Sad Old People

[mrtoad]

The OP should tae his own avice and P**s Off back home, if he doesn't like it. Sadly, wherever you live there are going to be people that you don't like, but there is no need to socialise with them if you don't like what they have to say.

Maybe he could sell his own story to the tabloids. as he clearly fits the requirements.

I

[Ulysses G.]

Can I just suggest if you don't like the country then p**s of back home.

Or just shut the F**** up.

Most of us are happy here and those who don't like it can take a trip back to reality.

What winds me up the most is that this was a nice place before the moaners and groaners got here.

And for you visa whingers, get a wife or get a life

He's right. Get stuffed whiners, whingers and sad sacks!

[bendix]

While i can't agree with rimbung's way of communicating his message, I do have some sympathy for the spirit of it.

It never ceases to amaze me how many unhappy and angry farang there are living in Thailand. Perceived injustices, paranoi about scams, incredulity about things being different in a (get this!) different country . . . Frankly I get bored of hearing it and while it's trite to say 'if you don't like it, go home', i often wonder why it doesnt happen more.

It isnt paradise here. There are many petty annoyances. But - and this is a big but - we do have freedom of movement and freedom of choice and I for one think the advantages of living and working here FAR outweigh the small hassles. Of course I do - if I didnt I wouldnt stay.

[Ricardo]

Any day you wake up is a great one, the sun is shining (or soon will be), Chang-Draught is cheap, your wife/GF will smile back if you smile at her, the 2nd-hand bookstores are full of new books to enjoy, there are plenty of things to laugh at (or people to wind up) on TV, it's a wonderful life ! All they need is a simple reminder of these facts - tell them so, after they've bought you a beer !

It's nice to see someone who sees their glass as half full rather than half empty.

Cheers to you too ... mine's a pint-glass !

[PeaceBlondie]

I would love to join in the whinge fest here, but I cannot understand git or whinge. I thought I was having a stroke this week, but it's only carpool tunnel of love sin-drome. Now, to get back on the sport bike before the roads get too clogged.....

[dominator]

I have spent most of my life as a journalist but I am now retired. However I get at least two or three calls a week from UK and US newspapers asking for a feature on the 'Sad old guys with the young wives or girlfriends' story

Seems like the newspapers know who is the fount of all knowledge when it comes to whinging. Or, more likely, it is all just wishfull thinking. 56yo hotshot journo, in his own mind, washed up in a backwater of life staring down the neck of a Chang bottle with nothing to do but post a very poorly written piece on an anonymous internet forum.

There is always something strangely perverse about a person whinging about other people whinging. At least the whingers are whinging about something soild, concrete even, like being ripped off or stray dogs. But the other is just whinging for the sake of it even though, he claims, he has the world's press clamouring for his latest piece on his favourite subject.

Maybe it just wasn't his turn with his "wife" last night.

It wasn't

[Westerner]

There seems to be a lot of what we in the UK call sad old gits on this foum. They moan and groan about pensions,food,girlfriends, life up country or for some of the even sadder ones (here in Khon Kaen where I live) dogs bikes and bus's.

I'll put my hat on the table. Middle aged ,56 year old expat with a 36 year old luk krung wife(50/50 Thai american stunner).

Been married 9 years and life is like I won the lottery. Been here for a decade. In the old days I'd be hard pushed to see a Farang...now they are wall to wall downtown. The pension goes a long way in Issan!.

I have spent most of my life as a journalist but I am now retired. However I get at least two or three calls a week from UK and US newspapers asking for a feature on the 'Sad old guys with the young wives or girlfriends' story

One old geezer here in KK (american) seems to wallow in his misery. If he ain't complaining about buying a lock for his bike it is the bus to another local city that ripped him off for 80 baht. The latest moan from Rex is that he paid 1200baht for a series of shots and treatment down the local private hospital after a "rabid dog" bit him. In the USA he'd be talking thousands of dollars

The Khon Kaen Ram hospital has to be one of the best deals on the planet.

