Some interesting statistics about Brits retiring to LOS

[smotherb]

Anyone posting here saying this report is sensationalising or exaggerating the prevalence of alcoholism, violence and old men seeking young hookers for sex is deluded. Look at the Pattaya daily newspapers, the evidence speaks for itself. It's a soulless place where lost old souls find lost young souls and lose their souls in the bottom of a bottle. I pity the guys that end up here, let alone die here. No Thai gives a hoot about any farang living in that hell hole, and to die being a burden to a prostitute you have nothing in common with or in a hospital where they can't wait for you to go so they can give the bed to a Thai person is a horrible way to end up.

One of them said it was better than sitting at home in the UK--presumably because he wouldn't have money for anything else. Dying a drunk and alone isn't a pleasant thought anywhere, but the thought of having a few more good times before you go may be attractive. I think the more important issue is being a drunk

[FiftyTwo]

Sex is a dirty word in the UK.

Sex for the over 40s is almost unthinkable.

It's great to be in a country where sex is OK for everyone.

It's great to be in a country that isn't freezing cold 350 days every year.

[saakura]

Family support structures have broken down across many Western countries, and I suspect that most male pensioners would prefer to go it alone in Thailand than be dumped in a care home in the UK.

Still doesn't excuse Channel 4, though!

Yet the vast majority of posters here constantly berate the thai girl for supporting her family. How else would you build family support structures if not by helping each other? Of course, the help should not always be one sided. But the economically stronger family member has to take a larger burden.

[HardenedSoul]

Sex is a dirty word in the UK.

Sex for the over 40s is almost unthinkable.

It's great to be in a country where sex is OK for everyone.

It's great to be in a country that isn't freezing cold 350 days every year.

Strange then that I was getting plenty when I left at 41.

Stranger still that these encounters happened with some those rare-as-hen's-teeth slim, attractive, 27+ year old independent Western women that apparently don't exist

Edited January 3, 2014 by HardenedSoul

[laobali]

Typical sensationalist, biased report. I now for a fact that there are at least 2-3 pommie retirees that aren't drunk perverts.

But are they happy?

It was a British TV channel program and would appeal to many British viewers. If it was biased, so what?

[laobali]

Anyone posting here saying this report is sensationalising or exaggerating the prevalence of alcoholism, violence and old men seeking young hookers for sex is deluded. Look at the Pattaya daily newspapers, the evidence speaks for itself. It's a soulless place where lost old souls find lost young souls and lose their souls in the bottom of a bottle. I pity the guys that end up here, let alone die here. No Thai gives a hoot about any farang living in that hell hole, and to die being a burden to a prostitute you have nothing in common with or in a hospital where they can't wait for you to go so they can give the bed to a Thai person is a horrible way to end up.

One of them said it was better than sitting at home in the UK--presumably because he wouldn't have money for anything else. Dying a drunk and alone isn't a pleasant thought anywhere, but the thought of having a few more good times before you go may be attractive. I think the more important issue is being a drunk

At least some of those old drunks are not lonely lost souls - as they probably would be in their home countries.

Edited January 3, 2014 by laobali

[FiftyTwo]

Sex is a dirty word in the UK.

Sex for the over 40s is almost unthinkable.

It's great to be in a country where sex is OK for everyone.

It's great to be in a country that isn't freezing cold 350 days every year.

Strange then that I was getting plenty when I left at 41.

Stranger still that these encounters happened with some those rare-as-hen's-teeth slim, attractive, 27+ year old independent Western women that apparently don't exist

Yep, you're a legend in your own mind.

PS

Not all that hard to have sex with a much younger woman in the UK, just unthinkable for most.

Edited January 3, 2014 by FiftyTwo

[thailiketoo]

Anyone posting here saying this report is sensationalising or exaggerating the prevalence of alcoholism, violence and old men seeking young hookers for sex is deluded. Look at the Pattaya daily newspapers, the evidence speaks for itself. It's a soulless place where lost old souls find lost young souls and lose their souls in the bottom of a bottle. I pity the guys that end up here, let alone die here. No Thai gives a hoot about any farang living in that hell hole, and to die being a burden to a prostitute you have nothing in common with or in a hospital where they can't wait for you to go so they can give the bed to a Thai person is a horrible way to end up.

