Living In Thailand Blog
Saturday 14th June 2014
My wife's sister is currently having a house built and she appeared at our house this evening looking very stressed. Theoretically, designing and building your own house in Thailand is a very attractive proposition. Land generally is relatively cheap compared to Western countries (unless you are in central Bangkok or near the sea in a popular tourist resort) and in some parts of the country it is very cheap. Labour is also a lot cheaper.
Bookshops in Thailand have books full of house designs and some of the designs look fabulous. You can use a basic design that you like, modify it to suit your personal requirements, and then employ an architect to draw up the plans. That's the easy part, however, and after that it starts to get difficult.
The first difficulty is finding construction workers. There is always lots of construction taking place in Thailand and workers are difficult to find. This problem was exacerbated when conditions in Burma started to improve and a lot of Burmese workers who had been working in Thailand returned home.
The next problem is the reliability of workers. They often work on multiple projects at the same time and keep disappearing to work elsewhere. They also tend to do things their way, which may not necessarily be the way you want things to be done. And, of course, communicating with Thai workers can be a problem if you are a farang.
I decided not to build my own house, but bought a house in a development and modified the design slightly. One of the advantages was that houses of the same design had already been finished and therefore it was easy to visualise what our house would look like when it was finished.
My wife's sister isn't able to do this because her house is a one-off. She can look at plans, but it is difficult visualising the end result when you only have a piece of paper to look at. The builders have started to build the staircase at her house and she can now see that it is too narrow, whereas this wasn't obvious when looking at the plans.
She has also been complaining about cost. She is paying the builders as and when they need materials and the cost keeps soaring. When you buy a house in a development you are given the final cost upfront and know where you stand.
The development that we live on is quite big and because of this there were permanent workers who didn't keep disappearing all the time and also foremen who kept the builders in line and made sure they were working to the plans.
If you have the time and money I still think that building a house in Thailand to your own specifications can be a good thing. My budget was limited and also I was in a desperate hurry to move because I hated the area that we lived in before and the town house that we lived in. It therefore suited me to buy a house in a development.
If you do decide to build your own house expect it to take longer and to cost more than you had originally planned, and prepare yourself for lots of frustrations. However, the end result could be very worthwhile.
Friday 13th June 2014
I frequently mock the Thais in a lighthearted way for their many, varied and strange (to me) beliefs, but whenever this particular date appears on the calendar I always feel a sense of slight trepidation. Also, if I am walking outside and a worker has erected a set of ladders against a building I always avoid walking under the ladders. These particular superstitions mean nothing to Thais and - as a logical, rational, sensible person - they shouldn't mean anything to me either, but for some reason they do. Strange, isn't it?
Many years ago I was sitting inside a dreaded minivan while travelling from Takua Pa to Chumpon. As usual, my hair was raised and my knuckles were white. As I remember it, the route was scenic but there were a lot of sharp curves and the manner in which the driver was driving meant that I couldn't relax and enjoy the scenery.
One of the passengers was a very loud American who was on his way back to Hua Hin, where he lived. He was telling everyone on the van about his day trading activities on the stock market - through which he was making a bunch of money, of course - and about his fancy computer set up. He was actually talking to the person he was sitting next to, but he was so loud that everyone could hear him.
The Internet has completely removed geographical boundaries and if you work on-line (or play on-line poker) and have a decent Internet connection it doesn't matter if you are in Bangor or Bangkok. The new visa regulations in Thailand may make it more difficult for some on-line workers to get visas in order to remain in Thailand legally, but that's another matter.
So, what's the Internet service like in Thailand?
It's actually very good most of the time and compared to many Western countries it is also cheap. My Internet provider is 3BB and an annual contract costs me around Bt7,000. I just have the basic service and find that it is perfectly adequate for my needs.
The speed of the basic service started off at 6 MB/s and they then upgraded the whole network to 10 MB/s without increasing the price. When it's working well, and when the network isn't busy, the response is fine.
If you need a faster connection speed there are lots of options available, going right up to a 1000 MB/s fibre optic link to your home or business premises.
