This film is amazing if you've been to Thailand. Bangkok or Phuket. I feel like this film carries more weight to westerners if you've been to this country. Otherwise it feels far too abstract. It seriously captures the level of darkness that is also the counter to the very touristy feel to Thailand. There is a whole level of gangster there that most people won't ever see.
shareI visited Thailand in the early 90's for 4 months for a heroin vacation. (I'm not a junkie but I did like the occasional heroin usage back then), so of course we went to Thailand. My heroin search led me to a 'pimp?' That had a sex slave operation going on in a bar with bedrooms upstairs.
Anyway, the pimp kept trying to give me free heroin because he wanted me to owe him so he could hold me as a white sex slave.
I have to agree, the vibe from this city is that the underworld runs it and the cops are of no help. It has a dangerous vibe to it, esp if you are there for sleazy reasons like I was.
If you want a vacation in a safer county in that area, go to Paupa New Guinea.
A lot has changed since the early 90's so unless you have been back since your experiences are somewhat misleading.
The OP is correct, just as in most other big cities in the world there is a seething underbelly.
Ya, it probably has changed since the early 90's. I don't think it's the heroin Mecca it once was and I'm sure it's gotten a lot more Muslim fundamentalist since the Iraq war.
But I'm sure it still has a dark underbelly still as you can climb into the pocket of most law enforcement still. Ie: payoff.
"Ya, it probably has changed since the early 90's. I don't think it's the heroin Mecca it once was and I'm sure it's gotten a lot more Muslim fundamentalist since the Iraq war."
Only 5 percent of Thailand's population is Muslim. If Thailand was a Muslim country you would not see red light districts in public full of scantily clad women and ladyboys showing lots of skin.
In Muslim countries women are not allowed to dress like hookers in public for everyone to see.
Even by Western standards Thailand is considered a sexually promiscuous country, so can you imagine how even more sexually promiscuous it is by prudish Islamic standards.
No, they differ from Middle Eastern Muslims just as Eastern Euro Muslims differ from others. But they all have the same hatred for the west in common.
shareThailand is Buddhist, only in Southern Thailand is there a significant Muslim population.
Well like I said, I went there like 23 years ago. I'm sure it has changed as everything does, including you and me.
shareI live in Thailand and have, on and off, since the early 90s.
Thailand is Buddhist. 95% of the people. While there are pockets of Muslims in every city they are overwhelming outnumbered by the Buddhist and always have been.
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And not EVERY big city is that seedy. I'm in Toronto, CAN. For the summer and whatever organized crime there may be here is VERY well hidden. You would really have to work hard to find it. Whereas Thailand, and even my own country - Germany, the organized crime is easily found and/or seen and obvious.
shareAs someone who lived in Thailand for the last 6 years I'll tell you something. It's not the city itself it's the people. When you think of the fact that prostitution is illegal in Thailand you know everything is set up to support the biggest industries like tourism and on the down low all drugs and crime.
shareI completely agree with you.
shareWell in Europe in the early '90's, the golden triangle was well known as a place where you could get awesome quality heroin (China white), very pure, for a very cheap price.
shareHeroin vacation?
Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel
Yes. Even though English is not my first language, I'm pretty sure that term is self explanatory. What part do you need clarification on?
shareIn English (American) It's called Binge... A Heroin Binge sounds more appropriate than vacation.
Jesus would support Universal Health Care
No, it's a vacation.
Maybe you would understand it better if I put it this way...
When Americans go to Amsterdam, what are they going there for? The beaches? The weather? The food?
No, they are going there for a drug or sex vacation. There are certain places in the world that people go for sex tourism or drug tourism. Most people that do this are not on 'a binge'. That is such a dim way of looking at it.
The word "vacation" is usually used when you want to be "off" something. Like "Work vacation" means you are taking a break from "Work". So a "Heroin vacation" most likely would mean getting rid of heroin addiction for a while.
I suppose "binge" would be a correct word for what you mean here.😃
nobody lives forever...
