Thailand: The dark side

My last installment from Thailand regards some of the darker sides of Thai society. Thailand is known as a "land of smiles", but this is only half the truth. Oftentimes the Thais are merely gritting their teeth and accepting fate. This is a deeply hierarchic society, where everybody is somewhere on a ladder, and where they've got their very strong ideas on who's below them and who's above.

For all the laid back, relaxed tolerance of certain social mores which we only recently have come to accept in the western world, this is also a deeply conservative society. There are lots of things one simply does not DO in Thaland if one wishes to remain a part of decent society. Most Thais will never wear shorts, for example. Most Thai women must be persuaded to take a dip in the pool, and you'll never see them walking on the beach in a bikini.

Their conservatism also extends into the religious sphere. Thai Buddhism mayt seem relaxed and tolerant, and to some extent it IS. You go along to get along, generally speaking. You throw the beggar or the stray dog a bone and everybody lives another day. I doubt that there is anything like malnutrition because of poverty in Thailand. On the other hand, Buddhism runs every part of your life. Pretty much every taxi- or tuk-tuk driver has an assembly of heathen mumbo-jumbo on his dashboard, to protect him from accidents. Seat belts, which may actually save your life, is entirely optional.

There is also very little of the drive for personal betterment that has brought the western world all its riches, and has manifested itself in sweet, sweet capitalism, entreprenurship and a can-do attitude. Most Thais are happy with a chicken, a bowl of rice and a beer. This may also be a result of their religion; if your focus is on the next life, why work hard in this? An interesting statistic here: Ethnic Chinese, who have a much more disciplined version of Buddhism make up 10-15% of the population and 85-90% of the richest people in Thailand. This can not be a coincidence.

Finally, Thailand is, for all its friendly and polite people also a completely lawless society. It is almost impossible to overstate the degree to which just about everyone is corrupt. If you have money and status, you can get away with almost anything, including murder. I spoke with a westerner in Thailand who had seen with his own eyes a guy get shot and killed by a restaurant owner, over an argument about music. Later in the evening someone killed the guy's wife. With no one to argue the case in court, or demand damages, the place closed for a brief while, then opened again under a new name, but with the same owner. The police were paid off.

Generally speaking, tourists are safe; nobody wants to kill the golden goose. Yet, with all the tourists there are bound to be some conflicts, and people are beaten up or killed. However, the media hushes it up so as not to harm the tourist industry. If you ever see a news story about westerners killed in Thailand, you can bet your sweet ass it's written off by the cops as suicide. Again, I've spoken to westerners living in Thailand, who speak the language, and they'll tell you another story than the glossy, rosy official version.

Now, this is not to scare anyone away from traveling to Thailand. If you don't do anything stupid and take normal precautions, you're likely to be fine. Crime is still much lower than in most western countries. Your money will last you much longer, and if you're there over a long time, you may even come to appreciate the slower pace of life.

As for me, I've had enough.