THE WEEK THAT WAS Fleeing Thailand for Copacabana - Rooster tried and it backfired miserably!

[rooster59]

 

There have been many threads on the ASEAN NOW forum in recent years, especially during the pandemic, about leaving Thailand. A malaise has set in among many foreigners, a dissatisfaction with many citing petty bureaucracy, an uneasy feeling of being unwelcome, notions that Thailand is not what it was, not what they remembered years ago. 

 

And it’s not just people who have arrived and tried to make the kingdom their home, not just people getting older and missing their youth. International forums are full of Thais who, if they could, would like to up sticks and seek pastures new. 

 

Rooster is not one of them. Yes, the pandemic has been unsettling and yes, I’ve just turned 60, a time when the tendency to take stock and perhaps reassess life choices might lead to restlessness. But I’ve been there and done it; mistakenly thought the grass was greener elsewhere.

 

But it was a sham, astro-turf no less! Expensive, and needed replacing quicker than turf ever would!

 

Above all I realized that no matter what you are going through you remain the same person. You take yourself with you and there is nowhere to hide.

 

It was back in 1987 and I’d been quite happy in Thailand settling into the first couple of years of what seemed like a residence without end. I’d been playing the field and the current girlfriend, Nui from Ranong, was pleasant enough and no more neurotic than other Thai women of my acquaintance. All seemed fine.

 

Then she mentioned the Big C word. That moment when you know your casual complacency about life was coming crashing down.

 

Commitment.

 

She wanted commitment. Yikes, that was scary.

 

I was still 25 - an age Thais call “benjaphaet”, when many believe that something decisive, life-changing, is bound to happen.

 

Not if I could help it. I feigned acquiescence but my immaturity - not to mention rampant infidelity! - spoke otherwise. Nui could smell it a mile off. This farang was not for turning.

 

Perhaps it was for the best. Disconcertingly, she kept a gun under her bed……

 

We split up and I tried to move on, something that should never be difficult for the young in Thailand. Until I discovered through the grapevine that she’d hooked up with another guy. Another Londoner. No problem, until it was revealed that he worked in….wait for it….

 

The British Embassy.

 

Following an irksome event in Malaysia when an embassy official  refused to sanction the stamping of the observation page in my full passport potentially causing me a considerable loss of time and money, the British foreign office, in all their myriad guises everywhere, had become my mortal, sworn enemy. 

 

That remains to this day….not that I hold a grudge….

 

Nui planned to fly off to Blighty, learn English and have babies with “John at the Embassy”. I begged her to reconsider, she was killing me, I’d commit, anything! Don’t leave me this way!

 

The upshot was that she got a visa, easily of course, and then had the temerity to move to Eltham, painfully near my Beckenham hometown. It was like she was taunting me!

 

This pathetic and totally ridiculous upset had me blaming Thailand. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I decided to emigrate.

 

But where? I looked at the world map. Australia? Been there done that; besides the gun-toting parents of a Sydney-based Filipina I’d deserted wanted to kill me.

 

There really was only one possibility for a football loving, pleasure seeking hedonist.

 

It had to be Brazil. It also was spectacularly far away, far from all my bitter disappointment.

 

I immediately embarked on my task with Rooster practicality. I spotted some classified ads in a London newspaper called Loot that a friend visiting Bangkok had brought.

 

Pen friends in Brazil. 

 

There were hundreds of them. Nearly all women in Rio and Sao Paulo. Doubtless all desperate to meet a young Englishman.

 

Aerograms purchased, snapshots of me posing handsomely taken. I contacted twenty and for the next six months wrote back and forth to 13 young Brazilian women. I was feeling excited again.

 

Thailand was yesterday, Brazil was tomorrow!

 

I left Bangkok before Songkran, going on one final Patpong, Cowboy bender. It ended early. I was saving up for Copacabana!

 

I flew to London. I managed to track down Nui, met her on a bus and said some very unpleasant things. It was bridge burning time, you see.

