Why you as a farrang live in Thailand

[lkv]

7 minutes ago, Tomahawk21 said:

yes, ladies. sex friends the same as the rest of us 

But he said: 

 

3 hours ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

Sex tourist is not really a useful phrase in understanding Thais, travellers and the interactions that exist between them. Its a convenient but lazy, judgementtal term,  rather like druggie or prostitute. It says more about the user of the phrase than the subject ir person being described.

So that maybe has a deeper meaning. Do you perhaps understand what he was trying to say?

 

He advised me to read books and document myself more.

Edited July 28, 2019 by lkv

[4MyEgo]

On 7/26/2019 at 10:55 PM, Parsve said:

Me my self have lived here for six years and  several tourist visits before. Now I can truly say that the only thing that keep me here is my wonderful thai wife, and that she do want to live close to her family, but not even that will hold me much longer.  I am totally sick of living in a underdevelopment country where you have no rights, corruption is heavy and the officials do what ever they can figure out to make your life hard. The day my wife eventually says, ok we move, we will do it. And if she don´t I probably do it alone, because Thailand really sucks. What is your reason to stay at this place? 

You are caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

I am in a similar situation to you, i.e. I moved here about 4 years ago with my Thai wife and our young children who were born overseas. We built a large house in an Isaan village close to her family, no regrets as she has them under control and keeps them at arms length, and this was not a rushed decision to live here, we planned it for years.

 

I had been coming to Thailand since 2006, and have travelled most parts of Thailand, but you don't really see what Thailand is all about until you move here, well that's how it was, and is for me.

 

My wife has been gently pushing for us to return to overseas as she is sick of many things here, after living with me abroad for 10 years and clearly saw the difference, it's not for monetary reasons as she has never worked and has no need to.

 

We live in peaceful surrounds, not too close to other houses, are far away enough from loud music when the village is having some festival.

 

We came from a country with 4 seasons, lived in a small property just outside of a City and now live in a big house which makes it so much nicer, green all around us, as opposed to other people's houses either joined to our side of the house or other houses, or apartment buildings looking into our living room windows.

 

There are a lot of things wrong with Thailand, I will agree with that, but to survive here, I am trying really hard to stay to solve the problems in my head, if I can put it that way, i.e. it really boils down to how we perceive things or look at them, and then ask ourselves what was the reasons that we moved here.

 

Ours was, for a better quality of life, retiring 12 years earlier and of course grow the kids up in a family and village environment away from the rat race, but that hasn't gone to plan and I will explain why further along. 

 

Sure corruption is out there, but it's been meniscal for us, some small police fines, (in pocket 100-200 baht), 400 baht outside of pocket, if it actually reaches the intended purposes it was supposed too. Immigration requesting some tea money, again small change really, 250 baht, 500 baht here and there. Thai's charging more than the norm when they see the unsuspecting farang, so one has to be vigilant before buying otherwise they will get upset with themselves, as I have done in the past, idiots on the roads and lack of police enforcing the rules, concerns me, as does reporting to immigration every 90 days and once a year for an extension which is a pain, it's just a waste of paperwork and time, a bit like reporting to a parole officer if you like, not that I have had one, although you can do the 90 days online or by EMS post I am told, but I continue to make a day of it with my wife, i.e. drop the kids off to school and drive the hour and 20 minutes having our catch up chat about the kids, family etc etc, for the oh mighty 5 minute event, then go have our late breakfast, do some grocery shopping, then pick up the kids upon our return, so that problem is sorted in my head.

 

Both my wife and I hate how a fair few Thai's drive, and park, double park, or park on a bend, but as my wife tells me, those types are mostly unlicensed, and then one has to agree, the good ones, outway the bad ones, so that problem is solved in my head.

 

Back to the kids and the family/village environment, well, you can't let the kids ride their bikes as other Thai's do unless your prepared for an unexpected Russian Roulette outcome, as cars don't appear to slow down and you get the occasional idiots flying by on their motorbikes, so the kids ride inside the boundaries, stories of kids being raped with laws being very relaxed, drugs everywhere, and at an epidemic level, with the biggest dealers being the cops, kids having gone missing, teachers ruling like the military, etc etc, a little different to what we are used to back in the home country. 