Occasionally there are problems, but in the last 20 months there have only been about three times when I've had difficulties connecting to the Internet. The most recent was yesterday.
I started having problems with my Internet connection yesterday morning and the problems got progressively worse until I couldn't connect at all by the afternoon. I called the help desk three times and they arranged for their technicians to take a look at 9am this morning.
The technicians arrived and diagnosed a fault with the router. They called their shop and I then went to get the router replaced. When I arrived at the shop, the new router was waiting for me. I have just returned home with the replacement and so far everything looks good.
Criticisms? Yes, but not many and fairly minor. Firstly, my ISP never admits to there being a problem, but in the past problems have mysteriously disappeared on their own. I suspect they fix some problems without owning up to them.
The technicians (like all Thai tradesmen and service staff) have great problems being punctual. If they tell you 9am, it could actually be noon or later before they arrive. This is something that you have to get used to in Thailand, and sometimes tradesmen don't even show up at all after giving you a fixed time.
Today, after diagnosing the router to be the problem, I was slightly disappointed that they didn't have a spare in the van considering that the router is their responsibility. I had to go to the shop myself, which wasn't that convenient.
For the last 30 or so hours I've had either no connection or a very unstable connection. However, my overall impression of Internet service provision in Thailand remains very positive. Internet is important to me, but it isn't essential that it is there every minute of every day.
If you are using critical applications in Thailand and can't afford not to have an Internet connection it would be wise to invest in a little backup. For example, the mobile phone companies will sell you a USB device that plugs into your computer and connects to their own Internet service over the mobile phone network.
If you are just a normal user and can survive occasionally without having a connection, one of the standard packages from any of the big ISPs should be fine.
Wednesday 11th June 2014
Thais don't like telling people things that they don't want to hear. I've written about this before, but I have just encountered another example.
I want a little job done on the house and asked the tradesman who was working on the house next door. He took a look, said he could do it, and gave me a price. Fine. However, he said that he would be busy for 7-10 days.
After waiting for 10 days or so my wife called him and he said he would come over to the house. About five days passed and he still hadn't shown up. I asked the wife whether it was worth calling again or whether it was a waste of time. She said it was a waste of time because he wasn't interested.
We spoke to another guy who is currently working on another house nearby and he has agreed to do it in a few days' time. I just hope that this one comes back and does the job because I want it done before the end of the month.
When I worked at the local university they decided that after four years they weren't going to renew my contract. They thought that I might be upset at this news and therefore nobody wanted to tell me. They left me in limbo. I didn't know what was going to happen, but they did.
Had they simply told me the truth I could have started looking around for another job. Had the tradesman told me that he wasn't interested in doing my little job, I could have asked someone else.
Instead, they keep you hanging on wasting your time when you could be using that time more constructively. They might think they are doing you a favour by not giving you bad news, but exactly the opposite is true.
On many occasions when you deal with someone in Thailand you are told one thing, but it is necessary to try to guess what the person is really thinking behind the false smile. This isn't always easy.
Thais think of farangs as being very direct and they find this directness very difficult to deal with. The thought of working with farangs scares a lot of Thais because they can't deal with the directness or the seriousness with which foreigners approach work.
However, I have spoken with Thais who have worked abroad and they say that they actually quite like it because they know where they stand.
This is just another one of those cultural things that you have to learn to deal with.
I had to renew the Por Ror Bor compulsory government insurance and road tax on my wife's little Honda Brio today. The insurance was Bt600 and the road tax Bt1,197, which wasn't too bad. The fully comprehensive private insurance on the car is due at the end of the month and will be about Bt12,000 with one year's no-claims bonus.
The used car market finally crashed in Thailand last year. For many years used cars were sold at crazy over-inflated prices, but the bubble eventually burst. Used cars are still expensive in Thailand compared to the UK (and there is far less choice compared to the UK), but prices are better than they were.
You can now pick up little eco-cars that haven't done a lot of mileage for a reasonable price. The Brio hasn't needed any repairs and regular servicing costs are reasonable. The battery needed replacing recently, but that has been the only expense so far.
