Holidaying on your own
- Thread starter Gromit
- Start date
starfish2000
Well-Known Member
I'm going to Paris on my own on Thursday.
I went to Berlin on my own but met quite a few mad people and had a great, if sometimes scary time.
I enjoy my own company and it'll be fun I'm sure.
I went to Berlin on my own but met quite a few mad people and had a great, if sometimes scary time.
I enjoy my own company and it'll be fun I'm sure.
Marius said:
Thailand is probably too far for one week.
Is that the media image of thailand?
Well, either way it's not stopped half a million british people coming here every year.
Funny these media images. In fact once one goes travelling, and particularly on your own, you start to realise what total bullshit the media is.
TBH Fela, what Marius said is sadly the kneejerk, ignorant, stereotypical view of Thailand in much of the UK. It's more recently been propagated by things like Little Britain (with the frankly racist 'Ting Tong' online Thai bride character) amongst the usual Ladyboy obsession (more of an obsession here than in Thailand where nobody cares). The irony is that it's not as though there isn't prostitution and brothels here, indeed I can remember reading somewhere that the sex industry in the UK is bigger than Thailand.
The tragedy is of course, for a country with such a rich culture, wonderful food, amazing countryside, buzzing cities and friendly people, the atypical Brit obsession is with one small aspect of Thai society that the Thais themselves place very little emphasis on.
The tragedy is of course, for a country with such a rich culture, wonderful food, amazing countryside, buzzing cities and friendly people, the atypical Brit obsession is with one small aspect of Thai society that the Thais themselves place very little emphasis on.
jbob said:
I've never been to Thailand, but I suspect I would agree with yourself. Perfectly understand Maruis's point of view. As a single guy of 40 if I was living in the UK and went on holiday to Thailand there would be many people I wouldn't want to tell because of the crazy assumptions they would make. There are people around who would just refuse to believe anything else.
trashpony
Hag
I've been on holiday on my own quite a few times now. Probably had the best time trekking the Inca Trail in Peru as it was a really mixed bunch of interesting people and people weren't there to cop off
(unless of course you're hoping to do that in which case I'd say go to a beach resort
)
(unless of course you're hoping to do that in which case I'd say go to a beach resort
)jbob said:
Tragedy for who?!
Interesting post. In the days when i came to thailand the big thing was that you were going to have drugs planted in your bags at the airport and end up in prison.
Oh, and to never touch the ice.
Who propagates these stories?
I will dwell on what you've said here jbob because it remains a serious objective of mine to write some kind of alternative guide book cum travel tales on thailand. Do i pander to the stereotypical expectations, or do i attempt to give a truer picture of the amazing country?
It's kind of rhetorical coz i will do the latter, but i don't want a book that no-one buys...!
Stanley Edwards said:As a single guy of 40 if I was living in the UK and went on holiday to Thailand there would be many people I wouldn't want to tell because of the crazy assumptions they would make. There are people around who would just refuse to believe anything else.
I always enjoyed telling people where i lived and that i was single on my trips home to england! I told them that bangkok was the finest city in the world to live in as a single bloke... and not just for the obvious reasons.
I also made attempts to paint a more complete picture of the country. My photos would always help.
Incidentally stanley, a mate of mine in bangkok arrived over here from your neck of the woods, and after a study return to england at the turn of the century i had great plans to then go live in granada, he'd told me so much about it. However the irresistable lure of thailand brought me back here. One day i very much hope to find out what i have missed...
fela fan said:
Well, 'tragedy' was a bit of an excessive term to to use!
I meant that it's sad that it's an over emphasised issue, and that it's not as though the sex industry isn't everywhere, it's just open and 'accepted' in Thailand rather than hidden away under the repressed pretence that it doesn't really go on 
And yes, it's such a great country that for it to be relegated to merely a place famed for its sex industry is patronising to say the least.A further irony is that this silly response is isolated to when you say you're going to Thailand, and yet the same response doesn't appear if you mention you're going to other countries in the region. When I've said 'I'm off to Cambodia/Vietnam/Indonesia' people over here will never mention the auto 'ladyboy-bargirl-every-girl-wants -to-marry-you' response that Thailand evokes, yet much the same industry and attitude to prostitution exists in those countries in a fairly similar arrangement.
As to who propagates the stories, well, to be fair, it's probably located partly in the fact that returning tourists will go on about it, and as mentioned previously, it's a running joke in the media. Of course, this is in a country that puts topless women in its national papers and is currently attempting to push through laws that will criminalise sex workers further by jailing them if they are caught soliciting (story here.) Somehow, it works out that it's Thailand that has a weird attitude to sex, the sex industry and sexual identity
Of course, in your proposed book, you should cover it - but in perspective. It exists, people do travel there specifically for the sex industry (as with other places in the world), but my personal opinion is that you should portray it as how it appears in the context of Thai society - not the western view, which over emphasises it, decontetualises it, and sniggers like a 13 year old schoolboy about it.
Fingers
From Tuscany SE22
Stanley Edwards said:About 6 hours by train I think. Less by coach maybe.
Granada is fantastic. If you get to meet me and my mates it'll be even more fantasticOn the other hand, you can book into a hostel here for just €13 a night and mix it with people who are discovering the place just like you are.
You're very welcome to look me up, give me a call, email, and get my take on the city. No need to be careful - we're as friendly and as tolerant as people get. All genders, persuasions etc most welcome. Or, you can have a laugh with others on holiday here.
Either way - you won't regret it. It's a great holiday city.
Can I recommed a small place called Hostel Rambutan, friendly as fuck, a great view over Al Hambra and the City, i met a whole group of people to hang out with within seconds from putting my bag down. Most were travelling on their own, I ended up travelling round spain with a group of them for three weeks.
jbob said:
Good to read your words jbob. That is exactly what i plan to do, but i've been here for 16 years now, and it's easy to lose some of your instincts for being british in britain. I've had several chats down the years with british people, friends, or friends of friends, and so on, and the levels of ignorance are staggering. I of course had a similar level when i arrived here (well, not quite so bad!).
I actually want to cover it from the thai perspective, but also from a british person's perspective living here. My book is going to be highly objective and highly subjective all rolled into one! But context is all.
If i get off my lazy arse that is. Sometimes i find myself just too busy living and enjoying the country...
Tbf, Fela, all you can ever hope for is to is express it from your own experience. What I meant by the 'Thai perspective' was positioning that aspect of Thailand within its history, culture and economic background. Obviously without being too techie and boring, of course! It's just I've read so much coverage of the Thai sex industry from the plain ignorant stance we've discussed, to the 'pro- sex-industry' western sleazeball websites, to the dry academic, that there's little in the way of balance from commentators that aren't into it, but live there and understand how it works in the context of the place itself.
However, my main point would be to give an account that doesn't demonise the place is simply being about that one aspect. As we both know, it's pretty insulting to have a whole nation characterised by this seemingly common western perspective.
However, my main point would be to give an account that doesn't demonise the place is simply being about that one aspect. As we both know, it's pretty insulting to have a whole nation characterised by this seemingly common western perspective.
jbob said:
Indeed.
Actually all i'm going to do is cover this particular subject simply because a book without covering it would not be the complete picture. I think the mainstream guide books kind of censor it all out. And my direction would paint a very positive picture of the girls who find themselves working in the sex trade simply because i think they're great people just trying to do what they can to make headway in life. I've talked to what must be hundreds of them (in thai) and they're just perfectly normal people.
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