7 minutes ago, Kanada said:

Nope....it’s important of course but it’s not on the top 10 for happiness!

Do a search and see what comes up for you....the internet will lead you where you have been before so watch that but let us know

 

I appreciate your positive attitude to life, but about this, money is definitely a top 10 factor in quality of life. We can very clearly see and measure its impact in various aspects of life quality. It's not the most important thing to be sure (time is the most important resource), but money is easily top 5.

 

4 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

You know listening to the news here in Thailand about the school system in the US, I'm not sure that an education there would be better. It's no longer about math and science but more about teaching the different gender classes and how bad and privileged the white man is.  30 yrs ago I sent my US son to private school at a cost of $300/mo, so while the US has free education I wouldn't be using it today especially. I honestly think my daughters future will be happier here in Thailand.

 

Thats shocking !

15 minutes ago, Kanada said:

Nope....it’s important of course but it’s not on the top 10 for happiness!

Do a search and see what comes up for you....the internet will lead you where you have been before so watch that but let us know ????

If tomorrow you had zero money and no prospects for any you're going to tell me it would not interrupt your happiness, yeah you're avng a laff. 

It doesn’t have to be “easy to be a good life”...I’ve never lived anywhere that didn’t have challenges of one sort or another.

Canada is a wonderful country but as it progresses the challenges become bigger ie: taxes, the debt load and cost of living!

Thailand has its share of problems but as far as  the Thai elite looking down on me or I’m a second class citizen or the Thai  Govt being corrupt....just doesn’t effect my life on a daily basis!

Like I said I’m retired from all these concerns and I just don’t carry them with me! If I did I might as well have remained in the work force and got paid for carrying them around.

Lucky, Joy, Nina, Lola, Happy, Rich Rich, Loveyoutoomut, Nomoneynohoney, Happyfalangforyou, Smile, ..................................................

7 hours ago, Kanada said:

I’m here because I quite unexpectedly fell in love with a Thai woman

I am not here because I fell in love with one Thai woman.

I noticed there must be millions of cute and beautiful girls in Thailand. And I was sure I will fall in love with one of them - or from time to time another one or two. ????

20 minutes ago, AlfHuy said:

Lucky, Joy, Nina, Lola, Happy, Rich Rich, Loveyoutoomut, Nomoneynohoney, Happyfalangforyou, Smile, ..................................................

You forgot

Samesamebutdifferent, Luvyoulongtime, Myfriendme and Uptoyou

Just now, kingofthemountain said:

You forgot

Samesamebutdifferent, Luvyoulongtime, Myfriendme and Uptoyou

 

can my brother come to visit ?

46 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

You know listening to the news here in Thailand about the school system in the US, I'm not sure that an education there would be better. It's no longer about math and science but more about teaching the different gender classes and how bad and privileged the white man is.  30 yrs ago I sent my US son to private school at a cost of $300/mo, so while the US has free education I wouldn't be using it today especially. I honestly think my daughters future will be happier here in Thailand.

It's not just education but opportunities. Let's face it you can fail in these west and still get a six figure salary. Failure in Thailand will be probably only lead to a gig at 7/11 and for girls the allure of a side gig can be hard to resist 

 

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

If you like Thailand now, you would have gone Gaga over being here 20-30 years ago when this country was the dream place to be in any way possible and especially for the single young man that i was, but as times and things turns, so did the viability of living here, this is not to say that it has become unpleasant but one can say it has become less fun and more mundane living...

I was here 20-30 years ago. And I liked it. And things were different. And obviously Thailand changed. 

Some people think it only got worse. I don't think so.

I.e. 20-30 years ago there was not a single good Italian restaurant in Sukhumvit. Obviously there was enough to eat but if I wanted something special "from home" it wasn't available. Now many things are available in many supermarkets.

And about the girls: As far as I remember there were more part time girls working at that time, i.e. in Thermae. But without going too much into details, 20 years ago many girls thought their mouth exists only to eat rice and talk a lot. That attitude luckily changed over time.