 

As for the family, well, they eat outside, mosquitoes, leaving glasses on the floor as if its nothing with kids running around, electrical wires to fans laying on the ground ready for someone to trip over, open fire with no barrier to stop the kids or concerns for their safety, I know I sound like an overprotective father, not really, but the basics are essential.

 

Anyway, then there is the back burning issue of the rice fields and sugar cane, you literally cannot open your windows until 10am in the morning and it is so far and wide spread, with the kids standing there at assembly breathing it in for those 45 minutes, turns my stomach into knots.

 

I am hanging in there, for how much longer is another story but when I look at prices back home and how much one has to earn to feed his family, and put a roof over their head, it goes something like this, you have to earn 3,276,000 baht to be left with 630,000 baht in your pocket as savings, probably less as I haven't allowed for other miscellaneous items that pop up every now and again.

 

It's ether go back to work and live in a concrete jungle to survive or stay here without any money issues.

 

No doubt the dice will roll one day, but I won't go back to the slave trade, will use my own funds and everybody can have what's left when I gone, lower than what it would be, but hey, that's the price we will have to pay.

 

If you really can't get your head around Thailand, and want to go back that much, tell the wife how it's going to be, if she goes with you, then all and good, if she doesn't, at what price will you pay for your happiness and sound mind, remember we only live once ?

[geronimo]

We must be living in different countries, as I find Thailand to be a great place and while it has changed in the 34 years I've been here, I am still in love with the place and the people.

[geronimo]

6 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

 

 

There are a lot of things wrong with Thailand, I will agree with that, but to survive here, I am trying really hard to stay to solve the problems in my head, if I can put it that way, i.e. it really boils down to how we perceive things or look at them, and then ask ourselves what was the reasons that we moved here.

 

 

You are absolutely right about perception, and it is the key to happiness. People need to stop looking for external solutions to their problems, the secret lies in how you perceive things and how you respond,

[Guest]

In one word: Pussy.

In two words: Cheap Pussy.

 

The day it becomes a struggle to find cheap pussy around the block, I'm outta here.

[geronimo]

2 minutes ago, tcp7 said:

In one word: Pussy.

In two words: Cheap Pussy.

 

The day it becomes a struggle to find cheap pussy around the block, I'm outta here.

You Sir, are probably in the majority ....

[rott]

8 hours ago, Parsve said:

The right word is farrang, and from the beginning it was a word to describe people from France. If you talk to educated thai people they all say farrang, but if you talk with "lower class" they will say fallangs as r is difficult to pronounce for them. So the answer is there is no right or wrong, it depends on what class of thais you used to be with.

Most of my conversations would be with shop assistants, waitresses, receptonists and the like who tend to look askance if you pronounce the r as an r.

 

Likewise in the pharmacy when purchasing antacil I need to pronounce the l as an n or they are lost.

 

I am sure you will find that as in most countries the lesser educated are the majority in Thailand. The literacy levels on here are a good example of general standards. I am not including non NES, their phraseology makes them easy to identify.

[White Christmas13]

7 hours ago, emptypockets said:

So why do you have LOS and Oz as your location under you avatar? Just another dreamer or wannabe? Or has been. Plenty around. Don't feel bad mate - be honest - you'll get more respect.

I have LOS and OZ because I lived in Thailand for many years (Ratchaburi)

and just haven't changed it but if it makes you happy I will delete it 

[Lacessit]

Cost of living, pure and simple. I live well here on about 60,000 baht a month. Rent alone in Australia for equivalent accommodation would take half that.

I eat out here for lunch nearly every day. In Oz, I simply couldn't afford to do so.

[stubby52]

I just got my retirement extension 1900b for a year great value imho my only problem is the drop in the oz exchange rate,last night had a great night listening to music in the company of some lovely ladies and a 1hr massage for less than 2000b try doing that in Australia!

