Alcohol Obsession By Foreigners In Thailand

[robblok]

I think it would look funny if you order a soda there. So i better not go.

Every now and then I like to go to a Go-Go bar and usually drink soda-water with no hassles from the girls or staff. I am not a big drinker and do not need the extra calories for something that I do not enjoy that much.

I expected to be treated like a paria if you do that. Good to know it is possible.

[MrHammer]

I can vouch that Scandinavians are every bit as alchohol obsessed as Brits, it's just a huge part of our culture. Public binge drinking is mostly exclusively a northern European phenomenen (maybe Australian as well?).

I personally think the British pub culture is great and much better than the Scandinavian drinking culture which is very low class.

Thailand attracts a certain kind of people, many who were big drinkers or dopers back home anyway.

[Dancealot]

folks haveta think about alcoholism and I am a drunk by anyone's definition...half boddle of vodka per day? get outta here, lets talk about 2 boddles and drinking at home...I don't like being around other drunks and I hate bars...and I can't walk half the time so it becomes difficult to go to the market to look at the wimmin fer entertainment...but I stay at home and play with the kids, read and sleep, etc...

gives you a whole new way of lookin' at the world...too bad I'm not Jack Kerouac or a Nobel laureate in literature as then I would have an excuse...

I used to drink 2+ bottles a day and understand other things you say. One thing I couldn't imagine though is looking after kids. I was in no way safe to do that.

I haven't had a drink now for over a decade.

Do you enjoy drinking?

Good mentioning you need to create a distraction or maybe a duty for yourself to be able to leave the bottle in the first place. I had a very difficult divorce but the parting with the bottle seems to be a lot more difficult! :-)

Some people can stop easier with it like others. For me i just flip over a switch and then don't drink. But then again im not one of those guys that enjoys the bar scene. I think it would look funny if you order a soda there. So i better not go.

Your OP is very interesting because your observation about drinking in thailand is true. Perhaps mentioning the British in you OP was no a good idea. If you didn't do that i think this thread would go totally different and we would get some more insightful answers. :-) The real challenge in raising a topic does not come from the observations you make but in how to describe it. The shorter the better. Too many words will only bring confusion.

Cheers! I have a Schulten Brua now.

ps.

Good for you you created a switch in your mind. Personally i would not be so radical instead i am balancing the alcohol consumption accordingly to my life and needs.

[MrHammer]

"An other explanation is that the majority of posters here is English and they just are a bit more obsessed by drinking then where i am from. For those who did not know im from the Netherlands. That just might be it because i never seen people who let a drink rule their life as much as the people here."

"This is a serious question not a flame"!

I would have totally disagree with you there, I dont find the Brits more are obsessed with alcohol than many other nationalities!

I have seen as much alcoholism in the Netherlands as I have in GB to be frank, as well as Sweden etc etc.

To place your statement at the Englishman's door I find inflammatory tbh. and again more very broad generalisations.

Much like saying all Dutch are all druggies!

Agreed. I see more pissed up Scandies swinging at each other here on Phuket than any other group and have yet to come across a sober Dane. I don't know which part of the Netherlands you come from but I have Dutch friends in Amsterdam who have beer delivered along with their morning milk! That even took my breath away

Kinda depends if they consume the beer in the morning or if its just a delivery service. I worked in Amsterdam for 5 years i lived 40km above it. So then you know the area. But seems i'm not alone in my observation of the Brits. I do agree about Scandinavians too but that is because alcohol is so expensive there.

Alchohol is only expensive in the marxist states of Norway and Sweden. It's very cheap in Denmark, except for in inner city bars. The cheapest bears cost around 15-20 baht for a bottle. Actually, that's why Swedes and Norwegians flock to Denmark to drink their brains out and hence why 'the drunk swede' is a stereotype in Copenhagen. I find the Scandinavian binge and particularly youth drinking to be very unattractive quality, which solely exists to relive tension in a society where no one dares to be different or speak their mind because of the Jantelov/Jante Law (Google it), except for when drunk out of their mind.

[StreetCowboy]

I think it would look funny if you order a soda there. So i better not go.

