Jeden znamy, programator L. Spiro, narodeny v malom mestecku v USA teraz zije v Bangkoku a zaraba si tam aby sa mohol prestahovat do tokya ktore je jeho snom. Zivot tam ma zaujima a tak som sa ho pytal na zopar veci, ak mate zaujem tak si tu precitajte zaznam z tej konverzacie. Casom mozno pridam viac ak sa budeme dalej rozpravat, tak ak chcete o tom vediet tak si to tu booknite.

M: because I find it interesting that you moved to Thailand from america (i heard your reason that you like asia people more then other) I'd like to ask how is the life in the Bangkok, is it different than in US ? Sounds like an interesting change, to move and live there.
I was allways interested in asian culture, i'd like to go and see the lands sometime, but I won't move there probably. Interesting is that they are completely different from european lifestyle too.
For example, as I heard that it is very crowded with people in these countries (especailly in bigger cities). How do you live ?

L: Of course it is different from American living—and any other living for that matter.

Lots of things change for any tall thin white guy moving to a place like this.
Everyone looks at me.
It is easy to get attention; I see many girls checking me out all the time. It is very easy to get attention simply by being foreign.

On an average day I will see 5 homeless people. I never saw a single homeless person in America.

People here are more polite and behave much differently.
They act as a single community. They are not afraid to talk to random people, touch each other’s shoulders/hands/arms etc.

They bow and clap their hands together—a truly-Asian act.
They mostly don’t smoke but many drink for partying/dancing/clubs. They don’t binge drink.

Bangkok is one of the cultural centers of the world.
In an average day, I hear 5 languages.
Thai, Japanese, Mandarin, French, English Russian, German, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, Indian, Indonesian, and all Middle-Eastern/Muslim languages are common.

Culturally speaking, they do things more logically than any other nation in the world, unrestrained by what other countries see as moral or religious limitations.
In America, for example, they are only willing to go so far as to put a Surgeon General’s warning on cigarette packages.
Here, they put pictures of broken people, diseased lungs, grimy rotten teeth, people in hospital with tubes coming out of them, etc.
Logically, this is the correct thing to do. Cigarettes shouldn’t even exist, but at least in Asia they deter people from buying them with graphic images on the boxes.

But there is corruption a swell.
When I have DVD’s sent to me from America that I own, I have to constantly worry that someone along the line will decide they are an imported product and literally try to blackmail me into giving him money in exchange for the DVD’s I already own.
It happened with my boss when he needed a phone from France to use as a business tool. He had to pay $250 to get the phone from customs, not as regulation, but literally paying the guy “or else [he wouldn’t] get it back.”

It is quite crowded at times, which I like.
I hate crowds, but I hated my old town in America where you would see 1 person on the sidewalk every one or more miles.
Although I don’t like to be in the crowd, I like to know there is life around, hustle & bustle, things to do, etc.

Otherwise, they just act generally Asian. Everywhere I go I see people doing the common Asian things—speaking Thai, bowing, eating with chopsticks, wearing sandals instead of shoes, taking off their shoes/sandals at the door, leaving them outside the door, road-side food shops with the umbrellas on top, modified motorbikes fit to carry small mobile food shops (again with mounted umbrellas), driving on the wrong side of the road, motorcycles as family vehicles, woman driving motorcycles, rice at every meal, etc.

They are also not bound by laws of discrimination.
It is completely illegal in America to post a job that specifies the applicant be of a certain age range, height, weight, and gender.
Yet, here, every job description will include a certain age range and gender. Most jobs require a “female between the ages of 23 and 27.”
Some go on to include height and weight, especially airline jobs.
In fact, Japanese Airways has gone so far as to specify that their hostesses must remain single until 30 years of age.

Before every movie, everyone is required to stand and “pay respects” to the King.
It is annoying.
And when the King or his family drives by, they stop everyone on the road and we have to sit and wait. This has happened to me, and it was very annoying to sit on the road waiting, then see the royal family drive by, as if they think they are special.


