So here is the dilemma, if not Thailand then where?

[torrzent]

7 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

Superb post.

We have a different definition of "superb"

[JAZZDOG]

18 minutes ago, Hummin said:

I have followed the real estate marked in surten areas and it is increasing for locals, but for expats, it is status que. You get cheaper appartments and houses there than In thailand at moment in Fortaleza - Natal area. Same as here, they are building and building like it is going to happen something in near future. I dont know what it is, but I guess we will have a huge adjustment coming up soon. 

Places like Thailand need tourist and expats, it is a huge part of the equation. Brazil is not the case but they do seek out foreign investment. My RE investments there up until four years ago were growing at 10%. Much more if funded at the opportune moment. To contract as I did construction is super cheap R$ 1200 per m/2. I believe Brazil has turned the corner and will be a force going forward due to its vast resources. 

[Scott]

Off-talking, inflammatory posts and replies removed.   Continue and receive a suspension.  

 

[torrzent]

6 hours ago, sanemax said:

 

   I am just waiting for the results from NASA'a trip to Mars , if that planet is livable , all the infrastructure that needs to be build will cause a boom on Mars and their currency will strengthen against the Baht , so I m currently looking to buy martian money

LOL, there may be a future in Mars Bars, rather than Gold Bars!

[Jingthing]

6 hours ago, JAZZDOG said:

Actually that is a big problem in Brazil. Having said that the best of times with my GF were those spent not understanding what each other was saying, Lol. Likewise here in Pattaya there is far to much English I'm exposed to. Don't know which is worse.

To me even though the general English level is poor among Thais, it is almost a second semi-official language here especially in tourism/expat centers like Pattaya. In my experience in Latin America, tourists can get by but expats are more or less expected to learn the local language. Obviously if you're married to a bilingual person that might work, or willing to pay a lot for translators on a regular basis. So the English here, bad as it is, is a huge plus for staying in Thailand. 

[JAZZDOG]

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

To me even though the general English level is poor among Thais, it is almost a second semi-official language here especially in tourism/expat centers like Pattaya. In my experience in Latin America, tourists can get by but expats are more or less expected to learn the local language. Obviously if you're married to a bilingual person that might work, or willing to pay a lot for translators on a regular basis. So the English here, bad as it is, is a huge plus for staying in Thailand. 

For sure, you can always find someone here  that can translate,  In Brazil one can go months without finding someone who speaks English. 

[Hummin]

3 hours ago, JAZZDOG said:

For sure, you can always find someone here  that can translate,  In Brazil one can go months without finding someone who speaks English. 

Which language do you think you can learn read and speak in one year? Thai or Portoguise? 

Edited May 6, 2018 by Hummin

[MaeJoMTB]

10 hours ago, torrzent said:

We have a different definition of "superb"

My definition of 'superb' is any post that agrees with my point of view.

I suspect we all use that same definition, and only differ on the point of view.

[MaeJoMTB]

2 hours ago, Hummin said:

Which language do you think you can learn read and speak in one year? Thai or Portoguise? 

If you already speak Spanish, I'm thinking learning Portuguese (or Tagalog) would only take 2 months.

Anyway, these days learning a local language is pointless if you don't mix.

I avoid all social interactions with locals, and also avoid most English speakers.

 

Simple commercial transactions can be done using a smartphone with internet connection and photos of any items you wish to purchase. No need to speak any language at all, a complete mute could manage.

Edited May 7, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[torrzent]

54 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

I avoid all social interactions with locals, and also avoid most English speakers.

That's a whole lot of avoiding.  Who do you not avoid?

[KittenKong]

So the English here, bad as it is, is a huge plus for staying in Thailand.

This is true. However, being able to read signs and labels without having to learn an entirely new script is a huge plus also. Even if you cant speak or understand spoken Spanish you can recognise the written form very easily. At worst you can easily type the letters into some translation app and get a (fairly) sensible answer back in your own language. Doing this in Thai is much more difficult, as even if you manage to get the letters correct automatic translations from Thai usually come back as gobbledygook.

[The Fugitive]

To me even though the general English level is poor among Thais, it is almost a second semi-official language here especially in tourism/expat centers like Pattaya. In my experience in Latin America, tourists can get by but expats are more or less expected to learn the local language. Obviously if you're married to a bilingual person that might work, or willing to pay a lot for translators on a regular basis. So the English here, bad as it is, is a huge plus for staying in Thailand. 

Brilliant post. No English translations on road signs or any Government literature nor water, electricity, Municipalidad Contribution (Council Tax) and refuse collection bills. I can't speak Spanish/Portuguese and had a frustrating and miserable time.

Sent from my BLL-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[MaeJoMTB]

22 minutes ago, torrzent said:

That's a whole lot of avoiding.  Who do you not avoid?

My wife and children.

[torrzent]

30 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

My wife and children.

What if they start to avoid you?

