Your Home Country, Reasons Why You Left

[Jet Gorgon]

Here is my favourite passage from "The Moon and Sixpence" by Somerset Maugham, published in 1919. Looked for this book for years in London, US, HK, and finallly found it at a second hand book stall on Khao Sarn Road in 1995. This passage sums up my life.

I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place.

Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they

have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are

strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have

known from childhood or the populous streets in which they

have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend

their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof

among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps it is

this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the

search for something permanent, to which they may attach

themselves. Perhaps some deeprooted atavism urges the

wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim

beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to

which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home

he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never

seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were

familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.

[Vespa]

Q: Your Home Country, Reasons Why You Left

A: I'm From America

[Beavis and Butthead]

The bottom line is that at least 80-85% of this forum left their country to come here due to the easy access to mass quantities of hot chicks. This is just the plain facts. Just look at your Thai Visa survey thread. Out of 3000 respondents, 90% were men. That tells your whole story right there. Of course after we all came for the hot chicks, a fair number married one of the hot chicks (sand to the beach man), and then stayed on in bumfcuk Issan due to dirt cheap peasant living. Then you got your city dwellers who fork out a lot of cash for a tip top expat lifestyle in the city of hot chicks.

[terry57]

i dare you to say something good about the mighty los.

The fact that you are not in Thailand (not now and I doubt even when you claim you are) is something very good about Thailand.

PS thanks for calling by at my profile page again.... and again.. and again..

there you go guesthouse,

just proved my point that you never believe me, so W.T.F.

and i visit your profile every day because i like you.

but in a sick sort of way.

[terry57]

Here is my favourite passage from "The Moon and Sixpence" by Somerset Maugham, published in 1919. Looked for this book for years in London, US, HK, and finallly found it at a second hand book stall on Khao Sarn Road in 1995. This passage sums up my life.

I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place.

Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they

have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are

strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have

known from childhood or the populous streets in which they

have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend

their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof

among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps it is

this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the

search for something permanent, to which they may attach

themselves. Perhaps some deeprooted atavism urges the

wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim

beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to

which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home

he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never

seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were

familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.

cricky's jet,

ive got a step sister somewhere that i have never met.

are you sure you are not my sister because that passage sums my life up as well.

when i first arrived in los in 1987 i knew that i was mean't to be here.

amazing bit of writing.

[popshirt]

Q. Your home country, reason why you left.

A. George Bush

[Jingthing]

Q. Your home country, reason why you left.

A. George Bush

Does that mean you will go back when Bill Richardson is elected President?

One of the big factors for me to leave the US was the high cost of health care and lack of access to health care in the US. Seems all the money for that went down a rathole in a place called Iraq.

Edited January 23, 2007 by Jingthing

[Beavis and Butthead]

Guesthouse, you could run and probably win the bleeding liberal hearts campaign for prime minister in Canada. I think UK citizens get easy access. Go for it!

Wow man! Jet Gorgon the white supremicist. Go for it baby! I'm a bit of an extremist myself but not that far. I've heard some brits going wild about that too. Never fear I understand. Your heritage is under attack and there's nothing you can do about it. I can recommend davidduke.com as it explains why this is happening

[Jet Gorgon]

Here is my favourite passage from "The Moon and Sixpence" by Somerset Maugham, published in 1919. Looked for this book for years in London, US, HK, and finallly found it at a second hand book stall on Khao Sarn Road in 1995. This passage sums up my life.

I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place.

Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they

have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are

strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have

known from childhood or the populous streets in which they

have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend

their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof

among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps it is

this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the

search for something permanent, to which they may attach

themselves. Perhaps some deeprooted atavism urges the

wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim

beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to

which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home

he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never

seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were

familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.

cricky's jet,

ive got a step sister somewhere that i have never met.

are you sure you are not my sister because that passage sums my life up as well.

when i first arrived in los in 1987 i knew that i was mean't to be here.

amazing bit of writing.