But Thailand’s culture is being destroyed by foreigners.
Thanks to tourism, many women here have been influenced far too much by Western cultures, opening them to the sex trade that has become so popular here.
It’s pathetic, and such a waste of otherwise pure respectable Asian culture.


M: Beautifull, i have to go to see it there sometime.
And globalization does destroy culture it everywhere in the world.
How many citizens had your city where you were born ?

L: Approximately 6,000.
And I lived on a dirt road outside of the actual town.
Wheat fields everywhere.

So boring.

M: Hm not too much. I live in city with pop. around 60.000 so im not for the 'crowdy' lifestyle, it is just fine here.

Hm and how is it on the finnancial side of life in Bankok ? Are there many poor people (aside of the homeless ones) ? How about you as a programmer, can you afford to buy a car or a house ?
Do you know if there are differences between the life in city and life in smaller villages ?

L: There are plenty of wealthy people all around here.

I don’t have enough to buy a house or car (nor would I buy them if I could) but I have more than I need.
I am also not making as much as I easily could; there is a company here who wants to hire me for starting at over $1,000 per month.
That doesn’t sound like too much, but consider two things:
A: Cost of living here is nothing. I buy McDonald’s chicken nuggets or Big Mac for $2. Movies cost $2.50 on the EXPENSIVE days. My apartment room is on the 8th floor, fully furnished (including an extra T. V. and refrigerator), maid, room service, security, air conditioning, cable TV, and hot water, all for $125 per month AFTER water/electricity. If I am making $1,000 per month, I get to keep, to spend on whatever I want, $800.
B: This company claims they would give me a large raise after about 4/6 months, up to $4,000 per month if the company is doing well at that time (which they hope to be doing if I join). Imagine being able to keep $3,800 spare change every month.


By simply being a foreigner, there are also many privileges you have.
They never check ID’s on foreigners; you can go into any club/bar/strip-joint you want, even if you are under 18 (just look 18 or so).
I don’t go to these types of places, but you could if you wanted.

Then of course, there are no parents/old people telling you what to do.
I didn’t get much of this in America anyway, with just one exception.
The problem is, he was a big exception, and a pain in the ass.
After years of telling me I could never make it on my own, he has spent the last 1.5 years eating his words (and he knows it; I have proven him wrong on many levels).
But of course this only applies if you actually move here.
If you just visit, you will have to return to the same lifestyle you have been leading all your life.


I am just visiting anyway. It’s just a very long visit.
I will definitely not stay here for life.
I am collecting money and work experience for Japan (as you should know already).
It is certainly easy to find a job in computer programming—and even game programming—here.
It’s a good way to bust into the industry (which is a difficult task) and it is very impressive on a résumé if you can say you worked in a foreign country as a game programmer.


To more directly answer your question regarding wealth in Bangkok, as I said, there are plenty of wealthy people here, but most of them our foreigners.
There are fancy cars all over the roads; every time I go home I see some kind of sports car.
It is quite common to see cars worth $500,000 driving right in front of you.


There is a huge difference between Bangkok life and village life.
Villages are poor but community/family-based.
Most small communities are actually a single family, full of aunts, uncles, grandpas and grandmas.
English is mainly only spoken in large cities.
I found the “small town” life very boring as there was nothing to do but watch T. V. I didn’t understand, and watch people talk about me while not knowing what they were saying.
Dirt everywhere and no one spoke English.
I passed time by catching and releasing lizards.
Also, no hot water in small cities.
And in the village where I was, no running water either. They catch rain off their roofs and hoses lead it into a gigantic jug where it is stored until needed.
They use it to fill two concrete tubs of water, both of which are too small into which to fit.
To “shower”, you dip a bucket into the tubs and pour the (cold) water over you.
Usually there is a gigantic spider in there waiting to eat you.
I was once left alone to kill one of these spiders.
I missed with my first swing and it jumped onto the floor and dashed at me.
I tried to escape but it got my foot and pulled me back in.
Then swung me around like a doll.
You don’t want to mess with those spiders.

Anyway, if you don’t go to small villages, you won’t see spiders.