[KC 71]

Laos is a communist hell hole, probably the most boring country in the world I've ever visited.
Nothing to do, no bars, no nightlife, no decent food.
Someone said the baguettes were really good, but they weren't, same soft sugary bread as Thailand.
(Vietnam completely different their Baguettes. locally known as 'Banh Mi' are really good)
 
Imagine deepest rural Issan, but without the good food and attractive women ...... that's Laos.
 
Vietnam is great, this is an iced coffee (Phin Sua Da) and chicken baguette (Banh Mi Ga Xe) for $1.50c in a major chain 'Highlands Coffee', air con, sofas, free wifi. (Direct flight VietJet, CM to Saigon $75)

I really want to visit one day


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[JimmyJ]

14 hours ago, JAZZDOG said:

 I believe Brazil has turned the corner and will be a force going forward due to its vast resources. 

Many aren't aware of this (I wasn't until recently): Brazil is the worlds' 6th most populous country. (And only 2,000 less than Pakistan which is #5 per wiki so basically tied for 5th).

One third less population than the USA (#3).

[Hummin]

2 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

Many aren't aware of this (I wasn't until recently): Brazil is the worlds' 6th most populous country. (And only 2,000 less than Pakistan which is #5 per wiki so basically tied for 5th).

One third less population than the USA (#3).

Brazil is huge, but also contains one of the biggest treasures we have on our planet, the rainforest

[JAZZDOG]

7 hours ago, Hummin said:

Which language do you think you can learn read and speak in one year? Thai or Portoguise? 

Portuguese would be much easier for me as I already speak Spanish and there is a degree of similarity. It is a beautifully spoken language. IMO Thai not so much.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Portuguese would be much easier for me as I already speak Spanish and there is a degree of similarity. It is a beautifully spoken language. IMO Thai not so much.

If you are from a country that uses the Roman ( or Latin ) Alphabet then learning to speak Portuguese or Spanish is easily doable.
Thai , on the other hand, is difficult to master and as is so daunting can cause people to desist.

I picked up Portuguese relatively easy and have a good handling of Spanish but am ready to give up on Thai.

The difference being:
I learnt Portuguese 23 years ago and had a Brazilian gf who spoke no English.
Now, trying to learn Thai, older and with a gf who speaks good English .

[The manic]

19 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

What if you don't have a passport?

Quite a lot of folk don't travel, so don't buy them.

Most UK people do have passports. If not A DL with photograph acceptable. Other documentation is required especially utility bills for proof of address.

[MaeJoMTB]

4 hours ago, torrzent said:

What if they start to avoid you?

Plenty more wife and children material available in SEA.

That's what I like so much about SEA, an endless supply of young women wanting to be my wife and make more children with me. I'm betting South America will be just the same. Vietnam had even more available women than Thailand, and the beer was half the price. Couldn't sit on a park bench for more than 1/2 hour without someone approaching with a cheesy pickup offer 'would you like to see my apartment', 'do you want to buy me a coffee'.

Edited May 7, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[JAZZDOG]

25 minutes ago, The manic said:

Most UK people do have passports. If not A DL with photograph acceptable. Other documentation is required especially utility bills for proof of address.

The world is way too small to not have a passport. I have only gone back to the states a hand full of times over the last 20 years but would never dream of giving up that US passport.

[The manic]

Just now, MaeJoMTB said:

Plenty more wife and children material available in SEA.

That's what I like so much about SEA, an endless supply of young women wanting to be my wife and make more children with me. I'm betting South America will be just the same. Vietnam had even more available women than Thailand, and the beer was half the price. Couldn't sit on a park bench for more than 1/2 hour without someone approaching with a cheesy pickup offer 'would you like to see my apartment', 'do you want to buy me a coffee'.

Not in the Vietnam I know. Have you been there recently? Saigon has some P4P.  But straight girls tend to be conservative, want marriage to a Vietnamese boy.

[MaeJoMTB]

15 minutes ago, The manic said:

Not in the Vietnam I know. Have you been there recently? Saigon has some P4P.  But straight girls tend to be conservative, want marriage to a Vietnamese boy.

Last week, Saigon September Park, great place to sit and read a book under the shade of the trees.

(I'm probably much more hansum than you)

Or watch the martial arts group every morning at 6am.

 

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[JAZZDOG]

4 minutes ago, The manic said:

Not in the Vietnam I know. Have you been there recently? Saigon has some P4P.  But straight girls tend to be conservative, want marriage to a Vietnamese boy.

Brazil prices based on supply and demand

1 liter skol US$ 1.75

1 girl FREE plus cost of dinner/drinks US$ 18.00

Tchau

[The manic]

On 5/2/2018 at 6:03 PM, AsiaHand said:

Try Brazil and their hot blooded women.

And hot bloodied violent men motivated by poverty.

