Drunk old men

[cumgranosalum]

When I was young, i enjoyed a wild night out......and for many years I equated alcohol with "good times".

It was only when I first came to Thailand over 20 years ago that I began to get bored with drinking. When I moved here for work about 12 years ago I began to see things more clearly

It is said drink lowers inhibitions - I disagree, it lowers your mental faculties and prevents you from connecting to that little bit of your brain that lets you know how others see you. That tenuous thread between you and reality.

With young people on holiday, this isn't such a bad thing - they go out, get drunk behave badly or bizarrely and wake up the next day and recover.

However in Thailand I met a new kind of drunk, one I hadn't really encountered before - the drunk old man.....not just the odd one but dozens, even hundreds of them, all blithely oblivious to what glaring fools they were making of themselves. Not only drunks but continually either drunk or “hungover” - which to them is a joke....they have no idea how it looks to those of us standing with our feet firmly in reality

Fondling young prostitutes in public - and thinking that is not risible - , attempting to dance and sing to ancient pop songs played by jaded Philippine crooners.

Singing - I use the term loosely - involves a combination of vibrato grunts and off key howls, but the dancing....oh that dancing - unable to flex their spines or any other part of their bodies rhythmically anymore, dancing is reduced to a screwed up red face and flailing arms in what the perpetrator considers to be in time with the music - evidently not the music that is being played though.

As the night wears on,  energy is sapped and the blood alcohol level rises, the subject sits down and then decides he is capable of an intelligent conversation - this usually involves giving absurd racist advice about Thai people and Thai culture or expounding naive right-wing political theories that would make even Adolf Hitler blush these “gems of wisdom” are then repeated ad nauseam as the speaker is unaware that he is being deliberately ignored............all this interspersed with the odd abusive comment and a bar-girl who is healthier, cleverer and a lot more thick-skinned than they are.

Then at some point it becomes time to go - this is usually marked by collapsing backward into a table of drinks, an argument over the bill and a few throw-away misogynistic comments about the "quality" of the sex workers that are available.

The finale is the walk home.....with a face like a depressed bloodhound a tremulous shuffle commences - a tropical variation of the “one step forward two step back”  only with less energy and aplomb.

I watched all this in dismay, and then to my further alarm found that many of these obese, quivering barrels of lard and vomit were in fact almost the same age as me, they apparently had no pride, no brain and no idea of what they looked like - I had no intention of joining them - something had to be done.

It was quite simple - I stopped drinking......that was 10 years ago and life couldn’t be better.

Next time you have a “really good night out” - try to get someone to take some photos and then say you don’t drink too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ClutchClark]

Excellent observations and great writing.

 

Thanks for this.

[chiang mai]

You're mixing with the wrong crowd, moving in the wrong circles, up your game.

[Agent Sumo]

An awful lot of older men here don't really have much else to do other than get hammered.

They think they're living the dream puffing away on an old boiler whose only saving grace is that she's 30 years younger than they are.

They stumble home with their rental and act surprised when, after they invariably fall asleep post-coitus, the girl makes off with their laptop, wallet or whatever.

 

Many feel they have to make up for youth lost either rotting in past marriages or working like dogs to retire somewhere nice but mostly, many do it because they're desperately sad and broken inside.

Never gonna end up like that, bro

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, Agent Sumo said:

An awful lot of older men here don't really have much else to do other than get hammered.

They think they're living the dream puffing away on an old boiler whose only saving grace is that she's 30 years younger than they are.

They stumble home with their rental and act surprised when, after they invariably fall asleep post-coitus, the girl makes off with their laptop, wallet or whatever.

 

Many feel they have to make up for youth lost either rotting in past marriages or working like dogs to retire somewhere nice but mostly, many do it because they're desperately sad and broken inside.

Never gonna end up like that, bro

 

As opposed to the younger men who have lots else to do but instead choose to get hammered to oblivion. They are living the dream, for the moment, puffing away on their future wife who is barely over 21 years of age. 

 

They stumble home with their rental/freebie and act surprised when, after several months they invariably are hooked and wind up moving to Thailand to marry - divorce and loss of all funds typically follows.

 

Many feel they have to make up for past rejections back home, an inadequate supply of nubile wenches where they live or rotting in past marriages/working like dogs to retire somewhere nice but mostly, many do it because they're desperately sad, broken, lacking direction, unemployable, broke inside.

 

You see how dangerous it is to generalize and attack older people, just for what you perceive their lifestyle to be!

[Agent Sumo]

1 minute ago, chiang mai said:

 

As opposed to the younger men who have lots else to do but instead choose to get hammered to oblivion. They are living the dream, for the moment, puffing away on their future wife who is barely over 21 years of age. 

