Failed expats and the lies they tell others and themselves as to why ...

[Soutpeel]

I don't care if you do it. I just want to make the point that not every guy does.

You made that point weeks ago. Posting it over and over again, in post after post, thread after thread, and implying that everyone that does is a loser, puts it into obsessive-compulsive territory.

I believe it was William Shakespeare who said "the lady doth protest too much"

[nycjoe]

Don't worry about failure or other people's opinions. Do what you fell is in your best interest. We are free to do whatever our own spirit tells us to do. Who am I to judge another's journey.

[Donnie Brasco]

I don't care if you do it. I just want to make the point that not every guy does.

You made that point weeks ago. Posting it over and over again, in post after post, thread after thread, and implying that everyone that does is a loser, puts it into obsessive-compulsive territory.

It's all the trips up the soi with no saddle on the seat pole that has affected him. He will eventually save up and have the seat pole removed from his intestines and start posting with something normal.....eventually.

A cunningly simplistic innovation involving a silicon prosthetic and some Crazy Glue this seat pole thing has already been sorted to accommodate any needs that may arise.

[SoiBiker]

I guess we may never know why I don't qualify as an expat.

[neverdie]

I don't care if you do it. I just want to make the point that not every guy does.

You made that point weeks ago. Posting it over and over again, in post after post, thread after thread, and implying that everyone that does is a loser, puts it into obsessive-compulsive territory.

It's all the trips up the soi with no saddle on the seat pole that has affected him. He will eventually save up and have the seat pole removed from his intestines and start posting with something normal.....eventually.

A cunningly simplistic innovation involving a silicon prosthetic and some Crazy Glue this seat pole thing has already been sorted to accommodate any needs that may arise.

Indeed sir Donnie, indeed it has !

[neverdie]

I guess we may never know why I don't qualify as an expat.

There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.

Aldous Huxley

[USNret]

I failed in my own country but am successful in Thailand.

sorry, duplicate

[USNret]

I failed in my own country but am successful in Thailand.

I think this captures the essence of the matter for many expats.

[mikebike]

Abhor may have be a poor choice of words probably boring is more fitting. Brevity in communication can be an excellent method of collaborating ideas depending on what is said. IMO brevity exposes itself all too often as a replacement for deficiency in communication skills, lack of subject knowledge and laziness.

While I agree some of the most intellectually superior mentally engaging ideas are communicated in a brief manor, as some examples these brief phrases are IMO priceless communications, “actions speak louder than words” or “by his deeds you shall know him” and “the older I get the less I pay attention to what people say I watch what they do”.

Very fitting, “actions”, “deeds” and “attention to what is done, not said”. The more value an individual associates to an endeavor in communication the more time they will spend in its pursuit, it can then be extrapolated that the action of creating one-liners and three or four word responses most of the time IMO are an indication of an insignificant level of value an individual places on their reply. “By their deeds you shall know him”, they are not engaging in serious intellectual communication, it is the equivalent to playing a children’s game.

I tend to value brevity, clarity, and simplicity in communications. Writers who take the time to self-edit considering their topic and audience tend to be more effective communicators IMHO. People who can self-edit in verbal communications are a rare treat when I encounter them... Cookie cutter phrasing using worn-out cliches is not really acceptable, even in sports interviews!!

[mikebike]

Mr. Mikebike, I didn’t know you could type into a previous post like that so I missed it. Your posts have IMO been the most thoughtful replies, I abhor the simpleton one-liners, it’s the exchange of ideas I crave, hopefully I’m going to learn something from you and in an equaling of the weight and balance scale of life I can deliver some information from my perspective that hopefully you can benefit from reading as well. It’s ironic that this thread morphed into a discussion of racial prejudice in the US derived from one sentence in a five paragraph post I made regarding my dissatisfactions with living in Thailand but as they say “it is what it is”. [i think your first post on this thread falls into the 'stream of consciousness' style of writing which often results in superfluous tangents by the author. Sometimes these tangents are more worthy of discussion than the actual point of the material i.e.: subjective perception of racism vs objective discussion of the effects of systemic institutionalized, culturalized racism.]

Obviously in a country the size of the US there are going to be people that look down on others based on the color of their skin. Personally I don’t know anyone that places any importance on such a naive meaningless appraisal of an individual. In the US there are Asians, Africans, Latino’s, Indians, Caucasians, Native Americans and more that have achieved the apex of success and accomplishment, there are no barriers preventing individuals with the dedication and perseverance to acquire valuable skills and use those skills to achieve. [individual success is NOT a meter of racial equality. In a racism-free society you would expect to see all races represented equally in all endeavours - from gardener to CEO; the proportion of races employed in ALL sectors should reasonably reflect the proportion of races in the population as a whole. Though this is an ideal never to be achieved in the real world, there is little doubt that there is a great deal of room for improvement in equity in the USA.]

