Living In Thailand Blog
Tuesday 24th March 2009
Apart from at least one American reader (probably more), lovers of Patong and Pattaya, numerous Thai touts and taxi drivers, and Indian tailors; the other group of people I have managed to piss off recently were some members of Patong's ladyboy community.
In the evenings they all hang out on Soi Bangla in Patong showing off their breast implants. When they see a tourist with a camera (of which there are many) they pose and encourage the tourist to take a photo.
As soon as the shutter clicks they then demand Bt100 each. Most tourists just pay up, and if not, the ladyboys start their drama queen performances.
This happened to my parents a few years ago. I intervened and told them not to pay. To placate the ladyboy I offered Bt20 but this only angered shim further.
They only have to catch 10 unsuspecting tourists a day to earn Bt1,000. The majority of Thais I know who do honest work earn about one-third of that. For all I know, they may get far more than Bt1,000 a day. And how much tax do you think they pay on that income?
One of the ladyboys tried to get me to take a photo. I asked how much and when he told me Bt100 I walked off muttering under my breath. This upset him and he did his drama queen thing.
This is exactly the sort of greed I dislike intensely in Thailand's tourist areas.
Who's making all the money in Patong? Thai landowners must regard Phuket as some kind of a gift from God. Property prices there are stupid for a country where in most areas a house costs about the same amount as a car.
Plenty of farangs have got involved with the property market but - as a farang who was murdered recently found out - it can be a high risk occupation in Thailand for a foreigner. The working girls and ladyboys must also be earning quite a lot too.
We spent some time with Iss's friend who works at Central Festival. The owner of her shop has several shops in Bangkok and earns a fortune. Iss's friend earns a pittance and rents a cheap room in Phuket town. Her income is only supplemented by the fact that some farangs tip quite generously.
I would imagine that maids and wait staff in Phuket might earn a little more than elsewhere in Thailand, but not much.
How many tourists realise that the people doing the lowest paid jobs in Patong aren't even Thai? Along Patong beach there are several people employed washing dishes. They're Burmese. They look basically the same as Thais - and most speak Thai - but unless you can speak to them and ask questions you will never know.
The Burmese border in Ranong is just up the coast and Thai employers in Khaolak and Phuket use a lot of Burmese labour because it is so cheap. When I visited Khaolak after the tsunami, while it was being reconstructed, the building sites were full of Burmese workers.
Customers and guests in these resort areas are mostly farangs and they are prepared to pay very high prices. The menial work is done by workers who will accept the lowest wages. It's a nice situation for a business owner to be in.
You have to give Thailand's Indian tailors 10 out of 10 for persistence. As you walk past their shops they welcome you and open the door as if you have made an appointment.
Every farang I saw who was treated this way reacted the same way as I did. They just gave a bemused look and, without saying a word, walked straight past. The Indian tailors then just do the same thing with the next tourist, and so on.
The seem to work on the same basis as senders of spam e-mail. If you send spam to 100,000 people it only takes one sucker to make your effort worthwhile.
It's just a shame that you can't filter out Indian tailors the same way you can filter out spam e-mail.
Despite the high presence of farangs in Patong, the driving style there is about the same as anywhere else in Thailand, and pedestrian crossings aren't worth the white paint they are painted with. Everyone races around the one-way system even though there are lots of pedestrians, and no one stops to allow pedestrians to cross the road.
What is interesting is how farangs have adopted the same driving style as Thais and they don't stop at crossings either. They probably stopped for pedestrians when they were in their own countries but in Thailand they don't bother - or they are afraid that if they stop at a pedestrian crossing, the Thai behind won't and they will get rear-ended.
The food in Phuket is excellent. Good Thai food in Thailand is a given. The only place I didn't get on with the food was in rural Isaan. I enjoy som-tum and grilled chicken occasionally but I don't like sticky rice or bplaa-raa (the very heavily fermented fish sauce that northeastern Thais love so much).
In rural Isaan there was no escaping sticky rice and bplaa-raa. The smell of those two things permeated the air wherever I went.
Not only is the Thai food good in Phuket but there is great Western food. I wrote previously that my stomach had started to reject Western food but that is only because the Western food available to me is a poor Thai approximation. In Phuket you can get the real thing. Farangs either prepare the food themselves or there are Thais doing it who have been properly trained.
