Why Are You Happier Living Outside Thailand

[utapaortnab]

I first set foot in Thailand as a 35 yr. old Sergeant First Class who was to be assigned to the TSC-54 Satellite Communications Station at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Air Base, just 25-30 minutes by bus from Pattaya. That was back in 1971.

I fell in love with Thailand almost immediately. I had been stationed at Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan; Ft. Buckner, Okinawa, Clark AB, Philippines and had visited Hong Kong, S. Korea, Taiwan, Macau and other areas in Asia prior to setting foot in Thailand but recognised immediately that Thailand was different. Certainly the most pleasant place outside my home country (the United States) that I have ever been (and I have been to 39 countries and all 50 United states so far).

For many years, from age 35 until age 59, I had always thought I would "retire" in Thailand, and for a short time (Jan 1995-Apr 1996) I did (but travelled back and forth to San Antonio Texas completing paperwork in order to process my new Thai wife's U.S. Visa).

It was during that trip that I first discovered that I really felt that I would be better off living full time in Texas and visiting Thailand frequently. My new wife agreed and in Apr 1996, we moved permanently to Texas.

Here is only a few reasons why living stateside and only visiting LOS is better 4 us:

1. If we lived in Thailand full time, I would miss our kids/grandkids/great grandkids too much and as we are retired we could only afford one trip/yr. to visit them.

2. As an incillin dependent diabetec that has already suffered two "heart events", the first concluding with a stent implanted (it failed shortly after) and followed by a double bypass, I feel more comfortable being right here as my being Army Retired my medical care costs me NOTHING other than the $68/mo. they take out of my Medicare checks.

3. We get all of my necessary incillin supplies and medications FREE here

4. I would miss our friends here too much. While we have great friends that live full time in Pattaya Beach, Ban Chang, Bangkok, Udon Thani, and Chiang Mai, we are closer to those living right here in Texas and in So. California that we visit during our trips there to visit our kids/grandkids etc. (and the kids visit us here in San Antonio as often as possible but would NOT be able to afford trips to Thailand)

5. In my old age, (68), I have become a creature of habit(s). I enjoy my DSL speed reliable internet service, my 300+ channels of digital TV channels, eating at my favorite local restaurants, and frankly just being able to speak English and having almost everyone I speak too understand exactly what I'm saying.

6. Not having to worry about visas charges and changes, gov't changes, monsoon seasons, going all over town just to pay utility bills, learning another language, driving on the left safely, driving on 2 lane roads when most of our driving here is on multilane freeways, being able to visit hundreds of restaurants, chose from 20-30 first rate movies each week, and just feel the way living here makes me/us feel, is just too much to give up.

7. This is the most important of all: I think ALL men from age 18-59 feel they are better off living in Thailand because of the availability of female companionship with women far superior to those in their home countries. I also believe this is true. Most all men under the age of 60 probably don't give much thought to their ever feeling any different. But, for me at least, I have a great Thai wife and wouldn't think of butterflying EVER, and so part of the reason I felt earlier in life that Thailand was a better choice is now no longer valid. Then there is the health care. At my age, and in my particular situation, having almost free health care that IS reliable is a giant plus. I did do a check on the cost of the medications I now take and found that at the Bangkok Pattaya hospital pharmacy, my monthly medications would cost $498.50 U.S. dollars and that does NOT include my latest addition Uroxatral.

Also, we pay NO rent here. If we were to go to live back in Thailand, we could also live rent free IF I could adapt to living in the home my wife owns in Chiayaphum, but living there, I would die of bordom rather quickly and living in Pattaya or Bangkok would add an additional cost to our monthly retirement budget.

See, for some, living full time in Thailand IS a better solution than living in their home country, but that is NOT necessarily so for others.

Just my 1/2 satang worth,

Ken Bower

San Antonio Texas

Visiting Thailand since 1971

35 trips Inco to date

[Dondi]

Congrates on country jumping nearly 40 counries ... im very impressed

im not anywhere near there yet

Thailand didnt get me overly hooked , not the first time or the second or even the third , its a fantastic country and is up there in the rankings tho i couldnt ever live there , maybe its the way farangs and expats treat Thailand , the image it has become from years of tourism and sex slave industries , i know there places with nothing of it but its just the way it is ... perfect for a holiday but not for a life , western people seem to have a hold on the country , seem to take great advantage of it in a way that is unpleasant and dishonest ... im not speaking for everyone and about everyone either so dont u guys start giving me childish replys (tho it wouldnt surprize me even tho half of u people on here are twice my age)

theres not much on offer for me to make me stay there except my gf , but that doesnt mean i have to live there,i just enjoy a few weeks there every now and then.

i can be alil negative sometimes , but it happens

[joinme2leave]

I admit, medical service is a VERY good reason to live elsewhere than Thailand (no matter what age).