When I kicked out my first Pattaya girlfriend she told me I was going to die alone. I worried about that for a couple of hours and moved in two new women. Then I didn't worry if one left.

I know many old men who live in Pattaya. And to a man they all have the same desire about death, When I go I want to go in the saddle. And they don't mean cowboy saddle, Yahoo.

Edited January 3, 2014 by thailiketoo

[HardenedSoul]

Sex is a dirty word in the UK.

Sex for the over 40s is almost unthinkable.

It's great to be in a country where sex is OK for everyone.

It's great to be in a country that isn't freezing cold 350 days every year.

Strange then that I was getting plenty when I left at 41.

Stranger still that these encounters happened with some those rare-as-hen's-teeth slim, attractive, 27+ year old independent Western women that apparently don't exist

Yep, you're a legend in your own mind.

Hardly, Fifty.

I'd absolutely love to know which part of England helped you form these daft opinions because in London, there are hordes of really attractive, well-maintained women in their 30s who have no issues whatsoever going for 40+ year old men. I wasn't doing anything that other blokes my age weren't doing.

Ah well, maybe just your neck of the woods then.

[FiftyTwo]

Hardly, Fifty.

I'd absolutely love to know which part of England helped you form these daft opinions because in London, there are hordes of really attractive, well-maintained women in their 30s who have no issues whatsoever going for 40+ year old men. I wasn't doing anything that other blokes my age weren't doing.

Ah well, maybe just your neck of the woods then.

Gray's Inn Road.

But I wanted 20s who had no issues going for 50+.

My last English lover was 23 and I was 52, she wanted to move in, but my wife wouldn't let her.

[organic]

Overall it's a pity they did go for the sleaze aspect, it detracted from the point a lot were trying to make - what have they to look forward to back in the UK? Making a pint last all day in Wetherspoons? A freezing cold home because our energy companies are allowed to charge excessively? The complete lack of respect for the elderly?

I've got a few years left before my retirement but certainly, if I'm able to afford it, I'll be coming back to Thailand (won't be Pattaya though, no matter hw cheap beer is in Soi Buakhao).

[HardenedSoul]

Hardly, Fifty.

I'd absolutely love to know which part of England helped you form these daft opinions because in London, there are hordes of really attractive, well-maintained women in their 30s who have no issues whatsoever going for 40+ year old men. I wasn't doing anything that other blokes my age weren't doing.

Ah well, maybe just your neck of the woods then.

Gray's Inn Road.

But I wanted 20s who had no issues going for 50+.

My last English lover was 23 and I was 52, she wanted to move in, but my wife wouldn't let her.

I didn't actually go for 20-somethings but that's what you'd find at the haunts I went to.

Much preferred the 30-somethings . . . real women by that age.

That dynamic doesn't work as well here though.

[FiftyTwo]

Hardly, Fifty.

I'd absolutely love to know which part of England helped you form these daft opinions because in London, there are hordes of really attractive, well-maintained women in their 30s who have no issues whatsoever going for 40+ year old men. I wasn't doing anything that other blokes my age weren't doing.

Ah well, maybe just your neck of the woods then.

Gray's Inn Road.

But I wanted 20s who had no issues going for 50+.

My last English lover was 23 and I was 52, she wanted to move in, but my wife wouldn't let her.

I didn't actually go for 20-somethings but that's what you'd find at the haunts I went to.

Much preferred the 30-somethings . . . real women by that age.

That dynamic doesn't work as well here though.

I agree,

Here, I prefer the 30 somethings too.

[SebD]

I thought the video report was fairly illuminating. As an American, I don't see too many of my fellow countrymen, here, in Thailand. Most elderly Americans opting to retire outside the US do so in Mexico or Costa Rica. So, I've always wondered what the typical expat retiree was like. Thanks to that video, I now have a pretty clear image of what most of the British that come to Thailand are like. Nice to see the reality beneath some of these avatars on TV.

I am assuming your comment is "tongue in cheek", or your Avatar is a true reflection of you............?

Yep, that's me in the picture. Just a stubborn ass.

The word "stubborn" is somewhat superfluous, I think most would agree.

