GinBoy2

Problem is this whole discussion is based on a lie. To many on here it's all about removing quarantine issues, far from it! Surprise surprise, single middle aged men wanting sex isn't going to restart the tourism industry. Regular folks from western countries seem to have settled in to vacations close to home, at least for now The Chinese are locked down at home tighter than a drum, so that ain't happening. Omicron, God knows what that gonna bring, but still a lot more letters in the Greek Alphabet!

It's stories like this that give every normal thai/farang relationship a bad name, and buy into the stereotype, I'm 10 years older than my wife, yet whenever folks hear I'm married to a Thai, it's the usual snigger and teenage mail order bride thing that goes through their mind. Of course meet that girl in person and wow betide you try that sh**t on, you'd be on the wrong side of a vicious Thai woman's tongue!

Well that's a valid point. Maybe we need a distinction between tourist and visitor The young come to party and take drugs. The old men come to have sex with young women they would no chance of having back home, God Bless capitalism and the power of $$! The Chinese ain't coming back anytime soon, since the whole country is locked down tighter than a drum So yeah...fun times

I often wonder what many on here consider to be tourists? A regular tourist is not a middle aged dude wanting to get his rocks off with a bargirl, or a western guy trying to get back to a family in Thailand. Count them in the numbers if you want, but that's not tourism The regular tourist is a family, who are planning an annual vacation, probably saved all year for it, and aren't going to at the last minute go; Oh lets go to Thailand! I don't think many are planning some last minute spur of the moment long haul vacations, just calm down until high season 2022 and lets hope this nightmare is under control

Oh, I just googled Bolton! OK stick it out in Chiang Mai

I also think it depends 'how' you want to live Now I know guys who are fine with the isaan tin shack, eating from the roadside stalls. Not quite my style. Me, and my friends didn't quite fit that mold, we all lived a Western life, and that's when the cost equation gets really fuzzy, at least in recent years A cost of living that's questionable verses home, plus the nonsense that is Thailand, then you get into questionable territory

I hear ya. For me, and think most of my farang friends who re-patriated, it wasn't cost that was the driver. I just got irritated with the place. Now i'm a happily married man, so the availability of young willing sexual partners doesn't bother me. But it was just the nonsense. The power going off at the first clap of thunder, turning the water off for half a day, 90 day reports, photocopying a gizzilion copies of my passport, coffee money at police checkpoints, internet randomly going down. It just wore me down What's kinda cute to begin with, after 10+ years just gets old, and maybe the older I get my tolerance for that <deleted> gets somewhat less

I cycled through all the DSL providers, ToT, 3BB and True, All much of a muchness. All of them had the same DSL dropouts, inexplicable outages. I eventually settled on ToT Fiber when it became available. Compared to everything before rock solid

I'd ditto that

I think many of us have a love/hate relationship with Thailand. It's one of those bright shiny things which are very alluring for the first few years, then by the end the shininess has kinda dulled. I met my wife in Singapore when we worked at the same company. She told me when I wanted to move to Thailand I'd be bored with it within 10 years. She got it right by 11 months! I don't regret our move to Thailand, I've regretted a lot more things in my life. I still love the place, although I think I do love it more now as a place to visit, rather than to live

Well my advice would be get the ball rolling. I don't know specifically about UK immigration, but in general spousal immigration takes time. If you are stuck in the UK, and your real home is rented, take this 'down' time to figure out immigration stuff for your Thai family

Where we lived I ended up as the 2nd to last man standing. All but one of my farang friends called it quits, and all of us had been 10+ year veterans. Now I along with most still love Thailand, some of us have houses there and after all this cra$$op ends will go back for vacations. But the non scientific poll among my ex Thai buddies it is that, great place to visit, not so much to live full time. We are now scattered across the globe from Sweden, USA, UK and beyond. We flew down to Dallas earlier this year to see our old Swedish friend who was visiting his sister. Now, Lars is a horndog. Love the guy to death, but I understand where he is coming from. He works on the principle that it's better now to spend a few months of horndogging a year, but live a 'normal' life in Sweden than his previous 100% Thai life. The only buddy I have left there is Torsten, and he sunk every penny he had into building a resort and couldn't leave even if he wanted too. Generally I'd say everyone of my Thai buddies that left seem to like their new lives, or should be said, resumed lives. Thailand may just have been an extended vacation! On a personal note, yeah i am happier living full time back home, and is often the case my wife is happier living here than she was in Thailand, plus Momma Bear wanted to be closer to our son who had already moved to the US So I dunno, it's really personality and situational dependant

