Hi Anon, I'm From Isan. I Can Actually Answer These With More Insight Despite Me Being Feeling Somewhat

Hi Anon, I'm from Isan. I can actually answer these with more insight despite me being feeling somewhat disconnected with my roots.

1. In my experience (raised up in village, ect) isan people don't really have conflicting identities between Laotian and Thai. We just kinda acknowledge that our dialect is mostly laotian in thai fonts (in a way). My borders are relatively close to Laos, and I went to one province (I forgot the name). They still consider themselves thai. Though I HEARD some central and other regional ppl consider us lesser in a way which I have fortune to not encounter any of that. Last I heard of such thing was 1-2 years ago. This is not confirmed by my experience and are simply old news article that speaking of such problem in the court.

2.i never been to tourist spots often, but i heard really horrid behaviour from Chinese tourists in the Southern region of Thailand. It was old news though, admittedly, like when I was little kids. Agreed with what Zzoupz said, though. Nothing much to add here. Got the opposite experience actually. My (step) dad got charged extra because he's foreigner.

3. I am technically westernised thai. I lived in Sweden for roughly 7 years now and about 2 months ago I visited my home again. I definitely feel alienated not by the people but by the passage of time + changes so that doesn't really count. But general statement is the same. We're not alienated by being yknow out of country. Hell, again, we are envied by better living, ect. Though I do have old mutuals / classmates from years ago try to take advantage of me and made me buy them shits. But still, generally, people are happy/playfully envy of me :3

Hope that help???

when it comes to the Isan region, does the average Thai person care whether or not they side with Laos or Thailand? due to the past wars, it seems like the people of the Korat plateau have their own identity—yet from books I read, many of the younger generations feel stuck whether claiming to be “Thai” or “Lao” and in doing so only speak central Thai.

another question is are all the Russians and Chinese people in Thailand all that bad like how the media portrays them? ex: defecating in public, pushing and shoving, public drunken fights, etc. whether you’ve personally dealt them or not, do you ever wish they either not visit all together or just be very cautious and respectful of local life? 

(I think) my final question is about westernized Thais. While many foreigners visit Thailand for either cultural reasons, religious, retiring, food, sex tourism, surgeries, etc., there are many westernized Thais who have moved/visited Thailand. do you think natives sees them as lesser than or as another foreigner? are they treated differently despite having mannerisms appearance, mindset, etc. that’s more associated with the west?

hi, thanks for the questions

I may not be the best person to ask this bc I'm a Chinese descendant who grew up in central Thailand all my life haha. I can say at least from my friends they don't really care, they are just Isan and consider themselves Thai bc they are born in Thailand (and vice versa). They speak central Thai to people from other places only bc that's the universal one (as other regions also do). I don't think they have to pick a "side" considering we're not in a conflict. idk I've never heard of that before.

I've not had bad experiences with them personally. I've heard it's bad in tourist spots but that's just typical tourist behavior (hell most of the time it's USAmerican tourists that gets in trouble). So not as much as they're portrayed but they DO do that. And yes I hope they still visit but be more respectful, not just Russians and Chinese but everyone

I have an aunt who moved to USA to be a professor for about 10 years before coming back, and I can guarantee they're not treated any differently, they'll always be Thai. If anything people praise and envies them for having the money/opportunity to move aboard haha

hope those were good enough answers ! :]