Holiday From Hell

[pattaya127]

I doubt it, not in my nature to stay where the negatives make my life miserable, and it has nothing to do with another country being so much this or that. Except to remind me to enjoy every minute, wherever that is.

 

I actually think, reading posts here, and my experience of staying up to 6 months in LOS a couple times, that staying there takes off some of the visitor veneer off it.

 

One becomes more reasonably realist of life in Thailand, still no one here would ever imagine P127 needs a hardsell speech for Thailand!

[chelseafan]

I coulnd't agree more with the OP, I've been to LOS 4 times now and whilst the 1st return flight home to the UK was traumatic (Bangkok blues), its getting easier to leave, however if I weigh up the pros and cons on LOS v UK, LOS wins every time.

 

My day is made up of getting up, shit-showered-shaved, work in a dead-end job for 9 hours, back home for dinner, then bed.

I suppose I could make more of my life, more activities etc but I'm not that sort of guy.

 

There is nothing I really like about the UK - whether this is because I'm down about my life or whether genuinely the place is shit, I dont know. But if I had a chance of living in LOS permanantly I'd leave this country like a shot.

 

The only problem is, how to make it out there without becoming an english teacher. Financially I dont have enough to live out there, maybe in the future that will change but for the moment I'm stuck and I think above all thats why I see LOS with much much greener grass.

 

For all those who've taken the plunge to move out there I applaud you - incidentally what do you do to make ends meet ?

[Guest lazyphil]

There are things here that annoy me if i let them, the general lack of respect for each other, chav culture, excessive drinking culture that practically renders town centres no go zones after 11pm, violence in schools against teachers this is not the 1950's idyll my parents and other folk of their generation describe and it hurts me thinking about where this country is going. But not wanting to try and sound too philosophical I only have to turn on the tv to see what truely is a shit hole of misery and purgatory, sudan, niger, zimbabwe, afghanistan to name a few, so it can be grey and cold here, wear a coat!....i've had all the feeling about los, wanting to live there (I tried it for a year and ran out of money!), bitching about the uk on returning home, really i was venomous about england, but when you rationalize everything, it really isn't that bad, unless you live in milton keynes!....its still possible to see the good things here because there are still around, you just have to be selective and tactical on where you go and who with....to the OP's lotto question, if I won the lottery I'd buy a tudor house (not mock!) with a few acres of land in south Devon, near the sea, and live in los from november to late march, i'm not giving up spring and summer, especially in devon?.

[Guest lazyphil]

<<Also, someone said "after a while Thailand gets boring" -

as my old Gran used to say, God rest her soul "Only boring people get bored".>>

 

If you dont speak the local lingo it can get boring, yes I should make the effort to learn!

[sayjann]

'If you won the lottery would you stay here ?'

 

yes.

i would travel to Thailand and then travel all over SEA and not just for the Nightlife.

i lived in the area until i was 7 as my Dad was in the Navy and we lived in India,Japan and China.

i have few memories of the time but those that i have still make an impression now that i am much older at 45.

with any luck i have around 30-35 Years left on this Earth and to spend it in SEA would be pure heaven to me.

i want to see it all.

 

i have a good Friend (in his 70's) and a POW in Korea in the 50's and he travels to Korea,Cambodia and Thailand every couple of Years and does the remote areas and has such a great time.

i wish i was as fortunate as him.................

 

and the lucky barstard has a Chinese Girl in her 30's who takes care of him whenever he visits London........

[sayjann]

'My day is made up of getting up, shit-showered-shaved, work in a dead-end job for 9 hours, back home for dinner, then bed.

I suppose I could make more of my life, more activities etc but I'm not that sort of guy'

 

i know exactly where you are coming from.

how about we pool our finances and open a BJ Bar in Patong (needs one as there are none) and agree with no Football on the Telly?.

but i bags the right to road test the applicants........

[Central Scrutinizer]

LP,

 

I'd think what makes it much easier and palatable for you is the fact that you have your own piece of Thailand there with you in the UK, a Thai woman, your wife, whom you love and who loves you. What would you be saying if you were alone, dating the local women, getting drunk at night looking to get laid and pissing in the shopfront doorways? That does make a big difference in a man's happiness and outlook don't you think? Most of the guys I hear that miss the place (the LOS) are usually single (or in a relationship they could leave in a heartbeat). I think this is a big part of the problem. There's no joy for them. It's a drag, and grey skies look just that much bleaker, the cold weather feels that much colder, the news that much more depressing, without having your Thai tilac waiting at home for you at the end of your work day (or any decent looking good natured smiling woman without the attitude).