There are lots of Italians in Phuket and wherever there are lots of Italians the food is always great. Restaurants have real pizza ovens, and pizzas taste as they should - not like Pizza Hut. Even the humble sandwich is a real feast in Phuket whereas sandwiches elsewhere in Thailand can be very disappointing.
There are many bakeries and they make real bread. I saw a guy with two loaves of pumpernickel-type bread in Central. It looked really good. There is also good Indian and Middle-Eastern food. I introduced Iss to Indian food in Singapore and last week I introduced her friend to Indian food in Phuket. They both love it now.
Western food in Phuket is expensive by Thai standards but it is good at least to have the choice. There are still times when I crave certain types of food and would pay anything (almost) but I just don't have the choice.
I wouldn't swap where I live for a tourist area but there are some advantages living in a tourist resort. What I may consider doing later is moving to somewhere that is still away from the tourist places, but where those places are more easily accessible.
As the economy has got worse in recent years it is interesting to see what actions different countries are taking. From about 2006, Thailand started closing its doors to foreigners. Free-spending tourists are still very welcome to come for a few weeks and spend wads of money but certain other types of foreigner are no longer welcome.
Various initiatives have been taken to discourage foreigners from staying long term and I discovered recently that foreigners arriving by road now only get a 14 day stamp in their passport, whereas it used to be 30 days.
Malaysia has booted out a huge number of foreign workers. When the economy was good they were welcome to stay as cheap labour but now they are no longer wanted.
Singapore, on the other hand, has gone completely the other way. My parents were telling me that foreigners now get a 90 day stamp instead of 30. This new arrangement suits them very well because they stay for several months each winter and this means not having to get visa extensions and do border runs.
In tough times Singapore has taken the view that encouraging foreigners to stay might actually help the economy, while Thailand and Malaysia think that closing the doors to foreigners will help.
My brother's permanent residency (PR) status in Singapore was relatively easy to obtain and as a result he has no hassle with immigration. Many foreigners in Thailand have all sorts of immigration problems and even those married with children still only get a renewable (with no guarantees) one-year visa in most cases.
When Thaksin was in power he seemed to be using Singapore as a role model for his new vision of Thailand. They are two extremely different countries in many ways so I didn't think this was a good idea but Thailand could still learn from watching what Singapore does, and the way in which foreigners are managed is just one example.
Monday 23rd March 2009
On the way to Phuket Iss was telling me about a road accident in Phattalung last week.
Three high school girls riding a motorbike were hit by a pickup truck that came from the other side of the road. Three girls riding on a motorbike is a very common sight in Thailand. All three were killed.
Iss seems to think the driver of the truck fell asleep. It doesn't matter how carefully you drive in Thailand, there is no protection from racing, sleepy, or drunk drivers.
I said yesterday that expat farangs soon find out what they need to be careful about in Thailand. Male tourists almost always have a prostitute in tow but expats are often on their own. They are a lot more careful with the girls - and anyway, they can't afford the girls' rates when they live in Thailand permanently.
They are also more careful on the roads. As I was listening to the conversation on the bus between the expat and tourist farangs the other day there were some brief comments about driving.
The tourist mentioned that he was thinking of renting a car the next day. The expat wasn't a wimpy guy. He looked as if he had led a fairly hard life and certainly wasn't scared of taking a risk or two. However, at this suggestion he just sat there shaking his head.
He told the tourist he had hired a car last year. He was driving along a straight, empty road when a pickup truck came out of nowhere and rammed into the side of him. In the truck were five Thai males who had been to a funeral and were very drunk - including the driver.
As he told the tourist, he was in the right and the Thai men were in the wrong but that isn't how things are seen in Thailand. He said that if he had been riding a motorbike he would have been killed.
This ever present danger is something that tourists just don't seem to get. They hire motorbikes and ride around in their swimming gear as if nothing is ever going to happen. As I have written about before, even if they avoid injury, if they hit a vehicle being driven by the wrong Thai they will be in serious trouble.
I was only in Phuket for a short time but on the way back from Phuket town one day there was a big traffic jam as we were going over the hill. It had been caused by farangs involved in a motorbike accident.
The hill is extremely steep and some light rain had begun to fall. I quickly grabbed my camera and got this shot (link opens pop-up image) but the composition isn't good and all the exposure settings were wrong. Even so, it's enough to give you a clue.
