1 minute ago, proton said:

 

Sounds like a right hoot down there then 😆

It's not for everyone, but I'm happy living here, surrounded by mosques and the Muslim culture, instead of scantily clad girls and farangs in singlets.

No celebration of songkran, buddhist holidays or other festivals, but only Eid al-fitr and Eid al-Adha are celebrated by beautifully dressed Muslim women and their husbands.

To each his own.

Alhamdulilah

2 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

Hello all,

 

I am currently in recovery for alcoholism in Kobe. I am receiving excellent care from a brilliant team of doctors, couldn't be better..

 

However, I firmly believe that it was living in Thailand that caused me to become an alcoholic. Just dealing with Thais and their weird ways in general was enough to send anyone for a pint down the pub - add to that the pollution, the traffic, the corruption, the lack of things to do (other than drink), the scamming, cheating women, the heat, the cheapness and easy availability of alcohol itself - my question is, Does living in Thailand drive people to drink? or at least does it have the potential to do so?

 

I have been an alcoholic for almost 30 years now, but I am on the long road to recovery and I am under the best care I could possibly be.

 

It would be impossible to receive the care that I am currently receiving here in Kobe anywhere in Thailand.

 

Compared to Japan, the Thai healthcare system is severely lacking in many areas, especially areas related to addiction and psychiatry. 

 

Kobe Don.

Alcohol isn't cheap here.

10 minutes ago, MarcelV said:

It's not for everyone, but I'm happy living here, surrounded by mosques and the Muslim culture, instead of scantily clad girls and farangs in singlets.

No celebration of songkran, buddhist holidays or other festivals, but only Eid al-fitr and Eid al-Adha are celebrated by beautifully dressed Muslim women and their husbands.

To each his own.

Alhamdulilah

 

Getting away from Mosques and Islam was why I came to Thailand, nothing but trouble and misery comes from Islam. 6K killed down there in the last 25 years by jihadist terror. We do have muslim friends in Bkk, but they are not the pyjama wearing Quran bashing types.

58 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

pattaya is designed to get you to drink 24/7

No place is designed to get you to drink 24/7 except your brain if you let it!

6 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

Does living in Thailand drive people to drink?

 

Not one bit. But reading posts like yours, with so much of your ‘positive’ energy, really makes me think I should start investing in rope for a dramatic exit plan. You know, just to escape the sheer agony of it all, and… well, of course, your posts. They’re like the perfect cure for anyone suffering from too much optimism. In fact, drinking is probably not enough to even make your posts insufferably tolerable at all.

4 hours ago, proton said:

 Drunks are boring but ex drunks going on about how long it is since they had a drink are worse

Just like ex-smokers

Cheap booze can encourage the weak to become drunks...but these people were already drunks before comming...they come here because for the cheap booze.

9 hours ago, Mike_Hunt said:

Alcoholics blame everyone but themself.  

Yep - and they assume that everyone else are alcoholics like themselves and all those other people are in denial and need to be in recovery because they themselves have now found their God of Recovery, and of course, everyone else must as well.  Underneath an alcoholic in a 12 step program is someone who religiously beliefs that all his/her friends and acquaintances are alcoholics in denial.  Then they get self-righteous.  What they can't fathom is that a lot of people can take it or leave it and alcohol consumption doesn't rule their lives.  It makes them overbearing as they constantly talk about their "addiction" when others just want to crack a beer open and socialize.  I've lost acquaintances who were full blown alcoholics "in recovery for years" and they can be a real PITA to have around in social circles where normal people who don't drink all of the time decide of have a gathering with beer, wine, and other beverages. It's best if these people hang in their own circle of friends.  They are like an evangelist who has "found God" and now believes that you need to "find God" too - or else!

So OP.  Just quit.  Stay with your friends who are in recovery, and don't come back.  You'll be happier.  So will we.

10 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

I firmly believe that it was living in Thailand that caused me to become an alcoholic. Just dealing with Thais and their weird ways in general was enough to send anyone for a pint down the pub - add to that the pollution, the traffic, the corruption, the lack of things to do (other than drink), the scamming, cheating women, the heat, the cheapness and easy availability of alcohol itself - my question is, Does living in Thailand drive people to drink? or at least does it have the potential to do so?

