How many western man live in thailand and are happy

[georgemandm]

I was thinking how many man come and live in thailand full time .

I have been going and coming for 7 years and tried to live full time and can't handle it , I just like to go and go back home .

But I have friends in thailand who are trap after selling the lot back home and can't move out of the place.

so how many man live in thailand and are as happy as can be .

what is good things about the place that make you stay full time and the truth please 

 

[chiang mai]

It's my home and has been for twelve years. I like the location where I live, (I especially love the mountains) the people (I stay away from tourists and tourist areas) , the climate (most of the time) the lowered cost of living compared to my own country, the lack of bureaucratic and regulatory overhead and taxation and I like the fact that I can almost all the things I need easily. Yes, I am happy here.

[tonray]

 "I have been going and coming for 7 years and tried to live full time and can't handle it , I just like to go and go back home "

 

What can't you handle about it ? What are your activities while here ?

 

The men I have seen that cannot handle Thailand are the ones who never considered living any other way than the way they live in the west. They eat at western restaurants, shop at western styled malls and generally never integrate with the local society. If that is your idea of living in Thailand, then you have never actually been living here, only been a tourist passing through.

 

I am happy here. It is an easy place to live. Cheap rents, no credit checks, very few hassles outside of Immigration issues. 

[ezzra]

What is the definitions  of ' happy '? one man happiness is another so, so and a meah

kind of life, so in my view, as long as you have what it takes to live a quiet life, have

good family, good health, and few worthwhile friend and a means to support all the

above, you're good to go, anything above that, and you're putting your happiness

at risk....

[georgemandm]

43 minutes ago, tonray said:

 "I have been going and coming for 7 years and tried to live full time and can't handle it , I just like to go and go back home "

 

What can't you handle about it ? What are your activities while here ?

 

The men I have seen that cannot handle Thailand are the ones who never considered living any other way than the way they live in the west. They eat at western restaurants, shop at western styled malls and generally never integrate with the local society. If that is your idea of living in Thailand, then you have never actually been living here, only been a tourist passing through.

 

I am happy here. It is an easy place to live. Cheap rents, no credit checks, very few hassles outside of Immigration issues. 

I am very happy for you I am not having a go at thailand , ok just I can't handle it .

if you are happy good on you .

you have know idea what I do when I go to thailand and you are having a go at me you are so wrong.

one think you forget and lots of man do who live in thailand is if it was not for your western country you would not be in thailand to day .

You love thailand I like thailand but I can't live with the way things are done and you trying to tell me thailand is cheap now I think not I look at prices in thailand and my country and not much different and my thai partner tells me the same think .

[KittenKong]

44 minutes ago, tonray said:

 The men I have seen that cannot handle Thailand are the ones who never considered living any other way than the way they live in the west. They eat at western restaurants, shop at western styled malls and generally never integrate with the local society. If that is your idea of living in Thailand, then you have never actually been living here, only been a tourist passing through.

 

I dont quite see the advantage of integrating with local society as it and I have very little in common. I also dont see the disadvantage in just being a permanent tourist, if that is what not integrating means. Though that doesnt stop me from eating Thai food when I fancy it, it just stops me traipsing round hot crowded Thai markets looking at overpriced tat, or pushing my way through heaving crowds of people at the beach, or going everywhere in large noisy groups and chattering fifteen to the dozen like caged birds.

 

Not integrating and not living like a Thai dont stop me from being happy, in fact integrating and living like a Thai would make me very unhappy.

[robblok]

Lived here 10 years quite happy and no problems at all. I am not even considering moving back but if I wanted I could at any time do so. I think the secret is to learn a bit of Thai and to live near BKK (I think i would not be able to survive if i lived far from BKK). Also you need to have a good partner that can help you. (especially at first)

[tracker]

Live here for 17 years. And happy  

It's a mind-set. You can integrate and make yourself happy. If you do not want to set your mind in that mode, you won't be happy. You will see more negative aspects from here. Maybe start listing the negative aspects from "back home" can bring the change. It is all in will to change your mind.

[lopburi3]

Quote

I have friends in thailand who are trap after selling the lot back home and can't move out of the place

And they have told you this?  Or is this another of your assumptions to fit your feeling?  It seems you feel we are trapped somehow? 

 

There are many of us living here, and in almost every other country of the world, and doing so out of choice - don't assume we are forced into anything.

