16 hours ago, Isaanbiker said:

 And about you being a military person, that says it all. You need somebody who gives you orders, because you don't learn how to be independent in the States. 

 

   What's important for you is in no way important for Thai people and expats who live here longer.

And why do Thais need military coups and military governments to tell them what to do? 

Oh, I know!! It's because they're independent, critical thinkers!! ????

I think the OP's resolve is admirable. Too many people who have grown to dislike living in Thailand (or never really liked it in the first place) just keep procrastinating and whining instead of coming to the same conclusion and moving on.

 

All the best for your life back home, @FaFaHead!

 

23 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

What's the point in making the effort if you're only going to get snide and often rude remarks in reward for your efforts.

Depends how much one is  concerned about what another may think/say. 

 

When one express an opinion/personal view-experience, there will be always others who will refute it, claiming their opinion/experience is the only correct/true one.

 

22 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Well, I was one of those hippy dippy anti-war protesters back then, but your rhetoric goes way too far.

indeed.............i love the way if people disagree with these keyboard warriors they instantly brand people racist.

1 minute ago, luckyluke said:

Depends how much one is  concerned about what another may think. 

 

When one express an opinion/personal view-experience, there will be always others who will refute it, claiming their opinion/experience is the only correct/thru one.

 

yes true,but it would be nice not to have abuse hurled at you,dont you think?

2 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

Depends how much one is  concerned about what another may think. 

 

When one express an opinion/personal view-experience, there will be always others who will refute it, claiming their opinion/experience is the only correct/thru one.

 

Many comments attract responses and always will.

 

But it's the nature of the way in which said responses are made that is important.

 

There's no excuse for making snide and rude remarks in reply to a post in which a member has spent time and thought composing.

2 minutes ago, thasoss said:

yes true,but it would be nice not to have abuse hurled at you,dont you think?

Sure, but this is something you can't control.

 

Mods here intervene regularly.

 

Of course it is their personal opinion/approach of what is tolerable or not.

 

 

3 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

There's no excuse for making snide and rude remarks in reply to a post in which a member has spent time and thought composing.

See my post here above.

59 minutes ago, thasoss said:

CNN,BBC,MSNBC,WP,NYT,Guardian et all..just govt. mouthpieces...best avoided,reading them will soon be designated as a sickness,and private health insurance will be mandatory to fix this illness.

Ahhhh........a Sun and Daily Star reader, I see.......

4 hours ago, soistalker said:

Thais get nastier every year. Still the same high percentage of the female population are prostitutes

 Just now, all the pretty ones are online, and all the nasty ones went to pattaya. There is no prostitution in Pattaya, says the police, yet you could throw a stone across the street from the police station  and hit 4 or 5 slappers. There is a catch-and-release policy with theiving ladyboys on beach road. Thais know they can hurt you, beat you, never one on one, stab you, bottle to the head of a farang, and that's a Wei and a 500 baht fine (a cliche, but still valid). Greedy people everywhere. Liars by birth. Talk too much but not about anything. Glued to their phone screens. I am so sick of them. I wish I had never sunk my money into a condo there. Old English and Aussies walking around with their maids, er...wives. But look like a maid. And if you live above the 8th floor, your wife or her "brother" might say you jumped off one day.

A pox on the lot of them.

 

I've been visiting Pattaya two or three times a year for two decades and everything you say is more or less true. Yet I've never considered going anywhere else, weird isn't it.

The thing here is that your post is very one sided. It looks like you didn´t find one little single thing with Thailand that is good. My question must be, where does it hurt most?

Is it the heavy load of TM30 that has to be filed, that might take a day every 3 month for the general person living in Thailand?

Is it the lack of possibility to stay on the right visa because you can´t meet the requirement?

 

Is it that Thailand was without rules and regulations in the 70-ties, and you can accept the change?

And yes, Thailand has changed much since that time. If you can´t see that, it might also be a reason for you to not feel happy here.

Anyway, It´s not fair to verbally put a whole country in the dump like you do. I sense there is something else that triggered this attitude and that something is probably what you should have been looking up before trying to settle in Thailand.

