How Well Do You Get On Other Farang

[BlackArtemis]

I got along with coworkers, but maybe would meet them outside of work once a month or two.

I am not against having expat friends, but I have often found that people in my own age group are only tourists or drunkards doing a piss poor job at teaching to fund their drinking.

So rather than getting down about not meeting farang friends I just stopped caring a long time ago and made friends with Thai's.

I am sure there are plenty of great expats etc, but the extent of my interaction will probably be this forum.

[pwm]

You know what? Maybe it's the red wine speaking, but I'm feeling a little homesick right now. I'm 37 and miss some farang conversation. Any lonely farang fellas stay in spitting distance of German Tawandaeng?

[Rinrada]

Dont tend to meet many farangs on my brief visits ...deepest Samut Pracan /Mae On in Chiang Mai but on occasion have met up with some of our Thai Visa crowd ...Crossbow-Dive bar- Gullivers -that Ice Bar gin joint Tuskers-Red Lion-Old Bel etc and always found them to be most agreeable,knowledgable and offer exceedingly polite companyl.....

[mauGR1]

I meet lots of foreigners,most of them cause of my job.Most of them are nice folks.

One of the reasons i live and work in LoS is i can meet people from all over the world.I think people who travel are more interesting.

If i am in the mood for a conversation,it's not difficult for me to make friends with strangers,although i have to say that i carefully avoid bars and drunkards.

Nothing against fun,just my choice.

[ProfessorFart]

Guest House's classification is <deleted>. Maybe thats why he spends his life online banging on about his amazing life ...ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Walter...meet Walter....

Edited February 11, 2010 by ProfessorFart

[kikoman]

I do not go out of my way to interact/socialize with other falangs, I visit my brother up north and to the daily lets get drunk and BS get together with his falang friends. I could not handle all the BS, Drinking most of the day away is not part of my pattern of life.

It was nice when answering a knock on my door last week, to find a person from my home town that I had not seen for over 50 years, but we had something in common to talk about. In fact the visit was to short and I did not complain when he walked into my home with his shoes on neither did my wife and daughters.

I have met a couple of pen pals over at That Forum , we have common interest. I have a large circle of family and friends, they are all Thais.

Cheers

Edited February 11, 2010 by kikoman

[cdnvic]

good to know youre one of the mentally ill deluded ones the OP is talking of

In your short period here you haven't had experience to make that call. Guesthouse is usually a pocket of sensibility amongst the kind of silliness that runs rampant when people who can figure out typing get a little anonymity and a place to rant.

[phetaroi]

My perspective after 8 years here:

1. Working "Professional" Farangs living here are generally well balanced and living "normal" lives as expats, which doesnt mean to say they are completely sane...

2. Some Retirees I have come across have serious chips on their shoulders and some are out and out loonies

3. Then we have the desparate and will do anything to stay in Thailand Farangs, again chips on their shoulders.

In my experience here, (not having ago at geniune teachers) , the worst sorts are the "English" teachers here, all the ones I have come across have been full of their own importance and very arrogant..

...

My perspective is much shorter...only about 9 months, but I see a lot of wisdom in your analysis. I think that working professional farangs are a bit more on the balanced side. Those here just to "play" are...hmmmm...well, they have an odd view of life.

In terms of making friendships, since I don't do the whole bar thing (and really never have...much), and I don't have a workplace from which to base friendships, it's been a challenge. Some of the farang I have met...well, I wouldn't really want to associate with them in more than a conversation of a few minutes. Difficult to form close relationships with Thais due to the language barrier. Glad I'm in a long-term (like 17 years) relationship with a Thai...makes life a lot smoother.

You also mentioned the arrogance and self-importance of English teachers here. I'm a former educator from the States and often go on an ajahn forum on the web. If I base my judgments of farang English teachers based on those on that site..man oh man...unprofessional would be the least damaging description I could give...in many cases truly pathetic would be more accurate. Many (and I do mean many) an embarrassment to the profession. I know...there are a few good posters on that forum (very few) and there must be tons of great western teachers here...but they must be in hiding.

[torrenova]

I often think whether I would know these people and whether I would be friends with them were we not in Thailand. The majority of time I say no, we would not be friends, though some would. Based on that, I have a few good friends, many acquaintances and I know loads of people who have some problem or other, often associated with their drinking.

[noise]

I often think whether I would know these people and whether I would be friends with them were we not in Thailand. The majority of time I say no, we would not be friends, though some would. Based on that, I have a few good friends, many acquaintances and I know loads of people who have some problem or other, often associated with their drinking.

[trevron73]

Gosh, GH, is sounds like me and thee are the only two normal Western human beings left in Thailand... oh, and your two friends.

Well I don't claim to have met every 'Normal Westerner' in Thailand but as one of my two good friends here remarked only last week - A new acquaintance of his has, in the space of three months, gone from a possible good friend to yet another misfit brining their own personal problems to his door.

Thailand attracts a lot of guys who are running away from sh1t back home - What they don't understand is a lot of that sh1t remains stuck to them.

All joking aside...

So what begs the question is...

Why do they come to THAILAND? The "mai pben rai" mentality of Thais? Thai tolerance? Thai inability to recognize and isolate/ostracize western misfits? Ability to "blend" in (loaded question)? Thai willingness to put up with misfits as long as the ATM card stays current? Too many opportunist Thais willing to associate with them as a stepping stone to the west?

