The good and bad farang in Thailand

 Some Westerners have accused me of being , "Xenophobic", or even straight out "racist" towards westerners. If you've read my blogs, I talk about good and bad Thai and farang people in many of my blogs. I've even talked about what I like and dislike about both Thai and Western culture.

I also want to say I try to inform Thai people about what really happened when those boys were rescued in the cave in Chiang Rai. First, Thai news sources hinted the possibility of people from Myanmar kidnapping the boys.

Thai news outlets say it was a joint effort by farang and Thais that rescued the boys, and technically it's true, Thai people did things to help, but let's face it, if it wasn't for British/Irish divers actually carrying the boys out, an Australian doctor giving the drug to anesthetize the boys to make it much easier for the divers to carry the boys and American scientists making important calculations about water levels in the cave, the boys and coach wouldn't have survived.

Anyways, certain places in Pattaya seems to attract the worst farang. They will go out of their way to pick a fight with you, and often it's British men when they're in a group because they use the numbers game. Certain experiences I've had include Christmas Eve 2015 when me and the Thai lady from Sissaket I've mentioned in other blogs, I'll refer to her as "D", were entering a Big C in Pattaya, 2 young British men sitting next to each other on the steps and looking very miserable tried to pick a fight with me, well one of them did, he accused me for needing to "pay to have D be with me".

One time me and D were trying to buy a Kebab, 2 young Scottish men approached D  and asked her "how much"? right in front of me.

At a cheapy 500 baht per night hotel in Central Pattaya, the sex tourists would have arguments with the bar girls in the swimming pool or in the hallway about "how much he's supposed to pay her", and him and the bar girl will exchange insults. While me and D were in the pool, a British guy called the bar girl he was with a "cunt", because she told him finish their session and pay her, but he wanted to do some swimming first. She responded with explicites of her own, saying "you fucking shit man".

Heck, when a British guy and bar girl argued in the hall, he said to her "bak mah", which means mouth like a dog, or a very disrespectful way of calling someone a liar. She responded by calling him a "mother fucking bitch".

Yeah, the old saying is you get what you pay for. Some of the sex tourists would play this Techno Rap music very loudly from their room, while leaving the door open and chatting with their buddies in the hall at 2 AM.

I saw D covering her ears when she tried to sleep, so we moved to a much better hotel, in a quieter part of Pattaya in Northern Pattaya.

You might be thinking, why did I bring D to Pattaya? Well, she had relatives in Chonburi and wanted visit to visit them, plus I like visiting the seaside, so I choose a cheaper room closer to the beach, but I was a bit of a cheap Charlie, and choose a cheap room that was nearly all British sex tourists.

Anyways, the hotel in Northern Pattaya was 800 baht per night, suited for families, like I said it was a quiet area near the gated communities. It was run by an Australian guy, who always made us feel welcome. The previous hotel had no restaurant or breakfast option, this hotel included breakfast as part of the 800 baht package. Bacon rashes, eggs and toast. But some mornings the owner would surprise us with a breakfast buffet or Pho.

It wasn't totally isolated, only a 15 minutes baht baht ride to Central Pattaya) Pattaya beach.

The farang staying at this hotel were a lot nicer and calmer. Most of the farang staying there were older Europeans, including Brits and Chinese families.

So yeah, even in Pattaya, there is some nicer, quiet places that aren't too bad.

Where I live in Lom Sak Phetchabun, there is a sizable farang community, usually men married to Thai women, often Euro/British and Australians, and I've never had a problem with the farang in Phetchabun.

It's quite easy to see really, many of the shitty farang in Pattaya don't want to return to the U.K where they won't be able to get laid from a pretty woman, he'll return to his 9 to 5 routine and no beautiful beaches, so when it's nearly time for them to return to the U.K, he'll try to spoil the fun time for as many farang in Thailand as he can.

But yeah, I've heard about the Bogan Australians in Phuket, whom behave badly on the news. Truthfully, I haven't spent much time in Phuket, so I can't really talk about bad experiences in Phuket, but I do know how the bogans behave.

And yes, I know about the Russian Mafia in Phuket, that's all I'll say.

That's not to say Phuket isn't worth visiting, because it is, with its stunning beaches and limestone, but you take the good with the bad.

I lived in Bangkok for 4 years, and strangely enough I never really had any problems with the farang in BKK. I did see farang men  fighting other farang men in BKK maybe once or twice and a farang man fighting a Thai guy twice, but that's about it.