 

I first came here 47 years ago and have happily lived here for the last 24 years; and this has been by choice.

[georgemandm]

5 minutes ago, robblok said:

Lived here 10 years quite happy and no problems at all. I am not even considering moving back but if I wanted I could at any time do so. I think the secret is to learn a bit of Thai and to live near BKK (I think i would not be able to survive if i lived far from BKK). Also you need to have a good partner that can help you. (especially at first)

Good thanks for the reply, yes I would say you are right living in thai villages is not that good at all and because you live near BKK you can have the best of both worlds.

and yes the partner thing is the most important.

and I do talk thai very well now that was the first thing I said to my self 7 years ago  if I am going to try and live In thailand I have to talk thai .

[robblok]

1 minute ago, georgemandm said:

Good thanks for the reply, yes I would say you are right living in thai villages is not that good at all and because you live near BKK you can have the best of both worlds.

and yes the partner thing is the most important.

and I do talk thai very well now that was the first thing I said to my self 7 years ago  if I am going to try and live In thailand I have to talk thai .

Not saying that my Thai is perfect, i can manage but real in depth conversation has to be in English. But living close to BKK makes things (for me not everyone) a lot better. They recently opened a big Central near my home 7 minutes by motorbike (bit longer by car) and it really has enhanced my life (food choices, movies and other stuff). I got good internet here and a house that I like (no big villa just a simple townhouse). I can drive a car or a motorbike so that is good. 

 

What I hated at first was the total dependency on my partner because of my limited Thai. Now i can do a lot alone (can't read Thai) and I am quite happy. 

[kannot]

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

It's my home and has been for twelve years. I like the location where I live, (I especially love the mountains) the people (I stay away from tourists and tourist areas) , the climate (most of the time) the lowered cost of living compared to my own country, the lack of bureaucratic and regulatory overhead and taxation and I like the fact that I can almost all the things I need easily. Yes, I am happy here.

Its the same for me ( 10 years) except  Im not a people  person so stay away from the locals who only seem to want to  bitch and fight with each other, I live out in a big field with no neighbours within at least 100 metres and then only 1-2 and thats how I like it.

[robblok]

1 minute ago, kannot said:

Its the same for me ( 10 years) except  Im not a people  person so stay away from the locals who only seem to want to  bitch and fight with each other, I live out in a big field with no neighbours within at least 100 metres and then only 1-2 and thats how I like it.

To each his and her own.. I could not live like that (though sometimes having no neighbors is great). But try to get that near a city and I better rob a few banks 

[kannot]

1 hour ago, tonray said:

 "I have been going and coming for 7 years and tried to live full time and can't handle it , I just like to go and go back home "

 

What can't you handle about it ? What are your activities while here ?

 

The men I have seen that cannot handle Thailand are the ones who never considered living any other way than the way they live in the west. They eat at western restaurants, shop at western styled malls and generally never integrate with the local society. If that is your idea of living in Thailand, then you have never actually been living here, only been a tourist passing through.

 

I am happy here. It is an easy place to live. Cheap rents, no credit checks, very few hassles outside of Immigration issues. 

That depends on what you see as  inferior and I dont want to live in an inferior way, for me ie  sleeping on the floor, eating on the floor, no windows and   noisy neighbours, howling dogs, tin roof etc etc well, in the  village anyway.

[georgemandm]

3 minutes ago, robblok said:

Not saying that my Thai is perfect, i can manage but real in depth conversation has to be in English. But living close to BKK makes things (for me not everyone) a lot better. They recently opened a big Central near my home 7 minutes by motorbike (bit longer by car) and it really has enhanced my life (food choices, movies and other stuff). I got good internet here and a house that I like (no big villa just a simple townhouse). I can drive a car or a motorbike so that is good. 

 

What I hated at first was the total dependency on my partner because of my limited Thai. Now i can do a lot alone (can't read Thai) and I am quite happy. 

You seem very happy go on you I am happy for you .

and yes I was the same needed my ex thai to help me all the time I could not handle it .

very , very hard to read and write I have tried and have not had much luck.

thailand is ok but I am happy back in my own country and now we go to thailand for holidays to see her family and my western friends and I do not have a lot of them in thailand.

good to read happy story's like your one I see lots of unhappy man in thailand now when I go back that is why I put it out on T V .

