Mapguy Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) This question has been asked in various ways before. It is asked again in light of the tension of new enforcement, not new laws, governing foreigners in Thailand. Why are you here? And why Chiang Mai? There are certainly a lot of reasons. What's your story, especially to note why you left where you were, definitely NOT to mimic some Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) publicity campaign? Edited August 22, 2014 by Mapguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMHomeboy78 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 No short answer... and you may not want the long one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post narkeddiver Posted August 22, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2014 Because I misspelt Chiang Rai 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeichen Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 It's home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMHomeboy78 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 It's home. Excellent short answer. You beat me to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mapguy Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) No short answer... and you may not want the long one. Understood! No one needs to know the details, just fundamental reason arrived at honestly. My personal reasons are also mixed as well as, I suppose, yours, might be. No, I don't want to hear your whole story, and you don't want to hear mine. This is not "group grope" clinical psychology. What I am suggesting is that people try to be as honest as they can be with themselves, I suppose, and give some brief explanation of why they are here. It could actually be illuminating and helpful for others, especially those who are considering moving here. And people might find some "soul buddies." To suggest some examples: Thailand is notorious for easy sex for horny elderly males with some cash for girls, boys or in-betweens. There are plenty of them around here. In recent years, a fair number of foreign females have settled here, either with children or retired. Why? How about "I couldn't stand my "nanny state!" Another one might be that I couldn't stand my wife or children any more! Or, I owe back taxes! Or, the law was after me! Or, I think I can live more cheaply here, and I will trust my good health to some god of good fortune. Or, maybe some people are just dreaming to settle in some perceived "paradise." And there must be other reasons! Edited August 22, 2014 by Mapguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post FolkGuitar Posted August 22, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2014 I didn't 'leave' any place. I just moved to a place I liked better. When I was living there I used to vacation here. While living here, I have no urge to vacation there. Chiang Mai has the cost of living, the foods, the climate, the environment, the people, and the culture that I prefer over where I was living before. That place wasn't at all bad. For me, this place is just better. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mapguy Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 It's home. Excellent short answer. You beat me to it. A genuine and not at all a bad (albeit) short answer at all that rings true in my experience --- for staying. Perhaps others might, but I don't find your initial response strange at all. So, why "home?" That can mean a lot of things. What might they be? In brief, even if a one-worder doesn't do the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaamNaam Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Because... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NancyL Posted August 22, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2014 You go first, Mapguy. Why are YOU here? 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernjohn Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I am here because I consider it home. The last few times back to Canada and the states I was always glad to be coming home. The last time in Pattaya when we got on the plane I was happy to be going home. This is home to me. Why did I come here because I was retired and the place I had lived in for 20 years never felt like home. Even though I owned my own home there. Besides I had always been attracted to a different way of life. The freedom to be responsible for myself. It is that simple I am home. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beetlejuice Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 The reason I ended up here in Chiang Mai is because I was a complete basta-d in my previous life and fate has plonked me here in this life as a retribution for all my sins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Thighlander Posted August 22, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 22, 2014 I'm behind on my child support, I can teach here with a criminal record back home and no degree, I have outstanding warrants for DUI, and circus pants are a lot cheaper than Levis. And if I'm hanging out on the east side, bad BO is ok, and that saves on water/electricity/soap. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyman108 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 1. Wife is from CM 2. Cost of living lower 3. Quality of living is better 4. Weather is nicer 5. Thai girls bother to dress nicer hence look prettier 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mesquite Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I am a sophisticated, well dressed man who wears his wife beater shirt proudly. Chiang Mai affords me the opportunity to live and play in style. You'll find me hanging out in the various drinking establishments on Soi 2 down from Thapae Gate, or, when my $800 Social Security check arrives, on Loi Kroh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onthedarkside Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 a number of inflammatory posts removed, plus any replies to removed posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeichen Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 " To suggest some examples: Thailand is notorious for easy sex for horny elderly males with some cash for girls, boys or in-betweens. There are plenty of them around here. In recent years, a fair number of foreign females have settled here, either with children or retired. Why? How about "I couldn't stand my "nanny state!" Another one might be that I couldn't stand my wife or children any more! Or, I owe back taxes! Or, the law was after me! Or, I think I can live more cheaply here, and I will trust my good health to some god of good fortune. Or, maybe some people are just dreaming to settle in some perceived "paradise." And there must be other reasons!" Now you are telling us why we are here!!! I will now exit this thread because it isn't genuine. Perhaps let people be, and just tell your own reasons for yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamborobert Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Had several years without a holiday as had a good job and was buying a house. Had been in KL on first leg of a holiday