Sukhumvit, Bangkok, and Thailand! Audiobook By Cynthia Diaz cover art

Sukhumvit, Bangkok, and Thailand!

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Sukhumvit, Bangkok, and Thailand!

By: Cynthia Diaz
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About this listen

Thailand was a great tourist destination for decades prior to the pandemic and, then, a lot changed. Slow modernization has come to the Thai Kingdom along with a new king, Vajiralongkorn, in 2016. The nation built a new international airport that has been added to since 2006 and, now, boasts one of the largest airports in the world. But, all is not well in the land of elephants. Sukhumvit is the main strip in Bangkok, which is actually a conglomeration of streets, that sells everything from alcohol to food, sex to cannabis, and supercars to real estate. On the surface, Bangkok looks completely modernized, and walking through the tourist-lined streets among the smell of marijuana smoke, one would hardly notice that things are amiss. In reality, the Thai people, who claim to be devoted Buddhists, have become a product of the modern era, and the once smiling friendly Thai people have become nasty, money-hungry individuals who appear to be woke but are far from it. The legalization of cannabis is pretty cool as it was the first and almost only country in East and Southeast Asia to do so, but the reasons are twofold: tourism and political unrest. The hope was to bring more tourists to the country following the COVID-19 pandemic and to quash any potential unrest among the population that could have occurred, like in Myanmar, in which over 6,000 people were killed many more were injured during the politically motivated riots of 2021. Thailand's economy is based entirely on tourism as the only manufacturing that occurs in the country is for finishing technological products for domestic and regional consumption from Chinese organizations. In fact, given the lack of education in the nation, it is no surprise that China has begun a soft colonization of the region in the form of trade, property and infrastructure development, and investment in the nation over the last decade. The goal is to create and maintain market share with inferior products that can't be made locally, which is a form of planned obsolescence and will create future dependence by Thailand on China. Thailand is a swine in lipstick in which the legalized cannabis has made a group of lazy, uneducated people even more so, and the pervasive sense of entitlement and lack of diversification of the economy will lead to an economic collapse that will result in the use of the US dollar or renminbi on the ground in the near future, not the baht. The beaming Buddhists that once inhabited the Thai Kingdom are long gone or dead, and this author recommends traveling to one of the other hundred destinations available to spend your money in which you will get better service and be met with greater kindness. The shock value of the Thai cross-dressers, the prostitution, massages, cannabis, and elephants that existed for Westerners hundreds of years ago and during the Vietnam War era are no longer monopolized by Thailand as these activities and things exist worldwide, are generally legal, and are delivered with less hostility. The political problems of Thailand are nothing new, but it's highly likely that in the next decade, there will be a Muslim majority in the nation, despite the two decade long mistreatment of the Rohingya people, by both Thailand and Myanmar. The reality is that without tourism Thailand is nothing, and although it's the most visited place in Southeast Asia now, even the Chinese money will figure out that there are just better places to vacation with more educated and nicer people who offer better service and value. Thailand left me perplexed on this voyage with little hope for the nation, which was similar to the hand soap in my hotel room because it smelled like guacamole; I am not sure why, and that's the point. We vote with our money!

"There's a sucker born every second." -PT Barnum
Travel & Tourism Marijuana Royalty
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