Before the Skytrain Sukhumvit was 6 (or was it 8?) lanes with no middle section. And lots of old busses which polluted the air a lot more than they do now.

And flooding was a lot more common than it is now.

Many bars were dirty at that time. I leave it up to you if that was better or worse than the clean places today.

All in all I liked it then and I like it now. Same same - but different.

 

 

9 minutes ago, The Cipher said:

 

I appreciate your positive attitude to life, but about this, money is definitely a top 10 factor in quality of life. We can very clearly see and measure its impact in various aspects of life quality. It's not the most important thing to be sure (time is the most important resource), but money is easily top 5.

Google “list 10 most important things  in life” 

I looked at a number of those lists and money is not there or way down the list.

 

It’s not something you can list as fact....it’s people’s opinions and bound to vary????

 

24 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I am not here because I fell in love with one Thai woman.

I noticed there must be millions of cute and beautiful girls in Thailand. And I was sure I will fall in love with one of them - or from time to time another one or two. ????

Well unless you’re under the age of 25 or maybe 30 if you’re particularly handsome man....you’ll just be another statistic that says Thai women are only after one thing ????

3 hours ago, Kanada said:

There does seem to be a lot of them and they aren’t hard to figure out....living in a country they dislike surrounded by people they dislike and distrust.

Man that’s a tough way to live!

I quite like my woman and 2 kids.

Everyone else is outside my fence with the gate locked, same as it was in England.

I don't speak to the locals beyond, "how much is that?", then holding out the money, again same as in the UK.

I've never understood people who want to trust everyone, normally you can't even trust the woman you are sleeping with, as many of us have learned to our cost in both Thailand and our home countries.

5 hours ago, The Cipher said:

 

Pretty much exactly this. The incredible value as well.

Hmmm..... the high quality things I liked back at home are sill expensive here.

Beer, loose women, reckless driving, burning trash, littering, selfish actions.... aren't that appealing to me.

 

However.... I DO like the food selection here.  Especially the fruit and vegetables.  Easier to eat a much more plant based diet here.

I should explain....I came to Thailand to get away from women not to find women!

Successfully too for the first two years....three months at a time usually November to Feb 1 or so.

To this day I’ve never been in a Thai bar after dark....I’m not a big drinker so a few times during the day with a friend. My routine was more like....breakfast at 8...massage or bike ride or shopping for an hour or so and pool from 10:30 to 2 and then home for nap!

Out for dinner or groceries for dinner around 5:30 and home by 7...tv or talk to my kids back home and bed by 10...(roughly)

I ran into my wife by accident and knew immediately I was going down that road again!

Probably a duplicate but...

 

Sunshine and Palm trees

Bickering removed.

All I said was I didn’t experience the bar scene as a lot of guys do....I wasn’t in Thailand for the women!

I came because my Son lived here for several years

edit: no need to shoot at the ambulance

17 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

Hmmm..... the high quality things I liked back at home are sill expensive here.

Beer, loose women, reckless driving, burning trash, littering, selfish actions.... aren't that appealing to me.

 

However.... I DO like the food selection here.  Especially the fruit and vegetables.  Easier to eat a much more plant based diet here.

 

Not sure where your home is, but in my experience pretty much everything is cheaper here with the notable exception of luxury goods and cars. And the very materially cheaper cost of the real estate here (both buying and renting) more than makes up for the difference in prices for consumption.

 

If you are a regularly luxury goods buyer you'll know that (i) you can travel to Europe or North America on shopping trips for those, (ii) some of them are actually cheaper here (CDG, for example), and (iii) you very quickly run out of stuff to buy, so the price differential actually matters less.

 

The car tax is the biggest annoyance and I do wish they'd get rid of it, but in the end if you want to buy a nice car for fun or to flex, the real estate savings ought to more than make up for the tax.

 

For all the people that say it costs more to live equivalent lives here as in their home countries, what exactly is running up the tab?

 

8 minutes ago, Kanada said:

....I wasn’t in Thailand for the women!

 

Me neither, but they still hunted me down and captured me within 3 days of my entering the country.

