There's always so much drivel on here about how people 'let the side down' by drinking too much, wearing shorts, overstaying a visa, having long hair, liking bar girls and so on..

So what is the perfect composite 'expat' especially given the fact that most of you aren't really 'expats'?

ME!!

Drinking too much, check, wearing shorts, check, overstaying a visa, done that, having long hair, where it's not bald, liking bar girls, big check! Are these good points, or bad points?

any happy expat is a perfect expat

Money and a wig

CCC

No such things as perfect. Well, except for some who look in their magic mirrors

One who spends their money as quickly as possible and goes home quietly! and returns much later having sweated blood working hard to replenished their wallets,only to do the same again!

A guy that spends every waking hour glued to a computer monitor, giving out advice on how to make the most of life in Thailand.

One that doesnt slavor pish at the bar whilst wearing a beater, flip flops and white socks.

A guy that spends every waking hour glued to a computer monitor, giving out advice on how to make the most of life in Thailand.

Nice to meet you.

Money and a wig

CCC

any happy expat is a perfect expat

Based on that, I'd like to nominate the majority of the Pattaya Darkside crew on TV as the closest thing we have to 'perfect' expats. How many expats do you know who can laugh in the face of constantly being tagged 'sexpats' purely by virtue of the fact that they share a town with weekend warriors like myself ? Interesting that most of the bitching about Patts seems to come from people who claim they never actually go there ....

In LOS big smile open wallet

In LOS big smile open wallet

That would be chemical / liquid happiness. The happiness that I believe we are talking about here is more accurately termed 'contentment'.

The perfect expat is more or less invisible. He doesn't stick out in public, he isn't loud and obnoxious, he is cognizant of the local customs and adheres to the social norms, he doesn't play grab ass with every woman in sight, he doesn't mooch off the good nature of other expats and locals, he pays his bills and probably moans from time to time, but not incessantly so. Like I said, invisible.

A perfect Thailand expat is someone who:

Just takes the country as he finds it

Makes the effort to at least learn reasonably conversational Thai

Tries hard not to start sentences with "Back in (enter country of origin), this would never be . . ."

When indulging in P4P, uses a short-time hotel rather than bringing his acquisition to his home

Doesn't become pugnacious and obnoxious when inebriated

perfect composite expat...lives in Thailand 100% and understands the culture and speaks the language

Part timers like to think they are expats in Thailand...reality is that they are frequent tourists.

People seconded to work in Thailand are "migrant workers"

and tourists are tourists

And as far as Thais are concerned we are all just "farang" whether we live there full time or not.

You mean your'e a decent person

The person who keep complaining about every single thing, while staying in a foreign country, as most of us do on this forum.

The Blether ....

any happy expat is a perfect expat

Based on that, I'd like to nominate the majority of the Pattaya Darkside crew on TV as the closest thing we have to 'perfect' expats. How many expats do you know who can laugh in the face of constantly being tagged 'sexpats' purely by virtue of the fact that they share a town with weekend warriors like myself ? Interesting that most of the bitching about Patts seems to come from people who claim they never actually go there ....

Not a word about Patts on this thread, until you felt the need to defend your lifestyle and even worse justify it!

Wonder why?

The perfect expat is more or less invisible. He doesn't stick out in public, he isn't loud and obnoxious, he is cognizant of the local customs and adheres to the social norms, he doesn't play grab ass with every woman in sight, he doesn't mooch off the good nature of other expats and locals, he pays his bills and probably moans from time to time, but not incessantly so. Like I said, invisible.   

That describes a good citizen/man in any country. You forgot 1 thing perhaps, a good father.

Though living in Cambodia, not Thailand, I consider myself a good expat. Like Loptr said, I am pretty invisible. I work, drink the occasional beer (but not too many), I try not to step on any toes (local or foreign), I am in a steady relationship, I certainly pay my bills, I love wherever I live, and moan only very rarely. Most of all, I am happy with my lot.

It seems a definition of Expat would be helpful here:

An expatriate (sometimes shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex ("out of") and patria ("country, fatherland").

In its broadest sense, an expatriate is any person living in a different country from where they are a citizen. In common usage, the term is often used in the context of professionals sent abroad by their companies, as opposed to locally hired staff. The differentiation found in common usage usually comes down to socio-economic factors, so skilled professionals working in another country are described as expatriates, whereas a manual labourer who has moved to another country to earn more money might be labelled an 'immigrant' or 'migrant worker'.

There is no set definition and usage varies with context, for example the same person may be seen as an "expatriate" by his home country and a "migrant worker" where he works. Retirement abroad, in contrast, usually makes one an "expatriate".

according to the thais the only perfect expat is the one actually they see boarding the plane with the one way ticket to farang land but only if they have checked his pockets and suitcases before hand to see if he hasnt stolen any land.

all others are definitely highly suspect until they can confirm as the above.

Drinking too much, check, wearing shorts, check, overstaying a visa, done that, having long hair, where it's not bald, liking bar girls, big check! Are these good points, or bad points?

The only bad thing there is drinking too much.

Same as the perfect citizen, someone who contributes more than they take.

any happy expat is a perfect expat

Based on that, I'd like to nominate the majority of the Pattaya Darkside crew on TV as the closest thing we have to 'perfect' expats. How many expats do you know who can laugh in the face of constantly being tagged 'sexpats' purely by virtue of the fact that they share a town with weekend warriors like myself ? Interesting that most of the bitching about Patts seems to come from people who claim they never actually go there ....

Not a word about Patts on this thread, until you felt the need to defend your lifestyle and even worse justify it!

Wonder why?

Why did you bite then?

Pattaya is FULL of expat perfection btw... especially now that I have moved back to THE DARKSIDE. We are a very BROAD MINDED lot over here, not like those punters on that very narrow soi 41.

Perfect? Who is doing the scoring?

People like Nadia Comăneci don't come around all that often in one lifetime.

All my life, no matter where I went, no matter who I met, I never saw the colour of a persons skin nor the shape of their eyes. I never rated a person by how much money they had or what job they did.

Leave a jet trail behind you for others to fly in