buriramboy

Might be worth a read for some of you considering living in Thailand full time.................make what you will of the article............. http://www.retire-asia.com/thai-advice.shtml Farang Living in Thailand – some advice for newcomers to the "Land of Smiles (and Guile)" The writer's opinions, posted anonymously on a news group recently, may seem overly cynical and negative. However there is a lot of truth which can be verified by discussions with ex-pats or 'farang/falang' (referred to by Thai Immigration as aliens) who live or have lived in Thailand for extended periods. Hopefully it may serve to help others, including the many who are disenchanted with life in their own countries, who think after spending an idyllic fortnight's holiday in Thailand (and probably falling in love with a Thai), that they can find happiness and contentment in this 'tropical paradise'. Sadly, it's a dream that rarely comes true. However, people usually want to make their own mistakes rather than believe the 'tales of woe' of others that have gone before them. This may prevent some from doing so! Read on... I believe that chances of success or survival in Thailand are better if you belong to one of the following groups. If you are rich and also sensible with your money, then go ahead. If an international company or similar offers you a high salaried job in Thailand, then fine. If you are retired or have steady funds from abroad and want to live modestly on those funds, go ahead, but watch yourself. And if you're a young traveller seeing the world, and you want to spend some time in Thailand teaching or whatever for the experience, then that's fine too. If you don't fall into one of these groups, then you should probably only consider Thailand for short holidays. Many middle aged westerners in particular (including professionals) like the idea of living there, having a business or making some money and "enjoying life" in Thailand. But very few make it, including most of the western food restaurant, girlie or gay bar owners and alike you might meet in Thailand who boast about their good life there. It is common for faltering foreigners to try and keep up appearances. Many end up broke, broken-hearted or crazed, sometimes all three! Some will leave to try and pick up the pieces of their shattered lives elsewhere. Thailand 'got them' in the end. Thai business, visa and residency laws, corruption, dishonesty and deceit and other aspects of the "Thai way" are likely to get you in the end. Have a minor run-in with a wealthy or important Thai and your status and possibly your life will be at risk. Their whole culture is geared around making sure that foreigners pursuing individual efforts are not successful. It's ingrained in them from an early age to believe that they are the never-colonised master race of Asia (yes they really do think that) and their mythology runs so deep you'll never budge it. Remember, in Thailand you'll never have any real business, legal or ownership rights. But Thais can probably go to your country and buy and own anything they can get their sticky hands on (because of the more tolerant business laws). To Thais, this is just further evidence of how clever they are, and how foolish are the foreigners who go to Thailand. Thailand is ruled by a comparatively small business and industrial elite, mostly from Chinese origins. They hold all the power and most of the wealth in the country. Although the king and royal family are revered by ordinary people, they have little real power in a 'parliamentary democracy'. The idea of western foreigners living in the country and achieving wealth and status through individual entrepreneurial efforts is seen as a threat to the hegemony that the elite has over the Thai underclass who form the bulk of the population. For this reason, it is never allowed to happen. Thailand should be seen from a western perspective as being rather like a casino; a place of entertainment with a touch of excitement, the lure of good fortune and the good life, a place for fun but with always the risk of loss. Most sensible people visit casinos occasionally. Spending every day there, and you will surely lose, because the "House Advantage" will get you eventually. So it is in Thailand. The Thai "House Advantage" will get you. They make sure of it. Of course, if going to Thailand with all your money and slowly losing it and ending up teaching English for a pittance, because that's about all you can do, either illegally or working legally but being treated like a serf by Thai institutions, appeals to you then go ahead. Maybe a hand to mouth virtual poverty lifestyle appeals to you. And running around the country several times a year getting visas, or always being at the mercy of authorities on visa matters might also be your bag. If so, then go ahead, at least you'll be able to spend your nights at cheap restaurants sharing your impoverishment and frustration with other exploited western teachers. If not, think seriously. In case you are thinking, let me say that I am not a former go-go bar owner gone bust, I have not lost my all doing business with Thais, no I haven't been cheated of everything by a bar-girl, no I haven't been reduced to the indignity of teaching English for a pittance. I have my own money, have spent a lot of time in Thailand, and have done some business there, have observed the experiences of a lot of foreigners, can see what goes on, and have enough concern to want to tell others about it. If my words can prevent even one westerner of modest means from selling up and going to "enjoy life" in Thailand (and getting shafted in the end) then that will be something. Don't make the mistake of thinking that as a foreigner (even with professional skills) you can "make a contribution" to Thailand, no matter how good your intentions or needed your skills may be. Your contribution will never be welcomed, only your money. There is a saying in Thai that captures it well: "farang roo mark mai dee" - foreigners who know too much [about Thailand] are no good. For tourists, who don't need or want to see the full picture, Thailand is great. So, go as a tourist, enjoy what you enjoy there, but don't be taken in by the culture or people, as many westerners have been, and don't under any circumstances give up anything back home to go and stay there unless you are financially secure for life, or know exactly what you are doing. There is a tradition of resident foreigners in Thailand not telling to the truth about the country because they don't like to admit to themselves and to others about the mistake they have made in moving there. Thailand is slowly recovering from the financial mess its political and business leaders got the country itself into, through a mixture or greed, incompetence, arrogance and corruption, but there is still political uncertainty and there will always be greed and corruption. Times ahead will still be difficult for many Thais. For foreigners, even more so.

