Am I Thai, or a farang?

 

Am I Thai, or a farang?

As my previous blogs say, I became a Thai citizen in 2012. I have a Thai ID card, own land, have a Thai passport, and head of a blue Tabian baan and I'm allowed to vote.

The thing is, many Thai people still regard me as a farang. They say I do things same as a farang. On the other hand, many Australians and Americans say I do things same like a Thai/Asian.

One of the reasons Thai people give me is ,"you can't speak Thai". That's only a half truth. I can speak Thai well enough to buy food, ask where's the toilet, I can say excuse me when I want to get disembark from the SkyTrain. I can't have complex conversations about very technical issues though.

Such as making a Tabian baan, or buying land, I need my wife to do translation.

But what about Thai people whom cannot speak due to a disability? Are they not Thai? 

Speaking of doing things the "farang way", I see it as doing it the efficient way.

For instance, when I go to a Mhoo Kata buffet in Thailand, I'll take a plate, choose the food I want and eat it myself. On the other hand, many (not all), Thai people who've come to a buffet with me, will have a group discussion about which food they should get, everyone is tasked with getting certain food, they bring it to the table, have another discussion about what food to get, and repeat the process for 20 minutes.

The reason this bothers me is these Thai people have tasked me with bringing certain food to the table, and I'm not supposed to eat until everyone has all the food they want, like I said, it can take over 20 minutes.

An Aussie guy whom went to a mhoo Kata buffet with his Thai lady friend and her friends experienced this, and as he said "a lot of fucking around". He said he went there to eat and relax.

It seems to me, many Thai people operate like a collective (to the extent it would give the Borg from Star Trek a run for their money). Many Thai people I've met seem to think what the majority is doing it automatically the right way, without doing their own, independent research first.

 On the other hand, Australians and Americans say I'm much like an Asian, because I'm reserved and I don't like to say out loudly what I'm thinking to every person and their mother.

I've also rubbed many Australians and Americans the wrong way, because when I tell Australians I own 2 houses, bought a BMW or own expensive things, they'll say I'm a "show off", yet in Thailand it's ok to show nice things you have because of "face".

Thai people often show their new phone, car, house, even their bank account balance on Facebook.

Then again, if an Aussie whom is living day to day rents a nice new home and talks about it non-stop, other Australians seem to be OK with it. Australians say they "back the underdog".

In 2005, I lived in the U.S, in Ohio, and I had an American girlfriend. She said I talked about money "too much", but to put some context in on it, I simply tried to tell her after we buy a house and own it outright (no mortgage), don't need to pay rent, can use the money we save to pay for health insurance (which is a must in America), pay for us and our children to go to college, so we all have a better chance at a good life.

Her friends and other American women I spoke with said the same as her, I talk too much about money, but I think they had a one day at a time outlook on life.

Back then, you could buy a house in the town of Xenia in Ohio for 30'000 USD. 

See, Thai people have a saying "can't eat love" and I agree with it, it's reality, it's the truth. Many westerners marry each other out of love, but the divorce rates in Western countries are over 50% in first 5 years. Where as divorce rates in Thailand are 39%, and I know Thai people whom married for financial security or through arranged marriages, and they're still together after 10 years.

On the other hand, Thai women like it when I talk about buying a house, they say it's good to have plans for the future, and it even makes them interested in dating me.

Some Thai women have said they feel hot or aroused when I talk about fiscal economics, not because they're after my money, it's because they say many Thai men spend all their money on alcohol and gambling, so if they meet a guy who has plans for the future, it makes them excited to know him.

Above I mentioned how many Australians don't like when I talk about owning multiple lots of lands, or buying a BMW, well my Thai friends congratulated me each time I bought land.

I think good friends should be supportive, even if you're in a better situation than them financially.

My Thai mother said "you will never fully be a part of Thai people's world", she ain't wrong there, but I never integrated into Western society either. I didn't like many of the western ways of doing things, but I did keep some western values and traditions, such as Christmas and Easter, plus I love vintage toys from the 80s from American series, and I like American pop culture, and sometimes I feel like a burger and fries as comfort food.

I mainly prefer Japanese video games, and I like anime.

I prefer western music over Thai music. 

A long time ago, I said "if you're a Thai citizen, you're Thai". Many years ago, I had an argument with a Malaysian girl. She is a citizen of Malaysia, but of Thai ancestry. She identified as "Thai", fine, go for it, but she said she was planning to enter Thailand with her Malaysian passport, and overstay the visa exemption, and just live in Thailand. She said she is Thai and they have to let her live in Thailand. I warned her she'll be arrested as an overstayer, she insisted her plan would work, but backed out later claiming "I've changed my mind, because Malaysia is a better country".