( s tymi pavukmi by som to nebral prilis vazne ;)

M: Very interesting.
I did not know that you wanted to go to Japan. Why didn't you go there directly ? Is it too expensive ? You know, you can get experience anywhere imo.

L: It is impossible to get a job in Japan for me now.
Japan is much more strict on who they allow to live/work there.

In Thailand, I came on vacation, got a job, and missed my flight back.
It is that easy here.
And I didn’t have/need a lot of money to do it.

In Japan, I would be required to have many years of work experience, top of my game, etc.
Even if you marry a Japanese woman in Japan, it is no guarantee you can get immigration.


Of course it is not THAT easy in Thailand either.
I was able to “just get a job” because I did already have work experience and school in computer programming.
But Japan is more strict and you need more years of experience.


Then the money issue.
I had enough money to live in Thailand for 2 months, or Japan for 1 week.
2 months is a much better timespan when looking for a job, and I didn’t want to “tease” myself by only staying for one week.
If I visit a place I like, I want to stay, and that is all there is too it.

M: Oh I see. That is different.
Is it in asian countries really like it looks like from our point of view ? For example is everyone playing video games ? Are they more into tech-thingies ? Are people in asia alot shorter in average, or are there also tall native people ?
Are schoolgirls wearing short skirts and is it fetish to many guys ? Is it normal in the country, i mean isn't it repressed by the system ?

L: Most of it is true.

They are shorter than average, but there are super-tall ones also (just very rare).
I am 6’1” and I am usually the tallest person in the area, but at least not by much.
The main difference is in the women. Their men are usually about 4 or 5 inches shorter than me, but it is still common to see men the same height as myself.
Meanwhile, the woman average literally 12 inches shorter than me.
I would easily say that 80% of all women I see aged over 18 are only up to my chin.

Yes there are school uniforms as you see in magazines but not all of them are THAT short.
On average, their skirts would probably be 2 inches longer than what the world wants to believe, which isn’t really much.
Most often, skirts are still above the knees.
Yes it is a fetish, here and all over the world.
Many Asians here want a “schoolgirl” as a play thing.
They are even more tolerant regarding age differences.
I am 23. While in a theater once, a 14-year-old started hitting on me.
She was cute but I thought if I was seen with her, everyone would think I am a freak and try to kill me.
So I asked around me office the next.
I told each of my coworkers the story, but I changed it a bit to get a reaction.
I told them she became my girlfriend. I told two of them we had sex, and the other 3 that we might have sex.
Their reactions:
(Told we had sex)
1: “I am jealous, you got to do that with such a young girl.” (male)
2: “Mmmmm, pictures?” (male)
(Told we are dating, and might have sex later)
3: “It is okay because you are a foreigner.” (female)
4: “Hmm, I don’t know. You can do but only if her parents allow.” (male)
5: “It is okay, only if you really like each other.” (female)

But these are people who know me already and also they are my age.
Older Thai people sometimes do not like to see foreigners with any Thai girl and especially not such a young one.
If I ask people on the street, they would probably mostly agree with #4 or #5.
But many of them might assume that I am just a foreigner using her as a toy, and so they would not like to see me with her in public (or private).

So, in short, they are more tolerant of sex, even with younger girls, but only if they believe there is a real connection between the two people.
Most of them do secretly want to do such a thing with young girls but will not say.
So it is still a fetish, but not as open as what the media makes it to be.
In Japan, things are different.
It is quite an open and accepted fetish, or so I believe.
I haven’t been there long enough to say it is official.


Short-skirted schoolgirls isn’t repressed.
There are uniforms like what you see in comics. Short, tight, or short and tight. But they are jut not as common as the ones that are a little longer.

And as for Bangkok, it is approximately 70% female, and clearly so.
I can easily look over a population of people here and see that 70% of them are female.
But then again, some of those females are males.
And yes, that is quite common here—an everyday thing.
Many boys go to school dressed as females.
Many “ladyboys” have normal office jobs where they dress up as a female, wear makeup, etc., but talk in both a female and male voice.