3 hours ago, AlfHuy said:

I know a few germans who did and do exactly this. They promise heaven on earth to the "much" younger girls. Once arrived in Germany, there is no Villa, no pool, no sports car, no millions in the bank, no car for the Thai lady no cleaner, no nothing. They are scared to return back to Thailand or put anything on social media because of the fear of losing face.

All their friends would have a party when they would know that the "rich white German prince" in fact is such a common guy with nothing spectacular to show. 

There is never a video call back home or nice pictures on social media because there is not such thing they were expecting. Instead, they are probably happy to work in a hotel, massage or even cleaning toilets.

Too many of the young ones end up with old germans. ????

 

Would still be better than living in the village with no electric and no plumbing.  

9 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I agree to some extent. However, if I had alot more money, I would likely live two to three months a year on the Southern coast of Turkey, a few months of the year in Spain, a month or so in the US, travel around a bit, and then spend two to three months a year here. 

Remove the US and thru Airbnb that life can be had very nice!y for US20k a year all in.

1 hour ago, BenDeCosta said:

Can't get a good bottle of wine or a good steak here.

 

You can, but Thailand basically taxes the hell out of EVERYTHING that farang like to consume by way of food and beverage here.  Eg.  wine and cheese.  

 

The excuse that the tax on imported wine here is to protect Thailand's wine industry is laughable.   

17 minutes ago, Leaver said:

You can, but Thailand basically taxes the hell out of EVERYTHING that farang like to consume by way of food and beverage here.  Eg.  wine and cheese.  

The excuse that the tax on imported wine here is to protect Thailand's wine industry is laughable.   

Cheese has been going down in price since I arrived in 2009.

Wine coolers are the same price now as they were back then.

21 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Cheese has been going down in price since I arrived in 2009.

Wine coolers are the same price now as they were back then.

 

Do you have some examples?   That's not been my experience.  

 

I was getting wine brought in for me, but with Covid, the cellar is quite bare now.  

 

Just now, Leaver said:

Do you have some examples?   That's not been my experience.  

I was getting wine brought in for me, but with Covid, the cellar is quite bare now.  

Mainland Vintage Cheddar 265bht/500gm ........ used to be 185bht/250gm (Makro)

Full Moon Dark wine cooler 7.5% 295bht/12 ......... used to be 305bht/12 (Makro)

Perfecta grated pizza cheese 235bht/Kg ............ previous best was Makro own brand Mozzarella cheese 300bht/Kg (Makro).

2l Party Milk 79bht ....... before this year all 2l milk was 91bht (BigC Mini).

TFM bread flour 32bht/Kg ....... same price since 2009 (Yok)

 

These are a few of the 'foreigner' items I buy every month since I arrived in 2009.

Same price or cheaper now.

 

Yes I would do it again for sure.

 

Working in oil offshore and earning good money I had a comfortable life here for many years but gone app 6 month per year for work (2 month on/off)

 

Sitting at a little cafe out at Jomtien beach today with my family, a nice breeze from the ocean, I thought to myself, man this is really nice. The check-bin was 510 bath; food for the 3 of us, I had a green ice tea, my son had ice-cream for desert!

 

Was 1 month in Denmark last year in August for sorting out getting back to Thailand after being stranded off-shore for 6 month!! 

 

Okay it was really nice spending some time with my Thai/Danish daughter that is studying there and catch up with my family and friends but other than that not really much that I feel that I miss and I doubt very much that I live there again.

 

I would like to travel in EU for app 3 month a year when I eventually retire, maybe more, but Thailand will be home.

 

Surprised about the mainly positive answers and the voting in favor of: Would you do it again, Yes!

 

I stopped posting much here in TV because there are so many negative posters and I just can't be bothered anymore so this was a nice positive tread for a change.

30 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Mainland Vintage Cheddar 265bht/500gm ........ used to be 185bht/250gm (Makro)

Full Moon Dark wine cooler 7.5% 295bht/12 ......... used to be 305bht/12 (Makro)

Perfecta grated pizza cheese 235bht/Kg ............ previous best was Makro own brand Mozzarella cheese 300bht/Kg (Makro).

2l Party Milk 79bht ....... before this year all 2l milk was 91bht (BigC Mini).

TFM bread flour 32bht/Kg ....... same price since 2009 (Yok)

 

These are a few of the 'foreigner' items I buy every month since I arrived in 2009.