My guess is that you couldn't handle life wherever you use to live.  You probably were in the piss most of the time there too.  So you sought a change in SE Asian.  So instead of indulging in the culture, you involved yourself in the decadence that is easy enough to find here because this isn't an over-the-top-Christian-based-moralistic society where everyone suffers from angst and guilt like they do in the West.  You brought your Western values with you and tried to carve out a spot in Thai culture that would meet your Western desires.  What did you find?  You found Thailand viewed through the Western bubble which enveloped you -  so now you blame your problems on Thailand.
Did you immerse into the culture including Buddhism?  Let me answer that for you: "No!'

So now you're "In Recovery" and "receiving excellent care from a brilliant team of doctors" who, knowing your past posts, are probably out of the price range of the rest of us peasants and low-lifes.

bob/Don/whatever_you're_calling_yourself_now: You have problems.  And whether you are in Kobe, or Bangkok, or New York, or London, or Dubai - you'll still have problems - it's not about your surroundings, they aren't the problem - the problem is inside you, and ever right now - you're not facing it and dealing with it.

Start with "Humility" in your recovery.  Until you find that, you're spinning your wheels, spraying mud everywhere, and going nowhere. 

I'd wish you luck, but you have yet to hit bottom. Until you do, it's a game to you.  Get over yourself.

7 hours ago, MarcelV said:

It's not for everyone, but I'm happy living here, surrounded by mosques and the Muslim culture, instead of scantily clad girls and farangs in singlets.

No celebration of songkran, buddhist holidays or other festivals, but only Eid al-fitr and Eid al-Adha are celebrated by beautifully dressed Muslim women and their husbands.

To each his own.

Alhamdulilah

my life sounds so boring compared to yours

8 hours ago, cjinchiangrai said:

Don't give him any more ideas for his literary ramblings.

The next thing we're going to hear is that he's converted to Islam.

No.

Do they not have an xpat forum site in Japan?

9 hours ago, MarcelV said:

It's not for everyone, but I'm happy living here, surrounded by mosques and the Muslim culture, instead of scantily clad girls and farangs in singlets.

No celebration of songkran, buddhist holidays or other festivals, but only Eid al-fitr and Eid al-Adha are celebrated by beautifully dressed Muslim women and their husbands.

To each his own.

Alhamdulilah

" surrounded by mosques and the Muslim culture, instead of scantily clad girls "

Stop tempting me.

10 hours ago, proton said:

 Drunks are boring but ex drunks going on about how long it is since they had a drink are worse

Ha ha. True.

I don't count anymore cuz nobody cares.

8 hours ago, rough diamond said:

No place is designed to get you to drink 24/7 except your brain if you let it!

Ahhhhh I see.

Thank you Sensei.

Can I try and snatch the pebble from your hand now?

9 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

People get isolated and bored very easily in Thailand which is a breeding ground for drinking. Lots of bars doesn't help either. Probably a really bad place to be if you have alcohol problems.

This is exactly it. Thailand outside of the beach areas is a very boring place to live, unless you do gardening all the time or play golf. Very little to do in the country areas besides drink, and this is why so many locals have problems with alcohol and die young from cheap liquor. Very much like how crack took off in the US Midwest, another boring place where farming is the mainstay with no beaches or other activities besides seasonal hunting and fishing.

I'll never understand why foreigners waste their days drinking in bars, talking rubbish and growing their bellies day after day.  I go out and I have a drink but I have never and will never fall into the daily ritual that so many do.

 

Get out, do things - you might just live a bit longer.

 

12 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

Hello all,

 

I am currently in recovery for alcoholism in Kobe. I am receiving excellent care from a brilliant team of doctors, couldn't be better..

 

However, I firmly believe that it was living in Thailand that caused me to become an alcoholic. Just dealing with Thais and their weird ways in general was enough to send anyone for a pint down the pub - add to that the pollution, the traffic, the corruption, the lack of things to do (other than drink), the scamming, cheating women, the heat, the cheapness and easy availability of alcohol itself - my question is, Does living in Thailand drive people to drink? or at least does it have the potential to do so?

 

I have been an alcoholic for almost 30 years now, but I am on the long road to recovery and I am under the best care I could possibly be.

 

It would be impossible to receive the care that I am currently receiving here in Kobe anywhere in Thailand.

 

Compared to Japan, the Thai healthcare system is severely lacking in many areas, especially areas related to addiction and psychiatry. 

 

Kobe Don.

Best of luck to you.

However, I think the cornerstone of all recovery programs is accepting personal responsibility.

If a person blames Thailand he has a ways to go in that respect.

Alcohol isn't hard to get in most countries (not sure about Muslim countries), Thailand is not that different.

