Expat Alcoholics in Bangkok

[atyclb]

Alcohol makes you smarter. It's the same principle as in the animal kingdom. When a predator attacks a herd they go for the weak or older animal which makes the herd as a whole stronger. It's the same when drinking alcohol. Yes alcohol kills off brain cells but it'll kill the weaker brain thus leaving you with the stronger brain cells and making you smarter. It's a fact.

Astonishingly superb rationalization, I don't even think Bill W or Dr Bob even heard that one.

What if the opposite is true, alcohol kills only smart brain cells? or even worse, is non selective and kills any/all brain cells?

[nodomino]

Most societies tolerate drinking alcohol. The ones that don't seem to me to be emblematic of the kind of society that I wouldn't care to live in because they also do not tolerate freedom of any sort. I think that the finest example of Thai philosophy can be expressed as 'Up to You'.......

[atyclb]

Frankly, it's non your damn business. It is their business, not yours. Perhaps you should just go back to those places, and leave the rest of us alone to live as we chose to do.

Rather, sir, it is very much the business of us who would rather you shit-for-brain losers would go and destroy yourselves back wherever you came from.

Your presence engenders the worst feelings towards foreigners in this country. It is your arrogance, your indifference to Thai values, that contributes to immigration policies which make life for the rest of us more troublesome than it need be.

Your very presence within the the national boundaries is an embarrassment to me and many other decent people, and an insult to the Kingdom.

Oh please..... that is enough to drive me to drink (I don't btw). Why do you assume people that drink too much are "shit-for-brains losers"? Why such anger? Perhaps you would rather have them go back, but most of us would probably like you narrow minded control freaks buzz off. I don't know how long you have been here, but doesn't matter what your behavior is many Thais generate "worst feelings towards foreigners" independent of behavior. Thai values? Didn't I see in report other day they Thailand is one of the leading drunk tanks of SE Asia? Getting sh*t faced is part of the culture. They are just trying to fit in.... Immigration policies are such because of long streak of xenophobia, feelings of cultural superiority, and general love of clanking brass balls when they can.

Oh, on second thought stay. Makes it more fun to laugh at such posters for being so uptight. I prefer to be embarrassed by my behavior, don't waste time on others stupidity. Might want to try that for awhile. Or maybe move to Saudi Arabia. Not so many drunks there I figure.

Correct. Thai's only drink as it helps them come to terms with why their superior culture has not amassed a stack of nobel prizes.

[cbluck58]

This post is either a wind up or the OP is an overzealous, pompous, knit your own yoghurt goodie goodie , who needs to shut up and mind his/her own business.

Most of the farangs you see are on holiday so of course they are going to go on rampant benders - it's what people do on holiday, let off steam so they can return to their boring lives sane for the 50 weeks of tedium they have to endure every year.

It is my experience that most long term resident farangs do not indulge in this type of behaviour,or rarely if they do.

[malt25]

This is a trick question, right ?

Will the OP give a prize for the answer he agrees with ?

Hey, OP... did you know beer makes you smart ??? Yep, it made Budweiser. OP, you get it ??? Bud wiser. Oh, never mind.

And on that note.... think I'll have another.

Good night all.

[Jimbolai]

I can not be that selfish to just stop drinking beer. All the workers in the breweries would be out of work. Their wifes would suffer and the kids go hungry. No, that selfish I am not.

[Cyclist]

Alcohol makes you smarter. It's the same principle as in the animal kingdom. When a predator attacks a herd they go for the weak or older animal which makes the herd as a whole stronger. It's the same when drinking alcohol. Yes alcohol kills off brain cells but it'll kill the weaker brain thus leaving you with the stronger brain cells and making you smarter. It's a fact.

Astonishingly superb rationalization, I don't even think Bill W or Dr Bob even heard that one.

What if the opposite is true, alcohol kills only smart brain cells? or even worse, is non selective and kills any/all brain cells?

I'll do some more experimentation and let you know.

[Guitar God]

Saw this guy enjoying himself in Phuket last year. Fun, fun, fun.

[smotherb]

Alcohol makes you smarter. It's the same principle as in the animal kingdom. When a predator attacks a herd they go for the weak or older animal which makes the herd as a whole stronger. It's the same when drinking alcohol. Yes alcohol kills off brain cells but it'll kill the weaker brain thus leaving you with the stronger brain cells and making you smarter. It's a fact.

Astonishingly superb rationalization, I don't even think Bill W or Dr Bob even heard that one.

What if the opposite is true, alcohol kills only smart brain cells? or even worse, is non selective and kills any/all brain cells?

Well you see, Norm, it's like this...A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

- Cliff Claven to Norm Petersen from Cheers TV Series (1982-1993)

Cyclist, tsk tsk, even when you paraphrase, you need to cite the source.

