. Let's increase domestic tourism, give extra holidays and tax breaks for increased domestic spending......great plan! Welcome back to the 19th century.

[Name Taken]

I couldn't agree more with Oakdale. Whilst Thailand likes to have tourism, they don't really want foreign tourists. Very little effort is ever made to accommodate foreigners.
After the Bangkok bomb some on here were saying this is devastating for Thailand, in reality and as I said, it made no difference, it was a ripple in a giant ocean that soon passed and is now all forgotten. If Thailand's foreign tourism dries up so what, they will just go back to their villages, plant rice, sit in the dirt and eat insects.

[Homer]

A lot of people look at America and they say "Wow! What a great country".

And a lot of people don't...

Leftists, mostly. Lefties will never forgive the US + Capitalism for winning the cold war, which ended the Soviet Union. Nixon took the first step by establishing relationships with China. He did it solely because 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'. This forced the USSR to plan and spend militarily for a stronger China. Reagan surveyed the cold war, then spent money on it like a drunken sailor on shore leave. He knew the USSR would try to keep up until they realized bankrupting the country was what made Russia ripe for the first Communist revolution which ended the Czars.

Others who don't think the US is a great country don't like the way it acts as a sole superpower. They should be thankful they're living with the most benevolent sole superpower in world history.

[Frank La Rue]

On the topic of "thinking small" I have found this Forum quite broad minded and the topics very varied. Although I do not post regularly but rather off and on I find this forum the one I always return to due to people being genuinely nice, well informed and with thoughful comments - a very resourceful online community, I feel.

I once started a thread about my Thai family from Kanchanaburi coming to visit us in Norway - this has nothing to do with Hua Hin what - so - ever . I made the point that if the thread was out of scope I could post it on for instance Thai Visa. I was subsequently encouraged to run it here - which I did:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=26497&start=30&hil ... the+Arctic


People thinking small you find every where but I feel they are not overcrowding on this Forum

As for Nixon and Reagan and the USSR it's an interesting example of thinking big and with the "Star Wars" US military program in space it got even bigger.

I just finished a book about the downfall of the Ottoman Empire as part of the 1st World War. I highly recommend this history book - it contains many examples of politicians and Generals and other thinking Small and Big:

The Ottoman Endgame by McMeekin.

[Name Taken]

On the topic of "thinking small" I have found this Forum quite broad minded and the topics very varied. Although I do not post regularly but rather off and on I find this forum the one I always return to due to people being genuinely nice, well informed and with thoughful comments - a very resourceful online community, I feel.

I once started a thread about my Thai family from Kanchanaburi coming to visit us in Norway - this has nothing to do with Hua Hin what - so - ever . I made the point that if the thread was out of scope I could post it on for instance Thai Visa. I was subsequently encouraged to run it here - which I did:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=26497&start=30&hil ... the+Arctic


People thinking small you find every where but I feel they are not overcrowding on this Forum

As for Nixon and Reagan and the USSR it's an interesting example of thinking big and with the "Star Wars" US military program in space it got even bigger.

I just finished a book about the downfall of the Ottoman Empire as part of the 1st World War. I highly recommend this history book - it contains many examples of politicians and Generals and other thinking Small and Big:

The Ottoman Endgame by McMeekin.

and just to clarify, I was talking about both real life here in Thailand and this forum.
I think the Thinking Small 'concept' is much more of a Thai thing that just rubs off on some of the foreigners living here in Thailand.

[oakdale160]

Although I can be quite critical of US foreign and military policies in the years since WW2 I have to recognise that in almost a century of being the number one world power te US has not increased the territory of the Us by a single acre.
That is unique in World history.

[StevePIraq]

This thread is about Thailand NOT the USA, while that would be an interesting topic maybe you should start a USA Thread.

[Farang]

It is an individual thing what anyone considers BIG. I do not much care about Thai politics, ASEAN, the world as I am totally powerless to influence any of them one iota. Therefore BIG thing in my insignificant life (assuming I have one) is a good restaurant, a good painter, a good plumber and other very mundane matters.
These trivial things do have a profound effect on my life, much less so with the BIG things.

So, does anyone have a number for a good painter, please?

[Dannie Boy]

It is an individual thing what anyone considers BIG. I do not much care about Thai politics, ASEAN, the world as I am totally powerless to influence any of them one iota. Therefore BIG thing in my insignificant life (assuming I have one) is a good restaurant, a good painter, a good plumber and other very mundane matters.
These trivial things do have a profound effect on my life, much less so with the BIG things.

So, does anyone have a number for a good painter, please?

Surely you can't have missed this? viewtopic.php?f=20&t=29850#p403631 I just noticed that you've already posted on here

[StevePIraq]

Farang is quite correct, in Thailand we cannot and never will be able to influence anything in Hua Hin let alone Thailand. We are not like immigrants to Europe who have political representation and rights, and in the USA illegals can even have jobs and driving license. Here we have a 12 month maximum visa, could be kicked out at anytime should someone tell the police we say something wrong about a certain person. The best we can hope for is a relatively peaceful 12 months until the next renewal, few hassles, even fewer extended family and some good times along the way.