English speaking couple looking to meet expat couples

[ExpatInCM]

Hello. My wife and I are retired English speaking expats from the US and new to Chiang Mai.

 

We are interested in meeting other retired English speaking expats 50 - 65  for lunches / conversation / friendship who live near the Promenada Mall or on the east side of Chiang Mai.

I speak English only. My wife is Thai and she is fluent in both English and Thai.

[hmficc]

No kink!

[naboo]

How old is your wife? Photos may generate interest.

[samsensam]

10 minutes ago, naboo said:

How old is your wife? Photos may generate interest.

 

welcome to thai visa forum. ?

[Thailand]

I guess the expats club would be the place, not our cup of tea but somebody will be along with the details soon I guess.

[Lizard2010]

Visit the Chiang Mai Expats club website for more information

They have a breakfast at the River Market Restaurant the 1st and 3rf Friday of each month

Plus a meeting at the La Meridian Hotel on the 4th Saturday of the month

New comers always welcome

http://www.chiangmaiexpatsclub.com/meetings/

[BobBKK]

Expat club as others have said and I'd recommend the CityLife Garden Fair (around November time) which is packed with farangs. If I'm in Chiang Mai, I travel extensively, I try to go along.

[Lizard2010]

Just now, BobBKK said:

Expat club as others have said and I'd recommend the CityLife Garden Fair (around November time) which is packed with farangs. If I'm in Chiang Mai, I travel extensively, I try to go along.

You will find that a lot of the Expat club members go to this event

[Dante99]

17 hours ago, ExpatInCM said:

We are interested in meeting other retired English speaking expats 50 - 65  for lunches / conversation / friendship who live near the Promenada Mall or on the east side of Chiang Mai. 

If you don't live in the right area they just are not interested in you, sorry.  I am so sad to be in the SOL group.  

[Trujillo]

You should be able to meet interesting people, both married and single, when you start your Thai language classes at Payap University. 

Obviously, you can't live in a country where you can't speak the local language and can't talk to your wife in Thai either. So you will have to go to school. There are many interesting people there and activities that you would normally not be aware of. 

[scorecard]

Your wife is Thai so why do you label her as an expat?

 

Seems to me you want to live in another county (another country to you, but in fact not your wife) but you want to keep yourself inside an expat enclave.

 

If you keep this up you'll just make your life and your wife's life miserable.

 

By the way do you allow your wife to mix with Thais? How do you react when you can't understand their conversation?

 

- Does it encourage you to learn some Thai? (As already said the Thai language program at Payap is excellent and fun and full of other learning.) Your wife can help you enormously with this, show her the main learning points after each lesson and get her to reinforce the vocabulary but even more valuable push you to open your mouth and speak and adjust the tones and gain confidence. 

 

- Or does it stress you, and push you to pull both of you back inside the expat fence? If that's true is it fair for your wife?

 

- Do you realize that there are thousands of people from dozens of countries (I don't call them expats, that word has a specific meaning and it's not foreigners who have on retirement decided to live in another country), who have chosen to live in Thailand permenantly, many can't and never will speak Thai but they don't worry about it.

 

Please remember the world is a big place full of diversity, immerse yourself and enjoy it.

 

 

[opalred]

if you want to enjoy and live life here / 

keep away from the bored /and lost souls /that gather in groups and clubs/

[chingmai331]

I'm a farang and lovin' it.  'Wais' to you my friends.

[VocalNeal]

Hash House Harriers. Love it or hate it.

[chingmai331]

HHH?  You must be joking.  What 60 yr old Thai lady goes jogging mid-day? Or 65 yr old white man from USA?

Most Thai ladies find refuge in the local temple and expat men find the same in the local pub.

[ExpatInCM]

Thank you very much for the many helpful replies.  

 

In particular I appreciate learning about Thai language classes at Payap University.  I did not know about this program.  The next program begins August 20th; I will look into enrolling.  

