If You Got Kicked Out On To The Sois..

[WinnieTheKhwai]

When I arrived in Chiang Mai it was with a small-ish sports bag with some clothes and stuff. Nothing more. Over the years you tend to acquire and accumulate things. In my case these were mostly things that would still fit into that same bag, sometimes with some imagination.

But then you get to a watershed point where you make your first purchase of something that honestly cannot be rationalized as being portable. You may buy a fridge, a TV, or a teak wood garden sala. I'm not sure everyone registers the significance of that moment as much as I did at the time, but it was from that moment onwards that the word 'home' referenced a different place on the globe.

I thought about this again when Mark Zuckerberg's site asked me, innocently, "Hometown?".. Ehmm... Chiang Mai? (For people born before 1980 and thus not on Facebook, it asks this in addition to your current living location.)

How time flies. But what if, for any reason, you had to go back to full freedom mode, moving around, just carrying the bare necessities of life. What would those be? Like in the Job 2 Do song in which the singer decides to say f*#k all and leave: "Just my shirt and my herbs; even my Bob Marley tunes you can keep."

Would there be anything that you would bring? I would bring the truck, so that means I could bring quite a bit, but would I? Other than some clothes I would probably bring my laptop computer, a bottle of Sang Som, and my coffee grinder and Moka pot. Other than that.. bring nothing and leave only footprints.

[yesterday]

You are thinking everybody fits into your collective hobo bag ....

[WinnieTheKhwai]

If I did then I wouldn't need to post to see what other people's views are..

I'm fully expecting that some people arrived here with a 40 foot container showing up at Laem Chabang shortly after their arrival. Still, even those people's attitudes towards what they consider their key possessions may have shifted in their time in Thailand..

I guess another good question is: which percentage of your current posessions originated in Thailand, and which were brought from 'home' ?

For me, there isn't a shred around me that came from home.. I don't even know where the hobo bag went.

EDIT: Wait, that's not true, I think there is a watch in a drawer somewhere that I had before 'Thailand'. I'm not ever wearing it (or any watch) but I know it's there. Also I have a fluffy toy at home that I got as a present when I was born. (Mom brought it when my kid was born.)

...I might actually bring that if I were to hit the streets..

Edited June 10, 2011 by WinnieTheKhwai

[yesterday]

If I did then I wouldn't need to post to see what other people's views are..

I'm fully expecting that some people arrived here with a 40 foot container showing up at Laem Chabang shortly after their arrival. Still, even those people's attitudes towards what they consider their key possessions may have shifted in their time in Thailand..

I guess another good question is: which percentage of your current posessions originated in Thailand, and which were brought from 'home' ?

For me, there isn't a shred around me that came from home.. I don't even know where the hobo bag went.

You made yourself clear ,got it. now.

suitcase ,

then 40 foot container in,

then 100 40 foot containers out ....

what a place ,what a paradise!!!

Edited June 10, 2011 by yesterday

[roger1999]

Everything I brought came with me on the airplane. Other stuff came later, also with me on the airplane. I guess 99% of my stuff was purchased here, and I actually need very little of it. If I got kicked out on the Soi, I would need my contact lenses, my glasses. Everything else could be purchased at a 7-11.

I guess an extra pair of underwear would be nice : )

Almost all of my friends were born in the '60's, and we are all on FaceBook.

[slapout]

What will fit into one suitcase, which the airline would allow, finances and what I wear on my person. I have never became too attached to things, stuff, widgets, etc that I felt remorse to walk away from.

[CMX]

Valuables, including essential docs, cash and money related gadgets such as cards, maybe the portable laptop, my phone, the dog, and the car.

Easy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=298nld4Yfds

[uptheos]

The things that are REALLY valuable to me I can put in a bag, the rest is just 'stuff'' albeit expensive stuff, that I have aquired whilst here and can replace. About 2 years ago I thoroughly 'de-cluttered' my house and after doing so felt at peace, knowing exactly what I'd take in an emergency.

Edited June 10, 2011 by uptheos

[MangoAndCo]

It's funny how I thought about this recently. Every year I leave Thailand for a couple of months and every year I leave more stuff behind in CM. And I have lived like a gipsy moving from one condo to an other, I can only imagine how much more stuff I will collect once I rent a house.

What would I bring with me...

laptop, harddisk, my crafting tools, my little nephew's drawings, a few of my favourite clothes and shoes. Things that can't be bought at 7/11.

Mmm... maybe I shouldn't bring more of my stuff to Thailand this year...

But it's so nice to have items with memories when building your 'home' here...

Mmm...maybe I should reconsider bringing my grandmother's old vase to CM...

[hellodolly]

Well i certainly have a lot of stuff. Some expensive some not.

Hard to say what I would take with me clothes for sure after that maybe my lap top. I might even leave that. I promised myself I would never buy any thing I could not walk away from. That makes no difference if I am here in Thailand or back where I came from.