Financially I understand everyone is expendable in the Thai’s economy. I’m not kidding myself believing that the elimination of the distribution of my wealth into my community will create a hardship to more than the people I employ and the companies whose goods and services I consume. As far as my investment portfolio and financial footprint I am not “two different people” I don’t “spend a boatload of money” I invest, for two goals, capital gains and to acquire and manage quality streams of income. I employ people in the community in the acquisition and maintenance of these investments along with the goods and services I consume that produces my economic contribution. In reality my economic contribution far exceeds 20 times the average Thai’s. There are Thai’s and farang in Thailand that make my footprint seem insignificant and I understand in reality I am merely a minuscule player in the financial realm but a substantial player when compared to the average Thai citizen. I use my money for myself and I invest because I enjoy the game. But the game is very restricted for me as a farang in Thailand another reason I’m moving on I desire more investment freedom. [understood. I have found that, for me, living here but keeping my business and investments back in my home country to be an enjoyable, relatively stress-free, way to go.]

Ultimately after 8 years I will always have an economic contribution in Thailand I’m just reducing and redeploying. I plan to keep a home in Thailand and spend at least a few months a year there; ultimately there is a lot about Thailand I love, their language, their food but now that I know the reality of what it is to live here and I’m not satisfied. The business restrictions placed on farang, the corruption, the filthy environment, [Where DO you live that is so freakin' filthy - and why would you stay there even up to now?] however the real reason I'm moving on is the awareness that as a farang it has been made very clear to me, over and over again and I tried to resit believing it but I am no longer going to deceive myself, I’m really not wanted in Thailand, I'm just tolerated and I'm not willing to live in a place were I am not wanted. [because we are interlopers not immigrants - you will find that outside of North America and Australia which required immigration to become nations there is very little culture of accepting foreigners/immigrants with open arms... and even in NA & Aus those open arms closed quite some time ago.]

My thoughts in blue...

[bobthomas]

Failure? I didn't "fail" as an expat in Thailand. I just decided after a 1 year's retirement extension that I preferred the first world amenities in the US. I don't care for bars, bar girls, or an excess of alcohol and Thailand is a craphole compared to "most parts" of the US.

Thailand turned into a nice place to visit about once a year for a max of 180 days but usually more like 90. Then I get on a plane and return to everything that makes a first world country comfortable, and to weather that doesn't melt me with heat and humidity.

I'm not skint. I can do what I want to do so "cost of living" isn't an issue even though living well in Thailand doesn't seem that cheap to me.

Haha, although you have enough cash to live well in both countries, it seems you have totally missed the point of living in a country where, compared to the US, you can still do a lot of things you can only dream of in Amerca, like demonstrating without being arrested, beaten up, peppers prayed, tasered to death or shot by the militarized police, or where your kids can still open a lemonade stand without being arrested, or where your granny can still grow her own vegetables without the food police coming 'round to shut it down. Oh how about opening a little street food stand? Ha, virtually all your freedoms have been taken away, and even the food you eat is so full of crap, the government won't even allow it to be printed on the food labels.

So in a way you did fail. By the way, why do most of you still think more money equals more happiness, you've been totally blinded. In Thailand, just as has been proven in many other countries, people with less money are actually relatively happier. People who have a lot of it, are mainly occupied with getting or needing more and have been found less happier overall. You might be one of them.

You might be a little bit confused about freedom in Thailand. If you were ever to really demonstrate against some type of injustice- and a powerful person was implicated- being arrested or pepersprayed would seem like a cakewalk. Most likely you would vanish or some type of accident would befall you. Opening foodstalls/lemonade stalls- etc. is available for all and sundry because it can be taxed by the local tetsaban of mafia thug and then of course there is no Governmental authority to stop the consumer from being subected to botulism- formaldahide- or any of number of other toxins. Nor are there any repurcusions or renumerations if you do fall sick from these dodgy establisments.

Freedom to cause harm indiscriminantly or to have harm befall you without any governmental protections isn't freedom at all. It's misadventure in which your luck will eventually run out.

and as far as money is concerned- without it you are screwed in Thailand. So more is better. For Thais- they can be happier with less because their government and social systems offer them tangible rewards and a form of rescue when hard times come. Not so for us.

It's amazing how people will demonize the west just in order to fantasize the East.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

It's amazing how people will demonize the west just in order to fantasize the East.

Cheap <deleted> has a lot to answer for!

[tom21]

When people here stop claiming that every expat is a whoremonger, I'll stop pointing out that some of us aren't.

do you mean we're not. shit now I am worried

[Rangsitreppin]

I failed then came back to try again then failed now planning to go back again to.

[Rangsitreppin]

Fail come back again to fail then come back again