SURVEY: How long have you lived in Thailand?

[yogi100]

I've been here 2 months, but have rented a house for a year.

Guess I don't fit in.

Why not you have committed.... it is slightly unusual for a single mid age lady to pick BKK to live, do you want to share why................or just tell me ..........NO..!!..........there's 29 ways to say it.

What part of the UK did you come from......?

I had a friend who come live here as he said there were to many foreigners in the UK.........I don't quite know what he expected to find over here.

Your UK friend may have been referring to gimmegrants.

If you can't pay for your keep and abide by the visa regulations you'll be given short shift in the LOS. As well it should be.

[Naam]

11½ extremely relaxing years as retiree. first visit to Thailand in 1973.

[worgeordie]

Sold up everything and retired here at 42,now 71,Thailand has been

very good to me,have a wonderful wife and smart daughter,living a

good life,bought my burial plot ,so wont be leaving.but hope i dont

need it for a while.

regards worgeordie

[yogi100]

I first went to Pattaya on a package holiday from the UK in 1984, it stretched from Royal Garden Plaza to about half way down Walking Street. The RGP was the Royal Garden Resort in those days and was where my pal and I stayed. Second Rd was little more than a dirt road, and all the bars were along the sea front. A Singha was 30bt and Kloster was 40bt, there were no other beers on sale. We got 32 baht to the £ so it was expensive back then. It was also the first time I got in an air con car and I remember water dripping on my feet from its A/C unit.

The road to Bangkok was 2 lanes wide and you hardly saw an undented vehicle and very few had rear lights, it was astonishing to see so many old and battered unroadworthy cars, lorries and motorcycles in use. Bangkok was a mass of corregated iron sheds and I do not remember any skyscrapers. It took a bit of believing that the iron and wooden sheds were the peoples' homes, We only found out when my pal's girl took us to her home and I remember how shocked and embarrassed we were on discovering that people lived in such filth and poverty.

The main road in Pattaya from Bangkok was Beach Rd and the side roads (sois) were empty of bars and restaurants. There was not much to Pattaya North of where the Royal Garden Plaza now stands. Walking St was open to traffic and was known as The Strip. We used to drink in the Best Friends BB complex and the open bars in front of the Pattaya Beer Garden which are still there now

Most of the Western tourists seem to be men who worked in the Far and Middle East in the oil and hotel trades. There was a lot more German influence in the town then and most of the fellows we met were German, Swiss and Austrian. One weekend the American Fleet pulled in and the girls went crazy putting their make up on to look their best. The Yankee sailors did not seem to have the restraints imposed upon them that they had later apart from the 'Shore Patrol' and when the Cobra Gold boys came to town. Perhaps some older Americans could comment on this. There were no such things as what we now refer to as the 'Benidorm Fusiliers' and all the tourists behaved in a civilised manner. I do not remember seeing any policemen and only two ladyboys.

The bars were just like they are now except every bar had a VCR showing the latest Hollywood movie. The barfines were 100 bt and the girls wanted between 300 and 500bt and they all stayed with you till the next day if you wished them to do so. My pal and I had a double room in the Royal Garden Resort and they charged us 300 baht to bring a girl back!

I spent the last 4 days with the most beautiful girl I'd ever met in my life, her name was Mai Lee but when I left I never kept in touch as traveling to the LOS was expensive then and it was not worth going for 2 weeks which was what most of us got in the way of a holiday. We never heard of any crime whatsoever and everyone was courteous and polite and we had tears in our eyes in the minibus back to Bangkok airport.

I did not go back until 1999 and I had become one of the middle aged/elderly male tourists chasing after younger women who we used to regard with disdain back in 1984. In 2001 I took early retirement and started spending more time there. In 2004 I decided to keep a hotel room on permanently and spend 7 months of the year in two or three stints in Pattaya. In spite of all the negative aspects associated with the place there is still nothing to touch it anywhere in the world. Many of my friends now live there and some are happily married but there are also a lot in their 50s and 60s who will never learn.

Two old sayings are very apt where Pattaya is concerned "A fool and his money are soon parted" and " There's no fool like an old fool".

It's astonishing how Pattaya has now become a city in such a short time, there cannot be another place on earth that has grown so quickly in such a short time. Inland from Second Rd was just countryside. But commercialisation has taken its toll and is reflected in the mercenary nature of the locals but it certainly beats the London of today that I bitterly still call home apart from our health service that we have paid for.

