If you want to get to know a place.

[LarryBird]

Do business there. I think that's the quickest way to understand what's really going on. Would others who have started businesses in Thailand (or other countries) agree?

[HeijoshinCool]

Yes. That, or teach a year.

The difference is, with teaching, you at least break even.

[LarryBird]

Ya.. Teaching will get you some insight. Certainly a big 'omg, what the heck is going on here??' And it is a bit like doing business because the kids are often customers, and not students.

[DeaconJohn]

If you want to get to know Thailand, avoid Bangkok and the tourist areas... find a girl from a decent family... marry her... have children and let your wife raise them to respect traditional values... Try to live among Thais without going to pieces over the many aggravations and annoyances here.

After 20+ years you will probably have opinions that will be worth listening to.

Until then, live and learn.

[LarryBird]

Well, my post is about learning about a place, not staying insulated and oblivious. Not saying you will like what you find, though.

Yours is one method for survival, though.

[DeaconJohn]

Well, my post is about learning about a place, not staying insulated and oblivious. Not saying you will like what you find, though.

Yours is one method for survival, though.

Living among Thais is the very opposite of staying insulated and oblivious.

[CharlieH]

There is also a huge difference in living in a tourist spot and living in rural non tourist areas.

[Rancid]

Whatever you do don't speak the local language, much more can be discerned about a culture with hand gestures and a loud voice.

[rayongchelsea]

1. Come here when you are young. 2. Come here for the right reasons 3. Work here. 4. Educate your kids here. 5. Use the hospitals. 6. Buy property here. 7. Run your own business. 8. Deal with the labour laws. 9. Exposure yourself to the legal system. 19. Travel extensively before settling on one place. 20. Learn the language. 21. Stand up for yourself. 22. Be polite.

[Soutpeel]

If you want to get to know Thailand, avoid Bangkok and the tourist areas... find a girl from a decent family... marry her... have children and let your wife raise them to respect traditional values... Try to live among Thais without going to pieces over the many aggravations and annoyances here.

After 20+ years you will probably have opinions that will be worth listening to.

Until then, live and learn.

so what your suggesting, some one who is say homosexual can never know Thailand then ?

Or someone who cant have children due to medical reasons cant know Thailand ?

your post sounds like I'm "Thaier than you" clap trap to me

[Crazy chef 1]

Ya.. Teaching will get you some insight. Certainly a big 'omg, what the heck is going on here??' And it is a bit like doing business because the kids are often customers, and not students.

sure because they paying for (passing) their degree...

[willyumiii]

If you want to get to know a place....

Find a forum like Thaivisa.

Ignore the top 25% of the posters who always complain and bash the place and it's native people.

Ignore the bottom 25% of posters who think they are natives, still have those rose colored glasses on and love absolutely everything about the place

The 50% still left in the middle should give you a pretty good idea of what the place is really like.

[DeaconJohn]

If you want to get to know Thailand, avoid Bangkok and the tourist areas... find a girl from a decent family... marry her... have children and let your wife raise them to respect traditional values... Try to live among Thais without going to pieces over the many aggravations and annoyances here.

After 20+ years you will probably have opinions that will be worth listening to.

Until then, live and learn.

so what your suggesting, some one who is say homosexual can never know Thailand then ?

Or someone who cant have children due to medical reasons cant know Thailand ?

your post sounds like I'm "Thaier than you" clap trap to me

Alternate lifestyles have valid lessons to teach. No question about that.

What I outlined in my post is what has worked very well for me and many other farangs whom I've known here over the years.

Perhaps your experience has been different than mine but no less interesting... certainly not claptrap.

[uptheos]

Yes. That, or teach a year.

The difference is, with teaching, you at least break even.

And many break down.

[HeijoshinCool]

If you want to get to know Thailand, avoid Bangkok and the tourist areas... find a girl from a decent family... marry her... have children and let your wife raise them to respect traditional values... Try to live among Thais without going to pieces over the many aggravations and annoyances here.