 

After some incredible luck with a 14-1 shot at Lingfield I paid for my Blighty sojourn and boarded KLM via Amsterdam to Rio. Smiling as the Heathrow runway receded and the Brave New World beckoned. 

 

With all my worldly possessions balanced precariously on my trolley I surveyed the concourse looking for the beautiful lawyer’s daughter, a penfriend, who had promised to meet me. 

 

Suddenly three stunning women rushed forward. The lawyer’s daughter, Sophia, introduced them as Francesca and Antonia. I tried to “wai” but was engulfed in hugs. Smothered in four kisses, at least, on each cheek. All the teenage angst from kissing French relatives on family holidays returned. This was culture shock South American-style. 

 

It would have been churlish to miss Thailand already so I put on a brave face. Sophia whisked me off to a hotel in her sports car. Brazil started to grow on me. 

 

We visited the famed beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. But it was disconcerting that she told me to take off my watch and hide it in the car. She warned about rampant crime everywhere in her city.

 

This had never occured to me in safe old Bangkok. Every bus had an armed policeman on it. Japanese tourists didn’t have cameras. The papers were full of mayhem and murder.

 

“Whatever you do don’t go to the favelas”, warned Sophia after I said I needed to find my feet alone. 

 

I waved her off and promptly found a place that resembled the Thermae in Bangkok. Rio’s version of Portuguese seemed impossible - I wanted to explain myself in Thai that I already spoke quite well - when a lady with a butterfly on her left breast addressed me in English.

 

“Ah good,” she said. “Fresh meat.”

 

I was chopped up and spat out and relieved of thousands of cruzados that had recently replaced the cruzeiro. I wondered why there was one of the former to 1,000 of the latter. 

 

It soon dawned. Brazil was in the grip of not just inflation but hyperinflation. 

 

When you went to a “cambio” you bargained up for your dollars, they bargained down. The rate changed massively every day. A six pack of beer at the supermarket tripled in price overnight. 

 

Oh! How I wished I’d bought yesterday - until I saw how much the cambio rate was rocketing.

 

Geez I was raw! I went to the races and it said 2000 above the turnstile. I handed over 2000 cruzados thinking it rather expensive. The lady called me back to return 1,980 cruzados. It was 20, I’d missed the decimal point. 

 

The language barrier was immense so I didn’t bet. Before the last race I caught a bus and ended up in a favela (shantytown). Fearing certain death I located a taxi and tried to head back to the center. My hotel was unpronounceable but it was opposite the Roxy Cinema so I gave that as my destination.

 

“Que?” (If that’s Spanish I apologise to Brazilians). “Roxy Cinema?” “Que?”...”Roxee cinema,” I ventured trying a Thai style falling intonation on the word for clarity.

 

“Que?”  

 

With panic setting in as the drug cartels sniffed out a loaded tourist, I tried again. “O cinema Roxy”.

 

The driver finally nodded and smiled. “O cinema hoccchhhy,” he confirmed. “Khrapom,” I said, forgetting myself in my relief.

 

After that I stayed in mostly, watching football from the Maracana on TV. When a goal went in I’d see how many “O’s”  I could write while the commentator celebrated. “Gooooooooooooooool,” and some. 

 

I got a job teaching English that paid about a quarter of Bangkok rates. Doubts about my new homeland had been creeping in. Now they were getting cemented.

 

I met a spirited black lady who had a Portuguese passport who said she was a recovering cocaine addict. We shacked up in a flat smoking herbs. She called the landlady “ Mrs Gordo”, she was rather portly.

 

When I put on my Carabao tapes wondering what on earth I’d done going to the other side of the world, the girlfriend would barricade herself in the wardrobe complaining about “Tailandia, Tailandia,Tailandia.”

 

She emerged to hurl abuse at the telly and president Sarney who sounded like a sandwich to me.  

 

“Fascista!!” she yelled. Oh well, at least I’d learned one Portuguese word, but it was not enough.

 

Crime. Costs fluctuating wildly every day. An ‘impossible’ language. An angry population. Utter confusion. They seemed to be waiting for samba and Carnival in February.

 

But I couldn’t wait.

