RE: Embassies in Thailand warning their citizens to "behave"
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we need that sort of encouragement here at the moment. Things are getting downright nasty with the attitude towards foreigners. There was one instance where there was some dude that was harassing the absolute hell out of some people at a hotel and the bar next door and the police didn't even come even though the station is just a few km's away. The solution in these situations is to bring some "heavies" by and tell the person that if they don't leave that the gang in the street is going to make him leave, up to them!
Unfortunately this probably only just transfers the problem to another part of the city.
I have a lot of experience living in Thailand and am very familiar with the systems of corruption and how it has been going on for so long that people are just used to it now and it is a normal part of life. In one instance where I was applying for a work permit my paperwork just kept getting pushed back over and over again and this was costing me a lot of money. So one day I went in for a meeting and asked the 2nd in charge lady in Thai, "what do I need to put under this table to help this problem? Would you like to have some tea?" This is a way of politely asking how much "tea money" they want to approve your paperwork. She responded to me in English "it's 6000 Baht, and you can put it on the table."
It's that out in the open, they are fearless, completely unworried about any consequences. We cannot ask anyone to "behave" when the police don't.
I would say the police are rather non-responsive here as well. They don't really enforce any sort of traffic anything other than doling out fines that are clearly for revenue generation. I've never heard of anyone being pursued and pulled over. Most of the cops are on regular scooters and some of them are rather silly and even pink.