Mentors Posted November 26, 2004 Report Share Posted November 26, 2004 LaoHuLi said:I'm definately one of them, and so are many, many others I know, including a goodly number of other members on this board. Me too, i am nearly "out out order" here in my home country all the time. Just 14 days to take off...! :: notice: But we should not forget that here in Europe there are many Farangs who lived in LOS for a couple of years and coming back after years, frustrated about LOS/Asia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jitagawn Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 JJ said-"The more i got ingrained with Thai relationships and spending more time in the country the less I really looked at it as paradise" I rather feel the same way which is why I have kept a life here in the states.Complete conversion to LOS is sensible for some and not others depending upon on ones manner of making a living etc etc Wisdm is the correct perception of reality... You and I are like two peas in a pod now huh? :: Its all good. Wisdom is the correct perception of reality for the individual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 Thailand is home, but I certainly recognize there are problems with Thailand. Anyone who thinks this paradise is deluding themself. Actually, anyone who thinks any place is paradise is deluding themself. (And perhaps this explains why some react so negatively when anything negative is uttered about Thailand?) I actually look forward to my trips back to the US since it gives me a chance to experience things (e.g., a weekend of good wine and fine food in Napa, a play in NYC, an stimulating conference in Chicago where people talk candidly and intelligently about interesting issues) that I cannot in Thailand, although after a week or two I have had enough and I am ready to come home or go elsewhere. I also try to get at least one trip a year to Europe, if possible. But I can appreciate the difficulty of connecting with people in the US. On the Coasts, where people tend to be more travelled, it is less of an issue, but in the mid-west I do sometimes get some strange reactions when I answer a question about where I live. Unless someone is genuinely interested, I don't bother trying to describe what life is like in Thailand. With most people it is so far outside their experience, that it doesn't register, and I just let it slide on by. I see the US as a place now that I visit for vacation, work or conferences. Like any visitor, I take it for what if offers (and it does offer plenty), and then move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted November 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 gunneruk said: I always ask every ex pat i meet in Thailand if they have any regrets about moving to Thailand,as yet i have not met one,and the standard answer is, they regret not moving to Thailand sooner.... I think the only thing i shall miss is the live football,i have been going to Highbury for so long. I have another friend who made the move and is teaching english, not in LOS but a neighboring country, a poorer country, anyway, he is struggling financially a bit since the move and I asked him 'looking back is there any thing you'd have done differently?' and he said 'Yeah, move here sooner' and I replied 'but you've been saying how you are struggling financially?' and he replied 'I was struggling financially in the states as well, so if I'm gonna struggle I'd rather do it here'. At least you'd catch the games on satelite gunneruk but nothing beats seeing it live. I won't have your problem. As long as I can at least see the game on television, possibly making a trip or two a year. jjsushi, you're right, no country is perfect. I would love to have the money to leave and visit other places when I wanted to. I've never been comfortable with the feeling that i had to live somewhere and stuck there, even if its LOS. Yeah, there are some countries I'd rather be 'stuck' in than others but above all I love having options. I'd rather be rich in America than poor in LOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 So true Steve,nothing is like going to a live game. I think i should add that everyone i asked,are all older,and are living a lifestyle they could only dream of back in their home countries,plus Thailand also gave many the opportunity for an affordable early retirement. I play golf nearly every day in Thailand,and this next trip i am taking fishing gear,my caddy has a superb river running through her family's farm. The days fly bar when i am in Thailand,and go so slowly back in the UK, even though i have been spending about 6 months a year in Thailand,there's still so much i want to do and see. I know exactly how many days and hours it is before i return to Los,i count down from the minute i return to the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorro Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 For most people i think it comes down or back to money. An average or low wage earner in the west who comes to Thailand may be able to afford a better lifestyle in Thailand than at home even if it is on a teaching salary in Thailand. A retiree on an income of say 24000USD a year would have a very modest lifestyle in the west but in Thailand this may afford him a far better lifestyle. On the other hand I doubt whether you will find too many wealthy westerners relocating to Thailand as they already have a very nice lifestyle in the west. