Why is everything in Thailand so disappointing?

Now, this is for sure a click bait question, and thanks for reading. Of course not everything is disappointing in Thailand. otherwise we wouldn't live here. But I guess I am not the only expat who is sometimes very frustrated, disappointed, even angry about Thailand and the Thai people. THE Thai people .

So where is this coming from?

Most of my posts develop from some thoughts I have driving on my motobike in the morning bringing my wife to the BTS station. Traffic in Thailand is something that can make you really frustrated. So there was this mototaxi driver who just cut short, forcing me to make a sudden break. "Why they don't learn driving?" was my first thought (I am long enough here to never say this to a local). But then I realised that in one year driving so far I had no accident, not even close to one. That was not just because of my good driving. It was also because most people here are driving not too bad.

It is in us to make this separation. I am pretty sure I am not the only one who has this we vs. them thoughts. This has nothing to do with racism. First of all many people here really let you know you are a foreigner, starting with "Falang" and ending with  different price structures. But this is understandable, both from the historic point of view as well as in business matters.

My theory is that we have quite high expectations. Most of us expats live here because we love Bangkok, Thailand or Asia in general. It is the paradise we always wanted to live in. The garden Eden. And we still have this romantic idea that this place and the people are different (Thai nationalists actually believe this in a very serious way), everyone is so kind and helpful. We WANT it to be that way, because we do not want to admit that the dream never came true or that reality is just different.

Because, in fact, Thailand is not so different from other places in the world, western countries included. There is just one human race, and we all have a lot of things in common. Bad drivers? Go to Offenbach in Germany! THEY, as we from north of Frankfurt say, will never get the idea how to drive.

Driving further there is this woman I see every morning. She works in one of the nearby factories as you can see from her uniform. She pulls a trolley filled with rice and dog food. Every morning she feeds the soi dogs between Lasalle and Bearing. How kind she is! But I never had this thought about how kind THE Thai people are.

Sometimes we need to remind us that life is as different as people are.

K-Ville: A very dog friendly place

In case you want to spend some time window shopping, having a Iced Latte, but you need to take care of you dog, go to K-Ville. It is a dog friendly shopping place. They offer poo bags and a dog toilet. Not sure if you can enter the shops with dogs, but the public area in the ground floor is open for dogs - on a leash of course.
I also saw signs at the Paradise Park shopping mall that in certain areas inside dogs are not allowed, what brought me to the conclusion that in general dogs are ok. But better ask before.

Convenient

A friend said recently what she likes so much on Bangkok is that things are so convenient. From delivery service to credit card acceptance, BTS and a trillion of restaurants and shopping malls just around the corner, all you did Bangkok offers. Nearly forgot world class hospitals.

My questions is: Does it make people lazy then. Now you can order groceries via an iPhone or Android app from Big C and Tesco. Your water gets delivered to you house, your pizza or even Mc Donald's fast food. Will people stop shopping and cooking? Even those with lower incomes can rely on cheap street food.

Coming for countries where non of this existed, Bangkok is indeed a consumers paradise. And yes, I was way more often in Laos at the local market than here in Bangkok. it for a reason: the small minimarts rarely have fresh fruits and veggies in Laos, and they are overpriced. In Thailand, I get even organic vegetables at Foodland or Tesco Lotus. And it's proper stored, clean and still for a fair price.

Since I love cooking, we don't use delivery too much, and compared to Laos we are going out less. I usually cook dinner for us at home (and did this already back in Germany). But it is still nice to have endless options for restaurants. I loved Aria Mixay in Vientiane a lot, but sometimes you just want to have another Italian restaurant worth going.

So yes, Bangkok is convenient, in particular for the office workers, who rarely have time to cook at home, doing their laundry or walk the dog (yes, you can hire someone to walk your dog). Because we have no car yet, Yoda get picked up twice a week to go to his swimming therapy. Comes with a price of course.

Coming from a country where service isn't really existing or understood in many places, Bangkok is a paradise. We still love it - although it's only a month since we arrived.