Same price or cheaper now.

 

 

Fair play.

 

I don't really buy those big blocks of cheese.  I normally buy specific cheese to have with biscuits to enjoy with a glass of red, and that type of cheese has continued to increase in price.  

 

I can't remember the last time I had a cooler. ????

On 2/24/2021 at 12:10 AM, 4MyEgo said:

 

Life's too short, let's just all enjoy it, well........at least till someone pi$$es me off ????

 

Then you might even get to enjoy it more..... depending on how sneaky you are....

13 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Cheese has been going down in price since I arrived in 2009.

Wine coolers are the same price now as they were back then.

Sorry, but wine coolers do not count. That is make from bulk, junk wine. We are discussing real wine. And the taxes, as mentioned by BritManToo are stupid. Utterly inane. The industry would be thriving here with a reasonable tax of 70% or so, and would generate double the revenue, since the size of the industry would likely be 10x what it is. In addition, they would be able to attract more the highly coveted "high end tourists", this spectacularly incompetent administration drones on, and on and on about. 

 

Originally, wine coolers were home-made from light white wines (dry Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio) and lemon-lime soda. However, in the early 1980s, they were bottled and sold commercially by some pretty heavy hitters (guys like E. & J. Gallo and Seagram’s.) Marketed as sort of soda pop for adults, they contained pulp, artificial fruit flavors, cheap wine, and about as much alcohol as your average craft beer (4-6%).

 

https://winefolly.com/lifestyle/the-rise-and-fall-of-wine-coolers/

 

 

 

... funny about the Cask wines... comparing relatively

looking back 25 years ago down over the border in Malaysia: 

 

- an average line of khrappy  'Coolabah' casks were in 4L size and were selling retail for  (120+ Ringgit)   Weird that it was then cheaper to buy the equivalent total qty of Quality bottled Reds that came in 750ml per. Taxes were calculated upon the individual product size, not the total Sale qty!!

55 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Sorry, but wine coolers do not count. That is make from bulk, junk wine. We are discussing real wine.

I find most real wine unpalatable without adding a spoonful or two of sugar.

Full Moon Dark wine coolers (25bht @ %7.5) are much nicer IMHO.

.... just opening my second bottle ........

12 hours ago, Leaver said:

I don't really buy those big blocks of cheese.

I don't really consider 500gm a big block.

But a few slices go down well with a few 'Rosy' crackers.

15 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Mainland Vintage Cheddar ...

Full Moon Dark wine cooler ...

It seems you are the opposite of a gourmet. ???? 

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I don't really consider 500gm a big block.

But a few slices go down well with a few 'Rosy' crackers.

 

Half a kilogram of cheese is a good portion, is it not?  

26 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Half a kilogram of cheese is a good portion, is it not?  

About right for a nice breakfast

 

Looking at the poll until now 82% would do it again. Wow, that is a lot more than I expected.

Thanks for your participation.

4 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

About right for a nice breakfast

 

 

Nice photo.

 

The Thai's really take the p*ss with cheese and wine.  As another member said, if the taxes were reasonable, the market would be 10x what it currently is, pre covid, and they would make more money in taxes than their current cost prohibitive taxes on the market.  Crazy.  

34 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Whilst I haven't done a road trip through remote villages here in a few years, I doubt much has changed.  The "huts" I saw had no electric and no plumbing. 

Plenty of huts in central Chiang Mai with no electricity or plumbing.

Just not where most tourists would find them.

There's a load behind the Dementia hospital, and another row by Palaat Tawanron restaurant.

 

 

6 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

or perhaps you have your own unique definition... there is no reason why a village cannot have village water and electric...

 

There's one BIG reason why they can't, and it's lack of infrastructure here.

 

Do you think the Thai government cares about these Thai's living in poverty?

 

Yet, here you are, stating a young Thai lady wouldn't enjoy things like electricity, air conditioning, a fridge, a TV, a hot shower etc, even if she has to be a prostitute in Pattaya, and maybe go with a farang to Germany, to keep enjoying such luxuries that we take for granted.   

 

You really are showing your naivete on this topic.  

 

 

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Plenty of huts in central Chiang Mai with no electricity or plumbing.

Just not where most tourists would find them.

There's a load behind the Dementia hospital, and another row by Palaat Tawanron restaurant.

 

 

That photo does raise a good point, BMT.