 

Next day I walked into a travel agent and booked a one way ticket to Bangkok via a stopover in LA. I spent the last of my money in California before getting back to Krung Thep on May 13th. 

 

I moved back in with my startled flatmates in Soi 39, went to a disco in Silom and met a woman who I became engaged to some months later. The next night after Wimbledon beat Liverpool in the FA Cup final I met a woman 12 years my senior in Peppermint in Patpong who would become my first wife and give me two adorable children.  

 

And I never ever left Thailand again. I’d realised that the kingdom was not to blame for my troubles. You take your emotional baggage as well as your luggage with you wherever you go.

 

Last week I was encouraged by posters who said they liked my anecdotal stories hence the storyline this week. And yes, I have decided to write a book, as suggested by some last week, about my loony life. I hope to get it written when my little kids finally get back to school…..

 

That prospect looked like November 1st until the latest message from the school about Covid. Online learning continues for now as in many places in Thailand. At least they gave me 30% off last term’s fees - far more than some of my friends received.

 

Tomorrow, Monday is also the day when the TAT is hoping that the hordes of foreign tourists are about to descend on Thailand. 

 

Dream on. 

 

Most of the place is shut and it’s hard to even get a drink. Tourism minister Pipat needs to be sacked - they all do. He failed to ask Blackpink’s Lisa if she was free before trying to get 50 million baht for her. She was busy at New Year, it transpired. 

 

Pipat would find it impossible to organize a beverage at Boon Rawd brewery. 

 

Thailand Pass - hailed as the answer - is mostly offline. Damning press headlines about the latest clusters and full ICU’s continue. The bars remain shut. 

 

I changed my mind about going to Pattaya and went to Hua Hin last week. We were the only midweek guests in a 200 room hotel that needed a good clean. 

 

Someone was smoking in my favorite pizza restaurant. The staff said they were sitting outside after I complained. So much for enhanced customer service in the New Normal.

 

Despite reading online that foreigners were charged five times the Thai price at the Phraya Nakhon Cave at Sam Roi Yod national park I decided to take the family, warning them we wouldn’t go in if that was the case.

 

It’s a stunning place I’d visited many times with several school trips I’d organized years ago. Normally I wouldn’t risk it, not wishing to spoil my day, but this time I thought I’d be able to argue my case.

 

I was wrong.

 

The staff soon produced a laminated sheet in Thai that said you had to be a citizen, permanent residence didn’t cut it. I regret tossing the sheet back but not what I said. They called me rude.

 

For goodness sake Thailand. Do you want domestic tourists? Look, I’m all in favor of charging foreign tourists more, perhaps several times more. 

 

But taxpayers? People who have lived in Thailand, work here, raise families, contribute to the economy, have long term visas? It may not be a huge sum of money but 200 baht when the wife is 40 baht is galling. I wouldn’t pay. 

 

We went to the beach and the children got stung by jellyfish tentacles instead. A great day out!

 

For such annoying pettiness, for the complete debacle that has been Thailand’s pandemic response and the utterly shambolic “reopening'' -  all of Prayut and his cronies need to go. 

 

At the very least the country needs a new government properly elected by the people. 

 

And tourism - foreign and domestic - needs a complete remodelling with the creation of a Minister for Tourism Reform. Not some billionaire lackey with a nice tie. Someone with some savvy, someone who understands tourism. Someone who understands the modern world, the post-pandemic world. Someone with a basic understanding of the internet. Someone who understands foreigners. 

 

Tricky Thailand - with its hidden charges and rip-offs, no-quarantine quarantine - needs to wake up. There is competition out there and if you want even a fraction of that 20% of GDP returned you’d better not just fiddle while the Chinese wait in the wings.

 

The time to act is now. 

 

Meanwhile, the raids continued this time on the second floor of what appeared to be a Soi Cowboy bar - 61 pointless arrests that send further daggers to the heart of the night-time industry as foreigners observe from afar, shake their heads and say…”maybe later”. Maybe….