These little eco-cars are fairly economical and can run on E20 fuel, which is cheaper than the fuel that my car runs on, but more expensive than diesel.
My author friend in Songkhla is currently working on a new book and has been doing research, some of which has been off the beaten track, and she has had big problems getting where she needs to go using public transport. Also, as I have mentioned countless times, most Thai drivers have no regard at all for other people's safety, including their own passengers.
If you are planning on being in Thailand for a while, it makes sense to consider getting your own car. Driving yourself is a lot more convenient and safer than taking public transport.
Many farangs in Thailand ride little motorbikes around. These are fine for short journeys in town, but they aren't particular comfortable or safe for long journeys. You can't carry much and they are no fun when it is very hot or very wet.
The reason that used car prices crashed in Thailand is because of a huge glut of used cars.
Thais are extremely status conscious and a car is the single biggest status symbol in Thailand. Every Thai wants a car. When the last government decided to give big subsidies on eco-cars for first-time car buyers many Thais couldn't resist. Unfortunately, many still couldn't afford these cars despite the big subsidy.
They took out loans, which they then couldn't service, and the cars ended up being repossessed by finance companies and resold.
Tuesday 10th June 2014
Millions of Chinese have migrated to Thailand over the years and thus there is a lot of Chinese food available in the Kingdom.
Gwy-dtiew noodles and the breakfast dish bpaa-tong-go (fried dough) are from China. Another very popular Chinese breakfast dish is dim-sum (dtim-sum in Thai).
I have a big problem with a lot of food that Thais eat for breakfast in that I simply can't stomach the things they eat for breakfast so early in the day. However, Chinese dim-sum is one of my favourites.
Because dim-sum is a breakfast food, restaurants tend to open early (around 6am) and close early (around 11am). However, I do know of a few that stay open all day.
Staff at the restaurant in the photos (click on the thumbnails for larger images) start to prepare the food late at night and their working day begins at 4am when they continue the preparations ready for a 6am opening.
The food is placed in small metal dishes and stored on ice in a glass cabinet at the front of the shop. A variety of ingredients is used at each individual shop, and there are variations between shops. A lot of dishes are prawn-based, but you will also see noodles, sticky rice, crab, tofu, corn, etc.
You don't need to be able to speak or read Thai to eat at these places, although these skills always make life easier and better in Thailand. Just remove the dishes that you want from the glass cabinet and give them to the member of staff who will be waiting to put them into the steamer.
The person doing the steaming will put the metal dishes into round wooden boxes (bamboo, I think) that can resist extreme heat. These boxes can be stacked and the stack of boxes is put on a large stainless steel steaming device filled with boiling water.
Meanwhile, find somewhere to sit down and order your drinks. The dim-sum is steamed for about 10 minutes and then brought to your table.
On the table there will be a small box containing miniature forks and spoons, and a bowl containing the house-formula dipping sauce. You will be given a small plate and a small bowl for the sauce. The sauce varies slightly between restaurants, but it is chili based and a little spicy. Fill your little bowl with dipping sauce from the bowl on the table and dig in.
The selection of drinks available at these restaurants is normally quite limited and I usually go for the traditional coffee (gaa-fair bo-raan) with milk (sai nom). They use canned condensed milk in the coffee, which is very sweet, but without the milk the coffee is very bitter. I don't take sugar in tea and coffee, but this sweet, strong traditional coffee always goes down well.
There is a tradition in Thailand of always giving coffee drinkers a glass of Chinese tea. Apparently, this is to ease the throat. You can order Chinese tea (hot or cold) and this place also offers camomile (gek-huay) for Bt20. Different restaurants have different drinks available and if I can get it I will always order a glass of roselle juice (naam gra-jiap).
The restaurants themselves don't tend to be very plush. The walls are plain, except for signs and advertisements, the floors concrete, the tables cheap, and the chairs plastic. These places are basically designed so that flood damage will be minimal and if you look carefully at the walls you will see the tide mark from the most recent flood.
