What do we give up to be an expat

[cardholder]

Lemoncake, you're right it is Lung, I always misspell the Thai transliteration. I have four nephews and nieces on my wife's side that live with me and they call me Lung George so there friends call me Lung George. Some of the adults in the village also call me Lung George and because I taught English for 6 years some call me Ajarn, and some Teacher. And yes the George is almost always mispronunced, but usually better than I pronounce Thai names. The point is in my village I almost never hear farang and even outside of my village I very seldom hear it. People have to refer to you as something, in most cases they don't know where you come from and so they can call you farang or whiteman, personally I prefer farang. I do not think Thais use it as a derogatory word, just a discriptive word.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I agree that "Farang" is rarely used offensively and is mainly a descriptive word.

So is "Chocolate Man".

Whilst the latter is certainly unacceptable in normal society the Thais will use it innocently/ignorantly - as they do with "Farang".

[farang000999]

Guesthouse is wealthy so his life is going to be enjoyable everywhere. He could probably even get a younger gf or imported wife in England.

[maccaroni man]

I look at life as an expat as more of what I gain rather than what I give up. If I wanted to stay with family and friends frequent the same pubs and drink the same ale I would have never left. Change is the spice of life for me.

[lemoncake]

Lemoncake, you're right it is Lung, I always misspell the Thai transliteration. I have four nephews and nieces on my wife's side that live with me and they call me Lung George so there friends call me Lung George. Some of the adults in the village also call me Lung George and because I taught English for 6 years some call me Ajarn, and some Teacher. And yes the George is almost always mispronunced, but usually better than I pronounce Thai names. The point is in my village I almost never hear farang and even outside of my village I very seldom hear it. People have to refer to you as something, in most cases they don't know where you come from and so they can call you farang or whiteman, personally I prefer farang. I do not think Thais use it as a derogatory word, just a discriptive word.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 6 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I agree that "Farang" is rarely used offensively and is mainly a descriptive word.

So is "Chocolate Man".

Whilst the latter is certainly unacceptable in normal society the Thais will use it innocently/ignorantly - as they do with "Farang".

It is one thing when its used as a descriptive word and another when your name is known.

Say, back in the West, you had a customer who was of Asian origin, would you call your staff over and say "hey have asian in the shop, go look after him"

If someone called you and you heard may be an accent or something, would you scream out "hey asian is on the phone"

if you had a bar or some business and it was not busy, would you be saying "no asians around"

If customer of asian background wanted something, would you say to your staff or co-workers" hey come help, i do not know what this asian wants"

[ABCer]

I am genuinely surprised. It is a very good original post. And it asks from us a very specific, personal answer: - What did you give up as an expat?

Obviously the answers are personal. Yet people find ways to argue. To disapprove other's answers. As if bickering is their only objective...

Anyway, here is my 2 bits and a thought.

I was born and grew up in my Home Country One. After 33 years I have moved to my Home Country Two. After 32 years I have moved to home country three (Thailand). After nearly 7 years I am still here. Will I move again? Who knows?...

Homesickness? Nostalgia? Never understood what it means... I simply was moving from bad to better and than to better still... Patria? Motherland? Fatherland? - all propaganda, methinks. My Home Country is where I feel Good, Happy...

Yet, I did give up my Culture One (Top) for my Culture Two (Lower) for my culture three (Minimal). Apparently in my search for Happiness I was prioritizing. gaining some and giving some away. And cheap sex wasn't on the list.

And yes, Theater, Music, Ballet, Art Galleries, Museums, Architecture all were sacrificed. And only a person who has no need for such things can call me a snob for admitting this. Not that I care...

My gains are - decent living conditions compared to what was left behind, better climate, affordability of basics and even some luxuries.

As to my losses - Internet and Technology are making up for many things I am missing, including Ballet, Music, Books, etc. Thanks God for that...

Almost forgot: Relatives - None; Friends - Skype + occasional visits; Travel - anytime, but at a cost of accommodation about 100 Euro per night it is out of the picture.

Edited July 22, 2013 by ABCer

[OldChinaHam]

I have always thought,

It seems quite illogical,

For a man to leave his home country and travel to a foreign country,

A place where he knows before he leaves the culture will be different, and life will not be the same,

And then become angry because much that he sees is not like it is back home.

And even worse,

More illogical when he tries to change the new culture to be more like his home country culture, which is an impossible undertaking.

[hanno]

I have always thought,

It seems quite illogical,

For a man to leave his home country and travel to a foreign country,

A place where he knows before he leaves the culture will be different, and life will not be the same,

And then become angry because much that he sees is not like it is back home.