[The manic]

On 5/2/2018 at 7:32 PM, poanoi said:

i'm so done with visa hassle, and i'd sooner be dead than cambodia,

i also totally refuse to live in a cold country yet again,

so for me its going to be some warm piece of land belonging to EU,

like caribbean or spain or something like that

Tetuan or Ceuta Spanish Morroco?

[The manic]

17 hours ago, simon43 said:

 

 

 

Well. clearly some Burmese lady has taken you to the cleaners, such pent-up hatred of the country and people...

 

I have lived and worked in Myanmar for 6 years, and prior to that, I visited south Myanmar over 20 times.

 

I remember about 12-15 years ago that indeed the local population were in fear of the authorities, and there were many informers.  I used to be followed in Kawtaung and questioned in a friendly manner), as to which locals I had spoken to and what about.  Those locals had to report their conversations with me to the authorities.

 

But I generally don't see that fear anymore.  The Myanmar people (I include all ethnic groups) are much more confident and open, albeit that the current regime is far from perfect.

 

The term 'Myanmar' is accepted by all ethnic groups, because unless they are Burmese, they didn't like to use the word 'Burma'.

 

Sorry, but I don't see this 'hell' that you speak of.  I have lived in the slums of Yangon, in Mandalay and now in Naypyitaw - certainly no 'hell' there.

 

There certainly are regions where the ethnic fighting continues (Kachin, north Shan etc), which are no fun at all for the local civilians, who are caught between fighting between the ethnic fighters and the Burmese army.

 

Can I ask if you have any good word to say about the country, the people, perhaps the food or the traditions??

I was working there. I was not taken to the cleaners by any women though I employed over 20 Burmese women, and a few Europeans one of whom had his room broken into and robbed.  He reported it to the police who apprehended his house boy and retrieved his belongs and returned them to him. They took him to see the house boy. The boy had been tortured to death. One of women who worked for me had her husband sent up country to clear rice paddies of mines. The had no equipment and no shoes. The paddies were riddled with venomous snakes..He only lasted a few days but she could not show any negative feeling because everybody was forced to report on each other. I met a backpacker who stayed with a local family.  Once he left them they were all arrested. I met some kind people but their fear and desperation was depressing. There might be double pricing in Thailand but It was 6 timea pricing for white people on trains and cultural monuments. I saw slave Labour gangs in chains bleeding at the ankles. I saw children being worked to death on construction sites, barely clothed, climbing with specially adapted child sized hods to carry bricks up slippery bamboo ladders in the monsoon. I sat on a patio of a posh hotel where the mortar between the tiles was dyed pink by the blood of the slave labourers that had dripped from the specially tightened punishment ankle bracelets. Horrible place. Horrible people for anybody who has their eyes open.  But they were so terrified  they would not even say the name of their leader for fear of being reported and taken for torture to Inseine Prison. Just referred to them as 1 and 2. But although they were victims they were dishonest, sly, greedy, and deluded. As for the current treatment of the Rohynga, mass rape,burnings and murder, supported by the Burmese Buddhist  Sanga and the population at large- It speaks volumes of the true nature of the Myanmareese people. One day the scales will fall from your eyes. 

Edited May 7, 2018 by The manic

[torrzent]

1 hour ago, The manic said:

Tetuan or Ceuta Spanish Morroco?

why not canary islands, madeira, malta, or crete?

[torrzent]

30 minutes ago, The manic said:

I was working there. I was not taken to the cleaners by any women though I employed over 20 Burmese women, and a few Europeans one of whom had his room broken into and robbed.  He reported it to the police who apprehended his house boy and retrieved his belongs and returned them to him. They took him to see the house boy. The boy had been tortured to death. One of women who worked for me had her husband sent up country to clear rice paddies of mines. The had no equipment and no shoes. The paddies were riddled with venomous snakes..He only lasted a few days but she could not show any negative feeling because everybody was forced to report on each other. I met a backpacker who stayed with a local family.  Once he left them they were all arrested. I met some kind people but their fear and desperation was depressing. There might be double pricing in Thailand but It was 6 timea pricing for white people on trains and cultural monuments. I saw slave Labour gangs in chains bleeding at the ankles. I saw children being worked to death on construction sites, barely clothed, climbing with specially adapted child sized hods to carry bricks up slippery bamboo ladders in the monsoon. I sat on a patio of a posh hotel where the mortar between the tiles was dyed pink by the blood of the slave labourers that had dripped from the specially tightened punishment ankle bracelets. Horrible place. Horrible people for anybody who has their eyes open.  But they were so terrified  they would not even say the name of their leader for fear of being reported and taken for torture to Inseine Prison. Just referred to them as 1 and 2. But although they were victims they were dishonest, sly, greedy, and deluded. As for the current treatment of the Rohynga, mass rape,burnings and murder, supported by the Burmese Buddhist  Sanga and the population at large- It speaks volumes of the true nature of the Myanmareese people. One day the scales will fall from your eyes. 

Am guessing you are a glass half empty kind of guy?

Edited May 7, 2018 by torrzent