Thailand. A nice place to visit, BUT......

[bucknaway]

Just how welcoming are the Thai people to those who relocate to Thailand?

I ask this from reading many message boards where men and women have moved to Thailand and treated as if they should be seen and not heard.

It is almost as if each day is a battle for them to be seen as a equal person and not an ATM to be withdrawn from till its empty.

Today when I was at the gym and telling others about my coming trip, one guy asked me if I would move to Thailand. I told him no. Because Thailand loves visitors and once you move there your not a visitor anymore.

Am I wrong? Some of you guys live in Thailand. How welcome do you feel there?

Similar Threads:

• Somebody Has Something Nice To Say About Thailand
• Nice place to stay in Nong-Khai ?
• My Visit to Happy Place Bar
• Happy Place my visit 23rd

More welcome than I feel back home. But some here will say I'm wearing rose-colored spectacles.

[bucknaway]

Yeah, but are you focusing on the gay aspect or are you talking "General" acceptance/welcoming?

General aspect.

BUT there are things far more important to your race/nationality when it comes to how you will be treated in Thailand. How you dress, speak, and move, for instance, how you live, groom yourself, and what kind of people you associate with.

Many of the foreigners who come here and gripe about feeling unwelcome dress poorly, make no effort to speak Thai (or speak a low-class bar version), have poor grooming habits, move and generally behave in an aggressive, non-Thai way, and hang around with "fringe" elements of Thai society. Thai people do not automatically give respect to anyone -- whether Thai or foreigner. But if you make an effort to conform to societal standards, I think you will find that your race/nationality makes little difference to the way you are treated.

... an outsider. But the dangers are not that so much (since gays are naturally outsiders, per Camus' novel of that name) as having not enough to do to prevent boredom and ennui, and eventually alcoholism. If you can develop a circle of friends in the same way as you have at home, that can help but it's never enough. The really sad cases end up in Pattaya, talking to themselves (through the help of modern technology, now on the Internet) eg. Miss Marple's monologue on The Bog of Shame, and eventually throw themselves off the balcony of their reducing-in-value high-rise condominium

I do not feel like an "outsider".

[UncleSam]

That explains a lot about your posting.

Maybe that's why your family kept moving as soon as you left for school in the morning. :bounce:

If only. As it is, I've got to deal with them visiting several times a year.

In a number of practical respects you will always be treated as an outsider in Thailand. You cannot own land in your own name, you cannot own a majority stake in a Thai company (even if you set it up from scratch), you will usually have to get a Thai guarantor to get a phone, internet etc, and there will always be an element of uncertainty about your future right to stay in the country (rules can and do change, and are likely to become more restrictive if Thailand becomes more prosperous in future).

As to how you are treated by Thai people, this of course varies. As Boygeenyus says, it depends in part on how you behave. Many farang are treated with a good deal more respect than they deserve. If you act politely and dress well, you are mostly treated well. However, the bad behavior of other farangs can also affect how you are treated - there is an element of racism in this, of course, but it exists. Also, among some of the Thai middle classes, there is a deeper resentment of foreigners, perhaps because they are perceived as having money but no class.

On the whole, however, it is only the uncertainty over your future right of abode that is any real problem. The other practical issues can be worked around, and most Thai people (who are working class) will treat you very nicely (except the small minority who are robbing or killing you, of course)

Just how welcoming are the Thai people to those who relocate to Thailand?
Today when I was at the gym and telling others about my coming trip, one guy asked me if I would move to Thailand. I told him no. Because Thailand loves visitors and once you move there your not a visitor anymore.
Am I wrong? Some of you guys live in Thailand. How welcome do you feel there?

You will be treated as you treat Thais.

I have worked for a company in Bangkok for many years and 99% of the large staff ar Thai.

So many ex-pats straight or gay make their social life revolve within the Farang communities. There only contact with Thais is either at work or when they hit the bars.

For myself, I avoid bars like the plague, I socialise with Thai friends, take part in events arranged by the company, visit Thai colleagues at their homes for meals and they likewise visit me. I shop in the areas that Thais shop, not the usual tourist shopping areas. I spent a few years mastering how to speak Thai and then went onto learning to read and write Thai.

I do not 'look down' on Thais as so many Farangs do, if a job needs doing at work I will happily do it if I am able to - I do not call a Thai to to it for me.

I will never be treated as a Thai and neither will any non-Thai. However I am treated with respect and I return that respect. As Boygeenus has said, so many Farangs come here and act like the slobs that they would at home. I certainly do not go around screaming my sexuality which many of the gay farangs here do seemingly to impress the Thais when all they are in fact doing is holding themselves up to ridicule.

Being a Farang does not give anyone a God given right to feel superior to Thais which is another mistake that many Farangs make and try to impress on the Thais. Declaring their supposed wealth to try and impress has the opposite effect although many Thais will naturally try to relive you of some of that cash if you are stupid enough to boast about it.

Finally all the latest designer clothes, shoes and perfumes do NOT disguise the fact that Farangs are reluctant to take a proper showers during the day. You may grab a new outfit to wear and impress when you hit the town but the fact that you still ( to a Thai) smell like a sewer will not be disguised. Farangs can learn a great deal about hygiene from Thais and in doing so learn that standing in a shower for 10 minutes without bothering to actually make sure you remove body odour is not hygiene.