and it really was not me. Went to the airport with no flight arranged to travel "somewhere" and flew to Chiang Mai. Reasons....it was second flight available and less than $50....and the first flight was to Kolkata (and I had been to a similar place before....Bradford). I really had to look at a map to find where CM was! Stayed because I was very fortunate salary and time off wise with my new job and go back and forward to Oz for months at a time. Weather I find is better in my part of Oz. I find I really relax in CM as there are no real expectations or demands of me by friends or family or work I pretty much cruise and enjoy myself, Cm is cheap so I can afford to go here or Oz easily, and now there is a wife...and as much as wife does not like it..... the reasons really are in that order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hml367 Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 (edited) I always enjoy reading what people post in response to questions as the OP made. Invariably the reasons have to do with something being different here (Chiang Mai) than where they came from. Then the majority start posting why there aren't things here which they had where they came from. I also enjoy reading posts from people that have become experts (in a very short time) on things relative to Chiang Mai like: Thai lifestyle; Thai customs; the Thai way of thinking. I was brought to Chiang Mai to get my head straight. I was brought by a Chiang Mai lady and her husband. They put me in Wat Umong and had a bevy of Chiang Mai local people to assist me when they returned to the US. I liked Chiang Mai and the atmosphere.... it was very different than Chiang Mai is today. Many of the "complaints" made on ThaiVisa would not even have been possible to complain about. And of course, ThaiVisa was not available (or the internet, for that matter) to voice the concerns. Edited August 23, 2014 by hml367 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ramrod711 Posted August 23, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 23, 2014 I found myself divorced and pensioned off with a decent income. I had to mortgage the house to settle up with the ex. Never having had a passport or been out of north America I decided to travel. A friend recommended Thailand so I came. Nothing arranged, got on a plane, hated Bangkok, tossed a coin to decide north or south and here I am. I met a wonderful woman, we married and built a home. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circusman Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 It's home. Excellent short answer. You beat me to it. A genuine and not at all a bad (albeit) short answer at all that rings true in my experience --- for staying. Perhaps others might, but I don't find your initial response strange at all. So, why "home?" That can mean a lot of things. What might they be? In brief, even if a one-worder doesn't do the job. Give it a rest mapguy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umbanda Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 (edited) I am here because I consider it home. The last few times back to Canada and the states I was always glad to be coming home. The last time in Pattaya when we got on the plane I was happy to be going home. This is home to me. Why did I come here because I was retired and the place I had lived in for 20 years never felt like home. Even though I owned my own home there. Besides I had always been attracted to a different way of life. The freedom to be responsible for myself. It is that simple I am home. Get a lawyer!...I will take you to court!...... I have copyrights for that response!....Well...now you know.....why I move here from the US. Edited August 23, 2014 by umbanda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duvidl Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 I originally wanted to retire in Vietnam, but I couldn't stand the incessant beeping of motorbike horns so I came to Chiang Mai and - voila - no beeping. - so I stayed here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onthedarkside Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Off topic post removed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherOneAmerican Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 I came to find my family, found them and wish I hadn't (generally awful people). But CM is a great place to live, so I stayed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdiddy Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 weather out of the way in a corner of the world cheap fruit markets big town with big city benefits excellent for commuting around by bicycle (2+ hours every day for 3 months now) nearby mountain for serious fitness work not too far away from border run town (mae sai) airport with plenty of LCC flights to KL and BKK low pollution excepting burn off season locals are nice people, excellent hospitality, look after you ect (in my experience) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante99 Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 No short answer... and you may not want the long one.Understood! No one needs to know the details, just fundamental reason arrived at honestly. My personal reasons are also mixed as well as, I suppose, yours, might be. No, I don't want to hear your whole story, and you don't want to hear mine. This is not "group grope" clinical psychology. What I am suggesting is that people try to be as honest as they can be with themselves, I suppose, and give some brief explanation of why they are here. It could actually be illuminating and helpful for others, especially those who are considering moving here. And people might find some "soul buddies." To suggest some examples: Thailand is notorious for easy sex for horny elderly males with some cash for girls, boys or in-betweens. There are plenty of them around here. In recent years, a fair number of foreign females have settled here, either with children or retired. Why? How about "I couldn't stand my "nanny state!" Another one might be that I couldn't stand my wife or children any more! Or, I owe back taxes! Or, the law was after me! Or, I think I can live more cheaply here, and I will trust my good health to some god of good fortune. Or, maybe some people are just dreaming to settle in some perceived "paradise." And there must be other reasons! Interesting list of examples. Which ones are your personal reasons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mapguy Posted August 23, 2014 Author Share Posted August 23, 2014 You go first, Mapguy. Why are YOU here? Ok, that's fair! Sense of adventure, something new, not that I was bored or disenchanted with where I was. And there were or are no outstanding warrants for my arrest! Then, as noted by others, it became home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace of Pop Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Rimpling Supermarket. Red Lion and Spotlight Bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
transam Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Test a gas mask............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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