 

They stumble home with their rental/freebie and act surprised when, after several months they invariably are hooked and wind up moving to Thailand to marry - divorce and loss of all funds typically follows.

 

Many feel they have to make up for past rejections back home, an inadequate supply of nubile wenches where they live or rotting in past marriages/working like dogs to retire somewhere nice but mostly, many do it because they're desperately sad, broken, lacking direction, unemployable, broke inside.

 

You see how dangerous it is to generalize and attack older people, just for what you perceive their lifestyle to be!

 

I don't see younger guys indulging in this type of behavior as often as I see the old boys do so. 

 

I go by what I see and what I've seen is lots of long-in-the-tooth berks trying to rediscover their youth and behaving like teenagers when their bodies can't handle the strain.

 

Walk past any beer bar in Lower Sukhumvit and the overwhelming majority of the sad, beer-sodden faces you'll see are those of senior citizens. Younger guys don't generally come here looking to get married - they get laid, they pay their money and they bounce. Admittedly, older guys - in general - do come here with much the same attitude but then decide they need someone to care for them in their dotage and invariably choose their caregiver unwisely.

[cumgranosalum]

41 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

You're mixing with the wrong crowd, moving in the wrong circles, up your game.

Read the post.....

[cumgranosalum]

16 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

As opposed to the younger men who have lots else to do but instead choose to get hammered to oblivion. They are living the dream, for the moment, puffing away on their future wife who is barely over 21 years of age. 

 

They stumble home with their rental/freebie and act surprised when, after several months they invariably are hooked and wind up moving to Thailand to marry - divorce and loss of all funds typically follows.

 

Many feel they have to make up for past rejections back home, an inadequate supply of nubile wenches where they live or rotting in past marriages/working like dogs to retire somewhere nice but mostly, many do it because they're desperately sad, broken, lacking direction, unemployable, broke inside.

 

You see how dangerous it is to generalize and attack older people, just for what you perceive their lifestyle to be!

you miss the point - young people can recover - for the old men of Pattaya, it's too late.

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, Agent Sumo said:

 

I don't see younger guys indulging in this type of behavior as often as I see the old boys do so. 

 

I go by what I see and what I've seen is lots of long-in-the-tooth berks trying to rediscover their youth and behaving like teenagers when their bodies can't handle the strain.

 

Walk past any beer bar in Lower Sukhumvit and the overwhelming majority of the sad, beer-sodden faces you'll see are those of senior citizens. Younger guys don't generally come here looking to get married - they get laid, they pay their money and they bounce. Admittedly, older guys - in general - do come here with much the same attitude but then decide they need someone to care for them in their dotage and invariably choose their caregiver unwisely.

 

I haven't been to Pattaya for at least eight years so I can't speak about the things you see on Lower Sukhumvit, but I don't see that the behaviour of the younger generations today is doing too much different from what you see, be it in Pattaya, Ibiza, Costa Del fish and chips or where ever, they are just at an earlier stage of the cycle.

 

 

[Agent Sumo]

Just now, chiang mai said:

 

I haven't been to Pattaya for at least eight years so I can't speak about the things you see on Lower Sukhumvit, but I don't see that the behaviour of the younger generations today is doing too much different from what you see, be it in Pattaya, Ibiza, Costa Del fish and chips or where ever, they are just at an earlier stage of the cycle.

 

 

 

But as the OP said, the young can recover.

 

A lot of old boys are ending up in hospitals with bills they can't pay

[chiang mai]

5 minutes ago, cumgranosalum said:

Read the post.....

 

I have, you see things I don't.

[cumgranosalum]

Just now, chiang mai said:

 

I haven't been to Pattaya for at least eight years so I can't speak about the things you see on Lower Sukhumvit, but I don't see that the behaviour of the younger generations today is doing too much different from what you see, be it in Pattaya, Ibiza, Costa Del fish and chips or where ever, they are just at an earlier stage of the cycle.

 

 

As said, drunk young people are a "bounce back" situation - there is nothing sadder than a drunk old man making his lonely way back home - totally unaware of what an image he portrays....and usually oblivious the next day too.

 

almost all of us have been drunk at some time or even many times, but it is knowing when to give up that requires critical thinking and a little self-knowledge..

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, Agent Sumo said:

 

But as the OP said, the young can recover.

 

A lot of old boys are ending up in hospitals with bills they can't pay

 

You think, you know, you assume, proof, statistics? The thread is nothing more than a veiled attempt to attack older people based on casual observation and misinterpretation.

[cumgranosalum]

Chiang Mai - you seem to be having difficulty getting the point of the post......i wonder why?

 

and "statistics"???? - that cliched response is usually reserved for those without an argument.