I'll end this blog by talking about an experience that will make your blood boil.

In 2013, me and my Thai ex girlfriend entered Laos via Nong Kai land border crossing, using our Thai passport, from memory we paid a 200 baht entry fee, no problems.

In fact we enjoyed Laos, eating delicious cheap food at the same places the locals ate at (if it's good enough for the locals, it's good enough for me).

We went to the night market next to the Mekong, it was a lovely experience. We were in Laos for only 4 whole days, so we couldn't see everything.

Anyways the following year, me and her decided to visit Laos again, this time 4 of her Thai friends came along with us.

We used the land border crossing at Udon Thani. Anyways, my Thai ex girlfriend knew about the dangers of touts, as me and her experienced many of them in Cambodia.

Anyways, after we exited Thailand, we were in "no man's land", an area in between 2 countries, and we were approached by a couple of touts.

One of the touts told me some bullshit that I can't use my Thai passport to enter Laos, because my Thai passport says I was born in Australia, and that I needed to use my Australian passport and pay 1500 baht for a visa, which is considerably more than what my Australian father paid for a visa to enter Laos the previous year.

The tout told me "the rules had changed" and I couldn't use my Thai passport anymore for the reasons mentioned.

Anyways, I tried to stay calm and get my Thai passport back off the tout, but he aggressively insisted I couldn't use my Thai passport, and that we needed him to do the processing.

To make matters worse, the Thai ex girlfriend yelled and argued with me, telling me to listen to the tout, which made getting my passport back harder.

Basically it felt like she was thinking "you're just a farang, what would you know"?

I eventually got the passport back, and I entered Laos with my Thai passport again, no problems, and I paid the 200 baht fee as expected.

My ex and her friends paid 300 baht to enter (the tout did the so-called processing), hence the tout made an easy 500 baht of my ex and her friends.

After meeting the ex and her friends on the other side, I told her I paid 200 baht to enter, he's a tout , and you just got scammed. She told me to "shut up", and at this point I realised I had no future with her, because she was more worried about fitting in than thinking independently.

Then the tout told us the same shit the touts in Cambodia told us, he works for the government, and it's his job to take Thai people around Vientiane in his van for free, because Thai people have "much money".

The ex told me the tout told her he's Thai, but she asked me why can't he speak Thai properly? I told her you just answered your own question.

Anyways, I had no choice to get in the van with the rest of the group (yes, mommy told me never ride with strangers), but I needed  her friend's husband to drive me back to the bus station in Udon Thani, plus my ex often didn't carry much money with her.

During the bus trip, one of my ex's friends mentioned she felt like a "VIP", more like "VSP", for very stupid person.

Now, y'all probably asking why didn't I do more or say more, the thing is yelling and shouting will only make Thai people angry at you and telling Thai people they're wrong will cause them to lose face and be even more uncooperative.

So yeah, we went to a dull restaurant, inside a plain looking room, food overpriced and nothing special. And a bunch of other obvious tourist traps, and he got his name marked off at every place he took us to.

The ex was actually educated and smart when she wanted to be, believe it or not, but when she's with her Thai friends, she loses 50 IQ points. Same goes for many of the other Thai women I've been with, they are so focused on fitting in, they will believe anything their Thai friends or the majority tell them, without doing any research.

Prime examples are when my Thai lady friends, or Thai women I've dated have told me things such as "Thai people with 2 nationalities cannot own land in Thailand", "Thai people born outside of Thailand cannot own land in Thailand", "America has free healthcare", "if you work in a farang country for 3 years you'll have enough money to buy a house in that farang country " (despite house prices in farang countries being tens of times higher, plus don't forget food prices 10 times higher and you need to rent a place whilst you're saving money for a deposit).

They believed all of this, because their Thai friends and mainstream media told them it's true. Even though I lived in Australia until age 29, and I know for a fact most Australians will never own a house in their lifetime. Apparently, her Thai friends whom have never lived or worked in Australia know more about Australia than I do.

But there is some Thai people whom regard me as Thai, and whom say you are Thai roi (100)%. I can't put a ratio on Thai people who say I'm Thai compared to those whom say I'm not, but as I've said many times, wherever you live, you need to take the good with the bad.