For this particular restaurant the last big flood occurred at the end of 2010. There are no doors or windows - simply sets of metal shutters to secure the premises - and fluorescent strip lights to illuminate the interior.
When I first came to Thailand each dim-sum dish was Bt10. The price at this place is now Bt16. After you have finished your breakfast a member of staff will come to your table and count the number of empty dishes, along with any drinks. If you have problems with mental arithmetic, there is a chart on the wall to help.
Thais are very picky when selecting restaurants, and taste and prices need to be exactly right. Everyone has their own favourite places - me and the wife included. An individual's personal choice may not be in accordance with other people or the general consensus.
In Hat Yai, for example, lots of people have told me that a restaurant call Chok Dee is the best in town. They tell me that Malaysian and Singaporean tourists love it, and that when Bangkok Thais visit the town they always eat at Chok Dee. I've been there half-a-dozen or so times over the years and I've never been impressed. There are a couple of other dim-sum places, such as the restaurant in the photo, that I like a lot better.
You can ask the locals for suggestions on where to find good dim-sum, but the best way is always to find out yourself if you have time.
The feminist and political correctness movements that killed off beauty pageants in the West never reached Thailand (fortunately) and beauty pageants are still extremely popular, starting from the age of about three.
I have to admit that it makes me feel quite uncomfortable seeing very young girls wearing scanty clothes and high heels and plastered with make-up, but I have no problems ogling the older girls.
Just recently there has been a lot of controversy and TV coverage concerning the reigning Miss Thailand Universe. She was shown on Thai TV this morning sobbing her heart out after handing in her crown. I haven't been following the story, but my wife said that she hadn't been riep roi in the past (this Thai expression has many meanings, but in this context the closest is probably 'respectable'). I was surprised to see that this story also made the BBC News front page.
Thai beauty queen quits over execution quote
Apparently, she made some comments on social media to the effect that Red Shirts should be executed, which was probably a little too extreme. These quotes quickly backfired on her and after lots of abuse she has stepped down.
The first runner up - who shares the same nickname as my daughter - could now be handed the Miss Thailand Universe crown, provided that the outrageous crime of actually kissing a man doesn't come back to haunt her. Tut tut, Nong Ellie. In Thailand nice girls don't do that sort of thing.
Once you reach a certain age, death becomes a recurring theme of life. I reached that age quite a long time ago and since I have been living in Thailand lots of famous people, relatives, friends, family friends, colleagues, and other associates have died. Whenever I receive an e-mail with the name from someone in my the past as the subject I can normally guess the contents.
Some deaths are expected, but some have been quite shocking. When news of the deaths of Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela was announced it was no great shock because of their age and general health.
On the other hand, I received an e-mail from a good friend and work colleague a few years ago with the subject 'Sad News'. I assumed that my friend was writing to tell me about the death of his dog. Instead, his wife was writing to tell me about the death of my friend. I was shocked and deeply saddened.
He was a really nice guy and only in his early 60's. He had worked hard and done well in life. He was a true gentleman and always treated the people he worked with really well. He had a lovely wife, two grown-up daughters, a beautiful detached house in the Kent countryside, an apartment in Dubai, and he was looking forward to retiring soon. He was planning to spend his retirement playing golf in the UK and Dubai.
Just before he was due to retire he was rushed to hospital with what was thought to be a ruptured appendix. In fact, it was a ruptured bowel and within hours he was dead.
My father was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm a couple of years ago. He had no symptoms and it was only discovered during a scan for something else that was unrelated. Just recently it has grown. He is scheduled to undergo another procedure, but it could rupture at any time. Apparently, the condition is hereditary and so it could affect me.
I was saddened again this morning while doing a quick round up of the news to see that Rik Mayall died suddenly. He was a few years older than me and meant a lot to people of my generation growing up in the UK. Not only was he a very funny comedian, but he also seemed like a thoroughly decent human being. He was only 56.
Rik Mayall, star of The Young Ones, dies aged 56
I try not to get morose when I hear such news, but instead try to use it as a reminder that the only certainty in life is death and that we never know when our last day will be.