People and their ways can drive a person crazy anywhere (again maybe a little introspection is called for here).

So...

 

12 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

Hello all,

 

I am currently in recovery for alcoholism in Kobe. I am receiving excellent care from a brilliant team of doctors, couldn't be better..

 

However, I firmly believe that it was living in Thailand that caused me to become an alcoholic. Just dealing with Thais and their weird ways in general was enough to send anyone for a pint down the pub - add to that the pollution, the traffic, the corruption, the lack of things to do (other than drink), the scamming, cheating women, the heat, the cheapness and easy availability of alcohol itself - my question is, Does living in Thailand drive people to drink? or at least does it have the potential to do so?

 

I have been an alcoholic for almost 30 years now, but I am on the long road to recovery and I am under the best care I could possibly be.

 

It would be impossible to receive the care that I am currently receiving here in Kobe anywhere in Thailand.

 

Compared to Japan, the Thai healthcare system is severely lacking in many areas, especially areas related to addiction and psychiatry. 

 

Bummer you have no self discipline at all.  You just had a drunken posting frenzy culminating in a cocaine binge last week.  I cant really see you improving at all. You obviously are paying for your alcoholism treatment and I bet its expensive. 

 

Perhaps take your treatment seriously and stay off Asean Now while you recover. Hopefully it will take a long long time.

Just as well that you are receiving treatment - without it you could end up like those fellows Bob Smith or Lewis London!

More lies from the local village idiot. Not to be beleived at all.

don't drink

13 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

Hello all,

 

I am currently in recovery for alcoholism in Kobe. I am receiving excellent care from a brilliant team of doctors, couldn't be better..

 

However, I firmly believe that it was living in Thailand that caused me to become an alcoholic. Just dealing with Thais and their weird ways in general was enough to send anyone for a pint down the pub - add to that the pollution, the traffic, the corruption, the lack of things to do (other than drink), the scamming, cheating women, the heat, the cheapness and easy availability of alcohol itself - my question is, Does living in Thailand drive people to drink? or at least does it have the potential to do so?

 

I have been an alcoholic for almost 30 years now, but I am on the long road to recovery and I am under the best care I could possibly be.

 

It would be impossible to receive the care that I am currently receiving here in Kobe anywhere in Thailand.

 

Compared to Japan, the Thai healthcare system is severely lacking in many areas, especially areas related to addiction and psychiatry. 

 

Kobe Don.

Nonsense 

Drinking habits are caused by brain and consequently by self control.

The location is irrelevant.

12 hours ago, fredwiggy said:

This is exactly it. Thailand outside of the beach areas is a very boring place to live, unless you do gardening all the time or play golf. Very little to do in the country areas besides drink, and this is why so many locals have problems with alcohol and die young from cheap liquor. Very much like how crack took off in the US Midwest, another boring place where farming is the mainstay with no beaches or other activities besides seasonal hunting and fishing.

 

That's why the concept of family was invented.

You spend time with your spouse, your kids, and eventually your grand-children.

Films and books are online and can be accessed from anywhere. 

But if people have no family, and have no interest in media/books, or sports, then the only other option is sitting in bars all day. 

 

13 hours ago, Don Giovanni said:

Does living in Thailand drive you to drink?

We are all managers, managers of our own life.
I drink regularly but know when to stop.
I'm an Aussie and love a beer.

To be a good MANAGER of your own life it's all about controlling input.
Not just alcohol, food, substance etc.

If you can't control this input you have failed in life, poor management will destroy you.
 

Just the opposite.  I hardly drink at all now.

1 hour ago, MangoKorat said:

I'll never understand why foreigners waste their days drinking in bars, talking rubbish and growing their bellies day after day.  I go out and I have a drink but I have never and will never fall into the daily ritual that so many do.

 

Get out, do things - you might just live a bit longer.

 

Because they are losers?

No. Quite the opposite.

I no longer drink alcohol at all. I wasn't a daytime drinker, but I didn't want to end up spending all my days propping up a bar, so I decided to start exercising more. Drinking (dehydration and hangovers) don't really go together with training, so I found it very easy to stop.

 

I wonder if susceptibility to alcoholism is in the genes of some people.

Live here for over 21 years, never touched alcohol or even been into a Bar here

Last time needed a drink went into a UK Pub 1990 a little bottle of OJ was 80p.. I needed a drink so had a pint of Shandy I remember clearly was 62 p, I thought at the time no wonder people drink with these prices.