For better or worse? Expats think Thailand is going down the pan, poll

[abrahamzvi]

7 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

You are correct.  Certain things that are labor related like haircuts, gardeners are inexpensive.  However, anything in the supermarkets is easily 2 to 5 times more expensive than USA.   I saw a jar of black olives in Makro for $599 baht.  That is just ridiculous. 

 

If you are referring to imported goods, most of them are more expensive than in Europe and the US, although even here one should´t generalize. However, if one refers to Thai products, and there are quite a few of high quality, than they are cheaper than in most countries of the west. Of course, life for expatriates is getting more expensive in view of the strong Baht, but again, is it the fault of the Thais, or the foreign funds buying Thai currency, mostly for speculation purposes? Expatriates who get their income from their home country, must always consider the possibility of returning home, or wondering to other countries, if and when their home currency drops in value. The best example that I know of is the situation of the Brits in Spain in the 90ies. During the 70ies and 80ies the south of Spain used to be full of retired Brits, with some villages populated only by Brits. As Spain joined the EU and its currency strengthened, in particular against a weakening Pound, most Brits had to leave Spain and return home. This can happen to a lot of us, but it can happen in other countries, which are cheap now, such as Cambodia, Laos and others. This is a risk we all have to live with.

[Lacessit]

Just now, BritManToo said:

About 30bht/jar to make yourself.

Haven't got to that stage yet, although I do make a mean stewed apple with cloves, ginger and dried mango.

Don't think I've seen stewed apple anywhere here.

Congratulations on initiative.

[yogi100]

50 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

I came to Thailand originally to load bombs in airplanes and drop them in various places in South East Asia.  Then as now 95% of the sex industry was for Thai people.  I guess you would want to throw the majority of Thai males out of Thailand too. 

I bet you'd go down a treat if you went round South East Asia telling the locals about it!

 

Read the posts again and explain where and how I've said I want to throw anyone out of Thailand especially those who come for the girls.

 

Why do you think I come to Thailand!

 

You're confusing me with the person I was responding to. Try taking your time to determine who has said what before jumping in with your eyes shut.

[DrTuner]

Id' say the correlation between "go home if you don't like it" and the post count is near 1. The stockholm syndrome is strong in the first few years before the somchais manage to whack the rose colored glasses off.

[Laza 45]

This says more about the TV 'experts' outlook on life than the outlook for life in Thailand in years to come..

[the guest]

Cambodia will be the new Thailand, i know many of my friends already gone. I'm seriously considering doing the same. It's just too expensive here and the quality of life (compared to the early days) is gone. Too much greed, too commercialized. Sad but true!

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, moutamine said:

2 hours ago, Thaidream said:

Yes- many expats purchase  their meats and pork and even vegetables from places like Villa Market or other chains which import meat and other staples from the West.  While I can live nicely eating Thai food every day- others cannot and for them the price of quality is now much higher. Many do not know how to shop in a wet Thai market nor how to determine the quality of what they are purchasing so they don't shop there.

Khlong Toei's wet market is pretty disgusting. My wife went twice but just can't anymore because of the smell.  From now on, it's Villa Market even though it's 3-5 times more expansive.  Our health is worth it.

I used to buy vegetables in Foodland. Good quality, good taste, not cheap but acceptable. Villa, at least in the Villa near my home, is more expensive and often not so fresh.

And then I tried with my girlfriend Klong Toei's and other fresh markets. I don't know much about shopping like that so she does the shopping.

My experience: Many vegetable are a lot fresher and cheaper in the fresh market. I like mushrooms and they are a prime example of better taste from the fresh market.

She also buys seafood, especially shrimps, in the fresh market. It's fresher, cheaper and tastes better than in the supermarket.

I still prefer meet from the supermarket because I don't trust them handling fresh meet in the market (possible salmonella, etc.)

 

I think a big part of shopping at the market is that people have to know how to look for quality. For me it looks all almost the same and I wouldn't do it alone. But my Thai girlfriends seems to have a lot of experience looking for good quality and I was never disappointed with anything she bought there.

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

You're confusing me with the person I was responding to. Try taking your time to determine who has said what before jumping in with your eyes shut.

Dude, we're old, easily confused, and some of us already have dementia, show a bit of compassion.

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Dude, we're old, easily confused, and some of us already have dementia, show a bit of compassion.

I haven't seen any evidence of dementia in you. Bluntness, yes.

[spidermike007]

1. The local climate is warming and each year seems to be hotter, with the "cool" season seemingly getting shorter, bringing little relief.

2. The current batch of ridiculously incompetent authorities seems to be hellbent on scaring away foreigners.

3. The current head of immigration seems to be going out of his way to make life more difficult for ex-pats, with the changes in rules, regulations, and policies.

4. The constant announcements of arrests, of massive amounts of foreigners, cannot be making people who have chose Thailand as their home, comfortable. Granted most have probably committed crimes. Nonetheless it is disturbing to be constantly reminded of these arrests.

