14 hours ago, Pilotman said:

What a bitter post, you clearly have issues you need to address.    

Everyone has "issues"

I'm not the one stuck in a country he hates.

Realized long time ago it is good to be free of attachments both real and fanciful.

 

I go where I want.

 

14 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

We are not 'expats' or immigrants in Thailand.  We are ALIENS !!!

In law, an alien is a person who is not a national of a given country,^[1] though definitions and terminology differ to some degree. The term "Alien" is derived from the Latin alienus, meaning stranger, foreign.  Source: Wikipedia

 

When Thai immigration uses the term "alien" it is merely employing legal terminology in use throughout the world. They are not suggesting you come from another planet. No offense need be taken by the use of this term.

 

 

8 hours ago, AYJAYDEE said:

neither are all the ones you generalize about in the UK

It it possible that you just might post a positive post some day?

You must be about the most negative poster here on Thaivisa?

1 minute ago, possum1931 said:

It it possible that you just might post a positive post some day?

You must be about the most negative poster here on Thaivisa?

look at all the wonderful targets i have! this place is a veritable gold mine!!?

3 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

look at all the wonderful targets i have! this place is a veritable gold mine!!?

Oh! Now you thing I'm wonderful, keep it up and join the majority of Thaivisa posters.?

1 minute ago, possum1931 said:

Oh! Now you thing I'm wonderful, keep it up and join the majority of Thaivisa posters.?

Now? don't be silly, i've appreciated your value as comic relief for some time now!

33 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

Now? don't be silly, i've appreciated your value as comic relief for some time now!

Just now, possum1931 said:

see what I mean?

7 minutes ago, AYJAYDEE said:

see what I mean?

Yes I do, great if I can make people laugh, too many grumpys on this form.?

10 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Yes I do, great if I can make people laugh, too many grumpys on this form.?

all the world loves a clown

18 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

I’m totally with you bro.

 

Now I know we may both be setting ourselves up for ridicule but some of our more hard nosed TVF brethren, but for many of us pets are family, sometimes closer, and a lot less judgmental!

 

Yeah you got a tough one with so many, that gets pricey. To put it in context for one teeny tiny cat, between all the vaccinations, microchipping, Thai export paperwork, medical checks in BKK, without even starting on the airfare it all cost around ฿45000, so roughly $1400. Multiply that by your menagerie and it’s getting up there!

 

As for traumatized. Well she wasn’t a happy cat when I finally got her out of customs in Denver, but she survived, and after a week or two was back to normal. Made sure we had packed all her blankets, toys etc in out luggage so when she got home there was her stuff, her smells to help the acclimatization. 

 

Things must have changed. We took a cat and 2 toy poodles back 5 years ago and slid them under the seat in front of us. No charge. Did tranq the cat however.

2 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

In law, an alien is a person who is not a national of a given country,^[1] though definitions and terminology differ to some degree. The term "Alien" is derived from the Latin alienus, meaning stranger, foreign.  Source: Wikipedia

 

When Thai immigration uses the term "alien" it is merely employing legal terminology in use throughout the world. They are not suggesting you come from another planet. No offense need be taken by the use of this term.

 

 

Quite so.

People who take offence at the term alien are also likely to take offence at the term farang.

The first - as you point out - is legal terminology. The second is a word that has been part of the Thai lexicon since the early 16th century. It means Europeans and people of European descent. When used alone it is not a racial slur.

Many farangs here seem to be spoiling for a fight and will take any excuse to start one.

1 hour ago, AYJAYDEE said:

all the world loves a clown

Yeah, keep on posting.

3 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Yeah, keep on posting.

i will as long as u provide good targets

3 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

In law, an alien is a person who is not a national of a given country,^[1] though definitions and terminology differ to some degree. The term "Alien" is derived from the Latin alienus, meaning stranger, foreign.  Source: Wikipedia

 

When Thai immigration uses the term "alien" it is merely employing legal terminology in use throughout the world. They are not suggesting you come from another planet. No offense need be taken by the use of this term.

 

 

The Thai words for 'person from another country' and 'person from another star' only have a difference of one 'tone mark'.

(dow = country Vs dow = star)

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

The Thai words for 'person from another country' and 'person from another star' only have a difference of one 'tone mark'.