[bronzedude]

I'm like a lot of guys who've posted here, After sorting through a whole lot of applicants for the position of Thai GF, I met a nice, caring, intelligent, beautiful Thai lady. Someone from a farm in the heartland. After seven years together, I married her. Forget that she's half my age. If she left me tomorrow and kept all my Thai assets, I'd still be happy I had the time with her. But, I'd also be like that guy who would be on the next plane to Vietnam or the P.I. Being retire doesn't mean I'm tired. Leave Thailand to the Thais being Thais. For the time being, I just grin and bear it.

[Lucky100]

Try getting.your thai wife a visa for australia or nz, you'll soon find out racist and obstructive immigration are then, try being a person of colour going through their customs!!

[totally thaied up]

13 minutes ago, Lucky100 said:

Try getting.your thai wife a visa for australia or nz, you'll soon find out racist and obstructive immigration are then, try being a person of colour going through their customs!!

Took me all of six hours to do to get my wife a multiple 12 month entry visa to Australia. Six hours of me just doing paperwork and a hour submitting the paperwork. When we got the visa,  It even had the NO FURTHER STAY omitted, so in fact,  she could have applied for a bridging visa in Australia without ever having to leave again. 

 

Took the same amount of time for me to prepare my Marriage extension but it took two days to get an appointment at immigration and 14 hours of waiting.

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, stubby52 said:

I just got my retirement extension 1900b for a year great value imho my only problem is the drop in the oz exchange rate,last night had a great night listening to music in the company of some lovely ladies and a 1hr massage for less than 2000b try doing that in Australia!

2000 baht? either that's a typo with an extra zero, or more information is needed from you. Vicarious pleasure is one of TV's sine qua non.

[totally thaied up]

As others say, I also love Thailand but it is not the place to be sick. I have a easy life here; most mornings are spent around the pool, doing my kilometer of swimming, teaching my wife to swim better and then having coffee, lunch followed by book reading, internet time, followed by a afternoon walk, dinner and Netflix or a movie most nights. I like to paint,  so I paint when I have time. My wife works, we have a good relationship and life is good. 

 

Still this lifestyle when coupled with illness cost money. I spend around 8,000 baht a month on doctors and medication. I have lost 12,000 baht a month from currency drops. So it is like 20,000 a month I have lost just for a start. 20,000 a month back home in Australia is my grocery bill. All my doctors bills and medical expenses are bulk billed. My lifestyle is the same in Australia. Like others here, my life is pretty good but looking at it on a financial side, I am going backwards. My insurance premiums here are just increasing each year and I cannot tell if they will ever reneg on a payment. It is hard now to say whatever is the best. Chiang Mai and it's smokey season sucks. I wish I had a answer for all of this. 

[marcusarelus]

6 minutes ago, totally thaied up said:

As others say, I also love Thailand but it is not the place to be sick. I have a easy life here; most mornings are spent around the pool, doing my kilometer of swimming, teaching my wife to swim better and then having coffee, lunch followed by book reading, internet time, followed by a afternoon walk, dinner and Netflix or a movie most nights. I like to paint,  so I paint when I have time. My wife works, we have a good relationship and life is good. 

 

Still this lifestyle when coupled with illness cost money. I spend around 8,000 baht a month on doctors and medication. I have lost 12,000 baht a month from currency drops. So it is like 20,000 a month I have lost just for a start. 20,000 a month back home in Australia is my grocery bill. All my doctors bills and medical expenses are bulk billed. My lifestyle is the same in Australia. Like others here, my life is pretty good but looking at it on a financial side, I am going backwards. My insurance premiums here are just increasing each year and I cannot tell if they will ever reneg on a payment. It is hard now to say whatever is the best. Chiang Mai and it's smokey season sucks. I wish I had a answer for all of this. 

My medical bills are paid by America (VA).  My food bills and insurance premiums are much less because I can cure ham and bake bread and pizza and grind meat.  I left Chiang Mai years ago realizing one would have to be crazy to stay in that smoke and all the expats whinging at the bar. 

 

That's my answer. 