[robblok]

5 minutes ago, georgemandm said:

You seem very happy go on you I am happy for you .

and yes I was the same needed my ex thai to help me all the time I could not handle it .

very , very hard to read and write I have tried and have not had much luck.

thailand is ok but I am happy back in my own country and now we go to thailand for holidays to see her family and my western friends and I do not have a lot of them in thailand.

good to read happy story's like your one I see lots of unhappy man in thailand now when I go back that is why I put it out on T V .

A lot also depends if you have sufficient income or a nice job. If that is not the case then its often easier back home. Because if you want to live like a westerner here it costs more as living like one back home. If I had no job id be spending a lot more money and bored too. 

[kannot]

9 minutes ago, robblok said:

To each his and her own.. I could not live like that (though sometimes having no neighbors is great). But try to get that near a city and I better rob a few banks 

Exactly what suits  me wont suit everyone and I dont like mixing with people anyway which some people seem to think is the end of the world and that you cant live in Thailand without  "becoming Thai", for me its no problem, spent  my life working alone and like it that way, I can be in Hua Hin in 30 minutes If i want to and the local Tesco is 10 minutes away for all I need

[isanbirder]

Those of us who are happy don't usually bother to talk about it.

 

Only the whiners and whingers bother to post.

[worgeordie]

I have been living here full time for nearly 30 years,and I am happy everyday,

cannot handle it,handle what,most likely gets bored very easily,but I never came

here to sit in a beer bar ,day and night.

 

Everyday have so much to do to keep me busy,also the weather here is a bonus,

used to get Sciatic nerve pain down my leg every winter,never had it once here, 

 

Some people cannot handle it and get home sick very easily,but this is now my

home,I have already bought my burial plot,so will never leave,just hope I dont

need it for quite awhile yet.

 

I have a really wonderful Thai wife and beautiful daughter,who graduated from

University with honours and can speak,read,and write several languages,

Thailand has been very good to me,and I am very happy here.

Regards Worgeordie

[Rancid]

I always noted that highly strung people were never content here while the easy going seemed to like it. The highly strung just got annoyed about too many things which then made them even more serious.

 

I can live here or at home, there's no right or wrong, just what works for you.

[tonray]

Why did the OP come to Thailand in the first place. if cost of living is the same in your country, and you 'can't handle it' what attracted you to live in a foreign land ?

 

And you never stated what about Thailand that you can't handle. More info would help the thread.

[georgemandm]

31 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

And they have told you this?  Or is this another of your assumptions to fit your feeling?  It seems you feel we are trapped somehow? 

 

There are many of us living here, and in almost every other country of the world, and doing so out of choice - don't assume we are forced into anything.

 

I first came here 47 years ago and have happily lived here for the last 24 years; and this has been by choice.

Are yes they have I would not say it if I was not told ok .

i have one friend now who lost $700,000 in 4 years in thailand now back here working to make money .

and not just one friend ok who are trap in Thailand because they sold the lot back home to live in thailand , for just one think the haire loso and yes I do it love the haire loso but I am one of the lucky ones who did not put my hole life's savings in to thailand.

always a smart one like you who have to have a go at someone for asking a question on TV .

i am happy for you that you love thailand ok I am just asking to see who like it and who don't.

[tonray]

3 minutes ago, georgemandm said:

Are yes they have I would not say it if I was not told ok .

i have one friend now who lost $700,000 in 4 years in thailand now back here working to make money .

and not just one friend ok who are trap in Thailand because they sold the lot back home to live in thailand , for just one think the haire loso and yes I do it love the haire loso but I am one of the lucky ones who did not put my hole life's savings in to thailand.

always a smart one like you who have to have a go at someone for asking a question on TV .

i am happy for you that you love thailand ok I am just asking to see who like it and who don't.

How did you friend lose $700,000 dollars ? in 4 years ? Details man details !

[happy Joe]

Of course, there is first the benefits that everyone knows: Easy access to sweet and loving young women, generally lower prices, the sun, the beauty of the landscape, the general elegance and easy solutions to all smaller hassles.

 

But most important to me is to appreciate the particular way people in any circumstance.

 

We are pragmatic and prefer the truth and effectiveness. They are philosophers and think first of harmony and well being emotional. The meeting can be a source of misunderstanding as seen by reading the grumpy instituted in this forum. But it can also bring a unique life happiness appreciating these differences.