It would be foolish and irresponsible to live each day as if tomorrow will be our last day, because it probably won't, but at the same time none of us are immortal. The reality is somewhere in between and life should be lived accordingly.
Friday 6th June 2014
Britain's Daily Mail newspaper must have written something to upset the Thais because its website has been blocked in Thailand by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
It's not one of the regular sites that I visit but I was going to look at a story they ran five years ago about British backpackers getting lost in the Malaysian jungle.
Another Briton went missing in the Malaysian jungle recently and police have just found a body. The jungle is very dense in some areas and once inside it can be very disorientating. My last trek into the Thai jungle was with quite a large group, including a number of experienced guides.
Missing Malaysia backpacker Gareth Huntley: Body found
The jungle provided excellent cover for Communist insurgents during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950's. My father did his National Service in Malaya fighting against the insurgency.
To deprive the insurgents of their jungle cover, Britain became the first nation to use Agent Orange to destroy the vegetation. Its use in Malaya caused little controversy at the time, but the use of Agent Orange later became a very controversial issue when the Americans used it in Vietnam.
An American friend who I met in 1986 while doing some education in Chicago stayed in touch for a long time, but suddenly stopped writing at the end of last year. Since then I have been unable to trace or contact him.
He was a Vietnam vet and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He also mentioned that he had been affected by Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. He had experienced many problems in his personal life and his health was deteriorating rapidly. I don't know why he stopped communicating, and I can only fear the worst.
It's quite easy in some parts of Malaysia or Thailand to go off the beaten trail into jungle areas. If you do, be very careful and try to make sure that you can find your way back. Not only is there a lack of food and water, but there are also some quite nasty animals lurking in the forests.
A quick search on Google revealed why the Daily Mail website has been blocked in Thailand. There is one major taboo subject in Thailand and the Daily Mail broke it.
Thursday 5th June 2014
While visiting Trang main town some years ago I noticed that a lot of the taxis were Nissan Cedrics. This was a model that never took off in the UK, basically because no self-respecting Englishman would want to drive around in a car called a Cedric.
Whenever I go shopping for eyeglasses in Thailand, shop assistants always want to make suggestions for me and every time I go they select a frame with the 'Percy' brand name. I don't care how attractive the frame is, I will not walk around with the name 'Percy' attached to the side of my head.
When our children have colds my wife smears Vick on their chests to ease their breathing. There is no 'V' sound in Thai, so she refers to it as 'Wick'. On the other hand, Germans pronounce 'V' as 'F' (and 'W' as 'V'). When Vick was introduced in Germany it therefore became 'Fick' and this, apparently mean sexual penetration in German.
There is a chain of clothes shops in Singapore called Wanko, which will bring a smirk to the faces of many Brits.
In Bangkok last year I saw the shoes in the photo above at a market and thought to myself that the name they had chosen might deter some Western shoppers. Who wants to advertise the fact that they fart in style?
There are many other examples of this type of thing. A brand name may be perfectly innocuous in one country, but in another country it has a completely different meaning.
Before I left the UK some friends of mine, who couldn't have children of their own, adopted a little boy who came with the name Kai. They thought that this name was unusual, hip and trendy. In Thailand the meaning of the word 'kai' changes depending on the tone and vowel length, but one meaning is 'egg' and because a man's testicles are about the size of a chicken's egg 'kai' is also the slang term for male genitalia. Being called Kai in Thailand is therefore not so hip and trendy.
In the age of post-globalisation companies should really investigate brand names a bit more to see if they have made any cultural faux pas because if they have it made severely affect sales in certain markets.
Thai curfew lifted in tourist resorts of Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui
I had a feeling that sooner or later the tourist resorts would be exempted from the curfew. Tourism generates a huge income for Thailand and the last thing the Thais want to do is cook the golden goose.
A report I read a few months ago said that hotels in Thailand were about to increase their prices. I don't know whether that happened or whether the political problems - and the subsequent drop in tourist numbers - has put this plan on hold. I've been surfing around for hotels in Bangkok today and they are still incredibly cheap.
