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At what stage does LOS lose appeal?


Kiwi
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A few friends joined for a sundowner a month back. Friends of same interest and all having spent time in LOS. Ages varied - 40 to late 60’s. We are friends from differing countries. So the question arose - at what age does LOS appeal end? Some of the answers…

1. Never. 2. Time of pension. 3. Physical ability to travel. 4. Financial. 5. Changing priorities of age. What the chaps all agreed was the great memories LOS had delivered. I suppose as we age,the energy of youth and physical attraction slowly changes. It may never be a complete change,however, change it does. 

…from a personal perspective,having lost a close travel buddie to Covid,who travelled with me,from the early 2000’s through Thailand, I do think twice before making travel plans. 
However, travel starts again in 2023,without my travel mate,and I look forward to a cold pint on a beach in Rawai,the three hour massage in the hot spa just inland from same beach,and the countless nights meeting and being ‘hosted’ by those delightful ladies whom never seem to stop with those lady drinks. 
So I’ll return - by myself ✌️.

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I gave up Thailand becase my last lot of kids were all in the High or just about to enter age.

 

So only way to get them into decent affordable schools, Oz has a great fee education, was move to Oz

 

It also gave the wife the chance to get her passport, that took a bit under 3 years of paperwork and waiting.

 

Wife also got the chance to open a business and decide she likes it here.

 

Oldest girl moved here, studied hospitality and now is perm resident,

 

Youngest three all doing tertiary studies except last one who is in High School and doing Electrical Apprenticeship at the same time. Bastard gets paid $300 a week for a days work will jump to $400 a week when he starts doing 2 days a week with the electrician.

 

Not enough tradies so government supports him

 

So of the 5 Thai's here with me, I don't think any will ever want to return now judging by their plans and conversations.

 

That leaves me kinda stuck here

 

I used to travel extensively for work but with COVID that stopped and now I can travel again, I don't want too

 

Will I go back to Thailand?

 

I hope so.

 

All the above will visit this year, my wife will go to Thailand twice. 

 

I'm a huge believer they need to maintain their Thai identity, but they have little desire to move back, only the youngest who is being asked to train for a national sporting level has talked about representing Thailand rather than Oz, but that's more about how he will advance in that sport.

 

My Sister in Law was trapped here during COVID, I think she will go home for good.

 

Good. She's bat shit crazy.

 

Of the 4 kids back in Thailand only one talks about coming here. she has landed a job at the university she studied at teaching the very tight niche and has a job for life, something Thai's do like.

 

Getting her here would mean trying to find an advanced Australian manufacturing company, not something we have much of, or studying again.

 

So yeah - FAMILY -

 

Will I return once they all piss off?

I doubt it,

 

Vietnam and other places are more appealing.

 

Mekong, without the wife, would you prefer Vientnam or Thailand?

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As strange as it may sound, having spent 6 years in Vietnam recently, I don’t really know Vietnam. I was I a small town over 2 hours from Hanoi, left for work at 630am, returned at 6.30pm so didn’t have much downtime. 
When we went to Hanoi, as I said over 2 hours from Hanoi, we didn’t have much time there and usually went to the same places to eat, shop and drink. Time off work, more than 1 week, we always came back to Thailand.

Even though I stated visa / work permit / temporary residence card easier than Thailand, well that was comparing doing it myself here compared to company doing it in Vietnam, when I was working in Thailand Visa and Work Permit extensions were also easy and 90 day reporting was done for me.

Thailand is far more Western shops, Bars / Entertainment such as cinemas, more choice of Restaurants etc, plus if I was single the Thai nightlife is far superior to the Vietnamese.

Overall, even with its hassles, I would say Thailand at the moment 

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Hi,

With Mekong on this. Out of all the countries in the region I can't really see me living anywhere else. MY and ID are out due to the religion, PH as well to be honest. SG too expensive. HK as well and now basically part of CN. KH, LA and VN still too under developed I think (just my feeling, not spent time in any of them for years or ever). MM, just no.

Pretty much settled here. Last year we bought the house we'd been renting for 20+ years and have spent 3 months totally renovating it earlier this year (and I mean totally :), new roof, replace all electric, replace all windows, new ceilings, re-painted, new kitchen).

