Do we really appreciate how lucky we are?

[BritManToo]

Every morning when I get up at dawn, the weather is perfect, the view is amazing and the woman in my bed is young and warm.

Then by about 6:30am I'm sitting on the patio with a drink and my pets running around the garden.

 

Then I think about my peers back in the UK waking up (alone?) to the cold, the wind, and the rain nearly every day, and how lucky I am to be living out my 'golden years' in Thailand.

Edited August 28, 2023 by BritManToo

[cobra]

That is a great perspective,

yes, sometimes we need to reflect on just how fortunate we are and most importantly not to take it for granted. 

Edited August 28, 2023 by cobra

[Danderman123]

Yep, I agree.

 

 

[KhunLA]

Agree, and nice to appreciate all that there is in simply being alive, and living the way one chooses. 

 

TBH, if in USA, as TH is just a different location, I doubt if much would be different.

 

Family & friends are doing the same back in USA.  Enjoying life.

Edited August 28, 2023 by KhunLA

[JAFO]

Well I am typically not one to compare where I moved from as there are pro's and cons anywhere, I do feel very fortunate to have an outstanding quality of life living here in Thailand. Wonderful wife, Nice house, easy living and most important, no debt.  

[EVENKEEL]

For me luck has zero to do with it. 

[sammieuk1]

My little bit of heaven also includes taking more out of .gov than putting in at last to ice my cake ????

[FolkGuitar]

Every once in a while, I just have to look at my life and smile...

The past 33 years living in Asia have been like a dream, a very pleasant dream, and I'm pretty sure the next 10 or so (however many I have left) will be just a pleasant.

Good company, good food, lovely location, 28 years with the same woman, and happy about it, etc., etc. No 'have to do' or 'have to be.' We just are. 

I can't imagine life being any better!  ????

Edited August 28, 2023 by FolkGuitar

[jvs]

Same here,been here for twenty years and i am sure i found what

i was looking for.

Mostly on our own and some weeks i don't even leave the yard.

Lots of hobbies and always things to do.

Picture is of the back yard a few years ago,trees are much bigger now.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by jvs

[bignok]

So true

Be thankful

Aim for 2 fun things daily

I had food poisoning last night but feel ok now

Lucky to be well so quick

Catching a bus

New town

New adventure

Beautiful gf

 

 

[bignok]

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Every morning when I get up at dawn, the weather is perfect, the view is amazing and the woman in my bed is young and warm.

Then by about 6:30am I'm sitting on the patio with a drink and my pets running around the garden.

 

Then I think about my peers back in the UK waking up (alone?) to the cold, the wind, and the rain nearly every day, and how lucky I am to be living out my 'golden years' in Thailand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every day the weather is perfect, ROFL. You live in Chiang Mai which is very polluted a couple of months every year.  

Edited August 28, 2023 by FritsSikkink

[connda]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Every morning when I get up at dawn, the weather is perfect, the view is amazing and the woman in my bed is young and warm.

Then by about 6:30am I'm sitting on the patio with a drink and my pets running around the garden.

 

Then I think about my peers back in the UK waking up (alone?) to the cold, the wind, and the rain nearly every day, and how lucky I am to be living out my 'golden years' in Thailand.

Ditto.  I reflect on the financial, societal, criminal, and political changes that have occurred in the US since I left.   Then I look around at the slice of paradise where I live where there are no government bureaucrats attempting to regulate our lives (try modifying your property in the US without submitting a wad of paperwork, easements, legal papers, and regulatory applications - Gawd) - and yeah - I appreciate it.  Although immigration can be a PITB, it's not a showstopper, and I pray it stays that way.

[JAFO]

2 hours ago, connda said:

no government bureaucrats attempting to regulate our lives (try modifying your property in the US without submitting a wad of paperwork, easements, legal papers, and regulatory applications - Gawd)

^^^^ Yeah....that is a huge upside here. 

 

I remember just adding a simple retaining wall in my backyard area took a load of time, approvals and money.  Nowadays almost everything requires an environmental impact study.  ???? 

 

Life here is just easy and uncomplicated

[pgrahmm]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Every morning when I get up at dawn, the weather is perfect, the view is amazing and the woman in my bed is young and warm.

Then by about 6:30am I'm sitting on the patio with a drink and my pets running around the garden.

 

Then I think about my peers back in the UK waking up (alone?) to the cold, the wind, and the rain nearly every day, and how lucky I am to be living out my 'golden years' in Thailand.

