What's the point?

[jonesthebaker]

To the OP: you seem as if you are at the point of awakening. Don't let any of the negatvie replys to your post get you down. Your thought pattern is quite profound. It is neither positive nor negative - more thoughfull. For such a young age you really should feel blessed that you are able to question what is! Funny how some think you are resonating at a low frequency when in fact your frequency is elevated.

[jpeg]

Manic depressive comes to mind after skim reading your post.

The Medical proffesion now call it Bi Polar. And it's quite common place!

Oh God everyone's 'bi polar' nowadays. Another heap of steaming BS along with ADHD OCD ME and any other acronym which will keep trick cyclists relevant and pharmaceutical companies getting richer.

To the OP. Take the poster who suggested you look out of your particular small world's advice, and get over yourself.

[bangkapi]

For me this place is more than bearable if you have an ample income and little responsibility.

If you are starting to get in a rut, just be like my brother back in the States. Become a highly functioning alcoholic and stay drunk all the time.

That way you won't have to think or reflect too much on what life is about.

[samran]

Did Marvin the paranoid android join TV?

[jonesthebaker]

Did Marvin the paranoid android join TV?

your frequency is well depicted in your avatar

Edited December 25, 2013 by jonesthebaker

[bigbamboo]

well, For the larger part I agree with "it's nothing special"

I am a westerner/farang, but have grown up here in thailand since I was a kid.

I have Thai nationality, speak,read and write thai fluently, so don't encounter the problems that many other farangs do here with regard to visa's, work permits, land ownership and communication etc.

All I can say is, this place is home, my friends are here, my adopted parents are from here and my wife is from here too.

However, if I had more money and no attachments here, I would be gone in a heartbeat, this place is "nothing special" is an understatement.

My personal opinion is, that Thailand attracts expats for many reasons and like many other things in life, when it's new, it's usually fun but once the novelty/honeymoon period wears off, then thailand just becomes home, nothing special, with good and bad things and various pro's and cons.

I think this can be seen often on this forum, when newcomers to thailand ask for advice or opinions about thailand and are often met with negativity etc from posters here.

I dont think that that posters here are wrong for responding with negative comments, if anything I often find that these comments hold the most validity on many occasions.

Many people come to Thailand for various reasons, for those that have been here long term (not just a couple of years) have seen the various changes take place from year to year and have also had time to develop as people.

If we all think back to how we ourselves have changed of the last decade as individuals, most will find that we have changed a lot, the way we feel about things, think about things, even what we require to keep us mentally and emotionally stimulated.

For those who have come to thailand purely for sex and fun on a budget, with no aspirations for anything more than that, these are the ones who are most easily pleased here.

That being said, some of the people who were originally lured here, by the laid back approach, sex and fun etc many years ago, are now not fulfilled by such things, because over a long period of time they have evolved/changed both emotionally and mentally (physically too) and are often looking for something else to meet their needs for a fulfilling life.

This is where Thailand can fall down for many.

Thailand is still a third world country in many ways. Yes it would seem to have become more affluent over recent years, expensive phones, cars and stuff but Thailand is still stuck in the dark ages in so many ways.

aside from saucy fun and frollicks, what does Thailand offer? when compared to many other places in the world.

The infrastructure here leaves alot to be disired.

Lack of museums and quality libraries.

opprossive heat most of the year.

terrible health and safety standards.

lack of quality tradesmen.

Bad TV shows.

Lack of quality merchandise available.

Bland architecture.

Genrally there is lack of choice here, which is whay I believe many stuggle with.

An example of this could be the food, as I said I have been raised on thai food, do I like it? some things are ok, but I personally prefer many interantional foods over thai food.

One could argue that many international foods are available here, this is true, but much of it it substandard to what you get overseas and often carries a high premium here and if you want to cook it yourself, the nessassary ingredients are a chore to find, often requiring you to visit many shops and stores to get the ingedients needed to make one particular dish, often the ingredients (if found) are expensive to buy also.

This is just one example, which to many newbies may seem trivial or a minor inconvenience or sacrifice at most, yet for people who have been here for years and years, these things all snowball, after all, sometimes its the small things in life right...

