*********************************************************************************cobraneck wrote:I just got back from Thailand. went to do some scuba diving in Phuket. At first I was elated to be back in Thailand after 45 years....but that soon wore off when the reality of that ----- hit me like a sack of potatoes. Thailand has not improved at all in 45 years, just the population has increased about 10x. It's now full of hustlers, very similar to today's Vietnam. The car and motorbike traffic is unreal, the motorbikes even jump on the sidewalks when the traffic slows down. Some motorbikes are even coming the other way, so you have to watch in front of you, and behind. Many stray dogs, most with rabies, just hang out sleeping in the gutters and sidewalks. You have to tiptoe around them and hope they don't wake up.
I had planned to stay for a month, maybe go up and visit the 7th...but soon I just changed my flights and headed back. What a depressing experience.
I went back again, this time for some diving in Ko Lanta in southern Thailand near Malaysia. It was great, totally the opposite of the chaos of Phuket. After about ten days, headed up to Udorn (Udon Thani) for a few days and visited the 7th. Udorn is much like Bangkok back in the day, nothing looked familiar, crowded and much larger...but basically still a -----. The airport uses the same runway as the old Udorn Airbase, saw the old airbase tower and aircraft flak shields while our plane taxied by.
After some major difficulty, I found the old 7th RRFS. Urban growth has spread from Udorn to Nong Soong, a four lane busy road now lined with various commerce and shoddy buildings...gone are the long stretches of rice paddies and klongs. What was once an army outpost in the middle of nowhere is now surrounded by that urban growth. I got on the post, and after filtering out all the changes, it came in loud and clear. The only building that the Thai army maintained is the HQ building, the barracks are still standing, but are mostly closed off. The rec building/area around the pool is gone, the pool has deteriorated, partially filled with old rain water. The NCO club is long gone, just bushes and trees where it once stood. Across you can see the old motor pool, the maintenance/engineering building, and the BOQ, didn't walk over there, so not sure if they were kept up or not. Their vehicles are parked at the motor pool. Was quiet without the old diesel generators blasting away, lots of old trees all around, much different from what I remember. No trees or anything back then. Didn't walk down to the old ops building, but understand it has deteriorated as has most of the post.
Was a mind bending experience walking around there, the barracks bay that I lived in near the old water tower seemed to be the only one that was not closed off. Was clean and ventilated, so I walked thru it...surreal remembering those that lived there in 1967-68, all my old rowdy drinking buddies are now dead...
Went up to Nong Khai where we used to go to eat and drink, stopped at some cafe and had lunch, bizarre seeing Laos across the Mekong again. Another mind bending experience for me.
Glad to leave, have no more plans to return to visit Thailand...or Asia. Thailand is still Thailand, was happy to leave long ago, happy to leave again.
Enjoy!