I live in the deep south, among Malay muslims. There are very few farangs here, only a few families of US missionaries, whom I have no connection to and who hang around with each other exclusively anyway.
Therefore I am happy to have two good Thai friends. They are of Malay ethnicity, so their first language is Malay instead of Thai, but they can speak English to a reasonable level, better than my Thai anyways.
They are muslim, so - like me - they don't drink or do drugs, and they are well-educated and hold steady jobs. Both have young families.
I've known them for about 7 years and we just get along well. It's important that personalities are compatible, something I find lacking when comparing myself to other farangs in Thailand, who often have radically different (political) views on life.