Can I just suggest if you don't like the country then p**s of back home.

Or just shut the F**** up.

Most of us are happy here and those who don't like it can take a trip back to reality.

What winds me up the most is that this was a nice place before the moaners and groaners got here.

And for you visa whingers, get a wife or get a life

Rimbung

I don't think you are happy at all. Anybody who is so angry can't be happy.

[garro]

For me, I have found trying to always look at the positive in life is the way to go.

I do believe that Thai Visa does attract more than its far share of the negative types.

This is probably not true of Thailand as a whole though, because the least you can say about ex-pats here is that they are adventurous.

After all they moved great distances to start a new life.

This does suggest a great capability for positivity (or is that self-delusion? ).

Mind you I have learnt, from posting on the forum, that many do not take kindly to criticising negativity.

There is a risk that you will be seen as belonging to ' the rose-tinted glasses' brigade

Having said that, I doubt that all those who whinge here are like this in the 'real' world.

Many probably just use Thaivisa as a place to unload.

[JimsKnight]

Rimburg, you tell it like it is man.

Here in CM it's the same old story.

In the bars the vibe has changed from happy-go-lucky to doom and gloom!

In general the the place is like an old peoples home for expats!

This has happened on the forum to a greater extent these days as well. The up-beat and positive ones among us are outnumbered on TV, so that also tells a similar story.

Where are there hardly any young active people in the provinces? Do they all get abucted and replaced by the static, old folks? :

[kmart]

I have spent most of my life as a journalist but I am now retired.

I'm working....what are you doing here at this time. Have I hit a nerve?

Old and senile perhaps.

What am I doing here at this time..... I'm not, I'm in a different time zone ..... Doh!

I'm not sure that spending any time at all on here would be included in the "7 Habits of Successful Motivated Business People..." or whatever.

The OP has a genuine point though. I hope I never end up in the Jurassic Park Elephant's Graveyard up there in Boonie-ville either.

[Scott]

Well the choices here seem to be limited to Sad Old People, and Young Arrogant As*holes! Between the two, I'll take the first group.

First of a lot of them have pessimism as their default position. Whining and complaining is one of their endearing qualities. At a minimum, I can always say "There but for the Grace of God...."

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I have spent most of my life as a journalist but I am now retired.

I'm working....what are you doing here at this time. Have I hit a nerve?

Old and senile perhaps.

What am I doing here at this time..... I'm not, I'm in a different time zone ..... Doh!

I'm not sure that spending any time at all on here would be included in the "7 Habits of Successful Motivated Business People..." or whatever.

The OP has a genuine point though. I hope I never end up in the Jurassic Park Elephant's Graveyard up there in Boonie-ville either.

[grantbkk]

Many of us now live in the developing country called Thailand. Rule of law is really just a concept unless you have connections then you can become the law in specific cases. I've heard or read about every reason one comes to the Land of Smiles but a common thread seems to be a male, 35 to 60+, single or newly single with no money to decent money looking for a certain lifestyle. People who say they come because of the kind Thai people with great smiles I think are trying to fool their friends and relatives back home. From this group we exclude the couples who retire to villas in Phuket and other high-end resorts.

Logic reveals that it boils down simply to cheap fun with the same or opposite sex without the constraints of law and rules that the visitor or retiree thinks "messed up his show" in his country of origin. The sense of awe at the freedom and inexpensive housing to say nothing of eating off street vendors for Bt100 a day stays with the guy for a long time. Now we have the freedom, lower cost of living and a lifestyle everyone with a functioning mind would covet. But then reality sets in. You find the girl or woman of your dreams at a beer bar or walking the corridors of The Paragon Mall. You hook up and begin to establish the same life here that you had back in the home country. Sure its cheaper and the your mate hasn't gotten fat yet but in the back of your mind you begin to realize that something is missing. Where are one of those 250,000 police officers when you need one? Why can't I own property here? What if I want to upgrade after a few years? Is my mate going to take all that I, or my parents, worked so had for? Will she have me killed? Why isn't ANYTHING in my name? If we have an argument who are the police going to side with?

