[Natashasuw]

Ever since joining thailandlife/thailandqa forums it has always been fine entertainment reading the views of Thailand from the perspective of other foreigners; on vacation, working, retired, studying or married to a Thai etc….

For this thread opener I’d like to ask the readers about ‘what their first impressions of Thailand were’ and how, if at all, those perceptions have changed other time.

Lets be honest, a lot of my first impressions of Thailand have changed over time, most for the better but a few for the worse.

Let me start with some examples of my own:

The first time I came to Asia and Thailand I was particularly interested in Buddhism and other religions of Indian origin. My first impression of the monks were that they were all true practitioners of meditation and the dhamma and had joined the monkhood to find the road to nirvana. Over time I found that perception to be….well, a little off track to say the least.

One negative thought I had of Thais when I first came here as a young lad was that I thought them to be ‘pretty superficial in thought’. I loved laughing about Thais ‘having an attention span of 7 seconds’. Pls don’t fault me too much though, I came here first thinking myself to be an ‘intellectual’ and was disappointed that none of the local people were interested in ‘intellectual conversation such as politics, Buddhism, modern history etc….’ Of course, I now see Thais in a far more brighter light!!

Sure, when I came here first I was not too chuffed at being called a ‘Farang’ all the time!

I have known many foreigners who first came to Thailand raving at how good every Thai was and within the space of a year or so had packed up their bags and went home. For other foreigners it’s like a statistical graph, the way they perceive Thailand, it goes up and down like the Dow Jones Index. The first year they love it, the second – tolerable, the third – the place is getting the worse, the forth – getting better, the fifth – they love it again!

If this thread goes well, it will be interesting to see your different first impressions of Thailand. Then for any newbies to Thailand it could be fascinating to see how their impressions differ from long-timers to the country.

Could be worthy of blog material too??

[mirex]

My first impression of Thailand was one of confusion. Everything you read on the internet and in books cannot properly prepare you for what you will eventually encounter, although the advance research surely helps. I was impressed with the quality of the roads, but the city (PTY) was quite congested and noisy (aren't they all). I guess the smells and the heat were the first things that attacked my senses. I thought being from Florida would prepare me to deal with the heat and humidity of Thailand, but I was wrong. As for the smells, I think it was the mixture of exhaust fumes, sour garbage, and freshly cooked food that sticks in my mind. It is easy to be taken advantage of when one first arrives. There are a lot of eyes watching, and they can detect a newbie from a mile away. Once I got settled into a routine and began meeting the people, I became a bit more comfortable and confident. When I met the lady who would eventually become my wife, I learned much more about how average Thais really think and live. On my second trip we visited the family home in Sahatsakhan. That is the Thailand I eventually fell in love with. I enjoy rural life much more than the city. Everything in the countryside revolves around food, religion, and work. There are fun things to do also. It is also easier to meet people, and there are fewer names to remember. The cost of living is very small and the quality of the company is great. I really feel that my head is farang, but my heart is Issan. I can't wait until I am able to retire and move there permanently.

[vladekad]

The people, I had always read Land of Smiles but I knew what the city was like and knew that there was no way in **** that people are like that in Bangkok as they push their way through traffic, coping with the tremendous heat, beathing the smog and smell of fish markets, dodging others on the sidewalks while they are late for work. I was so very wrong. It is the land of smiles!

Sure there was the traffic I expected, the smells and heat too. But nobody was rushing like they do at home. Nobody was impatient. In fact everyone was very laid back, and calm like it was a Sunday afternoon. Late to work or not everyone had time to stop and greet one another. The kindness in the city is what impressed me. We then headed for the country, even more kind, but I knew that and expected that so it was no big deal for me.

What surprised me more than anything else was the air-conditioned places were not much different than being in the shade. I thought for a moment that maybe in Thailand they put the air-conditioners in backwards when installing them. Seems they just don't keep up enough with the humidity. That surprised me considering how much they have from Japan, I really expected more from the climate control options. It is particularly tough for me because unlike Vision being from the hot state of Florida I am from Ohio in the far North. We get more a meter of snow each winter here and the temperatures average -20C during the summer the average is about 30C. Thailand took several days to get to the point I could even survive and walk around comfortably. The first day just lying down with a fan and air conditioning on.

[RotsLoado]

Thirty some years ago, I was uprooted from my small world and put down in a place where the language and culture was quite different from what I had known. Sights, sounds, smells opened my eyes with curiosity. Landing at Don Muang, in the middle of the day,the heat and humidity engulfed me as I entered a new world.
Gazing through opened windows of the bus transporting us to our hotel,views of klongs , rice fields ,and country living. Greenery everywhere,houses on low stilts, water buffalo, farmers living their life.