Edited August 28, 2016 by cumgranosalum

[cumgranosalum]

5 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

I have, you see things I don't.

QED!

[Scotwight]

10 minutes ago, cumgranosalum said:

you miss the point - young people can recover - for the old men of Pattaya, it's too late.

Try a Pattaya AA meeting.  I think you would be surprised at the old men in recovery and all the good they do for others. 

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, cumgranosalum said:

As said, drunk young people are a "bounce back" situation - there is nothing sadder than a drunk old man making his lonely way back home - totally unaware of what an image he portrays....and usually oblivious the next day too.

 

almost all of us have been drunk at some time or even many times, but it is knowing when to give up that requires critical thinking and a little self-knowledge..

 

So older people should be more aware of the way they appear to younger people at the end of the evening in order not to make them feel whatever it is they feel, sad  or whatever!  It seems to me that problem rests with the observer rather than any one else, doubtless you will tell all old people in the future if they are doing anything else that disagrees with you!

 

 

[chiang mai]

4 minutes ago, cumgranosalum said:

QED!

Au contraire! Seen versus imagined or perceived are very different things, a bit like having a survey to conclude nationally based on a sample of ten people.

[chiang mai]

8 minutes ago, cumgranosalum said:

Chiang Mai - you seem to be having difficulty getting the point of the post......i wonder why?

 

and "statistics"???? - that cliched response is usually reserved for those without an argument.

 

Asking for proof is a cliched response for those with no argument is it? Really? I mean really really?

[ClutchClark]

27 minutes ago, Agent Sumo said:

 

I don't see younger guys indulging in this type of behavior as often as I see the old boys do so. 

 

I go by what I see and what I've seen is lots of long-in-the-tooth berks trying to rediscover their youth and behaving like teenagers when their bodies can't handle the strain.

 

Walk past any beer bar in Lower Sukhumvit and the overwhelming majority of the sad, beer-sodden faces you'll see are those of senior citizens. Younger guys don't generally come here looking to get married - they get laid, they pay their money and they bounce. Admittedly, older guys - in general - do come here with much the same attitude but then decide they need someone to care for them in their dotage and invariably choose their caregiver unwisely.

 

Lower Suk at 0400 sitting at these little tables. 

 

The bars on Soi 4 at 1100. 

 

These are some very sad locations. 

[chiang mai]

Just now, ClutchClark said:

 

Lower Suk at 0400 sitting at these little tables. 

 

The bars on Soi 4 at 1100. 

 

These are some very sad locations. 

 

Exactly, why would a person be there/go there and is there any age restrictions in force, like, over 45 not allowed, or similar.

[Agent Sumo]

1 minute ago, chiang mai said:

 

Exactly, why would a person be there/go there and is there any age restrictions in force, like, over 45 not allowed, or similar.

 

Nope. I just happen to live close to that area and, believe me, it's mostly old men pissing it up. The younger guys are heading home from clubs like Sugar or Climax with a rental.

[ClutchClark]

6 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

Exactly, why would a person be there/go there and is there any age restrictions in force, like, over 45 not allowed, or similar.

 

We used to stay in the area when we would come thru BKK. 

I am an early riser and would get a coffee & eggs at Foodland. 

I made a quick beeline on the streetside of the kiosks and food stalls rather than "walk the line"  of hookers and drunks. 

 

I don't know any more about the rules of that area except you definitely want to wear a long sleeve shirt to avoid skin-on-skin contact as all the hustlers, ladyboys, touts, vendors, etc would grab your forearms as you would go by. 

 

Long sleeve shirts and walk the street side on the backside of the stalls.

 

and good luck getting the Foodland cook to not saturate the eggs in some kind of processed lard. The eggs in Thailand are wuite fresh but the way they deep fry them is a sin.

 

Cheers

Edited August 28, 2016 by ClutchClark

[ClutchClark]

6 minutes ago, Agent Sumo said:

 

Nope. I just happen to live close to that area and, believe me, it's mostly old men pissing it up. The younger guys are heading home from clubs like Sugar or Climax with a rental.

 

That sounds right.

[chiang mai]

1 minute ago, Agent Sumo said:

 

Nope. I just happen to live close to that area and, believe me, it's mostly old men pissing it up. The younger guys are heading home from clubs like Sugar or Climax with a rental.

 

So you and other younger people live in that area but you imbibe at a different location at a different hour from the older group, who presumably also lives in that area but doesn't fancy going clubbing, sounds like the same thing to me.

 

And if I think back to my days as a "player", in later years I used to make a conscious decision at the start of a night out, was this going to be a liquid venture or was company a priority, often the two don't mix or aren't desirable. Perhaps you should survey the group next time you see them and ask, "having a night off are we lads".