The injured guy on the deck is wearing shorts and there is a helmet on the road in the background which was probably unstrapped and came off in the accident. This accident didn't look too bad but the difference between this kind of accident and death in Thailand is only a matter of luck.
I read a report last week about a farang in Pattaya who was killed while riding a motorbike in a very drunken state. Farangs riding motorbikes in Thailand while drunk isn't unusual. If you combine this with Viagra or other drugs and the absence of a helmet or any protective clothing it's a disaster waiting to happen.
Sunday 22nd March 2009
I've just returned from a few days in Patong beach, Phuket. I only ever visit Patong these days to fulfil the duty of meeting my family. I enjoyed Pattaya in 1987, but didn't enjoy it when I returned in 1992 and I've never been back since.
I enjoyed Patong in 1992. I didn't enjoy it when I went back in 1996 but I've had to go back several times since. My family at least have the good sense not to go to Pattaya but they like Patong. I took Iss with me to see my family again, and also because she has been working too hard and needs a break.
As someone who spends his life in Thailand trying to avoid foreigners, going to somewhere the Thais refer to as 'um-per farang' gives me a small problem.
In places like Patong and Pattaya, it's not only the sheer volume of farangs but the highly embarrassing manner in which they behave. Something else I strongly object to is the way that Thais are so greedy in these places.
There was an elderly French couple on the bus as we left. They were like excited kids on Christmas Eve at the prospect of going to Phuket. I sat there trying to console myself that it would only be for a few days and that I would be home soon.
The money-grubbing starts as soon as the bus arrives at Phuket bus station. An army of taxi drivers wait for each bus and descends on the disembarking passengers. Thai passengers are a disappointment to them but the excitement mounts when they spot farangs.
They love farangs who look totally lost, haven't a clue where they are going, don't speak any Thai, and don't know what anything should cost. Those clutching Lonely Planet guides are particularly easy targets.
"Where you go? Where you go?" they shout. "Bpai nai? Bpai nai?" I'm not quite sure what they make of stroppy farangs who reply, "Mai bawk" (I'm not telling you).
Ideally they want long, high-paying fares all the way to the beach. I know that cheap sawng-thaews go to the beach from the market and that is my preferred transport. The market is a short distance from the bus station and normally I walk but having Iss with me it was too far.
At the bus station they want Bt100 to go this short distance. The bus had cost us Bt344 for an eight hour journey but in Phuket they want Bt100 for a five minute journey. I went outside the bus station area where I spoke directly to a tuk-tuk driver and agreed a fare of half the amount they wanted inside.
The touts at the bus station are incredibly rude. Iss didn't like a lot of what was being said but - typical for a non-confrontational Thai - she just ignored all the offensive comments and didn't say anything back.
I have many bad habits, and one of them is that when I generally speak of Phuket I actually only speak of Patong. I think I do this because it is the most popular area among farangs in Phuket.
Phuket is a huge island. It's a complete province in itself, and it still isn't the smallest province in Thailand. It's actually very beautiful. You notice this if you arrive by air, but even when arriving by road you notice what a lovely colour the sea is as you cross the bridge from the mainland.
I really like Phuket town. There is some great colonial architecture and a lot of the old shop houses have been very sympathetically restored, thus preserving the original character - similar to Singapore.
As you walk around you still see the small repair shops full of busy locals and old car and electronic parts undergoing surgery. It's a real working town with schools, markets and all the other things that are typical of provincial Thailand.
We ate at a fabulous restaurant in Phuket town one day called Krua Tum-muh-chaat (Natural Kitchen), which I highly recommend, and accommodation in Phuket town isn't expensive with lots of small hotels and guesthouses where you can get a room for less than Bt400 a night.
We also did a small tour one evening to see the sunset and when you start to drive around you can see what a lovely island it is. The inland areas and a lot of the smaller beach areas are very attractive.
And then there's Patong.
Patong is just a nasty little stain on the landscape, but up from the viewpoint what you realise is that it's actually a very small part of Phuket. It's an ugly part, but a small part nonetheless. Looking down on Patong it was a reminder to me not to refer to the whole of Phuket when talking about Patong alone.
So, what about Patong?
It was actually a lot better this time compared with previous visits. It was very quiet by Patong standards. According to the Thai hotel and guesthouse trade, it is still high season but it is in their interest just to keep 'high season' going for as long as possible to justify high room rates.
