Seeing all those fat, hawaii-shirt wearing, moustache-sporting cronies zooming around the roads of Pattaya and Phuket on rented 1000cc sports bikes you know these fools are are over for their two week break from their boring office job back in Europe or the UK. You know also that they are really digging being at able to buy into all those myths as to what makes a real man. The big bike, the exotic location, the hard drinking, the sexy woman ...

Then the money runs out and its back home for another 50 weeks of grey, mind-numbing banality and predicatbility ...

Hohoho, we think to ourselves, with smug, self-satisfied smirks. Another sucker, pumping money into the great neon-lit virtual reality of Thai sex-tourist beaches.

But how far removed are we from these cracker ######s ? Was our life real hot shit back in the UK ? Or felt sold out by a system that hypes itself and falls desperately short of what it promises - land of the free ? Yup, free to wait for your teeth melt in some mind-numbing job with a bunch of people who talk about garden furniture all day ...

Also, this crowd screw up the locals. A good many Thais who work around tourists are of the impression that ALL farangs have large wads of money to simply throw away.

Bht 500 tips are not uncommon, and taxi drivers noticeably squirm when you give them the exact fare instead of letting them keep the change from Bht 100.

Sadly it creates the impression that the farangs living here are just being cheap.

On the other hand ex pats tend to exaggerate how dull life is back home. How "exotic" is your life really in LOS? Unless you are semi-retired, you have to go to work just like everyone else.

Yours obviously was'nt that hot otherwise you'd still be there

For me it was crap before i came here, (my previous job (before the crap one) in the UK was great, i loved it)

I reckon DJ PAT, could talk under water with a mouthfull of marbles.

I reckon DJ PAT, could talk under water with a mouthfull of marbles.

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I fail to see the relevance to this thread.

DJ I am just hanging on wanting to retire very soon. I will be 50 soon and want to retire early to enjoy a few years in good health doing what ever I want to. AND Thailand fits the picture. Only problem is the "wife" will cost me upwards of £400,000 to pay off!!

Do I cut and run or stay in Blighty dreaming of how life would be in LOS?

Only problem is the "wife" will cost me upwards of £400,000 to pay off!!

Thats almost how much I had to shell out when I got divorced.

Do a bunk!

DJ I am just hanging on wanting to retire very soon. I will be 50 soon and want to retire early to enjoy a few years in good health doing what ever I want to. AND Thailand fits the picture. Only problem is the "wife" will cost me upwards of £400,000 to pay off!!

Do I cut and run or stay in Blighty dreaming of how life would be in LOS?

Bodypaul, only one life...apparently. Go for it! Better to be happy and free than trapped and going knowhere. Get busy livin'. Don't get busy dyin'!

I've been moaning and bitching to my friends about life out here recently, but I just have to remind myself that 99.9% of that is brought on by my job and nothing else.

The occasional SMS from mates back home saying "cold here" or "dark here" or "it's raining" are enough of a reminder (and a kick up the arse) to appreciate what I have.

When I do go back the UK it only takes a week to get bored. Reason why? It's just not easy (or enjoyable) to go out for the night in the UK. Taxis are expensive and hard to get, clubs are expensive, pubs are unfriendly, you could go on and on. Whenever I'm out in the UK I now get the feeling that people are out just-for-the-sake-of-it, so to speak. I'm soon itching to flag down a yellow and green taxi and say "bpie soiu arr-sii-aee dai mai krab?". Nope, can't do that. Pick up the phone, dial the number and get told it'll be 30 minutes or there's nothing available.

Speaking of which, I don't find taxis here are smug with me at all once I've spoken a little of my appaling Thai. I get the usual questions of what I do here, how long I've been here, am I married, do I have kids etc., but it's all friendly and doesn't feel too intrusive at all.

Do wild tourists ruin it for me? Nah, I don't think so. If you head into tourist town, you have to expect to be treated like one. It's at the point now where I feel a tad unwelcome (but not much) in tourist areas because the slightest indication that your familiar with the parts raises a few heads. Maybe I should just pretend I'm straight off the plane

Going back to my job, it's up to me and only me to do something about it. One thing is for certain though - returning to England is not an option.

djpats dirty little secret, yes he is a thief.

How bad, was life? In London, life was expensive, lonely and unfriendly. Saturated and far too structured.

djpats dirty little secret, yes he is a thief.

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I asked his permission!!!

djpats dirty little secret, yes he is a thief.

I asked his permission!!!

Copycat No-one's going to trust you now, Pat

Nobody ever trusted me anyway.

Hey no problem DJ .... it is a good thread anyway!

DJ Pat wrote:

I have shamelessly nicked this and posted it on thaivisa.

Asked permission??

djpats dirty little secret, yes he is a thief.

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I asked his permission!!!

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Who's permision? You used TWO posts by different people on the thaizine forum and amalgamated in to one post which you then used as your own as the topic starter.

I would be interested if your post about your visit to Samui at the weekend was realy your writing or if you took that from another website also.

Noodles.

djpats dirty little secret, yes he is a thief.

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I asked his permission!!!

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Who's permision? You used TWO posts by different people on the thaizine forum and amalgamated in to one post which you then used as your own as the topic starter.

I would be interested if your post about your visit to Samui at the weekend was realy your writing or if you took that from another website also.

Noodles.

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I think " pinch of salt " is in order ....

totster

Is this thread suppose to make you feel good about yourself?

I guess I don't see the purpose of the thread. I am one of the 2 week tourist as you call them(actually 23 days). Until I am able to retire thats what I have to do get my little slice of paradise. I have been vacationing in Thailand every year since 1996. I would venture to say i know just as much about thailand and it's culture as the next guy. Just because you live in los full time does that make you someone special? I am sure you were in that spot not to long ago. But if it makes you feel better about yourself go ahead and slag on.

maybe in 21 years when I retire in los I will be a bitter old fart and slag on the tourist who are having fun in los.

i would think that once a farang has gotten over his "rose tinted spectacles " phase ,

LOS must be very boring .

if you are an airhead drunken pervert then LOS is for you .

But it depends on what you life was like back home in farangland .

life in farangland is boring enough for me to read half the tripe on here and sometimes write my own nonsense.

In reply to the original 'stolen' post. Live and let live. If the old boys want to work 50 weeks a year, and have 2 weeks party, let them. Life's too short.

In reply to the original 'stolen' post. Live and let live. If the old boys want to work 50 weeks a year, and have 2 weeks party, let them. Life's too short.

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I think you told me to stay where the earning is?

In reply to the original 'stolen' post. Live and let live. If the old boys want to work 50 weeks a year, and have 2 weeks party, let them. Life's too short.

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I think you told me to stay where the earning is?

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And...?

if you are an airhead drunken pervert then LOS is for you .

And your point is????

Remember, this is the same person who started the 'Emporium' thread. A real gem.

djpats dirty little secret, yes he is a thief.

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I asked his permission!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Who's permision? You used TWO posts by different people on the thaizine forum and amalgamated in to one post which you then used as your own as the topic starter.

I would be interested if your post about your visit to Samui at the weekend was realy your writing or if you took that from another website also.

Noodles.

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Yep Noodles, I think you could be right there.

what a sad act you are DJ Pat.

Very sad, DJ PAT. You should have atleast included an acknowledgement to the original author.

Nice work, Quote.