Look, that's the wording that Europeans use, why are you up my ass about it? If you think I'm saying it wrong than why are there AMERICAN movies with titles like Grizwold's Euopean Vacation?
They are going TO Europe...not 'taking a vacation from Europe'.
I mean REALLY! You're lucky I'm wasting my time answering your stupid argument based purely on semantics.
Although I suspect that you are hiding some sort of moral indignation regarding the fact that I went to Thailand to do a little heroin when I was 20; and hiding it behind a stupid argument mired in semantics.
By the way, you probably aren't a well travelled person so I will give you a tip incase you ever get the opportunity to come to Europe, It's rude to correct someone who is trying to accommodate you by speaking YOUR language.
If you went to Paris and spoke you're crappy French, Parisians would make an effort to understand you and would NEVER correct you. That, my friend, is considered low class behavior.
I don't think he was attacking you, just wondering about it.
I was curious too. You seem very world experienced.
For people like me, I have never even seen heroin outside of movies and I have never left my home continent, so I have no idea what a heroin vacation would be like.
Ya I guess I jumped to the conclusion too quickly that my English was being attacked because it happens a lot on IMDB. While my English is good but not great, I hate it when I say something in English that I KNOW FOR A FACT people are understanding, and instead of skipping grammatical errors, and discussing the point of the discussion they get sidetracked into the semantics of my statement. I find it really frustrating.
When Anglos come to Europe, we let them say things the best they can and manage to piece it together. I can most always get what an Anglo is trying to say in German or French, and I don't correct them unless they ask me to or just COMEPLETELY make no sense. And most Anglos can get the general understanding of what I'm saying.
So I guess it's just a defensive point with me.
But as I said I digress...yes I was being defensive.
As a native English speaker, I see nothing wrong with your expression of 'heroin vacation' - I certainly understood what you meant by it.
shareThanks. I imagine that everyone understood what I was saying, some just wanted a reason to pick at me because I shamelessly shared something that probably fudamentally upset them as conservative Christians or water.
I think this thread really gets people's panties in a twist because I still get messages farely regularly on here even after 2 years.
To those people...sorry not sorry. I enjoyed my vacation on my terms and have no shame about it. And for stupid people..you can smoke opioids for a few weeks and not become a frigged up addict.
The person who asked 'Heroin vacation?' was probably only being curious, but the next two who insisted on 'binge' were only being annoying and deserved to be corrected.
shareLook, that's the wording that Europeans use, why are you up my ass about it? If you think I'm saying it wrong than why are there AMERICAN movies with titles like Grizwold's Euopean Vacation?
They are going TO Europe...not 'taking a vacation from Europe'.
All right jackasses!
vacation
vəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n,veɪ-/Submit
noun
1.
a fixed holiday period between terms in universities and law courts.
"the Easter vacation"
2.
the action of leaving something one previously occupied.
English is not my first language either. I was taking a fun jab at the word "vacation" in the English language. Like most words in English there are more than one meanings (or connotations) attached to it. Clearly, the author intended to use the former meaning of the word.
nobody lives forever...
Vacation is the good word. Only immature individuals use 'binge' in this context.
shareAnd so with your impeccable English, explain an American movie titled Grizwold's European Vacation.
They are taking a vacation FROM Europe then when applying your grammar police laws?
I think people are too pedantic here, when you said 'heroin vacation' I knew exactly what you meant.
Im English btw.
Thank you!
I'm sure most understand me but get off on picking on ESL people. When they do that I feel that they have nothing intelligent to contribute so they just pick on my grammar. It bores me and frustrates me.
I spend a lot of time using a translation app but it's not perfect.
Thank you for taking the time to understand an ESL person. You made me feel better.
Going by the latest statistics PNG probably would not be the best option...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_violence_in_Papua_New_Guinea
nobody lives forever...