 

I have been actively learning to speak Thai on my own and have learned 100's of useful words and phrases, through some good books I bought, help from my wife, etc.  Some English speaking farang folks I know have discouraged my Thai language efforts as time poorly spent or as an impossibility. A few of them have started classes or worked with tutors, then became discouraged and quit. I have only met 1 farang so far who was started a Thai language school and stayed with the program. 

 

Many of you spoke of or recommended the Chiang Mai Expats Club (CEC) to assist us ... their twice a month breakfast clubs at The River Market restaurant and their once a month meetings.  

 

We are members of the CEC and attend most of their meetings. We have met a number of wonderful very diverse people there. The CEC is really an outstanding organization, have enjoyed their meetings, and holiday events. 

 

We have made some acquaintances through these meetings so far that we have gotten together with.  Those we've met either live far away from us in different areas of greater Chiang Mai (45+ minutes)  or  their main interest was in finding new drinking partners in Chiang Mai to kill time with.

 

We will continue to go to the CEC activities to try to meet some new people even though we know each time we go that many are only visiting the CEC meetings for one time only while visiting  and passing through Chiang Mai. And that most of the regular attendees are older than us and live in areas of Chiang Mai not near to us. 

 

That is why we posted this topic hoping to meet some new people who live not to far from us, who are interested in meeting some English speaking people nearby for possible lunches, conversations, etc.

 

 

 

 

[NancyL]

In addition to having an excellent program for learning Thai language, Payap also has something they call "Lifelong Learning", short courses in English aimed at retired people.  They're conducted at the campus near McCormick hospital.

 

You could try some of the CEC Outside Group activities to find people with interests similar to yours, like dining out, computer club, pickleball, etc.  That's really the way people make friends within CEC since the group is so big.  

[Justfine]

9 hours ago, BobBKK said:

Expat club as others have said and I'd recommend the CityLife Garden Fair (around November time) which is packed with farangs. If I'm in Chiang Mai, I travel extensively, I try to go along.

Every 2nd person is farang in CM.

[cyberfarang]

6 hours ago, Justfine said:

Every 2nd person is farang in CM.

No they`re not. Depends of where about you live.

 

A lot of Farang expats I know prefer to stay in and around town, in their comfort zones. They rarely interact with Thais, love the malls and hang about mostly in coffee shops.

 

For the OP, Thailand is not like America, Farangs in Thailand don`t usually stay long or stay elsewhere during certain times of the year. I have expat friends and my Thai wife has her Thai friends and family here. She doesn`t really enjoy socialising with my friends and vice versa, so we quite often do our own separate things and that works for us. 

 

If the OP would find that difficult to adapt to, then what some of my expat acquaintances do is just go about as a husband and wife duo.  Welcome to Chiang Mai and hope you can adapt to your new way of life and environment.

[Justfine]

4 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

No they`re not. Depends of where about you live.

 

A lot of Farang expats I know prefer to stay in and around town, in their comfort zones. They rarely interact with Thais, love the malls and hang about mostly in coffee shops.

 

For the OP, Thailand is not like America, Farangs in Thailand don`t usually stay long or stay elsewhere during certain times of the year. I have expat friends and my Thai wife has her Thai friends and family here. She doesn`t really enjoy socialising with my friends and vice versa, so we quite often do our own separate things and that works for us. 

 

If the OP would find that difficult to adapt to, then what some of my expat acquaintances do is just go about as a husband and wife duo.  Welcome to Chiang Mai and hope you can adapt to your new way of life and environment.

Probably cause neither of you can speak the other language.

[ExpatInCM]

Hi Scorecard,

 

Thank you very much for your reply.  You asked so many questions.

 

I will reply to your many questions inline, this should help understand which point or question you asked I am replying to. 

 

-----------------

 

Your wife is Thai so why do you label her as an expat?

 

>>> She has lived in the US for many years until very recently. We met in the US almost 10 years ago. She usually refers to herself as an "expat" nowadays by choosing to leave the US and live in another country now. That she can speak Thai or is Thai does not seem to take away from her feelings about herself as being an "expat" now.

 

>>> She is also a enthusiastic member of the Chiang Mai Expats Club which she feels is a wonderful organization.  She is quite comfortable referring to herself as an "expat".   

