There are irritating people, stupid practices etc etc everywhere.

 

Many of the expats living here are doing so because they found things not totally to their liking in their home country. In fact, they often had a long list of complaints about things there, which moving to Thailand was supposed to solve.  Once here, they develop a new list of complaints and are sometimes outraged to find that Thailand, too, is not according to their specifications.

 

Wherever you go there will be many, many things not to your liking. If you have expectations otherwise you will be chronically disappointed no matter where you go.

 

Live wherever you feel, on the balance, is best for you taking into account both pros and cons of the place. Then  learn to accept and overlook its flaws.

 

Also give some though to the type of company you keep.I see a lot of expats marrying/partnering and moving into very rough, uneducated sections of Thai society and then getting indignant that the conversation is dull and ill informed, people are drunk all day, only watch soap operas etc etc. Imagine if someone moved into  a comparable segment of your home country society.....and then concluded that this was typical of the entire country.

 

Thailand has its artists, intellectuals etc just as any other society does. it also has its seedy areas, drunks, drug addicts , perpetually unemployed etc - just as any country does. And everything in between.

 

 

13 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You're missing the bottle of rice whiskey and the yaba tablets that they all took before the 'boom boom boom ......'

Thai folks know how to party! Those kids on Ko Phangan are amateurs.

49 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I thought we came here for warm weather and cheap pussy?

Add in escaping the taxman and covers most...........

3 hours ago, davidst01 said:

 

'I feel an educated person who cares about quality and correctness would go absolutely insane dealing with many Thais if he didn't practice avoidance and detachment.'

 

I really relate to this comment and find myself getting frustrated sometimes living in Thailand.  I cant leave bc I have a wife and child.             

 

I have a mantra which I have to say to myself often... ' I have to lower my expectations'. 

 

Does anyone else think its sometimes hard living in this country?

It's hard living in Thailand if everything you do or think is compared to the Western world.  You have to at least understand nothing you  do will really make a difference except the way you conduct yourself.   You cannot change the Government; you cannot make people drive safely; you cannot change the education system and you can't change the Immigration rules.

It used to bother me when I first came decades ago but  since then I have adapted- some of the unpleasantness I don't even see anymore.  Resistance is futile.

I take deep deep breathing sessions and chant GOOSFLAHHHBAAAA.

Plenty of farang I see here seem to continuously practice "chemically enhanced" detachment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

(Many of them from cold countries just across the North Sea from the UK.)

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I thought we came here for warm weather and cheap pussy?

Like i said,totally different culture.lol.

2 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

I totally feel that way all the time, which is why the little petty annoyances just roll off my back. Its like im on this alien planet where folks look sort of like me and even speak my language, yet at the same time are so totally alien to my westerness as to make me just go, wow dude, thats cool! Thats alien! Like, I walk out of my condo and the first thing I see is a big old shrine all festooned with flowers and suchlike. Red soda pop. I love it. I have been seeing stuff like that for 25 years and it still makes me smile. Its a different planet! Even their feet are different!

Nyezhov,you have it all wrong this time.You are the alien here!

 

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

You're missing the bottle of rice whiskey and the yaba tablets that they all took before the 'boom boom boom ......'

The only Thais I see listening to that "nothing but bass" crap are brain fried pill heads.

Edited March 21, 20197 yr by Gecko123

I am detached and cool and my flips don't flop.

i do it everywhere, being foolish and annoying is by no means solely a thai trait.

 

 

Edited March 21, 20197 yr by metempsychotic

I find teaching really smart kids helps. I've long since given up on having discussions in Thai outside simple banter. I read a lot of great journals and blogs.

 

Pretty much try to avoid the foreigners as much as the Thai. Wife has proven to be a lovely but simple soul. She does enjoy history and culture.

 

I'm happy to enjoy nature and the outdoors more. Looking forward to re-retiring at 62. Double the trips.

