How Many Falangs In Thailand Are Broke?

[YoungFarang13]

Very interesting thread and a lot of good answers.

The only thing I know is if you have an income more than is needed for your life style you are happy and if your income is less than the lifestyle you want you will be unhappy. This is the theme of a lot of the posts and I agree with them

yeah you will also be unhappy if you get fired or cannot work for some reason or costs arise outside of your set budget. otherwise its just an unwanted pregnecy, gambling habit or motorcycle accident away from being hel_l.

[CCCP]

My Thai GF earns a bundle, so im ok. Thanks and goodnight.

[Pepe']

Ok, I will admit it ,I am a pauper compared to the 30% of posters on the "nett worth "who claim to be millionaires.

p--- Me too

Been there ,done that,with the assistance of an ex-wife and a smart lawyer ,I went from a silk purse to a sows ear in the blink of an eye.

p--- My ex ( a "nice" girl well educated from a good fairly well to do family in Samut Sakorn ) did have a little mercy on me and did not try to take it all. Just about half.

Fortunately her older sister in SS said to tell her I would Kill her if she tried to force the sale of my house. Of course I would never do that being an Italian Buddhist.

Its a shock to the system to go from "high Roller status" ,being wined and dined and flown around the South Pacific and S/E Asia on freebies to having your platinum card suspended overnight.

p---Never been a high roller but was planning to retire a couple of years ago in LOS. NOT!!!

But I can dream...

Nowadays ,I have a nice car ,no patches on my jeans ,a harmonious home life and very little cash and am as happy as a pig in poo with the hand I have been dealt.

p--- I do have a nice car. Some of my jeans are ripped up but my young Asian girlfriend says she likes them, they're sexy. A little too soon to be happy as a pig in poo (divorced last may) but I'm getting there.

Oh yes, and I am one of those that the Oz Govt sends a cheque to every month,and after 50 years of big tax assessments I deserve every cent of it.

So the next poster who feels lucky enough to pour scorn on pension recipients ,a holiday awaits.

p---Well it's still seven years until I start getting my whopping SSI checks but you're right a holiday awaits.

Good Health...

---------------

"And that's all I have to say about that"- Forrest Gump

[bkkblueeyes]

My Thai GF earns a bundle, so im ok. Thanks and goodnight.

Me 2.

and i still get 30 K a month with out lifting a finger and not knowing where it comes from.

wife said it was ok to book a table at RCA for 5 tonight!!

right now its at 2, 3 seats left Who wants to join?

[toptuan]

indeed... money alone does not provide happiness. in addition to money one should have bonds, shares, real estate, gold bars, old masters, sculptures, per[ver]sian carpets, a good wife, a mia noi...

No Thai language allowed outside the Thai language forum! Please use the English.... 'ho

[bendix]

Hippy dippy bullshit. There is no glory in poverty, and it takes a hel_l of a lot of skill to fail live on the breadline not only in the west but in Thailand also.

now try to give an example of your statement, but this time with Buddha as the character ... did you ever read any book about him?

Huh? Why would i want to bring religious philosophy into the subject. Like it or not, this is 2008.

I stand by my statement. For a westerner to live on the breadline in the west is understandable. Some succeed, some don't. But for a westerner to be a pauper in Thailand demonstrates an amazing ability to fail.

Of course, it's nice to see him saying he prefers his life that way, but noone believes it. The old foil of self-justification. It's a classic.

[astral]

.......where some of the residents had no assets as such and relied on pensions from their governments in Australia, Canada, US and UK

A pension of 65K a month, the level necessary to retire in LOS, can give a very good life style.

I wish my UK pension would reach such exotic levels, and be index linked.

The posts in this thread do a great deal to explain why the authorities

have been clamping down on long stay residents, to make sure they do have

sufficient funds.

I know people will argue about what is sufficient but father, mother and 2 children in one

room is not "living". Most Thais do better than that.

[jayjayjayjay]

there was one poor bugger being talked about somewhere down Suk Soi 5 a week ago or so!

[aries27]

blown away by all these stories... still processing it in this little head of mine... dont really know how it applies to me...

but bkk is cheap, compared to my manila. i loved the deals i got there. i was very proud of the bargains i got (hey, i really researched hard....like why have starbucks in swampy airport when you can get a real meal at the magic resto (know that place at the first floor where the airport employees eat?) for less than half the amount... 25-35 baht. and the ice shaved deserts were fantastic!

but then i was a tourist there...really different from the situation all described here........

american idol right now...gotta go...rooting for david cook...whatever am i talking here???

maybe just want to say that some things are great in thailand but something is amiss too.... as long as youre happy anyway... wherever, whatever.... cheers!!!!