Edited July 28, 2019 by marcusarelus

[Tomahawk21]

5 hours ago, lkv said:

But he said: 

 

So that maybe has a deeper meaning. Do you perhaps understand what he was trying to say?

 

He advised me to read books and document myself more.

anybody that is trying to go deeper into it is wasting there time and maybe would be better off finding somewhere else to live.   

 

Do you perhaps understand what i am trying to say?

[FruitPudding]

I just like the country. Everything is convenient. Bangkok is a great city.

 

Asia is the future. In fact it is already better than most other continents. This is where progress is. And Thailand is probably one of the most livable Asian countries. The West is screwing itself letting in so much trash through the borders just to keep the economy going and there is no more progress over there.

 

Also, I like the birds here. Best place to be single.

 

Cost of living is still cheaper overall.

 

I have spent most of my adult life here and I hace a kid here. No reason to take her back West. I think she will be better off here in the long run, not just econonically but quality of life too.

 

From a tax point of view it is more desirable also.

Edited July 28, 2019 by FruitPudding

[BobbyL]

I came here for work 8 years ago as a new experience and in the first year here I met my now wife. We had two years living in England before moving back here in 2017 after getting married. In terms of my work I earn far more annually here and work less hours, add in the lifestyle and cost of living and we live a very easy life nowadays (I am 31, she's 29). We bought a house in Bangkok, two cars, regular holidays abroad etc. 

 

It will be interesting to see how I feel in 5 - 10 years about living here longer term when I guess we will have kids. There definitely is a change in the feeling here. 

 

 

[marcusarelus]

42 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

I just like the country. Everything is convenient. Bangkok is a great city.

 

Asia is the future. In fact it is already better than most other continents. This is where progress is. And Thailand is probably one of the most livable Asian countries. The West is screwing itself letting in so much trash through the borders just to keep the economy going and there is no more progress over there.

I agree and for folks without a colonial prejudicial education it seems obvious.  It was probably rough growing up in a culture that had to justify centuries of abhorrent treatment of native peoples by trying to find problems with Asian people and this is what we see coming out here.  Difficult to hide.   

 

The alternative for example in 2007, Jim Rogers sold his mansion in New York City for about 16 million USD and moved to Singapore. Rogers claimed that he moved because now is a ground-breaking time for investment potential in Asian markets. Rogers's daughters speak fluent Mandarin to prepare them for the future. He is quoted as saying: "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia.

 

To me Thailand is the budget Singapore and I moved in 2005.  

 

 

Edited July 28, 2019 by marcusarelus

[FruitPudding]

On 7/26/2019 at 8:44 PM, SteveK said:

I must say the same thing. I came here because I learned to love Thai culture after visiting many years ago. Now the situation has become so toxic, that I would run a mile, if it weren't for the fact that I am married to a lovely Thai lady. If I was single I would get my shit together and leave the country ASAP. If my wife and I have a serious argument, or if anything happens to her, I am going to be on a plane to either Vietnam or the Philippines the same day.

 

90 day reports, TM30, spurious visa requirements - all foreigners in Thailand are treated as criminals. It's a very bad thing to say but sometimes I wish that I had not married a Thai.

 

What is so toxic? 

 

I havent noticed any change over past decade.

[BritManToo]

11 minutes ago, FruitPudding said:

What is so toxic? 

I havent noticed any change over past decade.

Come to Chiang Mai, in the last ten years the toxic air changed from 2 weeks/year to four months/year.

[CMNightRider]

2 hours ago, Lucky100 said:

Try getting.your thai wife a visa for australia or nz, you'll soon find out racist and obstructive immigration are then, try being a person of colour going through their customs!!

My wife applied for a tourist visa to the US.  When she showed up for her interview at the American Consulate, they didn't even ask her any questions.  The American Consulate gave her a ten year tourist visa.  With this ten year visa, she can spend up to six months a year in the US.  Oh, and there is no monetary deposit required, no 90 day reporting, and no TM forms to fill out for various idiotic reasons.

 

US Immigration officers have always been curtious and friendly to my wife when she passes through their stations, with some even greeting her with a few Thai words.  

