Thailand is going through an upheaval now that is causing a lot of confusion. It may help to put things in perspective if we look back in time to see what has influenced decisions being made today. Rather than looking at just the property market in this assessment, I offer some insights into what will happen in the future if we don’t all make some hard decisions today.
Let’s start way back in 1963 when I first came to Thailand. Back then I was lucky enough to be invited to an International Boy Scout Jamboree. My troop (I was a Queen’s Scout) traveled up by train from Butterworth in Malaysia. The trip took us through many small villages surrounded by rice fields or rubber plantations that soon merged into the jungle. There was a lot of jungle around way back then, with plenty of tigers and crocs too.
As we arrived in Bangkok we crossed the steel bridge over the river, through more rice paddies almost all the way to Hua Lamphong. The Friendship Highway to Esarn had not been built yet, and Thailand was covered in verdant jungle everywhere.
Politics in those days weren’t much different to today’s unfortunate situation. The army generals ruled the day, and the 60-family elite ensured that Thai ‘culture’ was upheld to maintain their traditions and way of life.
My next trip here was in 1967 as a guest of the Thai government with the Royal Australian Air Force to fight the Commies from Ubon Ratchathani during the Viet Nam war. You can read about what we faced here: http://searchwarp.com/swa77414.htm. This is when the rot set in and Thailand really started to change. It was gradual at first, but it accelerated as time went on.