ajarnyai Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 I've been here for a little less than 2 years, but I'm starting to ask myself if it's a good idea to stay. I can leave and got to a new country or go back home to America, but I still want to explore. I work as a teacher, and to keep a steady job one needs to have a somewhat steady society. These floods are not the first crisis that Thailand has faced, but it's the first one I saw where the government showed how little they care about keeping things stable. All these political games, are so very transparent and show me that all of us can be sacrificed at any time. I am seriously loosing faith in Thailand as being a decent place to live. Education doesn't seem like a priority for the government and if things get much worse I might be out of a job. I now live in Issan, so I haven't been directly effected, but I have a friend staying with me that has. She's Thai and and very worried about keeping her job as a teacher. I want to stay, but it goes against my better judgement. I guess what I'm asking is... How do you expats feel about living here in light of recent events? If things get bad, are you planning to stay? Why stay? ( with the exception of family, love, or other obligation) Do you feel like Thailand can rise above it's problems, and create a stable country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beetlejuice Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 It depends on every individual’s situation. If in your case you are relying on a job to financially sustain yourself in Thailand and that employment is for whatever reason under threat, then things are not looking rosy for you. I certainly would not settle myself in Thailand, such as make any investments here, become involved with a girl and being totally reliant on a job with no back up as a safety net for if and when the situation changes. If I was in that position, no, I would not consider having a long-term future in Thailand. Thailand will never be a completely secure and stable country; situations can turn here either for better or for worse within a moment. This is Thailand; you either love it or hate it and whether or not foreigners wish to stay must be at their own discretion according to circumstance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roamer Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 "Do you feel like Thailand can rise above it's problems, and create a stable country?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokie36 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Wait another ten years and then create a poll here. If it's negative then you should leave for sure. Hell don't hang around worrying....!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckamuck Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 (edited) Do you feel like Thailand can rise above it's problems, and create a stable country? I heard they have started raising pigs with wings, so sure... Edited November 11, 2011 by canuckamuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovetotravel Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Many countries have had problems like this. Look at the US. It's a mess. Same with many countries in Europe. Same with many countries in Asia. I think Thailand will be fine. Hopefully. One thing you might consider would be teaching in Korea? I hear the pay is good and it would give you a chance to explore another country???? Just a thought. I'm committed to Thailand. But where I live, the floods have not effected me nor has the political gyrations. Unless I read the news, I don't even know what's going on. Same ol' same ol'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonrakers Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Bovril has become scarce again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokie36 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Bovril has become scarce again A few more weeks of food shortages and some will be producing oxo cubes anyway..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 To be perfectly frank over the years I've lived here all the problems Thailand has faced have simply been things I've read about in the news. Life has been entirely normal. The closest I've come to actually being "involved" was driving past the burned out government buildings in Khon Kaen last year after they were torched, waiting a few minutes in a traffic jam as a convoy of red shirt protestors headed off to Bangkok, the recent floods turning a 6 hour journey back home into a 15 hour journey and being waved through an army road block by a bored looking group of soldiers in Khon Kaen city centre after the coup. Stuff like that. The day when I can't leave my house without a private security company driving Land Cruisers front and rear escorting me a la Iraq or similar is the day I'll consider packing up my troubles in the old kit bag and getting the fuc_k out of Dodge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LennyW Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Sometimes i get to wondering...what if? then i think about the mess the UK is in and i just laugh, lucky to be here!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulysses G. Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Thailand will never be a completely secure and stable country; situations can turn here either for better or for worse within a moment. It has always been this way. The Thailand is a Disneyland for cheapskates crowd never seem to get this and keep trying to change it into a PC Western country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awohalitsiktoli Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Thailand will never be a completely secure and stable country; situations can turn here either for better or for worse within a moment. It has always been this way. The Thailand is a Disneyland for cheapskates crowd never seem to get this and keep trying to change it into a PC Western country. I would add that the Thailand is a Disneyland for the rich are trying to change it into a PC Western country. The are three things that really are getting to me: 1) people pollution, 2) crime and 3) skyrocketing cost of living. These are the things that I have to deal with each day as opposed to some "crisis" which does not happen each day. But, it is worth nothing, that I live in sin city, which is, to many, the worst place to be and to others the best place to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Bovril has become scarce again Now there is a real disaster.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geriatrickid Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 The perspective of a teacher living on a small salary in Isan will be different than that of a professor at the university in KK just as it will be different from a beer bar/brothel pimp in Pattaya or a prudent retiree in Phuket with a well structured retirement fund. The prospects for a teacher living on an annual salary that is less than the monthly expenditures of some expats, are not good. It is best to move on, unless one enjoys the penury and primitive living conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackdawson Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 (edited) Good post. How do you expats feel about living here in light of recent events? I feel it is important to keep a (larger) supply of Coke Zero, water, Lay yellow and Heineken in the house. If things get bad, are you planning to stay? Depends on how bad. Why stay? Usual suspects = low cost of living, great food, great weather, political correctness not run amok, no Fox news, Noi, Nit, Nat, Ning, Nong, etc. Do you feel like Thailand can rise above it's problems, and create a stable country? It's politics are none of my business and otherwise it's looked pretty stable to me for the time I've lived here as far as most people getting up and going about their business everyday. Edited November 12, 2011 by jackdawson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 You work as a teacher, yet don't know how to use 'losing' in a sentence? Is 'loosing' even a word? Bl**dy H*ll....The English police are on patrrol early this morning.