After a while we would like a little insurance and first world protection when it comes with laws and rules. It seems to be a vicious circle that many posters mention after years of living the dream. What you first loved about Thailand later makes you grow to hate some aspects of life in the jungle.

Personally, I love Bangkok and take precautions that improve my chances of living happily here for years to come. Periodic review of your lifestyle and situation is critical to a less stressful life. Venting (bitching) has its moments but positive steps should be taken in cases where your life or lifestyle becomes untenable.

[Ulysses G.]

People who say they come because of the kind Thai people with great smiles I think are trying to fool their friends and relatives back home.

[TommyGun]

I think the OP has a point but it was is agressivness that put himself down, although it's not just the fogies that moan and groan. I'm 35, although most Thai people think i'm only 28 which is nice, but i have put that down to the fact that most older farangs tell their girls/woman they are ten years younger. That backfired on a guy in the UK when she was knocking a younger guy off in the local pub. Anyway, my point is that when i first came here i moaned and groaned about drivers, the smell, and various things. Rergarding driving i would be quite aggressive myself if someone cut me up, but after being here for 2 years now i am much more relaxed and take everything with a pinch of salt. The drains outside my apartment in the evening now smell like a be of roses.

[bkkperson]

Im thinking the grumps are losing this thread....

Yeah yeah yeah.. defeat to the grumps and a win to the happy normal people...

[Heng]

Get some connections. Choose a spouse you can trust.

Sorted.

[GuestHouse]

In addition to Chang fuelled hubris and aggressive language the OP adds denigration of western women his own age, a theme repeated by other respondents.

And these are people who believe it their duty in life to dictate to others the boundaries of acceptable opinion.

Well there's a reason a guy married to a stunner half his age is up ranting on the internet at half past one in the morning, and its probably the same reason why a 56 year old woman back in the UK is glad rid of him.

Edited January 24, 2008 by GuestHouse

[bkkperson]

Well there's a reason a guy married to a stunner half his age is up ranting on the internet at half past one in the morning, and its probably the same reason why a 56 year old woman back in the UK is glad rid of him.

He already said he was workin..read the threads...

[ericB]

There seems to be a lot of what we in the UK call sad old gits on this foum. They moan and groan about pensions,food,girlfriends, life up country or for some of the even sadder ones (here in Khon Kaen where I live) dogs bikes and bus's.

I'll put my hat on the table. Middle aged ,56 year old expat with a 36 year old luk krung wife(50/50 Thai american stunner).

Been married 9 years and life is like I won the lottery. Been here for a decade. In the old days I'd be hard pushed to see a Farang...now they are wall to wall downtown. The pension goes a long way in Issan!.

I have spent most of my life as a journalist but I am now retired. However I get at least two or three calls a week from UK and US newspapers asking for a feature on the 'Sad old guys with the young wives or girlfriends' story

One old geezer here in KK (american) seems to wallow in his misery. If he ain't complaining about buying a lock for his bike it is the bus to another local city that ripped him off for 80 baht. The latest moan from Rex is that he paid 1200baht for a series of shots and treatment down the local private hospital after a "rabid dog" bit him. In the USA he'd be talking thousands of dollars

The Khon Kaen Ram hospital has to be one of the best deals on the planet.

Can I just suggest if you don't like the country then p**s of back home.

Or just shut the F**** up.

Most of us are happy here and those who don't like it can take a trip back to reality.

What winds me up the most is that this was a nice place before the moaners and groaners got here.

And for you visa whingers, get a wife or get a life

Change your phone number, or not give it to gutter press people in the first place. Suggests not completely retired if you have given your tel. no to them, or you are just looking to make a quick buck from other peoples misery. Ooops, silly me, that's what a lot of jounalists do anyway. Most countries are full off sad old people who are grieving the loss of what to them seemed to be the good old days. Hope someone is ready to report your sad old times when it happens!

In fact ..... let me think .... I bet he is here on a retired visa (O or something, maybe marriage one), and he publicly clain he is doing work.