5. The current administration and immigration bureau, seem to be getting more and more xenophobic.

6. For some strange reason, the Thai baht keeps getting stronger, against most of our currencies.

7. Inflation here is rampant, despite protestations to the contrary. 

8. The situation regarding public safety, and traffic safety has not improved one iota, and it appears the authorities are so far past indifferent and apathetic about this, that it boggles the mind. 

9. The highways seem to be generally getting worse, and not better, with the ever increasing amount of cars and trucks on the road.

10. In places like Samui, Phuket, and Pattaya in particular, a good portion of the locals seem to be getting very jaded, are lacking in pride of their local areas, and are not particularly pleasant to be around.

11. The environment seems to be more degraded by the day. The land, the sea, and especially the air. Little seems to be happening, in the way of creative solutions. Does anyone in a position of power care?

12. The democratic process seems lost here. Will a democratically elected government happen soon? Will it be anything resembling a true democracy, or will the increasingly desperate army attempt to cling to power, at all costs?

13. Law enforcement is non existent. To some extent, this is a good thing. Please, please stay out of my face, and my life. That is, until you need them.

 

I could go on. This is the tip of the iceberg, but a decent summary.

 

On the flip side, I live in a small town, where the local people are pleasant, friendly, warm, and helpful. They genuinely seem to like foreigners, so this is a wonderful contrast to the government, and the so called leaders here. I also love the food, and have a good life here. So, I am truly hoping it does not get much worse, to the point where we will have to seriously look for alternatives, as I do not have many. No countries in SE Asia are of interest to me. So, where does that leave? Even though I speak good Spanish, the only Spanish speaking country of interest, is Spain, and that may be well beyond my budget.

 

[connda]

If I compare my life and expenses in my village as opposed to living in the US state where I still vote and maintain my residency - well, there is no comparison.  Life in Thailand allows me to live very well on a fix income and modest retirement savings.  If I returned to the US?  Just as a comparison, the new 1 bedroom apartment I rented in 2007 that cost $550 a month is now $1000.  Now is that reflected in the US inflation index and adjustments to Social Security?  <laughs and laughs and laughs>  So Ok!  The price of a cup of ice cream from an ice cream vendor on the streets of Chiang Mai increased from 10 THB to 20 THB.  Do I think that Thais should increase prices fractionally like from 10 to 12 THB or 10 to 15 THB?  Of course.  Is it going to break me?  <laughs and laughs and laughs>  I don't know about ya'll who live within the farang communities in Pattaya, Phuket, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai and shop upscale.   But here in rural Thailand?  Life is beyond good.  Life is wonderful. 
I hope the Thai government doesn't go out of their way to screw that up.  That's my only real fear.

[mr_lob]

After 16 years, moving my family to Portugal - much better for my boys growing up. Will keep Thailand as a nice place for holidays.

Definitely going down the pan.

[DrTuner]

11 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

My experience: Many vegetable are a lot fresher and cheaper in the fresh market.

And you get a lot of pesticides for free as well, a bargain!

[Peterhua]

1 hour ago, HalfLight said:

Which type is that?

 

Honest? Respectable? Moral? Decent?

 

I think I understand you.

 

 

Actually i had games of crib, dominoes or quiz nights in mind for you. I prefer wild nights of anything goes, you know, balls felt and groping girls type of things .

[mike1967]

I like to go fishing in Thailand but even that has become unaffordable. In the few years I've been going to Thailand prices have crazy.

Bungsamran (Bangkok) has gone from 1,000 baht to 4,000 baht.

Pattaya fishing park has gone from 300 baht to 2,000 baht

Baytong fishing park (Pattaya) has gone from 150 baht to 850 baht.

Maybe the way to stop the prices going even higher is to just not go to these places? Thais will charge whatever they can get away with. If you pay they will charge!!!

We have to help ourselves.

[bkk6060]

48 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

You are correct.  Certain things that are labor related like haircuts, gardeners are inexpensive.  However, anything in the supermarkets is easily 2 to 5 times more expensive than USA.   I saw a jar of black olives in Makro for $599 baht.  That is just ridiculous. 

 

Flat out a bogus fat lie.

The chicken and pork are much cheaper here.

Vegetables and fruits less.

Yes some more exotic food may be more but the basic food staples are less in some cases 1/2 from US.

[seancbk]

4 hours ago, villagefarang said:

I like living here and it is better than when I first arrived.

 

I agree, Bangkok has improved in the 10 years I've been here.  

[Tambs2020]

Well...I agree with quite a few here...

 

It is what you make of it.

Up country is extremely cheap for food when eating out.

 

Eat more local foods as well if possible.

 

Property is cheaper up north as well depending where you are, We are about 30 minutes from Udon Thai and we have everything really locally that we need!

 

However The wife now doesn't want to retire to LOS because of the national instability, The corrupt system and the lack of any real law enforcement. 

 

So we will continue to just come a few months a year and keep the property's in Australia and LOS.

 

We enjoy the time we are there but at this stage it won't become a permanent option ! 

 

✌

[Kerryd]

3 hours ago, madmen said:

90% of posters on this thread will still be here at next year's poll saying.. I'm thinking about going to Cambodia

More like 105% of them (the 100% currently posting plus another 5% that will join between now and next year's poll).

