Thailand
Like Cambodia, I found Thailand to be a land of very large extremes. I was in Thailand for over a month and a half and during my time there I found myself feeling very large highs and very low lows (obviously the highs outweigh the lows as I didn’t just decide to up and leave). I still have so many thoughts on Thailand that months later, I still am having trouble putting them into paragraph form. So here’s my bullet points.
Beautiful place and climate.
Interesting culture
Particularly how they are still trying to find themselves and define what it means to be “Thai”
Great food and an efficient tourist infrastructure.
Temples are cool. Architecturally, I think Cambodia is better, but the Thais like their golden statues and temples and that’s really cool.
Thailand feels colonized and invaded. There are so many foreigners (mainly white and Chinese folk) everywhere that Thais cater to, and many of the foreigners go out their way to learn nothing about Thailand. The Thais put up with it because they need the money (aka extreme capitalism) and because:
Thais are colorist/racist. They deal with a good deal of internalized inferiority it seems which is shocking because they were never physically or militarily colonized .
While I’m not against the sex industry, I am against the proliferation of older white men with underaged Thai teens and children, and how accepted this is. Many older white men come to Thailand for the express purpose of raping Thai children and teenagers, and no one seems to find it odd enough to put a stop to it. I was at a shittier mall near a rail line and I saw this older European man, maybe French or Italian, touching teenage Thai girls. Aghast, I looked at the security guard and he just kind of chuckled and looked away. I had to walk up to the European guy, extend my hand, introduce myself as “Patrick Easley from the United States” in my most stern voice and then ask him his name and where he was from. The dude let out the most pathetic smile and quickly speed walked away. It was disgusting.
Thai people treat people with darker skin, especially Black folk, worse than they treat the men that are obviously there to literally rape their children. It was horrifying, infuriating, and degrading. It’s funny because I met a couple of Thai people that told me that they love my skin color. The thing is, because society forces so many of them to bleach their skin since childhood, most don’t even know their natural skin color. True story, when I was in Cambodia, a taxi driver was a bit darker than me and he complimented me on “keeping my natural skin color” and that “people in Bangkok and people in Cambodia are the same color, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at them.” So there’s that. I’m sure many Thais and I would share a similar complexion if they didn’t bleach their skin BUT many African Americans, at one point, didn’t know their natural hair texture due to what I expect are similar reasons so I guess I can’t judge too much.
I found a lot of Black folks, particularly African/Black Americans, in Chiang Mai and it really was a boon for my temperament.
I saw and heard a good amount of racism towards the Thais by Europeans and Australians. “Ants” was a common slur (which was new to me).
I could see myself returning to Thailand before I turn 30 with friends perhaps but certainly not after that. There are much better places to go and see if you only want a beach and cheap food.
Thailand loves their king and that took a bit to get used to.
Like many other places in Asia, opinions of African Americans are shallow and purposefully ignorant at best.
The Thai Islands, minus Phuket, are very fun and I’d go back go back with a group. However, I really don’t think Thailand is or should be “goals.”
For me Thailand encapsulates some of the worst parts of capitalism in the world, but if you ignore all of the woes and as an Australian once told me “Thais sometimes treat white people poorly too so don’t treat the Thais like people, but as workers at a resort then Thailand becomes the best place on Earth”. I’m not sure I can do that, but I’m sure that would’ve made things better.
I had a slight flare up (have I mentioned that I have a chronic Autoimmune disease in this blog? I feel like I haven’t). The hospitals in Bangkok were lovely, and my rheumatologist was honest and thorough. I can see how the medical tourism industry in Thailand is so well regarded.
Bangkok is gross and overrated.
Chiang Mai is lovely. I could see why so many digital nomads make it home.
I made a lot of friends during my 1.5 months there. There are so many young Westerners that it’s kinda hard not to. Some were better than others, but it was ok overall.
All in all, Thailand was a lot. I’m glad I went, and I’m not above going back, but it was a lot. Maybe I’ll try to put some of this stuff in more formalized writing soonish.