I've had one in my bed most nights for the past 12 years (not always the same one)

If you've managed to resist, you've way more will power (or way less testosterone) than me.

38 minutes ago, Kanada said:

All I said was I didn’t experience the bar scene as a lot of guys do....I wasn’t in Thailand for the women!

I came because my Son lived here for several years

Errrm oookay.. 

1 hour ago, gamb00ler said:

Hmmm..... the high quality things I liked back at home are sill expensive here.

Beer, loose women, reckless driving, burning trash, littering, selfish actions.... aren't that appealing to me.

 

However.... I DO like the food selection here.  Especially the fruit and vegetables.  Easier to eat a much more plant based diet here.

Fruit and veges great as long as left in a bucket of paint thinners for 48 hours to remove poisons banned in the west. 

1 hour ago, Kanada said:

Well unless you’re under the age of 25 or maybe 30 if you’re particularly handsome man....you’ll just be another statistic that says Thai women are only after one thing ????

Yes, they want attention and they like to have fun in their lives. 

Money obviously helps. But money is less important than many people think - IMHO.

4 hours ago, Johnny Mac said:

Your post strikes a chord with me. I feel a similar way, I'm 51 and dread the thought of seeing my days out here, if feels like a slow death. But unlike yourself I don't have a house to go back in the UK. What sort of age would you ideally like to be when you go back?

I have enough money from my house and 55 year pension to live in Thailand currently. At 67, my Uk pension will kick in, 35 years already done. That will open a lot more options for me as I will not need to rely on the house rent each month. At 67-70 I hope to be in the UK with the family and visit Thailand only maybe once a year for a couple/few months. By that time I can sell the old 2 bed terrace council house down south and buy a nice 4-5 bed detached up north somewhere and still have enough to finance immigration demands for my family.

 

I respect people that want to stay in Thailand for very old age. but for me, I have a great, caring wife and I want the best health care for both me and her in old age - too many people don't think of their wife's future illnesses after their deaths. I think many people say they are OK for old age, but I see far too many farang in Thailand now with severe health issues and no money to put them right.

 

 

8 hours ago, BritManToo said:

My healthcare in Thailand costs me 250bht every 3 months.

50bht to use the government hospital, 200bht for 3 months of medication.

Expensive housing?

I couldn't rent a bedsit for the money I pay on my 3 bedroom house mortgage (11k/month) in the UK.

 

 

How much would your house cost to buy today please?

Just now, sidjameson said:

How much would your house cost to buy today please?

2Mbht, It's nothing special but I'm happy enough in it.

5 hours ago, connda said:

Why do you live in Thailand?

My wife of 14 years never wanted to live in the US and wants to remain in her own rural home which I've build for her until she dies.  <period>

If it wasn't for that, I would not be here any longer.  I detest the government's racism, xenophobia, and sexism.  I stay to support my wife and extended family.  No other reason.  If she dies before me, I leave. 
And I don't recommend Thailand as a place to attempt to live unless one is the type of person who is slightly masochistic and enjoys being a second-class citizen in a country where the elites quite literally detest you, and where you are very literally considered to be a national security risk to the welfare of the country and its people. 
This is not a wholesome place to live unless you accept your place as being the brunt-end of Thai sanctioned racism and thinly veiled racial hatred.
Some people have no problem with that.  They just segregate themselves in gated communities and pretend that all is well and implicitly endorse the racism aimed directly at them.

0 to 10. 0 is nothing. 10 completely suffering at the hands of racism.

What would you say a farangs lot is in Thailand today?

And by comparison what was a black man's lot in your home country up to the 1990s?

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

2Mbht, It's nothing special but I'm happy enough in it.

Thanks.

Who needs more than a kitchen, comfortable chair and a TV anyway?

1 minute ago, sidjameson said:

0 to 10. 0 is nothing. 10 completely suffering at the hands of racism.

What would you say a farangs lot is in Thailand today?

And by comparison what was a black man's lot in your home country up to the 1990s?

Oh here we go????