[BobbyL]

It is fine whilst I am still young and earning decent money. I don't think it would be a good place in the future when I need to think about retirement etc. 

[SAFETY FIRST]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Only 24% held out hope that life for expats would actually improve by 2024. 

You'll probably find it was mainly the DOOM & GLOOMERS that had any input.

 

I'm ok here since 2003 and look forward to many more years of enjoyment.

[connda]

11 minutes ago, mike1967 said:

I like to go fishing in Thailand but even that has become unaffordable. In the few years I've been going to Thailand prices have crazy.

Bungsamran (Bangkok) has gone from 1,000 baht to 4,000 baht.

Pattaya fishing park has gone from 300 baht to 2,000 baht

Baytong fishing park (Pattaya) has gone from 150 baht to 850 baht.

Maybe the way to stop the prices going even higher is to just not go to these places? Thais will charge whatever they can get away with. If you pay they will charge!!!

We have to help ourselves.

If Myanmar ever wakes up and start to promote tourism on their coasts of the Andaman Sea, beach tourism in Thailand is, well, down the pan.  If Myanman could replicate the cost and pristineness of Thailand circa 1980, that would make a lot of tourist and expat feet move due West or Northwest.

[phantomfiddler]

I believe the biggest problem for the farang here in Thailand is that the police now see us purely as a means of making/extorting money. It wasn,t like that many years ago, and Thailand was a much more pleasant place to be. The situation is getting worse, unfortunately, and many expats are seriously considering moving to an adjacent country, Cambodia in particular ????

[Guderian]

I've got a house, car, dog, girlfriend, motorbike, garden, etc., etc., so leaving Thailand would not be easy. I agree, though, that after 15 years of living here it's not the easy-going, fun-loving, bargain-basement place that it once was. Smiles here in Pattaya have become rarer than hen's teeth, and when I moved here to live getting stopped at three police check-points just to drive a few miles down the road wasn't part of the package. I mean, Thailand has long been a corrupt police state, but now it's a corrupt police state that will be overseen by the corrupt military for the foreseeable future under the new constitution. Do I really want to grow old living under that system? Not really sure what to do, to be honest.

[RedRoadRunner]

Too deep rooted here, even I think it's got too expensive here, but house, wife, two kids........figure it out.

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, fruitman said:

We're also going to move out....enough is enough.

 

Many Thai products cost more in BKK than in the West....in the supermarkets...if you like high quality products (like most westerners do) thailand is 2-5 times as expensive as the West....so it's a no brainer for me...leave!

Quote:   "...in the supermarkets...if you like high quality products (like most westerners do) ..."

 

That's one person's opinion and there are others who perhaps agree, however I suspect there's plenty of foreigners living here who buy what fulfills their needs, regardless of country of origin and nothing more.

 

For the first couple of years I was here (now well over 30 years) I often looked for products from 'home' in the supermarkets, but now I have 'acclimatized' to local products I rarely look for products from home.

 

Nowadays there's really only one foreign product I look for as needed, VEGEMITE, because I really like it and my Thai son and my three Thai granddaughters are all 'VEGEMITE on toast' for part of their breakfast, and they tell me well in advance when the jar is down to 20%.

 

 

[scorecard]

26 minutes ago, mike1967 said:

I like to go fishing in Thailand but even that has become unaffordable. In the few years I've been going to Thailand prices have crazy.

Bungsamran (Bangkok) has gone from 1,000 baht to 4,000 baht.

Pattaya fishing park has gone from 300 baht to 2,000 baht

Baytong fishing park (Pattaya) has gone from 150 baht to 850 baht.

Maybe the way to stop the prices going even higher is to just not go to these places? Thais will charge whatever they can get away with. If you pay they will charge!!!

We have to help ourselves.

Not only Thais, modern marketing is 'charge whatever you can get away with, in any country.

 

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

The usual ghormless response...accusatory.abusive and bereft of any form of intelligence whatsoever.Your day (and those like you) is done.

 

It is good to get away from the slithy toves..

Well point taken but the reality is there are many foreign men here who perfectly fit the 'sex tourist' label.

 

Just scan a few TV threads, many have diversions bout 'give her one' etc., etc.

[ChipButty]

4 minutes ago, Guderian said:

I've got a house, car, dog, girlfriend, motorbike, garden, etc., etc., so leaving Thailand would not be easy. I agree, though, that after 15 years of living here it's not the easy-going, fun-loving, bargain-basement place that it once was. Smiles here in Pattaya have become rarer than hen's teeth, and when I moved here to live getting stopped at three police check-points just to drive a few miles down the road wasn't part of the package. I mean, Thailand has long been a corrupt police state, but now it's a corrupt police state that will be overseen by the corrupt military for the foreseeable future under the new constitution. Do I really want to grow old living under that system? Not really sure what to do, to be honest.

And corrupt government soon

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

Great!! No more queues at my local immigration office. 

Get PR and you don't have to queue at all.