Every now and then I like to go to a Go-Go bar and usually drink soda-water with no hassles from the girls or staff. I am not a big drinker and do not need the extra calories for something that I do not enjoy that much.

I expected to be treated like a paria if you do that. Good to know it is possible.

They're quite relieved when I drink orange...

SC

[StreetCowboy]

folks haveta think about alcoholism and I am a drunk by anyone's definition...half boddle of vodka per day? get outta here, lets talk about 2 boddles and drinking at home...I don't like being around other drunks and I hate bars...and I can't walk half the time so it becomes difficult to go to the market to look at the wimmin fer entertainment...but I stay at home and play with the kids, read and sleep, etc...

gives you a whole new way of lookin' at the world...too bad I'm not Jack Kerouac or a Nobel laureate in literature as then I would have an excuse...

I used to drink 2+ bottles a day and understand other things you say. One thing I couldn't imagine though is looking after kids. I was in no way safe to do that.

I haven't had a drink now for over a decade.

Do you enjoy drinking?

enjoy drinking? well, if one doesn't continue then there is withdrawal which is not pleasant...but I manage at least 2-3 dry days in any 2 week period...

there are at least 2 capable women in my house at any time and they look after the collective family child minding duties...I just play with the kids as that helps them later to get to bed and asleep at a reasonable hour and reduces the burden on the ladies...alcoholism may be a solitary activity in my case but you use the available resources when ye got 'em...the kids release a tremendous amount of energy during the day (a good sign) and are usually dead to the world at 10pm to about 8am...with good nutrition very positive, I would say...

Dude, this need to be sorted. You may think it doesn't - but it does. If you want to enjoy life I'd recommend the following. Check into a hospital and dry out. Tell the doctor you want to withdraw from alcohol. It's no big problem. After three days go an AA meeting. Listen to what people have to say. Start working the steps. If you fail rinse and repeat. Try to do it today.

Playing with and teaching children as they develop is something we should do sober, dude.

It needs to be sorted when tutsi says it needs to be sorted. If he can't make up his own mind, no-one else is going to make it up for him.

If he wants to drink, that's his business.

It took me 22 years to build up the desire to stop, and even then it wasn't an insatiable craving. Some days my craving for sobriety is just magically lifted - gone!

SC

[tutsiwarrior]

I lived in the UK for about 10 years and was amazed to find that alcohol flowed freely at social gatherings...I am from California and if there was any alcohol at all it was usually a small plastic cup of white wine with the biscuits and cheese as no one wanted to be associated with 'drinking'...and the middle class in the UK is more uptight than in California where everyone supposedly 'hangs loose'...

like Vincent said to Jules in the film Pulp Fiction I was surprised to find a full bar available at our local art house cinema in Derby...that would never happen in California...but then there is the drunken hooligan aspect at football matches in the UK that would never happen in the US...but in the US armed riot police would be all over them...

Maybe you should send over some of your "US armed riot police then" or show us,how to clean up the streets overnight,like in your Country....??

well...you should attend a baseball game in the US which is a family activity and the beer and hotdogs flow freely...Chelsea came to Derby once with their associated 'firms' and the place was locked down, the whole place was terrified with London hooligans roaming the streets and smashing the place up...and don't get me started about match day in Glasgow when Rangers and Celtic are playing...

now, if you go outside the baseball stadium in the US in a 'bad neighborhood' then that's another issue...those places are 'no go' and the riot police don't give a shit...

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I expected to be treated like a paria if you do that. Good to know it is possible.

As a recovering alkie of 20 years, I've found no issue at all among the Thais from abstaining, in fact regularly get complimented, and the girls see you as more suitable for serious relationships.

As long as you're spending of course, club soda lemon is usually priced as high as beer in those sorts of places anyway.

[robblok]

I expected to be treated like a paria if you do that. Good to know it is possible.

As a recovering alkie of 20 years, I've found no issue at all among the Thais from abstaining, in fact regularly get complimented, and the girls see you as more suitable for serious relationships.

As long as you're spending of course, club soda lemon is usually priced as high as beer in those sorts of places anyway.

I don't mind spending money in a place like that , but like an other poster said its the calories i don't want. I can handle the alcohol alright but its just not suitable for my current goals.

