Why Thailand?

[mesterm]

Why Thailand over other Southeast Asian countries?

Cambodia: Cheaper, in some ways nicer, but Thailand's infrastructure is better (the capital city Bangkok has a subway, monorail, metered taxis for the most part, many malls and supermarkets where you can still get your own foodstuff at reasonable prices).

Vietnam: Same as above.

Myanmar: Same as above, but nicer? Not sure.

Laos: Definitely not nicer.

Philippines: Pretty good drinking culture here and most people can speak some English, but crime rate (with guns too) is one of the highest in the region. So yeah your call.

Malaysia: Conservative Muslim majority. Less booze, bars, more fundamentalism, all that jazz.

Brunei: Even more conservative than Malaysia. Also expensive (currency value equal to Singapore).

Singapore: Too expensive. Not much to do after one week cause it's an island after all. Especially boring because it's quite expensive to drink.

Indonesia: Another majority Muslim country that is leaning further into dogmatism like Malaysia. You can't even buy alcohol at 7-11s anymore. Nice place (outside of Jakarta) and nice people though.

East Timor: What?

[torpedo1970]

28 posts?

[mesterm]

28 posts?

url.jpg

Has it ever occurred to you that not everyone feels the need to post on the forum all the time? I'm not sure about OP but for me, this is a new account.

Edited February 25, 2016 by mesterm

[1FinickyOne]

I would say briefly, for most it is a wonderful place to retire, though being open minded helps.

As for a place to make a living when younger - I think it is likely a good bit tougher than working hard in your own country. Better to save your money and come for vacations.

As to liking and not liking it - to each his own.

[ggt]

Thailand is the premiere destination for sex in the world...whatever your fantasy or fancy...Thailand will have someone accommodate you for a fair price...

As a tourist it is pretty awesome...enjoy and take home some unforgettable memories...

As a retiree...for me the hassles are not worth it...the daily grind of traffic, scams, and corruption...

And no...the door did not hit me in the butt on my way out...thank you...

Much happier and more comfortable elsewhere...

[sawadee1947]

how about the young people who have their whole life ahead of them with limited resources

I'm not quite sure if you are talking about yourself? If so, it's right to ask. Of course it is cheap to live in Thailand comparing to EU. And you can enjoy a higher standard of living.

Having said that please look into the future. You are working here as a teacher and will be paid about 50 Tsd Baht/monthly. Hardly pay rise. (rent 15 Tsd, food 10 Tsd, maitenance car, house, clothes insurances15 Tsd). Not much left.

Your collegues in EU will earn min 3 Tsd net, health ins is paid, pension is safe. You can buy a house, a car aso. No problem. (I'm talking about HighSchoolTeacher main subjects)

So on the long run there is no real choice and no option. As long you HAVE to work (up to 65) it's essential to stay in EU. After getting retired things can change.

[SoiBiker]

I know teachers that earn a lot more than that.

[steven100]

Why Thailand .......

sex & piss !!!!!!!!! everyday bang

[kannot]

I personally believe that majority of those complaints are true specially issues to do with visas.

If you qualify for, for example, a marriage or retirement extension of stay, you don't need to worry about visas.

If you don't qualify for some form of long-term stay immigration status, then you are attempting to game the fairly liberal system by using tourist visas, ed visas or visa exempt entries. The difficulty such people experience is not the fault of immigrations, but rather a case of people trying to sneak in using the back door.

Many people choose to live here because, generally, life here is cheaper than it is, for example, in the US and less dreary than in places like the UK. While it can be cheaper here, scraping by with the absolute minimum income, even less than the easy extension requirements of Baht 65,000 per month for a retirement extension or Baht 40,000 per month for a marriage extension, means that you are essentially an economic refugee like those flooding into Europe from N. Africa or crossing into the US across the Mexican border.

Economic refugees, regardless of their race/skin color tend to be desperate and unhappy. Rather than accepting responsibility for their circumstances, they blame the host nation for not welcoming them with open arms. If you can afford life in Thailand, things can be quite nice. If you can't afford a minimal lifestyle in Thailand then you should probably stay at home and exploit the welfare system there.