... The thing that I remember the most is the welcome feeling( on a individual level) with kon thai. I was not Italian,Scottish, Irish,English, nor Spanish. I was farang.
Thirteen months later,pulled again from the pace of life I was getting to know ,thrown back into a world so familiar yet now totaly different ,Thailand was permanently etched in my heart.

[apatteopipt]

What most impressed me the first time I set foot in Thailand?
Just had a good long think, and, I believe that, after the smiles at the airport from the very friendly officials, it was the speedy drive into the city center, hotel was oppsite the National Stadium, and it took just 20 minutes. Wide clean dual carriageway, little traffic, smiling policemen on point duty, even salutes from a couple of them.
Yes, this was all a very long time ago, and, regretably, has never been the same since!
Still love it though, probably always will.

[fmrcurter]

My first impression of Thailand in October 2004 was a very confusing one; absolutely great weather conditions, beautiful vegetation, exotic food, indefinable mixture of something between scent of flowers and stench of the gully, variety of colors and sounds at any place, and that unique sing song language coming from Thai people that at first seemed to look very alike. Smiles and kindness wherever I went.
I thought, obviously they set their standards differently, when I examined the dangerously low hanging electricity wires along the sidewalk. Big holes on the sidewalks/streets were yawning unprotected forcing one to look down before walking or driving.
Poor and simple dwellings were alternating by outstanding hotels and luxurious facilities. Garages used at night as an apartment, in the afternoon as a hair parlor and in the evening as restaurant, were exposed to the passing by clientele. The smell of fresh exotic fruits and steamy food that makes your stomach juices go wild.
I’ve never seen so many beautiful people and so many ugly tourists all in one place. (Don’t hang me on this one, this was my first impression and unfortunately after fifth visit still is).
Things appearing at the same time in terms of; scent and stench, rich and poor in nearest coexistence, total kindness and absolute ignorance, great enthusiasm and after 1 minute total boredom etc. What really “hit me” was that permanent good mood that seems to pass on from person to person and that mai pen rai feeling.

I dislike many things too, but at the end the scale pan with positive things is heavier.
I love the respectful approach of Thai towards their families and the caring devotion to old people in general. I wonder and admire their relationship to their religion and beliefs. I’m fascinated by their superstitions. In a way I feel addicted to this country with its strange customs and people.
And although my first visit brought me a personal heartbreak I keep on coming back to this Land of Smiles because it enriches my life in a different way. By the way, my next destination is Udontani.

[Donlupedron]

Before i came to Thailand i must have watched too many badly researched programs on the box. All they talk about is poverty in Asia

Before i came here i was accepting i was coming to a third world country. This is how the people in Scotland they see this part of the world is 50 years behind ours, how wrong i was? My first day just getting off the plane i had never saw so many luxury cars in my life.
In Scotland any one that drives a Benz must be rich but in Bangkok everyone drives a Benz. Can you believe i brought shampoo and a toothbruth and other personal things like! My friends warned me to take my own things as they said that Thailand might no have such things. A friend of mine book this cheap hotel for me in Bangkok. I cant remember what you ken it. i thought the room would be a pig sty as it was less than 10 pounds, my friends said i would get bed bugs for sure. The hotel was wicked. First thing i did was call up my mum and and asure her all was well.

I heard the people were nice and freindly but not as friendly as they really are. Every body was smiling and looking so happy, i never saw anything like that at home..

[dittygari]

