My First two Years living in Thailand, the good bits v the not so good bits

[xylophone]

58 minutes ago, totally thaied up said:

In all cases, I have seen (and I saw one of my friends lose 4 million last year), it has always been the girlfriend teaming up with a lawyer, to take full advantage of such situations. 

AND why does that happen???????

 

Because the "such situations" mean foreigner either has to go down the illegal Thai nominee route, or "buy" the land through his girlfriend, or start a bone fide company in which he is a minority shareholder................all leaving him open to fraud.

 

The root cause is not being able to own land so entering into "dubious" structures leaves one wide open to fraud. 

 

Enough said.......although those who went down the so called "accepted" route might not see the obvious connection. 

[marcusarelus]

1 minute ago, xylophone said:

AND why does that happen??????? Because the "such situations" mean foreigner either has to go down the illegal Thai nominee route, or "buy" the land through his girlfriend, or start a bone fide company in which he is a minority shareholder................all leaving him open to fraud.

 

The root cause is not being able to own land so entering into "dubious" structures leaves one wide open to fraud. 

You might want to check Americans and the Treaty of Amity and owning land in conjunction with a business. 

[Naam]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

And the two cases I quoted were not "stories or fairy tales" but real events 

i referred to the gist, meaning company route. companies holding land are established every day. period!

[Naam]

2 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

Certainly owning land through a company is one of the good bits and the topic of this thread.  I don't see how that would be hi jacking except you might have disagreed with a less informed poster.  

put on your reading glasses mate. the Right Honourable Sir Xylophone, Esq. mentioned hi-jacking.

[Naam]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

2 hours ago, totally thaied up said:

In all cases, I have seen (and I saw one of my friends lose 4 million last year), it has always been the girlfriend teaming up with a lawyer, to take full advantage of such situations. 

AND why does that happen???????

shit happens even without any reasons

[Neeranam]

On 1/19/2019 at 2:50 PM, garet said:

It's hilarious when foreigners complain about "the junta" which has had no impact on expats. Only foreigners living in the country  illegally or engaged in illegal activities have had more scrutiny (and good riddance). Without mass red shirt and yellow shirt protests, it's actually been easier to live here for the past few years. 

 

Speak for yourself, the junta has affected me greatly in many different areas, for the good, I may add.

[Naam]

2 hours ago, totally thaied up said:

Yeah, I got to admit the first few were a bit rough but now, each year has been getting better and it certain fore-shadows the company you hang around.

each year would be much better if i'd be a year younger. unfortunately.........

[Neeranam]

2 hours ago, totally thaied up said:

In all cases, I have seen (and I saw one of my friends lose 4 million last year), it has always been the girlfriend teaming up with a lawyer, to take full advantage of such situations. 

 

I saw my friend get 4 million from his Thai wife after divorce recently.

Tell your friends to get a decent lawyer.

[Naam]

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

On 1/19/2019 at 2:50 PM, garet said:

It's hilarious when foreigners complain about "the junta" which has had no impact on expats. Only foreigners living in the country  illegally or engaged in illegal activities have had more scrutiny (and good riddance). Without mass red shirt and yellow shirt protests, it's actually been easier to live here for the past few years. 

 

Speak for yourself, the junta has affected me greatly in many different areas, for the good, I may add.

bingo!

[marcusarelus]

10 minutes ago, Naam said:

put on your reading glasses mate. the Right Honourable Sir Xylophone, Esq. mentioned hi-jacking.

He accused you of hi jacking the thread which in my opinion you weren't hence my posts to you.  ????

[totally thaied up]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I saw my friend get 4 million from his Thai wife after divorce recently.

After the 8 million he gave her? ????

[Naam]

1 minute ago, marcusarelus said:

He accused you of hi jacking the thread which in my opinion you weren't hence my posts to you.  ????

thanks for the favourable ruling Your Honour!

[GinBoy2]

A Lot of this depends also on language, for better or worse, not so sure

 

I'm a bit of a polyglot and and languages have never been hard for me, so I speak and read Thai & Lao (well I transliterate Lao into Thai like they all do)

 

That at least gives you access to the culture. What I have seen, more than once, is an older farang descend into into a world of loneliness, stuck in Nakorn Wherever, unable to communicate with literally anyone than his Thai wife/gf and the depression sets in.

 

That gets truly tragic 

[HuskerDo]

2 hours ago, totally thaied up said:

After the 8 million he gave her? ????

"I saw my friend get 4 million from his Thai wife after divorce recently. "

 

What nationality was your friend and how much did he have to pay the ruling judge? 50/50 split? ???? 

[geronimo]

On 1/19/2019 at 1:58 PM, Skallywag said:

I thought foreigners could not own a "house" property in Thailand? Condos are available to be bought on the 51/49 , though no "land" involved.  Have only been here several months full time. Personally not interested in driving, retirement to me means no more hassle with cars, car maintenance, car insurance, traffic, and parking.  Plenty of alternatives.  To each his own, good post.   

you can own the house, but not the land it sits on.