Of course Thailand has some good things about it, but then again so do so many other places in the world, so when comparisons are made, it is easy to see why thailand is "nothing special"

We all make decisions in life based on how we feel at the time. Many people chose to make Thailand there home along time ago believing they would be happy here. But as time passes, things change and so do people as individual's, I feel many people regret there choice in moving to thailand and I see no shame in that.

Who can predict how they will feel about a person, a place or anything 5 years from now let alone 2 or 3 decades from now.

For all those who love to say to posters here "well if you dont like it, leave"

For many people, it is not as easy as to pack up and move to what they deem as greener pastures...

Many have wives, children, propery, work and business commitments here that are not easy to just walk away from. Many just accept there fate and get on with it. After all many people all ovet the world dont particularly like where they live, many have left there home countries to settle here for this very reason.

There are some people who have been here 3 decades and still love the place, I say good for them, Thailand obviously has enough to stimute them still after all these years.

I personally loved my teenage years here, especially late teens, when me and my friends from school were old enough for bous nights out in nightclubs etc, life was fun doing all the normal stuff young men do, drinking, partying, girs...

It is as I have grown older here and my tastes have changed or developed that I struggle with Thailand.

For those looking for nothing more than afforadable fun and nothing too serious, then Thailand can still tick a lot of boxes for many.

For people that are looking for more than than just sex, fun and partying, Thailand can really become tedious to say the least.

For me many issues are highlighted when visiting, more devoloped countries, I enjoy the choice to be able to go to angood museaum or art gallery if I want to, I enjoy the opportunity to use reliable internet with good download speeds, or the choice to visit the theatre.

Thailand Is still geared to towards a childish mentality on so many levels. Just look at Thai TV! where are the documentaries, Diy programs...

My view is, that the more choices we have in life, then the more content we are...

Thailand does not offer much in the way of choice on the whole... food, quality products, skilled proffessionals, arts and culture, education...

So in a nutshell, my personal opinion (many will disagree) Thailand is overated, for those who are not here for sex, afforable living, buddhism etc, will probably become very fed up or bored with Thailand sooner or later.

for those that don't, well done...

why dont you tell us what you really think. I think you could have given us a little more detail.

If I meet you at the pub I dont think that I would have to talk- let you take care of that

I doubt I would be Interested in talking to someone like you to be honest.

In the unlikely event that I would be overcome with the sudden urge to enter into any kind of debate with someone like you, then the fact that you would not feel the need to talk, would just make the whole experience that less painful for me, so all good in the end....

I'd doubt you'd get a word in!

[giddyup]

Do we really have to copy these lengthy, self-indulgent posts that take up nearly a page when responding?

[JLCrab]

Strong hearts just keep going ...

[yermanee]

Caveat.....I am not a licensed "head shrink" ....and this is only my opinion from reading your short post...Please take no offense as I hope I am only offering you constructive criticism.

Well since your past seems to focus only on "YOU"....and you think every year that YOU have done nothing....YOU obviously do not like who you are....if you do then no problem never making anything of your life! Might be time to make some changes. You have stated that you do not want a family (Who many of us do "live for") But family can take many forms...Neighbors, friends and even strangers. You have to let go of the "me, me, me syndrome" and start partaking in life in another form than you currently are. Volunteer, Join some social clubs, become engaged with the community...make the world your "Family" ...Its amazing how rewarding it is to help people without expecting anything in return....

Hope whatever you do you change your path to one where you believe your life has some meaning.

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for for this. But I volunteer all the time. I have spent time with orphans in Sri Lanka, Burma refugees in Thailand, war victims in Vietnam to name a few. At the end of it all, come out with discontentment and nothing else.

Well if spending time with orphaned children and maybe put a smile on their face brings nothing but discontent for you, then there's realy nothing more to be said is there ?

Yermanee

[denby45]

What's the point in anything?

The agnostic,dyslexic,insomniac,woke up in the middle of the night and wondered if there really was a dog!

Well that's very clever I like it. Wait a minute .........................Why would he have to wake up??????

[Psychic]

Interesting thread that has illustrated a whole host of world views. None of them, of course, of any use to the OP at all. I include this post.

Thousands of years of great minds pondering the meaning of life has gotten us nowhere. Most of the world's great religions have concluded that materialism will not bring happiness. But accumulation of wealth has always been the way to security, comfort, health, prestige, feeling of accomplishment and these in turn bring some measure of pleasure to people.