Except for ONE big difference......Thailand does not hand out any financial benefit...................get to the UK as a migrant and you can get quite a lot of benefits financially

[SoiBiker]

Why Thailand .......

sex & piss !!!!!!!!! everyday bang

Thank you, Professor Chomsky.

[mesterm]

I know teachers that earn a lot more than that.

Not most of them though. Most foreign teachers who teach "English" (and that makes up the bulk of them) earn much less than 50k a month.

[bazza40]

Why Thailand? For an Aussie, places such as Mexico and Spain are too far away if you want to go back periodically.

I worked as a consultant in South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, the USA and Thailand. The USA? Medical costs insane. Ditto general cost of living. South Africa? More dangerous than Thailand, believe it or not. Most white South Africans live in gated communities.

Indonesia is cheap, but very corrupt. If one is renting, it's usually one year's rent up front. No thank you. Malaysia, higher cost of living and Muslim temples blasting one out of bed at 4 o'clock in the morning with their loudspeakers.

So, Thailand. Phillippines, don't know, maybe too hot. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam? Possibly if I tire of Thailand.

[bazza40]

Why Thailand .......

sex & piss !!!!!!!!! everyday bang

Thank you, Professor Chomsky.

I would have thought Bertrand Russell to be a more relevant reference.

[HikeFromLA]

To be hones after more than 12 years I would like to go somewhere else.

Main reasons:

- Affordable and decent education for our 2 kids, we pay now about 100,000 Baht per year each at a private bi-lingual school, it's not good and getting worse

- I'm getting annoyed by the caste society and the spastic social behavior that it brings with it in so many aspects of daily life

- Increasing disrespect for foreigners

- Enormous increase of crime

- Political and economical developments

As a newbie in TH I am certainly in no position to quibble with your points, which in my limited experience seem valid.

Only adding that maybe it's the worst place, except for all the others.

[derwplat]

I don’t quite agree there

[quandow]

I was one of the wingers - I had lived in Thailand 9 years, tired of the baloney, yadda yadda yadda. Then I moved to Mexico.

I fly back in to Thailand 02 March, have my old apartment secured, my old job teaching again . . . Thailand may not be perfect but it's the best game in town.

[CoreanoOzzie]

pretty naive question

should be pretty obvious why thailand is full of single males young and old. have you ever been to bangkok, pattaya or anywhere else in thailand? what did you see there as a major draw?

And you're obviously one of the folks here who are stealing Asian women from Asian men....and thinking with what's inside of your pants first.

[CoreanoOzzie]

To be hones after more than 12 years I would like to go somewhere else.

Main reasons:

- Affordable and decent education for our 2 kids, we pay now about 100,000 Baht per year each at a private bi-lingual school, it's not good and getting worse

- I'm getting annoyed by the caste society and the spastic social behavior that it brings with it in so many aspects of daily life

- Increasing disrespect for foreigners

- Enormous increase of crime

- Political and economical developments

You nailed it. Seriously. Disrespect of foreigners is in fact making me sick by the days. I am here because I don't have another choice and my gf is very kind and takes good care of me. Some people may like this place because they have never gone to another or other countries. One teaches students who don't have the least zeal to learn. One works with people who change like chameleons. Today your colleague smiles with you, the next day it is a different thing. It is very disheartening staying here for me.

Increasing disrespect is totally warranted given the utter disrespect foreigners give Thais, Thai customs and Thailand in general. Look at the antics that tourists and immigrants get up to in Thailand. Heck, you can ever start here by looking at the bile on TVF and Bangkok Post. Do you think things happen for no reason? No way Jose.

Edited February 26, 2016 by CoreanoOzzie

[CoreanoOzzie]

The ONLY reason I stay in Thailand is my Wife works here earning good money, if she didnt Id be outta here in a flash.I dont like the Thai people much id say 1 in 10 is decent the rest are pretty awful, I do like the fact I can grow almost anything as I like plants but really thats it.

Thailand needs a real good kick up the ^rse in my opinion

Good riddance to bad rubbish, I hope your type immediately vacate the country, you lot are oxygen thieves and a disgrace to other foreigners here.

[UTH001]

The ONLY reason I stay in Thailand is my Wife works here earning good money, if she didnt Id be outta here in a flash.I dont like the Thai people much id say 1 in 10 is decent the rest are pretty awful, I do like the fact I can grow almost anything as I like plants but really thats it.

