Without a doubt, Thailand is a wonderful country with lots of friendly locals, amazing sunshine, lovely beaches, astonishing Buddhist temples, and lots more. Despite the beauties and attractions of Thailand, it is noteworthy that this Southeast Asian country is not perfect; hence, there are certain things that people hate about Thailand. So, if you are thinking about visiting the Land of Smiles, you need to be conversant with those things people don’t like about the country.
After surveying the opinions of several individuals on Quora and other trusted websites, the things people don’t like about Thailand include extortion from some locals, corruption, dirtiness, traffic issues, and wealth inequality. Other people dislike Thailand’s police force, institutionalized racism, and animal exploitation. Each of these factors will be discussed extensively to see how they affect the progress of the citizenry and the country as a whole.
Of course, it is crucial to note that these issues are not peculiar to Thailand. This is because several other countries around the world are also dealing with similar challenges. Nevertheless, these challenges are making many individuals dislike living in Thailand.
Below, we will explain 9 things people hate about Thailand in no particular order:
1. Too much money extortion
If you are a foreigner visiting or living in Thailand, one of the major things you will likely hate about this country is money extortion. There are lots of people everywhere in the country who are looking for ways to make money through dishonest means. Many of the dishonest locals believe that all foreigners have lots of money; therefore, they go the extra length to swindle them.
Whether you are at the beach, on the street, or at a tourist attraction site, you are bound to come across people that want to extort money from you. Most of the scammers will take advantage of foreigners’ lack of understanding of the country to dupe them. If you are not careful, you will lose hundreds of dollars to a few scammers.
Some of the common scams for extorting money from people in Thailand include:
- “The Grand Palace is closed” scam
- Damaged jet ski scam
- Motorbike scam
- Broken taxi meter scam
- Fake money scam
- Gem scam
- Tuk-tuk driver scam
- Bird seed scam
You may want to check out The Culture Trip for more knowledge on how these scams work and how to protect yourself from falling victim.
2. Lots of corruption
Another typical thing that people hate about Thailand is that corruption is too rampant. Without mincing words, you will encounter corruption in almost all places around the country. Due to how rampant corruption is in this Southeast Asian nation, numerous foreigners often believe that corruption is a part of its system.
If you are dealing with civil servants, top government officials, police officers, businesses, etc., you cannot avoid encountering corrupt practices. In fact, to get many things done in Thailand, you will have to bribe those involved. Similarly, many businesses are not functioning properly in the delivery of their services and products. Unfortunately, there is hardly anything that the customers can do about it.
Therefore, it is not strange that corruption is another thing that many foreigners and locals hate about Thailand.
3. Dirtiness, especially in rural areas
If you can take the time to check out the opinions of people on this Quora thread, you will notice that many people have agreed that dirtiness is another undesirable thing about Thailand. Many of these streets of Thailand (especially in rural or semi-urban) are filled with dirt.
Numerous empty lots contain garbage with no visible plan of disposing of. Although a few cities and towns boast of having a well-defined rubbish collection system, others don’t. Even in places with waste bins, lots of individuals will discard waste in open places. Also, if you visit some of the beaches in the country, you will find dirt scattered across various places. Such dirt is from both foreigners and locals. People often dump trash anywhere they want without any penalties.
In Thailand, it is not unusual to come across open sewage canals without any barricade or fence. Such canals don’t only expose people to some diseases but can also lead to injuries or even deaths.
Because of how unsightly these things can be, many individuals hate the dirtiness of several places in Thailand. However, it is believed that Thailand is neater than many other nations in Southeast Asia.
4. Poor traffic laws and traffic congestions
Thailand is one of the countries with the worst traffic laws and incessant traffic congestions in the world. If you are in a place like Bangkok, it is almost certain that you are going to spend numerous hours inside traffic, especially if you are moving during peak periods. Other cities and towns have poor public transport systems that can make it difficult for you to move from one location to another.
More importantly, there is no respect for traffic laws in Thailand. Drunk driving, over-speeding, not using seatbelts, not wearing helmets, etc. are so common in Thailand. According to CNN, Thailand has been adjudged as the country with the most lethal roads among all nations in Southeast Asia. This tells you how bad things can be on the road in Thailand.
However, you should understand that there are traffic laws in Thailand. As claimed by Independent.co.uk, the widespread corruption in the country has weakened the enforcement of traffic laws in the Land of Smiles. We will explain more about this when talking about our next point about the corrupt police force in Thailand.
5. Corrupt police forces
If you are coming from a developed, you will rank Thailand’s police force as one of the worst police forces around the globe. Although there are honest and dedicated police officers in the country, many of them are just looking for ways to make money from people – both foreigners and locals. Without a doubt, this is a good reason for people to hate the country.
