For me ... Sanok ... Having Fun in Thailand.

Working previously, I was a drone ... a 7.30 - 6 worker ...

Got paid well ... not in the same class as the Oil and Gas workers, but well enough.

$ 55,000 was decent enough coin to enjoy being in the West.

But, I'd come home and I was drained.

Plus, I had put myself trough Uni, doing a Business Degree part time.

Bought an Investment house (or two) ... did all the repairs myself.

ENOUGH. I hankered for the times when (genuinely) I was backpacking Europe and everything I owned fitted in my Rucksack.

Started travelling again in my 40's, as I did in my 20's ... went to places I never did the first time round.

One trip to Thailand ... interesting. Interesting enough to come back again, again and yet again.

I watched the Thai people play ... enjoyment in most things they do.

About this, I'm not ashamed to admit ... they taught me something ... I learnt how to relax.

Not relax and switch off as we are taught in the West ... but to Relax and keep working ... doing stuff.

Sure ... it's not 'cool' ... but shit ... sometimes it's 'fun'. What's more important ... 'cool' or 'fun' ?

I'll poke for fun any day ... ... all puns intended.

The Thais (indirectly) taught me Sanok ... to enjoy and have fun in everything you do.

Believe me ... that one thing did change my life ... reduced my blood pressure and made me a lot more.

But, I'm no fool ... I've also seen, first hand ... the 'other' side of how Thailand can influence you.

Have you changed ... for the positive ... or made you more hard (but still staying here)?

.

Something similar with you David........learned to relax.

The house is falling down..........mai ben rai.

The end of the world is coming........mai ben rai

The farang doesn't say hello to me at Tesco's...........mai ben rai

They don't know how to serve people in restaurants.........mai ben rai

The waitress never hands me back my change.........mai ben rai

Some people are horrible to me on TVF.......mai ben rai

The soi dogs don't let me sleep........mai ben rai

Driving anywhere is a nightmare.........mai ben rai

But to take your shoes off before you go in the house.........Ben

For the positive, the Sanok aspect for sure. That and the 'not thinking too much'.

The ability to almost always look on the bright side of life.

But then again, they both have negative impacts too. Not thinking too much can lead some people here to be down right irresponsible.

Generally speaking, the 4 years I've lived in Thailand has been very positive and happy - long may it continue!

<snip>

But then again, they both have negative impacts too. Not thinking too much can lead some people here to be down right irresponsible.

<snip>

Agreed, wholeheartedly.

It is a double edged sword.

It's a utopia ... to have the best of Thailand and the best of the West.

I just hope the 'mai pen rai' guy isn't the same guys who fixes my brakes ...

.

The farang doesn't say hello to me at Tesco's...........mai ben rai

...

Man ... you have to let that go ... to be eternally happy ...

.

Nice op David.

Thailand has given a young(ish) me my family!

I love Thailand for that more than anything.

I love handing my child to Yai and Por, they just light up!

I even love the loud speaker in the village...I know, don't live there.

My parents in Aus have the love of their lives with their grandaughter now thanks to Thailand.

Same my brothers and sisters, now uncle's and aunts.

Thailand is pure positive energy for our family.

Sanook is a great word.

I already had that attitude after all the winters in Southern India.

Thailand taught me how delicious pork carnitas can be and how to watch an Ashes series without getting bored.

10 years ago I was resigned to being on my own, forever.

I went to Thailand, met the right lady and lived happily ever after.

Not that I minded being on my own. Travelling, skydiving.

Now I have the best of all worlds, except the skydiving. Gave that away, but I would have anyway. My 1st trip to Thailand was 1986. I never dreamed I would live there.

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The farang doesn't say hello to me at Tesco's...........mai ben rai

...

Man ... you have to let that go ... to be eternally happy ...

.

<deleted>

Mai Ben Rai.......................

I still don't know...............

Definitely for the positive. I've reviewed a few cherished values, particularly related to individualism and privacy. I have become accustomed to living as part of a community again and a seemingly endless extended family.

Thank you for this. Beautiful.

My experiences in Thailand have all made life better for me and our family.

Like my home town, the city that never sleeps...all the experiences in Thailand are not with Thais.

Though the Thai experience is my favorite, the most innocent and kind hearted. In a world of good people.

All of us just striving for a better way. Brave on. For me, that is the Thai way. To brave on.

<snip>

But then again, they both have negative impacts too. Not thinking too much can lead some people here to be down right irresponsible.

<snip>

Agreed, wholeheartedly.

It is a double edged sword.

It's a utopia ... to have the best of Thailand and the best of the West.

I just hope the 'mai pen rai' guy isn't the same guys who fixes my brakes ...

.

. Ha ha great stuff

I still don't know...............

Thank God, we get many chances. Be encouranged. Take care of yourself and help others. It will happen. Little things mean a lot. Small smile to many is worth millions. Big smile for you.

I can live a slower life; I am not under any pressure. I need fewer things. I can just do what I want to do. So much more relaxed.

My body and mind feels like it’s going through a healing process. Letting the stress, deadlines and responsibilities of western life dissipate.