Unless he does have a WP, he is simply an illegal foreign worker in Thailand, and he should be send to jail. Am I right? His attitude from the start denote not only bad behavior for the fellow expats, but a very bad behavior with respect for Thai culture and Thai laws.

I am supposing he is simply another Troll.

Get real , you old man

Edited January 24, 2008 by ericB

[bkkperson]

In fact ..... let me think .... I bet he is here on a retired visa (O or something, maybe marriage one), and he publicly clain he is doing work.

Unless he does have a WP, he is simply an illegal foreign worker in Thailand, and he should be send to jail. Am I right? His attitude from the start denote not only bad behavior for the fellow expats, but a very bad behavior with respect for Thai culture and Thai laws.

I am supposing he is simply another Troll.

Get real , you old man

Wow wow wow..your being a tad presumptious arn't ya...how do you know he hasnt got a business, work permit etc...

as far as troll's go im thinking that is you....and i like YOUR attitude to your fellow expats by even suggesting that someone should be flung in a Thai jail for not having a work permit(if indeed he doesn't) what type of idiot are you...

[sweetchariot]

Why in the world in this day and age would a man in Thailand get involved with a woman only 20 years his junior. The international rule to determine the maximum age of a woman for a serious relationship is: Half of your age plus 7 years. The poor woman is far beyond her Consume Before Date! I hope she doesn't have the big hair yet. No wonder he doesn't sleep.

I've never heard this before, so I just worked it out, I'm 35 and my missus is............24 - spooky. Mind you by that formula the OP is only 1 year out.

I wonder how many others out there conform to the 1/2 your age and add 7 years theory?

[huggybear]

There seems to be a lot of what we in the UK call sad old gits on this foum. They moan and groan about pensions,food,girlfriends, life up country or for some of the even sadder ones (here in Khon Kaen where I live) dogs bikes and bus's.

I'll put my hat on the table. Middle aged ,56 year old expat with a 36 year old luk krung wife(50/50 Thai american stunner).

Been married 9 years and life is like I won the lottery. Been here for a decade. In the old days I'd be hard pushed to see a Farang...now they are wall to wall downtown. The pension goes a long way in Issan!.

I have spent most of my life as a journalist but I am now retired. However I get at least two or three calls a week from UK and US newspapers asking for a feature on the 'Sad old guys with the young wives or girlfriends' story

One old geezer here in KK (american) seems to wallow in his misery. If he ain't complaining about buying a lock for his bike it is the bus to another local city that ripped him off for 80 baht. The latest moan from Rex is that he paid 1200baht for a series of shots and treatment down the local private hospital after a "rabid dog" bit him. In the USA he'd be talking thousands of dollars

The Khon Kaen Ram hospital has to be one of the best deals on the planet.

Can I just suggest if you don't like the country then p**s of back home.

Or just shut the F**** up.

Most of us are happy here and those who don't like it can take a trip back to reality.

What winds me up the most is that this was a nice place before the moaners and groaners got here.

And for you visa whingers, get a wife or get a life

I have not been on Thaivisa.com/forum for too long, but already I have seen this same thread over and over and over again.

Really, I don't think it is that uncommon for older folks to be complainers. My parents (Buddha bless them) are just reaching their 70's,

have everything, comfortable lifestyle, but they tend to be complainers. "Honey answer the phone", "cannot, you answer it" it's like a bad sitcom "I always have to answer the phone". They have a <deleted> answering machine !!!! I have to remind them neither has to answer, listen to the machine when you feel like it.

Can I suggest that once you get over 60, you just tend to get irritated more easily?

P.S. unless you plan on living until you are 112, you are not middleaged.

Edited January 24, 2008 by huggybear

[bkkperson]

]

I have not been on Thaivisa.com/forum for too long, but already I have seen this same thread over and over and over again.