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ludditeman Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 (edited) You work as a teacher, yet don't know how to use 'losing' in a sentence? Is 'loosing' even a word? Bl**dy H*ll....The English police are on patrrol early this morning.... I think an English teacher complaining about education priority in Thailand is fair game, don't you? Edited November 12, 2011 by ludditeman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrel Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 You work as a teacher, yet don't know how to use 'losing' in a sentence? I've seen TEFL farangs here who can barely read or write, and who have accents so thick that even I have trouble interpreting what they are saying. Mediocrity seems to be par for the course for farangs who actually work here for money, as opposed to those who just live off savings/pensions/investments/ill-gotten gains from elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 You work as a teacher, yet don't know how to use 'losing' in a sentence? Is 'loosing' even a word? Bl**dy H*ll....The English police are on patrrol early this morning.... I think an English teacher complaining about education priority in Thailand is fair game, don't you? OK....will give you that one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Mediocrity seems to be par for the course for farangs who actually work here for money, as opposed to those who just live off savings/pensions/investments/ill-gotten gains from elsewhere. Speak for yourself, I work here for money because they are paying more than I would get in other parts of the world doing the same job.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Mediocrity seems to be par for the course for farangs who actually work here for money, as opposed to those who just live off savings/pensions/investments/ill-gotten gains from elsewhere. Speak for yourself, I work here for money because they are paying more than I would get in other parts of the world doing the same job.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 You work as a teacher, yet don't know how to use 'losing' in a sentence? Is 'loosing' even a word? What do you expect, a good teacher who could spell wouldn't be working here for 30,000 baht a month. Oh come lets be technically correct they are not "real teachers" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMA_FARANG Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 (edited) Sorry, none of the above. I made a choice to come here to retire and live with my Thai family. Of course it's not perfect...nothing is. But, for me, it's preferable to living in my "home country" where my family is not living. To me, that makes sense. By the way...your feeling about losing the joy of living in Thailand after a ccouple of years is a common thing. It usually happens to many, if not most, of the expats that live in Thailand on a long-term basis. The bloom wears of the Rose you might say. It's a common thing. Either you will grow out of it or leave because you can't tolerate it any longer. Exactly which, depends on your psychology. Either you will adapt...or you will give up. I've been through it before...and I'm still here. Edited November 12, 2011 by IMA_FARANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpatOilWorker Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 The past 5 years have actually been a bit rough on Thailand: Military coup, parliament occupation, bombs in the center of Bangkok, prohibit the sale of alcohol from 2-5 pm, airport occupation, fighting in the south, riots, shooting and burnings in the center of Bangkok, our dear friend and warlord Bout arrested and now this lazy flood that is not moving anywhere. Things could get better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 What about the double "and" in "She's Thai and and..." and the extra "e" in "judgement"? We done as the first prize you have been awarded another week on your rotation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpatOilWorker Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 What about the double "and" in "She's Thai and and..." and the extra "e" in "judgement"? We done as the first prize you have been awarded another week on your rotation... Thanks! Free coffee and Internet included? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSixpack Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 ajarnyai, seems you've just got your panties all in a wad over typical 3rd World country shenanigans. Chill out. A young person--I assume you are, relatively--shouldn't be working here for peanuts anyway, which I'd say is your real problem. I've seen some sad resultant cases. You've had your 2 years; go back to blighty or wherever and earn and save some real money in a real career as you enjoy your holidays in a variety of countries including Thailand. Many of our members hate the concept of "over there," but happiness is a state of mind. As is said in Shaun Of The Dead (a movie you'd do well to review), You got your pint. You got your pig snacks. What more do you want? Thailand will seem oh-so-much better if you come back to live here or visit w/o being under financial strain. In any case the longer you live in Thailand the more it will seem just another place w/ the same problems in somewhat different variations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StreetCowboy Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 You work as a teacher, yet don't know how to use 'losing' in a sentence? Is 'loosing' even a word? As in "He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword" from Battle Hymn of the Republic SC I share the OP's sentiments. This is the third time in as many years (maybe four), I think, that I have been scouring the news pages of TV to make a decision "should I stay or should I go now?" i am working on a long-term plan now that may be accelerated if need be... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moe666 Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Should I stay or go, I think I will stay. Where else can you get such entertainment. Floods, riots, coups, and Big T. OP if you are worried about the small stuff what happens when you get hit with the big stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajarnyai Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 The next time I stay up all night reading the news, I will make sure I triple check my post. It was awfully inconsiderate of me to ask you to read such a poorly written post. I apologize. I can always go back home, but that would make my Thai language studies a lot more difficult. I'm not asking Thailand to turn into a western country, but I think this flood situation never had to reach disaster level, and I wonder what the next thing will be. Political stability is probably nothing more than a pipe dream here, but I do expect the government to keep the people safe. At home (USA), the government has made big problems worse, so I know it can happen here. It doesn't look like Thailand stays stable for very long. A few months at most. I was asking how do you guys feel about living in a country that faces constant problems with national implications. It sounds like unless you got wet, you didn't think much of this round of big problems. It seems like the key to expat success is to develop a thick skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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