[adjan jb]

How Many Falangs In Thailand Are Broke?

I beleive it is 12

I know 11 of them. Who's the 12th?

[Boo]

heh heh , you

[adjan jb]

heh heh , you

Gooooooaaaaaaaaaalllll

[jayjayjayjay]

Hippy dippy bullshit. There is no glory in poverty, and it takes a hel_l of a lot of skill to fail live on the breadline not only in the west but in Thailand also.

now try to give an example of your statement, but this time with Buddha as the character ... did you ever read any book about him?

Huh? Why would i want to bring religious philosophy into the subject. Like it or not, this is 2008.

I stand by my statement. For a westerner to live on the breadline in the west is understandable. Some succeed, some don't. But for a westerner to be a pauper in Thailand demonstrates an amazing ability to fail.

Of course, it's nice to see him saying he prefers his life that way, but noone believes it. The old foil of self-justification. It's a classic.

then again, you don't know what his or her vices may be......... could be a super hot bowl of som tum infested with mouse shit chilli's. where else in the world can you blow your tastebuds like here!!!

Edited May 8, 2008 by jayjayjayjay

[cobra]

It would appear we need more data, advise polling a few of the supposedly "can't get home, need $ ..." farang / beggars at any Suk over-walk, I'm sure they have the pulse on the cash-challenged, ...

[geronimo]

Just wondering how many Falangs you have met over here that are broke? I used to stay at a long-termers guesthouse in Chiang Mai, where some of the residents had no assets as such and relied on pensions from their governments in Australia, Canada, US and UK .............their health insurance was an open plane ticket back home. And one fellow there from the UK had to learn esl to get a job teaching english to support his thai wife and 2 kids (who all stayed with him in the 1 room).

But I've yet to meet some poor bastard on the bones of his arse with virtually no money and no way of getting "back home", though they must be out there from the way some people speak on this and other forums.

I would have thought you could have found something better to do than to start a thread like this!!!!!

[Ulysses G.]

I know people will argue about what is sufficient but father, mother and 2 children in one

room is not "living".

Of course it is. Many humans have lived like this all over the world since we were created.

I would prefer to have more personal space, but if you have enough food and water, lving in one room is not that intolerable.

[LuckyFive8888]

i thought only the broke ones comes to thailand to live? due to the lower standard of living.

....just kidding

[bulmercke]

I live in BKK but I have a dream of living somewhere nice - and not touristy - over-looking the sea someday.

No computer - no television (seldom watch it now) - no suscription to The Nation and The Post (which I subscribe to now) and a modest - but nice to place to live in. And a big box of paperbacks.

A simple - quiet - peaceful life. Waking up every morning and looking out onto the sea over a coffee.

Deliberating for two hours on whether I should go and buy some eggs today or tomorrow.

But then again - I'd probably be bored shitless after a week or so. It's all relative.

[Ijustwannateach]

.......where some of the residents had no assets as such and relied on pensions from their governments in Australia, Canada, US and UK

A pension of 65K a month, the level necessary to retire in LOS, can give a very good life style.

I wish my UK pension would reach such exotic levels, and be index linked.

The posts in this thread do a great deal to explain why the authorities

have been clamping down on long stay residents, to make sure they do have

sufficient funds.

I know people will argue about what is sufficient but father, mother and 2 children in one

room is not "living". Most Thais do better than that.

Well, to be honest, I think there are thousands living 2-4 to a room in Bangkok. Outside in the provinces things might be a little better.

[traveller5000]

But for a westerner to be a pauper in Thailand demonstrates an amazing ability to fail.

There are plenty of western monks in Thailand and by your statement they have "failed".

At the end of the day, even in 2008, it is a way of life just as valid as any other.

I've no doubt many of them, despite their lack of material possessions, are much happier and content than you are. some people define success and failure differently than you...

[bendix]

What a fatuous argument. Becoming a monk is a calling - a life choice. They decide to give up worldly assets for spiritual reasons. It is hardly the same as what I'm talking about.

Failing in a foreign land after failing in your homeland (with all the associated breaks being born in the West gives you) is completely different altogether.