As for when it loses it appeal, I guess it depends a bit on what part. The nightlife scene lost its appeal to me 2 decades ago, but I still love living here.
I guess priorities shift when you go from being single to married to having kids to having grand kids (1st one due in about 2 months).

Sanuk!
 

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My 10bht’s worth. I’m for Laos with frequent Thai excursions, so I don’t have to 90 day it. Thai will still be “ big smoke “ compared the Laos, for the medium future. And then easy access to all the others. Lotsa fun all round. 

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  • 6 months later...

I left for my daughter's education with a view that I could drop back 3 or 4 times a year at will almost but though the relationship with her mother barely survived the birth, I put my daughter first and pushed thoughts of retiring again into the longer, if not quite the long grass.

Today I am a single father to a teenage girl whose mother abandoned her to return to the village and "marry" the local rat catcher. Honestly, you couldn't make it up. So my holiday plans went up in smoke as did my realistic hopes of moving back to Asia full time.

I've lived in other Asian countries but I wouldn't go back to live in Japan as I've forgotten what language skills I had and without a Japanese partner or a corporate life, it is a hard place to integrate into. Singapore is pretty much the same though I prefer it to Tokyo. Hong Kong is lost these days. Of the rest, I haven't spent long enough in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia or Burma to give an opinion and in truth, I'm not sure I really want to pick a country and give it a chance when I could waste 2-5 years finding out it wasn't for me. Having spent so long in Thailand and been attached to it for 3 decades, I know where the boundaries are and they are different in those other countries.

The appeal of Thailand is thus perhaps my own inertia, the security of familiarity and though I can't go back to my unspoilt Andaman Islands, sometimes it is better not to try to retrace the past, though forging ahead into completely new territories might be a step too far.

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For certain lifestyles, Thailand is very hard to beat. For other lifestyles, Thailand doesn't even enter the equation of a desirable place to live. I think it all comes back to what you want in life. Most of the people I know who left Thailand did so for a change of lifestyle.

For me, a secure life where and the chance to buy a house (specifically a house as opposed to an apartment) that would always be mine and I'd never be wondering if one day it would be taken away from me was a big factor. Further, I like the outdoor lifestyle and for much of the year Thailand is just too hot to spend a lot of time outside, especially in Bangkok. In New Zealand I am outside all the time, and enjoy doing long hikes. NZ is great for that. Thailand not so much.

I also found myself becoming irritated by some things in Thailand to the extent they started affecting my general enjoyment of life. Funnily enough, the same thing has happened back in New Zealand - but the things that annoy me in NZ are very different to the things that annoy me in Thailand!

Of course, like many people who called Thailand home for a long time and later left, there's much I miss about the place.

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Hi,

> Funnily enough, the same thing has happened back in New Zealand

I think this is very common. Once the 'honeymoon period' is over and you start looking at a country without the rose colored glasses, you will inevitably find flaws with it. Picking the country with the flaws you can live with most is the thing to do.

Marcel
 

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2 hours ago, Stickman said:

also found myself becoming irritated by some things in Thailand to the extent they started affecting my general enjoyment of life. Funnily enough, the same thing has happened back in New Zealand - but the things that annoy me in NZ are very different to the things that annoy me in Thailand!

Stick

Thats the Victor Meldrew Effect, you are turning into a grumpy old bastard just like the rest of  us grumpy old bastards, it happens to all of us 😀

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KS 2022 post basically sums it up for me. I can't think of a better place for me at the moment, and I've been here over 30 years. Time does fly. Singapore is just too expensive to go back to, I only visit because mum is still alive. Last time I was back I was quite peeved with the amount of Tagalog and mainland mandrin being spoken. The only thing I miss at times if the hawker food. 

Malaysia and Indonesia are definitely out, even though I speak the language. It's the bumiputras that put me off.

Have not explored the Indochinese regions, don't think I ever will.

Thailand is still affordable, we own the house, both kids have now finished uni so no major obligations. I have PR here so no major visa hassles. I'm also tired of traveling so am quite content to mosey on over to the 7-11 for a couple of beers to relax with. 

Still have to deal with some medical issues, but these are also affordable to treat here so am in no hurry to rock the boat.

My two baht worth.

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