What is the biggest mistake you have made in Thailand?

[steven100]

Lending the brother-in-law 500,000 Baht.

did you get any back ?

[NumbNut]

I can say quite truthfully the mistakes I've made in Thailand are insignificant when compared to the ones I've made outside it.

Amen to that! Could not have put it better bazza

[Khunangkaro]

Riding a bike from Samoeng to Pai thinking it was a shortcut.

About fifteen years ago that was my memorable very nice ride on an enduro.

[MrY]

Flew from Hong Kong over Thailand to Sri Lanka once. Didn't land in Thailand.

Buying a new car. Should have bought an already banged up second hand one.

Bought my "dream car" in Thailand and had it fixed up. Would have been cheaper to buy it back home and fly back once a month to drive it for a weekend. Still I kept it...

[Deli]

Having come back in 2009 and still here. Now it's too late too leave.

[neal david]

Spent ten years with the wrong woman.

nick ....agree with you on that one , i spent 15 years with the wrong one ......

as for what was my biggest mistake ...that has to be getting of the <deleted> plane ..... should have stayed at hearthrow ..... ....would have saved me millions ....

[Stupooey]

First night ever in Thailand after 6 months near celibacy/sobriety in India/Nepal. Songkran on KSR. Cindy. There was more to Cindy than met the eye. I found out the hard way.

[how241]

Spent ten years with the wrong woman.

+1...Lots of wasted time that can never be done.

[williamgeorgeallen]

giving a western guy a job in my business, he had a fight with another employee and called immigration down to my club. all up it cost 75k in fines and bribes. second biggest mistake was buying property in Thailand. better to rent.

[Stevemercer]

Lending the brother-in-law 500,000 Baht.

did you get any back ?

Naah...He swore blue/blind he would have it back to me within a month. That was 18 months ago.

[JohnOFphon]

Quitting my well paying job at 55 and moving here. The boss that was giving such grief, quit 6 months after I left.

[AhFarangJa]

Forgetting to put the toilet paper in the fridge after eating Issan food .

[off road pat]

Saying goodbye to a particular Thai Lady, which was, in hind-sight, and as became clear later, a total cultural misunderstanding of a fresh face farang in Thailand.who knew nothing and expected people and particularly the women to be just like the West, and they are not, for all the right reasons.

The Grass-hopper learned, moved on to meet my current wife, but that one lady will always be fondly remembered.

Been there.

I think most of us have had same experience.

Yep,....good memory's dough,...!!!

[akentryan]

Had a live-in girl friend that smoked ganja and gambled all her money away every day with smarter ladies in the apartment building. Told her if it happened one more time I would pack up her belongings and put them outside the door. It happened the next day and I boxed up her things and put them outside the door. I got a late night knock on the door, opened it and was stabbed 3 times in the abdomen with a butcher knife. The smarter ladies had loaned her the knife. A few days in the hospital while they stitched a cut liver, etc. Should have boxed up my things and moved out. Didn't file a police report and never heard from her again - thank heavens. Dumb and dumber with me in the last category.

[nithisa78]

Opening a business.

Maybe you have mentioned this before on a different thread, but do you care to go into a little more detail why this was a bad idea.

To summarize it in one word ? STAFF

Staff is only a reflection of management.

[off road pat]

My biggest mistake was not coming to Thailand sooner...

I'm in heaven....

For me this was not a mistake but a regret,...That I did not come sooner.

I'm in heaven too,....

Regards.

[off road pat]

Had a live-in girl friend that smoked ganja and gambled all her money away every day with smarter ladies in the apartment building. Told her if it happened one more time I would pack up her belongings and put them outside the door. It happened the next day and I boxed up her things and put them outside the door. I got a late night knock on the door, opened it and was stabbed 3 times in the abdomen with a butcher knife. The smarter ladies had loaned her the knife. A few days in the hospital while they stitched a cut liver, etc. Should have boxed up my things and moved out. Didn't file a police report and never heard from her again - thank heavens. Dumb and dumber with me in the last category.

Very interesting story,

Lucky for you, you still can tell the story and warn other people....THX.

Best Regards,..

[off road pat]

This is a edited extract from one of my previous posts,

The second time I came backpacking to Asia, some 27/28 years ago I fell deeply in love with a really nice girl in Chiang Mai.....and I taught, this is the one. The one I am going to stay with for ever......she was not like all the others, she was different.

It happened that I had a multiple country air ticket with Philippine airlines 6 months validity,Thailand, Indonesia , Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand again,....at this time. Throe a good friend in a travel agency in Europe I could get a great deal on flights, I had to pay for the furthest destination (Europe-Indonesia) and got two free stops, every additional stop was only approximatively a 1000 thb extra....

My mistake was !!!,....I fell in love on the first stretch of my travel, in Chiang Mai.....so I still had to go to all the other country's..... witch I was a bit reluctant to....but it was such a good deal, so I decided to continued my trip. My girlfriend companied with me to Bangkok and we separated with great regret in the airport,......the way she cried made me feel so much in love. My exotic girlfriend,......!