Apart from refueling stops in Bangkok, my first real trip to Thailand was in 2002 and to be honest, apart from knowing where it was and the name of the capital, I had very little knowledge of the country, as I had never had any interest in going there. But in 2002 I met a girlfriend on a chat line and a few weeks latter was flying to Thailand to meet her. It was the most unplanned trip I had ever made in my life, just decided to get a ticket one day and stay with my online girlfriend in Samut Prakan for 2 weeks. I think I have a good imagination, and Bangkok seemed much like I thought it would be, very polluted, dirty and heavy traffic, I never had any clues Thailand had a Royal Family and I was surprised to see the amount of Elaborate temples and stray dogs in Thailand. My Thai girlfriend got as rare spirt of generosity which I appreciated and pre-paid for us to stay in a resort near Pattaya at Jomtien Beach Ambassador City in the Thai only section for 2 days, the reception staff did not even speak English, and must have wondered what a farang was doing there, I had never herd of this Pattaya before, and it excited me as I had never seen any thing like it, even if thought the beach was nothing special, I really like Pattaya and I glad I went with a Thai woman, as the tourists get ripped off with the Two price policy, but my girlfriend managed to get me in for the Thai price on the utility busses as we would refuse the ride and would get the next bus.
Now I went to Thailand thinking, every one was trying to rip me off, but I discovered this is mainly around the tourist spots, when I was staying in Samut Prakan, where there are virtually know farangs, the busses charge the same price for every one, know arguments with the bus driver there, not like in Pattaya. I went to Thailand thinking every woman is out to sponge off westerners, and I guess that seemed to be true, as all my girlfriends female friends wanted me to pay for them as well when they came along, specially as they all had university degree's and earns good money for Thai standards. My next trip was in 2004 and my opinions stayed the same, In some way's I like Thailand, I like the easy going life style, the friendliness of the people, the cheap cost of living, but don't like financially independent Thai woman sponging, the beggars and scammers coming up to me, I never gave any of them money at any time. I also wonder why so few young people can speak English in Thailand, as even at the reception desk at P.T. House Hotel in Samut Prakan, the you lady there did not speak a word of English, so I stayed at my Girlfriends house instead.Over all my first impressions of Thailand were good, and I will go there again some day, just need to make some more friends that don't want me for money.

[qilmuz6v]

I really don't remember what my first impression was, Just wanted a beer and look around,,was a short trip over to Pattaya and what a town that was,,3 bars and a hotel, nice ocean view of the bay tho, went back last year and it sure has changed in 40 years.. Whole country has grown up seems like, but I still love it if I stay away from the citys.

[u2ZQGC6b]

My first impressions of Thailand were not good... My first experience was via a brief stop-over on a trip to Vietnam in 2002, on the way out no-one came to assist me off the plane (I use a wheelchair) and so only saw Thailand through through the aircraft window. On the return trip I was suffering from a bout of food poisoning and remember little else than being very ill in the rest room...

And so to my first proper visit in August/September 2004. I stayed in the Pattaya/Naklua/Jomtien area and first impressions were not good. I had had a bad flight out, my luggage missed the connection in Amsterdam, and I decided that Pattaya was the worst place on earth (something that hasn't changed). I had planed for a number of years that I would spend my 40th birthday scuba diving and wrtiting in Cambodia but when came to make the plans found it was the closed season so decided on Thailand instead.

Three weeks there and my impression of the country didn't improve much, however I did like the people and the food. And more immportantly in the first couple of days I me a wonderfull waitress who was to become my constant companion for the next month.

Three weeks down the line we relocated to Bangkok for my final week which I found more pleasant but didn't really think in normal curcumstances it would be somewhere I would wish to return to. But that waitress was ÍغÅÇÃó and I decided my love for her was greater than my dislike for the Thailand I had experienced so return I did after three months.

On my second visit she took me to meet her family in Buriram province and that is when I fell in love with the country. Last month I made my third visit and whilst I had the worst time of my life (documented elsewhere) I also had a wonderful week living in a small village in Buriram as part of a Thai family (that of ÍغÅÇÃó eldest sister).

So I think I was very lucky on that first visit, not only did I meet a lovelly lady with whom I have shared many wonderfull moments, but had I not have done I probably would never have returned and discovered that 'Paradise on Earth' that is Buriram province.

David

[Alex Photographer]

My first journey to Thailand was in 1989. It was just immediate how overwelmingly generous, curious and warm the Thai people are. I arrived as a high school student on exchange. I was greeted with ceremony after ceremony of speeches and welcomes and gifts. My entire class met me at the Train station in Trang when I arrived and everyone of them took pictures of me and gave me gifts. I was a weary traveller wanting to get to my destination and rest. We stayed at the train station for over an hour. There was a ceremony my first day of school, too, and every student (1,500 plus) came up to greet me individually and give me a gift. I still have a lot of those tiny gifts today. I keep them in a small basket on my desk. It helps me remember just how much they welcomed me.

[Natashasuw]

I needed a hair cut and so went to a hairdresser. There were 5 beautiful Thai women with nothing to do working there, so while 1 cut my hair, another 2 did my nails, another massaged my shoulders and the other just stared at me and giggled. And this all cost very little. WOW!
.

Too right! I have heard from many a foreigner about how impressed they were by the standards of the country's hairdressers!

[VXHLrsO1]

I was a young officier in the Australian Army and based in Malaysia when I first came to Thailand - Haad Jai, just for the weekend.