 

Personally I have never been happier than in this country, and even if I were to lose the advantages mentioned above, I would stay. 

[joeyg]

44 minutes ago, georgemandm said:

I am very happy for you I am not having a go at thailand , ok just I can't handle it .

if you are happy good on you .

you have know idea what I do when I go to thailand and you are having a go at me you are so wrong.

one think you forget and lots of man do who live in thailand is if it was not for your western country you would not be in thailand to day .

You love thailand I like thailand but I can't live with the way things are done and you trying to tell me thailand is cheap now I think not I look at prices in thailand and my country and not much different and my thai partner tells me the same think .

Just out of curiosity, where are you from.  I retired here from the USA at 62 about 2.5 years ago after a successful career. Been coming here since 1971, former US military.  Was married to a Thai from Samut Sakon for 8 years. So I know Thai family.  Lived in BKK for a year, Samut Prakan, nice but BKK was to crazy and polluted for me.

 

I eat like a Thai only I'm vegetarian, Jay. In the morning I have a knock out smoothie with a base of Chia, flax, black sesame seeds plus mung sprouts, fruit of the day and Dok An Chan tea or green tea thrown in.  That will often get me through most of the day.  Small snack or light dinner before 5:00.

 

Regular exercise and lots of sex and swimming.  Very little drinking and I like wandering through the outside markets in Bang Lamung and Pattaya.  Love people watching and avoid Farangs as much as possible.  Speak very little Thai but enough to get around and focus on learning slang as much as possible.  I like Thai people and Thai mindset.  And they know it when they see it, most times.

 

Oh yeah happiness comes from the inside.  You can't manufacture, or fake it.  Sure we're effected by out environment, especially if it's horrible.  Again where are you happy?

 

I like smiling at the locals, not like a fool but when I see there frown and scowling face. Remember Buddha's first teaching, "Life is Suffering." Second teaching, "There is a way out of suffering."  I like when, maybe 80% smile back.  It reminds me of  "the old" days in Thailand when it really was "The Land of Smiles."  I been trying to live according to Buddhist principles since 1974.  I'm not very good at it but I keep trying.

 

Remember the smile shines through the eyes from the heart reflected by the mind.  The same place happiness comes from.  It's hard to fake, unless you're a psychopath/sociopath, drunk, delusional or just plain crazy.  There's "a few" of those around.   

 

Really most importantly I find it's important to avoid interacting with Farangs as much as possible.  I don't know if it's something temporary that happens to them when they're here on holiday.  Or what the phenomenon is.  I'm much more happy around Thai people.  "Wherever ya go there, there ya are."

 

Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.^[1] Happy mental states may also reflect judgements by a person about their overall well-being.^[2] A variety of biological, psychological, economic, religious andphilosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including positive psychology and happiness economics are employing the scientific method to research questions about what "happiness" is, and how it might be attained.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness

[HooHaa]

There can only be one true answer to the OP's well thought-out question.

 

And that answer is:

 

6.

[Bung]

There are 15.

[CharlieH]

There are those that have "options" to stay or leave, they prefer to stay and are quite happy, because if they are not they can leave.

There are those that have no options, sold everything and went "all in" and tell themselves they are happy because they have no option.

There are those that went "all in"  and are glad they did.

 

Each has there own version of "happy", one mans fruit is another's poison etc.

 

Choose wisely grasshopper, and its always good to have "options".

[dick dasterdly]

1 hour ago, isanbirder said:

Those of us who are happy don't usually bother to talk about it.

 

Only the whiners and whingers bother to post.

I shouldn't be responding on this thread as I'm not a Western male.  But my (limited) experience is that those who make the most effort to tell everyone how happy they are - are the ones in trouble, and far from happy.

[MissAndry]

3 hours ago, tonray said:

The men I have seen that cannot handle Thailand are the ones who never considered living any other way than the way they live in the west. They eat at western restaurants, shop at western styled malls and generally never integrate with the local society. If that is your idea of living in Thailand, then you have never actually been living here, only been a tourist passing through.

 

I cook all my own western food at home. No need to eat in western restaurants or go to shopping malls. But I didn't eat at restaurants or shop in malls in London either.

My life is essentially the same, but warmer, dryer and cheaper. Why would I want to live like a Thai? I'm happy to be English and live like an English person.

Edited August 14, 2016 by MissAndry