But - as far as I expect to be worried about - this is the ONLY reason not to emigrate.

(this opinion might change after having lived in Los for a while .. but right now ... I hope everything will be fine ...)

[OxfordWill]

Being British, I find it all too easy to take the NHS for granted.

EDIT: Oh, and the fact that ambulances do not discriminate in Britain like they do in say, Bangkok.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Being British, I find it all too easy to take the NHS for granted.

EDIT: Oh, and the fact that ambulances do not discriminate in Britain like they do in say, Bangkok.

With Bangkok traffic, the bloody ambulances can't get to you in anything like a hurry Oxford. How do you see that Bangkok ambulances discriminate ?

[ThaiPauly]

I would agree with the Poster, but I do not miss the UK. I admit that I am concerned about future health care issues, but I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it. I have a son that lives here and my other kids regularly visit me. I miss my parents, but we talk every other week My Thai Fiance I do not beleive, could settle in England, besides she has a 12 year old son and I would not want to deprive him of all his freinds and family, its easier for me to live here than it is for her to live in the UK, she would not be 100% happy and her happiness is important to me.

I think he has it all and good for him, if he could split himself in half he would be the happiest man in the world, but he can't.

I say well done for being practical

[OxfordWill]

Being British, I find it all too easy to take the NHS for granted.

EDIT: Oh, and the fact that ambulances do not discriminate in Britain like they do in say, Bangkok.

With Bangkok traffic, the bloody ambulances can't get to you in anything like a hurry Oxford. How do you see that Bangkok ambulances discriminate ?

Ah, but my point is that the ambulances are usually employed by a certain hospital, and as such, tend to only be available for that hospitals clients, hence, discrimination.

In the UK, the ambulances will come for anyone, regardless. They don't sometimes need a 'member card' or what have you.

[GuestHouse]

Great Post Kenandlat.

I've seen too many guys who come to the conclusions you have made only when it is too late.

I supsect much of your assessment is based on having lived elsewhere, done and seen other things.

The real fall guys are those who arrive in Thailand facing a midlife crisis and with no other experience to measure Thailand against other than their home countries.

As I often say to people 'don't go running the old country down too much, it is where you will run to if the sh1t hits the fan, and sadly it too often does'.

[anamore]

I think of thailand as a wonderfull country and this goes for the people as well, but the feeling one has while on holiday is very different from the feeling one gets after living there for a while.

I even got to feel lonely being there 3 weeks, when I went around 3 days without having a nice talk with a foreigner things started getting difficult. The same with TV. One late evening I couldn't sleep and wanted to watch tv, but it was all strange to me.

I met some very nice thai people but Ican't speak thai and their english is very basic so comunication would be superficial.

The weather is also not easy when you are not used to it. The heat worns me out and at night in the north of the country it gets so cold that you think you have fever.

I am still very curious and eager to learn more about the thai culture and the thai people but I would like to learn it from the thai people and not from books written by foreigners.

I admire the people and the country and will never forget the experiences there. Being back home I realize there is only one world ( one planet earth) but we all live in different ones. Every day is just a copy of the day before: you work you eat you make the same way to your job and to the supermarket, you read the paper and watch the news. In the evening you lay on the sofa, read a book watch tv, seat behind your fast computer, electricity and water always work, you can seat on your toilet with runing water and paper. Sometimes you get fed up with the routine and you decide to go somewhere else to have a look, but after some weeks without duties and nothing usefull to do and no people to relate to om a regular basis I start loosing myself. I just need to belong somewhere. that's all.

Friends and relatives are very importante and to have some work to do is also important. I want to be apart of the world I live in.

In thailand is not easy to achieve that. And I think thai people relly never feel at home in europe. It is cold here and people are distant and not concerned about others the way you see it in thailand. The warmth of friendschip and familyties and even the way children play with each other with so much joy, I miss it here where I live.

[cobra]

Anamore, nicely said.

I would add that we all become creatures of habit to some degree, and will always find comfort in the familiar.

Without daily structure, a purpose or feeling useful in some capacity, we just remain a stranger in a strange land.