The places I mostly lived in in BKK were an apartment in Thong Lor that had mostly Japanese people and western English teachers, the guesthouse in Thong Lor owned by the Indian guy I referred to as "M, which had mostly Euro backpackers and the apartment in Victory that was mostly Singaporean and Malaysian guests.

Actually, at the outdoor seating area of the apartment in Victory, I was socialising with a group of Singaporean people who sat near me and struck up a conversation with me first. They were friendly enough, but some Malay looking Malaysian guy (not Chinese Malaysian) joined us, and straight away he tried to pick a fight with me about Thai culture.

I told him I'm Thai, but he pointed out I'm only half Asian and mentioned he's full Asian and claimed "he has the essence of what makes a person Asian". I tried to tell him Thailand and Malaysia have some big cultural differences, such as Malaysia is mostly Muslim where as most  Thai people are Buddhist, and don't like confrontation or angry people.

He got up, and said "I'm finished taking to you, have a nice day Asian wannabe".

Now, it's time for me to have another go at character profiling.

This Malaysian guy, he was short, dark- skinned and I'm willing to bet no Thai women would think he's handsome. Unless he has a lot of money (which I doubt because he's staying in a budget apartment), I think no Thai women are interested in him, especially if he's a Muslim, plus his angry, self-centered attitude.

He probably came to Thailand thinking he'll meet a beautiful Thai girl, because many of my Thai women friends say Malaysian men often flirt with her and try to entice her by "offering her a better life in Malaysia".

I just want to say I spent 2 years living in Penang Malaysia, because I had a Malaysian girlfriend at the time, and while it was a nice place to live, I much prefer Thailand. Especially since me and her had to keep it a secret we were living together because she's Muslim.

Many Malaysian men come to Thailand trying to have "fun" without the Islam Department breathing down their neck, or try to entice a pretty Thai lady to come with him to Malaysia and will try to persuade her to convert to Islam.

But yeah, it seemed to me most of the shitty tourists I encountered in BKK were Malaysians or Indians. I had a negative experience with a Malaysian lady in BKK, long story short, she thought all Thai people want to move to Malaysia, even though Malaysia isn't that much richer than Thailand. I told her I have Australian citizenship, and I've lived in Malaysia, but I much prefer Thailand, and she changed her attitude from looking down at me thinking I'm a lower income Thai person to her being quiet.

As for poorly behaved Indians, I'm talking about them constantly pushing in line, trying really pathetic scams on me such as asking "which country do you come from? Then they'll say they have a family member who lives there, and will ask "can I have a look at your money"? And they'll have somebody with them, perhaps a lady whom you think is their wife, and she'll distract you and when you look to see where this Indian guy is, he's run off into a crowded area. 

Not a good scam, but you'll be surprised how many people fall for it. These Indians will claim they are from Dubai or say they work in the U.K in order to make you trust them more. And some Indians try to sell me things aggressively when I'm eating at an outdoor restaurant, and I'm sure they don't have a work permit.

The only time a farang in BKK has directly tried to cause me problems was actually a British lady at the airport, whom butted in to a conversation I was having with a Thai lady, because the Thai lady noticed I have a Thai passport, and I explained to her I'm a dual national of Thailand and Australia, and this British scag had to have her say and told me it not right for anyone to hold multiple citizenships.

That's the only incident in BKK I can remember where a farang has directly tried to cause me problems.

I've lived in or visited many regions in Thailand, including some of the Isan regions (Buriram, Surin, Udon Thani, Nong Kai, Khon Kaen), as well as Lanna (Nan, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phrae), West (Mae Sae), central (Pijit), and course BKK, eastern and western coastal and South Thailand, and even Arunyanpetit, as well as others and I encountered farang in most of these regions, but never had a problem.

Like I said, it seems to be only in certain places in Pattaya where I constantly felt unsafe.

I'll end on a funny story in good ol Pattaya, it was on New Year's Day in 2016, and me and D were walking to 711, and saw 2 fat, older farang walking past each other, and they tried to be alpha males, and instead of giving each other walking room they tried to shoulder/elbow the other out of the way.

They exchanged insults, and tried to wrestle each other, but neither was strong enough to pull the other to the ground, it looked like they were standing there cuddling each other. And yes, at least one of them was British.

Anyways, after seeing it, me and D laughed, and she asked me what were they fighting about? I told her and she said "so stupid", and asked why they need to fight about small thing.