(dow = country Vs dow = star)

I know loads of 'aliens,' my ex boss for one, my son, my eldest sister, who is definitely from from another planet, Elon Musk, Trump, need  I Go on?  

1 hour ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Things must have changed. We took a cat and 2 toy poodles back 5 years ago and slid them under the seat in front of us. No charge. Did tranq the cat however.

 

Things must of changed a lot.

 

In general you can’t take pets in cabin on international flights anymore. Domestic is fine, within the limitations of the airline.

 

But, this is a brief outline of what went on for us flying out of BKK

 

Cat  needs Feline Pank, Rhino, Calivirus, Clamidya, Psttasi, Leukemia, Rabies vaccinations administered 30> days prior to departure

 

Get a vet health certificate, basically they do a blood test on the cat

 

3 days prior to your departure you must go to the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Customs and Animal Quarantine Office. All pets must be inspected by the government vet before leaving the country. At  this point they also need to be de-wormed

Customs Free Zone
Suvarnabhumi International Airport
Bangkok, Thailand
Tel +66 (0) 2134 0731

 

You must bring with you to the quarantine office:
Original rabies certificate, with vet’s contact details and phone number (in English and legible).
A copy of your passport
Your flight details
Cat micro-chip number if you have one (not necessary to have a microchip, but if you do have one, you need the number). It's cheap, I think it cost me ฿600, and if the airline loses your pet, worth its weight in gold
Your cat!
At the office you will need to fill in a Form 1/1 which is an export request. You do not need to do this before hand.
At the office the vet will conduct a health check, take a photograph of your cat and give you the documents you require for export. This costs 50 Baht per cat.
Make two photocopies of all documents and keep them with you when you travel. You should have:
Your original cat health certificate
The airport vet health certificate
The export permit

 

As for sedating, not recommended  by vets anymore, since it can affect their respiration during transport

53 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

The Thai words for 'person from another country' and 'person from another star' only have a difference of one 'tone mark'.

(dow = country Vs dow = star)

The two common terms for foreigner are khon tang chat (คนต่างชาติ) = person from a different nation/country and  khon tang prathet (คนต่างประเทศ) = person from another country/nation. Chat conveys more the sense of nationality/belonging while prathet conveys more the sense of geographic location.

 

The only time you ever see the term khon tang daaw คนต่างต้าว meaning "alien" is in immigration regulations. People rarely use this term in every day life. On a couple of occasions when I referred to myself as a khon tang daaw this has elicited bemused reactions as if I were saying I came from another planet. I don't think too much should be read into the similarity between the words you pointed out. Basically, I am pretty sure that Thailand adopted the term khon tang daaw as a translation of the English word "alien" which was already in widespread use when Thailand codified its immigration laws.

For many of us, living in Thailand is a delightful experience. Every day for me, is a good day here. I was just back in the states, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that I would not want to live anywhere in the US, unless I absolutely had to. The love of disenfranchisement, disappointment, unhappiness, angst, and bitterness there is palpable. Plus, despite what the lying government is saying, inflation is rampant. Prices are going up at to a substantial degree. It is hard for alot of families to get by, much less live well there. There is no competition for me. I think one of the tricks to being happy here is living in either a rural area, or a smaller town. Life in Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket or Samui is a lower quality life than elsewhere, in my opinion. Of the four, I would choose Bangkok, which is a great city. But crowded, expensive, and alot of traffic, etc. The other three seem to have a jaded attitude, especially toward foreigners, and for good reasons. I lived on Samui for many years, and I can say first hand, the quality of life there now, is a pale shadow of it's former self. 

 

The other aspect of this equation, is that no matter where you go, you are stuck with yourself. So, your mind has to be a pleasant and comfortable place to exist, or else you are destined to feel this way, no matter where you go! 

 

And as far as a place away from my native land of America (not the country it used to be, on any level, and I am not referring to the white man's dream of the 1950's, that many deluded and overly nostalgic people seem to think was paradise) I cannot think of any, within my budget constraints. I suppose if I had an unlimited budget, I might spend 3 months a year in Spain, two to three months of the year traveling around the world, two months in the US visiting family, doing some work, and traveling around, and the balance of the time here. But, that is not a fantasy I am not in a position to entertain right now. 