[WitawatWatawit]

Must be a lot of readers wondering what the fuss is all about. Pattaya is Pattaya, an aberration contained within a specific and generally quite small area. Head across to the darkside, not more than about 30 minutes by m/cycle from Beach Rd, and it's another world where a lot of Brits and people from many countries live quite normal suburban lives. Lots of them. But we're too boring for Brit TV. Growing vegies and herbs like many of my neighbours do does not make for rivetting television. Night all - need to get up in the morning to clean the car and put up those shelves the missus is banging on about.

[Kerryd]

So funny. After watching the video and reading all the posts I walk away with a couple of impressions.

1) The problem is (in large part) that many UK retirees simply can not afford to live in jolly old blighty. Their options apparently are, stay home, cold, hungry and alone until they die or move to a place like Pattaya where their meager pension allows them to be warm, have a social life, full belly and quite possibly someone to look after them until they die.

2) The video and accompanying article ignore the point about (UK) retirees being unable to live in their home country and even suggest that "exporting" them to other countries (like Thailand) is an option that should be considered ! <deleted> ? Didn't you do that in the past with your criminals ? Is that the preferred solution to all the problems in the UK these days ? Export them to other countries and let someone else deal with them ? "Hey grandad, happy 65th birthday ! Here's a one-way ticket to someplace warm. ps: Don't forget to sign over your estate before you go. There, potential future problem solved and one less drain on "my" taxes !") (Don't forget to ignore the taxes and contributions those people made to the system over the course of their lives. That's not important ! What is important is your taxes and future needs !)

3) The presenter(s) of this video could have easily shown a number of Brit expats living a "normal" retired life that didn't involve booze and hookers, but that wouldn't have helped the image they are seemingly trying to present. I got the impression that this video was (deliberately ?) designed to present those elderly gents as nothing but whore-mongering drunkards, so that their targeted viewing audience would purposely have a lowered opinion of them. Why ? Well gees, maybe to help make the idea of "exporting the elderly" an easier proposition to sell to the general public ?

After all, if all those old single guys are just a bunch of drunken sexpots, why not ship them off to another country so "we" don't have to deal with them "here" ? Funny how the people that come up with such ideas never seem to think the same thing will ever happen to them ! And tend to be quite shocked at even the suggestion that they themselves should be treated the same when (if) they get to that age as well.

4) I noted how this entire story tries to make it sound like this only happens in Pattaya. Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok and a few other places must be snickering under their breaths. Yeppers ! No elderly, retired, alcohol soaked hooker magnets in any of those places ! Only in Pattaya you say ? Pity ! Of course, if the person that made the video only ever goes to Pattaya (or lives and spends all their time there) it would be hard for them to know that there is a world outside of that small piece of Thailand between North and South Pattaya roads, Sukhumvit and Pattaya bay. Makes you wonder how they spend all their time when not making such hard-hitting, thought-provoking journalistic works of drivel er, I mean, Pulitzer Potential masterpieces !

5) Lastly (for those still awake) yawn. This is "old" news (pun intended). Different version of similar stories crop up all the time. The cartoonist M.J.B. has done cartoons about this for years (example: http://www.amuzingthaicartoons.com/1436%20ZIMMER%20FRAME%201.jpg). The idea of poor, elderly retirees sitting miserable and alone in England, versus the same retirees enjoying the good life in their twilight years is not new by any stretch, and surprise surprise, not restricted to people from the UK !

Give this video and article a "3" out of 10 for content and quality (only because of the way they pronounced Pattaya).

[SebD]

So funny. After watching the video and reading all the posts I walk away with a couple of impressions.

1) The problem is (in large part) that many UK retirees simply can not afford to live in jolly old blighty. Their options apparently are, stay home, cold, hungry and alone until they die or move to a place like Pattaya where their meager pension allows them to be warm, have a social life, full belly and quite possibly someone to look after them until they die.

