I guess I am one of those idiots mentioned above. I moved here full-time at 23. I am presently a very happy 60 year old idiot and still enjoying my life in Thailand. I would have hated living a normal life back home.

You're not an idiot. I am curious about why young people settle here now, not that long ago.

I first traveled to PR China in 1988 -- no Internet, no ATM, no Skype, no mobile phone -- most communication had to be done by English telex both within China and from the USA. Within China they used a system whereby each Chinese character had a number well into the thousands of characters.

So when some ask why some who are in more advanced years have no understanding of how younger persons operate today, it's in large part because it was not possible back then to operate as it is today.

"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."

One of the best lines ever to finish a film. Watched that movie last night.

Not all that old myself, and understand how young people with knowledge, skills and abilities operate.

For those of you who think a foreigner can't make it in Thailand ......Read this

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/american-billionaire-made-in-thailand-keeping-kingdom-bet.html

Here's an excerpt from the article

"Perhaps no foreign-born investor has made a bigger personal bet on Thailand than Heinecke. As a U.S. diplomat’s son studying at the International School Bangkok in 1967, he resisted parental pressure to return home to enroll at Washington’s Georgetown University.

Instead, at age 17, he borrowed $1,200 and set up an office-cleaning company. By the time he became a Thai citizen, Heinecke had forged business ties with the royal family’s asset managers by leasing crown land on which he built hotels."

I don't think many of us have 'ambassador's son' in our resumes..

AND not many of you had the guts at 17 to tell your parents to shove it and borrow $1200 to start your own business!

A little OT, but is Bill Heinecke married to a Thai or farang? I've seen him with a farang woman from time to time, but was never sure if that was his wife.

Bill has a farang wife and his grownup children seem to be running the business these days.

For those of you who think a foreigner can't make it in Thailand ......Read this

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/american-billionaire-made-in-thailand-keeping-kingdom-bet.html

Here's an excerpt from the article

"Perhaps no foreign-born investor has made a bigger personal bet on Thailand than Heinecke. As a U.S. diplomat’s son studying at the International School Bangkok in 1967, he resisted parental pressure to return home to enroll at Washington’s Georgetown University.

Instead, at age 17, he borrowed $1,200 and set up an office-cleaning company. By the time he became a Thai citizen, Heinecke had forged business ties with the royal family’s asset managers by leasing crown land on which he built hotels."

I don't think many of us have 'ambassador's son' in our resumes..

AND not many of you had the guts at 17 to tell your parents to shove it and borrow $1200 to start your own business!

A little OT, but is Bill Heinecke married to a Thai or farang? I've seen him with a farang woman from time to time, but was never sure if that was his wife.

Apparently his wife is a farang too! both acquired Thai citizenship years ago.

"Heinecke, whose wife of 46 years, Kathy, also took Thai citizenship, cites his acceptance by Thais as a good omen. The bearded, 1.8-meter-tall (6-foot-tall) Heinecke, who towers over most Thais, could have been spurned as an outsider." quoted from article.

Personally, I don't work in Thailand. The younger expats I know that do are mostly teachers. They earn a similar salary to that which they did back home, enjoy a much higher standard of living, happier working conditions, and get to live in an awesome country. Nobody seems to see this as a bad option.

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pussy

pussy

None of the younger expats I know moved here for that reason. Most of them rather look down on the older crowd that did. Times have changed - although most here seem not to have noticed.

I guess I am one of those idiots mentioned above. I moved here full-time at 23. I am presently a very happy 60 year old idiot and still enjoying my life in Thailand. I would have hated living a normal life back home.

please tell us how much money you had at age 23

pussy

None of the younger expats I know moved here for that reason. Most of them rather look down on the older crowd that did. Times have changed - although most here seem not to have noticed.

Indeed, the whoremonger quotient has gone down quite a bit, but does thrive in certain younger demographics nonetheless.

Part of the reason is there are plenty of younger expat females these days who you can have conversations which are polysyllabic.

pussy

None of the younger expats I know moved here for that reason. Most of them rather look down on the older crowd that did. Times have changed - although most here seem not to have noticed.

it goes without saying that the younger ones came for the temples, Thai culture, Som Tam and Prikh Nam Pla

pussy

None of the younger expats I know moved here for that reason. Most of them rather look down on the older crowd that did. Times have changed - although most here seem not to have noticed.

it goes without saying that the younger ones came for the temples, Thai culture, Som Tam and Prikh Nam Pla

Yeah yeah. And you pay for it either way.

This sort of tired old crap is a big part of why the old guard are a bit of a laughing stock.

