The weather is certainly interesting. I had some discussions about this with my Thai girlfriend who has lived in Hat Yai for the last 20 years. I remember your videos from last year too talking about the unusual weather, rain, and flooding we got last January as well.
I think the 'saving face' and avoiding conflict culture leads to some people letting things build up until unfortunately they go to extremes. I think this type of culture does not equip people with the skills to vent their frustrations.
I agree. Emotions are concealed because to show anger is to lose face. Everything gets bottled up inside, and there is no way of letting off steam in a safe way. I vent occasionally because we all need to have a pressure relief valve. When Thais eventually blow, the results are often unpleasant. I've read so many stories over the years of Thais getting into arguments about noise or parking, or something else, and one ends up shooting the other. It's quite disturbing.
I've never experienced violence in Thailand except the driving, which in opinion is so reckless it can be considered violence. I live in the mountains and people gladly pass around blind turns on the wrong side of the road so it's just a matter of time until they collide and do see this often. No lessons are learned either so there's always a threat of a deadly car crash that can kill you.
I'd go along with that. The only times I've been threatened and chased were while driving. The manner of driving is extremely aggressive, and many of the shootings happen as a result of road rage. My view of Thais has changed considerably since I started driving regularly compared to when I didn't. However, I have met and read about foreigners who suffered violence that wasn't driving related. For me personally, driving is the worst aspect of living in Thailand. And you're right about not learning lessons. Despite having some of the most dangerous roads in the world, nothing ever changes.
@@expatlivinginthailand If they were learning and making provisions to avoid them in the future I'd be happy but that's not happening. For example just saw this video (ruclips.net/video/25DE4En-ctM/видео.html). Driving like this is normal but I don't see anyone trying to prevent it.
@HairyPixels OMG. Thanks for the link. My wife likes to watch the Thai news channels, and there are clips like this every day. A pickup truck. Surprise, surprise. The majority of idiots I see on Thai roads are pickup truck drivers. Worst of all are the delivery drivers who drive pickups with large boxes on the back. There's zero enforcement, but a lot of cameras have started to appear where I am. Offenders are photographed and then receive a fine in the post. I think this is related to the culture of non- confrontation because it doesn't require cops to confront drivers in person.
My comment keeps disappearing, so I need to anticipate what the offending word was. Let me try again: I'm staying well clear of Hat Yai during CNY 😅 I'm a Malaysian tourist.. and I blame Malaysian tourists! The oft-heard 'bad Malaysian habits' are very real, and I've seen those ramped up in Thailand. I'll be there again middle of next month after a running thing in Penang, crossing into Thailand on a Sunday when tourists are - hopefully - going in the other direction. (Real) bacon on pizza, here I come! The restaurant shooting is very tragic, and I'm surprised news of it did not make it into Malaysian media.. none that I'm aware of anyway. I once entered a near-empty Hat Yai restaurant not knowing the kitchen had just closed, and one of the staff just started screaming at me in Chinese. The place is very popular with Malaysians so I think she just assumed that I was one (I'm Malaysian, but not ethnically Chinese). I didn't appreciate the treatment and have never set foot in there again. Sultan was closed when I passed by last month, but I didn't know it was permanently so. I also saw that Singapore's Geylang Frog Porridge has taken over a shoplot, but wasn't operational yet. Give us a review if you try it! Thanks for the video.
@visitstomyneighbours It's not me deleting your comments, so it must be RUclips. YT deletes a lot of my comments, but normally, only those related to controversial subjects. I don't know what the issue is with your comments being deleted. I, too, generally avoid events that attract a lot of people. If I have time, I may wander around town during CNY for a quick video. No doubt, Hat Yai's hotel rooms will be fully booked already. It's not unknown for certain news stories to be suppressed if they have an adverse effect on tourism. Err, frog porridge, eh? Somehow, I don't think I'll be doing a review! I want to do a video review on a couple of Indian restaurants. I went to one on Tuesday, but it was closed all day. I then went to the other one, and it was also closed. A complete waste of time! Brits are partial to Indian food, and there are some great restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore. However, certain other Asian food doesn't appeal, and the prospect of frogs and rice porridge doesn't really do much for me!
Well the weather has been colder here in Bangkok and the pollution is getting worse. Gun crime is definitely a thing in Thailand as a whole and yes as you said the best advice is to walk away. I can't believe traffic is worse in hat yai than Bangkok. I really can't see that being true but when in doubt blame the Malaysians😂
I've been reading about the pollution and 15C temperatures in Bangkok. The gun culture is very disturbing. I've read about so many incidents. I try to avoid rush hour traffic here, and traffic isn't too bad. However, when my lad was in hospital, I had to drive in the morning and evening rush hour. It was horrendous. Not only the volume of traffic, but the obnoxious driving. There is no concept of lane discipline. Drivers use whatever lane has least traffic so they get to the front, and then they cut in aggressively. You can't react, though. Lots of shootings occur as a result of road rage.