[nocturn]

I drink here the same as I did home in Austria.

Netherlands might be different, they have all these "coffee-shops"....

If only Netherlands had a climate like Thailand..

then it would be too hot to smoke good weed by day

[nocturn]

folks haveta think about alcoholism and I am a drunk by anyone's definition...half boddle of vodka per day? get outta here, lets talk about 2 boddles and drinking at home...I don't like being around other drunks and I hate bars...and I can't walk half the time so it becomes difficult to go to the market to look at the wimmin fer entertainment...but I stay at home and play with the kids, read and sleep, etc...

gives you a whole new way of lookin' at the world...too bad I'm not Jack Kerouac or a Nobel laureate in literature as then I would have an excuse...

good lord man, your posts irritate me. your affected spelling is especially annoying. i can only imagine what you must be like in person.

[tombkk]

I think it would look funny if you order a soda there. So i better not go.

Every now and then I like to go to a Go-Go bar and usually drink soda-water with no hassles from the girls or staff. I am not a big drinker and do not need the extra calories for something that I do not enjoy that much.

I expected to be treated like a paria if you do that. Good to know it is possible.

Let them surprise you. I have made the experience several times that nobody treats you any differently when you have a soda.

[arthurwait]

I think it would look funny if you order a soda there. So i better not go.

Every now and then I like to go to a Go-Go bar and usually drink soda-water with no hassles from the girls or staff. I am not a big drinker and do not need the extra calories for something that I do not enjoy that much.

I expected to be treated like a paria if you do that. Good to know it is possible.

Let them surprise you. I have made the experience several times that nobody treats you any differently when you have a soda.

Yep I've done it as well when driving. You still get charged about the same and actually the same price as beer in some bars. Think of the profit they make on a can of coke at 130-150 Baht.

[IanForbes]

Yep I've done it as well when driving. You still get charged about the same and actually the same price as beer in some bars. Think of the profit they make on a can of coke at 130-150 Baht.

Which is why the bars have to be considered as a form of entertainment rather than a place to drink. If it's just alcohol you need it's easier and cheaper to pick up some at the local 7-11 and go home to get drunk. A few years ago in Chiang Mai there were a couple of obese German blokes who started drinking about 9 AM at a small table in front of their hotel near the Chiang Mai gate. I passed them every day when I went for my 12 km walk around town. I would pass them a couple hours later on my return and they were still there drinking. If came by on my motorbike in the afternoon they would still be there and the table would be covered in empty bottles, with more laying on the ground nearby. I have no idea of the amount they drank, but I'm sure it was considerable.

However, if I compared the cost of what they drank to what I paid for my evening entertainment then I'm sure it would be similar. Different strokes for different folks.

[PingManDan]

Alcoholic………..Me, no I’m a piss-head we go to party and have fun……………Alcoholics go to meetings and talk………

Yes they do, talk about thier problem, and solution, and know they are not alone

www.aathailand.org if you'd like a meeting

[mca]

Here we go again.. please read the whole topic. I made it clear many times it was not intended as a flame. Please read the whole topic. Its a constructive topic. If i want to flame the Brits there are other easier ways to do it.

I see nothing wrong with the topic and I have also noticed that British people seems to be somewhat obsessed with alcohol compared to other nationalities. This is not a flame, just an observation. There are plenty of drunks in every country, but IMO, in general, Brits seem to glorify alcohol more than other cultures.

I worked an international hotel chain in BKK for a number of years and would have to say without fear of exaggeration that approx 80% of the people who got into trouble by being lashed to the tits ( smashing the fittings in their rooms after a shouting match with their" girlfriend", refusing to pay their bar bill/tuk tuk driver etc, that sort of happy horseshit) were Brits.

And I speak as a person born and bred 50 miles from the birthplace of Lord Nelson

[mca]

folks haveta think about alcoholism and I am a drunk by anyone's definition...half boddle of vodka per day? get outta here, lets talk about 2 boddles and drinking at home...I don't like being around other drunks and I hate bars...and I can't walk half the time so it becomes difficult to go to the market to look at the wimmin fer entertainment...but I stay at home and play with the kids, read and sleep, etc...

gives you a whole new way of lookin' at the world...too bad I'm not Jack Kerouac or a Nobel laureate in literature as then I would have an excuse...

good lord man, your posts irritate me. your affected spelling is especially annoying. i can only imagine what you must be like in person.

