Thailand; I lived there for a bit more than 2 years (late 2008-early 2011).
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE! IT DOESN’T MEAN EVERYONE ELSE WILL HAVE A HORRIBLE TIME IN THAILAND!
Thailand is a country that most people associate with beautiful beaches, warm weather, amazing temples, great food and cheap prices. All of these things are real, they exist in Thailand. There are positive and negative sides to every country, but from my 2 years of living in Thailand, I’ve experienced that the negative overlaps the positive.
The fact that a child doens’t understand as much as an adult is a lie. At least in my case. When I was 8 years old, I moved to Thailand, which I now consider one of the worst places I’ve ever lived. It makes me sad in a way, but I learnt that I should be happy that I live in Norway. I saw so many horrible things in Thailand, and the way children and women are treated is absolutely heartbreaking. It is a country filled with poverty, abuse, and powerabuse.
I didn’t go to an international school, I was put right into a public school (also known as a temple school). At first it was alright, until I started to notice how f**ked up it was. The students treat the teachers like gods. They’re forced to. Teachers were allowed to order students to get them food, drinks and anything else. If your uniform wasn’t correct (wrong shoes, wrong socks or wrong uniform for the wrong day), you were hit with a stick either on your back, your bum or your hands. If your hair was longer than expected, it was cut off by your teacher. I have a memory of one of the boys in my year, he hadn’t cut his hair for while, and the teacher used some scissors to cut it and she hit his ear. He was bleeding. Sometimes I wondered if these punishments were done because some of the teachers had really bad angerissues.
The school didn’t care about bullying. I remember there was a girl in my year who was very poor. She was always filthy, and for this she was bullied and beat up by the other children. Nothing was done about it. Some of the teachers even watched. Being poor was such a common thing when I went to school, but it was a shame to show it. I was even taught to bully her. It was disgusting. On the other hand, I was treated differently because I was the only white child. I didn’t have to cut my hair, I didn’t have to wear a uniform, the teachers never used me, I didn’t have to do my homework. Not because I didn’t know Thai, because I speak Thai like my mother tongue, but simply because I’m white. But in the end I decided to shave my head and wear a uniform because the other children were talking about me.
Being white in thailand doesn’t just mean that everything is easier for you though, it also means that you have to pay double, maybe tripple the price of food and clothes. Keep in mind that my family didn’t have any more money than anyone else in our town. If you’re white in Thailand, people expect you to be rich. I also remember being sexualised because of my white skin. When I think back, I realise that this is because media has created an image of what beauty is. Media said that you have to be white to be beautiful, so people believe it. My siblings were always told that the whiter you are, the more beautiful you are. Everyone was obsessed with being white. I spesifically remember that one of my siblings would used a cream that would change her skintone. She had been using it for so many years that her skin actually turned white. She, like many others, avioded the sun just because she was afraid of her skin getting dark.
Another thing I remember is being asked if someone could buy me. My family and I were having dinner with a band from Thailand (one of my family members had been a childhood friend of the lead singer). It was after one of their concerts, and we were just sat around the table. One of the members started talking about children, and long story short, he asked my family if he could buy me. Most of the time, this would’ve been a joke, but from what I remember, it was pretty serious. He even gave us a price. It’s one of the strangest thing I’ve ever experienced. Most people don’t even believe me when I tell this story, but it really is true. Apparently this is quite normal in Thailand.
I could go on and on about things I’ve seen and experiened in Thailand, but this answer is getting extremely long. All in all I’ve seen so much abuse in Thailand, both against people and animals. I’ve seen dogs, puppies, being thrown away in the bin. I’ve seen people crawling around on the streets because they don’t have a home to go to. People are so obsessed with money there too, but that is extremely understandabale, because sadly you can’t get anywhere in life without money. You also learn from a very young age that you need to do all you can to get money. To add one last thing, I remember being on vacation in Thailand in 2015 and someone nicked my sisters suitcase while our car was parked by a Tesco.
Being a person who grew up with two extremely different cultures (The other one is the Norwegian culture), I could do a comparison, but I don’t think I will for now. Like I said in the beginning, there are both positive and negative sides to a country, but this is MY experience with Thailand. I do have good memories as well, but the bad ones really stand out.
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