With a worldwide recession and tougher immigration laws in Thailand these days, it was quiet and there were room vacancies everywhere.
I noticed lots of non-English speaking farangs this time. The UK seems to be suffering more than most countries from the recession and the pound to Baht exchange rate is very low at the moment.
Brits continue to be the most embarrassing tourists, I am ashamed to say. Almost every fat farang I saw with a shaved head, tattoos everywhere, and wearing a replica football jersey had a British accent.
The most embarrassing scene was watching two East London couples walking around Phuket town. They arrived wearing beach wear and the men weren't wearing shirts. They sounded like extras from the cast of Eastenders, "I fink it's dan 'ere, innit?" They weren't young either, and should have known a lot better.
Thais will never say anything but what on earth can they be thinking when they see this type of thing?
As usual, there were lots of single men in Patong who go purely for the prostitutes. I wrote recently about body language and visual clues in Thailand, and how you get better at reading these clues the longer you have lived in Thailand.
On the basis of what I saw, any foreign man who meets a girl in Patong and then comes unstuck deserves all he gets. There are two kinds of girls in Thailand - those who cause trouble and those who don't.
Every farang tourist I saw with a Thai girl was with the wrong kind of girl. These girls haven't been pushed into prostitution. They're lazy. If they do honest work, they work long hours, it's hard work and they earn a pittance.
As prostitutes they can sleep until lunchtime, party the night away for free, and earn far more money than girls doing honest work. They have an option and no one makes them do what they do. They were all from Isaan.
These girls have absolutely no shame. Old foreign men with 19 year-old Isaan prostitutes wearing tiny shorts and towering shoes are just as common (and ridiculous) a sight in Patong now as they have ever been. Provided a foreign man has money in his pocket, he is never too old, or too repulsive.
One guy I saw looked like Mr Creosote's twin brother but nonetheless he had become the target of an Isaan bar girl.
You can tell from their body language the girls are completely uninterested in the men they are with. He is just a customer for as long as he is in Thailand, and as soon as he goes home there will be more men arriving. The saddest sight was seeing the nice guys who need love and affection just as much as they need sex.
One morning I saw a farang guy walking hand-in-hand with an Isaan bargirl on Patong beach who he'd probably only just met. For him it was like a scene from 'Love Story' (link opens pop-up image). You could see that his senses had suddenly come alive.
He was pointing out all kinds of things to the girl that he'd probably never noticed before, and hoping that she would be feeling the same way. As I watched, she just rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't give a toss about him.
This is the kind of guy who gets his heart broken by Thai girls. As soon as he gets home all he will think about is returning again as quickly as he can; and as soon as he does, that's when things will go horribly wrong.
To be honest, I'm getting a little fed up trying to give foreign men advice because they simply don't heed it. I tell them not to go to places like Patong and Pattaya to meet girls. I tell them to go as far away from the tourist areas as they can and to learn to speak some Thai. But they never listen.
They go to the wrong places and they meet the wrong kind of girls straight away. Next, they try to tell me they understand all the dangers but that this particular girl is different to the rest. All of them always seem to manage to meet the one girl in Thailand who is different from the rest. Funny that. They won't listen to anyone and then they have problems. I give up.
The cutest girl I met was working in a restaurant. There are loads of great Thai girls in Patong working in restaurants and hotels but the farangs don't bother with them. One reason is that nice Thai girls need to be courted first and the men haven't got the patience. They want to have sex straight away. Another reason is that they can't communicate.
The cute girl was a bit abrupt at first until I spoke to her in Thai. She then changed completely. She was very young - only 18. Where I live it is very unusual for girls like her not to be students but she was working, not studying.
That told me a lot. Without any tertiary education, she will only ever be able to get menial work in Thailand. She was working out of necessity to support her family so she must have come from a very poor background.
She knows she could easily make a lot of money as a prostitute but she was a southern Thai girl and generally girls from the south will not take that option, unlike girls from Isaan.
I asked if she liked farang men and she said no. From what I saw in Patong, that's an answer I can easily understand. I asked if she got any interest from farang men. She told me no because farangs like 'sexy sexy'. See my comments above about the wrong type of girls.
