Forty Second Avenue: running all over thailand

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to go to Thailand especially since it's been a destination on my list of places to visit for a while now. On our trip we went to Chiang Mai, Koh Mak, and Bangkok. Overall, I had a good time, and have many awesome moments and memories from the trip, but I have to be honest that I left feeling a little disappointed. I struggled a lot with Thailand mainly for one reason, and that being I didn't feel like, as a visitor, I was able to quite grasp the real culture of Thailand very easily. And I know you're going to think I'm crazy for saying that from all the wonderful photos I got, but let me explain further.

I think there are two types of travelers. Those that go to a place and want to experience it's culture in probably the truest way you can. Doing the things locals would do. Whether it's eating like a local, visiting more low-key destinations, taking their local transport, etc. Then, there are those that just visit the popular tourist attractions and don't necessarily get the chance to see deeper into the every day lives of the people living there (maybe due to time restraint, preference, or just not knowing). I'm not saying one is better than the other, but for me, I prefer to really try and experience what it would be like living in that place, having experiences that the locals would (of course I still do some of the touristy things, c'mon you can't come to SF and not see the Golden Gate Bridge or visit Alcatraz!). I know I might not be making sense to some of you, so here is a post that I coincidentally recently read on the same subject that might explain it a bit better.

I'm not exactly sure why I left feeling like I couldn't dig deeper than the surface level when I was in Thailand. It could have been that I needed to spend more time there (we were there eight days), my expectations could have been set really high to begin with, the scammers were everywhere which could have been distracting, or maybe it was the language barrier (although I've been to other non-english speaking countries before and I didn't have this experience), I'm not really sure. It felt as if a lot of things that were culturally significant to the Thai people were now exploited and used to make money off of tourists. Maybe it's me just being naive to the fact that every country in the world does this, but to this extent? Traveling to Japan and Korea more recently, I didn't feel this at all. I felt the culture everywhere and really felt I could be a part of it and not feel like I was being shown things just for the sake of making money. Don't get me wrong either, I know it's a developing country and people will do what they can to make money and live, but I also think there's a way to go about doing that and at the same time preserving and sharing your culture for others to enjoy.

I would still recommend visiting Thailand if you haven't before, but if your travel style is like mine, do more research and try to venture out into some areas that are on the outskirts or areas with few tourists-- even if it will take you more time to do so, it will likely be worth it. We had the wonderful opportunity to go about 30 minutes outside of Bangkok for a day and a half with some local folks we knew (where there were no tourists) and had an awesome time!

Has anyone had a similar experience in Thailand or another country? Or maybe you've had the total opposite experience? I'd love to hear other thoughts on this so please share!