An Expat Who Left Thailand

[jayboy]

16 hours ago, nauseus said:

his main reason for going back was to resume well-paid flying work

 

Good luck with passing the very stringent medical that's required.

[EVENKEEL]

39 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

It's funny how anybody who mentions anything negative in Thailand gets personally attacked like they have some sort of mental problem or defect.

 

That's actually why I posted the video. There are other people out there that won't deny the shortcomings of the place. I actually agree with almost all this guys complaints.

Of course Thailand has many shortcomings, just so happened this guy isn't stuck here financially. He has the funds to move back. Good for him. He just didn't find his groove here.

[ChaiyaTH]

Have to say it is a very valid big annoying part of daily life in Thailand: traffic. The amount of people driving double lanes alone, that basically causes the traffic jams... I find myself ordering out often just to not get agitated and lose time due to this, while I love driving and nature is great.

 

Last time I was counting for fun, assuming I would be recording, how many times I would fine people doing insane stuff, on a 15 minute scooter ride. I lost count really, but it was over 40 times, 40 different people and at least 5 near accidents.

[KhunLA]

Excellent vid, and yea, I'm bored, actually watched the whole thing.  Narrator sucks, but subject of, Scott got it right.

 

Mirrors the advice I give ....  TH is not for everyone.  Living here is not like visiting.  Don't burn your bridges, or sell up, unless you 'KNOW' you won't be returning.

 

RENT before buying in, 1 or 2 years and different areas.  Very honest, he came here for cheap living & women, but that comes at a price.  Heat & different culture.

 

He's lucky he could afford to take the hits he did, sucks, but could afford it, and has a job to go back to.   Along with being a short timer here, so as much as the sticker shock is returning, it not like a 10 or 20+ yr difference that it would be for me.    

 

Housing in US is off the charts, and if buying back in, would use up my oops fund, along with healthcare for minor oops.  I have not desire to work again, unless I was getting 6 figures like he will.

 

Agree completely with everything Scot said.  Heat can be oppressive, and like him, coming from Memphis area, (5 yrs living there), and 38C everyday for a month was not rare, but you get the relief of cooler weather the rest of the year.

 

He's correct on the tax enforcement now, and he'd probably get hit with a max tax rate on his savings & pension being brought in.   Why I say the commentator sucks, but he's living on SS or VA and won't affect him.

 

50% hit on his truck ... ouch.

 

Even good research will not prepare you for the reality of living here.   It is not for everyone.  Me, still Lovin' it.

[ChaiyaTH]

14 hours ago, CHdiver said:

I hope he did a health check up before going back. Pilots have to be healthy for flying and they have mandatory health check ups. He looks like a prime candidate for high blood pressure, diabetes and other weight related problems. I wonder how he even fits into a seat in a modern Jet Cockpit.

Plenty of assumptions, you clearly didn't meet many pilots, seen enough look like him. Secondly, modern commercial flights, as he said he was, have plenty of space.

[ChaiyaTH]

What is it with americans always talking gross numbers if it comes to how much they can earn and make while in reality they are often broke + need to go to work again. It always sounds like America is this amazing place where everyone earns 6 digits, while in reality everyone lives on creditcards.

[degrub]

It’s how you are measured here. 

[Presnock]

23 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

What is it with americans always talking gross numbers if it comes to how much they can earn and make while in reality they are often broke + need to go to work again. It always sounds like America is this amazing place where everyone earns 6 digits, while in reality everyone lives on creditcards.

