An American (Cocker) in BKK
Hello everyone, this is my first entry on the metro! hello hello hello (^_^)! Nice to meet you all! Let’s see how my Bangkok is today…
This morning I was speeding on the express way DinDang-ChangWattana. There’s a sign *blink blink* *80 Kmph* and there’s the sign “Beware of speed monitoring VDO” .. but everyone’s at 120Kmph–the average speed for this highway. Then I saw a police on a motorbike behind me in the mirror. By instinct, I was like ‘shit I’m on the fastest lane!!’. Then I realized, this is not U.S. and it didn’t take so long that the motorbike easily passed me.. I guess he was at 140Kmph and actually drove even more dangerously than citizen do. Oh well, what’s new? But, I
Welcome to the metblog… it must be terrible for you to be surrounded by people who “have attitude as general stupid farang that look down on us“, at the same time deciding that all the other authors are “…mostly (may be all) farang (8 of them) for Bangkok part. Some are expats, some are students whose family working here and more“.
Yes, quotes from your blog, April 2nd.
So you view all farang as stupid and nasty a people who look down on poor poor thais (although you do admit some of them are right) and then you do a first post that doubts the integrity and worth of the Thai Police?
Welcome to farang land. You fit *right* in.
Him, I apologize if you get offended by my personal blog on Apr 2nd. But let me clarify:
1. the real quote in my blog is
I forgot the link, in case anyone care to see that entry,
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=blur_queen
then, look for apr 2nd. – Cheers.
When I first got here, I was terrified at the speed vehicles travelled on the roads, especially the expressways. Now I’m used to it and as an added benefit, I get to where I’m going that bit quicker :)
Hey Jib… I don’t think anyone here has been disrespectful of Thai people in this blog, and the majority writing on this blog are infact Thai. We may whinge about stuff in Bangkok, but don’t we all whinge about stuff? I certainly whinged about a lot of things in London. I’m sure you whinged about stuff in the US when you lived there.
Anyway, being a ‘stupid farang’, I just want you to know that we choose to live here not because we HAVE to but because we love this place and it’s craziness.
Hey, I totally understand. Honestly i think all the bloggers here are just decently whinge.
But the first comment quoted my blog in the sense that change the meaning, so I need the fix that. I don’t want to be a stupid Thai :”)
Jib, you didn’t particularly offend “me” but I find your double standards attitude quite naive and pathetic. You whine about how you hate to see thais treated a certain way by foreigners, but the sad fact is that you consistently treat foreigners in exactly the way you *don’t* want to see Thais treated.
If you don’t want to be a “stupid thai” then stop labelling people communally as “stupid farang”.
And I did not misquote your entry at all – I didn’t interpret or mis-interpret anything at all. I didn’t change any meaning and nor did I need to – you sufficiently revealed your true feelings for me not to need to do anything.
I forgot to say, here’s a tip: If you don’t like what you read in the comments, try putting your own comment rather than going away and bitching about the people behind their backs.
Him, you misquoted my blog. You changed “Some of them” to “All” not literally but descriptively.
And for your tip, I wrote that in my personal blog coz I don
“not literally but descriptively” has to be the single most absurd justification I have ever heard.
Maybe if you used a comment system where I didn’t need an account (Xanga) I would be happy to leave my thoughts about you on your posts.
Org. message: “some of them have attitude as general stupid farang ”
Him’s message: “have attitude as general stupid farang”
More: “So you view all farang as stupid and nasty..” ? really? I didn’t know that.
???
Ok, to settle this issue, I didn
If you break down the sentence “some of them have attitude as general stupid farang” it shows us that the object and / or sub-group under discussion (some of them) belong to the larger group (general farang) which is described as being lacking (stupid).
So what you are saying (and what I simply provided a shorter version of) is that the farang you dislike are mearly a small sample of the larger geneology, but that larger group shares all of the same traits.
Hence, no, I did not change any meaning whatsoever. And my comment “so you view all farang as stupid as nasty”, being based on the very words you wrote, still stands any degree of scrutiny.
FYI, my addition of “nasty” was mearly an addition based on the evidence that, as you view all farang as acting in the way that you wish they didn’t – including being “nasty” to Thais and, as you present yourself in an identical manner as a Thai, you must therefore inherit all the things you say about farang.
I’m sure you understand.
wow. i show up late to the party and the fireworks have started without me.
welcome to metblogs! i’m one of those farangs that complain a lot. oh yeah, i’m thai, too, so i guess i’m both a stupid farang AND stupid thai =)
Sheeesh… what a combination… what a nightmare ;)
Him, you kor understand as what you want to kor leaw kan. My English sucks, but I did mean individual.
To bloggers, the ‘stupid someone’ word is my jargon. It was in my personal blog so I carelessly wrote it. So please don
“kor understand as what you want to kor leaw kan” yeah that’s real adult and understanding, isn’t it.
I guess I must be a stupid, ignorant farang for not understanding and for attempting to reason with you.
Better go get myself a thai prostitute!
Goodness!
(grin)
Paul: I didn’t think you complained a lot. Just all the time :)
Jib, Welcome to the family? Buddha, where’s the love?