Life is to precious to me to let material things (witch I have in abundance) run it.

[IanForbes]

The things that are REALLY valuable to me I can put in a bag, the rest is just 'stuff'' albeit expensive stuff, that I have aquired whilst here and can replace. About 2 years ago I thoroughly 'de-cluttered' my house and after doing so felt at peace, knowing exactly what I'd take in an emergency.

I have too much stuff, just like uptheos, but as long as I have a place to store it then I'm happy. As most of you know I am a vagabond who spends half his life in Canada and the other half in Thailand. While in Thailand I make my headquarters Chiang Mai, and I travel outward from there. Each year I acquire a little more "stuff" and I have a friend who stores it for me while I am away. I pay her enough to look after it for me and she is happy with the arrangement. My stuff includes a couple of motorcycles. I've told her that should anything happen to me then all my "stuff" is hers.

But, to answer Winnie's question, I would take what I usually take when I travel around Thailand: my back pack with wheels on it and enough clothes to suit each climate. I also carry my laptop and a bag full of cameras.

[MonsieurHulot]

When I left, I took a few clothes but all my music.

[xen]

I too, like a few of the others have been thinking about this and most of my valuables and and a good proportion of my sentimental attachments can be stored on a couple of portable hard drives. My music, my photos, both sentimental and my attempts at serious photography, some of my previous work and creative projects, my CV, my address book, my insurance policy numbers and other personal and business files all can all fit onto a couple of hard drives. With a scanner i can scan the important sections of any books is slowly being added to hard disc and so is my music collection (so far, almost 20 days Worth on i tunes). My only concern is the readability of the formats that i have used - how well it will be able to be read in a decades time with the advent of new,improved formats, software and hardware.. A fair proportion of my books can be found on e-reader downloads now. it is only my reference books and design books i would need to scan .

Other than that, with a considerable amount of angst i could do without what i have collected.

I am a natural hoarder and a sentimentalist and anybody who is one knows how hard it is to leave stuff behind, but i can't take it with me into the next life (if there is one) . As one grows older , the values and your relationships to those values shift so moving on needs the purging of some of the stuff that binds you to one place or era in your life.

[californiabeachboy]

About 15 years ago, I had a good job and I was living in a great city (San Francisco). I was, as they say, fat and happy. But for some reason I decided I wanted to be a bohemian, so I quit my job and moved to Paris with very little except my CD player and about 5 of my favorite CD's. My sister accused me of having a mid-life crisis, but to this day I deny that.

What got me through those 8 months (apparently I am not a bohemian) was my music.

So to answer the question, I would bring my music player (I have now graduated to the MP3). Music can get one through anything.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

My only concern is the readability of the formats that i have used - how well it will be able to be read in a decades time with the advent of new,improved formats, software and hardware.. A fair proportion of my books can be found on e-reader downloads now. it is only my reference books and design books i would need to scan .

I don't think that's an issue as long as the formats are reasonably open. I have files from the early 1990's, an ARJ archive (before ZIP) with Word Perfect files in it and .GIF images. All open just fine. The bigger risk is your harddrive crashing or getting lost, so you will need one or more good backups of the entire thing, preferably stored in a different location.

And of course 5 years from now we will be going 'huh.. hard drives?' because everything will be on a server in a cloud somewhere. It's already like that with a lot of personal e-mails, some with sentimental value, all of those are on Gmail so they're there no matter where I am or what hardware I use.

With so many things turning digital, there is less and less that needs bringing with you physically as you move..

[jez56]

You don't need much.

When I left the UK, I had intended to be away for only a year or two. (This was in 1997 . . .) I had decided to rent my house out unfurnished, and so I put all my belongings into storage.

Years passed. It became clear that I wouldn't be going back.

Meanwhile, I had paid thousands of pounds in storage charges, and was continuing to pay every month. In 2003, during a trip back to see friends and family, I decided to clear out my storage unit.

It took three days, I seem to remember. Almost everything I had was either sold, or given away, or thrown away. I was astonished at the quantity of useless junk I had put into storage.

I did have some nice stuff, though. My sister got my dining table and chairs, for instance, and a couple of cases of wine that I had forgotten buying. A friend got some really good kitchen equipment. My three motorcycles fetched a reasonable price. Hundreds of books, too.

I threw away a ton of stuff. I reasoned that, demonstrably, I was able to live without all of it. I had done so for the previous six years.

I can't honestly say that I felt myself growing lighter as I divested myself of all these worldly encumbrances, but I did quite enjoy doing it, and I haven't missed any of it. I don't know if that means that I'm well-adjusted or merely cold-hearted.

All I kept was a few photographs (threw out 99 per cent of them), a couple of boxes of LPs (being kept for me by a friend), and some other small stuff.

And last year I sold that house over there as well.