2) The video and accompanying article ignore the point about (UK) retirees being unable to live in their home country and even suggest that "exporting" them to other countries (like Thailand) is an option that should be considered ! <deleted> ? Didn't you do that in the past with your criminals ? Is that the preferred solution to all the problems in the UK these days ? Export them to other countries and let someone else deal with them ? "Hey grandad, happy 65th birthday ! Here's a one-way ticket to someplace warm. ps: Don't forget to sign over your estate before you go. There, potential future problem solved and one less drain on "my" taxes !") (Don't forget to ignore the taxes and contributions those people made to the system over the course of their lives. That's not important ! What is important is your taxes and future needs !)

3) The presenter(s) of this video could have easily shown a number of Brit expats living a "normal" retired life that didn't involve booze and hookers, but that wouldn't have helped the image they are seemingly trying to present. I got the impression that this video was (deliberately ?) designed to present those elderly gents as nothing but whore-mongering drunkards, so that their targeted viewing audience would purposely have a lowered opinion of them. Why ? Well gees, maybe to help make the idea of "exporting the elderly" an easier proposition to sell to the general public ?

After all, if all those old single guys are just a bunch of drunken sexpots, why not ship them off to another country so "we" don't have to deal with them "here" ? Funny how the people that come up with such ideas never seem to think the same thing will ever happen to them ! And tend to be quite shocked at even the suggestion that they themselves should be treated the same when (if) they get to that age as well.

4) I noted how this entire story tries to make it sound like this only happens in Pattaya. Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok and a few other places must be snickering under their breaths. Yeppers ! No elderly, retired, alcohol soaked hooker magnets in any of those places ! Only in Pattaya you say ? Pity ! Of course, if the person that made the video only ever goes to Pattaya (or lives and spends all their time there) it would be hard for them to know that there is a world outside of that small piece of Thailand between North and South Pattaya roads, Sukhumvit and Pattaya bay. Makes you wonder how they spend all their time when not making such hard-hitting, thought-provoking journalistic works of drivel er, I mean, Pulitzer Potential masterpieces !

5) Lastly (for those still awake) yawn. This is "old" news (pun intended). Different version of similar stories crop up all the time. The cartoonist M.J.B. has done cartoons about this for years (example: http://www.amuzingthaicartoons.com/1436%20ZIMMER%20FRAME%201.jpg). The idea of poor, elderly retirees sitting miserable and alone in England, versus the same retirees enjoying the good life in their twilight years is not new by any stretch, and surprise surprise, not restricted to people from the UK !

Give this video and article a "3" out of 10 for content and quality (only because of the way they pronounced Pattaya).

Excellent post. Pretty much UK Coalition Government agenda in a nutshell.

Price and regulate the country's drinking/socialising establishments beyond the reach of the average Joe and he will be forced to stay at home.

Then ensure it's nigh on impossible to finance both heating and eating at home, even, so the prospect of a warmer and more affordable retirement destination becomes either more desirable and/or necessary.

Then freeze his pension (even though he is now no longer a drain on the UK's welfare/healtcare systems, just as his health is likely to start deteriorating and care requirements rise).

Effectively, little short of euthanasia by proxy.

Just as the UK's problematic criminal classes were once deported, now its problematic elderly population are treated in similar fashion.

Nice 1 Gov.

Edited January 3, 2014 by SebD

[johnnycthedog]

There arises a question whether it is worth waiting until our sunset/twilight years to fulfill our dreams.

As I've said before in another post - "By the time a man has money to burn the fires normally gone out".

Wish I'd have discovered the joys of Thailand when I was in my thirties. It would have been - "take no prisoners".

[HardenedSoul]

...,

Welcome back; I'm a little surprised we never got a postcard; I hope you went somewhere nice on your holiday

SC

Stayed in his broom cupboard with an industrial-sized box of Kleenex

[AbeSurd]

I'm a Brit and love Pattaya and have lived most of the last eight years here.

Surely we all know much of Pattaya is not particularly pretty?

I thought the documentary was fair enough - and fairly sympathetic.

Thanks to the OP for sharing it. I appreciated the opportunity to be able to watch it.

