Would U Have Swapped?

[Belfastboy]

Just wondering how many of the guys here would have looking back at their childhood swapped it for living in thailand?

So..would u like to grow up in BKK ? or your home country?

In my case UK...thinking back of playing endless hours of football ....great friends ..adventures in the forest ..camping....superted,bagpuss, the flumps....fraggelrock..etc...lol.....and going to see my beloved Liverpool FC ....ah...couldnt think of a better place....and not a hooker or mopehead in sight!!

[bkkmadness]

No way, I think the west is a great place to grow up, if not just because of the great oppurtunites that you have there even if you are born into a family without money.

I feel sorry for a lot of the kids here that really don't have a fighting chance in life.

[Belfastboy]

so have sorted out your dilema bkkmadness? ........also if u had kids here would u take them back to the UK or go for an international school here in bkk?

[thaiflyer1]

UK for me as well............the happiest days of my life were in the mid 70's aged 14-17 ......i/d give all what ive got today to go back to then.

[Thomas_Merton]

Just wondering how many of the guys here would have looking back at their childhood swapped it for living in thailand?

So..would u like to grow up in BKK ? or your home country?

In my case UK...thinking back of playing endless hours of football ....great friends ..adventures in the forest ..camping....superted,bagpuss, the flumps....fraggelrock..etc...lol.....and going to see my beloved Liverpool FC ....ah...couldnt think of a better place....and not a hooker or mopehead in sight!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What a sad life you must have had, never feeling at home in Goodisan Park.

[ThaiPauly]

I believe that growing up in my own country PREPARED me for Thailand, and I would not swap a moment of my time in the UK for Thailand. But now I would not swap a moment of my time in Thailand for home because I am prepared and well adjusted to it and I really like living here.

1. Because I can afford to, everything is so much cheaper than back home

2. I like the sun and have time to enjoy it

3 I have a lovely wife who is very happy with her life

4 I have made a few freinds out here, but kept relationships with freinds back home (even though I see them sporadically)

I am lucky to have the best of both worlds, but Thailand is where I hope to end my days, I love it here having moved her at 49, I consider this to be exactly the right age to come. No Regets

TP

[bkkmadness]

so have sorted out your dilema bkkmadness? ........also if u had kids here would u take them back to the UK or go for an international school here in bkk?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

things are pretty crap at the moment so dilema not been sorted, its just something i think about on occaisions, probably borught about by booze and things not buzzin in bkk at the moment.

hmm, kids, I dont know. I enjoyed growing up in Barking and Dagenham but I always thought I would never want my kids growing up there.

I think I would bring them up here because I would be in a position to offer them many things that your average Thai kid would not get.

ie. I had a chance of University education which I did not take in the UK, coz can get student loans but thats not available here.

[Belfastboy]

i agree with all of u....UK is great for kids...and teaches them so much about life. the good and the bad...the value of money for a start....

as someone once said that out in thailand u can basically buy your way in education ....so corruption begins at an early age in thailand.....which is very disturbing.....

Plus u guys are missing the NEW Doctor WHO its actually excellent....for anyone whos interested....

[bkkmadness]

I also think exposed to a lot more culture, more music, more films, more tv, more books, basically a broader view of the world around us that the Thai kids don't get.

How many of you are knowledgable on loads of subjects coz of the main man Sir David Attenborough's wildlife programmes, Newsround, Tomorrow's world, Blue Peter, Libraries etc.

[duncanm]

I also think exposed to a lot more culture, more music, more films, more tv, more books, basically a broader view of the world around us that the Thai kids don't get.

How many of you are knowledgable on loads of subjects coz of the main man Sir David Attenborough's wildlife programmes, Newsround, Tomorrow's world,  Blue Peter, Libraries etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

well when us lot were growing up this would have been a rather major problem... but technology has definitely changed that.

Can tell you from experience that Dom Jolly goes down very well with Thai kids and a decent nature documentary can be popular.

Personally partied through university, grabbed a useful degree then slogged my way through the rat race till I'd payed my debts and then left the UK.

This would not have been an option and I'm very grateful for the opportunities my education has given me.

When I have my own kids all I can say for sure is that the best darn education I can beg borrow or steal.... even if I have to move back to the UK ( though emigration to New Zealand would come first )

Edited April 18, 2005 by duncanm

[Belfastboy]

do any of u guys have kids in school in thailand ? .....international schools any good?