This thread keeps attracting new comments, so I was reading through the entire thread and I did not notice you until right now. Every comment made by you, you are finding something to *beep* pick about. When one angle doesn't work for you, you jump to another angle. You are obviously DEEPLY upset by my experience that I shared. Why you care so much about what I did 25+ years ago upsets you so much, I cannot understand, but it was MY experience, not yours, so chill out.
And your link to an article describing Thailand is about PRESENT DAY Thailand. It was a different atmosphere in 1990.
I'm sorry for you that you are so upset about MY life, but please stop trying to make your problem mine.
Sounds like a scary place to do drugs.
shareHeroin Vacation,White sex slave, Thailand, early 90's all this needs is some rave music and a pinch of Danny Boyle and we have ourselves an oscar winner, I'm sorry but I need to know more about your life.
shareIt's not as adventureous as it sounds. My mates and I live in Germany and went to Thailand because it's cheap to get there from Europe and cheap to stay there. And in the early 90's it had a good reputation for good weed and good heroin, and you can buy Valium over the counter there. We were 18-19 and young and stupid. We just wanted to get high and party away at the Thailand discos.
We were buying heroin from the doorman of a particular disco and after a few purchases he says "if you girls (5 of us - 3 girls) don't start working on our stripper night, I will tell the police about your heroin use and you all will be tested for it".
So I played it really easygoing and said "oh we would love to be strippers (prostitutes) because we are all blonde and will make so much money! We will start tomorrow night".
5 am next morning we were on a plane back to Europe.
So we had a great time of partying with a little reality cheque in there LOL.
Anyway, that turned me off drugs and now it is only beer and Marijuana!
The only reason the story is so incredible is because we were so young and incredibly stupid about partying in another country.
Oh, I forgot to mention it was our first time with heroin (exempt 1 of the guys) and so we smoked it. No needles for us LOL!
shareI guess Bridgitte has never been to Colorado or Seattle or Las Vegas or California...
shareNo way! Too much shooting in the US.
And I have never had a reason to go to the US anyway but going to the US sounds about as safe and appealing as going to Mexico.
I also question why the Resteraunt food is so cheap. What's wrong with it?
You have cheap food and you have very expensive food. If you don't have faith in the cheap restaurants, just go to fancier ones. You have a wider variety of food in the US than what you have in Europe.
shareWhat???!!! A wider variety of food in the US than in Europe?
Germany has immigrants from worldwide! You can get everything from McDonald's to middle eastern, aisian (every part of Aisia), African, etc.!!
And you don't have to explain the US to me as I have been there many times.
My maternal grandparents live in Toronto, Canada and I spend EVERY summer there.
I understand that Canada is not the US but they have similar approaches to food as Canada has ALL of the big US franchises like KFC, Subway, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, etc.
And we even have alot of these franchises in Europe. But they don't thrive in Germany because we are not into processed, deep fried food the way Americans are.
Most of us still go to the local butcher for meat, the bakery for bread and dessert, etc. As a culture we are not into 'big box' shopping 'i.e.: Costco, Wallmart, etc.'. But as I said, due to Germany being a critical destination for refugees from everywhere, we have food from around the world just down the main street!
Sigh... you're not getting the point at all.
shareSo, you went to Thailand for a "heroin vacation", met up with a dealer/pimp who wanted to take you as a sex slave, but going to the U.S. sounds too dangerous to you?
Well, I've lived in the U.S. for 41 years. I've traveled around the country many times, and been to every state multiple times. I've never seen a shooting or anything remotely dangerous. While I know that bad things happen here, I'm pretty sure you're safe to visit.
-------------
"Do you feel fortuitous? Well, do you? Hooligan?"
Well yes, the US scares me because everyone owns a gun there.
"The United States owns more guns per resident, at around 0.89, than any other nation in the world. The US has over 50% more firearms per capita than the next two highest nations, Serbia and Yemen."
Quote from Wikipedia based on question 'What country has the most guns in the world?'
You may not be aware but western European vacationers to the US have a higher rate of being murdered during a robbery than if they were getting robbed in a place like Thailand. If you are going to get robbed in Thailand, as a vacationer, it will most likely be by the maid at your hotel when you are out or in the shower LOL!