[Johpa]

I don't think most retirees come to Pattaya because of sex. They choose Pattaya, because we have large expat population,

<deleted>! Of course the primary reason that most tourists visit that disgusting filthy town whose name none of them can pronounce correctly is for the enormous sex trade market. You can find large ex-pat communities in many places in Thailand: Samui, Phuket (not much different than Pattaya) Chaing Mai, etc. Have those towns seen the same increase in diseased alcoholic British retirees at the local hospitals as has Pattaya? I would imagine that all those places have seen increases but not as high as in Pattaya. The difference between these towns is not the size of the ex-pat populations nor the availability of western food. Crikey, check out the Chiang Mai forum to see an ex-pat population obsessed with the availability of western food including that horrid combination of food served up for breakfast in the UK.

All in all I found the piece to be a decent report of the lack of care available to blue-collar retirees in the UK, the centrality of the sex trade in Pattaya, and the pressure the intersection is placing on the Thai healthcare system.

[tullynagardy]

<deleted>! Of course the primary reason that most tourists visit that disgusting filthy town whose name none of them can pronounce correctly is for the enormous sex trade market. You can find large ex-pat communities in many places in Thailand: Samui, Phuket (not much different than Pattaya) Chaing Mai, etc. Have those towns seen the same increase in diseased alcoholic British retirees at the local hospitals as has Pattaya? I would imagine that all those places have seen increases but not as high as in Pattaya. The difference between these towns is not the size of the ex-pat populations nor the availability of western food. Crikey, check out the Chiang Mai forum to see an ex-pat population obsessed with the availability of western food including that horrid combination of food served up for breakfast in the UK.

Go on my son! You just left out the bit about how your wife has 15 degrees and is hi so to be a true anti pattaya sex pat TV flame post.

Any one else ever wonder how most guys on TV have a well educated gf from a hi so family? It seems every post guys will inform the board about this, it could be about food and some will slip it in. Clearly when Im on the plane you are all disguised in chang vests and your wife dawns fake tattoos you rascals!

[sustento]

I don't think most retirees come to Pattaya because of sex. They choose Pattaya, because we have large expat population,

<deleted>! Of course the primary reason that most tourists visit that disgusting filthy town whose name none of them can pronounce correctly is for the enormous sex trade market. You can find large ex-pat communities in many places in Thailand: Samui, Phuket (not much different than Pattaya) Chaing Mai, etc. Have those towns seen the same increase in diseased alcoholic British retirees at the local hospitals as has Pattaya? I would imagine that all those places have seen increases but not as high as in Pattaya. The difference between these towns is not the size of the ex-pat populations nor the availability of western food. Crikey, check out the Chiang Mai forum to see an ex-pat population obsessed with the availability of western food including that horrid combination of food served up for breakfast in the UK.

Yum!

[sustento]

<deleted>! Of course the primary reason that most tourists visit that disgusting filthy town whose name none of them can pronounce correctly is for the enormous sex trade market. You can find large ex-pat communities in many places in Thailand: Samui, Phuket (not much different than Pattaya) Chaing Mai, etc. Have those towns seen the same increase in diseased alcoholic British retirees at the local hospitals as has Pattaya? I would imagine that all those places have seen increases but not as high as in Pattaya. The difference between these towns is not the size of the ex-pat populations nor the availability of western food. Crikey, check out the Chiang Mai forum to see an ex-pat population obsessed with the availability of western food including that horrid combination of food served up for breakfast in the UK.

Go on my son! You just left out the bit about how your wife has 15 degrees and is hi so to be a true anti pattaya sex pat TV flame post.

If you only knew...

[StreetCowboy]

...

Yum!

...

I could fair go a potato scone and a slice of lorne sausage with a can of Irn Bru

SC

[anon8]

Sex is a dirty word in the UK.Sex for the over 40s is almost unthinkable.It's great to be in a country where sex is OK for everyone.It's great to be in a country that isn't freezing cold 350 days every year.

Strange then that I was getting plenty when I left at 41. Stranger still that these encounters happened with some those rare-as-hen's-teeth slim, attractive, 27+ year old independent Western women that apparently don't exist

Maybe you are exceptionally handsom. It is great that you had as much action as you wanted, at 41. But for most men in the West, who are approaching 40, never mind 50 it is not so easy. Women and men in their 20s prefer people of same age usually.For men, lets say over 50, there is no point to go out at Fri night, 50 yr old doesn't exist in the eyes of younger people. Not just for sex, just for socialising.West is very youth oriented, everybody knows that.