Been there, done that, no desire to do it again. Horses for courses, but after 6 years of living in Pattaya it is not somewhere i will live again, too much of a village mentality for me, and the bitchiness and backstabbing and general bullshit that goes on between farangs is unlike anywhere i have ever come across in the world, will be Bangkok for me, a place that ain't everyones cup of tea, but a city i love and where i had the best 3 1/2 years of my life and somewhere you can choose to be annonymous if you so desire. Take the availability of cheap women out of Pattaya and it doesn't really have a lot to offer in terms of somewhere to live compared to other places in and outside of Thailand, however as a mongering destination it probably still ranks top and i'd recommend it to any blokes just wanting to get their rocks off for a few weeks holiday, but not as somewhere to live.

having watched Nick Griffin interviewed on the BBC after the court case where they have been ordered to change their constitution to which he has agreed to, every single point he made when questioned, i agreed 100% with in relation to who is standing up for the indiginous Brits and is it not the leaders of all the mainstream parties who have sold us out. Now people can come up with dumb arguements like my wife would never be accepted as a BNP member, but so what she ain't British and has no desire to be a member, and i personally have never had any inclination to join any political party as i didn't realise that if in days gone past and i decided to cast my vote for the Tories, Labour, Li Dems or Monster Raving Loony Party i first had to be a member of the party. Or maybe this is a new law in British politics that i am unaware of that to cast your vote for a party you first have to be a paid up member of it, as it's certainly news to me.

So you're a Muslim then????

Yes but different if living in Thailand, for a start you can rent a nice studio for 8k a month, i mean fok you can rent a 2 bed house on the darkside for 8k a month, buy one and no rent, same applies to cars/motorbikes so then negliable transport costs, utilities are pretty cheap, water and gas are next to nothing, electric may cost 1000-3000 baht a month depending how much you like aircon, a couple of big shop in the supermarket once a week, and you'll still have at least 500 baht a day to spend on beer out of a 40k a month budget, which will get you pissed in any number of shop house bars if you need to everyday.

It all depends on your lifestyle, if you live in Pattaya and want to be a barfly and monger all the time, you are looking at needing in the region of 80-100k baht a month to sustain it, however if you realise there is more to life than bars, and having a ho everynight ain't your thing, you will struggle to spend 30-40k baht a month and can still have a great life. Thailand caters for every lifestyle and for every budget, as always one mans paradise is another mans hell, some love Pattaya, some hate it and never set foot in the place, some love village life probably struggling to spend 15-20k baht a month, others dread the thought of even visiting the village for a day, me personally i love Bangkok had the best 3 1/2 years of my life there and probably spent in the region 150k baht a month when lived there, yet a lot of people hate Bangkok, but can you live on £20/ 1000 baht a day?? Easily in a village, comfortably in Pattaya if don't monger and sit in bars all day, doable but more of a struggle in Bangkok.

You're a part owner, get me the job then and all idiots will be gone, soi7 still making a 100 one word informative posts everyday???

Gee, even after posting the link some people still don't get it.

Secrets is a forum for idiots, what are you worried about???

I purposely left out the source of the article to see which fool would bite first and you didn't disappoint, here you go............. http://www.notthenation.com/pages/news/getnews.php?id=859

Yet you still opened the thread, read it and brought yourself to comment on it, so you at a guess.

Tiger Woods Embraces His Thai Half By Denying Reality Golf superstar surprises experts with his refusal to address obvious facts WINDERMERE, FLORIDA – Tiger Woods, the world’s number one golfer and one of sports’ most famous superstars, finally embraced his Thai heritage this week by engaging in fierce and categorical denial of obvious reality. In response to the worldwide media storm that began with the global athletic icon crashing his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant near his home at 2:30AM,Woods has engaged in a series of actions that are only explicable when viewed as an extension of his half-Thai heritage. “Most megastars are also experts at media control and spin,” explained Dee Meyerson, a senior reporter at Hollywood.com. “When things go wrong they call their publicists and consultants and agents, and immediately a pro team of managers handles the situation for maximum damage control. But Woods instead tried to ignore the problem, then denied it, then made some bizarre statements that just fed the fire. It made no sense.” It wasn’t until TMZ ran a full rundown of Woods’ erratic and incompetent image-managing that the press began to make the connection: After decades of essentially denying his Thai heritage, Woods was finally expressing himself in classic and unmistakable Thai ways. “The refusal to talk to police because he’s a big shot, the hypocritical demand for privacy despite making hundreds of millions of dollars cashing in on fame and endorsements, the absurd belief that somehow the story will vanish with blanket denials of clear facts – all of these are classic aspects of Thai culture,” said Dr. Farcheen Wongsawai, a professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Miami University. “This is the most Thai we’ve ever seen Tiger behave.” Many analysts see Tiger’s timing as poor, given that his Thai way of responding to a crisis has so far not brought very good results in the western press, which, unlike the Thai press, has no fear of libel lawsuits and doesn’t treat celebrities and rich people as untouchable, sinless gods. “When you answer questions from western reporters with childish threats, diversionary appeals, and illogical vagueness, they just tend to ask more questions,” observed Manfred Sanchez, a sports media analyst with ESPN Asia. The backfiring Thai strategy has turned a minor car accident into a media event, alternatively dubbed “The Tiger Zoo” or “Tigergate” and involving sensationalist allegations of serial infidelity, domestic abuse, and casual drug abuse. While some reporters see these new elements as even more evidence of emulation of upper-class Thai behavior, many editorials point out that there is nothing exclusively Thai about rich and powerful people acting like asses. “Sleeping with B-level porn stars and skanky waitresses is quite American,” noted Sanchez. “Thinking that your icon status will stop people from writing about it, well, only a Thai would be that obtuse.” Thais worldwide are greeting Tiger’s sudden Thai-ness with cautious enthusiasm. “It’s great that he’s finally acknowledging his heritage,” said Thongchai Jaidee, Thailand’s top golfer and winner of the 2009 Player of the Year award on the Asian Tour. “But I wish he could have expressed his Thai-ness some other way – maybe by smiling more, and being nice to people. That’s very Thai too, you know.”