[thrilled]

Um many Thais tend to lift the bottle also.It's not only farangs

[JesseFrank]

Saw this guy enjoying himself in Phuket last year. Fun, fun, fun.

He was probably examining something in the sky, and laying horizontal makes it easier.

[myluckythai]

agreed... BURP!

[Greg Nixon]

there is way too much drinking of alcohol in the world. There is so many experiences to have. Drinking is boring and ends with the same result. Stay out of the bars and you will have enough money and sense to enjoy the world.

[JesseFrank]

there is way too much drinking of alcohol in the world. There is so many experiences to have. Drinking is boring and ends with the same result. Stay out of the bars and you will have enough money and sense to enjoy the world.

But the majority of expats in Thailand, when they stay out of the bars, will never find a wife.

[ianf]

A Thai massage lady commended me on my fit and firm body (I'm 66). I don't drink alcohol (perhaps one glass of wine or a small beer every now and again); She then went on about how fat a lot of farangs are and how much alcohol they consume. Quite frankly, it may be none of my business, but when I see these guys drowning their sorrows in glass (or should I say bottle?) after bottle, it makes me wanna puke. Along with smoking it's a disgusting and pointless habit.

[Guitar God]

It was nightime, that would explain why he took his sunglasses off.

Saw this guy enjoying himself in Phuket last year. Fun, fun, fun.

He was probably examining something in the sky, and laying horizontal makes it easier.

[Guitar God]

They usually commend me on my Johnson...

I agree with you about socially acceptable, annoying habits. I'm a pretty liberal and tolerant person and pretty much anything goes with consenting adults in the privacy of their own space but some thing when done in public, especially to excess, can infringe on others enjoyment.

I don't care if someone puts bleach in their eyes after taking a ketamine enema while they pork their dog up its bunghole while sitting in front of a burning pile of Justin Bieber CD's, inside a pentagram, while drawing cartoons of Allah and yodeling opera as long as I don't have to see it or smell it.

Where there's alcohol, the more that's consumed, the louder it gets. If there's live music I'd rather listen to the band than drunk people howling or some idiot yelling "Freebird, Freebird", to a reggae band. Too much alcohol and there's fights, or someone vomiting on the floor.

Not a fan of cigarettes either. Fine if people want to smoke but I enjoy breathing clean air while I eat and don't want my clothes smelling like smoke. My least favorite are drunk smokers who drop lit cigarettes, lay them on tables or burn holes in your clothes when they stumble past you.

Most people would never think it's okay to throw a burning object out their car window, cigarette butts are somehow exempt from that logic.

I might have annoying habits but I don't inflict them on others, getting shitfaced drunk at a club or chain-smoking at restaurants is somehow acceptable here. I can drink a bottle of champagne and not get loud or violent, I don't play my theremin outside at night, smoke weed around non-smokers, burn patchouli incense in movie theaters, or light farts in restaurants. I wish smokers and career drinkers would be as considerate, but nooooo.

A Thai massage lady commended me on my fit and firm body (I'm 66). I don't drink alcohol (perhaps one glass of wine or a small beer every now and again); She then went on about how fat a lot of farangs are and how much alcohol they consume. Quite frankly, it may be none of my business, but when I see these guys drowning their sorrows in glass (or should I say bottle?) after bottle, it makes me wanna puke. Along with smoking it's a disgusting and pointless habit.

[techboy]

You do not know that the norm is people killing themselves and ruining their lives. Have you drawn blood and done a laboratory workup on these people? You are using a status quo of "back home" to define what is correct or not. Why? Prove that that is correct.

Benefits and dangers of alcohol have been researched to conflicting conclusions for years. Now you step in to Thailand's expat culture and pass a judgement with nothing but someone else's precedent, cliché and platitude as your platform. To put it as politely as possible, as Ben Franklin once wrote "Mind thy business."

[In Search of Space]

I would say that the drinking was moderate

[Eloelo]

Frankly, it's non your damn business. It is their business, not yours. Perhaps you should just go back to those places, and leave the rest of us alone to live as we chose to do.

Rather, sir, it is very much the business of us who would rather you shit-for-brain losers would go and destroy yourselves back wherever you came from.

Your presence engenders the worst feelings towards foreigners in this country. It is your arrogance, your indifference to Thai values, that contributes to immigration policies which make life for the rest of us more troublesome than it need be.

Your very presence within the the national boundaries is an embarrassment to me and many other decent people, and an insult to the Kingdom.

In theory i understand the point you are trying to make but if "drinking and drunkenness and drunk in public and drunk driving were to become an olympic sport thailand would bring home the gold without farang participation.

The op was making reference to the expat population here and there excessive drinking habits not the thais. and I agree with the above comment many drunken farangs are just simply making dickheads of themselves.and embarrass there country and there fellow countryman, as that is the impression our hosts see is been representative of the rest of us who try not to look like a drunken <deleted>.