I've seen some very sad cases of old boys becoming ill and infirm in Pattaya and it scares you when you realise that the next one could be you and how merciless the medical services are. That's why I've never given up my home in London and moved out permanently. You don't hear much about these poor old chaps more or less confined to their beds and rotting away in hotel and guest house rooms. Meeting a few of them certainly brings you down to earth with a jolt.

[masuk]

I've been here 2 months, but have rented a house for a year.

Guess I don't fit in.

Why not you have committed.... it is slightly unusual for a single mid age lady to pick BKK to live, do you want to share why................or just tell me ..........NO..!!..........there's 29 ways to say it.

What part of the UK did you come from......?

I had a friend who come live here as he said there were to many foreigners in the UK.........I don't quite know what he expected to find over here.

Off topic,

From central London, I have a flat 200m from Kensington Palace. Only one of three Native English speakers in my 15 flat block. Your friend was correct, almost no English spoken around me in London.

Flat so small I can touch both walls at same time. Chiang Mai, I'm living in a bigger place (2 bed bungalow) for 70 gbp a month. (Vs 350,000gbp for my flat).

Don't socialize, so the same as back home, but warmer. I can stay in watch TV (via internet) and it makes a nice change.

Thank goodness we can get around 20 English speaking TV Channels and almost all from the UK.

[evilebxxx]

Since 1974.

[Brightonman]

Came first time around 1987 on a tour, visiting Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Kanchanaburi, and Pattaya as a single man. I was bored with going to Spain and Greece for holidays with my mates. Met a woman in Pattaya who said she wanted children, and 2 years later married her and took her back to UK. After ten years of marriage (and no children) I found out she already had 3 kids (not just the one she told me about, who came to live with us) and had been sterilised. We were divorced and I had to sell my house to give her half of everything I owned.

So I quit my job as a gas engineer, and went to university, studying English and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. After three years I moved to VIetnam and taught 1 year in Hanoi and 3 years in Ho Chi Minh City. After that I did my Masters in ELT at Sussex Uni in England before moving to Thailand in 2011.

I worked for a Thai university in Nakhon Pathom for a couple of years before moving to Bangkok and starting work with a language school, which I am still at. With my girlfriend I moved to a 5 bed house (B10,000 a month) in Lad Prao a year ago. We now have two dogs.

Still enjoying Thai life...

[Peterphuket]

Coming here for the first time in 1992, and living here continuously sinds 2000.

But have to mention, when you get older it is more difficult to stay because the climat, to hot f.t.t.t.

But back to Europe? Only wrapt in timber, I think so.

[MadMuhummad]

First visit in 2012 for me. Visiting 3-4 times a year for total of up to 3 months.

Now I'm minimum 50% Thailand @ a minimum with next year starting full time. I'm inly 38 so looking forward to the next 30+ years!

[phuketrichard]

First visit was 1975, moved over from HK in 1984, left in 97 for a year in the states and in 2008 for a year in Cambodia

outside that Phuket is home

[abrahamzvi]

Was first here in 1974 with a back pack - stayed a month - returned for business in 80s... been here full time about 15 years now...

enjoy it more and more every year, though I am not crazy about getting older each year...

Join the club. I feel exactly the same, also about getting older... I have been here in Thailand on a permanent basis since 2001 and still very much enjoying living here.

[seancbk]

10 years, its gotten a lot worse in every way

8 years for me and I think Bangkok is getting better.

More high quality bars and restaurants, more quality shops and best of all faster internet.

[remobb]

18 years now. Haven't been out since i got here. Still lots to see yet.

[KimSamui]

10 years retired here.I have found that the longer I live here the less I know about Thailand its people and its culture.,or so it seems.

Or want to

[elgordo38]

10 years +

years are boring, let's count Prime Ministers, I have 7 to date

How many coups??

[elgordo38]

I've been here 2 months, but have rented a house for a year.

Guess I don't fit in.

Come on Missy don't sell yourself short. You have done a lot of posting for being here only 2 months. Love the hat.

[elgordo38]

Came here straight after Viet Nam in April of 1969 and never left.

You are my hero. In 1966 I started what turned out to be the job of a lifetime. What a treat to get up and go to a job I loved for 30 years. It took a $50,000 goodbye carrot to get me leave.