Sorry if I'm offensive, but being a citizen of a country that does not own guns as a rule, The US is a scary country. And you are not even safe from being shot by the Police!
Hopefully this will help you understand why the US is not a hot vacation destination for western Europeans.
Food is a lot cheaper in Thailand and it's delicious! My wife is from Bangkok. I have been all over Thailand twice and love it there. Ayutthaya was my favorite.
WHO DAT!
Also, like what I already said, if you went to the golden triangle in the early '90's, you would get awesome quality 'China white' heroin that was highly pure and better than that it was INCREDIBLY cheap.
Why would I choose to go to the U.S. Where everyone in the drug community has guns, lives in a dangerous part of town for a white European, get adulterated drugs that are already poor quality like black tar heroin (horrible), and pay an exorbident amount of money.
Drugs in the U.S. are no good as viewed by a European.
And it's also cheaper for a European to travel around Eurasia then to travel to the U.S.
Or how about this: DON'T DO DRUGS!
"People get it wrong, but in today's world we don't live longer, we just die harder." -Bruce Willis
I don't. IF YOU TOOK THE TIME TO READ THE POST PROPERLY, I was talking about something I did 25 YEARS AGO in my college days.
But thanks for telling me how to live my life jerk.
If you feel that you are so perfect and without sin that you can counsel others on how to live...you must be Jesus,Mohammed,Moses,The Bhudda, John Smith and Hubbard all rolled into one. WELL CONGRADULATIONS ON YOUR CLOSE ONE ON ONE CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD.
SO YOU ARE THE MESSIAH RETURNED THEN?
Haha, an American being self-righteous about drugs. I guess he doesn't drink, smoke, or take painkillers or prescription meds?
shareI know, so contradictory.
Americans take 80% of the medication that the world produces. And right now there is an epidemic in North America of addiction to prescription opioids.
I'm German, we are only having an immigration epidemic, LOL!
Fraulein you're amazing. In a good way.
shareDanke sehe mein Freund!!!
"Thank you very much my friend"
I critically regret sharing a personal experience such as this on IMDB as of now!
I assumed that since this happened in my teens-25 years ago, that people would have a reasonable attitude towards my story, but not!!!
I suppose all of the judgey people that answered were perfect teenagers and young adults that NEVER did anything shady as kids LOL! BUY I seriously doubt that and obvious to everybody, they are either in huge denial or are Jahovas Witnesses.
That's all I have to say towards them.
Thanks to all the reasonable people that commented or will comment on this thread! You definately realize that you are human beings, prone to occasional bad judgement calls and taking risks as that is human nature.
So danke danke danke!!! To you and the other reasonable humans that commented. <3 <3 <3 :)
It is hilarious and sad how smug, yet simultaneously incredibly ignorant Germans are. Stop huffing your own *beep* to the point where you think it doesn't stink.
shareWhat did I say that got you all BUTTHURT?
shareTypical German attitude. You have no problem talking a bunch of *beep* about things you know nothing about, but as soon as someone calls you on it you think they are butthurt.
Every single post you have made in this thread has been head shakingly stupid. I realize you're incapable of feeling a sense of embarrassment, but don't worry, I'm embarrassed for you.
Typical German attitude.
I use IMDB on a smartphone as I can't drag my desktop from Germany to Canada for the summer. The smartphone cuts off a long thread after 3 pages, so the last thing I can see.is my but hurt comment.
I do't know if that is the end or I just can't see peoples messages.
Such a shame. If their are more prudish messages about choices I made about MY OWN LIFE. ALL I CAN say is I am perfectly happy with the choices I made FOR MYSELF. And people with negative opinions are just projecting their own issues onto me. If you regret your life please don't project it onto me as I regret nothing about my life. But then again, from the attitudes I have seen up till now from my respondante sounds like a typical either US OR RUSSIAN attitudes where they act super moral and prefer to bury anything they have done and pretend it doesn't exist.
