Yeah, I have no desire to go to Thailand again. Which is a shame because it's a beautiful country.
Agree, unless it's work sending me, I won't by choice visit Thailand again...
Second World ThailandAn official definition exists for the First World – example states: Japan,
Scandinavia, Singapore, Canada, Korea, Switzerland,
Orange County? An official definition also exists for the Third World – example states: Haiti, Yemen,
East/West/Central/Southern Africa, Afghanistan. Comparable definitions designating developed and undeveloped nations are used by organizations such as the United Nations’ World Health Organization and World Food Programme, as well as the World Bank and the Global Livability Index. However, what’s strange is there’s no definition formalized for the greater part of the world’s population living in the broad middle—the Second World. Example states: Mexico,
Eastern Europe, The Balkans, Brazil, Turkey,
The Appalachians? The undefined Second World is a mix of the two more pronounced upper and lower bounds, and it is better defined by observation – what First World amenities exists among scenes closer to the Third World?
Thailand fits squarely into this Second World, and on our morning taxi ride from the hotel to the ports, the scenes are prevalent. Looking into the green-blue coastal waters while waiting for my driver, dozens of luxury yachts are anchored in the distance, keeping clear of the few abandoned freighter ships grounded offshore, too large and rusted over to be moved without breaking apart. The Hilton where we are soon picked up rises, alongside neighboring luxury hotels and condominium towers, twenty and thirty levels above the morning’s streets of wild dogs roving the curbsides for scraps from food carts. The morning traffic buzzes with multitudes of scooters. More scooters pull alongside our taxi, their destination is school; on the backs of many ride blue-uniformed schoolchildren, driven by a parent. Thick bundles of powerlines sag in tangled masses above the sidewalks.