Well, figured it would have to be someone with a brain to read and respond to this brilliant piece of prose. Oh, my long lost brother! It is a lovely passage...and 1919. Go figure.

[PhilHarries]

I haven't so much left my home country, yet, but just have no intention ever to return on anything like a permanent basis. If I can carry on getting work around S. E. Asia I will remain, if not I'll look elsewhere moving down the list thru S. America, Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Middle East, Africa and if all else fails UK/Europe. But whatever happens when the work dries up I'll be looking to retire to this part of the world, preferably LOS but PI, VN and MY are under consideration.

It's not that I hate the country. I do hate the weather, the rest of the countries in the world have climate the UK has weather and it's <deleted>.

I intensely dislike the way society is developing; spongers are not only tolerated but supported by various NGO's, criminals seem to have more rights than victims, government is increasingly interfering in private life, the idea of personal responsibility is becoming an alien culture, there is little or no respect left for either person or property, the fact that the native society has to respect the cultures of the immigrant minorities but the is no reciprocity and I could go on and on.

Also, I would be paying 40% of my earnings in tax just for the priveledge of living in such a eutopian paradise. Money that goes to supporting all of the above societal warts. Oh, and should I work my entire working life paying all my dues and need 24/7 nursing care in my old age the government only chips in if my total assets are less than 10k GBP. So they stick me in a home, sell all assets and pay for the home until I have less than 10k when they'll grudgingly stump up cash for an NHS soup kitchen home like they did to my mother. You're better off p1ssing the whole lot up the wall, the end result is the same.

The fact that I have no property in the UK and have, even on my payrate, no chance of buying any only serves to make my decision easier.

So long UK, hello LOS/PI/VN/MY.

[Beavis and Butthead]

Q. Your home country, reason why you left.

A. George Bush

Does that mean you will go back when Bill Richardson is elected President?

One of the big factors for me to leave the US was the high cost of health care and lack of access to health care in the US.

I'm not a believer in leaving the country because of who is president. hel_l I even stuck around during the nightmarish Clinton years. Now that was really hard to do.

[Jingthing]

So you fault the Germans who fled Hitler and the Iraqis who fled Hussein? I guess they were unpatriotic.

[PeaceBlondie]

Being Peter Pan, I kept having more childhoods. After living abroad, I returned home, where the only work I could find (for which I was overqualified) paid one third of my former wage (which wasn't that high). Then I visited Thailand. After one week in Chiang Mai, I decided to move here. I'm glad to be here. My son who moved to Ireland five years ago will never go back to the USA. My daughter has a Mexican-American brother-in-law who's still in England after ten or fifteen years!

Just because you were born somewhere, doesn't mean you have to stay there forever.

[Jet Gorgon]

Being Peter Pan, I kept having more childhoods. After living abroad, I returned home, where the only work I could find (for which I was overqualified) paid one third of my former wage (which wasn't that high). Then I visited Thailand. After one week in Chiang Mai, I decided to move here. I'm glad to be here. My son who moved to Ireland five years ago will never go back to the USA. My daughter has a Mexican-American brother-in-law who's still in England after ten or fifteen years!

[Beavis and Butthead]

So you fault the Germans who fled Hitler and the Iraqis who fled Hussein? I guess they were unpatriotic.

real Germans didn't flee Hitler, they loved the man and still do

[Pakboong]

got tired of having to keep my dog on a leash.

[ourmanflint]

I must say that there will always be things I love about the UK, quite a few things actually, but I left. Why?

1) I cannot bear the way the culture in the UK is more and more revolving around celebrity, I don't give a f*ok who is going out with who!

2) I hate football and feel sorry for people whose whole life revolves around football. I have no time for football players one and all.(please see 1)

3) I hate Eastenders... anyone who watches this I cannot be friends with!

4) I dislike the rise of mediocrity, and the system that has arisen to support it.( see items 1 to 3)

5) There is no fun in the UK anymore, except on days when the sun comes out to play... and I'm usually working.

