How Did You Feel........

[khall64au]

Dudes.............. I gotta tellya- FIRST up - I agree with EVERYTHING Donna says above.

When I first had the offer to move to Thailand it was for a job. I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to me in my life. At the time, it was! I was ready for the change, the challenge, the chiccery!

After a few years the novelty wears off and the reality sets in, and that old reality you left behind becomes the new reality you must cope with. Thailand is a very groovy country and one learns a lot about life. Opportunities also are kinda happening if you can recognise the fact! However, money is a big issue as very few earn a good living here (by western standards).

So, how do I feel now? I'm comfortable.... but I can move on, cos the world is a very big place!

[thaibebop]

Dudes.............. I gotta tellya- FIRST up - I agree with EVERYTHING Donna says above.

When I first had the offer to move to Thailand it was for a job. I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to me in my life. At the time, it was! I was ready for the change, the challenge, the chiccery!

After a few years the novelty wears off and the reality sets in, and that old reality you left behind becomes the new reality you must cope with. Thailand is a very groovy country and one learns a lot about life. Opportunities also are kinda happening if you can recognise the fact! However, money is a big issue as very few earn a good living here (by western standards).

So, how do I feel now? I'm comfortable.... but I can move on, cos the world is a very big place!

My wife, as much as she misses Bangkok, has told me recetnly that we should live and work in America and visit Thailand. She is worried about what I will be able to do for work.

[khall64au]

Dudes.............. I gotta tellya- FIRST up - I agree with EVERYTHING Donna says above.

When I first had the offer to move to Thailand it was for a job. I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to me in my life. At the time, it was! I was ready for the change, the challenge, the chiccery!

After a few years the novelty wears off and the reality sets in, and that old reality you left behind becomes the new reality you must cope with. Thailand is a very groovy country and one learns a lot about life. Opportunities also are kinda happening if you can recognise the fact! However, money is a big issue as very few earn a good living here (by western standards).

So, how do I feel now? I'm comfortable.... but I can move on, cos the world is a very big place!

My wife, as much as she misses Bangkok, has told me recetnly that we should live and work in America and visit Thailand. She is worried about what I will be able to do for work.

Sound advice Boppy...... Thailand is not for making bucks IMHO!!

[mark45y]

Please ... don't judge all yanks by Marky either!

As for the Dude having to have an interpretter by his side all the time? In the USA we call that a caregiver :-) Some people NEEd them ... some don't

Has present culture been degraded so much that no one writes in more than cheap shot one liners.

I am frankly amazed when anyone puts together more than two or three sentences of reasonable discourse. I wonder if it is the educational system or TV.

But somewhere along the line sound bites have replaced writing and conversation. Maybe it is the prevalence of ADS or Prozac, I don’t know.

Making up the spelling or words thinking it is cute or avant-garde is another pet peeve.

I also question the cerebral cortex of those persons who post the here here or right on comments and wonder if they are capable of original thought or communication.

PS. I don’t know if the dude has a caregiver. He might have many things. I met a guy last week who was completely in love with his honey. It seemed like a great relationship. They were jovial and the perfect couple. He spoke no Thai.

They had a wonderful chauffer, who was also a pleasant fellow and attentive servant. They of course knew not that I speak a little Thai. The chauffer was her Thai husband and they were ripping off the dude big time. They had plans to rip him off or even more in his home country (which was not America) but I kept quiet.

I thought about the dude and thought about the dude.

You pays your money and you takes your chances.

My girlfriend asked me three times, “you understand why you no tell him?” She apparently thinks there is some kind of loyalty among Farang. There is not.

I really don’t give a <deleted>. Perhaps I would but there are creatures like the dude and I keep my mouth shut. I spent 12,000 Baht learning Thai. And a lot of time and study. If you want to be ignorant, be ignorant. No skin off my nose.