I think the number of expats here who literally could not afford to move back home isn't that many. Could be wrong about that, but really don't encounter people scraping by financially, living from social security check to social security check so to speak. But there are plenty of people, including me, who while they could move back home, their standard of living would take a hit. In fact, I would say unless you happened to have moved here from a country with an extremely low cost of living or happen to be extremely wealthy, this probably applies to almost everybody over here. So the tradeoffs between the improved standard of living plus whatever you like about being over here versus everything you don't like about being over here is always worth evaluating. I see that evaluation process as totally normal and healthy.

 

I mull relocation scenarios over in my mind all the time, researching places on the internet and even taking exploratory trips to evaluate the viability of locations. In the past several years, I've taken three such trips. But you know what? Each time I've come back thinking how lucky I was to have found Thailand. And not just because of the cost of living, although that is definitely one factor considered. I just like the vibe here.

 

I agree with @spidermike007 that village life in Thailand has a lot going for it. Right now, harvesting bamboo shoots, bananas, custard apples, green beans, okra, corn, horapha, and squash from the gardens, taking early morning mountain bike rides on deserted back roads, and being lulled to sleep at night by choruses of croaking frogs brought to life by heavy rains is especially making me feel like I hit the jackpot by moving here.

47 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

I think the number of expats here who literally could not afford to move back home isn't that many. Could be wrong about that, but really don't encounter people scraping by financially, living from social security check to social security check so to speak. But there are plenty of people, including me, who while they could move back home, their standard of living would take a hit. In fact, I would say unless you happened to have moved here from a country with an extremely low cost of living or happen to be extremely wealthy, this probably applies to almost everybody over here. So the tradeoffs between the improved standard of living plus whatever you like about being over here versus everything you don't like about being over here is always worth evaluating. I see that evaluation process as totally normal and healthy.

 

I mull relocation scenarios over in my mind all the time, researching places on the internet and even taking exploratory trips to evaluate the viability of locations. In the past several years, I've taken three such trips. But you know what? Each time I've come back thinking how lucky I was to have found Thailand. And not just because of the cost of living, although that is definitely one factor considered. I just like the vibe here.

 

I agree with @spidermike007 that village life in Thailand has a lot going for it. Right now, harvesting bamboo shoots, bananas, custard apples, green beans, okra, corn, horapha, and squash from the gardens, taking early morning mountain bike rides on deserted back roads, and being lulled to sleep at night by choruses of croaking frogs brought to life by heavy rains is especially making me feel like I hit the jackpot by moving here.

+1

I started this post from idle curiosity, bit it does seems to have struck a cord with some people.  I have a tight  knit support system around me and that is what makes the difference to me.  My Thai family understand and support me.  My Thai wife spent 20 years in the UK,  supporting me in my career and raising our daughter to be both British and Thai. Now its her turn to live in her own environment and culture for the next 20 or more years and I am comfortable and happy about that.  If my being here pays her back  in some small way for the love and support she has given me through the years, then so be it.   If I didn't have her and the family I wouldn't be living here,  hence my ambivalence,  but I guess there are worse places to be.   Thanks for all the replies, I enjoyed reading them and the diversity of opinion. I especially value the views of our US friends, who have left a country I  think is diverse in environment, stunning in natural beauty and that I admire and love to visit, to live here.   Interesting! 

Where would I go? I moved here from the UK when I was 19 and have been here ever since, slightly over 36 years now. This is my home and I could probably never make a go of it in the UK now anyway.  Too out of touch with all things UK. I enjoyed a visit there last year which was probably my first visit in 20 years and will visit again next week. But live there? Couldn't do it. 

 

Actually, I like my life here. I have a good job, a great wife and my home is paid for. I don't think I could have the same quality of life in a European country.    

14 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I started this post from idle curiosity, bit it does seems to have struck a cord with some people.  I have a tight  knit support system around me and that is what makes the difference to me.  My Thai family understand and support me.  My Thai wife spent 20 years in the UK,  supporting me in my career and raising our daughter to be both British and Thai. Now its her turn to live in her own environment and culture for the next 20 or more years and I am comfortable and happy about that.  If my being here pays her back  in some small way for the love and support she has given me through the years, then so be it.   If I didn't have her and the family I wouldn't be living here,  hence my ambivalence,  but I guess there are worse places to be.   Thanks for all the replies, I enjoyed reading them and the diversity of opinion. I especially value the views of our US friends, who have left a country I  think is diverse in environment, stunning in natural beauty and that I admire and love to visit, to live here.   Interesting! 