This topic comes up time after time. A couple of things to consider. None of us knows what might happen to us health wise as we age. All we do know is that the likelihood increases exponentially after 60 that the sh&&t will hit the fan Now will be able to afford private health insurance in Thailand, or will you be able to get it at any price? Medicare may not be perfect, but assuming you have somewhere back home and haven't burnt all your bridges, it's the ultimate safety net!

Well Yes & No. The 1918-20 pandemic spread around the globe due the massive movements of men returning from WW1. Rather unusual for the era since most folks hardly travelled 50 miles from their home in normal times

That is true. With my native languages I've never even thought about it, they swirl in my head without any effort. Now it's true when i first went to live in China and learned Mandarin, that transition to a tonal language was tough. The upside was that having done that Thai and Lao were easy. My wife on the other hand did the reverse, tonal to non-tonal. Now she did it as a teenager but as she recalls it was easy

So, back to the topic. It's so sad, since most Thai's will speak at least two languages, Thai, and whatever they speak at home. there are only the central Thai's who only speak Thai. So their brain is wired to accept languages from birth, but language education at school is so terrible it doesn't count as education. My wife who spoke Thai and Lao from birth moved to live with her Uncle in Chicago as a teenager picked up English within months. 40 years later you couldn't choose me and her as who was American. So it's so sad that a population who already have the ability to soak up languages are taught so badly

Well you were the one who decided to go down the rabbit hole of having a Welsh mother didn't make you bilingual. Sounds all about you!

Careful on this one. My wife entered on a CR-1 so had a green card upon entry. Her online friend who went to the US embassy for her K1 interview is still sat in Utah 3 years later waiting for her green card

I'm totally with you on the 'getting tired' thing. Had my third, booster shot couple of weeks ago, felt like c%%p for a day thinking well I guess it was worth it. Then along came Omicron and the whole question of whether the current vaccines will be effective came into play This must be a virus on steroids! Back in the day, the 1918 Spanish flu killed millions, but in a world before vaccines had burnt itself out within two years. This damn thing seems determined to stick around!

That was the booster! Don't get me wrong I understand that a 'bad' reaction is a good sign of vaccine efficacy. But it definitely isn't an annual flu shot!

I don't think bilingual is controversial at all. You were the one that mentioned your Mother being Welsh didn't make you bilingual. But again, did she speak Welsh to you when you were small? I could have had a Bulgarian parent, but if they never spoke Bulgarian I wouldn't be bilingual!

Did your Mom speak to you in Welsh as a kid? As a kid my parents spoke a mix of English and Spanish at home. That coupled with TV, radio and everything around me just made my baby brain soak up both. I'd define native languages as what goes on in your head. I 'think' in English & Spanish, and my thoughts will flip flop between both. I can speak Mandarin, Thai & Lao as second languages but I don't think in them. May sound weird, but those inner voices in your head say what's going on

In this day and age, strange question. Almost ever Thai adult has or does watch porn, it's just how it is. It reminds me of the old adage; There are two types of men. Those who masturbate and those who lie

I think that aligns with my previous point. I spoke English & Spanish from birth, and I have never considered either of them second languages. Languages I have subsequently learnt in adult life, they are my second languages

Well that's very true My son who was born in Singapore obviously spoke and wrote perfect English when we moved to Thailand when he was 11. His 'English' teacher at what was i was told the best International school in Khon Kaen was very well credentialed. Me and my wife would read the corrections to his homework, and to be honest didn't know whether to laugh or cry it was so bad. I remember a particular parent evening when he tried to talk to me in English. It was so embarrassingly bad. Eventually to end the misery I just switched to Thai, which I think made him give a sigh of relief, just to end the torture.