 

>>> I guess I grouped ourselves together as "expat"'s for the above reasons when I posted our short, abreviated posting.

 

>>> We were both very surprised this concerned you in any way referring to her as an "expat". . 

 

Seems to me you want to live in another county (another country to you, but in fact not your wife) but you want to keep yourself inside an expat enclave.

 

>>> Now why would you assume and think that based upon what I wrote??

 

>>> She has many living family members in Thailand, including her mother. This is why we moved to Thailand together for the 1st time. I no longer have relatives in the US, after the recent death of my father. 

 

>>> Why and how could you assume we are living here now for me?

 

>>> We socialized primarily with Thai people for 10 years in the US before moving here. Most her friends were Thai and Thai speaking only when we met.  But we had many English speaking friends also.

 

>>> We have met many Thai speaking people of course since moving here. And we are interested in meeting some English speaking people as well.

 

If you keep this up you'll just make your life and your wife's life miserable.

 

>>> If I keep up what??   We did not understand you what you are suggesting. 

 

By the way do you allow your wife to mix with Thais?

 

>>> Of course! Such a question! Most of her friends are Thai by nationality and by language. Why would I not "allow" this and why would you wonder about this?  We don't understand why you are asking about this.

 

How do you react when you can't understand their conversation?

 

>>> I react by simply realizing I don't know enough Thai to understand their conversation in front of me. Amazing simple to answer.  It is no big deal at all. This is a normal situation around the world and here in Chiang Mai. It is not upsetting. Normal in the US. Normal here in Thailand. People sometimes have a foreign language spoke in front of them that they do not understand.

I do not overact or get upset.  Seems like you want me to overact  in some way though and lecture me these feelings you assume I'll have. 

 

- Does it encourage you to learn some Thai? 

 

>>> I learned some Thai before moving here.

 

>>> I have been very busy learning to speak and understand more Thai after moving here.  

 

- Or does it stress you, and push you to pull both of you back inside the expat fence?

 

>>> NO. It does not stress me.Surprised you would ask me or us about this, we are only trying to meet some nearby people to enjoy lunch with. 

 

>>> What is an "expat fence" you are describing? We are both talking to many people as individuals and as a couple, using both the Thai and English languages as appropriate and to the best of our abilities.

 

If that's true is it fair for your wife?

 

>>> Is what fair?  We don't understand your lecture to me or us. 

 

- Do you realize that there are thousands of people from dozens of countries (I don't call them expats, that word has a specific meaning and it's not foreigners who have on retirement decided to live in another country), who have chosen to live in Thailand permenantly, many can't and never will speak Thai but they don't worry about it.

 

>>> Of course I do.  Of course my wife does. It is a nonsensical question because it is so obvious. And it is a wonderful thing about our world to enjoy. 

 

>>> Neither of us ever thought --- until your message --- that the word "expat" would upset anyone like it has you. The word, phrase, or abbreviation "expat" has many meanings and connotations of course. We never knew until your message that anyone disliked the word or found it distasteful or offense or ?something else for you? for any reason. We've heard it used 1,000's of times spoken and in print, and never was anyone voiced a problem with the word. 

 

Please remember the world is a big place full of diversity, immerse yourself and enjoy it.

 

>>> Of couse it is !!!!   All of us should continue to embrace this advice and keep this in mind as we live.

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2018 by ExpatInCM

[opalred]

sounds like you belong/ and need to join the expats club

[canthai55]

On 6/16/2018 at 8:15 PM, scorecard said:

- Or does it stress you, and push you to pull both of you back inside the expat fence? If that's true is it fair for your wife?

A lawyer would say - 'Assumes facts not in evidence'

As well as making a huge assumption about people you do not know.

Equally not helpful at all.

But such is Forum life I guess.

[hmficc]

How old are you two?

[janclaes47]

On 6/17/2018 at 11:46 AM, opalred said:

if you want to enjoy and live life here / 

keep away from the bored /and lost souls /that gather in groups and clubs/

/thaivisa