Really, I don't think it is that uncommon for older folks to be complainers. My parents (Buddha bless them) are just reaching their 70's,

have everything, comfortable lifestyle, but they tend to be complainers. "Honey answer the phone", "cannot, you answer it" it's like a bad sitcom "I always have to answer the phone". They have a <deleted> answering machine !!!! I have to remind them neither has to answer, listen to the machine when you feel like it.

Can I suggest that once you get over 60, you just tend to get irritated more easily?

P.S. unless you plan on living until you are 112, you are not middleaged.

Yeah but reachin your 70's fair enough but some of the grumps are like 40.....

and bear in mind that the majority have it much better now than before....

[Ulysses G.]

I wonder how many others out there conform to the 1/2 your age and add 7 years theory?

Personally, I subscribe to the 1/4 my age and add 5-7 years theory and it goes down 1 year annually.

[Westerner]

In addition to Chang fuelled hubris and aggressive language the OP adds denigration of western women his own age, a theme repeated by other respondents.

And these are people who believe it their duty in life to dictate to others the boundaries of acceptable opinion.

Well there's a reason a guy married to a stunner half his age is up ranting on the internet at half past one in the morning, and its probably the same reason why a 56 year old woman back in the UK is glad rid of him.

[Tod Daniels]

I hear my share of whining from old(er) retiree's and ex-pats here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" but. .. Given the context, the subject matter, and their overall outlook on all things crazy, wacky and wonderful here I usually take it with a grain of salt. Holding in things you find objectionable, not venting or whining about the injustice of it all can be far worse for you. As was pointed out in a previous post; there are no end of things a person can find very different living in; of all places, a 'different' country, thus making the list for whining exponentially larger.

Living in ANY pissant shit-hole yet ‘developing’ third world country can be taxing on a person. Firstly there is the language barrier; which many long term residents cannot breach. That in turn contributes to limited social interaction, which only increases a person's perception of the idiosyncratic often oxymoronic cultural differences which can further divide a first worlder's ideals from the third world inhabitants here. The very things which many people initially found so endearing turn out to be very wearing after the rose colored glasses come off.

I state again for the record, I live here by choice not chance. I tolerate the people here solely because it’s their country; not for any other reason. I am NOT endeared to, enamored with or enchanted by the ever smiling "Borg-like" yet diminutive inhabitants here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais". That being said; I sometimes have a lower opinion (if that is even possible) of the ex-pat's I meet. At the very least; I often find them equally unsavory. I think with the limited exposure some ex-pats get from living in a very small circle of acquaintances, whether it be with their (in)significant other, her extended family, rural areas, or the small circle of other ex-pats where they live, it can make small things seem larger than they really are.

I hate hearing the all too familiar rant or chant of the rose colored glasses group; people I call the "we-b-thai faction”. However it does boil down to an attitude/mind set you have to have of acceptance, or at the very least tolerate it. If you can’t do that there are not a lot of other choices left.

GrantBKK did have some good points in his post (although after the third time it was posted I though it had lost a LOT of its initial appeal). This is truly the rule to live by; "Periodic review of your lifestyle and situation is critical to a less stressful life. Venting (bitching) has its moments but positive steps should be taken in cases where your life or lifestyle becomes untenable." Here’s to everyone’s life becoming more tenable.

[bkkperson]

Living in ANY pissant shit-hole yet 'developing' third world country can be taxing on a person. Firstly there is the language barrier; which many long term residents cannot breach. That in turn contributes to limited social interaction, which only increases a person's perception of the idiosyncratic often oxymoronic cultural differences which can further divide a first worlder's ideals from the third world inhabitants here. The very things which many people initially found so endearing turn out to be very wearing after the rose colored glasses come off.

And you seem to be the most bitter of all the post's...why o why would any self respecting person choose to live in what they describe as a pissant shit hole....i couldn't even begin to worry what is going through your head...you really do come across some on TV

[Boksida]

People who say they come because of the kind Thai people with great smiles I think are trying to fool their friends and relatives back home.

Takes more than that to make me come these days but I still like it here.

[britmaveric]

Life is too short to whinge. Enjoy it while it lasts because it certainly won't be forever.