 

Bill Heinecke - mistaken as a foreigner by many on ASEAN NOW - is in fact a Thai billionaire. His call for alcohol to be allowed in hotels because “those drinkers are responsible unlike yobs in the bars” (I paraphrase) smacked of appalling self-interest and disregard for his fellow Thais. Nothing new there.

 

And if the tourists think they might be enjoying some clean air, think again.

 

The burning season is approaching and the usual scapegoats - vehicle emissions - are already being trumpeted. While the scandalous sugar industry remains politically untouchable, polluting bodies with their product and lungs with their connivance in the stubble burning. 

 

Welcome to Thailand 4.0!

 

To cap it all off a new Delta strain was discovered accompanied by that familiar “nothing to worry about” line. I’m afraid we’ve heard that all before, ad feckin’ nauseam.

 

The Covid numbers generally continued their decline as did the deaths. But I haven’t the slightest doubt that Prayut has no Plan B for the inevitable rise in cases when the country opens up more, foreigners or no foreigners. It’ll be more lockdowns, more kids off school, more anger, more fear. 

 

More failure - his stock-in-trade.

 

In other news this week the woman who cut the rope of the painters at the high rise condo in Pak Kret admitted the crime and faces attempted murder. 

 

A scandal of substandard medical gloves exported to the US seems connected to the abduction of a Taiwanese businessman by Thai cops and US marines in March. 

 

A well known Thai music producer was under fire after inappropriate touching allegations of his own children. 

 

There was very little to raise a smile and after my first week off this year I’m not going to try.

 

Do I regret coming back from Brazil all those years ago and making my life in Thailand? 

 

Of course I don’t. 

 

It’s been an incredible life and I’m optimistic as ever that there are better times ahead.

 

But do I see so much that needs to be put right about Thailand?

 

Of course I do.

 

Only a fool would suggest otherwise. 

 

Rooster

 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2021-10-31

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

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[tonray]

6 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Then she mentioned the Big C word

You mean "Buy One, Get One" ?

[OneMoreFarang]

Sorry, I didn't read all of it.

But it seems you were unhappy and you tried to make a change for more happiness and that didn't work out the way you expected.

Fine. You tried.

I think it is a lot better to try something new and learn from that compared to always doing the same and dreaming abut what could have been and sometime later in life asking questions like: what would life have been over there?

[MyFriend You]

47 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

 

 

And tourism - foreign and domestic - needs a complete remodelling with the creation of a Minister for Tourism Reform. Not some billionaire lackey with a nice tie. Someone with some savvy, someone who understands tourism. Someone who understands the modern world, the post-pandemic world. Someone with a basic understanding of the internet. Someone who understands foreigners.

.................and I nominate ROOSTER59 for the job.   Farang Minister of Foreign Tourist Affairs (FMFTA).  ????   ????   ????

[ezzra]

51 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Bill Heinecke - mistaken as a foreigner by many on ASEAN NOW - is in fact a Thai billionaire

Bill Heinecke whom i know from the days when we use to fly from the same aerodrome IS an American born 100 % foreigner with a Thai citizenship that's make him legally Thai...

[chicowoodduck]

33 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Sorry, I didn't read all of it.

But it seems you were unhappy and you tried to make a change for more happiness and that didn't work out the way you expected.

Fine. You tried.

I think it is a lot better to try something new and learn from that compared to always doing the same and dreaming abut what could have been and sometime later in life asking questions like: what would life have been over there?

Anytime I see a response from you I make a quick trip to the dark side…????

[Mark mark]

Nice Rooster !!! You still can make a story out of Nothing !!! ... ...  Like "Escape to South America" !!! What were you Thinking !!! ... They cut peoples hands off over there !!! Just to get their Watches !!! ... Like The American Dream !!! ... Gone Feral, out of control ! ... and just basically wrong !!!   ... (With out even arriving at their religion !!!! ????) ...  ...  Yes and Good on you, for YES, once again finding something OK to say about and in Good Old Thailand. ... Good on you. ... And I would look forward to browsing you book ??? 