 

I see electric poles in the photo, which means it is available, but that doesn't mean people in those huts can afford it.  

 

That said, I have been through many villages with no electric poles.  Electric simply didn't exist in these places, therefore, was not a part of their lifestyle.  

Why argue about the definition of a village?

Some houses in some villages are big and have several air-cons and fridges and and and.

And others are simple huts without windows, sometime no electricity, etc.

They all exist in Thailand.

Personally I wouldn't dare to guess how many have power, windows, etc. 

Who of us visited more than maybe 10 villages? And even 100 villages is probably a lot less than 1% of all Thai villages.

 

25 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Who of us visited more than maybe 10 villages? And even 100 villages is probably a lot less than 1% of all Thai villages.

2 girls managed to drag me to their village ....... before I learned better.

29 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Why argue about the definition of a village?

 

No argument from me.  Just getting the facts straight. 

 

30 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Some houses in some villages are big and have several air-cons and fridges and and and.

 

The family in those houses have a farang.  ????

 

30 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

And others are simple huts without windows, sometime no electricity, etc.

 

According to some, living quarters like that don't exist in Thailand.  ????

 

21 minutes ago, Leaver said:

Getting back on topic, I see you poll shows a high percentage of many that still like it here, but wish they would have done some things different.

 

Maybe some of those members can post some examples.  

I never had much money and for that reason I was never able to invest much money here or there or lend it to a friend with that great business idea. In the hindsight I think that was good like that. Because I saw enough people who invested money where they shouldn't have done that. Or they lend money to friends and never saw the money again - and mostly lost also at least one friend on that way.

I don't know why but it seems in Thailand many people think not enough before they open a business or invest in a business. My advice: Don't do it if you don't know exactly what you are doing and if you can't afford to lose the money.

And that advice obviously also includes those great business ideas from your smart darling. ???? 

Some off topic posts and replies that are hijacking the topic have been removed, topic is about:

 

With all your knowledge from now, looking back at the time when you decided to live in Thailand, would you do it again?

28 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I never had much money and for that reason I was never able to invest much money here or there or lend it to a friend with that great business idea. In the hindsight I think that was good like that. Because I saw enough people who invested money where they shouldn't have done that. Or they lend money to friends and never saw the money again - and mostly lost also at least one friend on that way.

I don't know why but it seems in Thailand many people think not enough before they open a business or invest in a business. My advice: Don't do it if you don't know exactly what you are doing and if you can't afford to lose the money.

And that advice obviously also includes those great business ideas from your smart darling. ???? 

 

The mistakes of others are well documented on the internet on many websites, including this one.  There are best selling books for sale in the airport on this subject.  Then, there is advice from fellow expats.

 

Yet, "the my girl is different syndrome" continues, with many still being fleeced.  (pre covid)  

 

I gather many in your poll had to learn the hard way.  

On 2/26/2021 at 4:20 PM, spidermike007 said:

I recently had an electrician do some work on the house. Nearly a full day of work. Paid him 1000 baht. In the US? $500 and up.

A lot of the cost in western countries is down to regulations and the cost of gaining a qualification. The upside is that one is less likely to be electrocuted by shoddy workmanship.

 

I bypassed the shoddy workmanship by doing most of the work myself, but that isn't possible for many. I did pay an "electrician" to install my shower heater, just so I had someone to blame if it went badly, but I had to redo everything the guy had done already, including putting in an earth that worked.

 

My down fall was actually believing my GF/ wife was different, and I live every day regretting I ever met her.

Really, I had the perfect life in Chiang Mai living in a lovely hotel run by a Swiss guy, but takes real money to stay in LOS, even if it's cheap as to actually live there.

 

Would I do it again- yes, even the bad bits, but when I saw my wife to be I'd walk past and never look back. Had I done that, I'd be writing this in Chiang Mai, or even better in Pattaya.

On 3/1/2021 at 12:41 AM, Leaver said:

 

No argument from me.  Just getting the facts straight. 

 

 

The family in those houses have a farang.  ????

 

 

According to some, living quarters like that don't exist in Thailand.  ????

 

I lived in a village near Laos, but the poorest relative had a concrete house with windows and a refrigerator. Many houses were being improved.

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The upside is that one is less likely to be electrocuted by shoddy workmanship.

Most of the people getting electrocuted in Thailand seem to have been killed by phone chargers in their beds.

Not much a qualified electrician can do to prevent that.