what has surprised me over the years is the number of completely dysfunctional foreigners who are living in the country,

yeah everywhere I have worked in "foreign" countries, you get the odd 1 or 2 nut jobs who have arrived on a banana boat, but Thailand must the be the regional hub for "broken"/disturbed/dysfunctional foreigners. there many who should be in padded cells for their own protection.

and then we have the another demographic of those who have have never traveled outside their own country until the prospect of a cheap available women grew too strong for them and they up root themselves and transplant themselves to Nakon Nowhere shacked up with some bint,with splayed toes and a trick pelvis who gave them the goo goo eyes and promised to love them long time and they are absolutely clueless

Actually there are many many more "dysfunctional" Thais in Thailand than there are dysfunctional foreigners. Just like America has more dysfunctional Americans living there than dysfunctional foreigners.

And Russia has more dysfunctional Russians than dysfunctional foreigners and same with every other country in the world.

Ok we get it. You hate foreigners. Southpeel, every single post of yours is the same. It's kind of boring and I only got to ask why do you care so much that someone you don't know is living in some 1000- baht a month flea ridden hotel doing whatever they want to do? Are you jealous?

When I first got here, damn near everything surprised me.

Now, nothing surprises me.

After first briefly visiting Thailand over 45 years ago, I was supprised how FAT Thai's have become.

They have fallen for the total lies and BS advertising from the big companies.

Sugar is added to everything.....

Now Thai's have almost caught the West with non traditional deseases like obesity, high BP, heart conditions, stroke, diabetes etc.

I was supprised how up front and in your face MONEY is.

How it easy to feel like a target by poor people, a walking ATM, dual pricing, fair game.

I was supprised how easy it is to be accepted into a Thai family and that goes for other Thai strangers as well as Farang.

I was supprised at how well Thai's can throw and organise a party, house warming, funeral, wedding, becoming a Monk, Birthday,

like, never mind all the "regular excuses to party", new year, Chinese new year, Christmas, full moon - you name it - let's party..

I was supprised that all the people invited to such a do will readily hand over the pink envelope with their donation - to help.

Trucks arrive in the afternoon with a stage, tables/chairs - all with nice covers, lighting, sound systems, a kitchen.

Everything up and running by 5-6pm. Party in full swing by 7-8 p,m. Georgous food, loads of drink, music, dancing girls etc.

All done by midnight.

First thing the next day and everything has dissappeared, the only trace of the party is the litter/empty water bottles on the ground where the tables were.

and, it doesn't cost a fortune!

Amazing Thailand.

Wonderful.

Sometimes though, it might be nice to wind the clock back to the earlier, less complicated days?

The biggest surprise was the low cost of living in towns outside the tourist areas.

After spending a short vacation before moving here permanently, I researched prices in BK, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Pattaya, etc, and moved expecting to spend at least 1200 EU/month between rent and food. I do not drink, do not smoke, and I do no frequent bars. Never paid for sex too.

But, I like gardening and nice surroundings, and I cannot live in any condominium, just houses. After many days looking around Chiang Mai, and frustrated with prices and conditions, I found a small modern house by the Phayao lake, about 1 hour from Chiang Rai and 2 hours from Chiang Mai, with a rental cost of just 80 EU/month, with free 3BB internet. A small paradise. Cooking my self, but with sporadic stops in restaurants and coffee shops, sometimes with other foreigners living and working here. Even meeting and dating 2 to 3 times a week, sometimes getting the bus and paying hotel in nearby cities, using my motorbike just to get around my home, my total monthly living expenses were no more of 400 EU/month.

Now, married, and living in a bigger house, my spending is double of that, but still very cheap.

Another surprise. The low cost of plane tickets to fly inside Thailand and to other close Asian countries. I was not expecting to have enough savings to do that. I took the chance to go to Indonesia, Philippines and Burma for short vacations.

Life in Thailand is a lot better than I was expecting...in every sense.

A lovely post but I would like to point out that you currently pay over 500 baht per day for sex.

We all pay for sex, one way or the other. rent or buy LOL

You said the monthly cost was about 400 Euros (16,000b), not paying for sex.

Now married, your costs double that. so 16,000/30 is over 500b per day.

I too am married to a Thai but it costs more because I am setting up some small businesses for my wife so she can live on that income after I leave this mortal coil. I am 20 years older than her and my pension goes with me so this is a good thing to do.

A bargain, absolutly and a super supprise!

to me Thailand is what I was told it is, majority of people are nice, smile and they smile back(usually), most have no idea what the road rules are or mean, food is great, dont have all that many farangs I talk to so dont have to worry about whingers etc. I do my own thing and associate with my wifes friends and they are all great, the get togethers are always fun and I am always the lone farang so everyone wants to talk to me and get me a drink, I do bitch occassionally about certain things but then we are all entitled to an opinion but overall I find it very comfortable here, just a little backward education wise but its part and parcel of living here.

I'm surprised by the number of farangs who post on ThaiVisa, complaining about everything possible and impossible, and then refuse to leave.

I am surprised at the amount of farang who love Thailand so much that they seem to spend all there time on TV reading posts from people who don't like Thailand.

What surprised me in Thailand was the impact of social media (Facebook) on the conflict-harmonization process here.

ghosts of course

Posts obviously in the wrong thread have been removed.

What surprised me in Thailand was the impact of social media (Facebook) on the conflict-harmonization process here.

Totally agree. However this sad replacement for communication skills is now worldwide.

I have noticed in Thailand that the use of this implement does seem to encourage the notion that "we spend money we do not have on things that we do not need to impress people we do not like".

It is only going to get worse, sadly.