[ClutchClark]

17 minutes ago, MissAndry said:

Why do so many posters on this forum worry about what other people do?

Old guys getting drunk ......... why not?

White people not saying hello to other random white folk ........ up to them?

People on bikes wearing lycra ......... why shouldn't they?

Older men and young Thai women ......... if they're both happy with the arrangement, why shouldn't they?

 

Live and let live, I try and mind my own business.

So many complaints about what other people are doing, get a life of your own.

 

Ha !

 

I thought I was the only guy who noticed that.

 

Why do farangs always slink past a fellow farang with a look of guilt on their face?

 

maybe the OP can do a story on that subject soon  ;-)

[AlexRich]

Most of these guys were raised in areas where "having a good time" was acquainted with drinking. Some grow out of it, or get bored with it, and some other unfortunate people get hooked, and become alcoholics ... a recognised disease. I'm not entirely unsympathetic as they have just fallen into a societal trap that is difficult to get out of. 

 

At at my gym there are a number of guys in their late 60s and 70s who look after themselves and only seldom drink. Given the younger generation are less caught up in the "drinking culture" I guess the OP is describing the last of a dying breed.

 

 

[rogeroc]

I sort of agree with you Op and there are certainly some out and about in Chiang Mai as you describe. However look at the level of binge drinking (more of a youngsters pusuit) that exists for example in the UK. Binge drinking wasn't heard about when i first started visiting bars about 40 years ago.

 

In Chiang Mai the most unpleasant drunks i see (in terms of being rowdy, beng shirtless, swearing etc) are the young guys and girls walking to or coming out of the nighclub Spicy between 11.30 p.m and 01.30a.m. Nearly all of them seem to be completely wasted, they maybe recover quickly the next day but what about the next week the next month, the next years of their lives?

 

As MissAndry says why do we get so concerned about the way other people behave. In the past Year in CM i have only once had reason to feel the need to get away from an unpleasant drunk, He was nether young or old, definitely middle aged !

[Jip99]

57 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

 

You think, you know, you assume, proof, statistics? The thread is nothing more than a veiled attempt to attack older people based on casual observation and misinterpretation.

 

 

Unfortunately, there is an increasing trend on Thai Visa for this to happen.

 

Is it strange (may be it isn't) that 'younger' posters wish to savage their elders for pretty much doing what they are doing.

 

I don't think that as I reach my 60's I am becoming more sensitive - quite the opposite in fact, if anything I am becoming thicker skinned. I certainly don't envy the 'youngsters'. I have had my youth and it is now a pleasant memory - do I wish I was still 25 or 30 ? No way!  You can't turn the clock back, nor should you even try.

 

Occasionally, someone will ask "what was the best time of your life?".  I always answer that ,whilst I have some great memories of the 70's, 80's, 90's etc, the best time of my life is NOW. If you can't say that then perhaps you need to look at your life and make some changes.

 

Having completed my career, having been involved in businesses - some did well, some failed - I now find myself answerable to no one. I have relative financial security and tomorrow I can go where I want and do what I want. What will I do?  Probably cut the grass tomorrow and then go and see a friend for coffee. Relax in the afternoon, shuffle some papers and do some minor jobs and maybe take a nap. Early evening I might have a beer - I won't need to have a beer but I might just have one; if the first goes down well I might have 2 or 3 - if the missus joins me we might share 4 or 5. Most likely we won't; we are more likely to have a  couple of soda waters whilst having baked salmon and vegetables.

 

When I was younger I felt I HAD to drink. No way was I alcoholic but having a drink went the pressure (positive and negative) of the job and also that good old lure of socialising. Many a time a quick drink after work turned into a session. They were great times but as an earlier poster mentioned that level of drinking was part of the culture. Did everyone do it? No, but many, many did.

 

Now, I have a drink when I really want one. The calorie content is a major consideration for me so I invariably turn to the soda first and save the alcohol for the times you really want to have some out of positive choice rather than habit.

 

As for the 'sex' side of things goes I see no reason for false envy (or whatever motivation they have) from some youngsters. Yes, at 60 I am grateful to have the regular company of someone 20 years younger than me - something that would not be possible in my home country. Should I wish  to enjoy the variety that is available in this country I can head to Pattaya (or many other places) where a phone call to a 30 year old will yield even younger pleasures of the flesh.

 

To those 'youngsters' who deride those of us who are older, for enjoying these pleasures, I would just remind them that it will not be long before they are looking back as we 'oldies' are doing now and I recommend that they make the most of their lives NOW rather than wasting time looking at the lives of others.

 

 

[rogeroc]

It amazes me to that quite a few younger Posters seem to believe that they are ageless,  they are the 'old men' of the future. Will they behave any better, i doubt it !