It's very interesting reading posts of people visiting Thailand, compared to people living in Thailand .
I have lived here approximately 8/9 years.- been coming since the mid 90's
I used to have beach resort in the south, then lived pattaya, now in the north. (never been to chang mai, funnily enough)
As a european, coming when there was no real back packer culture, as there is today, the difference - the sheer impact -of tourism has had, on this country, is quite profound.
Not good or bad, as such, just how different a country it has become.
(good and bad)
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Thank you for sharing a real life transition experience, well I am sure be it then or now the country has been warm and welcoming.. That is something which makes it stand out....I would love to go there anyday..just coz I can lay back and relax... as u said tourism has changed the country a lot but I personally feel there are two types of tourists good and bad... Northern Chiang Mai has relatively good tourists...
I used to feel that way about tourism - god and bad - I don't so much anymore.
Tourism (for the population , it is about money coming into the country - ultimately)
Which is the best tourist? -
The guy in pattaya, blowing 500,000 baht on bar girls, over month (and hence all the money going directly to the poor families out of the cities -(you how it works, right?)
OR
A hippy, spending 30,000 to street vendors and hostels, in the cities?
If tourism is about the influx of revenue, - morally dubious as it sounds (moral authority being a product of luxury, and decadence in the west, of course).
Which is the best tourist?
That's one of the kind things, I find talking to 'the tourist' and the farang who live here. It's very interesting, the perceptions.