6) The UK is not a big enough part of Europe, if it was I would be happier to stay.

7) There are an awful lot of incredibly stupid, ignorant, selfish, small minded and shallow people who I cannot abide to be within earshot of. (please see item 4)

Unfortunately for me I will be making a tactical retreat to blighty in the next few weeks. I only hope I can survive without serious injury to my spirit.

[Acquiesce]

Don't be so quick to knock the place, it is afterall where you'll go running to if life in the Land of Smiles goes to rat <deleted>.

It is also the place that gave you sufficient prospects in life to be able to make the choices you are making now.

You are absolutely right but the majority of us are here because we feel our relationships with our home countries are no longer entirely amicable. Nowhere is perfect and whilst there are many reasons why I can say I'm proud to stand up and be counted as British/English, there are plenty of others for which I'm not. I'm sure there are TV'ers out there from every country who feel the same about their respective motherlands.

Well Bananaman i came to Thailand because of things i liked about Thailand, I did not leave England because of things i dis-liked about England.

[richard10365]

To have something to talk about in the ThaiVisa forum.

[terry57]

I must say that there will always be things I love about the UK, quite a few things actually, but I left. Why?

1) I cannot bear the way the culture in the UK is more and more revolving around celebrity, I don't give a f*ok who is going out with who!

2) I hate football and feel sorry for people whose whole life revolves around football. I have no time for football players one and all.(please see 1)

3) I hate Eastenders... anyone who watches this I cannot be friends with!

4) I dislike the rise of mediocrity, and the system that has arisen to support it.( see items 1 to 3)

5) There is no fun in the UK anymore, except on days when the sun comes out to play... and I'm usually working.

6) The UK is not a big enough part of Europe, if it was I would be happier to stay.

7) There are an awful lot of incredibly stupid, ignorant, selfish, small minded and shallow people who I cannot abide to be within earshot of. (please see item 4)

Unfortunately for me I will be making a tactical retreat to blighty in the next few weeks. I only hope I can survive without serious injury to my spirit.

cricky's flint,

i aint ever been to the old blighty and im never going there after your discription.

besides that, they make crap fish and chips.

[mrbojangles]

2) I hate football and feel sorry for people whose whole life revolves around football. I have no time for football players one and all.(please see 1)

Blimey, ourmanflint. That's a strange reason (or one of them) to leave England for. Nearly every country in the world has football, in fact i get to see more live English Premiership games IN Thailand than when i am in England.

Gotta agree with the majority of the rest of your reason's though.

[jamman]

I like Canada, and have little bad to say about it. The weather is the chief complaint. I like our culture, and even our police are pretty cool, mostly.

But I make my $ by e-commerce, and my US dollars go much farther here.

In Canada, women tend to prefer a man within 5 years of their age. I just had a date here in an affluent town in northern Sulawesi with a very attractive 24 year old college student. She was shocked at my question of if I was too old for her. Her cousin is engaged to a 50 year old. She told me such age differences are not uncommon here. I know that the knee jerk western reaction to a 24 year old being with a 40 year old is to see everything in terms of green paper. That stereotype is not as common here. The date went very well today, by the way. And to avoid the next common stereotype of the local pretty girl mis-representing her promiscuous character, her past fiance was a local guy living overseas, and she waited 4 years for him, seeing him only one month of each year. A stunner, faithful and devoted. What's not to like. Would I find that in Canada? Maybe, but I doubt much she'd be as interested in me.

[Little Black Duck]

Because they wouldnt make Waltzing Matilda the National Anthem...

And Kevin Bloody Wilson is banned from Radio..

Edited January 23, 2007 by Little Black Duck

[ourmanflint]

2) I hate football and feel sorry for people whose whole life revolves around football. I have no time for football players one and all.(please see 1)

Blimey, ourmanflint. That's a strange reason (or one of them) to leave England for. Nearly every country in the world has football, in fact i get to see more live English Premiership games IN Thailand than when i am in England.

