Expats of the 1st Category

[Jaime]

Thats an interesting comment and almost cries out for a definition on "communal" if possible, as I guess this will mean different things to different people?

Well it is the way I have interpreted SuperTonic's use of the word collectivism. Maybe we should define that too, along with individualistic, doctrine, religion, etc. etc.?

Phew - way to deep!

With respect to them both, I am sure that it would certainly be way too deep for either my dad or my wife and yet they both display the same 'positive' outlook on life, despite being of different faiths and from different continents. Maybe it's just because they don't worry about searching for something that isn't there. They certainly have no hang-ups about their own traditions.

As well as being way too deep, this is now also way off topic - apologies!

[caller]

Maybe it's just because they don't worry about searching for something that isn't there.

My last word as well - alas, thats not the way the zealots act but is in line with, I would guess, what the majority think, who just want to get on with their lives?

[sargeant]

my first post makes me a complete sprog/rookie
9 years in hua hin and married to 2 thai wives over 20 years may help
I came here to get married to a thai girl i loved it here and worked and saved determined to come back and retire here
Problem one first thai wife could not be budged from england with dynamite
lesson learned i aint taking the new one any where near to the uk

the question is what does wife 1 see in england which makes her an A1 expat in london which i just cant even imagine let alone understand
and me an A! expat in thailand that wild horses wont drag me back

my answer is expectations and previous life experiences and everybody is different and going in different directions we come here and dont want to be budged they go there and cannot be budged
funny old world ainit

[dane48]

My father came from a very insular rural background in Spain. My wife comes from a similar background in Thailand. They have an incredibly similar outlook on life, on notions like responsibility, self percieved social status, ambition and, importantly, family bonds.

In fact, in terms of life experiences and attitude, they both have far more in common with each other than with me!

One is a Christian (Catholic) and the other a Buddhist (Theravada). Both know as much as the other about the detailed doctrine or philosophy (call it what you will - it is merely a question of semantics) of their own faiths. i.e. very little - as village folk they are simply following inherited dogma and ritual (surprise - Thai Buddhism has both as well!) as far as practice of their faith is concerned.

Seems to me that focussing on religion, rather than social conditions, as the key ingredient into why certain societies are more 'communal' than others is a complete red herring.

It has been a very interesting tread, and for me the above is the very essence of it all - the world today is changing so rapidly that we tend to forget the old virtues on which any social community is build. It makes us restless and in search for something different (all religions try to make us believe it's them?) - like the scandinavian ex-pat there wanted to escape the finalcial ratrace there is predominant here - or short Capitalism/Liberalism.

The bad thing is that even Thailand will one day also reach that state of purified Capitalism as in Europe (Hopefully not the next 30 years or so )

Well, there is always the weather

[STEVE G]

Dane48 wrote:
- the world today is changing so rapidly that we tend to forget the old virtues on which any social community is build.

Dane, this is one of the reasons I always like to spend some time up in Issan in a rural community. Things are changing at a much slower pace up there and you can still experience an old style of living, it is a pleasently relaxed atmosphere. (in our villiage anyway, I appreciate that is not every ones views of staying in the NE.)