Thailand needs a real good kick up the ^rse in my opinion

Good riddance to bad rubbish, I hope your type immediately vacate the country, you lot are oxygen thieves and a disgrace to other foreigners here.

And it is always the same: If one does not jump for joy and scream at the top of one's voice I LOVE THAILAND, I LOVE EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING IS PERFECT AND WONDERFUL, THAIS ARE THE SWEETEST PEOPLE ON EARTH, some moron will come up with the usual 'leave the country if you don't like it' kind of crap...

[SoiBiker]

The ONLY reason I stay in Thailand is my Wife works here earning good money, if she didnt Id be outta here in a flash.I dont like the Thai people much id say 1 in 10 is decent the rest are pretty awful, I do like the fact I can grow almost anything as I like plants but really thats it.

Thailand needs a real good kick up the ^rse in my opinion

Good riddance to bad rubbish, I hope your type immediately vacate the country, you lot are oxygen thieves and a disgrace to other foreigners here.

And it is always the same: If one does not jump for joy and scream at the top of one's voice I LOVE THAILAND, I LOVE EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING IS PERFECT AND WONDERFUL, THAIS ARE THE SWEETEST PEOPLE ON EARTH, some moron will come up with the usual 'leave the country if you don't like it' kind of crap...

That's because those of us who chose to come here and remain of our own free will struggle to understand the plight of you poor souls trapped in a country you dislike.

[Phatbeets]

Because every time I go visit a neighbor country and than comeback Im happy to back in Thailand

[mrfaroukh]

Thailand have some set of laws regarding visa but unfortunately people misuse the laws and lop holes and when it i known to the government and they try to stop the lop holes everyone cry.

For example Ed visa is for the people who would like to study or learn language, but when people just pay some money, do not attend any classes and just get the visa and God knows what else they do. So when army become more serious about this then people cry.

Some come as tourist but would like to work illegally , so they start the visa run. When it is stopped they cry.

The list goes on and on. I live here for the past 6 years, never had any trouble with getting the visa. Never spend more than couple of hours in total for obtaining my visa and re entry visa.

If you really want to know how hard is to get a visa. I advise you to marry a Thai lady and then try to get her visa to the UK. You will be shock how difficult it is to get a visa and if you do not have a record of your relation with lady for the past many years you will almost not get the visa.

[Nowisee]

It's difficult to get things done most places. It requires putting in effort, money, following basic rules and patients.. I probably left some things out.

Issues with visas are self inflicted. Come here legally and it's not that difficult to obtain those and extensions. Last year was a CF at immigration, but this year not so bad... a total of 4 hours, most of those spent waiting. In perspective, 4 hours of my life in 365 days, pretty sure nothing to complain, although I have to admit I did and I would like to go on record as retracting my previous complaints regarding that.

You have no promising career, that alone is reason to ask yourself is it worth it. If you're referring to yourself in the "how about the young people who have their whole life ahead of them with limited resources, then you first need to unfook your life situation, get a handle on that and then learn how to navigate this and other places.

Go try Dubai.

I'd like to try Eastern Europe (but the refugee thing has me wondering) and I'd give Vietnam a shot. I liked the people in Laos.
Thailand is relatively easy to live in and has a pretty decent infrastructure and a few other aspects to it that I like and prefer for now.

Edited February 29, 2016 by Nowisee

[bazza40]

Because it's a lot better overall than the rest of the countries in South-East Asia. Better infrastructure, and still unspoiled in many areas.

It's a paradox people complain about the corruption, bureaucracy and traffic mayhem. Yet they left their squeaky-clean countries of origin partly because they felt stifled. So if Thailand resolved all the above problems, they would then be complaining Thailand is too regimented. And more expensive. Be careful what you wish for.

Based on what I have seen and heard on TV and elsewhere, one has to behave like a complete d###head in Thailand to get into trouble here. If you were a law-abiding citizen in your home country, odds are very good nothing adverse will happen here. I'm excluding stuff such as the raid on the Pattaya Bridge Club, as that was obviously a brain fart by someone who is now in CYA mode.