And even worse,

More illogical when he tries to change the new culture to be more like his home country culture, which is an impossible undertaking.

+10

[rct99q]

OMG - when the weather is good England is as good as anywhere else on the plant to live!!!!

Sorry not sure if I got the exact quote but in a word.......No Way (2 words).

It only seems like it because it is absolutely one of the worst places to live the other 363 days of the year. Next to some places in Russia and the far North of Canada I can not recall a more dismal place to live then England (maybe Scotland). And yes I lived in England for better on three years and they were possibly the worst three years of my life (weather wise).

Bermuda, Cook Islands, Pacific Coast of Mexico, Fanning Islands, Regina Sask., Winnipeg Manitoba in the middle of Winter are some suggestions for you to try.

Sorry if all you are familiar with is 118 Sunnybrook lane, Worksop.......

[Udox]

There could be as many replies to this topic - as there are people in the world, because every one of us has different views, perspectives, wants and needs.

What some may find as Utopia might be Hell for another.

Its all about what we, as individuals can accept and/or tolerate in whatever place we choose to live.

In most instances we tend to get frustrated by the happenings which are out of our ability to control them and we have to submit to them - or take drastic action (such as leave)

One instance is the humiliation we are subjected to by certain officials such as immigration officers and police officers when lookiing for a few baht.

Most other things are tolerable here. When they are not - I might choose to leave and those that are still happy can stay. It's up to me/them.

Why do members here criticise others for the choices they make for whatever reason? It's their life and if they will be happier staying here or leaving for pastures new and/or a better experience - good luck to them and hope they find what they are searching for.

[mikemac]

Don't want to rain on the OP's party but nothing he listed made me want to pack up and move to sunny England.

If I listed all the not so warm and fuzzy things my friends from England have complained about over the years it would fill this entire forum.

A bit of blue sky and some sun and it becomes heaven on Earth.

[buddy]

I gave up my right to pay 42% Tax

I gave up my right to date fat chicks

I gave up my right to feel winter 8 months a year

I gave up my right to seeing my dog

Only one mattered!

+1 )-:

[buddy]

I gave up my right to pay 42% Tax

I gave up my right to date fat chicks

I gave up my right to feel winter 8 months a year

I gave up my right to seeing my dog

Only one mattered!

+1 )-:

[marcusd]

Well stay there. English have a reputation gor never being happy anywhere what and whinging.

Real ALE??? OMG! HOT BEER!!! OMG stay there

Sent from my GT-N7000B using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[cardholder]

Well stay there. English have a reputation gor never being happy anywhere what and whinging.

Real ALE??? OMG! HOT BEER!!! OMG stay there

Sent from my GT-N7000B using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Oh Dear!

Another "Know nothing" about real ale. Cask ale is anything but hot and is far superior to the plastic "chill me till my lips turn blue" lagers.

[cardholder]

Don't want to rain on the OP's party but nothing he listed made me want to pack up and move to sunny England.

If I listed all the not so warm and fuzzy things my friends from England have complained about over the years it would fill this entire forum.

A bit of blue sky and some sun and it becomes heaven on Earth.

I am sure that England's loss is your gain............

I have just returned from that "heaven on earth" and I have to say that England was looking at it's best. Most places look better with warm sunshine and clear skies and England is no exception.

As great as the holiday was, there is no way I would return for anything other than a holiday - and June/September at that.

[StreetCowboy]

Don't want to rain on the OP's party but nothing he listed made me want to pack up and move to sunny England.

If I listed all the not so warm and fuzzy things my friends from England have complained about over the years it would fill this entire forum.

A bit of blue sky and some sun and it becomes heaven on Earth.

I am sure that England's loss is your gain............

I have just returned from that "heaven on earth" and I have to say that England was looking at it's best. Most places look better with warm sunshine and clear skies and England is no exception.

As great as the holiday was, there is no way I would return for anything other than a holiday - and June/September at that.

With the exception of 80 minutes on the Saturday I had a great time when I was back in November. Clear, brisk sunshine, and I got great use out of my gloves. To be honest, i've never experienced such good glove-wearing weather anywhere in Thailand, nor even anywhere nearby;

I got a bit more use out of them on the way home in Dubai, where it pissed down with miserable cold rain, but I've not had them on since

SC

[cardholder]

Don't want to rain on the OP's party but nothing he listed made me want to pack up and move to sunny England.

If I listed all the not so warm and fuzzy things my friends from England have complained about over the years it would fill this entire forum.