4 minutes ago, FredGallaher said:

Don't worry the Brits will be leaving soon.

 

Good. 

14 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

 

I've been visiting Pattaya two or three times a year for two decades and everything you say is more or less true. Yet I've never considered going anywhere else, weird isn't it.

that's because you've never reset google map/search on your android....just joking

4 hours ago, soistalker said:

Thais get nastier every year. Still the same high percentage of the female population are prostitutes

thank you Buddha

4 hours ago, soistalker said:

Just now, all the pretty ones are online, and all the nasty ones went to pattaya.

yes I am changing my forum name to "Swipe Right Monkey"

4 hours ago, soistalker said:

Old English and Aussies walking around with their maids, er...wives. But look like a maid.

are they proper French maid outfits? We don't have that here in Hua Hin.

27 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

weird isn't it.

Yes!

18 minutes ago, FredGallaher said:

You seem surrounded by "low lives" is that by choice? I don't know respectful people who go to Pattaya or similar places. Sick! 

Maybe you should meet more people then...............or, lower the volume on your self-righteousness and snobbishness.

19 hours ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

Assuming you have good insurance, the best medical care in the world is a pretty big plus as well.

Which country would that be? I thought he was going back to America.

16 hours ago, BestB said:

Not American? whats yours? in the past month you have been British, American and Canadian, Retired and have businesses.Kind of lost trying to keep up with you

You missed out Australian.

All the best for your future.

Take care on how you travel back home.

14 minutes ago, FredGallaher said:

Not to Pattaya. Not my style. Not snobby at all but I avoid the sleaze. Its up to you and for each his own. No me though.

May I remind you of what you posted?

 

"I don't know respectful people who go to Pattaya or similar places. Sick!" 

 

Sure sounds judgmental and snobbish to me.......,

17 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Some of the comments here are ridiculous. There is no shame in trying out an expat destination and deciding its not a good fit.

I agree completely- the gentleman posted what he ws doing and why he was doing it and there has been a never ending diatribe insulting Americans; Insulting Brits; Insulting Thais. Insulting just about everything based upon personal prejudices.

 

I am American and have been in and around Thailand for 50 years.  Guess what- I don't like every American- but mostly they are decent people.  I do not especially care for life in America and that is why I moved to Thailand eons ago- but Thailand now has a plethora of problems that make people think twice about why they are here and what the future holds.  Good, honest debate makes perfect sense- but  making absurd statements- like I once met an American and I didn't like him because....shows a complete lack of perspective and is infantile.

 

I once met a Korean I didn't like; a Brit, a Japanese etc etc. Get a grip- people-does every person and every Nationality one meets become representative of the entire population. The stereotyping of people because of Nationality; ethnic background; race etc shows how absolutely ignorant the human species remains.

 

Generally speaking- most Thais are not outwardly nasty or mean and I have been treated very well by locals in all matters or interactions.  I never criticize Thai problems with other Thais because I know they are powerless to change tjhings and sometimes will  discus the negatives with other foreigners to let off steam/ We, as foreigners can never hope to change anything in Thailand and appear to be having difficulty making changes made in our own countries (Trump; Brexit; Macron etc), It's also a fact that most Thais are very Nationalistic and do not like foreigners criticising their country any more than  foreigners in Thailand trying to  tell us how to run our own countries

 

There are some foreigners representing many nationalities that arre having a hard time in Thailand for a variety of reasons ranging from failing relationships to  financial issues to health issues to falling exchage rates.  At the same time- that good feel buzz that we all got when living in Thailand appears to be fading and some of us wonder why we still stay here and others want to leave and cannot.

 

I have no intentions of leaving but the feel of the place is much different than 1971 when I got off a long flight from America and landed in Don Muang. After a few years of marriage- I remember telling my wife that Thailand was  absolutely perfect and she remarked that- 'Once you learn to speak Thai and understand Thailand- you won't think we are that great'.  Never were truer words spoken.  

 

Most of us came with great expectations- thinking it's all so perfect and eventually reality sets in and as the saying goes= Reality Bites.