Crossing the border it was immediately apparent that things were more relaxed here. People seemed to walk slower and smile more. I noticed the gold shops. Where in Malaysia the gold shops all seemed to have a man out the front with a shotgun, in Thailand the gold shops just had a smiling Thai woman inside who was busy combing her hair. People seemed to take a great deal of care about their appearance in Thailand.

When I changed money I noticed that I the exchange rate here seemed good.

I needed a hair cut and so went to a hairdresser. There were 5 beautiful Thai women with nothing to do working there, so while 1 cut my hair, another 2 did my nails, another massaged my shoulders and the other just stared at me and giggled. And this all cost very little. WOW!

I didn't learn much about Thai culture on that trip. I mainly spent it with my soldiers and they mainly spent it drinking, but somewhere in the back of my head I remembered that Thailand was really nice and relaxed and had a happy feel to it. I think this was the seed of the thought to live in Thailand.

[exschke]

first impression? the absolute chaos in Bangkok that nothing or nobody can prepare you for.

all the people I have had the chance to accompany on their travels wanted to turn back immediately after leaving the terminal building at Don Muang. the reason? the polluted hot air is stuck under the elevated tollway, and you get a heat stroke / coughing fit / lungs poisoning by the time you get a taxi in the taxi line or your airport bus appears.

my brother asked me about all those Thai flags in the taxi on the way from Don Muang to Mo Chit. (I wanted to get him out of Bangkok immediately.) like, whether it was a national holiday or what. we don't have flags everywhere on normal weekdays back home. that was the first thing he spotted and remarked that people must indeed be very proud to be Thai if they have hundreds of flags everywhere.

[CorpoRasion]

My first impression of Thailand was that 'I know this place already from somewhere' and even today when I am travelling here in Bangalore I sometimes get this feeling that the next turning is going to be Sukhumvit road!!! Wonder if you can understand that perception?

What I liked most is that people looked into your eyes when you asked them questions and tried to listen to you even if they did not understand. And I always felt that Thai people are very independent in their thought process. On the same lines, I felt that Thai people smile a lot because they choose to be so and not because... someone else has been necessarily nice to them.

Of course, I sensed early that when it came to the markets and commerical places an Indian held little currency versus the foreigners... Initially, I felt jealous that it was so easier for them to connect with people and I had to continue breaking pre-judgements. But that was never a big issue to me. Its the same here in India itself!! And furthermore I can also imagine the experiences some may have had with the group of shoppers who keep travelling from India...to Asian countries... being a good tourist is not their priority! Anyways, I soon got used to focussing on individual relationships.

However, my story with Thailand developed in a very odd road - challenging my worldview & ways. And quite unlike the story of many others on this forum. In a crude way let me put it - I got 'seduced' (after many attempts) in my 2nd trip and since then I spent 5 trips to set myself free without hurting any living being in the process! Finally I got free, but I lost a lot of time & space, but managed to keep my heart and mind intact. Unfortunately, I cannot detail the story much more than that in this forum!!

[mikaelluioy]

A couple of years ago, my partner and I decided to quit our jobs, and fly to various locations around the world.

The last two stops on that trip were Bangkok and Phuket. I can honestly say without a doubt, that we had unwittingly saved the best for last.

It was my second journey leaving Australia, so I had no idea what to expect... except a lot of sanuk!

After travelling in mainly first world countries... I had thought Thailand was just a cheap way to end our holiday and take in some sun before returning home.

How wrong I was!!!!!!

We were pretty much exhausted and fed up with people after trying to fit so much in and when you're travelling (i'm sure you've all known how it feels to always be the outsider), some countries make a point of it... to be greeted with such warmth and luminosity at the airport by a stranger was enough to nearly make me feel as though I was home already!

I love to barter.... I hadn't realised the extent of it until I'd visited nearly every single markets in Bangkok - Lucky my partner loves to shop as much as I do!

The unusual smells, the humidity and the buzz amongst the people there had me incensed to come back as soon as I could!

Phuket/Phi Phi was some of the most stunning coastline I have had the chance to view with my own eyes... I could not get past being able to go into some random cafe on a hillside and strike up a genuinely fun conversation with some stranger, who, by the time you go to leave is a friend

Since leaving....and arriving back in Australia (You couldn't shut either of us up about Thailand or wipe the smile off our faces) I have been learning some Thai in preparation for our return... that was always a definite on our list.

I fell in love with this country on that trip, I fly back to Bangkok with my partner on the 29th March... this time we hope to travel more of southeast Asia and get to spend more time in Thailand... for it definitely is the land of smiles... mine included.