So I can't take uptight, conservative, religious types seriously. If you judge me as a bad person - that is your issue not mine.
If you are as mobile as you say you'd have a laptop, not a desktop. If you really had trouble reading a message board based on some very old code you'd try another browser. Compulsive liar in denial.
"People get it wrong, but in today's world we don't live longer, we just die harder." -Bruce Willis
Wow! What a bigoted, xenophobic, predjudices person you are.
I can tell that you have never been to Europe before so I can say with confidence that you are an ignorant, probably American.
You can thank us for taking all the Syrians and Africans for you because if you are THAT bigoted, you are most likely a racist also.
I HAVE been to the US so I can say from experience that I don't like your country. (Meanwhile your neighbours to the north in CANADA are wonderful). They don't like you either.
Are you sure you're not still on dope?
By the way: I'm still laughing with second hand embarrassment at your comment about Thailand "being even more Muslim fundamentalist" than it was during your "heroin vacation." Then you turn around and call someone ignorant. Hilarious. Classic lack of self awareness.
[deleted]
Predjudiced xenophobic you are.
shareYour life is seemingly filled with deep-seated feelings of shame and regret and you live in a self-imposed prison of confirmation bias, while histrionically defending yourself against every little bit of truth you perceive as an attack on your fragmented ego.
"People get it wrong, but in today's world we don't live longer, we just die harder." -Bruce Willis
Stop projecting your self hatred onto me. You don't know me, you only know yourself, that leads me to believe that you are projecting feelings you have about yourself onto me.
If I was ashamed of myself or my actions I would definately not be publishig it! To me it's a funny little adventure I could share on a thread entitled "if you,ve ever been to Thailand..."
I don't see why people from a certain ultra conservative country would get all out of joint about a silly little parable.
I am fine about the experience, it's you getting all upset about it. So p;ease stop projecting.
I actually feel sorry for you that your heart is so heavy and you are so full of anger. MY parable shouldn't be upsetting you like this. That is a very bad sign. I am sorry that you are so upset.
Oh and I'm pretty sure that @abark is your account as well but I will give you the benefit of the doubt and answer @abark also...who seems just as upset about my story as you.
Anyway my dear, these are MY life experiences, not yours. No need to take them to heart :)
"They should have put you in a glass jar on a mantlepiece."
There Will Be Blood
I lived in Thailand for a year and trained in Muay Thai. Was only on Bangkok for 10 days for the world championships but OMG is it seedy and danergous! Had machine guns pulled on us at a ping pong show, the mafia control all the red light districts and you can often see them driving around on motorbikes with their machine guns. This was about 10 years ago now.
shareI lived in BKK for a year in 2007.I have met all sorts of character over there,in the hostel I was staying first few weeks dealing drugs,fights and visits by the police were common things,hell it was only 100 baht per night,but did I ever consider it a dangerous place?Nope,the neighboring countries are much more dangerous than Thailand in my opinion.
sharewhat a hilarious thread,
thank you BVH for all the wacky commentary, in replying to all the bait by idiots, with your dubious backstorys, (loved the 5am escape bit), and critique on americana,
well I was in Thai too in the l.80s / e90s ... [ with a lot more smarts than wealthy euro twits off the lease , i have to note]
so yeah i found the sinister vibe in the movie quite ... understandable,
great visuals, filming, soundtrack, settings - great aesthetic all round
but
1st time ever ive seen the prettyboy lead actor, ive heard his name as the #1 mega-girlie-crush guy,
Goodness me - what a dreadful actor -
totally dull bored wooden, cant play the sinister/ detached/ ruthless/ crushed emotion gangster at all
i take it this is the reason why it gets 5*, his fanclub was so horrified he coulddnt act; plus the shock of all the mega-violence around such a pretty new star
in total contrast, Chang totally had it down, big respect.
i rate it 9*
Be careful kyuss, she might call you an American.
"People get it wrong, but in today's world we don't live longer, we just die harder." -Bruce Willis