Edited June 11, 2011 by jez56

[realthaideal]

Given some odd political events going on since '06... I've had the thoughts 'What if I had to beat it to the airport or the hills across to Laos (Burma!?) ? What would I take with me ?' Well, for me the most important things would be the passport and the back-up HDD. I have to admit much of my life or things about me exists on disk these days through pictures and writing. To lose those things would make me tres sad ! Other than that just a couple sets of clothes and shoes right for the journey.

Btw.... Did you ever see Steve Martin in 'The Jerk' back in the day ? There's a great quotable scene where his empire collapses and he's going to get divorced. He's forced to grab what he can from the house with an interesting array of "All I need is...."

[MangoAndCo]

You don't need much.

When I left the UK, I had intended to be away for only a year or two. (This was in 1997 . . .) I had decided to rent my house out unfurnished, and so I put all my belongings into storage.

Years passed. It became clear that I wouldn't be going back.

Meanwhile, I had paid thousands of pounds in storage charges, and was continuing to pay every month. In 2003, during a trip back to see friends and family, I decided to clear out my storage unit.

It took three days, I seem to remember. Almost everything I had was either sold, or given away, or thrown away. I was astonished at the quantity of useless junk I had put into storage.

I did have some nice stuff, though. My sister got my dining table and chairs, for instance, and a couple of cases of wine that I had forgotten buying. A friend got some really good kitchen equipment. My three motorcycles fetched a reasonable price. Hundreds of books, too.

I threw away a ton of stuff. I reasoned that, demonstrably, I was able to live without all of it. I had done so for the previous six years.

I can't honestly say that I felt myself growing lighter as I divested myself of all these worldly encumbrances, but I did quite enjoy doing it, and I haven't missed any of it. I don't know if that means that I'm well-adjusted or merely cold-hearted.

All I kept was a few photographs (threw out 99 per cent of them), a couple of boxes of LPs (being kept for me by a friend), and some other small stuff.

And last year I sold that house over there as well.

I hear you, 2 years ago I got rid of all my stuff and I felt such a relief. I felt free. I have a few boxes at 2 places and really (emotional) important things can be stored in 2 banana boxes.

[kjhbigv]

Has happened a few times over the last few years!....passport, a few clothes, credit cards and laptop...everything else is dispensable and can be replaced!

[Pikey]

I'd take my Rolex watch that I bought as a gift to myself 26 years ago for working in Saudi, my phone with it's memory card jammed full of music and pictures, and my Triumph motorcycle that I bought with money my mum left me when she died 4 years ago. That'd do.

Cheers,

Pikey.

[Naam]

If I did then I wouldn't need to post to see what other people's views are..

1. I'm fully expecting that some people arrived here with a 40 foot container showing up at Laem Chabang shortly after their arrival.

2. Still, even those people's attitudes towards what they consider their key possessions may have shifted in their time in Thailand..

I guess another good question is: which percentage of your current posessions originated in Thailand, and which were brought from 'home' ?

For me, there isn't a shred around me that came from home.. I don't even know where the hobo bag went.

EDIT: Wait, that's not true, I think there is a watch in a drawer somewhere that I had before 'Thailand'. I'm not ever wearing it (or any watch) but I know it's there. Also I have a fluffy toy at home that I got as a present when I was born. (Mom brought it when my kid was born.)

...I might actually bring that if I were to hit the streets..

1. some people like us brought 7 years ago a 40 foot high cube container, volume ~75m3 to Thailand.

2. our attitudes have not and will not shift.

3. we did not import old socks.

4. we are well aware that the worldly possessions of many retirees in Thailand fit in one, or perhaps two, battered suitcases.

[IanForbes]

1. some people like us brought 7 years ago a 40 foot high cube container, volume ~75m3 to Thailand.

2. our attitudes have not and will not shift.

3. we did not import old socks.

4. we are well aware that the worldly possessions of many retirees in Thailand fit in one, or perhaps two, battered suitcases.

Ah, but did the famous Mr Naam bring his multi-lingual gardener with him, and would he bring him if he left?

Sorry Naam, I couldn't resist carrying on the long standing joke.

[Ulysses G.]

Ah, but did the famous Mr Naam bring his multi-lingual gardener with him, and would he bring him if he left?

I suspect that it would be for the multi-lingual gardener's amazing stock market expertise, rather than his gardening skills.

[anselpixel]

I've had to purge my holdings on a regular basis in order to stay light on my feet. It helps that I move often, and have zero sentiment about clothing. I usually hand my duds off before I pack. Only the Keen sandals are sacred.

I came with two small bags and a medium roller case, and after a year and a half, that's about what I have now.

Except for the four HUGE packing boxes full of stuff that I keep hidden when I'm on the move and disgorge when I find new digs.

Where does it all come from, and what can explain the fact that I must have it when I'm settled in, and never miss it when I'm mobile?

Irreducibles are mostly data-related: camera, laptop, outboard hard drives.