We normally stay at the same hotel in Bangkok near Victory Monument. The hotel is fine, the staff are pleasant, there's a nice park nearby, and it's close to the hospital where we take our daughter for her doctor's appointment.
However, we have stayed there several times already and for next month's trip I fancied a change because I was getting a bit bored. I therefore started looking around at other hotels.
The first thing that struck me was how many hotels there are in Bangkok. Finding a place to stay in the Thai capital is never a problem. The second thing was how cheap they are compared to other countries.
You can stay in a very comfortable four star hotel in one of Bangkok's best areas for the same price as staying in a motorway Travelodge in Preston. Considering that Bangkok is one of the leading capital cities of the world, the hotel accommodation there represents fantastic value.
There are many reasons why Thailand attracts over 20 million visitors every year and the plethora of accommodation bargains certainly helps to bring the tourists in.
The range of accommodation is also very extensive. I looked at some of the best hotels in the world (cheap compared to other major cities of the world), but also saw a lot of backpacker guesthouses in great locations for only a few hundred Baht a night.
Despite all this, our next hotel stay won't be in a location that I would have chosen myself. This is one of the joys of marriage. I would have chosen somewhere quiet by the river. My wife, however, wants restaurants and shopping and therefore we will be staying in the heavily touristed Sukhumvit area, which is an area I would normally avoid.
Nonetheless, my mouth is already watering in anticipation of the great Western food that is available in this area. Good Western food, unfortunately, is something that is very rare in the part of provincial Thailand where I live.
The start of a welfare state in Thailand? I was very interested to see this article written by a Thai academic.
'Replace subsidy system with welfare system'
Despite Singapore being a very wealthy country, Lee Kuan Yew has always been vehemently opposed to Singapore becoming a welfare state. He cites the big economic problems welfare systems have caused in Sweden and the UK, and he is right.
It's a difficult subject. Similar to Socialism, the ideology of having a welfare state is sound but it doesn't account for human nature. Sometimes I see people begging on the streets of Thailand who desperately need help from the state and it saddens me that more help isn't available. In their condition they shouldn't need to sit on pedestrian bridges in tropical heat and humidity begging for money.
It's the same when I see women in their 80's traipsing the streets trying to sell lottery tickets because the paltry Bt500 a month old age pension they receive isn't enough to live on.
On the other hand, unemployment is almost unheard of in Thailand because they are no incentives not to work. If the state decides to hand out unemployment benefits there will always be lots of lazy people in society who would rather take the easy option, and they abuse the system. This is what happens when governments get too generous. The situation in the UK has been made worse by the government also handing out lots of benefits to immigrants who have never paid into the system.
I can't imagine that Thailand will ever turn into a welfare state, and the country would certainly never give any benefits to non-Thais, but I would like to see a little more help for Thais who genuinely need it. Thailand already has an excellent health care system. It is multi-tiered and you can pay for the best level of care, but health care is available to even the poorest in Thailand. In addition to health care benefits, some people in society need additional benefits because they are unable to work.
When you analyse the political problems in Thailand, they all stem from the huge inequalities in Thai society. The wealth gap between the richest and poorest is huge and the poor get very little.
The poor majority feel marginalised and it was easy for a politician to buy their votes with populist policies. Once that happened and the politician was unassailable at the ballot box due to Thailand's one-person/one-vote Western style of electoral government, he could do whatever he wanted.
I don't agree with Socialism and I don't believe that all people are equal, but I believe that people are born equal and that everyone should at least have opportunities in life. If they squander those opportunities, it's up to them but then they can't blame anyone else. Further, I believe that those who genuinely can't support themselves in life should get some help from the state.
Tuesday 3rd June 2014
While waiting for my car to have its annual inspection recently, a Chinese guy started talking to me in Thai. There is a huge population of Thai-Chinese where I live and I assumed that he was a local. But then some warning bells started to ring.
Whenever I speak to Thais they always say exactly the same things and ask exactly the same questions. Conversations are so predictable in Thailand that you already have the answers prepared and it is easy to give the illusion of being fluent in Thai.