problem is planning/spending.  I could easily live in the US if I had stayed there, was living in one of the houses I owned but to go back now, try to find a livable house that I could afford is just about impossible if I even felt like it.  I still love too much about Thailand to even consider that.  I realized from the start that Thailand was not perfect by any means but life here to me is just great.  I love the food choices, love the travels around the country, love how I can save money as costs are much lower than in the US.  I am not a fan of the drivers here and thus traffic problems.  I think many things have changed in a positive manner...look at the moving around BKK nowadays compared to 20 years ago...train stations being added regularly, can avoid traffic jams; immigration too has changed...now with the LTR available even more so; and even the foods that I love, I now can buy just about any kind of food I want - something that many many years ago would have been impossible.  As for other Americans, too many just waste too much money and once problems start, credit cards become their go to favorites - the economy goes up and down, interest rates zoom too and pretty soon a credit card issuer sends a note that they will give you a different card to pay off the other cards and the increases just keep growing.  My father refused to ever get a credit card and told me many times that if I did get one to never pay just the minimum payment or one would eventully go broke with the cards.  So, that was my philosophy - and I still follow that and while I use a credit card regularly, I pay it off totally every month - just don't want to have to carry cash around all the time or pay by checks.  Even in Calf now, fast food places have to pay their workers 20 USD an hour yet none will ever be able to buy a house on that salary in Calf - a news program indicated that every morning, some 600K Americans come across the US border with Mexico to go to work in Calf  - they have bought housing in Mexico that they can't afford in the US...also in San Franciso, there are no houses sold under a million dollars nowadays.  Last year the population of Calf decreased by quite a bit as those people fled to states where life was cheaper!  Yeah, in the US one can make a lot of money but it costs so much in taxes and other things necessary in life, it becomes difficult to manage that money...just check out some of the college costs!  Obama & co enticed way too many youngsters and their families to take out loans for a useless piece of paper and now his number 2 as president is trying to forgive all those loans while the rest of us paid our own way after signing for something that the rest of the X Y and Z generations are crying about.  Now they are preparing for an election...since I became a voter too many years ago, I always voted for the lesser of two evils, then I stopped voting as they were worse and worst, and now just two real evils that will bring about about total failure of the US as a nation.  Glad I am OLD now but worry about my kids and their future.  But for all ex-pats here in Thailand...it is still a paradise or can be if one elects the essential things in life in my opinion.  I am a happy camper here.

[CHdiver]

7 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Plenty of assumptions, you clearly didn't meet many pilots, seen enough look like him. Secondly, modern commercial flights, as he said he was, have plenty of space.

He clearly is grossly overweight, every Dr. will agree with me that he most likely get health problems because of this.  I did never see a pilot like him waddling around any Airport I frequent. However I do not fly to the land of the free or use US Airlines. 

 

A 320 Cockpit. I guess they have a smaller middle console for the US. So Guys like him can fit into the seat without pushing some nobs with the fat that would spill over?

[cjinchiangrai]

More room for me, see ya!

 

I would like to know a little more about the tax thing but I have not seen any rates or reconciliation procedures. They have not deducted any money yet as well.

[JimTripper]

I wonder how he bought a house in the Usa while in Thailand?

 

That entails traveling back there, staying in hotels, being lucky enough to find a perfect property while you are in the hotel available to view it, etc. Unless, he just rock stared it and bought sight unseen.

 

Not easy at all unless you are really loaded and just don't care about expenses. Thst's one of the reasons why I'm looking at Mexico. It's so close to the Usa I can just bop over and view properties.

[KhunLA]

1 minute ago, JimTripper said:

I wonder how he bought a house in the Usa while in Thailand?

 

That entails traveling back there, staying in hotels, being lucky enough to find a perfect property while you are in the hotel available to view it, etc.

 

Not easy at all unless you are really loaded and just don't care about expenses. Thst's one of the reasons why I'm looking at Mexico. It's so close to the Usa I can just bop over and view properties.

Pretty obvious he's flush with cash, as any 30 yr pilot should be, on their salaries.

[KhunLA]

17 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

More room for me, see ya!

 

I would like to know a little more about the tax thing but I have not seen any rates or reconciliation procedures. They have not deducted any money yet as well.

There's a couple threads on the tax thing with all the info you need.   You just need to peek at those or use Ms Google ... same info found there.