 

Still just loosing my mind, and out of control, ... and Patience !!! ... Stranded in Australia. ... Mark Mark ..MARK !!! ..

 

(Like Hospital Cover to 3,000,000 THB !!! ... Yes the F' word !!! $2 or 3,000 ? AUD a year !!! if they will give it to you in the first Place !!! ... Like it makes 200B to see a Thai cave sound pretty cheap to me !!! !!!) ... I can just hear Bernard Trinks Ghost Laughing !!! as he roles over in his Grave !!! ... TIT !!!

 

(If you have University qualifications, are a Computer Programmer, and top CEO, 35 and with a LOT of energy !!! ... So you can understand the Process and make the journey to be able to get back in there !!! .... The new Must have FUNDS !!! ... "Bogans, Exclusion" ??? ... (And Old People, who are not VERY Rich !) ... .... Erra has arrived ???

Edited October 31, 2021 by Mark mark
Added just a couple of words .... "Old People" at the end

[wtfracing]

An enjoyable read thanks 

[Spellforce]

I did exactly the opposite: I was working in many unsafe countries for many years in Africa (but language was not a barrier as I can speak french, english and portuguese) and I choose to settle in Thailand 18 years ago.

 

Even if was maybe one of the bigger "butterfly" in Thailand, I knew one thing: everybody ends with one woman and then your priorities change in your new "normal" life. What matters then is security, nice people, good infrastructures, hospitals, shopping malls, internet, schools for your children etc... I'm still really happy to have choosen to settle in Thailand.

Edited October 31, 2021 by Spellforce

[Caspersfriend]

Rooster: It's realistic and honest stories such as yours that resonate with those of us who have ventured forth 'blindly' into the unknown.

 

[Tom Parkinson]

The nice part about turning 60 is that you don’t care who you p*ss off any more. Great screed! 

[Thaijack2014]

First the never ending issue about double pricing. If your Thai wife pays only 40 baht (which you pay) and your ticket costs 200 Baht - or whatever) consider this: would you be with a foreign woman, you'ld have to pay 400 Baht. Your Thai wife saved you 160 Baht!

 

What I liked to read was your story about Brazil. The first time I was there was in 1985 (I think). I was working for Lufthansa German Airlines and had a layover in Rio de Janeiro. It was june, so the Brazilian winter. But at that time too the hyperinflation was already there. In fact everything you described was as I experienced it. First time, I didn't like Brazil and it took another 4 years before I went again.

This time I too met a Brazilian through an ad in a newspaper. But unlike you, I made the mistake to get her pregnant and married her for that. She moved to my country and we had an ok marriage for the first six years. The ten years after were not so nice....

 

I could retire with 55 and my choice was: either Brazil or Thailand, both alone, without the wife. I was going to leave her. Because I knew both countries very well, I decided that Thailand was the better choice. Though I like the Brazilians as a population a bit more than the Thais, I still prefer Thailand. It is just more relaxed here.

 

I live near Pranburi, so Saam Roy Yot is not far away from me. 

 

People who complain about Thailand too much haven't been in other places. I know there are a lot of places worse than Thailand. 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Thaijack2014

[Tony125]

Read 55% of the post , maybe come back to read the rest later. Quote in your post reminded me of this song.

Ahh the good old days. I actually saw them at a club in Boston, MA  back in the day

Edited October 31, 2021 by Tony125
correction

[SidJames]

Fantastic piece Rooster.

Make sure to use a VPN when posting any critique of the powers that be here as clever & well observed words are bound to be noticed sooner or later.

I contemplated Rio as well & my portuguese was passable but life decided my destination to be otherwise.

Please let us know if you manage to publish.

 

[stephenterry]

Yes, I enjoyed your journey. Now when you write your book choose a similar style to Papillon (well worth the read - he sold 800 initial copies) and flesh out your journey with personal incidents that occurred to you throughout. For example, what happened to you in Brazil? What escapades etc. etc.?

 

Readers are inevitably nosey and enjoy reading about what others get up to - it's like having a close bond with the author!  

 

Cheers.