When we first got to the US, we made a drive from South Dakota to San Diego to visit my youngest daughter. Now my wife had been to college in Chicago so she got the size of the country, but hadn't travelled much. To say she was awed by the drive through Colorado, Utah and into California was an understatement.

 

Her joy doing that drive almost made the whole pain and expense of the repatriation whorthwile

9 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Things must have changed. We took a cat and 2 toy poodles back 5 years ago and slid them under the seat in front of us. No charge. Did tranq the cat however.

on an airplane ?

i am a level 5 allergic to cats & dogs,

the highest ranking achievable/

yep, them cats loves me to death,

i dont know why but they always comes to me

4 minutes ago, poanoi said:

on an airplane ?

i am a level 5 allergic to cats & dogs,

the highest ranking achievable/

yep, them cats loves me to death,

i dont know why but they always comes to me

Some countries have slightly relaxed rules

 

 

Chiang Mai is great for 2 months every year. More than that, no thanks. Too many hassles here long term. Too expensive too. 3 kids, education in Melbourne completely free at one of the top govt schools in the state. Here, what, $50,000/year for 3 kids at International school? And although Thai food is delicious, eating in restaurants every night is not sustainable nor healthy. 35 baht noodles and various dishes get boring as well, the outside 7-11 cart variety.

 

Buying foreign supplies runs expensive, 100g of smoked salmon was 180baht at Rimping,  Coles back home $5 for 200g. I think for a family, education and all up wrt to kids safety, thing to do, free activities, it's definitely Melbourne for us. I mean just playgrounds, in the last year we've been to a dozen or more playgrounds on the weekends in the parks. every park has a playgrounds, some amazing. Where are the playgrounds here? You have to pay for artificial plastic play-center in Big C or similar with flashing lights - where's all the natural playgrounds that blend natural landscape?

 

Other thing i'm amazed by is the lack of education. where are the libraries? Where are the community centers? The play groups? We're in our local library every week, kids borrow all sort of books. Libraries and community centres hold group activities. Here, apart from Kumon (and that's paid per hour), there is nothing to stimulate the young minds. Only more Big C style play centres.

 

I guess it's different for everyone. Great place for a month or 2. Anyways, another 3 weeks for us here, and back to Melb.

 

 

I've met quite a few people desperate to stay here with no lives back home.

I never want to be in that situation.

 

Two years ago I returned home for some (free) medical care I stayed 10 months to recover among  friends and family.. Instead of going to big city Canada from whence I came, I stayed in small town Canada.

 

Job wise, I have a dead end in Canada. I was a photographic darkroom technician, which was a high paying profession for a long time . It's now minimum wage.

 

What I discovered on my return trip home was that I could be happy there. Not job wise of course, but in general

 

I feel good knowing I'll stay in Thailand teaching until, and if, the luster wears off and I return to Canada. 

 

I feel good..... either option will allow happiness.

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, duanebigsby said:

I've met quite a few people desperate to stay here with no lives back home.

I never want to be in that situation.

 

Two years ago I returned home for some (free) medical care I stayed 10 months to recover among  friends and family.. Instead of going to big city Canada from whence I came, I stayed in small town Canada.

 

Job wise, I have a dead end in Canada. I was a photographic darkroom technician, which was a high paying profession for a long time . It's now minimum wage.

 

What I discovered on my return trip home was that I could be happy there. Not job wise of course, but in general

 

I feel good knowing I'll stay in Thailand teaching until, and if, the luster wears off and I return to Canada. 

 

I feel good..... either option will allow happiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Especially now that weed is available everywhere, I could go back anytime !

 

 

On 7/17/2018 at 11:38 AM, worgeordie said:

Britain or Thailand..........let's think about it .....staying.

regards Worgeordie

I've never understood attitudes like this. You aren't comparing the countries, you're comparing the success you had at finding happiness in each.