[geronimo]

Nice to see some happy expats. Good post and I hope the next two years goes well.

[xylophone]

18 hours ago, Naam said:

shit happens even without any reasons

As well as for the reasons I have already quoted.................

 

"The root cause is not being able to own land so entering into "dubious" structures leaves one wide open to fraud".

18 hours ago, Naam said:

companies holding land are established every day. period!

But foreigners owning land are not. 

 

With respect then...........back on topic if you would be so kind.

[xylophone]

On 1/19/2019 at 10:01 PM, totally thaied up said:

Having lots of time before you retire to get used to the idea of retiring makes a lot of sense. I got cut down with sickness and forced to retire and it took me two years just to get well and I never had a chance to mourn the fact that I was not going to work again. Retiring in so many ways for me was like a death in the family as I did not know what to do.

 

Hence I think that was the reason my first two years in Thailand were so wild. I did not know what to do - I was not well enough to understand that I was mourning for my job and that I had to work out what the hell I was going to do with the rest of my life. It was a scary time in fact when I really think about it.

Nice post TTU and the first two paragraphs in some ways, mirror my experience in my first two years here.

 

Like you I had to retire from my full-time position because of sickness and as as I had been corporate animal for quite some time and certainly a driven person with regards to work, retiring from my full-time position was almost like "a death in the family" and I was at a loss to know what to do with myself, hence a three months sojourn here, before actually retiring and then doing another three months after that to try and get used to the place.

 

Again, like you I had not really thought things through and my first two years here consisted of living here one month on and one month off (whilst doing some consultancy work in Australia) and partying very hard when I was here, juxtaposed with working 7 days a week back in Sydney.

 

My head wasn't in a good space in those early days and I really didn't know what I wanted to do, so partying seemed to be the thing for quite a while. Then I met my girlfriend through the wife of another friend here and things changed because I became a little more settled and was enjoying her company immensely.

 

She was an intelligent lady, university educated accountant who was trying to learn English and as I was trying to learn some Thai, we had interesting times using our respective dictionaries when we went out.

 

I wanted to see a little bit more of Thailand before settling on where I would live, so we investigated Phitsanulock (her hometown and also went to her friends wedding there which was an experience for me) Pichit, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Hua Hin before deciding on Patong, mainly because we both had friends here.

We rented a house together for a short while and her daughter joined us (about six years old at the time) and although I didn't know how I would cope with this, everything seemed to be fine, and it was for about six years.

 

During that time I bought a house and spent a couple of months "doing it up" and it was just right for us although it wasn't long before my "single man/party animal genes" started to kick in and I was wondering at the sanity of being married in the place where there were so many attractive and available women!

 

To add to the problem, I was helping out a friend in his very popular bar, for many evenings during the week and temptation was all round, even though I managed to steer clear of it somehow.

 

So my first two years were good here, however six years into being here, my girlfriend and I split up and I sold the house, moving to a small apartment whilst I considered my next move.

 

I had a guilty conscience but also had great feelings for my ex and her daughter, so I have financed them ever since that breakup six years ago, as well as giving them about 1 million baht after I sold the house.

 

Good and interesting times in the first two years; finding my feet and my bearings in the next two years and finally becoming the single man I really should have been all along, in the following two years.

 

Looks like I'll be staying here for my final swansong when I eventually pass on to that vineyard in the sky as I am now 71 and just starting to feel my age.

 

Finally, if I hadn't moved here and stayed in my job I would have probably been a basket case (or dead) and although some things here sometimes threaten to send me back to that state, I have come through the bad times and managed to see the good things here and although I still see the bad things, I try not to let them bother me too much........

 

[marcusarelus]

4 hours ago, xylophone said:

As well as for the reasons I have already quoted.................

 

"The root cause is not being able to own land so entering into "dubious" structures leaves one wide open to fraud".

But foreigners owning land are not. 

 

With respect then...........back on topic if you would be so kind.

One of the good bits to living in Thailand (the topic) is the Treaty of Amity for Americans which I believe specifies that an American company can own under certain circumstances.  You sound knowledgeable about the area I'm sure you can explain it.  

[Spidey]

22 hours ago, Naam said:

shit happens even without any reasons

Disagree. You make your own luck in life.

 

Farangs who get stung by their girlfriends usually only have themselves to blame. Poor choice of girlfriend is the primary cause. I lived with my wife for 3 years before making any serious commitments. Long enough to know what you're getting into, unless you're a complete fool (which a large percentage of expats are).

 

Second reason is the guy is a complete git and the girlfriend gives him a dose of "som nam na" for the way he has treated her. Many expats come here and take a Thai wife because they've been unable to find a woman in their own country, invariably because they treat all women badly. Thai women are more forgiving but they have their limits.

 

You reap what you sow.