[traveller5000]

What a fatuous argument. Becoming a monk is a calling - a life choice. They decide to give up worldly assets for spiritual reasons. It is hardly the same as what I'm talking about.

Failing in a foreign land after failing in your homeland (with all the associated breaks being born in the West gives you) is completely different altogether.

Indeed. And the answer to this quandary is astonishingly clear - you need to revise your statement :

But for a westerner to be a pauper in Thailand demonstrates an amazing ability to fail.

unless you still wish to stubbonly insist that your definition of 'westerners in Thailand' does not include western monks because .... (drumroll) ... it is their life choice

now thats a fatuous argument if ive ever heard one.

[bendix]

Ahhhh. the joys of pedantry.

[traveller5000]

Ahhhh. the joys of pedantry.

Mr Bendix.

There is more to life than your narrow, shallow, fragile, solemn, materialistic definition of success and failure.

[bendix]

And I will counter by saying that anyone born in a western society and who ends up penniless and destitute in a third world country can NOT be called anything other than a failure, by any standards. Noone chooses to be destitute.

If that's a definition of success, then I'm a banana.

And - just to avoid confusion - I exempt farang monks from this, ok?

*sigh*

[Lucifer]

My Thai GF earns a bundle, so im ok. Thanks and goodnight.

Living off that kind of earnings, is illigal.

[mellow1]

Money is a tool which should be used to take care of yourself and the ones you love. If you cannot take care of yourself you cannot take care of your loved ones. If you cannot take care of yourself and therefore cannot take care of your loved ones, you have failed in the responsibility which you ow to yourself. There will always be the ones who have more, no matter what position you are in, but if you can take care of the ones you love, you will be happy, no matter how little you are perceived to have.

[LKIBA]

Some people come to Thailand with plenty of money and lose it all. Some people come with nothing and make a life here. Some people base their life around the idea of one day moving to their place in the sun, when conditions of right, but for many this day will never come. Some people live in the now.

I am always broke haha..but to live in Europe in the snow eating farang food and no temple round the corner to go to and speak with the monks, no Pad kaprao

or Gaeng Thai (แกงใต้) no going waddling in the stream catching fish (ทอดแหจับปลานิน) and maybe a million other things then i just couldn't live.

i make only 17000 baht a month dont work at all except on developing my website and taking the odd person to a temple for a tattoo and translating for them.

On this 17000 baht a month i live quite well only i dont have any savings.

I can understand someone who comes here lives in a beer bar, starbucks kfc and the pizza hut would prefer to go home and make money than live here broke, as they live the same western life here as they do at home...

but i cant eat that stuff i eat only thai food and for me a pad kaprao with a fried egg on top costs me 15 baht or 2 curries on rice i get for 20 to 25 baht

I also cant live without this food i dont eat bread and all that farang bull it isnt tasty and also expensive.

A coffee in starbucks costs 60 baht (uff what a waste thats 3 square meals for me which are much more delicious than a coffee)

I always wonder why some farang copme here as some people pack their tins of beans, marmit/vegemite, and all their other "home copmforts" and live on that when they are here...what is the point of being here if you cant adapt to the lifestyle and have to need your stuff from home country.

This is like taking your country with you.....why dont you just stay home if you dont like the real life/food/culture here?

i suppose some people only come for the women..which is as far as i am concerned stupid, as Thai women dont like farang they just like their money.

I couldn't take a wife who only wanted an easy life and a free ride but really all she is waiting for is me to die so she can go home and make a house and marry the thai she has always told me is her little brother or cousin.

I know a guy he employs his wife's little brother...well that guy is her boyfriend really i found out about it...but i ain't telling the farang because he has to learn himself.

Broke in Thailand? yes! But it is still better life than being middle class in Europe.

How many people in europe can afford a prawn and lemon grass soup every day eating out?

Even your average Thai can afford to eat fresh fish, prawns and lots of other lovely stuff on a "Broke" budget.

My 2 room condo apartment costs me 2700 baht a month and have internet for 300 a month 1mb another 100 baht a month gets me 50 cable tv channels...god i would have to work my ass off in Europe to keep all that together.

The broke thing isnt important as if you have a lot of money here then you either just blow it all on uinnecessary luxuries (ie starbucks) or some woman or thai guy syphons it out of you.

If you have nothing for them to take then they cant take it off you.