My next country was the Philippines, where I met gorgeous exotic girls again, and so easy to get, but I was so in love with my Exotic Thai girl that I did not have a taste. Oreiginally I had planned to stay one month in every country so I travelled only 14 days in the Philippines in stead. Next stop, Indonesia ? the same I met great looking girls and in Jokjakarta and Bali....and despite it was a Muslim country some were so easy to get, but I did nothing, I had no feeling to cheat on my girlfriend. Instead of one month Indonesia I stayed 14 days. Next stop, Vietnam, you guest it, same same, so much in love with my Thai girl ! that I never wanted to cheat her,.....despite all the gorgeously beautiful girls that were willing to stay with me,.....to make a long story a bit shorter.....I came back to Thailand after cutting short all my trips,....and when I got back to Chiang Mai to see the love of my life !!! she was with another guy !!!.....and she told me she met him on the train that got her back to Chiang Mai just after we left each other in tears in Bangkok....

Its just a story happening to me some 27/28 years ago, needless to say, I learned a great lesson there. I was young and I took it as a lesson, as it had great Influence in my further life. I learned from it in different levels.

The next years I had the same deal with Philippine airlines and I did all this countries again for a few consecutive years every 6 months for some ten years. I had Girlfriends in all those countries, short time and long time ones. Until Philippine international Airlines got bankrupted, not due to my travels, but the man in charge of Philippine Airlines was a playboy and was more on golf courses than taking care of business.....I still fell in love hundreds of times after that but it was one of the best lessons that really counted in my further life...a great character builder...

I married the right woman some 15 /16 years later but I had the experience to know it was the right one.... and I met my Thai wife by accident without looking for it.....And now I am the happiest man on earth. !

Best regards.

Edited September 5, 2015 by off road pat

[dotpoom]

1) trusting a white man.

2) trusting thai visa forum to warn me about the white man.

Renting my house to a "white man" about 9 years ago. Renting another house to a "white man" about 6 months ago.

[off road pat]

Going to Koh Samui.

Koh Samui was the best place on earth some 30/20 years ago,....had the times of my life there.

But everything started to go wrong when mass tourism found out !!!!

Got downhill very fast some 15 years ago.......to bad....!

Best regards.

[overherebc]

Buying my first bike from an expat that I'd worked with for years then learning there was no book plates were false etc etc.

Don't know where he is now but I hope it's shitty.

[Thaidream]

Taking too many Thai girls on shopping visits to Bangkok department stores-I mean they called me a Hansum Man- one reason I gave up hard liquor- another- I can't afford it any more!

[enufsaid]

Eating seafood in thailand ? You must be joking. And lending money , never unless you can afford to do without it. Mistakes for me, not looking at the bloody footpaths in Bangkok .

[ozyjon]

What is the biggest mistake or thing that you have learned not to do in Thailand.

Sorry people, it still leaves a sour taste in my throat just thinking about it,

Building a house in Issan, it's been written about since the dawn of time

and i was well aware of everything, so i allocated about 1million baht

and promised when the money ended so did i, low and behold the money

stretched right to the end right when everything was about 99% finished

then one night the ex tells me ''tomorrow you go'' which i did.

The anger i felt was that i had searched for somewhere to ''lay my hat''

and i was really happy there and it was taken away from me, the money,

the bricks and mortar means nothing to me, the fact that i'm turned into

a wandering nomad makes me sad again, so off i go and when a girl talks

to me now i analise every word and try really hard to understand her

hidden meanings, would i ever do it again, NO.

[little mary sunshine]

Buying this Freaken condo....For sale one year

Now, unless you want to"Give it away" you can't

Sell. Now You rent them for 7.5-9K per month,

On a year lease....should hand kept my money

Invested.

[northernphil]

Saying on TV " I met a girl in Pattaya who loves me and wants me to buy a bar for her so next time I come here I will have somewhere to stay , am I doing the right thing ? " Sooo many rude replies.

[Friendly Stranger]

Going to Koh Samui.

Koh Samui was the best place on earth some 30/20 years ago,....had the times of my life there.

But everything started to go wrong when mass tourism found out !!!!

Got downhill very fast some 15 years ago.......to bad....!

Best regards.

How coincidental that the movie "The Beach" came out about that time.

[off road pat]

Going to Koh Samui.

Koh Samui was the best place on earth some 30/20 years ago,....had the times of my life there.

But everything started to go wrong when mass tourism found out !!!!

Got downhill very fast some 15 years ago.......to bad....!

Best regards.

How coincidental that the movie "The Beach" came out about that time.

Yes,....That movie was a reason.....the same thing happened in Chiang Mai after a funny Chinese movie (Lost In Thailand) had a enormous success in China....

Successful movies and the tourism it brings are a scourge to people who love the authenticity of some places.... it is called Progress......?!?!?!

Best regards.

[farangmick]

My biggest mistake was also my best.

My son wasnt planned and to my eternal shame the first thing I thought of when my wife was sat on the toilet with a stick in her hand was abortion.

Im so glad we didnt 'cos my boy is a blessing. Truly.

Exactly this word for word, my son is the light of my life now.

Same here. Eldest son planned (by the wife, even though I told her I was too old). No.2 son, well apparently you can get pregnant even if you do it standing up in the shower,(I went to an all boys school before they did sex ed)! Never regretted it for a minute. No chance of a no.3 though, now I would need someone to hold me up in the shower.

[farangmick]

Building a house which looked lovely when new, with lots of angles, unlike the rectangular boxes I lived in in England. If I could do it again, it would be a big rectangle, with a big overhang covering terraces on all sides, like the Aussies I know from N. Queensland. And would be either one mill cheaper, or much bigger for the same price. And no leaking roof.