This guy didn't ask the standard questions, but instead was very interested to know where my income came from and what my visa arrangements were. It turned out that he was a Chinese Malaysian who had lived in Thailand for 30 years. He was married to a Thai, had some kind of business, and had obtained Permanent Resident status.
During the course of this conversation between two expats from different countries - and with the cheeky look of a naughty schoolboy in his eyes - he told me that people have lots of freedom in Thailand and this is why he had left Malaysia.
At this current time I have never had less freedom in my life (for reasons I will come on to in a minute) and this comment stuck with me. I've been thinking about it quite a lot recently.
What is freedom? Does anyone have complete freedom? Is having freedom always a good thing? Does the degree of freedom that you have vary from country to country? Do people have more freedom living in Thailand? While thinking about these questions it became apparent that the answers aren't always obvious and that everyone has their own idea of what freedom is.
What exactly did my Chinese Malaysian friend mean? Judging by the huge numbers of Chinese Malaysians that cross the border regularly and frequently to spend time in southern Thailand, I get the impression that they are not entirely content living in a Muslim country.
If someone has an affinity for pork, alcohol, nightlife, gambling and/or prostitution, then living in a Muslim country could present some problems, whereas all of these things are widely available in Thailand, even though two on the list are technically illegal.
I'm not implying that all Chinese Malaysians visit Thailand for these reasons because many don't, but quite a few do. If that wasn't the case, then places such as Dannok on the Thai side of the Thailand/Malaysian border, which has grown from nothing into quite a large town in just a few years, wouldn't exist.
Was he referring to Thailand's weak law enforcement? For example, if you own or rent a shop in most countries you wouldn't be allowed to block off the pavement at the front of the shop to pedestrians (which is public property) so that you could use it to extend your own premises. In Thailand there is probably a law against this, but everyone does it.
If you are too lazy to find a parking space and walk a little way, just double park with your hazard lights on, thereby blocking an entire lane. You can do this in Thailand without any fear of punishment. Again, there are laws but they aren't enforced and who cares about obstructing other drivers? Most Thais certainly don't.
However, if this type of tolerance for law-breaking is what he meant by freedom, is it really such a good thing? If everyone breaks laws and does their own thing, isn't that the definition of anarchy? And isn't that why society makes laws in the first place?
What about freedom of expression in Thailand? I came into the world naked and being naked is my natural condition. Thailand is a hot country and so it is my right to go to 7-Eleven without any clothes on, right? Thailand is the Land of the Free and so this shouldn't be a problem. Wrong.
The occasional crazy farang goes walkabout in Pattaya in the buff, but this causes great consternation among Thais and it isn't long before the police arrive. You might see lots of female body parts in the nightlife areas of the tourist resorts, but there is actually no tolerance in Thailand for public nudity.
What about freedom of speech? Again, there is very little in Thailand - especially now after the latest coup.
An American friend of mine is very pro-Republican, very pro-NRA and gun lobby, and very pro-Military. He's an extremely nice guy and would help anyone, but his views tend to be on the extreme right.
He often sends me e-mails about the brave heroics of the American military overseas and adds that they lay down their lives selflessly in order to protect the freedom of Americans. In the home of the brave and the land of the free, this nebulous entity referred to as freedom is held very dearly.
However, while watching the late George Carlin on YouTube recently he says that he likes the freedom that Americans used to have, implying that they have no freedom these days.
His definition of freedom seems to be the freedom to do things without other people watching you on CCTV or intercepting your private phone calls and e-mails. He says that social hysteria has been used as a tool to introduce laws that have gradually taken away people's individual rights and freedom. His definition of freedom seems to have more to do with privacy.
What about freedom of choice? The freedom people have to buy and do things they desire is really a case of how much disposable income they have left after paying for the essentials in life. In that case, the majority of Thais do not have freedom of choice because they earn so little and there is so much household debt in the country.
Money can be a two-edged sword. Used in the right way it can give you the freedom to lead the life you want, however it can also be used to buy lots of possessions with which to make prisons for ourselves. Working all the time in order to acquire money is also something that takes away freedom because we are left with no time to do anything.