 

Thai Immigration treats me far different with their monetary requirements, 90 day reporting, TM forms for all movement, and now a "smart van" wandering the Thai streets looking for foreigners they can harass.

 

Your writting skills don't reflect one who is a native English speaker.  Are you a Thai posing as a westerner?

[marcusarelus]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Come to Chiang Mai, in the last ten years the toxic air changed from 2 weeks/year to four months/year.

Naw, I lived there in 2004,5 and 6.  Same. 

[metisdead]

A post in which the quoted content had been altered has been removed. 

[Aussieroaming]

22 hours ago, madmen said:

Wrong gap cover applies to private health insurance not public..There are plenty of doctors that bulk bill and public hospitals are 100% free but of course elective surgery can take a year. If your not a pensioner and have a work permit here than what is the problem in staying in Thailand?

Wrong, the difference between the bulk bill amount that doctors can claim back from the federal government and the actual doctors consultancy fee is a gap payment or would you rather use a different term for the gap between the doctors fee and the bulk billable amount. The difference between the amount you get charged for private medical treatment and what private insurance cover will pay is also a gap payment. Yeah, some doctors surgery bulk bill but they are scarce and quite often that option is restricted to patients on benefits. As for your second statement, irrelevant to my comment.

[Aussieroaming]

17 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

Yes I am a pensioner and I have free medicare and subsidized medication

and I realize you pay a medicare levy levy when you employed and every 

doctor I used so far did bulk billing 

I think bulk billing availability is higher for people on pensions and benefits, it was at the surgery that I used to attend and it was a sensible way to treat people from different income streams. I couldn't bulk bill but I only had to pay a gap payment as long as I used my medicare card though my father-in-law could bulk bill as he was a pensioner and fair enough. Considering that you paid medicare levies while you worked you will have well and truly paid your dues in regards to supporting the medicare system

[rott]

17 hours ago, Parsve said:

The right word is farrang, and from the beginning it was a word to describe people from France. If you talk to educated thai people they all say farrang, but if you talk with "lower class" they will say fallangs as r is difficult to pronounce for them. So the answer is there is no right or wrong, it depends on what class of thais you used to be with.

According to the Royal Institute Dictionary 1999 farang means "a person of the white race".

 

I suppose it depends on which class of the white race you mix with.

[White Christmas13]

3 hours ago, Aussieroaming said:

I think bulk billing availability is higher for people on pensions and benefits, it was at the surgery that I used to attend and it was a sensible way to treat people from different income streams. I couldn't bulk bill but I only had to pay a gap payment as long as I used my medicare card though my father-in-law could bulk bill as he was a pensioner and fair enough. Considering that you paid medicare levies while you worked you will have well and truly paid your dues in regards to supporting the medicare system

Well the surgery I go to does not discriminate between workers and pensioners OK I do not know where you live but even before I became a pensioner I never paid the so called gap I always got bulk billed I guess it 

might vary from state to state and yes I know some doctors charge you and you have to claim it back

on medicare I had a cardial version done (reset my heart) before I became a pensioner and never paid

a cent

[ericthai]

On 7/26/2019 at 9:50 AM, Parsve said:

The only rights I am asking for is that my reports should be equal handled whatever IO I go to and whatever officer that I happen to come to, that the police and other officials treat me as anyone else, even treat me as if I was a thai, that is what democracy is about, no one is “better than another”.  Probably there are corruption also in Australia (I have never been there so I do not know) and in USA, but in no way as it is in Thailand.

I also would like to see Thailand as a country, like other democratic countries where you not have to pay more for getting street food or get into for example a museum or a national park just because you are a “farrang”, that is another part of the democrat policy. I would like to see Thailand treat their own people equal never the less if they are poor or rich. I would like to see the police make people following the rules and laws that are decided of the government.

If you can tell me that any of those statement I have  mention above is wrong, I will apologise.

And you just noticed all this after 6 years??  As for paying more for street food, come on 5-10 baht more is a problem? 

 

There is double pricing in the USA. Take example amusement parks typically offer residents in those states a special price.

You want to be treated as a Thai? really?? I dont think you want that....