GinBoy2

I've never sold up in either he US or Thailand We're in the US right now, never sold my house. Still have our house in Thailand, which we'll never sell. You can have the best of both worlds, you just pick and choose which one you want at various times in your life

I kinda hate myself sometimes for replying, to what I instinctively know is some AI driven fake post, from some poster with 10 posts all designed as click bate. At least sometimes they spur a discussion from 'real' people. I hope the owners understand that we know the game!

I'm a little boring. Met my wife at work in Singapore where we lived for several years. When we moved to Thailand we created a Singapore/US bubble. Moved back to the US same thing. In all three countries we basically lived the same life. We can toggle between the US and Thailand and our lifestyle, within the house at least, doesn't change We were never going to do the 'go native' thing. A tin roof shack and a squat toilet might work for some, but not for me

When I met my wife we were working in Singapore. Not a tiny Island but we both got to the point where our monthly weekend escapes to KL or Langkawi kept us sane

Seriously, this what you think? I don't know but I suspect that if my life was in jeopardy I don't think I'd give a rats ass what the nurse looked like. I'd be more in the mode of 'save my life' Why would even think about sexualizing a health care professional who is trying to save your life? Thats a bit twisted

I get it, and facetiously some of us do end up with Thai women our own age, all for the good I might add. On the drowning question. Years back I was in Hawaii, and I got stuck in a rip. No amount of kicking was gonna do it, I could see the shoreline disappearing. Totally scary. Suddenly it changed and I finally could swim back to the beach, but that was a bullet dodged for me

Cancer isn't a one size fits all. It ranges from the fairly benign, to the 'Oh fu***k I'm gonna die' variety. Now in the West health care tends to operate in a fairly tight range, from good to bad. In Thailand that range is huge. Serious cancer treatment at a local Government hospital is going to be appalling, versus a top tier private hospital where you will pay big time

Boredom was a big one. I recognized after a couple of years I needed to work, which is a really hard thing in Thailand. Kids, well there is another thing. I have two daughters and Grandson, and my Thai son who all live in the US. Hard to let that go MrsG had a really hard time when our son said he wasn't coming back to the US. That was the nail in the coffin so to speak, Momma Bear was never going to be that far away from her baby. He's now married, baby on the way. I went back to work, now work for united & delta airlines. Spent too much of my life in airplanes, so now it's nice to dick around with them on the ground

I probably wouldn't do it again. We were living in Singapore and I was planning an early retirement My wife wanted to move to the US and have Thailand as our retirement vacation spot. But idiot boy got his way and Thailand became the place, I lasted 10 years before I broke, Son wasn't coming back from college in the US, boredom, and my wife telling me 'I told you so' enough was enough. So, no I wouldn't do it again

Not sure I agree with that. Thai people can be very judgmental, especially when in comes to racial origins, be a Thai Lao in BKK and you'd get it. When me and my wife, who is a professional engineer, but very clearly from Isaan went to buy a wedding dress in a fairly upscale store in Bangkok, the shop girl demanded to look at her hands to ensure she wasn't a farmer! Being gay in the West nobody cares about. We work with, live next to gay couples and the youngsters, unlike back in our day don't give it a second thought. The area I would say is more tolerant is the ladyboy thing, Thai's just glide by that

Western healthcare tends to operate within a fairly tight band. Thai healthcare the disparity between good and bad is huge. Spent quite a lot of time visiting MrsG's family in the local Government hospital and I'm pretty sure my cats veterinary office was probably safer. The local doc, well just be prepared for whatever ails you, you just walk out with 10 baggies of various drugs, probably won't even take your blood pressure! On the plus side, I ended up with skin cancer on my face. Brumrungrad removed it and it couldn't have been better. Thai healthcare is very bipolar, and you probably at the end of the day get what you pay for

I forgot the bacon, and lets throw in the fried bread while we're at it. Fried bread not something I had ever had, since I lived in the UK, but has we talk about it, might be something on tomorrows breakfast to horrify my Thai wife

Oh Dear Lord lets just add some fat to the sugar lol

I rather like UK baked beans. Discovered them decades ago when I was working in the UK and was introduced to the concept of 'beans on toast' not something as an American I would even have considered. Now I'll pick up a can of them from my local Safeway, and not even bother looking at the price. BTW I don't think I would ever eat them any other way than 'beans on toast'

Thats the difference. My wife, married to me, a US citizen (insert almost every Western Country) has, as a permanent resident pretty much the same rights as me, except she can't vote. Later this year she will become a US citizen, six years after becoming a permanent resident If Thailand would offer me, as the spouse of a Thai national the same rights I might be tempted to move back

Can't say I like either of the actually. Both have a tad too much sleaze, beach in Phuket better, but I'm not really a beach guy. First time we visited Pattaya, probably 15 years ago our son was maybe 8, walking together through downtown, couldn't get over the high pressure hustle of the girls. I was walking with my wife and son for God's sake Family vacation? I don't think so

So referring back to an earlier post Why would a 50+ Thai woman who sounds exactly the same as anyone in Chicago, be asked very pointed questions about her origin, Pattaya is the usual guess, versus a 50+Japanese woman with a Japanese accent never gets those kinda questions? Well decades of the sexualization of culture and the development of the sex tourist industry, which of course doesn't exist! The stereotype exists, because it actually does exists

Well lets get real about the stereotypes, and not just in Thailand but in the West. We have lived in South Dakota as out primary residence for the past 6 years We have a bunch of friends, white guys, asian women wives. We're all mid 50-60's, (including wives) been married for years, all got kids, long grown up, every one of them a professional woman in some field or other. But even now you'll meet someone and get chatting and whenever it comes out my wife is Thai the inevitable questions start to come. Where did you meet, what did she do? My wife grew up as a teenager in Chicago and sounds a midwest as they come Funnily our friends with Japanese wives, same general profile but have a Japanese accent and never get the same questions we get Thailand has 'marketed' itself as a sleaze pot and many of us regular folk pay the price of the Thai image of a 20 something with a 60 something slopping around the mall with a couple of rugruts, or worse still the bargirl scene, or a ladyboy hotspot. There is an alternative, but it's hard to sometimes overcome the stereotypes, which do have some basis in fact!

To add to my previous post, it's not just good, it scary good. We now don't know whats real or fake there is no way to tell

You gotta admit it's pretty damn good. But it does make me wonder how much of the nonsense we react to on here is generated the same way!

I couldn't agree more about 'The Quiet American' Its the quintessential movie to explain the Western male over sexualization of Asian women, especially for older Western males!

Well this is a terrible situation isn't it. Rock and a hard place jumps to mind. If it was me, I'd be telling Mom to sign the letter letting you travel to Europe with your daughter to visit Grandma, and assuming your have got your daughter a European passport, if not thats step #1. After you get home with your daughter see if Mom can even be bothered to fight it, and my guess would be no. Certain Thai women seem to be able to abandon children faster than dropping a pair of dirty underwear

Well it's a kinda weird way nature works. Why are some women attracted to black men, just cos they are. Taking out the Thai money thing, walk down any street in San Francisco and probably 50% of the couples you see will be young white guys with young some version of asian female It's just how genetically we are attracted to each other, excluding the the older white guy and Thai female young enough to be his daughter money thing!

I had to laugh at this. The demographic of the this forum, we're all 'older people' Time creeps up on you and suddenly you have turned into your Dad

Apart from the radio in my car, I can't remember the last time I owned a stand alone radio. I stream radio stations and podcasts, even in the car for the most part using bluetooth. They could close down the entire AM/FM broadcasts worldwide and I'd be OK with that. Free up the spectrum for something else