Regarding language, it isn't necessary to be able to speak Thai in Patong. In three days I never once heard a farang speaking Thai. They exist but there aren't many of them apparently. A lot of expats seem to take pride in not being able to speak Thai.
An expat farang who came into the restaurant where the cute girl was working was a good example. He said 'hello' in Thai, ordered in English, said 'thank you' in Thai, and then carried on the conversation in English. 'Hello' and 'thank you' seems to be the extent of most expats' ability in the Thai language.
There is a bad attitude regarding language among farangs. I overheard a conversation between two farangs on the bus - one an expat and one a tourist. The tourist said he was in China and, "They didn't speak enough English for us to communicate." He didn't say, "I didn't speak enough Chinese for us to communicate."
Farangs just expect foreign people to be able to speak English. When the expat farang wanted to get off, he couldn't tell the driver in Thai. He was a real Ocker Aussie and told the driver in a thick Australian accent, "Drop us off somewhere here mate, will ya?" Incredible but true.
Most expat farangs seem to live in a little expat bubble. They learn what to be careful about but they start to develop a very cynical attitude about Thais and retreat further into their bubble. It's a strange existence.
The conversation on the bus between the two farangs was mostly about how to save money in Thailand and it then moved on to the subject of beer - a subject that both men could speak about at length. A knowledge of beer, and the ability to consume copious amounts of the stuff, are highly prized skills among farangs. Speaking and reading Thai aren't.
Before I went I had decided just to keep my mouth shut and listen to what Thais had to say about farangs but I ended up speaking quite a lot of Thai. I did this for two reasons.
The first was that I was so embarrassed by farangs that I needed a mechanism to show the Thais that I wasn't the same as them. Secondly, it irritated me that guys living there who knew nothing were always trying to act the big man and impress the tourists. I spoke Thai to annoy them. My Thai isn't very good but they don't know that.
It's a lot easier for foreigners to learn Thai in Patong than where I am. Because there are so many foreigners, there are language schools with special programmes for them. When I wanted some lessons five years ago it was a very unusual request.
I got through a lot of money. The money I took with me would have been enough to last the month under normal circumstances but I was forever dipping into my wallet. If I'm working I can make Bt1,000 last several days but I was getting through several thousand Baht each day in Phuket.
I took the opportunity to eat some Western food that I can't get at home but nothing is cheap in Patong. This includes hotel rooms but this time I wasn't paying for accommodation.
Farangs only have themselves to blame for the money-grubbing attitudes in Patong. I asked around about prices of a sunset tour and the best quote I got was Bt800. In the end, my Thai sister-in-law arranged it through a friend.
This was more expensive (Bt1,000) but I didn't mind because it was a kind of favour. After the tour I paid the driver. My father then walked over and gave the guy a Bt500 tip. It's no wonder that all Thais believe all farangs are incredibly rich.
My parents are typical of farangs who don't have a clue. When thinking about taxi prices they think of how much it costs to go to Heathrow airport from their home in England. They use this as a guide.
What they don't seem to realise is that they are in a country where many agricultural and construction workers work long, hard hours for Bt150 a day. After our driver had used a little petrol, he made a very nice profit for about four hours work.
Now, after my father's effort, the driver will just expect the same from the next bunch of stupid farangs.
I've talked about what Patong has, but there is also something it doesn't have. When I first started to visit Thailand I loved that 'National Geographic' feeling of being in a mysterious, esoteric, tropical Southeast Asian country where everything was different.
You don't have that in Patong. In the big shopping malls such as Central Festival and Jungceylon you could be absolutely anywhere in the world and there are no obvious signs that you are in Thailand.
There are farangs everywhere and farang restaurants everywhere. You can't say that Patong isn't Thailand - the same way that you can't say that Blackpool isn't England or that Las Vegas isn't America - but it is an artificial place that isn't representative of normal Thailand.
It irritates me slightly that foreigners who only ever visit places such as Patong go on about how much they love Thailand. How do they know what Thailand is like? When I write about cultural behaviour in Thailand it won't mean anything to them if they've only ever experienced tourist areas.
As I have said elsewhere, the great thing about Thailand is that the tourist areas are very clearly segregated. Apart from when I have to go somewhere to meet someone, I can very easily avoid the places I don't like.
I know that Patong and Pattaya have lots of supporters and it's great that those people have somewhere to go that they like. I don't like those places but they are easy to stay away from. Foreigners planning to come to Thailand as tourists or expats need to decide what is important to them and then decide on an appropriate location.