The weather is certainly interesting. I had some discussions about this with my Thai girlfriend who has lived in Hat Yai for the last 20 years. I remember your videos from last year too talking about the unusual weather, rain, and flooding we got last January as well.
It's unusual! I heard it was 15C in Bangkok last week, and it's very cool in northern Thailand. January is normally very hot and dry here.
I think the 'saving face' and avoiding conflict culture leads to some people letting things build up until unfortunately they go to extremes. I think this type of culture does not equip people with the skills to vent their frustrations.
I agree. Emotions are concealed because to show anger is to lose face. Everything gets bottled up inside, and there is no way of letting off steam in a safe way. I vent occasionally because we all need to have a pressure relief valve. When Thais eventually blow, the results are often unpleasant. I've read so many stories over the years of Thais getting into arguments about noise or parking, or something else, and one ends up shooting the other. It's quite disturbing.
I've never experienced violence in Thailand except the driving, which in opinion is so reckless it can be considered violence. I live in the mountains and people gladly pass around blind turns on the wrong side of the road so it's just a matter of time until they collide and do see this often. No lessons are learned either so there's always a threat of a deadly car crash that can kill you.
I'd go along with that. The only times I've been threatened and chased were while driving. The manner of driving is extremely aggressive, and many of the shootings happen as a result of road rage. My view of Thais has changed considerably since I started driving regularly compared to when I didn't. However, I have met and read about foreigners who suffered violence that wasn't driving related. For me personally, driving is the worst aspect of living in Thailand. And you're right about not learning lessons. Despite having some of the most dangerous roads in the world, nothing ever changes.
@@expatlivinginthailand If they were learning and making provisions to avoid them in the future I'd be happy but that's not happening. For example just saw this video (ruclips.net/video/25DE4En-ctM/видео.html). Driving like this is normal but I don't see anyone trying to prevent it.
@HairyPixels OMG. Thanks for the link. My wife likes to watch the Thai news channels, and there are clips like this every day. A pickup truck. Surprise, surprise. The majority of idiots I see on Thai roads are pickup truck drivers. Worst of all are the delivery drivers who drive pickups with large boxes on the back. There's zero enforcement, but a lot of cameras have started to appear where I am. Offenders are photographed and then receive a fine in the post. I think this is related to the culture of non- confrontation because it doesn't require cops to confront drivers in person.
My comment keeps disappearing, so I need to anticipate what the offending word was. Let me try again:
I'm staying well clear of Hat Yai during CNY 😅 I'm a Malaysian tourist.. and I blame Malaysian tourists! The oft-heard 'bad Malaysian habits' are very real, and I've seen those ramped up in Thailand. I'll be there again middle of next month after a running thing in Penang, crossing into Thailand on a Sunday when tourists are - hopefully - going in the other direction. (Real) bacon on pizza, here I come!
The restaurant shooting is very tragic, and I'm surprised news of it did not make it into Malaysian media.. none that I'm aware of anyway. I once entered a near-empty Hat Yai restaurant not knowing the kitchen had just closed, and one of the staff just started screaming at me in Chinese. The place is very popular with Malaysians so I think she just assumed that I was one (I'm Malaysian, but not ethnically Chinese). I didn't appreciate the treatment and have never set foot in there again.
Sultan was closed when I passed by last month, but I didn't know it was permanently so. I also saw that Singapore's Geylang Frog Porridge has taken over a shoplot, but wasn't operational yet. Give us a review if you try it! Thanks for the video.
@visitstomyneighbours It's not me deleting your comments, so it must be RUclips. YT deletes a lot of my comments, but normally, only those related to controversial subjects. I don't know what the issue is with your comments being deleted.
I, too, generally avoid events that attract a lot of people. If I have time, I may wander around town during CNY for a quick video. No doubt, Hat Yai's hotel rooms will be fully booked already.
It's not unknown for certain news stories to be suppressed if they have an adverse effect on tourism.
Err, frog porridge, eh? Somehow, I don't think I'll be doing a review! I want to do a video review on a couple of Indian restaurants. I went to one on Tuesday, but it was closed all day. I then went to the other one, and it was also closed. A complete waste of time! Brits are partial to Indian food, and there are some great restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore. However, certain other Asian food doesn't appeal, and the prospect of frogs and rice porridge doesn't really do much for me!
Well the weather has been colder here in Bangkok and the pollution is getting worse.
Gun crime is definitely a thing in Thailand as a whole and yes as you said the best advice is to walk away.
I can't believe traffic is worse in hat yai than Bangkok.
I really can't see that being true but when in doubt blame the Malaysians😂
I've been reading about the pollution and 15C temperatures in Bangkok. The gun culture is very disturbing. I've read about so many incidents.
I try to avoid rush hour traffic here, and traffic isn't too bad. However, when my lad was in hospital, I had to drive in the morning and evening rush hour. It was horrendous. Not only the volume of traffic, but the obnoxious driving. There is no concept of lane discipline. Drivers use whatever lane has least traffic so they get to the front, and then they cut in aggressively. You can't react, though. Lots of shootings occur as a result of road rage.