Are You Guys Still Happy In Bangkok

[papaya9]

I returned from a trip there recently (my 2nd) and absolutely love it (No naughty girls involved). It is very exciting to be there (especially at night), and you can feel how up and coming/cosmopolitan Bangkok is really becoming.

My question is (to you guys living there), is the magic still there for you, like it is for me, or has that gone away? Have you gone the opposite way and now feel disenchanted with Bangkok? I'm not planning a move there, but I've always wondered if it gets old living there, despite how Bangkok's transforming into quite a wordly city. Thanks in advance!

K

[Jockstar]

I love it. Though i hate the ######ing traffic. Why can Thais not understand that getting a car to impress their mates, Its making the pollution/traffic worse? Apart from that i love it. BTW i dont have a car and i wouldn't have one in this city.

[Greer]

I moved to Bangkok over 13 years ago and I still love the place. I have so many good friends here, and of course my family is Thai, so I can't think of anywhere better to live.

I have been consulting on a project in Australia recently, and I must say that I miss Bangkok very much, and I wouldn't want to live in Australia at all - even though I was born there.

[EVO]

I must say that the novelty has worn off, long ago and ive only been here for three years.

However, the novelty with Thailand hasnt worn off, and i would love to live elsewhere apart from Bangkok.

Driving for 2 hours to get home when the distance is less than 25km is just madness, plus i get sick of the beurocracy depending on what mood im in. Then again both i and the wife are foreginers so at least we have someone to bitch at when it does get us down.

Bottom line, some days i love it, some i hate it, but i wouldnt live in Bangkok for long. Better to live somewhere like Hua Hin so that you are near the madness when you want it in my opinion.

[bkkmadness]

Bottom line, some days i love it, some i hate it, but i wouldnt live in Bangkok for long. Better to live somewhere like Hua Hin so that you are near the madness when you want it in my opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats very touching, thank u.

[OldAsiaHand]

.... you can feel how up and coming/cosmopolitan Bangkok is really becoming. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe it's a little better in some ways now than it was fifteen years ago when I first started living here, but not really very much.

The plain fact is that Bangkok just isn't a very sophisticated city and that's one of the reason it attracts the kind of foreigners it does. The most common complaint among well educated and accomplished expats here is the extent to which they feel isolated; and consequently a lot of people who say they live here really use Bangkok as a base from which it is easy (and relatively cheap) to travel to other places.

If you are happiest in London or New York, Bangkok will very quickly get old; but if Manchester or Dallas might be more your kind of place, maybe it won't.

[RDN]

Bottom line, some days i love it, some i hate it, but i wouldnt live in Bangkok for long. Better to live somewhere like Hua Hin so that you are near the madness when you want it in my opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats very touching, thank u.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He wasn't talking about you!

[meemiathai]

Bottom line, some days i love it, some i hate it, but i wouldnt live in Bangkok for long. Better to live somewhere like Hua Hin so that you are near the madness when you want it in my opinion.

Thats very touching, thank u.

He wasn't talking about you!

Yes, he was!!! ???

[think_too_mut]

It is very exciting to be there (especially at night), and you can feel how up and coming/cosmopolitan Bangkok is really becoming.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe, if you are coming from places like Springfield, Missouri, Des Plaines, Illinois or Leichester, UK.

Come from Sydney (Sydney Sydney, not bleak suburbia) or Tokyo and you soon realize Bangkok is the biggest small place in the world with terrible quality of life.

It hardly ever sees me any more, first night there, car and off with my family next morning.

From the sea, back 4 hours before departure, pack up and return the car at the airport. And I have an apartment at Ekkamai.

[papaya9]

Thanks guys. Bangkok appeals to me much more than the western big cities. It really is the people that make Bangkok what it is of course, and I love most of the Thais that I've met. And the food! It makes food here in the states look and taste like crap. Even the Thai food here is weak, made especially for the farang palate (except for a couple restaurants here).

Thanks again,

Kurt

[EVO]

Bottom line, some days i love it, some i hate it, but i wouldnt live in Bangkok for long. Better to live somewhere like Hua Hin so that you are near the madness when you want it in my opinion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats very touching, thank u.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He wasn't talking about you!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, he was!!! ???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Of course i wasn't!!!!

[Neeranam]

9 years in Bangers was enough for me.

Actually the novelty wore off after about 3 years.

Once moving out of that city, I'd never go back, even for a well paid job.

Isaan is great!

Maybe the novelty of Isaan will wear off though.

[Tyree D.]

After being in northern Thailand for a few years, Bangkok seems like a huge, expensive, raunchy place with meaner people. I will stay up north. I'm originally from Los Angeles. Don't miss it.

[papaya9]

I agree. Isaan for the moment is very nice and laid back. Nothing wrong with a jaunt to the big city once in a while--can be refreshing

[Buff-horns]

on the buddhist holiday periods when all the dives close for most of the weekend it becomes like bognor on a wet december . without the bars and nightlife would they still live there?

[ajarntrade]

I've lived here in BKK for the last 2 1/2 years. Thailand is a great place to live. Bangkok can be an interesting city to live in. But working for and with Thai people is TERRIBLE. This would be awesome if I didn't have to work here to live.

ajarnernest

[OldAsiaHand]

......would be awesome if I didn't have to work here to live.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

.....as would a great many other places, too.

[The Dude]

Hi Folks, The Dude here, you there. Let me say that The Dude has lived in BKK for 3 years now and He Worships the place. He would never ever have a car here or work for Thais either. What's cool for The Dude is never having to drive anywhere ever. All the action is right at the bottom of the condo steps. You won't be seeing The Dude in Issan anytime soon. The Dude is BKK all the way. Who can dig that with a shovel?

