A colorful but sad story
On holiday in Thailand, the book 'Bonjour tristesse' by Françoise Sagan keeps running through my mind. The then young Frenchwoman wrote the book at the age of 18 in 1954 and caused a furore as a writer. Only four years later, the book was made into a movie.
What does Sagan's book actually have to do with Thailand, you as a reader may wonder. In short; nothing, nothing at all. Perhaps the word 'tristesse' plays too much in my mind.
Triest
After all, it is a sad story that is going on politically in this beautiful and colorful country. The political parties, red and yellow, should be ashamed. The right-thinking people have been annoyed for quite some time by the hopeless situation that has arisen.
The political leaders are baking it very brown and if it continues like this, the country will end up in the red economically.
Abhisit also seems to be going a little blue with his proposals. It seems as if the political figures are as green as grass while the people are almost empty. The rice farmers have already drawn a red card.
Even a Thai whiskey can hardly be afforded in the countryside and it will not be long before entire population groups are forced to become members of the blue knot. Perhaps to the delight of many a wife who has often given her husband a yellow card for excessive drinking. Drink runs like a red thread through life for many men and in many a village the guy who can keep pace is a white raven.
Perhaps the politically responsible will come to the realization on a blue Monday that things cannot go on like this. People make it gray and to use a Flemish saying: you find many gray people but few wise ones.
The Thai smile
It is hardly possible to laugh in this country and even the well-known Thai smile is dying out. Just order a drink or something. In many cases it is carelessly put in front of you without saying a boo or bah. Kindness goes a long way on many occasions. Do you have to give a tip at the checkout, I sometimes wonder.
The word 'sanuk', or pleasure, can also be gradually removed from the Thai dictionary. As everywhere, it is the exceptions that prove the rule. But with a government that makes it so gray, there is little to laugh at for the population. By now it will be time for the gray men to take off their rose-colored glasses and let their brains work, so that the population can give color to life again.
Joseph Boy
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@Joseph, is not my experience. In the face of setbacks and other inconveniences, Thai people associate all the more with each other in order to support and help each other. In the first instance it is about making things even more 'sanuk' so that everyone feels more 'sabai'.
On the contrary, in difficult times the word 'sanuk' is rewritten with capital letters in the dictionaries.
Well, the crisis, economic and / or political, you read more and more from the faces...
If you make an effort yourself, you sometimes get a smile. But in itself it is becoming a rarity.
Would the tide still turn?
Fortunately, there are people in remote villages, far from the battlefield of the big city, and there – thank Buddha – people still spontaneously laugh.
It is no better in the Netherlands, politics is compared to a second-hand car salesman. Pensions are cut and new staff are hired for lower wages. But the Thais are still protesting. How long has it been since the malieveld was full. No, the Dutch have been beaten to death. They let it, but it's no use anyway. The only fun there is King's Day and World Cup football that's our sanuk. You better sit in the sun with a Singha and all your worries disappear like snow in the sun.
Greetings John
Then you can also turn it around, the fact that it has been a long time since the Malieveld was full also indicates that we actually have it pretty good in the Netherlands.
On the other hand, I must also admit that being dependent on benefits does not seem fun to me, because it would then be impossible for me to continue my current life in the Netherlands and Thailand.
The Netherlands is not that bad, but oh well, that bad weather is often hey, that is. 🙂
Nice colorful argument has sprouted from your gray cells, Joseph.
The advantages of being in Thailsnd may also be mentioned
1 VAT 7%
2 Benine half price
3. No income tax if you are smart
4. OZB almost nothing
5. Eat out a quarter of the price
6. Maid , gardener etc. costs very little
7. Houses less than half
8. 11.000 euros for my swift, 17.000 in the Netherlands
9. Women find old, ugly, fat and sometimes smelly men beautiful 🙂
10. Police bribe is much cheaper than a Dutch fine
11. and you will never be short of plastic bags 🙂
12. You may, in the name of your integration process, lie like the best (although you will undoubtedly always find your master(s) here in the country).