happydreamer

Its not only the Ploys, but it's always a Ploy.

The more you keep private information like how you make money to yourself the better off you are here. Really, if you can fly under the radar while you live here you will be quite happy.

Visited first time in Jan 2012. Knew I'd retire here. Kept talking about wanting to retire by 40. It happened in 2015. Got laid off. Never went back. I loved this place and started the migration over the span of 3 years going back and forth. The Thai dream is different for everyone. For me it was about being able to tune out the noise of big city US life. It was about having things I didn't have back home. It was a cost efficient place to plant myself in the beginning until I figured out what to do. My first place in Chiang Mai cost 5k per month. It was simple, stark, lacking in many ways but it all woke me up to what the actual necessities of my new life would be. As time went on the dream became more detailed. Some of it changed, some evolved, some was simply rubbish that was residue from US life. Honestly, life on my worst day here has not been anywhere near the dark, cold, misery I endured in my last few years at home.

Ya except its not just the US...Japan and Korea have been known to reject Thai arrivals at the airport, especially women.

Ya if you think thats a valid comparison good luck in life

You mean the distorted reality of being up 25% in my port since election? Not a fan of the guy by any means but let's be realistic about the direction of the market. We're literally at all time highs

Never marry a woman you cannot divorce amicably. While it sounds like a joke it's not. After a few months of dating you should be able to tell if the woman you are with is vindictive enough to drag you or if she's self-sufficient enough to say "Fk U" I married at 28 to a woman who was like this. When things went sour at 35 we decided to call it quits. I had to split the bank account with her. My divorce cost me $500. We went on a Wednesday morning and then went for pancakes after. Dated a girl for 11 years with some overlap to that divorce. When the time came for us to call it quits, I was traveling quite extensively throughout Asia. I was in Tokyo photographing fashion week and she asked me when I was coming back. I told her I didn't know. We ended it on that phone call. We organized the move out of our California apartment long distance, I paid for the movers to move everything, Cost me about 2K but the key was that I had a safe that had about $15K cash and a cache of gold and silver numismatics. I needed to make sure I got that safe and that gold when I returned to the US. She picked me up from the airport in San Diego and I got my pinché safe and my old gold. Married a Thai woman in 2020. She is the keeper. I'd never consider leaving her. She has insisted that we keep everything we have as individuals. No shared bank accounts, no shared leases, no shared property or cars. She is not financially more well off than me she just told me that If I ever broke her heart, it's over and she wants no drama or anything to drag out Guys who get fk'd in relationships ignored the warning signs before, and during the relationship. Then they act like it came out of left field while everyone else is like...no we saw that coming the day you married her and she embarrassed you in front of your guests.

I think there might be a minor misunderstanding in what I meant. OP claims most of the IT folk and nomads here are "bereft of social skills and psychologically afflicted." My comment was that the perceived social ineptitude is just an act so we don't need to talk with idiots.

Bless you dude. I feel the same way. Lived in two of the big three cities back in the US and don't want to go back at all. California was my last stop before I came here for good. People ask me all the time and they seem shocked when I reply that unless something tragic happens, I live here. You're right about missing culture. Thats perhaps one of the biggest things I miss. Seeing and experiencing actual art. This place is completely devoid of anything with substance although I was quite pleased to be able to take my wife to see West Side Story about a year ago at one of the theaters here. If you're fortunate enough to have the money to live life in California, it can be a pretty pleasant place but like you said, it would require being a millionaire to do that today. Had friends in Newport Beach and that was always fun. The surf competition in Huntington was always a blast. But the quality of life here far supersedes that in that it's always available, doesnt require a car (for the most part) and is within financial means especially if you have the ability to live an above average life here. Good for you dude. Hope life continues to bless you

Most of it is fake so we dont need to talk to idiots

What an idiot. Confronting and assaulting migrant workers.

My wife can do the official stuff under her name with my unofficial financial backing if she wants it. I want no part of it. Honestly from what ive seen as far as construction quality here...this is one of the poorest build quality housing markets ive ever seen. Finding someone to fix things outside of hanging a picture or television has proven difficult. I'd never invest in property here.

You're totally right. The more I thought about it the more I realized that the less "official" I make myself here the better off I am in the long run. No property purchases, no auto purchases, and a secondary bank account just invites unwanted attention.

Here you go toolshed http://www.thai-language.com/id/230515 And for any other confused falang that can't pronounce NG like this dude... http://www.thai-language.com/id/209312

That would be Nok Yai bro...