[WhiteShiva]

Hi Folks, The Dude here, you there. Let me say that The Dude has lived in BKK for 3 years now and He Worships the place. He would never ever have a car here or work for Thais either. What's cool for The Dude is never having to drive anywhere ever. All the action is right at the bottom of the condo steps. You won't be seeing The Dude in Issan anytime soon. The Dude is BKK all the way. Who can dig that with a shovel?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dunno what problems you guys have had, but I have worked for both farang and Thais in the last 7 years here, and much prefer the Thais, especially as managers. Much more friendly, less chip-on-their-shoulder attitudes, more willing to listen to advise and opinions and by far more loyal to their staff. locals as well as foreign.

My Thai wife, OTOH, has had some really bad experiences working for Thai bosses, and prefers to work for farangs.

Go figure.....

Edited November 23, 2005 by WhiteShiva

[RDN]

...My Thai wife, OTOH, has had some really bad experiences working for Thai bosses, and prefers to work for farangs.

Go figure.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Easy, but won't post it here.

[WhiteShiva]

...My Thai wife, OTOH, has had some really bad experiences working for Thai bosses, and prefers to work for farangs.

Go figure.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Easy, but won't post it here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please do. I would really love to hear what your take on this is.

[RDN]

...My Thai wife, OTOH, has had some really bad experiences working for Thai bosses, and prefers to work for farangs.

Go figure.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Easy, but won't post it here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please do. I would really love to hear what your take on this is.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It concerns how farangs treat their women compared with how Thais do. But I don't want to generalise

[Tyree D.]

Talking about working? I've never had to work for THE MAN! lol. I have no problems with the Thai man. I don't care if I might never have power in this country, because YOU never will either.

[Insight]

Bangkok...

Four and a half years in and I'm trying to decide which way the pendulum is swinging right now. Being honest with myself, I’d have to say it’s towards the “hate” side, rather than “love”.

One problem I’ve found here is that outside the office, most single people that come here to live end up hooking up with a Thai girl within a few months, and then generally allow that girl to dictate their lives to them for the rest of their time together. Complete generalisation this may be, but I’ve seen it happen time and time again. More often than not, they generally bugger off back to the guys home country. Bottom line to it is the crowd of people outside work you know generally tend to be very transient, leaving the question wide open as to whom to confide in and trust. Jockstar reminds me that it’s not quite like that down KSR, but that’s a bit of a distance from where I am.

Other problem is (and bear with me on this one) – for somebody in the 20-somethings who isn’t gay and not passionately into the go-go thing, the nightlife here blows. I’ve been spoilt in my home town of Liverpool as it was home to one of the biggest and best nightclubs in the UK, Cream. After going there, it’s hard to meet another place that compares by far. The only club that comes close in BKK is Astra, a place which opened up recently. The whole RCA strip has had a bit of a decent makeover in the past 18 months, but most places are still playing over-saturated commercial hip-hop music to a cringe-worthy “hi-so” wannabe crowd. At least the birds down there are pretty fit

Now throw these crazy “zoning” laws on top of the whole lot with regular piss-tests going on from area to area and the constantly bizarre ideas the govt here keeps throwing into the mix, the “cost of living” attraction has got a hel_l of a lot to make up for. And as Rinrada has pointed out on another thread, the UK is going in the complete opposite direction....

Still, ask me again tomorrow. The answer might be completely different.

[WhiteShiva]

...My Thai wife, OTOH, has had some really bad experiences working for Thai bosses, and prefers to work for farangs.

Go figure.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Easy, but won't post it here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please do. I would really love to hear what your take on this is.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It concerns how farangs treat their women compared with how Thais do. But I don't want to generalise

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think I know what you mean. Before I met he, my wife worked for 5 years for a small Thai export company. During the '97 financial crisis, the owner/boss told all the workers that for his business to survive, they all had to take a 10% pay cut.

3 months later, he buys himself a brand new Porsche.........

[The Dude]

Yeah dude, you can take that Hip Hop crap and flush it down the F'ing toilet. You hit the nail on the head on what's the worst thing about BKK, those hi-so catering Hip hop worthless bars. I will dig along with you on that in a major way, Johnson

[Butterfly]

.... you can feel how up and coming/cosmopolitan Bangkok is really becoming.  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you are happiest in London or New York, Bangkok will very quickly get old; but if Manchester or Dallas might be more your kind of place, maybe it won't.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Same here. As a tourist, the city shines by itself. As an expat, that shine disappears in less than 1 month. My biggest complain is the "mobility". Bangkok is not a real city with streets etc... it's a huge construction project on a string of large roads. This makes it impossible to walk around the city and have a decent "downtown" with decent sidewalk cafe etc...

Sure enough and soon enough you realize that Bangkok is just a big dump. Ok to live there for a few years for the lifestyle and the fun (if you are young), a nightmare for raising a family or living a decent expat lifestyle. Of course if you are an old drunk, the city will keep shinning by itself until the bars close.

[OldAsiaHand]

.... you can feel how up and coming/cosmopolitan Bangkok is really becoming.  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you are happiest in London or New York, Bangkok will very quickly get old; but if Manchester or Dallas might be more your kind of place, maybe it won't.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Of course if you are an old drunk, the city will keep shining by itself until the bars close.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ouch.

I was trying to be at least a touch diplomatic and clearly you aren't particularly concerned about that. Still, when you're right, I suppose you're right, whether you make your point with diplomacy or not.

[Buff-horns]

surely the grimey shophouse architecture must get boring after a short while.

its an eyesore .