A post on X by John LeFevre:
I’ve been to Thailand a dozen times or so when I was living in HK and Singapore.
I always felt bad for people who made it a bucket list or honeymoon destination from the other side of the world.
Don’t be fooled by the White Lotus hype; it’s disgusting:
Phuket – crowded and gross beaches.
Koh Samui – average beaches, terrible SCUBA.
Bangkok – horrible traffic, dirty, and Patpong will scar you for life. The Mandarin Oriental is cool but that’s about it.
Pattaya & Krabi – where society’s dregs go on vacation.
Phi Phi Island – where backpackers go for drugs, and the water is filled with trash. Even the beaches from the movie The Beach are too murky to even snorkel.
Chang Mai – full of ped0s, fake temples, and depressed elephants.Thailand is only nice as a really cheap alternative for deviant Germans or lower class Brits to retire; it’s better than some dreary place like Liverpool in terms of women, weather, and the price of a pint.
My response, of which I am proud:
Thank you for applying for a job at the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Based on your essay, however, we are unable to offer you employment at this time.
Note that I actually liked what little I saw of Thailand on a 2001 business trip there. See “A Photographer’s Guide to Bangkok”, from which these photos are excerpted:
It doesn’t look that bad on gootube. For a place where no-one can afford a car, it’s apparently not walkable. The mane attraction seems to be cheap vacations. Surprised the mane attraction isn’t prostitution, but it’s a sign of these left voting religious worshiping times.
Don’t forget the AIDS. There’s a lot of AIDS in Thailand. If you want to be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Thailand is a good place to go.
Other things to be careful: confusion as to methyl and ethyl alcohol when served to tourists. Gonorhea, Anti-biotic-resistant Gonorhea, Syphilis, Anti-biotic-resistant Syphilis, Unrecognized viruses and bacteria that may cause epigenetic change, child prostitution, food poisoning. a botched sex change, etc., etc..
Oh yeah, I almost forgot there’s a muzzie problem. I think there’s some sorta religious kinda you-know sorta ethnic cleansing, and who can blém èm (whoops)..
Thailand is total trash. Don’t go there.
Unless you want to see how stuffing a live hamster into a vagina looks like in the real life. Or you want to sample a ladyboy. Then that’s the place to go.
One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster!
Substance abuse, cheap prostitutes and depressed elephants? Sounds like a plan