Jesus might have been a wise man but he ended screaming in agony on a cross when the authorities decided he was too dangerous to live. So unless you can envision that for yourself you need to find a compromise.

So, like everyone else, I offer my own journey.

After years of paralyzingly depression based on my view that I was put here to change the world and my complete inability to do so I ended up in Thailand almost by accident. My Thai wife's life would have put most women in a deep dark place. But the woman doesn't know how to not laugh.

Her life was devoted to her ( now our) daughter and she did what she had to in order to keep the child in school. She is now in university. My wife's aging mother is now slowly dying and incontinent. My wife has to change her diapers. She laughs that it is payback for her mother.

There is no deep philosophical meaning in this post. But after all my years of depression over my inability to change the world the cheerful responsibilities of familial duty has "enlightened" me.

My father just died from lung cancer. it wasn't a particularly horrific death but his inability to breathe and thus to walk reminded me of gifts we take for granted. A walk down the beach at sunset with the wife laughing beside me for most of the 7000 days or so I hope I have left is all I really look forward to.

For me this makes living in Thailand special. But we all have our own paths.

I hope the OP finds his.

[MJP]

I'm also in my 30s, no husband (yes, I'm a woman) and no kids. Never wanted kids, so that's not something that's going to happen in the future either. Have lived all over the world and my life's never been boring (that's not always a good thing, though).

I do believe there's a point to life, though. You just have to find it. If I thought there was no point to anything, I would just jump off a building. So yeah, it's up to you. You have to figure out what makes your heart/soul tick and then follow that. Whatever it is.

Me? When I feel there's no point to life, I go hug my dogs (they've lived with me all over the world). Or go outside and help a soi dog. I've lived here for about two years and in that time have paid to sterilize over 50 soi dogs. It's a tiny thing and maybe it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but you know what? It means something to me. And it means fewer puppies being born on the streets. I can live with that. It helps me keep going when things seem pointless.

Find something you care about. It doesn't have to be animals or people you share your daily life with. Just something.

I'm leaving Thailand within the next year for many of the reasons mentioned by other posters. I'm done with it and ready to head back to the West. However, I'm also aware that you take with you who you are. Until you find who you are and what you want out of life, you might discover you're not happy anywhere.

Your last sentence is so true. I'm off to see a psychiatrist as soon as I get back. Not because of Thailand. Because I'll be back "there" and I know the only way to survive "there" is to take prescription pharmaceuticals. I'm quite serious.

Last Christmas was spent in a freezing cold, damp derelict building being used as a site office in East Anglia by one of the "prestigious" up it's own wrongun' firms I sometimes have to work for. The Christmas before that was spent in a different freezing cold derelict office on an old air force base for another bunch of tosspots who had me living on site in conditions you wouldn't put a dog in. Both firms work you 80+ hours a week and these are not nice people.

This Christmas however . . . .

[Docno]

There's been some interesting research in the last few years showing that 'job satisfaction' is very much tied to the person and that it has a substantial genetic component (!). In other words, it's not just about the job (or even mostly about the job), it's about the person. Some people are never satisfied no matter what job they move into, while others seem to be able to make a good thing of their situation whatever they end up doing. I suspect that 'country satisfaction' is no different. It wouldn't certainly explain a lot of the griping that goes on at TV...

[atyclb]

Manic depressive comes to mind after skim reading your post.

Kindly elaborate upon what suggests bipolar disorder in the OP post.

Thank you.

[sniffdog]

I've been living full-time in Thailand for the last 20 years and it's has been not an easy ride all the way. But once a then fellow teacher said :'I rather be unhappy in Thailand than being unhappy in my own country'.

Then it all made sense.

[atyclb]

I've been living full-time in Thailand for the last 20 years and it's has been not an easy ride all the way. But once a then fellow teacher said :'I rather be unhappy in Thailand than being unhappy in my own country'.

Then it all made sense.

Yes, you are relatively less unhappy in thailand than in home country.

[thailandbeachisland]

So easy and fun to make money here and so much fun, employ the people, fire them, buy things, change them, buy new ones, etc...

Yes nothing else but having money to control people and things is a lot more fun here !

[BlueSkyCowboy]

Manic depressive comes to mind after skim reading your post.

