Holiday From Hell

[INTJ]

I am back in the UK for a 10 day "holiday" for the first time in 2 years. I have been here 5 days now, and that is enough. The first couple of days was OK, catching up with old mates etc, but now I am just so fucking desperate to get back to Thailand.

 

Thailand had become very "ordinary", totally used to everything. I had started to get irritated by people talking loud on mobiles in lifts, pushing in front of me on the skytrain, driving etc, all of you who live there know what I mean. The motorbike taxi bloke coming into 7-eleven for his 50 baht phone card and Krong thip, shouting his order to the assistant as soon as he gets through the door as she is about to serve you, dogs barking, not being able to leave a safe gap between the car in front cos some somsak will overtake on the inside and fill the gap etc.

 

But I have to say, the sterile environment in the UK, the pathetic sad lives of the people, the local evening news, people shaking their heads if you drive and talk on mobile, 2.50 for a small bottle of buxton water at the services, the complete absence of any good looking women, means I could never return to live in this god forsaken shit hole. I took a big chance by moving to Thailand, but I can live there the way I want, be stimulated each day and generally feel I am having an exciting and fufilling life.

 

To anyone stuck here telling yourself its not too bad, could be worse etc etc think again. It is absolutely fucking awful, drains the life and energy out of you. With hindsight my life didn't even begin 'til I moved to LOS.

 

So roll on next Thursday when I will be transported to what I consider as home, even though I will always be an "alien", cannot own property, and at best is corrupt, noisy, dirty, and dangerous. But at least its living, not existing.

 

Bit of a rant but I just can't believe how these people keep going. I will arrive at Don Muang with a completely fresh perspective. Thailand is a package, some good, some bad, is far from the paradise many believe. But at least I feel alive there and it doesn't seem as though my life is passing me by.

 

Also for anyone with Thai wife here kidding yourself its not too bad (you know who you are),I lived here in UK with my Thai mrs for 8 years before moving out there, we are both so much happier there, as are the kids. She had missed England, but this time in only 5 days she is chomping at the bit to get back. All the stupid Mia Farang over here fcuking showing off to each other, and their sad downtrodden husbands. Most of them are like strangers to each other.

 

When I get back to LOS I will smile more, and those stupid irritations will not bother me any more (at least for a while). I don't think anywhere is perfect but Thailand is certainly far closer to it (for me) than this shit hole.

 

 

INTJ

 

 

 

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[OldAsiaHand]

Thanks for that. Reading it improved the heck out of my Sunday. I probably don't say so all that frequently, I know, but on the whole, you're dead right.

[Guest lazyphil]

I enjoy living in England, sorry if that offends you!....far more things to do here to keep me entertained, LOS is great but a bit boring after a while and I can understand the evening news here!

[rickfarang]

Your words ring true.

 

I enjoy my visits to the U.S. - especially the time I spend with family. Everything is clean and works. When you buy products in the department stores, the are very likely what they are labeled to be and very unlikely to be cheap counterfeits. If something you buy doesn't work, you can return it for an exchange or refund. You don't have to keep an eye out for gaping holes in the sidewalk, and you can get in a car and drive 40 km across town for lunch, and it only takes 30 or 40 minutes. People wait patiently in the cue at the 7-11 store, you can buy beer anytime of the day between 08:00 and 02:00. The police are there to serve the community, and you can drink tap water without a worry (most months in most cities.)

 

There are more things in common between life in Thailand and in the U.S. than there are differences, yet similar to your experience in the U.K., life in the U.S. seems soulless and with little meaning compared to that in Thailand.

 

Just why it seems better to live in a place that is hot, smelly and noisy, where I have a lower standard of living, worry about being stopped by the police for a random search/piss test/visa check, and where I am an alien who doesn't understand the language, hence often does not understand what's going on around me, I really can't say.

 

Why is it that coming back to Thailand seems like the switch from black and white to color when Dorothy enters Oz?

[thalenoi]

I couldn't agree more, 11 days back "home" at last, flush Europe.

[Shit-Spattered Dog]

thalenoi said:

I couldn't agree more, 11 days back "home" at last, flush Europe.

