Yesterday was the end of an era for me. For the last 5 years, I have made my home in Bangkok, Thailand. When one returns to home soil, reflective thoughts of time spent abroad tend to consume the mind. With every different chapter in one’s life, we look back on the good and the bad, and try to ‘balance the books’ so to speak.
Life abroad has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. To meet and work with people from a vast array of cultures has been invaluable, and what comes with meeting people with a broad international perspective comes deeper, more intelligent interactions. There is also a stronger sense of the broader world view. I have had the privilege of working with and counting as friends people from Canada, U.S.A, South Africa, New Zealand, Iraq, The Philippines, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, UAE, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Indonesia, Nigeria, Thailand, as well as all parts of the UK. Even though Australia is a multicultural melting pot, nothing beats being with people who are ‘the real mccoy’. This level of interaction I will miss. Walking back into a Melbourne staffroom and hearing discussions no deeper than, “What did you have for dinner last night”, is enough to fill me with dread. But I have not returned home against my will, and I am very much looking forward to discovering my city again. Being in Thailand for the last half decade has taken its toll, and I have achieved all I can there. There are also aspects of the country and its people that I think are seriously deficient, and I feel for those Thais who do want better for their country, but have to settle with the status quo.
Thailand has to seriously look at itself, otherwise it will be left behind, not only by Asia, but the rest of the world. However, it has been said that Thais are ‘arrogantly ignorant’, and even when they are wrong, they will hold to inaccurate information and mindsets as gospel, thereby closing their minds to a broader view. Foreigner input is seen as ‘wrong’ or ’stupid’. This makes Thailand a difficult place to live, as there are constant interactions like this, and normal functions of society are made incredibly difficult.
I have been told by friends that Melbourne will be expensive. What I was telling a friend just the other night was that living in Bangkok, and the rest of Thailand, is like living in a bubble. Very few places around the world can give you the cheap lifestyle that this country offers. Singapore and Hong Kong are certainly not cheap, and we need say no more about Japan. Yes, life is cheap. The taxis are cheap, the food is cheap, accommodation is cheap. But to enjoy that cheap life, one must put up with all that I have previously said. After a number of years, foreigners, or ‘farangs’ as they are known in Thailand, either succumb to the Thai standard of logic, and just go with it, or they resist it forever, and live in a perpetual state of frustration, and anger.
The political system in Thailand is about as logical as the mindsets I have outlined above. This is a country that has had more miltary coups than you can poke a stick at. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was, and I could be wrong, the only Prime Minister of Thailand to serve a full term. Corruption and coups are part of the day to day fabric of Thai life. Thais know it no other way. Elections are ‘fair’ and ‘democratic’, but they are filled with vote buying, especially in the North-East of the country. But Thais care pretty much only about fun and silliness, so they don’t really care who is running the country, as long as they are not bothered by it, and life can go on quite happily for them. However, Thais do get caught up in this silly cycle of voting someone into power, then protesting in their thousands to have them ousted. People Power in The Philippines has been doing that since the days of Ferdinand Marcos. What I have said to Thai people when talking about the current Thai PM, Samak Sundaravej, is that he has been democratically voted in, so they cannot complain. Yes, he is a thug. Yes, he did order protesters to be shot when he was Interior Minister in one of the many politically tense times in Thailand’s history. But the Thai people voted him in. They made their bed. They must lie in it. The Democrat Party, Thailand’s opposition, is weak and inneffectual. The powerbrokers in Thai politics know that, and the opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva has no clue, and is as wet as a winter’s day in London.
Thais rely on their beloved Monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He is the glue that holds Thailand together. As long as he is alive, Thais need not think about too much. He will be there to protect them. But God, or Buddha, better help them when he passes on. He is 80 and I seriously worry about the future of Thailand after his over 60 year reign has come to an end. His 60th Anniversary to his accession to the throne in 2006 brought well deserved praise from all corners of the world, as well as an award from the United Nations. Thais say they respect and revere their King. If they want to show that respect, then they need to get off their collective backsides and make something of this potentially great nation.
But with all their deficiencies, Thais can be some of the sweetest natured, fun people you could ever meet. No one excels in the hotel industry quite like them, and I don’t need to tell you how fantastic Thai food is. I have had some of the best experiences of my life in Bangkok, and I thank the Thai people for, on the whole, being friendly, gracious, and willing to help me.
To the friends I leave behind, it is not goodbye. Bangkok will always be a second home to me, and will always have a place in my heart like no other. I know I will return many times in my future, and I will hopefully see the Thai people seizing the moment, and embracing a more postive, secure future.
Sawasdee Khrup
Enjoy your day.