I realise that I am among a minority of foreigners in Thailand so therefore my views will be unusual. We all have different views. The current situation means that regardless of what foreigners want, there is somewhere in Thailand that will suit them, and that can only be a good thing.
Will I go back to Phuket again?
Of course I will. The next time I meet my family in Thailand it will probably be in Patong. But apart from that, I wouldn't mind going back to Phuket town voluntarily to really explore and to get some photos.
Also, I wouldn't mind exploring the non-touristy parts of the island. As I said above, it's a beautiful island and the main town is great fun. The only thing I'm quite certain about is that I won't be returning to Patong unless I am obliged to meet someone there.
Monday 16th March 2009
Sometimes I feel like an Agony Aunt here. Last week I spent a lot of time on the phone trying to save a wedding. Today I was called by another friend who needs to talk because she is mai sabai jai (her heart isn't happy).
For somewhere labelled 'The Land of Smiles' there is an awful lot of unhappiness in this country. That applies everywhere, of course, but Thai cultural behaviour makes the problems here a little different.
In a culture where everyone has to smile and put on a brave face to the outside world, it means that a lot of problems are bottled up. This is different to the West where we are told 'a problem shared is a problem halved'.
I know that the girls I've mentioned will try to act normally around their work colleagues despite being desperately unhappy inside. It's not healthy.
They need to offload their problems and because I am outside of their culture they seem to feel more comfortable doing it with me. I also encourage Thai friends to do this because it isn't healthy to keep feelings bottled up.
Feelings of anger present another problem in Thailand. Being jai rawn (having a hot heart) is not a good quality in a land where everyone is supposed to be jai yen (calm, cool and collected).
Sometimes it is good just to blow off some steam to get those feelings out into the open but the Thais won't do it. However, there is a danger that if the person doesn't let off any steam in a controlled way, then they might reach breaking point.
When that happens the red mist can descend and Thais can completely lose control of their actions. The result isn't pretty.
I was on the receiving end on one occasion when I complained to a minivan driver who kept stopping to collect passengers when the van was already overloaded. To say that he didn't appreciate a mere farang complaining was a bit of an understatement. He went crazy.
If you are around when a Thai loses it, just hope there aren't any guns around. Anger, a public loss of face, and loaded firearms are a very dangerous combination in Thailand.
There's another reason Thais get very unhappy and that's because they don't listen to what monks tell them.
A lot of my emotional problems were fixed when I started to get a better understanding of Buddhism. Understanding that 'Life is Suffering' means that I have no expectations in life any longer.
I no longer crave things and if I experience something pleasant I don't get attached to the sensation because I understand that nothing in life is permanent. There are some very simple truths in life that, once understood, can make a big difference to your outlook; and once you start thinking differently a lot of the disappointment in life is removed.
When I look at how Thais carry on, I don't see them thinking the same way. Many crave money and material things in an unhealthy, almost obsessive, way. They get very attached to people and emotions and then, when something changes, they suffer badly.
I find it a bit ironic that I didn't have the benefit of Buddhist teachings in my early life but some knowledge gleaned later in life has helped me. On the other hand, Thais (most of whom are Buddhist) get this teaching but it doesn't seem to help them very much.
For many Thais, their idea of Buddhism just seems to be about short-term, conspicuous merit-making and the personal benefits that can be derived from such actions.
The price of second-hand cars in Thailand is ridiculous. I saw a used Mercedes E Class saloon today for Bt2,700,000, which is about £54,000. For that sort of money I would be thinking about much better cars than an ordinary Mercedes saloon. But it's not just luxury cars.
Even 15 year-old pieces of junk are being sold for around Bt100,000 while, in England, the owner would be lucky to get one-tenth of that.
My parents in the UK tried to sell their old car a couple of years ago but ended up giving it away. They bought it new and for most of its life it just sat inside the garage. Even after 10 years it looked like a new car but they still couldn't sell it.
Why does this situation exist in Thailand? Is it because demand outstrips supply? Er, no.
Most Thais live for the present and don't think about the future. They somehow find the money for a down payment on a car and buy a car on finance but find that by the time of the second repayment, they can't afford it so the car gets returned to the finance company to be sold again.
There are used car dealerships everywhere and they are all full of stock. So it has nothing to do with supply and demand.