U REALY R A SAD B-----D im happily married with a genuine thai wife. dont insult the thai ladys mines just read ur S---t and shes not happy, unnessary luxury what is that a coffee at starbucks u fool. if ur earning 17000 baht a month have u got a work permit ??? u need to pay taxes to help the economy of thailand, give me ur address and we can find out if ur paying ur way in thailand

[LKIBA]

Some people come to Thailand with plenty of money and lose it all. Some people come with nothing and make a life here. Some people base their life around the idea of one day moving to their place in the sun, when conditions of right, but for many this day will never come. Some people live in the now.

I am always broke haha..but to live in Europe in the snow eating farang food and no temple round the corner to go to and speak with the monks, no Pad kaprao

or Gaeng Thai (แกงใต้) no going waddling in the stream catching fish (ทอดแหจับปลานิน) and maybe a million other things then i just couldn't live.

i make only 17000 baht a month dont work at all except on developing my website and taking the odd person to a temple for a tattoo and translating for them.

On this 17000 baht a month i live quite well only i dont have any savings.

I can understand someone who comes here lives in a beer bar, starbucks kfc and the pizza hut would prefer to go home and make money than live here broke, as they live the same western life here as they do at home...

but i cant eat that stuff i eat only thai food and for me a pad kaprao with a fried egg on top costs me 15 baht or 2 curries on rice i get for 20 to 25 baht

I also cant live without this food i dont eat bread and all that farang bull it isnt tasty and also expensive.

A coffee in starbucks costs 60 baht (uff what a waste thats 3 square meals for me which are much more delicious than a coffee)

I always wonder why some farang copme here as some people pack their tins of beans, marmit/vegemite, and all their other "home copmforts" and live on that when they are here...what is the point of being here if you cant adapt to the lifestyle and have to need your stuff from home country.

This is like taking your country with you.....why dont you just stay home if you dont like the real life/food/culture here?

i suppose some people only come for the women..which is as far as i am concerned stupid, as Thai women dont like farang they just like their money.

I couldn't take a wife who only wanted an easy life and a free ride but really all she is waiting for is me to die so she can go home and make a house and marry the thai she has always told me is her little brother or cousin.

I know a guy he employs his wife's little brother...well that guy is her boyfriend really i found out about it...but i ain't telling the farang because he has to learn himself.

Broke in Thailand? yes! But it is still better life than being middle class in Europe.

How many people in europe can afford a prawn and lemon grass soup every day eating out?

Even your average Thai can afford to eat fresh fish, prawns and lots of other lovely stuff on a "Broke" budget.

My 2 room condo apartment costs me 2700 baht a month and have internet for 300 a month 1mb another 100 baht a month gets me 50 cable tv channels...god i would have to work my ass off in Europe to keep all that together.

The broke thing isnt important as if you have a lot of money here then you either just blow it all on uinnecessary luxuries (ie starbucks) or some woman or thai guy syphons it out of you.

If you have nothing for them to take then they cant take it off you.

Clear signs of rationalisation here. You can't afford western luxuries so in order to protect your psyche from the damage of admitting the failure you've become you rationalise, probably subconsciously, that you don't like those things anyway. The evidence that this is a psychological defence mechanism and that you're merely protecting yourself psychologically from the trauma of your failure is that you boast in detail about the luxuries that you CAN afford such as the internet 1MB no less and 50 - FIFTY cable TV channels.

You may be fooling others, but you're not fooling yourself and the cognitive dissonance will eventually harm you mentally.

Many people who fail indulge in this kind of thinking. "Well I COULD be successful and have those things if I wanted them, but I don't want them anyway as they're really bad and the people who have them are fools and inferior to me for wanting them in the first place."

You'll either get bored of being poor and living with the stress that poverty brings and get decide to do something productive or you'll sink further and further into poverty and fall to a level that recovery is impossible. In Thailand its dangerous as its so easy to fall into the spiral of permanent unemployability as there'll be Thais ready to keep you company all the way down.

There is NO nobility in poverty. Not having luxuries when you can afford them is a moral choice. Not having luxuries because you can't afford them is just poverty and conveys no moral superiority in any way and trying to claim a moral high ground when you're actually standing in the gutter convinces no one.

wow ur edumated haha basicaly uv said in in propa english what i said with abuse hes a prize pr__k

[Seizhin]

I raelly agree with what spender said though.

Just adapt to the circumstance and everything will be fine.

You cant expect the same lifestyle in Thailand.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Seizhin