I guess I am one of those idiots mentioned above. I moved here full-time at 23. I am presently a very happy 60 year old idiot and still enjoying my life in Thailand. I would have hated living a normal life back home.

please tell us how much money you had at age 23

and how much you got now?

pussy

None of the younger expats I know moved here for that reason. Most of them rather look down on the older crowd that did. Times have changed - although most here seem not to have noticed.

it goes without saying that the younger ones came for the temples, Thai culture, Som Tam and Prikh Nam Pla

Yeah yeah. And you pay for it either way.

This sort of tired old crap is a big part of why the old guard are a bit of a laughing stock.

Most of the 20/30 year old crowd are here for the weed and the "free" girls on whatever dot com.

free girl is so old skool. Days gone by when girls gave sex for a bed and a shower.

I guess I am one of those idiots mentioned above. I moved here full-time at 23. I am presently a very happy 60 year old idiot and still enjoying my life in Thailand. I would have hated living a normal life back home.

please tell us how much money you had at age 23

I don’t like talking about money but I didn’t have very much at the time, I assure you. I had been saving since I was a kid, however. Every Christmas and birthday gift since childhood was put in the bank and not spent. My father passed on to me a finical conservatism which perhaps saved me from the pitfalls of overspending. You could say we were conspicuous under consumers.

For the first twenty years in Thailand I lived on whatever I made locally. I had some interesting jobs but my goal was to not work so I saved and invested, never touching the principle. Watching it grow almost became an obsession.

I never went into debt, didn’t marry until I was 45 and never had children, so I had complete control over my expenses. In my forties it became possible to loosen my self-imposed restrictions and stop working altogether.

After 30 years in Bangkok I finally moved to my little paradise here in Chiang Rai.

For those of you who think a foreigner can't make it in Thailand ......Read this

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-08/american-billionaire-made-in-thailand-keeping-kingdom-bet.html

Here's an excerpt from the article

"Perhaps no foreign-born investor has made a bigger personal bet on Thailand than Heinecke. As a U.S. diplomat’s son studying at the International School Bangkok in 1967, he resisted parental pressure to return home to enroll at Washington’s Georgetown University.

Instead, at age 17, he borrowed $1,200 and set up an office-cleaning company. By the time he became a Thai citizen, Heinecke had forged business ties with the royal family’s asset managers by leasing crown land on which he built hotels."

I don't think many of us have 'ambassador's son' in our resumes..

AND not many of you had the guts at 17 to tell your parents to shove it and borrow $1200 to start your own business!

A little OT, but is Bill Heinecke married to a Thai or farang? I've seen him with a farang woman from time to time, but was never sure if that was his wife.

I Googled him and eventually found this.

http://www.whartonhcmc08.com/bio-heinecke.html

Bill Heinecke is married to Kathy Heinecke and has two sons.

Arrgghh. Too late once again as somebody has already covered it.

Curses, foiled again.

pussy

None of the younger expats I know moved here for that reason. Most of them rather look down on the older crowd that did. Times have changed - although most here seem not to have noticed.

it goes without saying that the younger ones came for the temples, Thai culture, Som Tam and Prikh Nam Pla

Yeah yeah. And you pay for it either way.

This sort of tired old crap is a big part of why the old guard are a bit of a laughing stock.

Most of the 20/30 year old crowd are here for the weed and the "free" girls on whatever dot com.

A high proportion of the 20/30 expat I know here are girls themselves. I don't think they came here for the 'pussy', free or otherwise.

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$1200 in 1967 would be worth millions today. You could have bought several houses with it.

Same as Richard Branson borrowed 50k GBP from his father in the '70s. Again millions in today's money.

Making your first million from zero is the hardest.

Most of the 20/30 year old crowd are here for the weed and the "free" girls on whatever dot com.

A high proportion of the 20/30 expat I know here are girls themselves. I don't think they came here for the 'pussy', free or otherwise.

So if you know them you must know why they are here.

$1200 in 1967 would be worth millions today. You could have bought several houses with it.

Same as Richard Branson borrowed 50k GBP from his father in the '70s. Again millions in today's money.

Making your first million from zero is the hardest

Yeah ...I agree that $1200 could be worth millions today ....depending on how you invested it!

I bought my first "brand new" car in 1971......Cost $3500 and that was "fully loaded" (new cars today in US cost on average $25,000)

How did I do that? Well got my first job when I was 13 made minimum wage ($1.35/hr) worked hard and within a year I was in a union and got a job paying $4.35/hr

Worked after school and on weekends ....(Sunday and Holidays paid double time, and Saturdays was time and half......I worked every Sat. and Sun) I was making more at 15 than school teachers were ..