Gotta agree with the majority of the rest of your reason's though.

It must be that celeb come football player thing that really winds me up... oh and the obscene amounts of money that these little pr*cks get paid to kick a ball around. Football players as rich ferrari driving thugs.... what happened?

[qualtrough]

I was on a trip around the world and decided to stay here as it was winter back home. One thing led to another and 26 years later I am still here, having lived 16 or so of those years here. Even if I was inclined to move back to the US there are practical reasons that would make that difficult. Major reasons:

Health care costs: I don't think I need to explain that.

Income: My wife would need to work in the US in order for us to make ends meet, whereas here she stays home and takes care of the kids and home--and she likes that.

Food: Nice to be able to eat out at nice restaurants here and not wince when the bill comes. Fresh fruits and vegetables all year round.

Weather: I am not a skier, so winter held no big thrill for me.

Housing: We own the home and property outright, and there are no taxes. Further to that, if I want to add a room or do any construction I can just have it done, no byzantine and expensive approval process.

Kids: Bilingual and learning a third language. Lots of friends.

Transportation: I like the fact that there are so many transport options here. We have two cars, but I often take taxis, buses, trains, the skytrain, the subway, or even boats to get around.

Stress: Most people I know in the US lead pretty high-stress lifestyles just trying to keep it together. I am not talking about people with poor educations, low income, etc. I mean middle to upper middle-class people.

My sister once tried to persuade me to move back. At that time my calculations showed that I would need a 125-150 K job to enjoy the same lifestyle I was enjoying here at the time, including money banked. That wasn't going to happen, so it wasn't an option for me.

[qualtrough]

Just looked up at the tab for this thead in FireFox and it reads Your Ho! For a moment I thought I was in some bar-related thread

[paulsmithson]

I do not have an home country any longer.

Where I live used to be called England but it is now legally no more!

It is officially just a collection of european areas! No one asked the English if they agreed to this!

After years a years of higher and higher taxes to fund amongst other things a NHS service that IS NOT FREE (GH) except to people who have never funded it (ie the mass influx of immigrants here who never were wanted by the mass of our people).

Why does anyone ever say education and health are free in the UK!!!!

Who the hel_l do you think pays for them ?

No folks I have no home country now.

[roamer]

I do not have an home country any longer.

Where I live used to be called England but it is now legally no more!

It is officially just a collection of european areas! No one asked the English if they agreed to this!

After years a years of higher and higher taxes to fund amongst other things a NHS service that IS NOT FREE (GH) except to people who have never funded it (ie the mass influx of immigrants here who never were wanted by the mass of our people).

Why does anyone ever say education and health are free in the UK!!!!

Who the hel_l do you think pays for them ?

No folks I have no home country now.

"It is officially just a collection of european areas! No one asked the English if they agreed to this!"

Well they did actually, they held a referendum in 1975 and 67% voted in favour.

As for the rest of it, somewhat of a red herring given that there are far more "immigrants" working in it than being treated by it.

[tutsiwarrior]

Mr Raygun and successive Bush regimes are enough to keep me away from the US...I could not endure living within a populace that is so stupid, ignorant and uninformed that would vote for such filth...not that I have a lot of faith in 'schoolyard democracy' to begin with...Clinton may have been OK but he enforced the US hardline against Cuba and progressive govenments in Latin America and that was enuf...blowjobs from assistants notwithstanding...

Thailand ain't the best of all possible worlds but my wife and her family have taken this poor wandering wastrel to their bosom and now this is home. Only been back to the US for 2 weeks in 20 years...that's enuf...

Edited January 23, 2007 by tutsiwarrior

[kiakaha]

I love my home country and still maintain a base there.

However my wife and I came to Thailand for the remuneration package(coupled with the cheaper cost of living = more savings) and regional(asia-pacific) career opportunity with my company.