Amen brother.....

I'm going to find out next month as we're going back to the US for 4 months....We haven't been there since pre Covid.....

I keep looking at my dog & thinking how much I'm going to miss him ......

Edited August 28, 2023 by pgrahmm

[Reginald Prewster]

Everyone is his own fortune's blacksmith..

 

Some forge a stone table in Thailand with their luck and others a wealthy life at his pool, or like me at my own fishing lake...

But I need luck not to drown in it, when the biggest fish in my life is hooked. 

Till now i wasn't lucky to catch it..

 

That's life, isn't it? 

[Sticky Rice Balls]

5 hours ago, KhunLA said:

TBH, if in USA, as TH is just a different location, I doubt if much would be different.

I'll start as Im a Yank as well....

 

I dont worry about walking into a 7-11 and getting shot by white male domestic terrorist who are Q nuts-Maga cultists that hate anyone that is not white...hes a link, i have many , many more...sadly...

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/multiple-people-killed-jacksonville-store-shooting-mayor-102589687

 

I like how Desantis calls the shooter a scumbag.....oh the typical Irony of the gun loving GOP

 

So yes I find the differences between USA and LOS to me much much more than "location"

and is the reason i am in LOS...love it or leave it...good riddance....such a toxic place

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

For me luck has zero to do with it. 

Perhaps you should feel lucky that no drunk driver maimed you, that you haven't had cancer or some other debilitating disease over which you have no control ( I'm assuming there- apologies if wrong ), and that you were able to gain sufficient wealth to go live in LOS, and were not born a peasant in China.

[KhunLA]

7 minutes ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

I'll start as Im a Yank as well....

 

I dont worry about walking into a 7-11 and getting shot by white male domestic terrorist who are Q nuts-Maga cultists that hate anyone that is not white...hes a link, i have many , many more...sadly...

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/multiple-people-killed-jacksonville-store-shooting-mayor-102589687

 

I like how Desantis calls the shooter a scumbag.....oh the typical Irony of the gun loving GOP

 

So yes I find the differences between USA and LOS to me much much more than "location"

and is the reason i am in LOS...love it or leave it...good riddance....such a toxic place

My reference to 'location' would be somewhere that I would actually live, and more than enough in USA to choose from.   Although I would have a legal firearm on me, and not expect to ever need it, as in the past when living in the USA.

 

Much the same as here, rural-ish, but close to anything wanted or needed.  If you can't find that in the USA, or here, you're not looking very hard.

[spidermike007]

We are very luck indeed. Or very fortunate. Which seems less accidental than lucky. Some of us are enjoying the great fortune of being with a very good woman. Every day with mine is a very good day. She is the same lovely woman from one day to the next. She has a smile on her face when she wakes up in the morning. Never experienced that in the states. Some Thais manifest that unbearable lightness of being, that is so delightful to be around. I cannot really get enough of that spirit, and feel so blessed to be around that, and to have found such a well adjusted and delightful creature. Many of us have been fortunate to find very good women, who brings alot to the table, and has a sense of appreciation, gratitude, and is not too arrogant to say thank you. And visa versa. I never hesitate to praise my gal, and thank her for her kindness, a lovely meal, and other things she does to improve my life. 

 

And then there is the standard of living. Thailand is still reasonable. I know people who pay 10,000 baht a month for newer 3 bedroom houses in nice towns. In major cities in the US? $2000-3800 a month. That is 120,000 baht! And anything labor related here is still cheap. Food is a bargain at many restaurants. Good 4 star hotels in major cities like Bangkok for 2,000 to 2,500 baht a night. And for single friends, who like renting a gal, that is still reasonable too! Yes, we have it very good here. 

[473geo]

I enjoyed life in the Uk 

Enjoying life in Thailand 

 

Fortunate to have the opportunity to live here ???? definitely 

Edited August 28, 2023 by 473geo

[spidermike007]

20 minutes ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

I'll start as Im a Yank as well....

 

I dont worry about walking into a 7-11 and getting shot by white male domestic terrorist who are Q nuts-Maga cultists that hate anyone that is not white...hes a link, i have many , many more...sadly...