 

 

[FarangFB]

And Rio was way safer back in the 80s when Rooster had his experience. 

 

Brazil might look appealing from afar, but once you're in there you will have to deal with lots of issues that you never had to worry about in Thailand.

 

- Crime. Not just a petty snatch theft, but actual life threating (knife/gun) situations and even kidnapping. Criminals there will study your routine and find the best moment/place to act.

- Inefficiency/bureaucracy . Thought some Thai govt offices are slow and difficult? Now imagine them being a lot more slow, unwilling, grumpy and zero English. On top of everything the places are more crowded, harder to park and much longer queues.

 

- Renting a property is a legal nightmare. Brazilian law gives the tenant too many rights (almost impossible to evict someone in the short term) and it forces landlords to demand contracts that have difficult requirements even if you're a Brazilian with a job. They usually require a "fiador" which is a person that will be responsible for paying if you default.

- Slow service and unwillingness to sell. Some supermarkets for example, huge lines at the counters and the cashiers working snail-paced. Or going to a clothes shop and the seller talks to you like you're being a nuisance. I took a Thai lady to Brazil and she was amazed in a clothes shop and told me "look like this lady not want to sell to us"

- Traffic. Large cities such as Rio and Sao Paulo will have traffic congestions every day of the week, maybe except Sundays. Imagine the Bangkok traffic but with more bitter people, aggressive bikers (don't even dream of hitting one accidentally), beggars and the occasional crime as well if you're not in a bulletproof car.

- Society parasites: be hassled and ripped off in every corner. In Sao Paulo for example, be ready to pay the watcher (flanelinha) upfront if you park your car on a PUBLIC street to protect your car from himself. But even paying him doesn't mean he will be responsible for anything if someone else messes up your car.

- Large areas of main cities are off-limits. Rio has absolutely massive favelas that can neighbour high end areas, one wrong turn and you're taking serious risks, some favelas are guarded by teenagers with rifles that might shoot anything looking suspicious like a lost car with a gps-induced route mistake.  Sao Paulo has less favelas but a large portion of the city center looks like a zombie apocalypse movie, with drug addicted people and armed dealers literally blocking many roads. They wont shoot you on sight because you might be a buyer, but not a pleasant sight (google cracolandia).

- some things are crazy expensive. For example electronics, try to buy an iphone and you'll see that it's the most expensive in the world.

Brazil has it's plus side also, there are nice places, beautiful beaches, excellent resorts and the food is amazing, nowhere in the world the pizza is as good as in Sao Paulo, and from Sao Paulo you can drive a couple hours to the north and enjoy a weekend with a cool mountain climate or to the south and have a beach. People can be very nice if you're in the right circles. The currency is ruined making it quite cheap for foreigners.

Edited October 31, 2021 by FarangFB

[moe666]

Never left a thing in many countries and do not need to experience a thing in them to know myself.

Enjoyed your story about Brazil

[tonray]

41 minutes ago, Thaijack2014 said:

People who complain about Thailand too much haven't been in other places. I know there are a lot of places worse than Thailand. 

^^^^ This is so true

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, chicowoodduck said:

Anytime I see a response from you I make a quick trip to the dark side…????

I had a friend who owned a bar with that name in Soi 33. Is there some connection which I should be aware of? 

[Almer]

1 hour ago, TunnelRat69 said:

.................and I nominate ROOSTER59 for the job.   Farang Minister of Foreign Tourist Affairs (FMFTA).  ????   ????   ????

I second and third that

[Andycoops]

I agree there is so much to be put right here, unfortunately it's the fools who are in charge with little sign, as usual, after the snouts have been in the trough, of them ever getting out.

[Clarkey611]

23 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I had a friend who owned a bar with that name in Soi 33. Is there some connection which I should be aware of? 

Unfortunately, he died in the UK a couple of years ago. He is sadly missed for his great humour, generosity and lack of golfing skills.

[car720]

2 hours ago, chicowoodduck said:

Anytime I see a response from you I make a quick trip to the dark side…????

Why?  He's cool enough.