 

There are a lot of reasons to love being in Thailand (even just for a holiday) but I'd say that yes, the women make up a large part of the reason. Throw in the warm weather, cheap cost of living or holidaying, laid back atmosphere, etc., etc. and you have a potent lure for those who are unhappy with their lot in the west.

 

Personally I say if a guy is that unhappy with his life and his place of living he has to do all he can to change it. BUT, I do think he has the ability to get the cash he will need to stay elsewhere by working and saving that much harder at home. (Rather than taking a shit paying job in the LOS just to stay here for however long possible.) Or to do as you have done, and find a Thai lass that makes you happy and bring her to the homeland to keep you happy while working your ass off, to stay with you in between trips abroad to warmer climes and sanuk times. (Although this too can be problematic from what friends and gents here have told me about what has happened to their tilacs once in the west.)

 

It makes no sense to me for a man to stay unhappy in a place he doesn't want to be, doing what he doesn't want to do, just to survive, and die an unhappy man. You have to do whatever you can to find that happiness you desire, whatever it is that makes you happy, and die if you must trying to achieve that happiness doing whatever it takes to get there (legally that is). As the christians tell us we only have one life to live, I'd think being happy during that one life would be a paramount concern for most sane persons.

 

There are many ways to do this. A lot depends on your age and finances. But even spending say 6 months in the UK or the US let's say, working 2 or 3 jobs full and part time and saving your ass off, then coming to live in the LOS for the "winter" 6 months, is better than spending 12 months at home unhappy. Going to school a couple days a week to get an education so one can get a better paying job that will allow one to retire earlier in life from the ratrace is another way to go (rather than sitting home unhappy drinking alone after work). Working two jobs for 10 years so you can retire early is another way to go. Or, as some do, learning a skill that will give them the wherewithal to live in SEA comfortably. There are many ways to do this if one truly hates where they are and are that unhappy in life, and wants to get out and away.

 

And you have to agree Phil that having your Thai wife there in England with you makes it all a hell of a lot easier on you and your happiness quotient. Imagine if she wasn't there with you.

 

I do agree that summers in the west can be nice. And the west has a lot to offer as well, for some. But those winters! I just can't take them any more! (And we get a much worse winter in Boston than you guys do. : Actually I miss the New England fall weather and colorful leaves, but not that much! ::

 

Cent

[pattaya127]

having your Thai wife there in England with you makes it all a hell of a lot easier on you and your happiness quotient

-----------------------------------------------

did not seem to help INTJ. Everyone is different with different situations. I have a feeling LP is also attached to his family, and his parents must be gaga themselves about seeing his little one growing up near them.

Also, to give her the education she can get in England, in Thailand would be a costly proposition, as well as staying near a school that provides it.

I think we should just be happy LP enjoys living in England still, and not find reasons why he lives there and should not be (happy).

And i am happy too INTJ made a decision he does not regret.

 

fact is, for them, for us, living in the West gave us the opportunity to make these choices, so it pains me a bit to see someone call his country a shithole, as if it was some 3rd world dump.

 

IMO.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

P127,

 

Yes, but surely you also read in his post (INTJ's original post) P that his wife and kids were also unhappy in the UK. There is the rub and the difference I'd say. LP's wife and kid seem to enjoy where they are, as does LP.

 

Also I'd say that how one interprets "shithole" may differ for each individual. A shithole can be the cleanest most manicured lawned suburb filled with million dollar homes if it is a sanukless black hole filled with self-righteous arseholes who are actually morally and spiritually bankrupt dickheads whose only idea of "value" is the chase for the all mighty dollar. Or filled with mind-less bible thumping right wing neo-cons with racist facist leanings. There are shitholes, and then there are shitholes. Doesn't have to be about the monetary value of said shithole. Some shitholes are just soul-less voids filled with unhappiness, no matter how rich they are in material goods. They are emotional/spiritual shitholes. You should know that P127.

 

Cent

[Nervous_Dog]

Have to say I'd like to be out of living in Bangkok, it;s getting very thin in appeals, especially with a family who should also have a good qualiity of life.

 

However would I move back to Australia, no point, no work for me there in my line of work.

 

If I went back I;d be driving a bus.

 

I;d be happy to move to Laos or KL.

 

If I won the lottery though? I think a lot like LP I;d buy a great beach house, Northern NSW, Not Byron but near it, and come to LOS occassionally!

 

DOG

 

DOG