 

I use detachment at all times and wherever I am. Realize that nothing is overly important, things are as they are, choice isn't available at any level, events happen in the space of your being, they are beyond your control even your reactions are beyond your control they are part of your programing, genetical, nurture and society, having the grace of detachment is just part of my program enhanced by spiritual practice. I learned an hour ago that my mother was killed in a road accident in Australia, it is as it is.

4 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

My enjoyment consists of quietly laughing at the daily farce I see spread before me

Are by any chance any UK newspapers spread in front of you?

4 hours ago, CGW said:

I live quite isolated (I thought) about 1 km in-between two villages, on a regular basis I hear the familiar bass from the HUGE village loud speakers - boom, boom boom, boom boom boom, can go on for hours, I just wonder what possible enjoyment they can be getting from such soulless noise! What am I missing? 

Regardless the tribes that inhabit these alien villages are intent on sharing 

Boom boom boom! ????

I like boom boom boom ???? 

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

5 hours ago, CGW said:

There are certainly times I truly believe I am surrounded by aliens 

Just enjoy the arse and leg show, that's what I do.

 

 

I practice drinking one more beer then everything seems ok [emoji481]

8 minutes ago, johng said:

I practice drinking one more beer then everything seems ok

Is one really enough for you?

3 hours ago, jvs said:

Nyezhov,you have it all wrong this time.You are the alien here!

 

This time  ????

 

Is one really enough for you?

No...one is not enough
its always one more then everything is A ..OK [emoji39]

^{I Practice detachment in Thailand. Its called Emirates.}

8 hours ago, gunderhill said:

I have as  little  interaction with Thais  as  possible to ease the insanity I see  all around.

This  morning just driving 2 km 3  motorbikes  pulled out of side roads with out the slightest glance, of course I knew they would do this but one day they  will be jam up the road, that's  the insanity.

Are you unaware it's stated in Thai traffic law that vehicles on a main road have to make allowance so that vehicles from side roads can enter the main traffic flow? 

 

3 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Is one really enough for you?

Well the first and maybe the second is not serious drinking, it's just a test to ensure the quality is OK.

8 hours ago, Sheryl said:

then getting indignant that the conversation is dull and ill informed, people are drunk all day, only watch soap operas etc etc. Imagine if someone moved into  a comparable segment of your home country society.....and then concluded that this was typical of the entire country.

 

Kinda like living in a low-income trailer park in the U.S. with everyone around watching Jerry Springer re-runs on the TV all day, while your neighbor is outside barbecuing the squirrel he shot while hunting in the woods last night!  And downing cans of Coors beer while cooking and then taking a piss in your garden! 

 

No offense to any Jerry Springer watching, squirrel eating, Coors drinking fans out there! 

 

I feel an educated person who cares about quality and correctness...

Along with education, throw in a lot of intelligence and common sense - if you have the latter 2, education can be taken out.

4 minutes ago, ravip said:

Along with education, throw in a lot of intelligence and common sense - if you have the latter 2, education can be taken out.

Says everyone without an education.

4 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Is one really enough for you?

He said one more .............

For me it used to be a judgement call every time, take the girl home, or drink another beer?

When I was younger it was always 'take the girl home', but recently it's become 'drink another beer'

Edited March 21, 20197 yr by BritManToo

40 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Says everyone without an education.

Touchy. Very! 

Yes, you have stumbled on a Buddhist survival technique. Emotionally detach yourself from everything and you'll be fine.

 

I have conquered that and implore you to keep going down that road until you are completely void of any neg feeling and your life will magically work itself out!

 

And there's a money-back guarantee!!!!

Edited March 21, 20197 yr by geronimo

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Kinda like living in a low-income trailer park in the U.S. with everyone around watching Jerry Springer re-runs on the TV all day, while your neighbor is outside barbecuing the squirrel he shot while hunting in the woods last night!  And downing cans of Coors beer while cooking and then taking a piss in your garden! 

 

No offense to any Jerry Springer watching, squirrel eating, Coors drinking fans out there! 

 

You been to my house then...