After 20+ years you will probably have opinions that will be worth listening to.

Until then, live and learn.

.

If it took you twenty plus years of living like this to have an opinion worth listening to then, no offense intended, but you must be a slow learner.

[chickenslegs]

1. Come here when you are young. 2. Come here for the right reasons 3. Work here. 4. Educate your kids here. 5. Use the hospitals. 6. Buy property here. 7. Run your own business. 8. Deal with the labour laws. 9. Exposure yourself to the legal system. 19. Travel extensively before settling on one place. 20. Learn the language. 21. Stand up for yourself. 22. Be polite.

Thanks for the advice, but it's a bit too late.

[ramrod45]

I don't believe you can ever really "know a place" without more defining of what you want to know. Every country has city vs. rural, poor vs. wealthy, etc. Many of us in Thailand are not here to get married, not here to "become Thai", and have no desire to live in a village. Do you want to know a place geographically? Are you a Foodie and need restaurants? Can you say (If you lived in the US) that living in Los Angeles would mean you "know" the US? (You won't).....Like anywhere, you settle in, wander around, find places to eat, entertain, some friends, and you live life. Some move on, some stay. Heck, even most of the Thai people don't "know a place" as they seem to rarely wander outside of home, work and/or school, or local shopping.

[Baa_Mango]

Avoid Bangkok? Why, thats is quite superfluous!

One would think that getting to know a place may be achieved through attempting to soak up culture through cuisine, language, as well as societal norms.

Prostrating the need to avoid certain places ("Avoid Bangkok, go to rural areas!") and to let someone else raise your children just smacks of ignorance and arrogance. Your closed minded approach surely won't work for many, but as long as you buy what you are selling, I am sure you will get great (although ignorant and sheltered) results.

One idea to really get some insight of a new place: be open minded.

[LarryBird]

I'm not really talking about 'experiencing Thailand' and getting the most from it. I am saying that if you want to understand why things are the way they are, how the people think, what's important to them, then the fastest way to do that is working here, and moreso, running a business. I am not saying the best way to enjoy yourself, cause that would involve stuffing as many birds as possible. Or the best way to keep your sanity.

[Baa_Mango]

so Birdman your quite the taxidermist? I got some fowl I want to ask you aboot

[chrisinth]

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I'm not really talking about 'experiencing Thailand' and getting the most from it. I am saying that if you want to understand why things are the way they are, how the people think, what's important to them, then the fastest way to do that is working here, and moreso, running a business. I am not saying the best way to enjoy yourself, cause that would involve stuffing as many birds as possible. Or the best way to keep your sanity.

I would disagree that running a business is the fastest way to understand an area. Running said business would focus your attention on what you wanted to see, not necessarily what is happening around you.

IMHO, it would also only give you an insight of one tier of the society that you are living in, regardless if it is city dwelling or rural. One huge mistake a lot of people make when moving to Thailand (or any other country that isn't native to them) is that they get into a clique of like minded people and end up trying to solve the world's problems while nursing a bottle of beer.

As soon as that becomes the norm, the rest of society doesn't matter. Study your social habits for a moment and ask yourself how many Thais are involved with your life here in Thailand, and probably more to the point, out of those you socialize with, how much do their points of view matter?

If you are truthful, it is a bit scary, eh?.........................

From someone that's been there.

[DeaconJohn]

If you want to get to know Thailand, avoid Bangkok and the tourist areas... find a girl from a decent family... marry her... have children and let your wife raise them to respect traditional values... Try to live among Thais without going to pieces over the many aggravations and annoyances here.

After 20+ years you will probably have opinions that will be worth listening to.

Until then, live and learn.

.

If it took you twenty plus years of living like this to have an opinion worth listening to then, no offense intended, but you must be a slow learner.

No offense taken. I am indeed rather a slow learner. I had opinions on the first day I arrived in Thailand... living here made me change most of them eventually.

Knowledge can be acquired quickly - wisdom and understanding come more slowly.