Dammit and blast nocturn! Load up the Purdeys and let the incorrigible bounder have a taste of both barrels eh what?

[tutsiwarrior]

folks haveta think about alcoholism and I am a drunk by anyone's definition...half boddle of vodka per day? get outta here, lets talk about 2 boddles and drinking at home...I don't like being around other drunks and I hate bars...and I can't walk half the time so it becomes difficult to go to the market to look at the wimmin fer entertainment...but I stay at home and play with the kids, read and sleep, etc...

gives you a whole new way of lookin' at the world...too bad I'm not Jack Kerouac or a Nobel laureate in literature as then I would have an excuse...

good lord man, your posts irritate me. your affected spelling is especially annoying. i can only imagine what you must be like in person.

lovely...a tale of drunkeness and woe and you complain about the spelling...twit...

[Ulysses G.]

folks haveta think about alcoholism and I am a drunk by anyone's definition...half boddle of vodka per day? get outta here, lets talk about 2 boddles and drinking at home...I don't like being around other drunks and I hate bars...and I can't walk half the time so it becomes difficult to go to the market to look at the wimmin fer entertainment...but I stay at home and play with the kids, read and sleep, etc...

gives you a whole new way of lookin' at the world...too bad I'm not Jack Kerouac or a Nobel laureate in literature as then I would have an excuse...

good lord man, your posts irritate me. your affected spelling is especially annoying. i can only imagine what you must be like in person.

Tutsi is the Charles Bukowski of Thai Visa. Both of them were under-appreciated during their lifetimes.

[necronx99]

folks haveta think about alcoholism and I am a drunk by anyone's definition...half boddle of vodka per day? get outta here, lets talk about 2 boddles and drinking at home...I don't like being around other drunks and I hate bars...and I can't walk half the time so it becomes difficult to go to the market to look at the wimmin fer entertainment...but I stay at home and play with the kids, read and sleep, etc...

gives you a whole new way of lookin' at the world...too bad I'm not Jack Kerouac or a Nobel laureate in literature as then I would have an excuse...

good lord man, your posts irritate me. your affected spelling is especially annoying. i can only imagine what you must be like in person.

Tutsi is the Charles Bukowski of Thai Visa. Both of them were under-appreciated during their lifetimes.

I thought he was more of the Jeff Lebowski of Thai Visa?

[Ulysses G.]

He is so unique, it is impossible to pigeonhole him.

[autan]

A a British Person, I do think we drink far too much. I personally blame the supermarkets in Britain, particularly in Scotland and Northern England (where I am from).

The legal age for drinking in the UK is 18, which co-incides with work and university.We associate hard work with relaxing at the end of it with a drink. The problem is when we dont work, we continue to drink.

Find yourself thousands of miles away half way around the world and alcohol is dirt cheap, you are going to go to town. Drink yourself stupid.

Its not alcholism in the true sense of the word, it is a cultural towards drinking.

Most people "grow" out of as I have and now drink occasionally if at all. Other find they cannot stop and need help in doing so.

As an Alcholic friend said to me once "In the AA (Alcoholics Anoymous) there is only one entry requirement and that is a desire to stop drinking".

Easier said than done when your from where I am from, everyone doing it and dying from it.

P.S. I wasn't going to mention this, but I had a change of heart. A very dear friend of mine, died in December 2011 from Alcohol Induced Liver Failure.

I have never seen a worse way to die, extremely painful and drawn out over nearly a year long battle after diagnosis. When everyone was on at him years ago to give up, he used to say, "I wish people would <deleted> stop telling me what to do."

[Briggsy]

It's too much time on people's hands combined with the fact that for most, not all, of the people you are referring to all social contact occurs in bars and restaurants, therefore alcohol.