Edited April 20, 2006 by mark45y

[Jai Yen Yen]

PSS: The Dude does not speak the language and has no plans to start. He thinks that farangs speaking Thai look and sound stupid when doing so. The Dude does however love hearing Thais speak it

donna dont dig.

donna thinks the dude should try to assimilate himself a bit more with the country he chooses to live in. donna thinks the dude would be a happier dude if he did so. since donna learnt to speak basic thai, donna has been able to communicate with many different kinds of people. the experiences donna has had are far more than what donna would have had otherwise.

donna thinks the dude should perhaps learn a little thai. donna thinks we dont all sound stupid when we speak thai.

Deat donna,

Please re-read The Dude's original post:

...Went to Grace Hotel and met nice lady and hung with her for 2 days...

...We meet another farang in Thermae...

...Ticket burned at ceremonial burning outside of The Thermae...

...The Dude still loves this same Sukhumvit area and has no plans to move anywhere else...

Do you think a sex-tourist like him will bother learning the language, let alone assimilate himself into the culture? His highly paid translator(s) can get him from bar to McDonalds and back.

[thaibebop]

Dudes.............. I gotta tellya- FIRST up - I agree with EVERYTHING Donna says above.

When I first had the offer to move to Thailand it was for a job. I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to me in my life. At the time, it was! I was ready for the change, the challenge, the chiccery!

After a few years the novelty wears off and the reality sets in, and that old reality you left behind becomes the new reality you must cope with. Thailand is a very groovy country and one learns a lot about life. Opportunities also are kinda happening if you can recognise the fact! However, money is a big issue as very few earn a good living here (by western standards).

So, how do I feel now? I'm comfortable.... but I can move on, cos the world is a very big place!

My wife, as much as she misses Bangkok, has told me recetnly that we should live and work in America and visit Thailand. She is worried about what I will be able to do for work.

Sound advice Boppy...... Thailand is not for making bucks IMHO!!

Yeah, this comes from a woman who comes from a well to do family. I say if they can do it so can we. She says here parents have work long over the years to get there and had family backing as well. She told me they knew the right people to make deals with etc. Of course I am studying to be a history professor here in American and she is just being nice enough not to say she doesn't think I have what it takes to make money in Bangkok. Maybe is right.

[kayo]

I didn't conciously move her. Sub conciously maybe, as I had packed up&sold&got rid of everything I owned prior to er... Voyaging.

Your last option pretty much made it for me...

"Right here now... What next...."

Plod on, as they say.

[retirednavyman]

Easy. I never made the conscious decision to move. But once in Thailand, I just never made the decision to leave.

Ha-ha, good answer

[retirednavyman]

i came to thailand working in the tourism industry. i had the best job in the world. taking people around this amazing country for up to 2 weeks at a time. i loved it.

when i first came, however, i questioned whether i had made the right decision in coming here. i had left a good job, great friends and a fab lifestyle to come to a country where i could not speak the language, and had no friends at all.

as mentioned earlier, the first six months were very hard to deal with. homesickness, pangs of 'oh my god what have i done?', and a general feeling of being unsettled were hard to fight off.

time soon addressed all of those things and i soon grew to love the country and her people.

thailand has given me so much.

i have learnt tolerance.

i have learnt a new language.

i have made great friends.

i have had the most incredible experiences.

i love living here. at times, i DO wonder what the heck i am doing here at 41 years of age and no big career prospects in front of me, but then i come to my senses and tell myself that i am living in a wonderful country with lovely people, good food, and stuning scenery.

i would not change my time here for anything.

Nice story, thanks for sharing

[The Dude]

The Dude was not trying to win a popularity contest in expressing his opinion about the language as he knows that 95% of forum readers will disagree. He merely states his opinions based on his experiences and respects those of others.

Re: Mark. He is, as evidenced by his many posts in the ladies forum and elsewhere, a person with a shovel sized chip on his shoulder regarding his home country in general and farang women specifically. The Dude is greatly saddened by this but will try and understand. No shovel for mark until the chip gets dislodged cause it's not diggable. Dig?