 

Sliding tax rates (which he'd probably fall in the highest) and basic deductibles if you look.

[NorthernRyland]

22 hours ago, connda said:

Wife wanted lots and lots of "stuff" and never could get enough.  I gave away/sold "stuff" she collected that still had the price tags on them.  I have very few needs and even fewer wants, so I don't collect "stuff." 

I got in a fight with my Thai wife last week because she had packed the freezer full of old bananas she was going to make banana bread with, like 2 years ago, and I literally couldn't keep some frozen food cold which I was going to eat the following week.

 

I told her to pitch the garbage bananas and she refused because "it's her stuff". I lost my temper and eventually she tossed them but seriously. People with hoarding tendencies are a burden to live with at times.

[PJ71]

11 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

What is it with americans always talking gross numbers if it comes to how much they can earn and make while in reality they are often broke + need to go to work again. It always sounds like America is this amazing place where everyone earns 6 digits, while in reality everyone lives on creditcards.

Not unique only to US, most of europe too.

[0ffshore360]

14 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

I got in a fight with my Thai wife last week because she had packed the freezer full of old bananas she was going to make banana bread with, like 2 years ago, and I literally couldn't keep some frozen food cold which I was going to eat the following week.

 

I told her to pitch the garbage bananas and she refused because "it's her stuff". I lost my temper and eventually she tossed them but seriously. People with hoarding tendencies are a burden to live with at times.

Purely out of banal curiosity the intention to make banana bread was for who?

Most Thais I know only have a very small interest in such an item.

[Angus55]

On 5/18/2024 at 3:25 PM, jaideedave said:

"I even have a grave bought and paid for in the foreign cemetery"

I've been there on my 1st trip to LOS...In 1991 if I recall near the river and a bridge nearby.A lot of history there. Some UK based teak vendors ....I read a book with some of the history of that cemetary.  There were some  prominent foreign teak merchants there. In the era of Rama V ...

You'll be in good company. cheers

I think you mean Kanchanaburi.

[NorthernRyland]

2 minutes ago, 0ffshore360 said:

Purely out of banal curiosity the intention to make banana bread was for who?

Most Thais I know only have a very small interest in such an item.

I forget but she was selling it with a friend or making it for friends at work. I guess she got bored and still had supply left over. She's a minor hoarder and if I don't step in she'll keep useless garbage for years and struggle to get rid of it. Next time I'm going to throw it away and not tell her. If it's just gone she won't care but if you confront them they really feel the loss and fight back. It's mental I know.

[save the frogs]

This whole situation with Trump could get ugly and the US could descend into chaos.

If you're american, is it really a good time to be considering going back now? or maybe wait to see what happens?

 

 

[MangoKorat]

On 5/18/2024 at 8:53 AM, worgeordie said:

I even have a grave bought and paid for in the foreign cemetery ,so I will

never be leaving Thailand .

Really? You can do that?

 

Great news for me, I've told all my Thai friends not to burn me - just in case there's been a mistake and I'm sleeping heavy.

[Red Forever]

On 5/18/2024 at 2:34 PM, BritManToo said:

It'll never happen, next you'll be claiming the sea will rise, or you'll die if you don't have vaccinations ........ all just scare stories.

Guy in the video is a prize chump, buys a new expensive car  (sells it at 1/2 price a year later), rents a house for 3x the going rate (30kbht/month), can't travel without a container of baggage (now including a Thai gf).

Not scare stories. Seas have risen, vaccination has saved millions of lives. 

Although what that has to do with a guy who can't travel light I don't know. 

[MarkyM3]

On 5/18/2024 at 2:18 PM, AnotherOneHere said:

Of course I didn't watch the video. Could't care less about it.

Yet you found time to post a wildly speculative precis of it in the post before that, despite having not watched any of it. Yeah right 😄

 

[MarkyM3]

Thanks to the OP for putting the vid up. I found it an interesting watch, as someone who might be spending a lot more time in the country in future as I move to semi-retirement. Difference in my case is I've spent plenty of time there in previous years and the reasons he gave are not an issue for me (and I don't even bother driving in Thailand tbh). 

