Thailand A Very Difficult Palce To Be If Drink Too Much

[sagaris]

does anyone else agree that Thailand is a very tricky place to live if you drink too much.

I personally have too much time on my hands. I get bored very easily. I want to achieve so much for me and my family. I semi- retired far too young. Anyone else in the same boat.

An example is today. I could exercise I could do a plethora of things but nice coolweather a bit of rain and my mind turns to beer.

In other parts of the world I believe there is more to actually do. More group and family activities. I cant stand shopping or traipsing around a mall.

I do do the Mall in Korat and am one of the only parents who get stuck in there.Ie down the big slides.

I Know you can drink anywhere in the world if you want. It just seems a bit too easy for me here.

Does anyone else feel the same?

Edited June 6, 2009 by sagaris

[Mobi]

does anyone else agree that Thailand is a very tricky place to live if you drink too much.

I personally have too much time on my hands. I get bored very easily. I want to achieve so much for me and my family. I semi- retired far too young. Anyone else in the same boat.

Yes, agreed, it is a difficult place to stay sober.

The trick is to find things to do - not easy in a country where you are not allowed to work, and even voluntary work can be illegal.

I have a whole raft of things I do at home, and if and when I get really sober I will start my golf again, and get into other stuff I haven't done for years.

Unfortunately booze makes you very slothful, lazy and a major procrastinator, and the more you drink the more the only thing you want to do is drink more.

I have had varying spells of sobriety, and during these spells, after a while i became much more energetic and started to do things I hadn't done in years.

So try to stop the booze and have a plan of all the things you can do - whether it's playing on your computer or whatever.

[OxfordWill]

Yes.. even if you have a job.. agree 100%

[philo]

In my opinion, very true.

Even if you are sober, it wears you down. I have an AA friend - sober for 8 years - who is an american lawyer and are now studying thai law. When I first met him - in a law office where he is a kind of 'trainee' helping foreigners, I told him that this candy shop has turned into a nightmare (I wasn't sober).

I was litterally shocked by his answer: 'I regret ever coming here. Every day. The only reason I stay is because of my two children'.

[garro]

If you have a problem with alcohol then Thailand can amplify the abuse. Mind you, I went to Saudi Arabia to quit alcohol and despite it being illegal there my drinking was completely out of control. I moved to Thailand eight years ago to escape my increasing addiction problems in Saudi.

Thailand can be a bad place for drunks, but luckily it is also a great place to get and stay sober.

[gerryBScot]

Anywhere in the world is a bad place to be if you are a drunk, even in countries where alcohol is illegal or controlled. The problem for drunks is as much a mental one as it is anything else, meaning it is not just about physical consumption. Are you having a good time when you drink? Obviously not. How is your drinking affecting those around you? Are you available for your children and wife? Can you stop on your own? When you stop and then start again, does it get any better? When you stop do you use the time productively? You need to answer these questions honestly. I readily identify with your apathy and listlessness, I have to deal with this even five years after my last drink. You do not monopolise procrastination There are days I just wanna get under the duvet and hide from the world and people. I went to AA, it has worked well for me. I don't know where your nearest meeting is in Korat, I suspect there is one there so maybe you should drop in or make a phonecall. Sounds as if you would have much in common with AA members! Contact me if you need web site and numbers.

[Livinginexile]

I agree

It got to a point where I had to leave Thailand to get sober.

[justaskdan]

For me it is far worse when I go to Issan. In Phuket there is more to do then just drink but when I am in Issan I find that bordom drives me to drinking.

[tomartoh]

Its not the place or time on hands or not having much money or not playing golf that makes people drink. Its a state of mind. Although i have now done a year dry it took a long enough time to be in the right frame of mind to stop.

I think it is about how you see yourself and how you care about yourself and whether you think your life is satisfactory or if perhaps too many of the good things in life slip past you and you awaken one morning and think <deleted>.

Unless you are a true alcoholic, for whom stopping has to be the only solution. The rest of us have an easier task and can find things here and there to bolster or prop up our self control, like getting fit or playing golf again or talking to the wife and kids again or maybe trying to turn the clock back a bit.

I stopped smoking 35 years ago in the days of woodies and parkdrive and capstan full strength. I stopped after i thought i was going to die one day during a badminton match.. it was a <deleted> moment. I couldnt in my wildest imagination ever believe i would want a ciggy again.

I have a very beautiful partner who is 31 years younger than me and i am not prepared to be leaving her for a long long time if i can help it. My prop. I owe it to her.

[middlepath]

Chiang Mai "can" be a nice place to stay sober. I'm trying it. Like the Moib said "booze makes you very slothful, lazy and a major procrastinator"

So, since I live in mountain bike heaven, I been riding my mountain bike a whole lot. Hitting the gym and swimming. If I make it to dinner without a

drink I made it though the day. For some reason I hate to drink after I am stuff from dinner. Man am I happy when I wake up knowing I did not

drink the day before......and i feel so good and clear...

[RickBradford]

I think one point is being missed here.

Us people who come to live in Thailand (or Asia and the 3rd world in general) do so for certain personality reasons -- could any of us see ourselves being back in our home towns, still working at the bank after 30 years, suburban house, mowing the front lawn etc etc? Some may have endured that and escaped, some may have escaped before that happened.

So I think the mental make-up of someone who becomes a lifelong expat is unusual, and one of its expressions is a liking for alcohol. That said, Thailand is a very easy place for someone who already has that mentality to turn a hobby into a full-time pursuit. In Thailand there is no peer pressure not to drink to excess (rather the opposite), there are the cultural/language difficulties, and so on.

The answer? You have to ask yourself each morning: Why am I getting up today? If you have some meaning to your life, then social drinking can be a pleasant complement to a useful life. If drinking itself becomes the day's main activity, then you have problems.

[denissr]

I got sober going to AA, and have stayed sober 35 years. I have been in all kinds of situations, working and not working. I stay sober, easily, now. If you are drinking now, or have only had short periods of sobriety, it may seem impossible, or at least very hard. For the first 8 years I went to lots of meetings, and stayed away from drinking. Now, I go where I want and do what I want, I just don't drink. I can sit in a nite club, talk, laugh, joke, dance I do it all I just don't drink. Is the best thing that has happened for me. My life has been so full. All you friends that have trouble with your lives because of drinking, keep trying. There is a much better life on the other side. If today I knew I could drink successfully, I wouldn't. What would be the point? All of you that can drink with no trouble, more power to you, by all means don't let my faults keep you from enjoying life as you live it.