..AND while doing that I graduated from high school in the top 1% and summa cum laude from college....Special? NO....lots of other kids my age were doing the same thing working and going to school to better themselves.

How many kids today go out and get a job on their own at 13?

.

Most of the 20/30 year old crowd are here for the weed and the "free" girls on whatever dot com.

A high proportion of the 20/30 expat I know here are girls themselves. I don't think they came here for the 'p****', free or otherwise.

So if you know them you must know why they are here.

Well yes, of course.

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$1200 in 1967 would be worth millions today. You could have bought several houses with it.

Same as Richard Branson borrowed 50k GBP from his father in the '70s. Again millions in today's money.

Making your first million from zero is the hardest

Yeah ...I agree that $1200 could be worth millions today ....depending on how you invested it!

I bought my first "brand new" car in 1971......Cost $3500 and that was "fully loaded" (new cars today in US cost on average $25,000)

How did I do that? Well got my first job when I was 13 made minimum wage ($1.35/hr) worked hard and within a year I was in a union and got a job paying $4.35/hr

Worked after school and on weekends ....(Sunday and Holidays paid double time, and Saturdays was time and half......I worked every Sat. and Sun) I was making more at 15 than school teachers were ..

..AND while doing that I graduated from high school in the top 1% and summa cum laude from college....Special? NO....lots of other kids my age were doing the same thing working and going to school to better themselves.

How many kids today go out and get a job on their own at 13?

.

I started delivering newspapers and running the local newspaper shop on weekends when I was 12 while still going to school. Bought my first car when I was 16 and my first house when I was 21. Worked every hour I could all my life.

are all these young people equipped to have well paid careers in the west?

Well considering their experience in the CIA, their three doctorates and their high ranking government connections, you'd think they'd at least be able to get a career mopping vomit of a hotel room floor.

$1200 in 1967 would be worth millions today. You could have bought several houses with it.

Same as Richard Branson borrowed 50k GBP from his father in the '70s. Again millions in today's money.

Making your first million from zero is the hardest

Yeah ...I agree that $1200 could be worth millions today ....depending on how you invested it!

I bought my first "brand new" car in 1971......Cost $3500 and that was "fully loaded" (new cars today in US cost on average $25,000)

How did I do that? Well got my first job when I was 13 made minimum wage ($1.35/hr) worked hard and within a year I was in a union and got a job paying $4.35/hr

Worked after school and on weekends ....(Sunday and Holidays paid double time, and Saturdays was time and half......I worked every Sat. and Sun) I was making more at 15 than school teachers were ..

..AND while doing that I graduated from high school in the top 1% and summa cum laude from college....Special? NO....lots of other kids my age were doing the same thing working and going to school to better themselves.

How many kids today go out and get a job on their own at 13?

.

I started delivering newspapers and running the local newspaper shop on weekends when I was 12 while still going to school. Bought my first car when I was 16 and my first house when I was 21. Worked every hour I could all my life.

Pats on the back and kudos to you ....like I said ....lots of other kids back then were doing the same thing!

Seems like the kids of today are the "Expectancy Age" as they all expect to get a "great job" ....they all expect the government "will take care of them" ....they all expect to start at the "top" ...well I guess they can all "Expect" a big shock!

Pats on the back and kudos to you ....like I said ....lots of other kids back then were doing the same thing!

Seems like the kids of today are the "Expectancy Age" as they all expect to get a "great job" ....they all expect the government "will take care of them" ....they all expect to start at the "top" ...well I guess they can all "Expect" a big shock!

Yep think you nailed it there. They're all expecting their parents to die so they can get their inheritance but their fathers are too busy spending it on booze and girls in Pattaya and wasting the rest.

No wonder they are all depressed!

Some of you chaps seem a little bitter about anyone enjoying the prime of their lives.

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Some of you chaps seem a little bitter anyone enjoying the prime of their lives.

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Not sure who you're referring to as I've been enjoying the prime of my life for the last 40 years....thank-you very much

Most of the 20/30 year old crowd are here for the weed and the "free" girls on whatever dot com.

A high proportion of the 20/30 expat I know here are girls themselves. I don't think they came here for the 'pussy', free or otherwise.

So if you know them you must know why they are here.

A good chunk of those girls maybe came for the Thai p-ssy as well.

Some of you have the mentality of 13 year old boys.

Actually, most of the younger generation of expats I know here are married.

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So the younger expats that you know in Thailand are a representative sample of the entire younger expat generation across all provinces of Thailand?

Back to the OP,

It's all about sex.

Hard for a normal guy to get a good s*** back home with a variety of slim and attractive women, unless you're seriously rich.

Or prepared to put a lot of work into the job, many pitfalls to avoid too.

In Thailand, dead easy.