[The Dude]

PSS: The Dude does not speak the language and has no plans to start. He thinks that farangs speaking Thai look and sound stupid when doing so. The Dude does however love hearing Thais speak it

donna dont dig.

donna thinks the dude should try to assimilate himself a bit more with the country he chooses to live in. donna thinks the dude would be a happier dude if he did so. since donna learnt to speak basic thai, donna has been able to communicate with many different kinds of people. the experiences donna has had are far more than what donna would have had otherwise.

donna thinks the dude should perhaps learn a little thai. donna thinks we dont all sound stupid when we speak thai.

Deat donna,

Please re-read The Dude's original post:

...Went to Grace Hotel and met nice lady and hung with her for 2 days...

...We meet another farang in Thermae...

...Ticket burned at ceremonial burning outside of The Thermae...

...The Dude still loves this same Sukhumvit area and has no plans to move anywhere else...

Do you think a sex-tourist like him will bother learning the language, let alone assimilate himself into the culture? His highly paid translator(s) can get him from bar to McDonalds and back.

Please lest we not try and label The Dude

Edited April 21, 2006 by The Dude

[Neeranam]

My wife, as much as she misses Bangkok, has told me recetnly that we should live and work in America and visit Thailand. She is worried about what I will be able to do for work.

"poo chai pen chaang tao na, poo ying bpen 'kwan' chaang"

Is she Chinese?

[Neeranam]

The Dude was not trying to win a popularity contest in expressing his opinion about the language as he knows that 95% of forum readers will disagree. He merely states his opinions based on his experiences and respects those of others.

Hey Boogala Dude,

I hear you

You should try to learn some words - it is for YOUR advantage, especially listening.

Hey is that woman with the limp still hanging out at Thermae, she owes me lots of beer?

[The Dude]

Yeah, she's still hobbling 'round down there looking for beers. Saw her a few nights ago

[Neeranam]

She's been there for 10 years at least!

[phusingpete]

PSS: The Dude does not speak the language and has no plans to start. He thinks that farangs speaking Thai look and sound stupid when doing so. The Dude does however love hearing Thais speak it

donna dont dig.

donna thinks the dude should try to assimilate himself a bit more with the country he chooses to live in. donna thinks the dude would be a happier dude if he did so. since donna learnt to speak basic thai, donna has been able to communicate with many different kinds of people. the experiences donna has had are far more than what donna would have had otherwise.

donna thinks the dude should perhaps learn a little thai. donna thinks we dont all sound stupid when we speak thai.

Deat donna,

Please re-read The Dude's original post:

...Went to Grace Hotel and met nice lady and hung with her for 2 days...

...We meet another farang in Thermae...

...Ticket burned at ceremonial burning outside of The Thermae...

...The Dude still loves this same Sukhumvit area and has no plans to move anywhere else...

Do you think a sex-tourist like him will bother learning the language, let alone assimilate himself into the culture? His highly paid translator(s) can get him from bar to McDonalds and back.

Please lest we not try and label The Dude

I do think that the dude makes a valid point re not making a concious decision to leave the home country and move to Thailand.It really is a different ball game.I remember retiring early and moving to Cornwall having lived all my life in Greenwich,London.Sleepless nights,many doubts,started smoking again after giving up for fourteen years,not a good experience. However it worked out alright.Then I started to travel,mainly to Oz,spent long periods there over a three year period,really loved the place, I made many great friends and seriously considered living there, until an Ozzie friend had a weeks holiday and suggested I accompany him.He booked everything up,I did not even know where we would be heading,turned out to be Phuket.Except for odd trips to the UK I have been here ever since,married and living in Issan. I am fortunate in having a moderate pension, useless in the UK but more than adequate here in Thailand.Also I am a painter,pictures not walls, so I keep myself busy. Being here has given me a whole new lease of life,I could have found it elsewhere I suppose ,but here "my life is brilliant". cheers