 

[car720]

Sounds just like the rest of us.  Had a great life, lost it, found it again and just keep on surviving despite ourselves.

[sawadee1947]

For an unprofessionell not too bad today

[Fortean1]

Good account of the pros and cons for a single guy in Brazil and elsewhere.  My family and I lived in Panama for three years, 1981-84.  We had the Army support cushion (PX, Commissary, government housing, and the 193rd Infantry Brigade), so I only briefly saw the underbelly of life in Panama City.  Sent and received teletypes on the movements of Noriega and his drug dealing.  Our comms and intel supported the British effort in the Falklands War.  I heard comments from other soldiers of Hispanic descent who favored the Argentines, saying the Malvinas belonged to them.  Odd that.

 

I visited Thailand in 1971, on R&R from Vietnam.  The cognitive dissonance (culture shock) of living in a war zone and then seeing the splendors of Bangkok a short flight away was intense.  My wife is Thai, 75 years.  If she would pass away I will probably move back to the U.S.

[Keesters]

I too have no love of british embassies.

 

1980: Libya. Returned from leave to find the company I was working for gone. My apartment occupied by others. My car disappeared. Nothing. With no visa to leave I was stranded and to make things worse a tax hostage held responsible for the companies outstanding dues. The embassy was of no help even though my company was British (of pakistani origin) owned. It took me 3 months of wheeling and dealing to get out. As the British Caledonian plane left Libyan airspace I stood up and cheered. 

 

1983: Abu Dhabi. My passport was expiring. I visited consulate and filled in form truthfully mentioning I had a second british passport. That was issued some months before in London as they understood UAE needs oneself to have passport available at all times. As UAE had no Saudi Arabia mission a second passport was needed to send there (SA) for visa. UAE british consulate official read my note about second passport and asked to see it. I handed it over. 'That's the last you'll see of that' he said. 'Come back in a week for your passport renewal. No amount of pleading including visits from my French boss would get them to change their mind. 

 

The closing of Pattaya's consular office and the debacle recently over covid vaccination and the unhelpful comments of the ambassador confirms they have no interest at all in their citizens. I'm glad I no longer pay UK taxes. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Keesters

[George Aylesham]

2 hours ago, Spellforce said:

I did exactly the opposite: I was working in many unsafe countries for many years in Africa (but language was not a barrier as I can speak french, english and portuguese) and I choose to settle in Thailand 18 years ago.

 

Even if was maybe one of the bigger "butterfly" in Thailand, I knew one thing: everybody ends with one woman and then your priorities change in your new "normal" life. What matters then is security, nice people, good infrastructures, hospitals, shopping malls, internet, schools for your children etc... I'm still really happy to have choosen to settle in Thailand.

me too - 100%

[Noah K]

Rooster!

 

"For goodness sake Thailand. Do you want domestic tourists? Look, I’m all in favor of charging foreign tourists more, perhaps several times more."

 

"But taxpayers? People who have lived in Thailand, work here, raise families, contribute to the economy, have long term visas? It may not be a huge sum of money but 200 baht when the wife is 40 baht is galling. I wouldn’t pay."

 

I made a suggestion once, but of course, it was just to my Thai and expat friends. Do like they do at Disney World in Florida. Everyone pays the same rate, but Florida residents get a discount! Who doesn't love a discount? The same can be applied here in Thailand. I have a Thai drivers license, yellow book and pink card, but for what? You are correct, Thais do need, and want serious change. They need fresh, young, intelligent, progressive thinkers incharge. And just like you, I live here, my wife and a bought property here, we built a house, and move in just a few days ago. And for all that, what do I get? Medical insurance that more than doubled if I want to continue to spend all my retirement dollars here in Thailand. I am not just complaining, I am simply pointing out what seems pretty obvious to me. Why is where you were born, like the color of your skin, religious belief, or sexual preference, a qualifier for being an "acting citizen" in the country you call home? Gotta run, the wife is making tom yum kung for dinner, my favorite.

[Mywayboy]

Sounds like my life story.

Great reading.

We all come out the other side with a few Bruises.