 

Some of us  have been able to adjust- accept the good; the bad and even the ugly.  Others can never accept it or even ignore or adjust to it.  Everyone needs to take a realistic viewpoint towards what they want in life and  make choices that work for them.    

 

The OP made his choice- we should all accept that it was his choice to make.

 

 

 

 

16 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Jealousy of America is still rampant on here,

I was awake the whole night thinking......still I can’t think of a single reason to be jealous of America.

This topic reminds me of something.

When I lived in Massachusetts (Taxachusetts?), yeah I used to get around, a local told me about his relative. He saw hard combat in WW2 and then came back home to Boston. Got killed in a car accident driving in one of those infernal "rotaries" (circles of hell?) they've got there shortly after his return.

 

So you never know!

2 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

I was awake the whole night thinking......still I can’t think of a single reason to be jealous of America.

The Mexican food!

3 minutes ago, FredGallaher said:

You'll never agree with me or I with you. You need to look at yourself before calling others names.

Sorry, but your own words condemn you.....

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

The Mexican food!

And Hot Tamales candies.....

13 hours ago, amexpat said:

Good news is the NRA is bankrupt -

Wasn’t aware of that, perhaps they donated a little too much to the Orange Disaster?

20 hours ago, FaFaHead said:

 

So anyway, many thanks and all the best. I’m outta here!

For what it's worth I thought your post was very close to the mark with regards to truthfulness, however I have noticed a lot of "ill feeling posts" (which I don't agree with), in lieu of your original post and I'm sorry that it hasn't worked out for you.

 

Obviously the issues you are having with family don't help, and ensuring that these are sorted out must of course be your number one priority. Furthermore if one moves to another country, then one hopes to see some improvements from the country from whence they came, however you couldn't see them and that's fair enough, because it's how you perceive and indeed interact with the new country and its customs which really matter.

 

We are all here for different reasons and many of us choose to overlook the corruption, dual standards and pricing, ignorance, huge wealth gap which causes problems of its own, and the fact that the "administrators" in all walks of life in this country, couldn't organise a p1ss up in a brewery, which can make life difficult for farangs.

 

Good luck with the next steps/phase of your life, and why not tune in from time to time and let us know how things are going.

 

Bon voyage.
 

5 hours ago, soistalker said:

Thais get nastier every year. Still the same high percentage of the female population are prostitutes

 Just now, all the pretty ones are online, and all the nasty ones went to pattaya. There is no prostitution in Pattaya, says the police, yet you could throw a stone across the street from the police station  and hit 4 or 5 slappers. There is a catch-and-release policy with theiving ladyboys on beach road. Thais know they can hurt you, beat you, never one on one, stab you, bottle to the head of a farang, and that's a Wei and a 500 baht fine (a cliche, but still valid). Greedy people everywhere. Liars by birth. Talk too much but not about anything. Glued to their phone screens. I am so sick of them. I wish I had never sunk my money into a condo there. Old English and Aussies walking around with their maids, er...wives. But look like a maid. And if you live above the 8th floor, your wife or her "brother" might say you jumped off one day.

A pox on the lot of them.

I’m getting the impression you have some negative feelings towards Thailand

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Don't know what the VFW is, but assume it's an ex military association. I went to one once in my country, but was ignored, so never went back.

I was never in an actual war situation, so never in risk of life, but they did enjoy making me miserable. The problem with the military is that it allows the power crazed to actually use power over other people.

The pity of it is that it could have been such a great life, but for a few horribles with rank.

I once went to a recruiting stall, and wished I could have been in the military they portrayed, as it was so far from reality, and seemed fantastic- driving tanks and parachuting was all in everyone's everyday life- not so. I did drive tanks when I had to fix them, but I never got to parachute.

VFW is Veterans of Foreign Wars.  They do charitable work in Thailand like supporting orphanages and bury Vets and make arrangements with the Thai Navy to scatter your ashes at sea, help you wife out when you die.  I was in a couple of wars and preferred it to being Stateside as there were less little hitlers in a combat zone not much for guts those fellows.  The ones on Thai Visa who were privates but call themselves Captain also bug me a bit.  Colonel Sanders included.