I'm with you CB. I came from Wall Street and moved from a huge antique-filled flat to a one-room bungalow with rock corbels, uncluttered sunset views, vermin, and stray dogs. Bt3,000 a month and I was never happier. I enjoyed everyone's company except the people who tried to push their "class" on others. Hey, I worked on deals with royalty, billionaires, the world's movers and shakers. So what. They are people, and the higher they were in whatever ranking, the more down to earth they were, too. It's the almost-there's that are the nasties.

And the big high-class families I knew about on KPG and Samui were much respected, because they were both mafia clans.

Well, if that is a comment towards myself I suggest you retract jet. You do not know what you are talking about and if you are even remotely suggesting that my husband's family is mafia then let me make you aware you have not only insulted a fine family but royally pissed me off.

I always find it so funny that people who come for a few months or a few years are so well versed in local culture. And usually, they only know a few people, don't speak the local dialect and have little interaction with the real local culture.

*added note* I suggest you take your little grudge or whatever your problem with me is out this thread instead of continually hijacking it with your issues. I did feel the need to respond to your implied slander of myself and husband's family so this the last I'll say of it. I suggest you do the same***

I'm with you CB. I came from Wall Street and moved from a huge antique-filled flat to a one-room bungalow with rock corbels, uncluttered sunset views, vermin, and stray dogs. Bt3,000 a month and I was never happier. I enjoyed everyone's company except the people who tried to push their "class" on others. Hey, I worked on deals with royalty, billionaires, the world's movers and shakers. So what. They are people, and the higher they were in whatever ranking, the more down to earth they were, too. It's the almost-there's that are the nasties.

And the big high-class families I knew about on KPG and Samui were much respected, because they were both mafia clans.

Well, if that is a comment towards myself I suggest you retract jet. You do not know what you are talking about and if you are even remotely suggesting that my husband's family is mafia then let me make you aware you have not only insulted a fine family but royally pissed me off.

I always find it so funny that people who come for a few months or a few years are so well versed in local culture. And usually, they only know a few people, don't speak the local dialect and have little interaction with the real local culture.

*added note* I suggest you take your little grudge or whatever your problem with me is out this thread instead of continually hijacking it with your issues. I did feel the need to respond to your implied slander of myself and husband's family so this the last I'll say of it. I suggest you do the same***

???

My last statement in my quote above does not have anything to do with you or your Thai family, SBK. It is what I knew in my time there from the people I met. Despite the language barrier, it didn't take me years to figure out what was going on in these small communities. I am trained to be a punctilious observer.

If you believe that I directed that comment at you, then I could take offense and say that you vilified me in your last comment in post 35:

"I don't live in hadrin, never have so couldn't tell you about expats living there as I have minimal contact with them. Those are the people Jet is describing, not in my social circle. And yes, I am a bit of a snob. My husband comes from a well-to-do highly respected local family. Even if I had many friends from the beach boy crowd my husband wouldn't have been willing to socialize with their boyfriends. Thailand is a class oriented society and small communities even more so. Either you are from here or your not from here and beach boys not from here are at the bottom of the local social ladder...

I always tell people who tell me how lucky I am to live in Paradise, "Remember, even Paradise had a snake".

If you ladies wanna get personal about this, can you take it to pm's, please?

Cos none of the rest of us saw this, and it had nothing to do with the rest of us, either.

To bring this back on topic, however, there is a class thing going on in thialand,much more so than many of our countires. and there is also an element of "if you can afford it, and are a peaceful person, you'll be at peace OR if you've made/have the right connections, and are peaceful, you'll be at peace.

In the wrong country, or more so, with the wrong piece of mind, You'll not survive 5 minutes, when the sh1t hits the fan.

I do think you have to understand the elitism in Thailand to survive here successfully. My best Thai pal was complaining bitterly about reliability and service costs of his Merc. Muggings here asked the silly question " why not get a Toyota "?

After whole Thai family pick themselves up off the floor from laughing, they explained the minor Merc issues, were more than countered by lack of fines at roadblocks ( or the time wasted by even being stopped ) and the lack of hassle by never being being questioned by pesky security types at expensive condo entrances, who never stop Mercs, only stand to attention and salute as they drive in.

A country where money will always talk.