Like Paul, I to am a cross bred, half Eagle/half Elephant dude.
him: don’t take it too personally Jib’s english isn’t 100% perfect, ya know. It’s like if you or I were to try to express our thoughts in Thai. I’ve been misquoted in the press a number of times when I try to convert my english thoughts into Thai.
but uh anyway… can’t we all get alonggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg. :)
hi jib. welcome to metblogs ja.
i know a couple people from cmu :)
Hey Bonafide, don’t worry – I don’t take anything about Metblog seriously, trust me. The day it went live I opened it with my post and you know what? Some ignorant little Thai girl who couldn’t be bothered to think through what she was saying slagged me off on her personal website. So now when I see that kind of thing, I comment on it.
But yes, also, I do get sick of how Thai’s treat farang as a whole, whilst constantly whining about how farang treat thais!
I know a lot of bad happens here from both sides, but you know, I live here because my g/f and I chose to live here. I’ve never had a Thai g/f, never been to a Thai prostitute (and I live real close to Soi Cowboy!), I like spicy food and I don’t mind much about Bangkok. So I do get a little tired when yet another dull Thai rolls up and lumps me along with “all” farang in that oh-so-stereotypical way.
Besides, whats a post worth if it doesn’t get some comments? {grin}. At least this isn’t Xanga or Livejournal where every comment is designed to pat you on the back and make you feel loved :)
Bo: i’m not so much a half-eagle/half-elephant as i am an elephant who thinks he’s an eagle (to play around with your analogy). thai-chinese, but american-born, rather than a luk krung
Him: stop being so cranky and be nice to the new kid =)
Paul: NO! (stomps feet, screws up face and pouts, makes fists) or…. or… or….
I’ll sulk.
And my dad’s bigger than your dad.
:P
I don’t want to stay fighting anymore, but may i say something? Please read that entry till the end. It may sound rough in the beginning but If you keep reading, I mainly talked about my attitude then how I learned about it then how I improved it and then I ask my friends to join me. If the particular lines and my bad English did turn things bad, then, I
Oh, I was never even close to fighting. :)
I can’t say I’m into Congee at all though, whether Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai. There’s just something… about…. it…. urg… sloppy… rice… nah… not good :)
I didn’t say welcome, if only because I am not a member of metblog anymore! I just thought it’d be weird! But, arguably, you might not be here now if I hadn’t started this place, so welcome to the bangkok metblog!
When I first came to Bangkok in 2002, I knew a thai girl and we went for drinks – just as friends, but I soon realised that “we” got those looks as well. It’s very annoying. You know what everyone is thinking about both of you.
As for the use of farang. I (personally) don’t like it much. It’s like me calling a thai by a slang word for “asian”. Yes, realistically, you are asian, but that doesn’t mean I should not acknowledge your real country of origin. What I really hate is when a foreigner uses the word farang!
But, as far as I know… most farang don’t care about being called farang…
Last point, I promise. I think you should write in Thai if you want. One of the reasons I left metblog was because I felt it was too much a westerners view of bangkok. It needs to be about bangkok, for the people of bangkok – and not the minority, like the expats. I think if more people wrote in Thai, the Thai readership might go up and it would stop looking like yet another website where “farang” just comment on “thais”.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe the word “Farang” is originated from the word “France” (Maybe because France is the first western country that came to Thailand .. hmm.. I’m not really sure about this ) But anyways, most Thai people use the word Farang to call people from the western countries as a whole.. (So Farang = “Western People”) Like Western people call Asia people Asian, I guess.. And in my opinion, it doesnt seem to have any bad connotation to it
Actually its from Francais, which means French, so it’s pretty factually incorrect, unless the westerner in question happens to be French.
I think where the bad connotations emerge is when you spend long enough here to realise that you are a bit tired of passing groups of Thai’s and hearing them say things and you catch the word “Farang”.
I keep trying to imagine a similar situation in the west, but it’s tricky (and I am trying not to use extremes, such as a certain shortening of Negroes). Perhaps, to hark back to a term from WWII – the English used to term the Japanese “Nips” – not factually incorrect (coming from the word Nippon and so Nipponese) but slang is often redefined through use as derogatory and so a similar thing would be a groups of say, Brits giggling about some Thai tourists and saying “look at the nips, slanty eyes and all”. After all, you have yellow-brown skin and some of you have Japanese-style eyes, so hey, must be true? Doesn’t matter if you are Thai, Cambodian, Chinese, Malay or Japanese, does it?
The problem, really is that Farang is used to lump anyone together who is caucasian – not western. I know that Thais do not tend to call Africans by the term farang. But anyone who spends any time in Europe will find it as easy to differentiate a German, a Brit, a Swede, a Portuguese from each other as, out here, you become accustomed to differentiating, say, a Japanese, a Thai, an Indonesian and a Chinese.
And finally, lets face it, if a group of people are talking about you, especially in a different language (so they know they can’t be understood), it probably isn’t something nice they are saying.
And it’s that last reason that gives me reason not to like it.
But, yes, I am the minority here. I mean, there’s a damn magazine called Farang! Most westerners here couldn’t care less, I agree.
I feel like I’m in a Chat room. Weee. :)
Paul: I’m not look krung either. Chink/Thai too who just happened to hatch in the Eagle’s nest.
Jib: I can read Thai just takes me about 10 hours to process a paragraph. :P