I Can Finally Leave Thailand.

[MJP]

All of a sudden everyone is expecting a first world country that costs a pittance. Isn't the fact that it is a fairly safe 3rd world country the reason that most of us are here?

yes agree with you,you cant have a relatively cheap country to live in and expect 1st. world infrastructure.

Is it that bad though?

Is it that far off 1st world infrastructure? Okay, it's a little different, but I achieve all the same things I would do in the UK as I do here in rural Issan. Drive to a supermarket. Have electric. Go to hospital if I need to. Buy clothes. Same list as Blighty.

Okay bits can be a little shabby, but hel_l I've worked and lived in the shabby bits of the UK too.

I think Cambodia is proper awful, but Thailand . . . not really.

Another thing is I can get around this whole country easy on public transport, I wouldn't know where to start in the UK!

[GungaDin]

I think what is holding things back most of all is thai mentality

Thai mentality of today is not Thai mentality of yesterday.

I have young Thai people working with me and I have young Thai people living with me.

And in the 13 years I've been here, I noticed a huge difference/evolution in mentality.

Yeah, me too.

[samuibeachcomber]

All of a sudden everyone is expecting a first world country that costs a pittance. Isn't the fact that it is a fairly safe 3rd world country the reason that most of us are here?

yes agree with you,you cant have a relatively cheap country to live in and expect 1st. world infrastructure.

Is it that bad though?

Is it that far off 1st world infrastructure? Okay, it's a little different, but I achieve all the same things I would do in the UK as I do here in rural Issan. Drive to a supermarket. Have electric. Go to hospital if I need to. Buy clothes. Same list as Blighty.

no its not at all bad.I think the OP has finally had enough of thailand and i suppose when anyone gets to that point the bad things that bother them come to the fore and all the good points get forgotten.

[MJP]

All of a sudden everyone is expecting a first world country that costs a pittance. Isn't the fact that it is a fairly safe 3rd world country the reason that most of us are here?

yes agree with you,you cant have a relatively cheap country to live in and expect 1st. world infrastructure.

Is it that bad though?

Is it that far off 1st world infrastructure? Okay, it's a little different, but I achieve all the same things I would do in the UK as I do here in rural Issan. Drive to a supermarket. Have electric. Go to hospital if I need to. Buy clothes. Same list as Blighty.

no its not at all bad.I think the OP has finally had enough of thailand and i suppose when anyone gets to that point the bad things that bother them come to the fore and all the good points get forgotten.

Home sickness.

I guess I get a bit home sick now and again and 15 years here solid is a long, long time (no pun intended there).

During the economic boom, most of us were all over the place. Never spent more than a few of months at a time here, always very busy, but now works' slack, got to be said, it's not a bad base to sit out a serious recession.

Boredom right now is the enemy. Going from high income and fast living to pretty stationary, belt-tightening austerity has a lot of us adjusting to new circumstances at the moment. Guess it's like coming off a high.

[sambai]

I think the OP just wants to get this off his chest, and I can understand that. Thailand is frustrating sometimes and there are lots of things to annoy. I have thought about leaving from time to time, but everywhere has significant downsides. On the whole Thailand is ok for most foreign residents.

Thailand is after all a third-world country and it's still developing. Perhaps we forget that and expect it to function the same as other more sophisticated regions of the globe. It has been developing for a hundred or more years, and it's still a long way behind the developed world. Essentially therefore, the phrase developing country is somewhat of a kind excuse for Thailand.

The Thai people are great most all of the time. I haven't seem racism but just the frustrating aspect that their world encompasses Thailand and little more than that. Their education system lets them down, and it shows. Their language holds them back. Their mentality is not like that of the Western region we're used to. The Thai language and the culture are factors in keeping their "world" very narrow. Their politics are corrupt and probably always will be - the Thai way of not showing anger probably goes some way to prevent the country from righting its wrongs.

I hope the OP has a better time wherever he's going. Personally I think Thailand *was* better about five years ago and then it began to go downhill. It has risked being an embarrassment to the developed parts of the world that regarded it as making progress from its third-world status. Hopefully this will change soon though.

[nakachalet]

anyone complaining about flies should try australia.there's an aussie saying'there's no flies on me,only the marks where they've been".

are you serious about what you said....?

you must not be....

i did not notice any such marks on crocodile dundee.... nor did i hear him mention anything about your aussie flies making marks on humans.... surely if it is true.... he would have told us city folks, wouldn't he....?

[oz457]

Racism? I'm Belgian and I can tell you, the government of my own country thinks we are working dogs to pay taxes. As a native of my own country, I don't get the advantages of immigrants. My own government hates it's own native population. We are just working money machine generators to fill up their pockets and the pockets of their friends. We get taxed 54% here, so I would prefer to earn twice as less and get no tax.

Food? If you don't like the food out there, just cook your own food. Here in Belgian, with a normal income, you are unable to go to the restaurant at all, except for some fast food and some french fries.

In these 15 years you've been around in Thailand, things have changed in your own country, believe me.

[nakachalet]

if i and a few other family members still like to visit your country belgium....

pls give me some suggestion as to how to survive for one week there....

we like to live just like most normal people in belgium would carry on with their lives....

can you suggest, pls? thx much

Racism? I'm Belgian and I can tell you, the government of my own country thinks we are working dogs to pay taxes. As a native of my own country, I don't get the advantages of immigrants. My own government hates it's own native population. We are just working money machine generators to fill up their pockets and the pockets of their friends. We get taxed 54% here, so I would prefer to earn twice as less and get no tax.

Food? If you don't like the food out there, just cook your own food. Here in Belgian, with a normal income, you are unable to go to the restaurant at all, except for some fast food and some french fries.

In these 15 years you've been around in Thailand, things have changed in your own country, believe me.

[KhunSteven]

khun steven....

but excuse me....

did you or did you not notice on each entrance to and departure from thailand....

on each side of the street, there is a large white concrete building which clearly says thailand immigrantion....?

just want to clarify your spurious observation and statement regarding there were only four portakabins (?)....

just an observation.... if and when you learn to converse in thai a little.... you will surely find out that thai people are very receptive and most are not at all racist as many perceived them to be--mostly due to their limited ability to express themselves in the ways you are accustomed to....

unless of course, you would consider not being able to communicate in english with you.... as a form of racism....

the thai population love their king, queen and their royal children.... many would be willing and happy to sacrifice their lives for the royalties at any given moment....

it is really ironical, how many of us would be willing to do something remotely like that in our own country.... for whomever and whatever reasons....

one thing though.... i dislike thailand flies very much.... it is all over the place.... but then i detest spanish flies even more....

to the many fellow farangs.... if you are so very displeased with so many things in thailand.... choose another country of your liking.... so you can create a paradise for yourself.... like so many of us who have done just that in different parts of the most agonizingly unorganized thailand....

Trust me the King and Queen of Thailand are two of a very small number of Thais I trust implicitly. There were no concrete buildings only Portakabins unlike the fully operational Malaysian border post. Even if I spoke Thai fluently I would still only be a farang. I like the chaos in Thailand and like Thailand generally except those that seem happy to cut their nose off to spite their face by wishing that all fanags should find somewhere else to go to.

[zorro1]

well one big downer is OP will have to replace the boring " why u so hansum"

with

" F #ff you creep"

15 weeks of that and, hello is this thai air?

[nakachalet]

well one big downer is OP will have to replace the boring " why u so hansum"

with

" F #ff you creep"

15 weeks of that and, hello is this thai air?

is that a new trading terminology for all newbies in this thaivisa forum.... LOL