 

 

I read this with amusement. The op probably never liked his original dwelling in the first place. But could just never admitted it, for whatever reason. Could have moved elsewhere from his original city to somewhere else in the country. I wonder if this would have made any difference between returning to what was called a "the holiday to hell" and paradise.

 

Seems to be 2 schools of thought: one is I always hated where I lived but now love Thailand, will never live back home again.

 

The second is: back at my real ( original origin ) is my real home and Thailand is not and will never be my real home.

 

I wonder how many people would feel differently if they could return and lived in a different area of their country

 

Shit.

[Mentors]

Thank you for you interesting impressions. Good Luck!

[Dekka]

I must admit I agree totally with the OP.

 

I have spent on my last visit to Thailand 6 months and got back to the UK 2 weeks ago.

 

And everything about it sucks. I object to the usual stuff tax and cost of living etc.

 

And I am not saying all the women are ugly i was married to a very a beautiful sexy yorkshire lass and if I could have her again I would. But a sexy girl here is just hard to come by but in Thailand every 5th girl that passes you there is usually one that would make you look twice.

 

Hey and if you do look again and beem a smile 9 times out of 10 you well get beemed a huge one right back.....makes both of you feel good for a while........imagine that happening in the UK - no way man!

 

An example that just summed it all up 2 days ago I was stuck in traffic in my UK town in the high street and a very tall and very sexy blonde girl was walking past the car in a very short (Ra ra type) skirt.

 

A sudden gust of wind and that skirt was up round her midrift for a few seconds for all to see. It just happens she was in front of my car and saw me smiling at what i had just seen......what did she do laugh it off with me and carry on nope she gives me the finger and calls me a w*nker.

 

Would that happen in Thailand no.........

 

I hate the bloody UK with a passion.....whats the answer.

 

Well heres my answer:

 

I have sold most of my property, vehicles here and clutching on to a O visa a bundle of cash and my professional qualification and on the 29th September "I am leaving on a jet plane" and I aint EVER coming back again..........

 

See you in that better place where the Grass is usually mainly greener and the rice stickyer.

 

D.

[INTJ]

Dekka,

 

Funny that mate, I did exactly what you said, sold up properties, cars, everything and moved to Thailand on Sept 29th 2003. It was a big decision, but the single best thing I have ever done in my life. I'm sure it will be for you too, good luck.

 

Maybe some of you are happy here, if so then good luck to you, but when I look at the people around me I realise I am different from them, I have seen "too much". People blab on about shit, football, ill informed political opinions, celebrity gossip etc. The blokes seem overly concerned with looking hard, the birds are fat and blotchy. I was overtaking today with loads of room, the oncoming car was flashing his lights at me and doing a wanker sign from miles away. The prices are mental, just a plain rip-off, eg. £5.60 for a pack of Bensons. The UK is a very beautiful place, the scenery is magnificent, especially in the summer. Its the people and prices that spoil it.

 

Yes, I am from the UK, but I never felt like I belonged here, pre LOS. The moment I stepped out of Don Muang in 1993 I was captivated, I felt something magic, and that feeling has never left me. It took me 10 years to get there, but it was worth the wait.

 

Also, I would say it is impossible to understand LOS fully unless you live there. Perhaps most people are happy to have a holiday and have no desire to understand the place, I don't know. But when I read the thread about violence, there are people who come for 2 weeks a year saying Thailand is safe etc. WTF do they know, staying by the pool then out in a heavily policed farang only area. In my opinion it is extremely dangerous, especially in Thai areas at night. Once alchohol is added to the mix even catching eyes with the wrong guy could get you beaten or stabbed. I do miss FOW's POV. He was spot on in this respect (and most IMO). I feel like the pot is about to boil over at any time, but I am also prepared if it does.

 

But for all its ills, which are many, I would not change a thing. I love Thailand with a passion, and when I'm there I feel totally alive, filled with the joys of life. Here I feel like death, empty and depressed, like a permanent stress headache.

 

All people are different thankfully. All this is just my opinions and observations, as it relates to me and my life. I'm sure some people are happy here, and good for them, no offence intended to anyone here.

 

 

Best Regards and thanks for all the replies,

 

 

INTJ

 

 

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[rickfarang]

"... nope she gives me the finger and calls me a w*nker."

 

I think that one experience summarizes a large part of differences in culture between LOS and the West