My theory is that it has to do with the Thai love of material things. They love material things and worship brands such as BMW and Mercedes like gods. In the UK a 15 year-old piece of crap with a BMW badge on the back is still a piece of crap, but Thais are unable to see beyond the badge.
Take a look at what type of used car you can buy in the UK at 911 Virgin. For half the amount of what is being asked for that Mercedes saloon in Thailand, you can buy an awful lot of used Porsche in the UK.
911 Virgin sold a used Mercedes SLK recently for the equivalent of about Bt300,000. It was a few years old but it had been serviced properly, taken care of, and it looked like a decent car.
You just wouldn't see that in Thailand. A Mercedes sports model here is so lusted after that even the cheapest, crappiest second-hand Mercedes SLK would be a lot more expensive.
It always pleases me when one of my observations is confirmed by a Thai without any prompting. I have several different massage girls and we chat a lot. They are a great source of information.
The other day one told me that farangs like to show off with knowledge (kwaam roo) but Thais like to show off with material things. She hit the nail on the head and this is exactly what I have observed for a long time.
Farangs do indeed like to show off with knowledge, and Americans in particular are guilty in this respect. I have met Thais who are very knowledgeable on certain subjects but they seem almost embarrassed to admit it.
I was helping a Thai student with his PhD defence presentation a few years ago but it was very understated. I wanted him to tell his audience why his research was valuable. At first he struggled to think why.
His research was about palm oil production and he eventually told me that the cultivation process he had developed could increase the yield of oil by a significant amount. What he had done could vastly increase profits but he felt reluctant to tell people.
On the other hand, when it comes to gold, amulets, jewellery, cars and other material things Thais are terrible show offs.
I've been teaching the teachers at the school where I teach but the school is closed at the moment. It's wonderful. The school has lovely grounds but normally there are 3,000 young, screaming girls and it is hardly peaceful. If you walk past any school in Thailand, the noise coming from within is normally deafening.
If you don't live in Thailand you might think it is a quiet, calm and peaceful tropical realm full of Buddhist temples but you couldn't be further from the truth. Noise is one of the biggest complaints from expats living in Thailand.
I would estimate that about half of all vehicles in Thailand have modified exhaust systems. Thai boys are the ultimate boy racers and the first thing they do to their vehicle is to add an after-market fat exhaust tail pipe.
Sticking a fat tail pipe on the end of the exhaust without modifying anything else makes no difference to the performance, but it makes an old Honda Civic sound like a racing car. And that, after all, is the desired effect.
Evenings are particularly bad and can make any provincial town in Thailand sound like Brands Hatch. The boy racers complement this with 6,000 Watt sound systems so, in addition to the roar of the exhaust pipe, you get a constant BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
In the grounds of the school there are quite a lot of tropical birds and I could actually hear them singing; a sound I hear when I'm in Singapore but very rarely hear in Thailand.
When Thais play music they only ever play it at one volume - loud. It's another one of those things that you can't do anything about so you have to try to get used to it (or put cotton wool in your ears).
No matter how long I'm in Thailand, there are just some things I can't get used to. As I've said many, many times the driving drives me nuts. In another sawng-thaew yesterday, the driver drove as if he was qualifying for a Grand Prix. Every time he set off he just floored the accelerator.
If someone was in his way he didn't slow down. He simply drove faster and laid on his horn. At one point I felt physically ill. After having avoided being in an accident for so long, I feel as if my luck is sure to run out soon.
What you have to remember is that Thais are never in a hurry to do anything. So, therefore, why do they drive everywhere as if their lives depended on getting from A to B as fast as is humanly possible?
Sawng-thaew drivers with passengers already on board will happily wait by the roadside with the engine running hoping for more passengers to arrive, in the hoping of earning a few more Baht.
Quite often no one comes so they waste their time (and the time of their passengers onboard) but they don't care. Time doesn't matter. Yet as soon as they start to drive, they're racing again.
Another thing I can't get used to is their obsession with skin colour. Last week I asked my students to practice conversation skills. One had to make a statement and the others had to ask questions in order to continue the conversation.
One girl said, "Last week I went swimming." I wanted questions such as, "Who did you go with?" "Where did you go?" "Was the water cold?" etc.
The first question was, "Did your skin turn black?"
Only in Thailand ... as they say.