[MockingJay]

25+ and have to state that I never felt more uncomfortable and on the edge here than over the past 2-3 years. I arrived in paradise and now live in a kind of "yeah, whatever" land... Sad, to say the least.

[tallthai]

Arrived December 7, 1965. Been here ever since.

Bob

[klauskunkel]

10 years +

years are boring, let's count Prime Ministers, I have 7 to date

How many coups??

2 coups and counting

[kbelyeu]

Five years two months.. which one do I pick because less than a year to 5 years isn't correct nor is 6 to 10 years.

[off road pat]

You should get to places around and discover Bangkok,...get lost in some sois and go further and further until you find a great looking place to eat or have a coffee....there are some incredibly beautiful places which are not in the tourist travel books... if you get lost there is always a taxi to get you back...this is what i love when in BKK,..I love to discover places like Chinatown,...the old quarters....Don't waist you're time in front of a TV..

best regards.

I have my little 'granny' bicycle with a basket on the front and cycle around the Thai markets, countryside, lakes and temples most mornings.

My local, coffee shop, lake and temple (Ba Pong).

13843555_10154363822138749_1904501576_o.jpg13835554_10154363822268749_1046550174_o.jpg13835848_10154363822258749_248140142_o.jpg

Off to the Philippines next month for a week (90 gbp out, 70gbp back CNX, KUL, MNL). Can't believe flights are so cheap.

Way to go,....yeah,...get around and see the beautiful places. Nice pics by the way......enjoy your trip to the Philippines.

Best regards.

[likewise]

came in 1996 at 24 - went back to Europe in 2000 to complete my offshore diving course - back to Thailand in 2001 up to now. Went back to Europe last month for first time since 2001 - was a pleasant surprise - stuff actually works there

Edited July 25, 2016 by likewise

[dageurreotype]

I've been here 2 months, but have rented a house for a year.

Guess I don't fit in.

Why not you have committed.... it is slightly unusual for a single mid age lady to pick BKK to live, do you want to share why................or just tell me ..........NO..!!..........there's 29 ways to say it.

What part of the UK did you come from......?

I had a friend who come live here as he said there were to many foreigners in the UK.........I don't quite know what he expected to find over here.

Off topic,

From central London, I have a flat 200m from Kensington Palace. Only one of three Native English speakers in my 15 flat block. Your friend was correct, almost no English spoken around me in London.

Flat so small I can touch both walls at same time. Chiang Mai, I'm living in a bigger place (2 bed bungalow) for 70 gbp a month. (Vs 350,000gbp for my flat).

Don't socialize, so the same as back home, but warmer. I can stay in watch TV (via internet) and it makes a nice change.

You should get to places around and discover Bangkok,...get lost in some sois and go further and further until you find a great looking place to eat or have a coffee....there are some incredibly beautiful places which are not in the tourist travel books... if you get lost there is always a taxi to get you back...this is what i love when in BKK,..I love to discover places like Chinatown,...the old quarters....Don't waist you're time in front of a TV..

best regards.

Yeah. All of that gets really really old after twenty years The envy I feel when a chum from the UK calls and mentions they're just off to a pub, or a theater, or a concert, or a stand up night ..

[Boksida]

10 years +

years are boring, let's count Prime Ministers, I have 7 to date

How many coups??

10 for me, including unsuccessful ones. The first one I remember was the Prime Minister having a coup against his own government. Struck me as unusual at the time.

[klauskunkel]

. The first one I remember was the Prime Minister having a coup against his own government. Struck me as unusual at the time.

A good dry humor deserves repeating!

[masuk]

. The first one I remember was the Prime Minister having a coup against his own government. Struck me as unusual at the time.

A good dry humor deserves repeating!

I had planned to move near to the ocean. Jom Tien seemed nice - until I went swimming there, and had to brush aside used rubber objects floating past me.

Got a skin infection which took weeks to clear up.

[Ace of Pop]

. The first one I remember was the Prime Minister having a coup against his own government. Struck me as unusual at the time.

A good dry humor deserves repeating!

I had planned to move near to the ocean. Jom Tien seemed nice - until I went swimming there, and had to brush aside used rubber objects floating past me.

Got a skin infection which took weeks to clear up.

Skin infection from Soi 6 perhaps.Not floating Protein Receptors.

[ozyjon]

My vote.

[bermondburithesecond]

The more you think you know a place, the more you realise how little you know.

Stayed twelve years, left four years ago, won't be back till retirement.

Thailand is a waste of a working life.