chriswatson

MJP, on 2010-07-25 14:45:24, said:

Given your "confession", you may want to re-phraze this?

IanForbes, on 2010-07-25 14:14:29, said:

So does that mean you spend half your time as an uptight citizen and the other half as an upright sex tourist?

Suiken, on 2010-07-25 13:03:31, said:

Based on my experience (I no longer permanently live in Thailand, but did intend to retire there when I did):

1. Getting hit for money, all the time, by all the people is always a pain. It's not so much the expense, it's trying to understand the mentality, because Thai mentality is so different to the West. For example, I once took a load of poor, yokel Thai "friends" on an all-expenses paid fishing trip. Everyone had a great time. Fish were caught, bought and sold. A Couple of days afterwards, they were asking me for gas money to cover their 200 meter drive to the coast and for the fishing lines they'd bought. Probably about 500 baht in total, but I was kind of disappointed to be asked. There are many other TIT examples.

2. If you come, you may find a lot of your time being bored. I know I did. I have no real interest in learning Thai language or cookery or riding an elephant, and I missed the multi-culture of London with her spectrum of good restaurants, night life, cinemas, theaters and museums etc. I ended up bored witless in Thailand, and it was during these bored-out-of-my-mind periods that  I realized it wasn't for me, and so I left.

3. The back-biting. Lots of Thai's in my experience are nice to your face but gossip behind your back. This is of course not unique to Thailand, but they do seem to go out of their way to appear nice and then go some considerable distance in being nasty behind your back. It's as if it is a national sport for some of them.

4. Unless you are fascinated by it, or live by it yourself, the Thai's adherence to superstition can be incredibly ridiculous. The only interesting part about it for me, is it sets you on a train of thought and a journey where one concludes Western science and logic really has not defeated Thai superstition and beliefs, even in the highest echelons of their society.

5. Getting used to blatant corruption. The whole world is corrupt, but Thailand is one of those countries it is right in your face. Personally, I didn't mind giving Thai officials bribes as it's just the way it is, but you may not feel the same way.

6. The weather. Be sure you check out what the weather is going to be where you live. Certain parts of Thailand were intolerable for me in the hot season.

7. Thailand is no longer the inexpensive place it used to be. Inflation is high, Western currencies are currently weak, and neither trends are unlikely to change any time soon.

8. There is an underlying menace that you can end up "disappeared" or murdered, and this is prevalent in all parts of Thai society. Again, not unique to Thailand, but rather different than living in rural France, for example. I have at least on one occasion truly feared for my life in Thailand. I can fortunately say that about nowhere else.

9. I got quite despondent about the way Thai's treat their natural resources. I know the UK used to be covered in forest so we can hardly complain, but just chopping down vast swathes of "protected" areas just gets on my tits. I am also not a fan of electricity cables being suspended like telephone wires, instead of being laid underground, but accept this is just the inevitability of a third world infrastructure.

10. Finally, "you". You may not like "you" living in Thailand, and this is the biggest downside. For me, I felt it was just wasting my time. I was under 40 with the where-with-all to retire when I moved there and am not much older than 40 now. I loved the laid back attitude, the weather, the cheap beer, the natural beauty, the food, the girls but I soon thought I was wasting my time. I was probably trying to retire too early. I really appreciated (what turned out to be) the break as it let me evaluate my life, but I'd not consider moving back there full time, at least not for another 15 years or so. I still go for the odd trip, but I'm kind of happy to be back in the rat race. I can earn shed loads more working in the west and really enjoy my industry. I thought I'd find it difficult to get back "in" to my profession after such a long sabbatical, but now I have, I do not wish to leave it anytime soon.

11. Sorry, forgot to mention "Connect Four". I like pretty girls as much as the next man, but crap, sometimes you just want to have a beer and not get challenged to the world's most tedious game. Just say "No", but unfortunately, I was too busy saying "yes"

I was thinking the same. Be a man, say it to the face, not behind the back. Sort of thing you learn to do in the playground in the west. Unless you're a coward.

Although, I guess technically speaking, this probably is the way a Thai would have dealt with it too - given the whole "face" excuse.

Wouldn't want to be that way myself though. Would find it difficult to live with myself if I cost a guy his job for something I could easily have sorted out with his immediate management. Might make me think I really should get back on that diet if my stomach is so noticable.

By using his "trusty Nokia" (Cripes, it's not a gun!) I think the poster just wanted to see if he could prove his own importance to himself.