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About Me Member Deviant of Many Talents sethnessMalaysia Recent Activity Deviant for 2 Years
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Life in Thailand

Wed May 20, 2009, 5:47 PM
I think, "If only Japan didn't have winters, I'd go back there." If, for example, I could get a job on Ishigaki island, a rural semi-tropical Japanese island, I'd leave today!

Life in Thailand is a bit like living in a poorly furnished trashcan. What tour agents tell you is utter hogwash: the "tropical paradise" is defoliated, overbuilt, trash-strewn, and rude as hell. The "land of smiles" is the invention of a tour agent; the reality is "the land of the melon-drop" where foreigners are fleeced.

To the Westerner's way of thinking, prices should drop when customers are few. Yet, in the current global economic meltdown, with Thailand being labeled by the BBC as one of the top 5 most dangerous places in the world, Thais are RAISING prices. Perhaps in Thai thinking, it's best to raise prices so that fewer customers doesn't equal a loss in overall profits.

Phuket markets itself to tourists as the land of cheap beer, bribeable police, rentable girls, and Thai kickboxing training camps. It's no surprise, then, that the Western tourists coming here are... not the most peace-loving, generous, civil representatives of Western culture. Further, it's no surprise that Thais in Phuket see these tourists and think "Westerners are a pack of lazy, rich, rude jerks".

Thais here are paid about US$ 300 or less per month to work 10- and 12-hour days with demanding Western customers.

The language barrier is steep, and cultural differences are huge, causing lots of misunderstandings.

On a daily basis, I think it's the roadside trash-- especially its smell-- that bothers me most. In this land hoping for tourists, an hour's drive through Phuket town forces one to grimace and hold one's breath about 5 times. It gives no moments of "Ahhh, what a nice smell!" Compare this to ultra-clean Japan, when the only bad smell seems to come when neighbors are burning leaves...and the daily GOOD smells coming from the ubiquitous corner bakeries seem to have about 500 calories per delicious, wonderful lungful.

  • Mood: Sadness
  • Listening to: David Wilcox ( dot com )
  • Reading: "Fast Food Nation"
  • Watching: Thailand circling the drain
  • Playing: Expat, The Lifestyle
  • Eating: almonds and berries-- healthy snacks
  • Drinking: chilly icewater. (Now's the hottest season)

deviantID

Devious Info

  • Current Residence: Stumbling through Asia
  • deviantWEAR sizing preference: Circus Tent, only roomier
  • Print preference: White mug or jigsaw puzzle
  • Interests: SCUBA, Languages, epistemology, etymology, PCs
  • Favourite movie: 2001: A Space Odyssey; Bowling for Columbine
  • Favourite band or musician: Enya, Mozart, Moody Blues, Kraftwerk
  • Favourite genre of music: Neoclassical, classical, rock, NOT rap.
  • Favourite artist: M. C. Escher, Da Vinci
  • Favourite poet or writer: Douglas N. Adams, Mark Twain, T. H. White, Ralph Nader, Marx, Hume, Chomsky, David Gerrold, Hume
  • Favourite photographer: Michael Moore
  • Favourite style of art: Tessellation & Farside-style cartooning
  • Operating System: Sidux Debian Linux, with Crossover/WINE to use Photoshop 7
  • MP3 player of choice: VLC (VideoLan) Open Source Freeware (no DRM, no malware, no proprietary formats, just goodness)
  • Shell of choice: Triton's Trumpet
  • Wallpaper of choice: Tessellations with muted, darkish colors and a thick medium-dark border for the desktop icons
  • Skin of choice: Birthday suit, with as little alteration as possible.
  • Favourite game: Diebold Electronic Voting Machines (where fiction is frictionless)
  • Favourite gaming platform: Clear warm ocean water, 11 meters deep.
  • Favourite cartoon character: Bush, because he's so evil and 2 dimensional. Or Cheney, because he's a first-person shoot
  • Personal Quote: Without doubt, experience merely reinforces prejudice.
  • Tools of the Trade: #2 pencil, watercolor pencils, wood, clay, GimpShop

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Comments


Hey Seth!
Great to see ya!
Stay cool man!
:dance:

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naturpics-club... [link]

My Blog... [link]
Heey, Seth. Merry christmas ;)

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Submit Combustion Man Artwork and win a prize! Join the Club! Visit *themindblower

Also checkout: *Avatards-Anonymous

neener neener neener
Thank you very much for :+fav: on “the Winno” :[link]
You support is much appreciated! :highfive:
Hello interesting work

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My OST Data and Website [link]
Myspace [link]
My own music [link]
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Thanks for adding me to your watch! :)

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Losing faith in humanity...one person at a time.
Thank you for the :+fav: :fuzzydemon:

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Life is good,skateboarding is better!
Thanks a lot for the :+fav: on 'Alone' and for adding me to your friends list. I took a look at your tessellations website and find it fascinating – I’m a big admirer of Escher, so it’s of particular interest to me. Hopefully I’ll find some time to try it out in the near future… :excited:
Thanks for the :+fav:s!

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in dubio pro ratione
Thanks for watching me, I really appreciate it!

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Wanner, your the height of a hobbit, with the ears of an elf & the beard of a dwarf!

New website being carved from the sneeze of a kitten
very interesting gallery!

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