[Andre0720]

I'll drink to that....

[baratrachael]

I am in AA and did like your question. You must be a nice person to be concerned about your co-workers.Now:

a) Each person needs to decide if they are happy or not with their drinking. There is plenty of knowledge about recovery.

AA not not that religious. I sponsor people on the humanitarian basis that we are all connected. Astrophysics is a useful are of study for this.

c) Live and let live. Functioning alcoholics can drink themselves into a lather nightly and not get into much trouble so it is not a true problem.

[dotpoom]

Your friend must have been drunk while he went to the AA meetings. AA has nothing to do with religion. It is a spiritual programme...as in....one might become willing to acknowledge that there is the possibility that there may be in existence a "Power" greater than himself. If he comes to the conclusion that there is not....then it can be a hard road ahead carrying the burden of being the most powerful force in existence.

As for ex-pats drinking a lot in Thailand...isn't that what people do when they go on their holliers.

PS. Re the post above.....Alcoholism is a killer "disease"..so wrong, most wrong to say...that it can be considered "not a true problem" because a certain alcoholic appears to be functioning. What you are probably referring to is a "heavy drinker"....who in many cases can drink more than any alcoholic and still function. The difference being...the heavy drinker, if told by a doctor to stop drinking as it is affecting his health, or his marriage or job or whatever....he can stop......an alcoholic cannot, thus why he has the killer disease...and the heavy drinker does not.

Lives are at stake when talking about these matters so better to get the facts right.

[Strangebrew]

I've haven't had a drink to drop in hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ten minutes

[longstebe]

Many of the expats have worked bloody well hard all their lives and if they choose to get baladdered every day in a nice warm country then so be it.

I wear steer toe caps every day, when I come to Thailand I like to wear flip flops :-)

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Phil Water]

peter1965 said:

"Since I came to Thailand, it seems that overdrinking is accepted here way more than in western countries. I work with a few chaps who are gettig drunk regularly and it is condoned. Back in my home country, they would be suggested to seek some type of recovery. I feel uncomfortable saying something to these guys like, "you know you are slowly killing yourself and ruinning your life so you should really get help." One of the guys attended AA for a while but he said he couldn't take the religious angle of it all.

Has anyone else found that there is way to much Religion going on in AA?"

Fixed it for yeh.

[KevWaters]

Yes, absolutely. I avoid the older expats now as all the ones I've met just sit in a farang bar with other farangs getting drunk most days and then start to argue and fight with their friends as the night comes to an end whilst their Thai wives scream and try to break it up. Seen it many times when passing in the car or stopping for food. Probably the same people who come on here and get really bitter on every post about Thai people or attack the OP and say "why are you here then?" Or "Thailand is not for you" 555!

[The Deerhunter]

Alcohol makes you smarter. It's the same principle as in the animal kingdom. When a predator attacks a herd they go for the weak or older animal which makes the herd as a whole stronger. It's the same when drinking alcohol. Yes alcohol kills off brain cells but it'll kill the weaker brain thus leaving you with the stronger brain cells and making you smarter. It's a fact.

Sure is. I saw that episode of Cheers too.

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/mjboesen/Literature/Buffalo_Theory.HTM

[Cyclist]

Alcohol makes you smarter. It's the same principle as in the animal kingdom. When a predator attacks a herd they go for the weak or older animal which makes the herd as a whole stronger. It's the same when drinking alcohol. Yes alcohol kills off brain cells but it'll kill the weaker brain thus leaving you with the stronger brain cells and making you smarter. It's a fact.

Astonishingly superb rationalization, I don't even think Bill W or Dr Bob even heard that one.

What if the opposite is true, alcohol kills only smart brain cells? or even worse, is non selective and kills any/all brain cells?

Well you see, Norm, it's like this...A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

- Cliff Claven to Norm Petersen from Cheers TV Series (1982-1993)

Cyclist, tsk tsk, even when you paraphrase, you need to cite the source.

I actually never heard that source, I've never watched the show. I genuinely thought it was an original thought. Although I had a few when I wrote it.

[TrueOrNothing]

The fact is that individual behavior influences the behavior of others and the overall well-being. All that we can do or avoid doing to avoid the negative influence (from which the amalgam to all the farangs emerge also) is to consider seriously

We cannot expect this to happend when people from a multitude of cultural systems of values and education systems come together for holidays and dont give a damn about learning and respecting the local cultural values, doing as if they were at home (or worst because they aren't)... We can see that in all countries..

Human beings are so selfish by nature (look at babies).

From DNA to today's physical condition, mental condition and (drinking) behaviour, we are totally conditionned by our past (every now)

Unfortunately everyone is not necessarily conscious or tolerant, which is why we should be twice more careful not to negatively influence people around when we are not at home.

That said drink too much if you want I'm not your mama :-)

Cheers !