 

It seems this guy didn't do his research or understand his motivations. Fair enough and good luck to him, he said he's lived in plenty of places before so it's just the next adventure. I can't quite understand people hammering him, he's hardly scraping the breadline, airline pilots are making serious dough these days in the US.

 

Bit surprised he would pass the airline medical though carrying that amount of timber. Hope he drops a few pounds for his own sake.

[ronster]

On 5/18/2024 at 2:53 PM, worgeordie said:

I even have a grave bought and paid for in the foreign cemetery

Tried renting it out ? 

[MarkyM3]

22 hours ago, CHdiver said:

He clearly is grossly overweight, every Dr. will agree with me that he most likely get health problems because of this.  I did never see a pilot like him waddling around any Airport I frequent. However I do not fly to the land of the free or use US Airlines. 

 

A 320 Cockpit. I guess they have a smaller middle console for the US. So Guys like him can fit into the seat without pushing some nobs with the fat that would spill over?

The guy stated he was flying intercontinental so I somehow doubt he's flying an A320 considering it's a short/intermediate haul aircraft.....likely flying cargo 747 or something.

[radiochaser]

On 5/18/2024 at 3:38 AM, Hummin said:

If I leave Thailand, thats it, one suitcase, 

 

Okay, for your information, sea is rising again, ice is melting, as it have before,  

And if it were not for the melting ice, we could still walk from Russia to Alaska.   A long walk to be sure, but still ... if it were not for melting ice!

 

"It wasn’t the first time that ice had sucked up the sea. Vast ice sheets have grown and retreated many times over the past 2.5 million years."

 

https://eos.org/articles/the-bering-land-bridge-formed-much-later-than-previously-thought

[simon43]

6 minutes ago, MarkyM3 said:

The guy stated he was flying intercontinental so I doubt he's flying an A320 considering the range.....likely flying cargo 747 or something.

Is he the heavy cargo?? 🙂

[newbee2022]

On 5/18/2024 at 2:07 PM, JimTripper said:

Another evacuee. Refreshing honesty. I like the discussion about taxes. You don't get a tax receipt with just savings money coming in, that's only for retirement pensions or social security. Thai revenue probably won't review actual Usa Irs tax returns so there's no way I know of to prove that money has already been taxed in another country.

 

 

 

18 months in Thailand and give up? What a coward! Outta with him🤗

[Hanuman2547]

I lived and worked in Bangkok for 12 years back in the very late 80's to the early 00's.  I liked it and it was mostly good.  Bangkok definitely has its pro's and con's.  I thought I would be returning to Thailand but it didn't happen.  When I retire, I will most likely spend the northern hemisphere winter in Thailand and the rest of the time in my home country.  Looking at mid-November to early March in Thailand.  

[scorecard]

On 5/18/2024 at 2:53 PM, worgeordie said:

Leaving after 20 months , he's never really tried to adapt to living here,

I arrived here 36 years ago with a spare pair trousers,couple shirts,socks,

underware, and shortwave radio *,I was not planning staying here ,I was

on my way to Costa Rica the long way around, 

 

Just fell in love with Chiang Mai , which was so different than it is today,,

Built a house ,started a family ,and would not change a thing ,very happy,

I even have a grave bought and paid for in the foreign cemetery ,so I will

never be leaving Thailand .        * and plenty money ...that's important .

 

Regards Worgeordie

 Transferred her by my western employer 35+ years ago. 

 

Found a wonderful Thai lady (dr. of medicine), one Thai son -  my best friend in life.

 

Achieved thai permanent Residency 27 years ago. Retired then invited to lecture at good uni.

 

Now permanently retired, spending many hrs every day with 4 wonderful Thai grandchildren. 

 

Life is good.