We can hear the stories and imagine what it's like to be somewhere in a country abroad, but we never really know until we experience it. And even then, each individual experience can be different. Personally, I've been to places where I absolutely loved it, but will hear others tell me they hated it for whatever reason. It can be a bad experience, heat (or cold) that people can't handle, or something else. Either way, until we experience the place, we can only imagine what it's like.
In this Road to Steemfest prompt by @anomadsoul, I'd like to take you to my personal experiences with Bangkok and Thailand, many years ago.

Laidback, or is it something else?

It's been a long, long time since I called Thailand my home. Part-time that is. I lived in Asia for nearly three years the mid to late 1990s, (not nearly long enough!) and after a few months in Japan, only weeks in Hong-Kong, and almost a year in Indonesia, I had to choose whether to go back to the Netherlands or move on to somewhere else. I was living in Jakarta at that time, and there were some political unrest and elections coming up, and foreigners were advised to leave the country. I had seen crazy things during the election campaigns and I took this advice quite seriously. I didn't want to go back to the country that I had never really called 'home', and friends I had met sometime before had told me about Singapore and how they would help me get on my feet there if I ever needed it, so I decided to take the plunge and go. This is something you'll see pretty much everywhere in SE Asia, at least the places where I've been: the willingness to help others, even if they only just met them. Thailand is no exception.

After a few months in Singapore, a friend who'd become a very close friend asked me to come with him to Bangkok, where he worked two weeks a month. It was supposed to be for a visit, but after those few days, I told him he'd just found himself a new roommate in the weeks he was there. I had to come back. Luckily, he was absolutely fine with it, and so our strange part-time roomie-best friend-partner-in-crime relationship was born. I stayed with him at his apartment, would sometimes accompany him to the club where he worked as a light technician, and whenever I found the time, I'd venture out to see more of the country.

My friend's partner in the Netherlands did an internship in Thailand and he told me that some of the workers would just stand (work) there on a flat roof, just after it rained with electric cables lying around bare... All I could think of was: "Yeah, that sounds about right." I've seen so many potentially dangerous scenarios that could have easily ended badly. Something you wouldn't easily see in Europe or the US.
Want to see three, four or even more people on a scooter without having to go to a circus? Thailand is your place.

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Smiling Thailand

When I was in Thailand, there was quite some poverty. I am hoping that these things improved a bit. But it didn't matter if people had nothing, they would always have a smile ready. And I never ever had the feeling that it was forced or faked.
They don't call it the land of the smiles for nothing. But not all smiles actually mean true happiness. Personally I've never had any issues, but I have seen Thai men give another a big smile before he beat his head in. That being said: I have never felt unsafe in the country (unlike in Jakarta for instance).

This man here explains the different smiles in a really funny way.

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Like the movies

One thing that really had me (and my friend) talking for weeks was an experience that could only be described as something from a movie. My friend had a day off and we decided to visit one of the more popular nightclubs at the time. People were lining up to get in and while we were waiting, this Lamborghini drives up...
We were quite stunned, because it makes NO SENSE whatsoever, to ever drive a car like that in Bangkok, other than that you're filthy rich and want to show it. The car doors flew open, and out comes a very handsome (and tall!) Thai man (long story...I had a chat with him later, it was quite cool at the time), and a supermodel looking woman. Before he even stepped one foot in front of the other, another woman was also on his arm. The club's staff nearly fell over to take his car from him and help him get to the door. He was wearing: a deep purple tux...yes. Like a film star who had escaped the filming of his latest movie.
I said to my friend jokingly: "All he needs now is a gun." When he reached the door, I saw the back of his tux fall open just long enough to see two guns sticking out of the back of his pants. As I said: like the movies.
I'm not sure if things have changed much, but things like that were quite normal for Bangkok in that time. (man I feel old, not really hehe).

An experience and a half

Out of the places I've been, SE Asia tops all the others by a mile. But Thailand is something else. Don't get me wrong: I LOVED Singapore, but only for the people I have met there (and who I am still in touch with after all these years!) not for their rules and crazy laws. Indonesia is amazing, of course, and the country will always be very close to my heart. My dad spent years there and the time I was there, I absolutely loved it. But Thailand? OMG. I am a softie, and I cried when I knew it would be a while before I'd be back there. I cried when I found out that Steemfest was going to be in Thailand. And I'll probably cry when I get there and when I have to leave again...
Why? It's my favorite country, my favorite people 😍, my favorite food (wake me up any time for Tom Yum Goong and you'll be my best friend forever!), my favorite beaches, full moon parties, islands...(Koh Samui was my favorite place on earth, and some people called it "Little Amsterdam", I wonder why...🤔). And funny enough, I even loved the heat!
Thailand will be an experience and a half, I promise.

And with a few hundred Steemians to share some time there with: absolutely priceless...