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/multiple-people-killed-jacksonville-store-shooting-mayor-102589687

 

I like how Desantis calls the shooter a scumbag.....oh the typical Irony of the gun loving GOP

 

So yes I find the differences between USA and LOS to me much much more than "location"

and is the reason i am in LOS...love it or leave it...good riddance....such a toxic place

 

 

As another Yank, who travels back there two or three times a year, I totally agree. I feel far safer here. And it is a real pleasure to be this far away from the extremists of each party, be they republican, or democrat. 

[EVENKEEL]

42 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Perhaps you should feel lucky that no drunk driver maimed you, that you haven't had cancer or some other debilitating disease over which you have no control ( I'm assuming there- apologies if wrong ), and that you were able to gain sufficient wealth to go live in LOS, and were not born a peasant in China.

JHC, aren't you a fun one.

[Sticky Rice Balls]

48 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

My reference to 'location' would be somewhere that I would actually live, and more than enough in USA to choose from.   Although I would have a legal firearm on me, and not expect to ever need it, as in the past when living in the USA.

 

Much the same as here, rural-ish, but close to anything wanted or needed.  If you can't find that in the USA, or here, you're not looking very hard.

why do you need a firearm? 

[Sticky Rice Balls]

39 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

As another Yank, who travels back there two or three times a year, I totally agree. I feel far safer here. And it is a real pleasure to be this far away from the extremists of each party, be they republican, or democrat. 

Im 6 months here and 6 back in the Wild West but only jump into work to get cash to come back

 

Tell everyone im from Canada here..

[Sticky Rice Balls]

44 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

We are very luck indeed. Or very fortunate. Which seems less accidental than lucky. Some of us are enjoying the great fortune of being with a very good woman. Every day with mine is a very good day. She is the same lovely woman from one day to the next. She has a smile on her face when she wakes up in the morning. Never experienced that in the states. Some Thais manifest that unbearable lightness of being, that is so delightful to be around. I cannot really get enough of that spirit, and feel so blessed to be around that, and to have found such a well adjusted and delightful creature. Many of us have been fortunate to find very good women, who brings alot to the table, and has a sense of appreciation, gratitude, and is not too arrogant to say thank you. And visa versa. I never hesitate to praise my gal, and thank her for her kindness, a lovely meal, and other things she does to improve my life. 

 

And then there is the standard of living. Thailand is still reasonable. I know people who pay 10,000 baht a month for newer 3 bedroom houses in nice towns. In major cities in the US? $2000-3800 a month. That is 120,000 baht! And anything labor related here is still cheap. Food is a bargain at many restaurants. Good 4 star hotels in major cities like Bangkok for 2,000 to 2,500 baht a night. And for single friends, who like renting a gal, that is still reasonable too! Yes, we have it very good here. 

yep pretty much financial for me..basic human needs  Housing--healthy food and healthcare

 

all $$$$ in the states...... makes sense why many retire here for just a better quality of life

 

I lose weight --lower BP and cholesterol asi do bloodwork before leaving and upon return as i challenged my Doc to let me come to LOS for 6 months and see if i can improve it as my mental and physical health improves here without even trying as opposed to stress and toxic america

[freedomnow]

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Every morning when I get up at dawn, the weather is perfect, the view is amazing and the woman in my bed is young and warm.

Then by about 6:30am I'm sitting on the patio with a drink and my pets running around the garden.

 

Then I think about my peers back in the UK waking up (alone?) to the cold, the wind, and the rain nearly every day, and how lucky I am to be living out my 'golden years' in Thailand.

Barely been raining last few months in UK where I am and weather has been lovely...super super clean air..no crazy driving while I'm on my mountain bike 7 days a week.

Dating game a higher bar here for sure and for guys over 40 it's tough/impossible unless you are relentless...over 50 almost zero... and its a bit of a dogpound on the female side after 38 which is why my target audience is 24-34 on dating websites.

 

Taking a time-out with my Thai g/f and see where things go for both of us.

 

UK overheads tough though....all that money into council tax could be going into coffee and western meals back in Los.

Am clear of mortgages etc, so lucky on that front...not as bad as I viewed UK before.

 

Doing part of year on both countries ideal for me vs stuck in 1.

 

[KannikaP]

6 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Yep, I agree.

 

 

Yuk, horrible.

[KannikaP]

I feel exactly the same as Brit Man and Spidermike.  

[Lacessit]

Returning to Thailand in 5 days. Back to inexpensive massages, and a sense of freedom I just have not had in Australia. My GF has been waiting patiently for me.

Yes, I appreciate how lucky I am.