dullnight Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 "However, I donâ??t understand your statement: Thailand is slow otherwise we wouldnâ??t richâ?¦." In other words : "us newcomers here are succesful because the local culture and people are so slow to think and act - and it's rather easy to outpace, outwork or outsmart them" I'm bewildered at the small amount of thais I deal with who are neither thai chinese nor thai indians - hardly any except staff, and a LOT of companies we have contacts with in Thailand are foreign owned, much more than the percentage in Europe. How come are the ethnic locals so underperforming ? we could thank this culture that managed to keep them so low despite the legal priviledges they enjoy over foreigners. Yet it's obvious the elites, also the thai chinese one, are getting worried at the success of foreigners over here, and a lot of hassles encountered by foreign companies, especially indians IME, are probably directly related to this point. Hence it's quite possible HK ends up attracting enough entrepreneurs in our field disgruntled by Thailand so we get a good reason to move there. I sure wouldn't mind so, it has definetely a much more impressive culture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo_bill Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 Further they have to keep the masses dumb in order to be able to continue their exploitation. How else they get their cheap ....... prostitutes. They still (think to ) live in a feudalistic society. Talking about whom , certain tourists ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Munchmaster Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 The OP wanted suggestions for alternatives to Thailand but so far nothing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibblies Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 ... I may be the only tourist board member (ie no income source in Thailand and not a retiree) who is currently looking to spend more than 2 consecutive months in the LOS... You are so fucking not... I quite like Vietnam. Pisses me off having to do it properly (i.e. learning the language, a new culture, etc) but I might do it. Seems as though every man and his dog can speak a decent amount of Thai now. It's all too comfortable. So comfortable that many foreign women are living in Bangkok. Can you imagine that 10-15 years ago? Farang women wanting to live in Bangkok?! Bangkok's become a tame feminised city. (I think a city starts getting that way as soon as it gets a decent transit system. Then all the people who were scared before start coming.) Actually, if you go to Vietnam and come back, you'll start noticing how many fat Thai women there are around these days. Fast food hasn't hit Vietnam yet. They are slimmer (yet have bigger breasts :thumbup: ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted June 15, 2008 Report Share Posted June 15, 2008 I did on my recent trip, notice that Vietnamese women tended to have better bodies, as in they have ass and bigger tits. Too bad the whores are so high priced there, or I'd spend more time there, and I'd give it my vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted June 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 Bibblies and OH, Everything I read about Vietnam says 'Whatever you do, dont get caught with a girl in your room !'. Has this changed ? The obvious sting is to have a cop who will share the 'fine' with the girl - I have yet to have a cop in Thailand try to shake me down, P4P or otherwise, and thats a record I want to maintain. I also find Vietnamese to be an extremely painful language to my tender ears - worse than Cantonese - and their pop sounds like someone strangling a cat. Finally, as Stick says in his article, their food is often pretty ordinary - I'm sure this wouldnt be a deal-breaker in the big cities, but thats where the cost of living would be highest. Still, I havent been there and you have - clearly, its an exciting place. For those proposing Myanmar/Burma, I think most of us look for a degree of political stability accompanied by a veneer, however thin, of 'freedom' : again, I havent been to the country, but the BBC dont paint the kind of picture I am looking for. JS - Caboolture and Beachmere are both lovely at this time of year - prevailing winds nicely deflect the odours from aluminium smelter/sewage treatment plants - but I have too many illegitimate children in that neck of the woods. Sorry. CTO and others, You are correct - a lot of this is a problem of my own making - you may recall that I have been to Udon Thani once already, and even know where the visa bus to Laos leaves from - at the time, it didnt seem long enough for my projected 6-month stay. I was living under the illusion that I only needed to leave Thailand every 30 days to get another 30 days. Correct me if I'm wrong, but backpackers and others have been doing this for many years .. BTW, I have revised my initial stay from 6 months to 3, given that my 'actual' budget appears to be about double my initial (naive) estimate. To those considering a long stay, consider this : unless you are working/very disciplined/a teetotaller, you will spend a ridiculous amount on booze. And barfines. And longtime/shorttime/anytime/threesomes/foursomes. You have been warned. Now pull up a chair - its your shout. :smirk: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 If I'm not going to retire in my home country then a major factor for me in deciding where else to retire would be where I have friends. I have always thought about retiring in LOS and, although in recent years that feeling has not been as strong, it is still the most likely destination for me because many of my current friends are likely to retire there as well. Also as Stickman says, when you take everything into account, it is still hard to beat LOS as a place to stay in SEA. $75,050 3 Bed, 2 Bath 5828 E FLOWING SPRING Coolidge, AZ 85228 Property Type: Single Family Home Single Family Property, Area: 611, Subdivision: OASIS SUNRISE, Year Built: 2003 ... View details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gobbledonk Posted June 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 U371, are you spamming us, or trying to highlight that some members may not have enough to retire to *Cambodia* with the current state of U.S. house prices post-subprime ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 << Some Thai Chinese families surely belong to this elite but I rather think about the long established families running the big Thai conglomerates (e.g. CP group, owners of Bangkok Bank) as well as parts of the military and the old aristocracy (na Ayuatha, Khun Yingsâ?¦.) >> I thought the CP Group (Bangkok Bank) was Chinese-Thai. Remember that King Taksin (half-Chinese) encouraged a lot of Chinese (especially Tae-chiu, his father's ethic group) to migrate to Siam in the late 18th century. Some Chinese-Thai families have long roots here. In fact, King Rama I is supposed to have had a Chinese-Thai mother. Khun Ying is a title still granted to "prominent" women, rather puzzlingly since the granting of royal titles to men was abandoned after the 1932 coup. Having the title today hardly means one is of the aristocracy. And who was the millionaire businessman that was ordered to stop using "na Ayutthaya" a few years ago? He'd just stuck it on his name to look more impressive, though he had no royal descent. The military was long the only way to success open to country folks. The real aristocracy controlled the civil service (and invariably graduated from Chulalongkorn), whilst the Chinese-Thais controlled the business sector. By becoming Army officers and moving into politics was the rural ethnic Thais' route to riches. e.g. Pibunsongkram, Sarit, Chawalit and the rest. I get extremely irritated when I see magazines such as "Hi So", which picture the corrupt politician or businessman of the month on the cover. I always think of the Thai saying of the 1990s before the crash: NGERN KUE PRAJAO (Money is God). Thailand has changed considerably in the 35 years I've been here, especially with the increased urbanisation. Thailand is a Buddhist country these days in name only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted June 16, 2008 Report Share Posted June 16, 2008 << Charoen Pokphand traces its beginnings back to 1921, when brothers Ek Chor and Siew Whooy started the Chia Tai seed shop in Bangkok's Chinatown. They imported seeds and vegetables from China and exported pigs and eggs to Hong Kong. >> << The Charoen Pokphand Group is the major funding of the Thai-rak-Thai party and have the close relationship with the former Prime Minister Thaksin. >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charoen_Pokphand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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