In general, the police officers are meant to punish offending road users by giving them official fines or charging them with crimes. Unfortunately, Thai police officers will do neither of these two things. For instance, if they have arrested a person for driving without using a seatbelt, riding a bike without wearing a helmet, or over-speeding, they would rather collect a bribe from the person. In many cases, the offender may pay some hundreds of THB to regain freedom.
Some of the corrupt police officers are always on the lookout for ways to extort foreigners. You may just be stopped to check your passport. While this is not wrong, the officers are more interested in acquiring money illegally than verifying your legality to stay in the country.
Even if you are in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, and other popular tourist centers, you may come across fake police officers that often scam tourists. You can learn about how to deal with police in Thailand by visiting Worldnmads.com.
6. Inequality between the rich and poor
Considered as one of the countries with the highest rates of wealth inequality around the globe, it is not surprising that people hate Thailand because of wealth inequality. According to the ASEAN Post, the gap between the richest and poorest people in Thailand is a major source of concern. While some people are wallowing in abject poverty, others are living in unbelievable opulence.
Nonetheless, the country used to be poorer than it is today. According to World Bank, in 1988, 65.2% of all Thais were considered poor. But the number had fallen to 7.21% by the end of 2015. Unfortunately, lack of economic development, unfavorable environmental conditions, etc. increased the figure to 9.85% in 2018. There is now stagnancy in consumption growth and household incomes. Even wealth distribution is becoming a big issue that the country is facing at the moment.
The cycles of impoverishment in Thailand tend to be increasing recently; hence, lots of locals and foreigners hate this problem.
7. Animal exploitation
Although lots of locals are not concerned about this, animal exploitation is somewhat rampant in Thailand. During your stay in this Southeast Asian country, you are likely going to come across a place where animals are being exploited in Thailand. For instance, in Thailand, there are lots of places where elephants are used for a wide range of tourist activities. In fact, with a token, you can ride elephants in some animal centers in the country.
Additionally, some rare animals have been brought into Thailand from other nations illegally. These animals are used for different tourist activities. However, many of these animals are treated well in Thailand; hence, you may not even notice any issue with them.
But if you are a typical animal lover, you will notice the anomaly involved in how some of these animals are acquired from their habitat. As a result of this, it is possible to hate this particular thing about Thailand.
8. Institutionalized racism
Institutionalized racism is another well-known problem that numerous individuals hate about Thailand. Foreigners are treated unfairly based on their skin color. Notably, foreigners are often called farangs.
In most cases, a foreigner will likely have to pay at least double the price that a local will spend on the same product or service. If a foreigner goes to a restaurant, the waiters will probably offer him/her a food menu that is different from the one for the locals. The food menu for foreigners will come with inflated prices. This also applies to going to a museum as foreigners are charged more than the locals. Furthermore, farangs (foreigners) are also charged more for apartment rents in Thailand.
Unfortunately, this unscrupulous phenomenon is institutionalized in this Southeast Asian country. This is because the government officials have approved such a policy. Therefore, people can do these things without facing any penalties from the government.
If you are a black foreigner in Thailand, you may be sometimes overlooked for opportunities. For instance, if you need English teaching jobs, a white person with less qualification with get the job ahead of a black person. This is a common form of racism and discrimination that is common in different parts of the country.
As a result of this, numerous foreigners dislike Thailand because of its institutionalized racism and discrimination.
9. Lack of well-paying job opportunities
Are you looking for well-paying job opportunities in Thailand? Then, you should be ready to the extra mile to get one. This is because the country does not have lots of well-paying jobs. Even the few well-paying employments available have been taken by people with influence.
If you are a foreigner and want to live comfortably in Thailand, your best bet will be to a remote job that pays you lots of money. Otherwise, you can work as a Western expatriate with a job that pays you handsomely. Without such a job, you will have a hard time getting good employment in the Land of Smiles.
Most of the jobs in Thailand pay peanuts. Some people from neighboring Southeast Asian countries are living in Thailand, but they are grossly underpaid. As a result of this, their quality of life is quite pitiful.
So, if you come to Thailand with the thought of getting a good job, you will likely hate the country within a short period of living there.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, there are several things that people hate about Thailand, and we have only mentioned 9 of them. Some of these things are caused by the people themselves whereas others are the results of the inefficiency and incompetence of the Thai government. Regardless, these things are making numerous people dislike the idea of living in or visiting the country.
But despite these things that people hate about Thailand, millions of people are still more than willing to visit the country. This shows that the country can even get more visitors if it can make necessary changes to areas where it is lagging.