[siamesekitty]

I loved my childhood in the U.S., feel lucky to have lived in a quiet neighborhood with lots of trees, good library, parks, nice edu. system, etc.. (the American kids kids themselves could have used some improvement though )

[bkk_mike]

do any of u guys have kids in school in thailand ? .....international schools any good?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have two at the Regent's school in Bangkok. It's fairly expensive, but I'm happy enough. So happy that the 3rd starts nursery there on Wednesday.

Where are you living though? That's the big issue most of the time... (in Phuket / Pattaya / Koh Samui, there isn't the same selection of International schools that you get in Bangkok).

[Belfastboy]

How much is it in Pounds sterling for one school year per pupil.....

let me sit down before u tell me.,...i may need a JD after u tell me....

just having a nice cup of tea and a warm scone with butter and strawberry jam.....yum...(im still in the UK in case your are wandering)....but seriously thinking of moving there....but the kids come first always....

[Nignoy]

Being an old fart, and having the option at 14 of either going in to the mill or the army, sort of left UK in 1960 and through the army saw the world , discovered thailand in 1962, and always returned to it when finances allowed, I know it it has not got the sophisticated cultural life of many european countries, but it still has the smile and the attitude of its people to strangers, 12 years ago we took our stepson and his family to meet our friends in Isaan, independent of what we have taught them they go back every year, my 2 grandsons who live in outback queensland cannot wait to spend their summer holidays in the village in the north east the eldest who is 14 has just one an award together with his thai mate he made a documentary about Life in a NE village, have to smile when I read all the threads talking about pattaya as thai life, could just as well be the Cross in Sydney or the Reeperbahn in Hamburg or any other red light district Nignoy

[devildog683]

if i grew up there, it wouldnt seem so wonderful to me, and i probably want to go somewhere else

[autonomous_unit]

(the American kids kids themselves could have used some improvement though )

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You just didn't meet the right kids...

But seriously, I don't know how to answer the original question. I wouldn't want to be one of the narrow-minded nationalists I've met here, but then there were plenty of those back in the US too! I cannot imagine who I would be without the parents, family, schools, and environs where I grew up in Northern California. They were all very peculiar and signficant so I don't know how they'd get translated to Thai equivalents. I would not want to have swapped places and lived my wife's childhood. People would not have tolerated me and I'd probably be dead now. Plus, I have a hard time imaging how we'd have ended up dating if our childhoods were reversed.

We are facing the other question of raising kids in BKK, so I've thought about that question a lot. Frankly, we moved here out of her obligations rather than our choice... my nightmare would be if we had to choose to all be together in BKK or for me to take kids back to the US. (I detest the idea of sending kids off to boarding schools.)

[Chiuey]

seeing as I have never posted on this forum before, I figure what better topic to pop my cherry with....

I did grow up in thailand, even though I'm not thai, and would prob never pass for one despite the fact that I'm east asian.... I'd have to say that growing up in thailand was a real trip.

I don't know if I can really say that I would have enjoyed growing up else where more than I did here in BKK, but I can definitely see the differences. However I must say that thailand today isn't like what it was 10 years ago.

I went to an International school here in BKK for most of my childhood, and I must say that growing up in BKK had a lot of benefits. For one, we didn't have to worry about not having anything to do on a weekend. Silom soi 4 became part of my culture when I was 14, and it's still a part of my life some 11 years later. I guess old sentiments die hard.

Granted if I ever get around to having kids, I don't think I'd sleep very well knowing exactly what goes on down there... so I must say, I'm very glad my parents didn't think "clubbing" was part of my weekly entertainment untill I was 17.

On another note, I do however feel that having gorwn up here in BKK with did put me at a small disadvantage when I did eventually move away to the US after High School. Going to college there was different in the aspect that I was, matter of factly speaking, spoiled rotten. It wasn't that I was rude to my peers or had difficulty adjusting to life else where, but like many before me, learning to do laundry and cooking for oneself were simple skills that had to be picked up.....REAL QUICK! I'm sure my GF at that time loved that fact that I had to wear more sensible clothing more than often as opposed to my usual jeans and t-shirts as 60% of my closet shrank.

I don't know if I would ever trade my childhood here for one else where, but I do know BKK has changed a lot since I grew up here, but it was still an experience that has shaped me to be a better person (atleast I believe so anyways ).

[OxfordWill]

I think it says a great deal about growing up in thailand that the only Thai male friends I respect are western educated. Actually, scrap that, it only says alot about me.