Sometimes you don’t realize how crap life is; you just keep fighting to survive. Then you stay in Thailand for a while and realize you cannot go back. It’s definitely changed my life, maybe in a few more years I may even get to know myself.

<snip>

But then again, they both have negative impacts too. Not thinking too much can lead some people here to be down right irresponsible.

<snip>

Agreed, wholeheartedly.

It is a double edged sword.

It's a utopia ... to have the best of Thailand and the best of the West.

I just hope the 'mai pen rai' guy isn't the same guys who fixes my brakes ...

.

. Ha ha great stuff

Yai Yong, Ubon. Perfect brakes. Mention his name, even Toyota and Honda send people there.

One thing i can say is that in my opinion Thailand is one of the safest places ,If not the safest .

I always feel at ease walking day or night. And there is no body contact while walking ,the people flow ,and this has contributed to me being able to relax more fully in ways i never had before.

Also The energy Buddhism has on the people does create a different atmosphere all around .

So ,that's why i decided to stay, because i knew i had to learn something from that .

Many times Thais have been extremely helpful going out of their ways to help. And most of all i have learnt about generosity ,and giving without expectations. Give just to give.

They have treated me many times over the years. So now i learnt how to think in giving.

I am happy ,and it feels good to give .

Westerners can not even come close to this level of generosity .it would do them good to relearn themselves as i have.

After all ,that's why we travel so we can learn new things to add in knowledge ,or modify our previous behaviors to improve and feel better about ourselves.......Isn't it .

I have been asked for money countless times. small stuff like buy a candy bar for some student ,i don't take it seriously.They think that all falangs are rich.........and them poor Thais suffer eternally under the quiet resolution that their life ,people should feel sorry and if they had good hearts , they should give ..................

But when they have they give ,they are not selfish. That's why i think they think like that.

At least they don't carry hatred in their hearts ,to turn to robbing and assaulting like in many countries.

There are incidents however as you can read on Thai visa regularly . not everything is roses and peaches of course .

But over all it is a very safe country, where i have learnt many things i would not know if i didn't travel.

Being in Thailand has hardened my heart and my soul more than any other place or event in my lifetime. Made me far more cynical and disbelieving than I ever expected to be.

My trust level has been withered away by far too many shcemes, scams, lies and general deceit. Now I am willing to give people (women) one chance only now at honesty.

In saying that, I still have fun in life especially here in Thailand. I still have Thai friends apart from the mainly English guys I hang out with.

One day my faith may be restored but that is not in my hands.

Positive

I learned mai bpen rai and sanook back in the 70s. We had much better weed back then. I haven't seen too much of a comparative down-side since I've been here. Look at my avatar/gf. I wake up to that smile every morning.

When it comes to Thailand, I would say that the country itself has really not influenced me much. I have lived abroad in many different countries most of my life and I see good and bad things in them all.

However, what really has influenced me here is my Thai-wife and it is not so much due to her culture or religion etc.... - as her simply just being the most caring, unselfish and loving person, I have ever met/known. But besides her, the good weather and reasonable prices, I really see nothing special about Thailand.

So had I not had personal ties here, I am pretty sure I would be just as happy living in another warm and cheap country. I am even pretty sure that we will at some point move from here, especially if the attitude towards foreigners working and making business here, does not become easier in the future.

One thing I really dislike about Thailand (and I find very different from all the other countries I have lived in) is their naive and half-racist views on foreigners. I think they are extremely self-centered in many cases, which I also believe will hurt them a lot in the future. (is already happening)

Yes I have spend 2 winters in Thailand, wonderful places to stay and enjoy, only thing I do not like are those idiotic visa runs, thinking to go to some other country without those visa restrictions. Schimi