A bit of blue sky and some sun and it becomes heaven on Earth.

I am sure that England's loss is your gain............

I have just returned from that "heaven on earth" and I have to say that England was looking at it's best. Most places look better with warm sunshine and clear skies and England is no exception.

As great as the holiday was, there is no way I would return for anything other than a holiday - and June/September at that.

With the exception of 80 minutes on the Saturday I had a great time when I was back in November. Clear, brisk sunshine, and I got great use out of my gloves. To be honest, i've never experienced such good glove-wearing weather anywhere in Thailand, nor even anywhere nearby;

I got a bit more use out of them on the way home in Dubai, where it pissed down with miserable cold rain, but I've not had them on since

SC

They should have dried out by now.....

I understand that Doi Inthanon (oe Loei) at 05:00 hrs on the 4th December could warrant the use of mittens !

[hellodolly]

Last time I was back I had a lovely pub lunch down by the river with my dear old mother, watching the birds. There were children digging in a hole on the other side of the river, under the tutelage of a university friend of mine with a bizarre sense of humour, who got on very well with my mother when I introduced them.

Of course, being June, it was slightly parky-to-baltic; brisk, indeed, but the natives were all appropriately dressed. and I had my jacket with me.

I do sometimes muse about moving back to the Old Country; or at least moving the clan back...

SC

After liviing as a Kiwi in the UK for 5 years, I shifted because I was sick of living in a "museum" where one could not paint one's front door without getting permission from the local council.

Other things I don't miss:

(a) Developing the front garden of a new house without firstly submitting a plan to the local authorities for approval

( Commuting 3 hours a day to work

© Wondering whether a speed camera was active each time you went past

(d) Ad infinitum (I could go on for ever except I have intentionally cleansed my brain of those things!!!

You are kidding me aren't you permission for your garden and permission to paint your front door, I knew Great Britain was a nanny state but I didn't know it was controlled that munch.

Is there certain times of the day you have to take a dump?

[GuestHouse]

I have always thought,

It seems quite illogical,

For a man to leave his home country and travel to a foreign country,

A place where he knows before he leaves the culture will be different, and life will not be the same,

And then become angry because much that he sees is not like it is back home.

And even worse,

More illogical when he tries to change the new culture to be more like his home country culture, which is an impossible undertaking.

Its totally illogical to believe that you can move to live in any country without in some sense changing the place and its culture - You might personally have a minute impact but you will inevitably change the place and the culture simply by living there.

[hellodolly]

I for the life of me can not figure out what the OP is asking about.

In his post he makes it sound like he has the greatest life possible so why even consider leaving the country?

For my self I had to give up a same old thing every day. 64 years of the same culture was enough for me. If I go back and stay over a month I get home sick. At my age brothers and sisters are OK and so are old friends but they all have a life of there own and a visit is all I can manage to fit into it. On the other hand I do miss the unlimited choice of movies to go see and the English speaking local news.

Here I have an amazing culture that continually surprises me.

[sustento]

Third world Britain: Country faces food shortage, warn MPs SHOPPERS should buy meat only as an occasional treat to help protect future food supplies and keep prices down, MPs have warned.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/404884/Third-world-Britain-Country-faces-food-shortage-warn-MPs

And of course the Daily Express is a paper of record - just like the National Enquirer

[sustento]

I have always thought,

It seems quite illogical,

For a man to leave his home country and travel to a foreign country,

A place where he knows before he leaves the culture will be different, and life will not be the same,

And then become angry because much that he sees is not like it is back home.

And even worse,

More illogical when he tries to change the new culture to be more like his home country culture, which is an impossible undertaking.

Wot he said!!!

[Forethat]

Seriously envious, GH.

God, how I'd love to be blasting up and down the A40 with the top down and the tunes up at 3am on balmy summer nights . . . until I remember the Gatso cameras waiting to slap me with a speeding fine, paying £1.30+ for a litre of petrol, paying a tenner a day to drive in my beloved Notting Hill and a legion of traffic wardens dying to write me a ticket the minute I want to park up.

That ale sounds great . . . until darkness draws in and the local boozer's bathed in blue lights from the ambulance and the cop cars responding to a call about a teenager withhalf her face hanging off after a serious assault with a beer glass.

Those social interactions are wonderful . . . until you realise that, bar your nearest and dearest, most folks have sweet FA to say that doesn't revolve around Big Brother, some gormless, surgically-enhanced celebrity skank, the latest smartphone or the knuckle-dragging antics of an overpaid tool in an EPL football shirt.