[marcusarelus]

2 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Disagree. You make your own luck in life.

 

Farangs who get stung by their girlfriends usually only have themselves to blame. Poor choice of girlfriend is the primary cause. I lived with my wife for 3 years before making any serious commitments. Long enough to know what you're getting into, unless you're a complete fool (which a large percentage of expats are).

 

Second reason is the guy is a complete git and the girlfriend gives him a dose of "som nam na" for the way he has treated her. Many expats come here and take a Thai wife because they've been unable to find a woman in their own country, invariably because they treat all women badly. Thai women are more forgiving but they have their limits.

 

You reap what you sow.

The big advantage Farang men have is Thai men.  They are like Australian men used to be.  I remember going to Australia on R&R in the 60's and the ladies telling me what a gentleman I was. 

[Kadilo]

1 hour ago, Spidey said:

Disagree. You make your own luck in life.

 

Farangs who get stung by their girlfriends usually only have themselves to blame. Poor choice of girlfriend is the primary cause. I lived with my wife for 3 years before making any serious commitments. Long enough to know what you're getting into, unless you're a complete fool (which a large percentage of expats are).

 

Second reason is the guy is a complete git and the girlfriend gives him a dose of "som nam na" for the way he has treated her. Many expats come here and take a Thai wife because they've been unable to find a woman in their own country, invariably because they treat all women badly. Thai women are more forgiving but they have their limits.

 

You reap what you sow.

Excellent post. 

 

Some come with the attitude that money can buy them control of women in all aspects  which as you say many have failed to do back home. 

 

[GinBoy2]

24 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Excellent post. 

 

Some come with the attitude that money can buy them control of women in all aspects  which as you say many have failed to do back home. 

 

Well let's not fool ourselves there is quite a lot of 'money for love'.

 

I am not passing any judgement here, but if any 60 year old guy thinks his 25 year old Thai wife/gf friend is with him for his sexual prowess and good looks.....Disney has a movie for you to make!

[Kadilo]

1 minute ago, GinBoy2 said:

Well let's not fool ourselves there is quite a lot of 'money for love'.

 

I am not passing any judgement here, but if any 60 year old guy thinks his 25 year old Thai wife/gf friend is with him for his sexual prowess and good looks.....Disney has a movie for you to make!

For someone not passing judgement your posts current and previous are full of them. 

Who is talking about 60 yr olds with 25 yr old wife’s? Ahhhh you as it helps you keep banging on and repeating the same post over and over. 

[baansgr]

On 1/18/2019 at 6:59 PM, grollies said:

I really, really don't understand what the problem is with 90 day reporting. Every three months I get to visit Sri Racha, spend maximum 5 minutes at Immigration, say hello to the ladies there and grab a BK burger on the way back.

 

What's not to like and what's the problem?

 

I look at it this way: would I be happy as a UK citizen, living in the UK and the 'govt' asking all temporary immigrants from (e.g. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, wherever) to submit to 90 day reporting. Damn right I would. So, not a problem for me here.

 

These 90 day visa whinges are really boring, especially as (I believe) it can be done by post or online. <deleted>.

Some people work, are disabled, do not have transport, live hundreds of KMs away and other reasons. The main thing is why....you report so as to report you are staying at that address and must be done at that immigration office...so why oh why do they allow online reporting, it defeats the whole idea...never works anyway

[GinBoy2]

15 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

For someone not passing judgement your posts current and previous are full of them. 

Who is talking about 60 yr olds with 25 yr old wife’s? Ahhhh you as it helps you keep banging on and repeating the same post over and over. 

Alright, I'm passing judgement then

 

I think is sickening to see, turns my stomach.

 

Feel better now? Told you exactly how I feel about the implicit and explicit sex trade in Thailand

[Kadilo]

10 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

Alright, I'm passing judgement then

 

I think is sickening to see, turns my stomach.

 

Feel better now? Told you exactly how I feel about the implicit and explicit sex trade in Thailand

Yes you’ve said up teen times

change the record. 

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, xylophone said:

I was wondering at the sanity of being married

Correction here............we were never married, just living together and that part of my post was meant to have inverted commas around it!!

 

This before anyone jumps in and calls me a tightwad!!

[Spidey]

57 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

Alright, I'm passing judgement then

 

I think is sickening to see, turns my stomach.

 

Feel better now? Told you exactly how I feel about the implicit and explicit sex trade in Thailand

So what is your limit on the age difference between a man and his wife?

[GinBoy2]

18 minutes ago, Spidey said:

So what is your limit on the age difference between a man and his wife?

I don't really need to specify this, since everyone in their heart of hearts knows this.

But as a general rule, if she's young enough to be your daughter, or worse still granddaughter, you know it's just not right.

Imagine the ridicule you would face back in home country. Mail Order Bride...the list goes on and on.

 

Thai's themselves don't like it, but they just accept that it's a way for a poor young girl to make a fairly good living