I believe the person who wrote this entry is an American, like myself. Yes, Thailand appears to be a relaxing place after the hectic pace of American/Western lifestyle, however since you come replete with your pension or savings from your sufficient savings or pension or investments, you are a "rich" man in the eyes of Thai people. You get smiles, service, agreeable compliance in a way you wished you could get in America without having to push and work and strive and struggle and demonstrate your potency as a man or human being due to your car or where you live or job you have. All you need here is to have a bit of cash, or not even but the promise of cash and you'll be treated "like a king". To all the Men who would be Kings, first of all your system that you fled from is slowly being implemented here, so as taxes are raised and more cement, glass and steel buildings are being constructed to change the face of Thailand into a Western-style culture, with luxury condos, hotels and restaurants being constructed endlessly along the Andaman Coast, within a few decades it's going to resemble the California coastline that stretches from one edifice in a chain along most of the entire state, roughly approximate to the distance of the Andaman Coast in Thailand. The changes in Thailand, with factories being built along rivers, will create a pollution environment just like polluted and saturated parts of America or wherever we dump toxic waste products into rivers. Soon CCTV cameras will be implemented on roads. Already tax hikes are in effect for basic consumer products. People have written on this forum of how places like Phuket, where I live, have lost their previous slow-paced gentle charm as people are acclimating to the vicissitudes of a market-driven competitive market which will eventually parallel any society of the West. It might come in a sort of Thai flavor, but soon people will become more aggressive, greedy, selfish (if not completely saturated with these qualities already, as I've noted many Thai people are. I'm not referring to places like the Immigration office, as a well-known situation of corruption, greed, and exploitation which has been well-covered in this forum in other posts. As media, marketing, and all the consumer-driven forces of subliminal control over people's hearts, minds and souls to consume become the dominant paradigm, which means to have an image, to have a nice car, house, to get plastic surgery to conform to a cliche model of consumerism that is expressed endlessly in media, soon (if not now already) people will only care about what car they drive, what type of house they live in, and also as with the West, any formal presentation of religion will be a secondary construct to the internal drive to be a consumer product and an image. If you think "escaping" to some other country like Cambodia will help restore a vagabond type of existence, the Westernization of SE Asia and indeed other parts of the world is part of the consumer "Domino effect" that will sweep across the entire region. As ASEAN gains prominence next year, more changes will come about that will bring about this Brave New World in Thailand. Not to be pessimistic or descry your enjoyment of luxury living with smiling obsequious people who appear to be completely happy to serve you, they live lives of poverty in the most part and they look to you to build a society just like what you left behind. "You", the theoretical "you" which represents the hoards of investors are also clamoring to build their fortunes that they could not assume in the West, will bring about a Thai version of what they wanted to leave behind, but they themselves will be in a higher socioeconomic bracket instead of being in the middle or lower zone, and will have finally achieved their status they longed for in the West. This change could take a few more decades to come to fruition, so you may or may not live to see this country transformed into a type of Western-based "paradise" near a beach, with architecture that will resemble all the beach areas of the world in similar transition to Thailand.

It has most definitely changed me for the positive,

Buddhism has opened my eyes and given me a serenity I never knew before. Kindness and compassion have become my constant companions and living for the moment brought joy. I neither judge nor assume, and perhaps most importantly, there is no hate in my life anymore!

Good to see some well worth topics coming through now.

To describe my situation I would use the word contentment.

I am now very contented with my life sitting back now and again and experiencing that euphoric moment (normally with a beer) saying quietly to myself "yes this will do for the rest of my life"

But we should never forget you still have to work and adapt to it sometimes

like everything in this life

"nothing is for nothing"

I am happier in Thailand. No or very little stress. Have a fulfilling second career and enough money (but not wealthy) that I don't worry about it much. No conflict in my personal life with my girl. Have learned to concentrate on my surroundings when driving. Patience. Mai pen rai. Jai yen yen. The big negative is that back in the US I trusted everyone until they proved untrustworthy. In Thailand I have learned to not trust anyone until they prove trustworthy. In twelve years few people have achieved that status.

When it comes to Thailand, I would say that the country itself has really not influenced me much. I have lived abroad in many different countries most of my life and I see good and bad things in them all.

However, what really has influenced me here is my Thai-wife and it is not so much due to her culture or religion etc.... - as her simply just being the most caring, unselfish and loving person, I have ever met/known. But besides her, the good weather and reasonable prices, I really see nothing special about Thailand.

So had I not had personal ties here, I am pretty sure I would be just as happy living in another warm and cheap country. I am even pretty sure that we will at some point move from here, especially if the attitude towards foreigners working and making business here, does not become easier in the future.

One thing I really dislike about Thailand (and I find very different from all the other countries I have lived in) is their naive and half-racist views on foreigners. I think they are extremely self-centered in many cases, which I also believe will hurt them a lot in the future. (is already happening)

My wife is Thai, and, for the most part, we live in Malaysia where I work, but also have a house in Chaing Khom, where i hope to retire. What I love most about Thailand is her. plain and simple. She simply enjoys being wife and mother, and just beams as a woman does when she takes care of her husband, friends and family. She has showed me that a woman can, indeed, enjoy her womanhood without challenging men or male status and while maintaining her dignity completly intact without feminist overtones or playing the role of the distressed female. This has, for the first time in my life, allowed me to enjoy being a man. It's very simple and it is also what i hoped to find when I, very consciously, left the West behind.

Id like to say Positive but unfortunately its mostly negative................I have even less trust and faith in people than I did before I came, Thailand has shown me the true awful nature of people.

No need to bang on about me staying here, blah blah blah

Something similar with you David........learned to relax.

The house is falling down..........mai ben rai.

The end of the world is coming........mai ben rai

The farang doesn't say hello to me at Tesco's...........mai ben rai

They don't know how to serve people in restaurants.........mai ben rai

The waitress never hands me back my change.........mai ben rai

Some people are horrible to me on TVF.......mai ben rai

The soi dogs don't let me sleep........mai ben rai

Driving anywhere is a nightmare.........mai ben rai

But to take your shoes off before you go in the house.........Ben

Welcome here with SHOES ON...........makes me laugh mustnt dirty the floor yet the walls are filthy with handprints, especially round light switches etc etc

We got two mats wipe your feet and in you come, shoes on.