I don't know what that means. care to elaborate?

It means that you are anti social and not of sound mind

[rsokolowski]

I am of the strong opinion that you will get out what you have put in. This is true for many things, including life. From the original post you sound like you don't put much effort into anything, and this may very well be why you are miserable. As an American philosopher has said "you are responsible for your own happiness".

Maybe it is time to sit back and think about what you are doing to make your life so miserable?

Edited December 25, 2013 by rsokolowski

[BlueSkyCowboy]

I've been living full-time in Thailand for the last 20 years and it's has been not an easy ride all the way. But once a then fellow teacher said :'I rather be unhappy in Thailand than being unhappy in my own country'.

Then it all made sense.

Yes, you are relatively less unhappy in thailand than in home country.

some people will be unhappy no mather where they live. I suggest to live on the 7th floor or above.

[atyclb]

From the extensive Post #72:

.

Lack of museums and quality libraries.

That's it -- I'm leaving.

Although I clicked "like" I do know what he means. Some people enjoy museums greatly. I could spend a year at Prado and I'm not even big on art.

Come to think of it walking down sukhumwit soi 4 in BKK is sort of like taking a stroll through evolution. A living museum if you will.

Regarding libraries, although absolutely necessary prior to the digital age, for studying I never liked them because you cannot eat or drink or get really comfortable. Online and digital books imo are better. I recall those heavy books in a backpack, no fun.

I think for viewing classic books, collectables, rarities libraries are still fine.

[farang000999]

OP why don't you go to the cancer hospital and see how you feel about things after that and ask one of those guys what they would like to do with their day if they could get out of bed. You sound like an arrogant self absorbed narcissistic child. Merry Christmas and best of luck.

[thailandpeter2]

itsrebel wrote: ...Every year, at this time, I ask myself these questions. What did I achieve during the last year and was it worth it? And almost always I get the same answers. The answers being that it wasn't worth anything at all and there is no point....

hmm, does not sound that good. seems like he can go wherever and still isn't satisfied with his life - nothing at all to do with thailand or any specific country.

so, i guess he has in general not found out what to do wiht his life. constantly changing the location/country surely won't help there...

also, merry christmas and a happy new year!

[thailandpeter2]

itsrebel wrote: ...Every year, at this time, I ask myself these questions. What did I achieve during the last year and was it worth it? And almost always I get the same answers. The answers being that it wasn't worth anything at all and there is no point....

hmm, does not sound that good. seems like he can go wherever and still isn't satisfied with his life - nothing at all to do with thailand or any specific country.

so, i guess he has in general not found out what to do wiht his life. constantly changing the location/country surely won't help there...

also, merry christmas and a happy new year!

[mad mary]

Manic depressive comes to mind after skim reading your post.

Do you even understand what that means in clinical terms? If not then don't go around insulting people who have the condition, like myself.

Yes .

[lanng khao]

I thought anybody who lived in Thailand would be as happy as a muu in kee..

[mad mary]

Manic depressive comes to mind after skim reading your post.

Kindly elaborate upon what suggests bipolar disorder in the OP post.

Thank you.

I never suggested anything of the sort.

[JLCrab]

From the extensive Post #72:

.

Lack of museums and quality libraries.

That's it -- I'm leaving.

Although I clicked "like" I do know what he means. Some people enjoy museums greatly. I could spend a year at Prado and I'm not even big on art.

Come to think of it walking down sukhumwit soi 4 in BKK is sort of like taking a stroll through evolution. A living museum if you will.

Regarding libraries, although absolutely necessary prior to the digital age, for studying I never liked them because you cannot eat or drink or get really comfortable. Online and digital books imo are better. I recall those heavy books in a backpack, no fun.

I think for viewing classic books, collectables, rarities libraries are still fine.

I lived in NY City for about 5 years in the 70's where there were museums and libraries galore and mostly for free but that isn't something that I look for in living in Thailand. In the 80's I also spent loads of time in law libraries whereas nowadays most is available online.

[txp158]

I live for money of course. And the fun of making it.

I suggest if you get bored, why not try putting 50% of your life saving into one football match. I can assure you that match will definitely turn your thinking around 360 degrees.

[manarak]

There is no point in anything, other than a final point with the exitus.

better enjoy the day, there is no better place than Thailand for that.