This is the question that puzzles me most, as we all know so many western misfits who couldn't be touched with a 10-foot pole by peers in their home country, yet here seem to have a girl (or guy) on each arm, or quite easily get employment with Thai institutions/companies.

hey live and let live we are all <deleted> now and again , when i meet new people in LOS i listen and evaluate then make a judgement some times we are a bit merry on life or singha sometimes high on moral ground sometimes running away but we all love Thai or we wouldnot be here , i look forward to meeting fellow ex pats or even holidaymakers as i was one once , yah fly by night i got it all can go off but the guy who stays away at the end of the village is a true godsend ,,,,, long live the old boy nobody bothers with , i take all advice thanks

[Donnyboy]

@ noise, i like it

[gpdjohn]

There is good and bad anywhere but I do still think that the small concentration of Farang here is over-populated with wierdos just because this is the kind of place where they can pull a Kaiser Sosay and vanish.

[carmine]

All things in moderation - including moderation.

Moderating cannot be discussed on forum. Please refer to forum rules.

[gmac]

I liked my own company in the UK and like it best out here as well. Don't find the need to seek out other foreigners for company, or Thai's for that matter. I'll get along happily enough for short periods with most people but a quiet life is fine for me.

[keithsimmonds]

I have lived here in the sticks for 2 years now, i,m English i,m married to a Thai she has a youn daughter and all of her family live in this village uncles aunts cousins you name it they live here. there are no farangs here whats so ever,the only time i might see some are when i make the 70km journey into Chaiyaphum town,and they will be mostly scandinavian,s we nod politely and thats it.I have made 2 posts on this forum lately about Khon Kean a place i have to go to next week to do my 2nd i year extension and basically enquired if anyone would like to meet up and have a game of golf. I got no replies, over 60 people looked at the post but nothing came back,so my take on Farangs out here in this (area )is if they are british then they are relics from Margeret Thatchers i,m all right jack brigade.

[anonymouse]

I think 90% might be a bit over the top, saying that every other person I meet does seem to have some connection with either the secret service, Special Forces or some sort of secret government department, all hush hush but they've killed a few people in there time etc, etc.

I don't meet many accountants or such like

I'm a complete misanthrope anyway, have a few friends that I see on occasion, the Thai's in my moo baan have got used to me now and apart from the odd sawatdee kap or wave hardly acknowledge me.

I have a wife and two kids and find enough to do without listening to the mindless chatter of other people, that's what I come on Thai Visa for

[eyebee]

Onr of the reasons that I joined the quiz league here in Pattaya is that you meet a wide range of intelligent, well-read and interesting people. In the quiz team that I play for, for example, we have a couple of teachers, a social worker, a couple of civil engineers, a mariner, a couple of airport workers, an air traffic controller, a couple of taxi drivers and a world renowned arborealist!

How's that for a well-rounded group of friends!

[DavidOxon]

I've never lived anywhere where there are so many (retired farangs) who don't

talk to so and so , or isn't being talked to back by someone - for some sleight or grievance in the dim and distant past.

I think a lot settle here because they can't make it in any other country

where you can't get short or longtime friends all for the sake of a few dollars!

my 5c!

David

[carmine]

I've never lived anywhere where there are so many (retired farangs) who don't

talk to so and so , or isn't being talked to back by someone - for some sleight or grievance in the dim and distant past.

I think a lot settle here because they can't make it in any other country

where you can't get short or longtime friends all for the sake of a few dollars!

my 5c!

David

Cynical mate, but not without substance

[DavidOxon]

I've never lived anywhere where there are so many (retired farangs) who don't

talk to so and so , or isn't being talked to back by someone - for some sleight or grievance in the dim and distant past.

I think a lot settle here because they can't make it in any other country

where you can't get short or longtime friends all for the sake of a few dollars!

my 5c!

David

Cynical mate, but not without substance

Yes, sorry, totally unbalanced too!

there are some great people here too, but they tend to be the more working/responsible kind

raising families, home most nights, sociable and stable. Shame they are more difficult to meet

as they don't tend to 'hang out' as much!

David

[divinio]

Leonard Cohen said it so nicely: There's a crack in everything, that's where the light gets in

And referring to the TS I think that you attract what you are. I'm sorry :-)

[neverdie]

I don't like people in general, especially internet people but some of the nutters on thai visa are okay

[eurasianthai]

I actually like people in general.

But some of the nutters on Thaivisa, I don't ...

[deejah]

i am sorry to say

the biggest trouble makers i have come across living and working

in thailand has been other farangs

there are some great people here

and many rejects

guess that makes the humble kind ones more special

thailand is overrun with brits

i know some good ones

but often they are a belligerent difficult lot full of head games

my take is, england must be a miserable place with a large

population of discontents

not sure why, perhaps social repression and oppression

just my take

FWIW

perhaps nada

[Ulysses G.]

there are some great people here too, but they tend to be the more working/responsible kind

raising families, home most nights, sociable and stable. Shame they are more difficult to meet

as they don't tend to 'hang out' as much!

David

You are right, there are lots of nice family types around, but there are plenty of good blokes who are here for the action too (Ian Forbes is a good example). There are good people everywhere if you look hard enough.

[canuckamuck]

Lowered expectations keep me from being too judgmental.

People that choose to live in a culture as foreign as Thailand are either pioneer types or runaways or both.

Those that are sent here because of work seem more ordinary, at least in the beginning.

[mmushr00m]

i hang around with afew...but the conversations lately seems to always veer towards a whinging tirade on how everything is wrong with LOS and how it could be improve if the natives do a,b,c etc.

I mean who wants to listen to an hours long whinging, self important tirade???

[barryofthailand]

I have never seen so many foreigners that has left their brains in their home country, and now retired in Thailand stupid as ever.

Barry

[longballlarry]

Been here 7 years and have made 4 good friends. On the flip side, I've met about 25+ psychopaths, 25+ story telling Walter Mitty's , 50+ con men , and about 10 with a combination of all 3. Have met some other fairly normal people, but just prefer to stay home with the wife, and meet up with a pal once a week or so. Its a dangerous place out there, and my % of fruitcakes would be nearer the 95% mark.