Drinking even if it is just one 330ml bottle of beer becomes a daily habit, 7 days a week for a lot of people. This may not have been the case before they moved to Thailand. It would be interesting to find out.

For me, I estimate that before I came to Thailand I would on average drink some alcohol 2 days a week, now it is 6 days a week.

[Semper]

It's too much time on people's hands combined with the fact that for most, not all, of the people you are referring to all social contact occurs in bars and restaurants, therefore alcohol.

Drinking even if it is just one 330ml bottle of beer becomes a daily habit, 7 days a week for a lot of people. This may not have been the case before they moved to Thailand. It would be interesting to find out.

For me, I estimate that before I came to Thailand I would on average drink some alcohol 2 days a week, now it is 6 days a week.

I drink 7 days a week, and never go to bars. Am I doing something wrong?

[chops]

When I first moved here I drank lots. I don't drink as mcuh now because it just doesn't do much for me. It's like water and I need at least 5 big bottles to get the same effects. Not worth it unless I drink a big bottle of liquer.

[transam]

It's too much time on people's hands combined with the fact that for most, not all, of the people you are referring to all social contact occurs in bars and restaurants, therefore alcohol.

Drinking even if it is just one 330ml bottle of beer becomes a daily habit, 7 days a week for a lot of people. This may not have been the case before they moved to Thailand. It would be interesting to find out.

For me, I estimate that before I came to Thailand I would on average drink some alcohol 2 days a week, now it is 6 days a week.

I drink 7 days a week, and never go to bars. Am I doing something wrong?

Same here.

[StreetCowboy]

It's too much time on people's hands combined with the fact that for most, not all, of the people you are referring to all social contact occurs in bars and restaurants, therefore alcohol.

Drinking even if it is just one 330ml bottle of beer becomes a daily habit, 7 days a week for a lot of people. This may not have been the case before they moved to Thailand. It would be interesting to find out.

For me, I estimate that before I came to Thailand I would on average drink some alcohol 2 days a week, now it is 6 days a week.

I don't think one small bottle of beer a day really counts as drinking.

SC

[pattayadingo]

It's too much time on people's hands combined with the fact that for most, not all, of the people you are referring to all social contact occurs in bars and restaurants, therefore alcohol.

Drinking even if it is just one 330ml bottle of beer becomes a daily habit, 7 days a week for a lot of people. This may not have been the case before they moved to Thailand. It would be interesting to find out.

For me, I estimate that before I came to Thailand I would on average drink some alcohol 2 days a week, now it is 6 days a week.

Only 6 days? You go to church on Sundays or something???

[Tonto21]

Alcoholic………..Me, no I’m a piss-head we go to party and have fun……………Alcoholics go to meetings and talk………

Yes they do, talk about thier problem, and solution, and know they are not alone

www.aathailand.org if you'd like a meeting

Come on ‘PingManDan’ a little condescending, don’t you think? You don’t know me.

Personally I feel very lucky, I don’t have a problem with alcohol, drugs or (thanks to my wife) lose women, (I know….I know that’s what a drunk would say, dammed if I say I do, dammed if I say I don’t)

But this does not mean I know nothing about the subject of alcohol. My Father, was an alcoholic, it ultimately killed him. So I understand how destructive alcohol can be.

In everyone’s life there is a time to weep….And a time to laugh, and you know what, even my Dad in his darkest moment would have found the funny side of what I wrote. I have found having a sense of humor has kept me sane though some pretty dark times in my life, Sorry but talking about feelings would not have done it for me then, or now.

[StreetCowboy]

It's too much time on people's hands combined with the fact that for most, not all, of the people you are referring to all social contact occurs in bars and restaurants, therefore alcohol.

Drinking even if it is just one 330ml bottle of beer becomes a daily habit, 7 days a week for a lot of people. This may not have been the case before they moved to Thailand. It would be interesting to find out.

For me, I estimate that before I came to Thailand I would on average drink some alcohol 2 days a week, now it is 6 days a week.

Only 6 days? You go to church on Sundays or something???

I'm guessing Sundays the hang-over's so bad he doesn't make it past the bathroom

He's maybe got a weak constitution

(Can I say that in Thailand? Its not too controversial, is it?)

SC