I am on a retirement visa which is good for a year. Unfortunately every 90 days I have to go to the immigration office and fill out form 47 that basically states, yes, I am still in Thailand, and this is where I am living.
I decided to go today which unfortunately was a bad mistake as it is the first working government day after a 5 day labor holiday. That meant long lineups. Usually I arrive, after a 40 minute taxi ride at about 10 am. I have the form already filled out and printed at home so I present the form and get a queue number, and after checking the current working number, I head down for a latte until about 11:30 at which time I go back upstairs, wait 10 minutes and I am done before noon. It is important to be done before noon, as the whole department shuts down for an hour for lunch. I don't think staggered lunch hours have ever occurred to this particular government department.
Unfortunately my number was 276 and they were only working on 55 so I knew that I would be into the late afternoon. So Thavorn, Jaidan and I had a latte, then a walk, then lunch, the another walk, etc. to kill time until about 2:30 when my number was getting close.
I went upstairs and waited in a very busy area with no chairs. A nice older gentleman offered me his chair and I declined and he insisted so I took his chair and had a delightful chat for 15 mins while waiting for my number to be called. He was a black, ex police officer who had worked in LA during the riots in the 70's and also happened to be a basketball fan (Lakers, boo hiss) and Tar Heels (yippee kai yah).
After my form was processed (5 mins) we went outside to take a taxi home. I immediately recognized a problem. It was busy, lots of people waiting, raining, and no taxis. There was a mix of peoples, a couple of farangs, some Thai women, lots of Arabs and Indians. I jokingly asked is there some kind of queue and the Brit with the sour face said no, but there should be.
For the next 10 minutes I watched the Brit try to get into one of teh few taxis to arrive and get shouldered out of the way by the Arabs. He was obviously pissed and told me the Arabs had arrived after he did as well as the Thai women waiting. So I will call it as I saw it. The ugly was the Arabs.
The Brit eventually got in a taxi and I had watched and noticed the queue was now the Thai women, my family, and a bunch of Indians who had just arrived. After about 5 mins another couple of taxis arrived and 2 of the Indians immediately jumped out to take the taxis. Immediately, this farang shouted don't take those taxis ... you are not next in line and one of them had the audacity to say yes he was. I politely told him I had been waiting 30 minutes, how long had he been waiting. An older Indian gentleman said yes, I was ahead of him and the two younger Indian men backed off and I grabbed the two Thai women and put them into the first taxi (they would have been waiting forever).
So calling it the way I saw it ... Indians bad, at least some of them.
So obviously the Thai women and this farang were the good. Queuing is second nature for North Americans. From my travel throughout Europe I would say not so much. As for certain countries that feel entitled or where population density leads to a dog eat dog mentality ... enough said.
The civilized world prides itself on being 'civilized'. Of course Thavorn, being Thai was mortified I made a bit of a scene, but she is beginning to understand what I consider 'fair' and what is 'unacceptable'. However, she still thinks farangs are 'ting dong'.
TTYL
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