When I first came to live in Thailand in 2003 I had never had so much freedom in my life. The reason for this was that I had just given up everything in my life. I had no house, no car, no job, no dependents, and all of my worldly possessions were in two small bags. I had money in the bank, there was a very favourable exchange rate at the time, and at any time I could have chosen to have gone anywhere. It was an incredibly liberating freedom.
The moral here is that if you really want to be truly free in Thailand you should abandon all your money and worldly possessions and ordain as a Buddhist monk.
Now, 11 years later, I have never had less freedom in my life. All of my time and money is accounted for before it even arrives. Yet I am in exactly the same place. What happened?
The reason for this is that the amount of freedom you have isn't affected by your location. It is affected by your personal circumstances, and nothing changes your personal circumstances more than having kids. My life now belongs to my family, not me.
This whole subject of 'freedom' is quite fascinating. Citizens of some countries fervently believe that they have more freedom than citizens of other countries, but that isn't necessarily the case. It depends on your personal tastes and your personal circumstances.
Unless you live by yourself on a deserted island, no one has the freedom to do what they want and even if they did live on a deserted island the lack of infrastructure would take away their freedom of choice to do and buy the things they wanted.
And would you really want to live in an anarchic society where everyone did what they wanted? If you're not sure, come to live in Thailand for a few years. One of the biggest problems I have living in Thailand is with people doing whatever they want and there being no law enforcement.
With hindsight I wish I had questioned the Chinese Malaysian guy more about what he meant when he told me that people have lots of freedom in Thailand.
The amount of freedom that you have really depends on your personal circumstances. You can have a lot of freedom in Thailand, or a little. That applies to everywhere and just being in Thailand doesn't necessarily mean that you will have more freedom. And, of course, 'freedom' depends on your own definition of the word. It varies from person to person.
I have experienced Thailand both as a tourist and an expat. The vast majority of tourists only see Thailand as a series of illusions (including me when I visited as a tourist), but illusions lead to delusions.
As a tourist in Thailand the country may appear to offer an incredible amount of freedom, but the reality when living there may be very different.
Monday 2nd June 2014
Yet another horrific minivan crash, this time killing 13 people. It never stops.
Overloaded passenger van hits truck, 13 killed
When you encounter these things on Thai roads and see the way in which they are driven, this kind of thing is very predictable.
The majority of drivers are maniacs who drive extremely aggressively and routinely break traffic laws to get to their destinations quicker. You might think that the authorities would clamp down on minivan drivers because they kill so many people, but nothing ever happens. I remember reading an article about an 80 kmh speed limit being imposed on passenger vans, but it never happened.
The transport companies operating these vans only ever think about profit, whilst no consideration at all is given to passenger safety. The drivers overload the vans to maximise profits for each journey. In order to lower fuel costs they run on gas and many vans fit extra gas tanks.
The additional tanks, along with routine overloading, make the vans too heavy for the standard suspension and braking systems. In addition, in the event of a big collision there is a greater risk of fire and explosions with so much gas on board. No seatbelts are provided for passengers.
None of this makes any difference to the way the drivers drive and I have experienced some truly terrifying minivan journeys in Thailand. It is for this reason that I stopped using them long ago. I now drive myself, but even before I had a car I would always opt to go by bus instead of taking one of these suicide vans.
Unfortunately, there are times when they can't be avoided. On some routes a van is the only option. While in Bangkok last year we decided to visit the Ampawa floating market in Samut Songkram province. This was a case in point where the only option was to go by van.
I was with my wife and young daughter and, as is often the case, it was a most unpleasant journey. The driver reached speeds of 160 kmh and constantly weaved in and out of several lanes of traffic so that he didn't have to slow down.
My advice to tourists visiting Thailand is to avoid minivans like the plague. This may not always be easy because if local Thais are arranging tours and transport for you they will more often than not arrange vans to take you. If you arrange transportation yourself there should be other options, such as buses, or consider hiring a car and driving yourself.