Sex is a dirty word in the UK.Sex for the over 40s is almost unthinkable.It's great to be in a country where sex is OK for everyone.It's great to be in a country that isn't freezing cold 350 days every year.

Strange then that I was getting plenty when I left at 41. Stranger still that these encounters happened with some those rare-as-hen's-teeth slim, attractive, 27+ year old independent Western women that apparently don't exist

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[Beetlejuice]

These Western perspectives of ex-pats and Thailand really irritate me. They always seem to represent the loser sex-pats located in the red light areas giving an impression that most Westerners are only here for the seedier side of life and the old fable that Thailand is the world’s biggest brothel.

Why does not the Western media come up here to Chiang Mai and produce a documentary about me or others like me who live normal lifestyles, having lived here for 30 years, my wife, my kids, the locals in my area showing the good scenic areas of Thailand and of those successful ex-pats living normally as families within the Thai communities.

Pattaya is a cease pit and by no means represents the character of Thailand as a whole, that’s like showing the red light districts of Sydney, Australia or in Amsterdam, Holland or Hamburg in Germany as a depiction of those countries.

Total misguided crap in my opinion, typical of what the Western viewing audiences expect to see about Thailand, a completely misleading one-sided demeaning view of the country.

[Loptr]

You make your own bed, and you have to sleep in it.

"Where ever you go, there you are"

They asked early in the doco of more than one retiree whether they thought they had made the right decision on moving to Thailand. Their answer, it's better than sitting in a bedset in the UK waiting to die. We all face the end of days. Better in a warm climate with friendly people than in a cold, dang hellhole where no one cares about you. It's better to go out with a bang as apposed to going out with a whimper.

[SebD]

These Western perspectives of ex-pats and Thailand really irritate me. They always seem to represent the loser sex-pats located in the red light areas giving an impression that most Westerners are only here for the seedier side of life and the old fable that Thailand is the world’s biggest brothel.

Why does not the Western media come up here to Chiang Mai and produce a documentary about me or others like me who live normal lifestyles, having lived here for 30 years, my wife, my kids, the locals in my area showing the good scenic areas of Thailand and of those successful ex-pats living normally as families within the Thai communities.

Pattaya is a cease pit and by no means represents the character of Thailand as a whole, that’s like showing the red light districts of Sydney, Australia or in Amsterdam, Holland or Hamburg in Germany as a depiction of those countries.

Total misguided crap in my opinion, typical of what the Western viewing audiences expect to see about Thailand, a completely misleading one-sided demeaning view of the country.

Agree with almost all of it except the Pattaya being a cesspit part.

I don't live in Pattaya and would not choose to but it is not as bad a place as it's painted, in my experience.

I've been to Pattaya for a welcome break from the provinces, much as I like to visit Bangkok for the same reason.

You don't have to engage with the seedier aspects of either town (no more than you have to in any of the world's cities).

If you like "people-watching" and enjoy being amused, inspired, shocked and (dare I say it?) pleasantly surprised by one's fellow beings, there's few places as potentially enthralling.

I know many expats who do live in Pattaya and who do not immerse themselves in the "seedier" (whatever that even means - to each it's different).

There are bad'ns and good'ns in every society.

Pattaya cannot lay claim to be any different.

Each to his own, anyway (within generally accepted limits).

Good post though. Well said, Beetlejuice.

[lanng khao]

Hardly, Fifty.

I'd absolutely love to know which part of England helped you form these daft opinions because in London, there are hordes of really attractive, well-maintained women in their 30s who have no issues whatsoever going for 40+ year old men. I wasn't doing anything that other blokes my age weren't doing.

Ah well, maybe just your neck of the woods then.

Gray's Inn Road.

But I wanted 20s who had no issues going for 50+.

My last English lover was 23 and I was 52, she wanted to move in, but my wife wouldn't let her.

I didn't actually go for 20-somethings but that's what you'd find at the haunts I went to.

Much preferred the 30-somethings . . . real women by that age.

That dynamic doesn't work as well here though.

I agree,

Here, I prefer the 30 somethings too.

if I couldn't

get a 36yr old, I'd get two18 yr olds..

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