You want to drive in Notting Hill...? Isn't that the equivalent of having an urge to walk around the M25...? (disregarding the fact that Notting Hill is actually outside the CC zone so you don't have to pay anything to drive there...)

Edited July 22, 2013 by Forethat

[rookball]

got to be kidding on the weather part. i had never seen a proper sun and sky till the day i left britian

[HardenedSoul]

Seriously envious, GH.

God, how I'd love to be blasting up and down the A40 with the top down and the tunes up at 3am on balmy summer nights . . . until I remember the Gatso cameras waiting to slap me with a speeding fine, paying £1.30+ for a litre of petrol, paying a tenner a day to drive in my beloved Notting Hill and a legion of traffic wardens dying to write me a ticket the minute I want to park up.

That ale sounds great . . . until darkness draws in and the local boozer's bathed in blue lights from the ambulance and the cop cars responding to a call about a teenager withhalf her face hanging off after a serious assault with a beer glass.

Those social interactions are wonderful . . . until you realise that, bar your nearest and dearest, most folks have sweet FA to say that doesn't revolve around Big Brother, some gormless, surgically-enhanced celebrity skank, the latest smartphone or the knuckle-dragging antics of an overpaid tool in an EPL football shirt.

You want to drive in Notting Hill...? Isn't that the equivalent of having an urge to walk around the M25...? (disregarding the fact that Notting Hill is actually outside the CC zone so you don't have to pay anything to drive there...)

Yes but only because the westward expansion of the congestion charging zone introduced by Ken Livingstone in 2007 to include Notting Hill was abolished by his successor, Boris Johnson 4 years after I left.

Still, I'd be interested to know just how driving in Notting Hill is akin to walk around the M25

. . . . or did you just feel the need to write something completely moronic for the sake of it?

[GuestHouse]

Time perhaps to remind members.

The title and subject of this thread is 'What do we give up to be an expat?'

It is not 'What did you run away from?" - That would be a different thread if anyone wants to start it.

[GuestHouse]

got to be kidding on the weather part. i had never seen a proper sun and sky till the day i left britian

This is surely an out-take from the Monty Python 3 Yorkshiremen sketch (and let's add humour to the things we miss when we become an expat).

"Never seen a proper sun and sky till the day I left Britain"

Not even slightly credible.

[johnnybgood]

As an expat..

I've given up friends with provenance........

[EBlair48]

Let's face it, most guys stay here for the cheap sex . Nothing else .

Please identify your source of the above claim so we can all have a look! I will not hold my breath.

Oh please, take the prostitutes, ladyboys (and ever-cleaning, cooking and scrubbing wives) out of the equation and the country would have 1/20 the western foreigners, maybe less, far less- probably just some conglomerate executives counting the days until they can go back home.

Check out some of the less regulated forums for all you need to know about sexpats and their real motives.

What do we give up as expats ( in Tland?)

Well, living in a democracy for one, in fact I maintain we're all actually living under a rather obvious

( CENSORED )

Rights- as third ( men ) to fourth tiered (women) persons, we do not have any rights whatsoever.

we also live in a nation with a legal system that protects the rich with absurd defamation laws that prevent justice.

We give up simple dignity in every border stamp / visa run and paper chase as required by a corrupted police system that hates foreigners.

Safety- from irresponsible teenagers on motorcycles to the horrendous ordeal that is thePhuket- Myanmar borderstamp run, our lives, health and welfare are valueless.

We give up a right to a future, at anytime we could be ejected our property confiscated.

[EBlair48]

It's not that it isn't like back home, it's the lies telling us it is like back home. In fact for quite a while a few years back, this forum was very suppressive of uncomplimentary, negative opinions. Nice to see it has come around, I guess there was just no holding it in anymore.

" English widely spoken" ( not at governmental offices that by ASEAN rules, should provide English documents )

"Safe" needs little explanation- from cops who do not enforce traffic rules to "5 star" hospitals that use outdated, un-properly stored drugs. Phuket's infamous rip tides is a great example, tourism would suffer if the truth about how dangerous the ocean is for 6 months of the year .

Even the much touted Land of Smiles is just a con, seems to me most Thais use that smile to manipulate and cajole. F A K E

I have always thought,

It seems quite illogical,

For a man to leave his home country and travel to a foreign country,

A place where he knows before he leaves the culture will be different, and life will not be the same,

And then become angry because much that he sees is not like it is back home.

And even worse,

More illogical when he tries to change the new culture to be more like his home country culture, which is an impossible undertaking.