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardinalblue Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 I really don't buy into this concept of falangs can't function in the west anymore...with empahisis on "anymore" i would guess most really weren't functioning too well BEfORE coming to LOS are the ones who hide behind this slogan... Guys who are successful in life and adaptable can function in anyplace anywhere....These guys would have no problem moving back to their homeland It really is "a preference" to one's lifestyle over another's lifestyle but not a functiionality issue... There are two types of guys who come here. Those who have been successful economically and living off the economies of scale like a LOS which allows. Some will say they can't function in the west anymore and others will say they would do fine if they had to go back. I will say the choice is a preference and nothing more. I would also speculate that these guys probably live partially or all a western lifestle just on asian turf. They are deceiving themselves into believing they are living an asian lifestyle especially if in BKK and in the era of globalization... Then there are guys who were living hand to mouth back home or slightly above (meaning bored with routines and themselves) and move to LOS and profess they couldn't no longer live in the west. Again, i would say hogwash. Many of these guys are just getting by here but they get more for their baht or dollar than in the west. Just better values buck for buck. I think it would be for a rare bird to be dyfunctional in the west and come here and then all of a sudden be successful socially and econonically. Success and failures know no geographic boundaries. They will follow you around where ever you go because you are the one who determines your own outcome and fate...... cardinalblue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 >>>There are two types of guys who come here.<<< that's a bit oversimplified. what about the guys who came here due to some profession and decided to stay on, some successfully, some not? what about the guys who came here because of a war i could not fit back in the west anymore? what about the guys who simply do not like living in the west even though they have had all opportunities? what about the guys who stayed on after having been backpackers because they simply felt like it? what about the many look kueng who were sent to thailand by their parents because they got into trouble back home, and made it to stardom here in thailand? feeling the need to leave ones home is natural, and for whatever reasons, has not really that much to do with later success. yeah, everone determines his/her own fate, but also everyone has the power to change to the better, or worse. and for many a move can give the initiative to change for the better. i can point you out many well-adjusted, nicely empoyed guys who fucked up tremendously here, and many fuck ups in the west who have made it out here big time. anyhow, how do you define success? we might have differing views on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 >>>For most people i think it comes down or back to money.<<< i disagree. money can be lost fast. what do they say? how does one become a millionaire in thailand? - arrive as a billionaire. i know lots of blokes who have squandered their by any standart sufficient wealth stupidly here, and have to make it the hard way now. some are bitter, and others are happy as harry. lots of money does not mean that one reaches a point of utter lonelyness here. you can buy friends and companions only for that long without getting fed up. it has far more to do with adaptability, and further interests than just living an endless holiday. i have old friends here who are poor as hell, but they do live the life they have always dreamt about, and could not be happier. i have worked with people here who were very well paid but unbelievably lonely and unhappy. jeesas, i am far from rich. if me and the missus would move to the west we could make lotsa dough by opening a restaurant, we even had people who wanted to finance us some nice venture in one of the nicest and most expensive towns in europe (and i have more than enough wealthy relatives who could easily afford to invest in such ventures). but as long as i can feed myself and the family here, and have the prospect of seeing better days again that will enable me to travel more again, i will stay here. my life is just far too intersting here. money could not buy me that. i am not saying that money does not help tremendously (i wouldn't mind having a bit more ), but there is far more to it than just money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted November 27, 2004 Report Share Posted November 27, 2004 Did not read all the answers, but i seem to be one of the few who finds life in the west not so dull and not a slow death sentence. It may have to do that now, all the places i have lived in, countries too, I mean, were of my own choices. Born in France, emigrated to the States, then discovered and really indulged in looong trips to SEA, while always going back to my cultural french roots with trips to France. Still very excited about expanding myself into the world like that. I understand all the POVs about LOS only viable alternative for real life, but i think it's got to do more with what each one has done with his life in the west, and what input and pleasures he can still create for himself, there, not what the place can prevent him to do, supposedly. I do not think there is a marble rule that says Thailand is better place to live for farangs; so they should all move there, if they're not stupid. Plus, as i always said; the greatest gift Asia, therefore Thailand can offer, is to remember, or try to, live evry second of your life to the full. Seize the moment. I am a much better person for having discovered Thailand for myself, on a very pêrsonal level, therefore a much better person in Paris, San Francisco, anywhere. Thailand is not a just a place you go back to, it can induce a frame of mind you can carry inside of you at any time. You can really live feeling like this anywhere. Ain't that deep enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.