Why Thailand???

[richard]

"WHY ARE WE HERE!..??" (Taken from a scene with Mel Gibson in the film 'Air America').
Why do I stay here?? Well (like many forum members) I'm kinda established here now, and it does become a case of 'Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't'.. well that's my excuse.
Yes many people DO get married here, have ties etc, so to move-on the where the grass is/seems greener would maybe not be so easy now.
Another option which many ex-pats who've been here for many years have opted for is to move to a new area of Thailand..still got the family around you, still speak Thai, but now live in a very different area and lifestyle to Hua Hin...for example Chaing Mai..? Bang Saphan? Khon Kaen?
Yes, I'm one of the biggest offenders when it comes to moaning and groaning about this country, but much of it is just p***-taking.. 5-5!
Yes, living here is getting more expensive year-by-year, but if you forsake lunch at the 'Bistro' and opt for Som-Tam, plus a cold Thai beer at a plastic-tabled, roadside place and savour the mellowness of simply being here, then life here's not-so-bad after-all.

[sargeant]

I came here in 1983 and on the 14 Feb 1983 married a Thai girl i met in Germany (a stripper )
I joined British Airways in Feb 1986 and used my staff travel concessions vigorously until dec 1997 when aged 50 i retired to come to live here permanently
In that time my house in London was filled almost entirely with Thais, students and girls married to Brits

I came here because i thought i knew most of how Thailand Ticked
Crap i did not even get it right with my own Thai wife, wild horses and furious buffalo would NOT drag her here
I quickly realised I knew jack crap maybe 5% if i was lucky
A new wife and lots of questions queries and more analising than you could throw a stick at plus 15 years here 365 and i still think i only know 40% at most
Crap I even got it wrong with my second Thai wife (gambling )
I have lived on a miserly pension for 15 years and watched it drop in value by almost 50% from 93Bt to the £ to 49Bt to the £ and had to listen to the woes of those that have lost 30% from the 72bt per£ when they came here
On this forum i am considered stupid and dont know anything
They are obviously correct after all, all i needed to do was wait until 2004 and all the knowledge about Thailand was granted with a visa at the airport they who arrived then were granted supreme experience and inteligence way above mine
However I am still here and I am staying here i love Thailand and the Thai people with all their faults

edit to add
By the way my miserly stipend will increase by 50% in january next year when i recieve my state old age pension back to 1983 levels:D

[Homer]

I STILL haven't seen a major factor that attracts expats to LOS. Is it climate first, a semi-democratic monarchy, physical beauty, cost of living etc. OR...?

I expect most people (sexpats excepted) select a country for their retirement because of a combination of factors. I have one that didn't become apparent until I was here for about a year. It's the same reason I heard from level-headed American* expats who had tried a variety of countries before settling in Thailand. It is one short sentence that summarizes many factors. I won't try to explain it because I don't think one will 'get it' until one has tried living in other countries before coming here: Thailand is easy.

*Americans because we watch USD vs THB, not GBP vs THB.

[sargeant]

Homer like it I like it yut/mack mack

However being a multi international as wot I are
i take the US$-Thai Baht rate then multiply it by the GBP£- US$ rate it just makes me feel better at 1.56$ to ONE singular lonely £ sterling
because i do it that way i have seen the $ drop just as much as the quid
and in 1998 when i came here it was over 50 Bt to the $
and that makes me feel akin as in cousins/special relationship know wot i mean
Just a few facts and my brit sense of humour

edited to clarify
My unique sense of humour

[Dannie Boy]

Sarge, just to pick up on one of your earlier comments, you mentioned that you will soon qualify for your state pension, but at 1983 levels. Are you seriously saying that they will only pay you the rate that applied back in 83 (let's say £25 a week) or is that because you stopped paying NI contributions back in 83? I have always assumed that providing you have paid sufficient years of NI contributions (I believe the number is currently 30 years), you would receive the current pension, but if you are living outside the EU and a few other specific countries (but not Thailand), your pension is frozen and no annual increases.

[lomuamart]

I can remember the 90+THB to the GBP as well, but it was only there for a matter of a few days, surely?
Once the THB floated, which it did pretty quickly afterwards, it stabilised at 65-70 for years. When I look at how my income has declined over the years, I never take it from the high of 90+ but 65 which I think is more representative.
Anyway,I didn't come here to get rich or anything. Had a girlfriend at the time. Couldn't even get her a tourist visa in those days (and I took the matter to the Home Office through my MP). Was jarred off with the UK and work so jacked it in at just before 40 years old, opened a bar up here for the first 2.5 years, sold it and have bummed around for the past 11.5 years.
It hasn't always been easy, but I'd rather be here than back home even if the money would have been better if I'd continued working.

[sargeant]

By the way my miserly stipend will increase by 50% in january next year when i recieve my state old age pension back to 1983 levels:D

Dannie Boy that refers to how many baht i will get each month returning to what i got in 1998 when i came here 1983 was a mistype

Yes i have 30 years in and will get £107.45 per week paid every 4 weeks it works out at about 5500bt a month ish

However because i live 365 in Thailand i wont recieve any subsequent increases as it stands right now

My new wife saves 30kbt each month and so with another 25kbt we hope to start building our dream house on sticks sometime next year

I agree Lomu it was only for a few days before it settled at 72 then 65 but i cashed all my £50s on that day so i go by that it makes me feel better to know i have made it through

and you are also correct being here because you want to be here is the only real reason to be here at all

[sargeant]

Yes i have 30 years in and will get £107.45 per week paid every 4 weeks it works out at about 5500bt a month ish

my brain is waterlogged today it should be 27,500bt a month

[MajorBloodnok]

G'day mates!

In my (our) case - quite simple! -

1) LOWER COST OF LIVING

In spite of a weak Euro and a long-term rise in the cost of living in Thailand
it"s still much less expensive to live here, if only for the absence of a massive
heating fuel bill!

2) The CLIMATE

I love the sun and sunshine, and even when it's not shining, the heat & warmth permeate every
fibre of my body, making me feel real good mentally and physically.
I am sure I can eventually discontinue my antidepressant medication.
Those long winter nights in Europe used to get me down!
Going to work in the dark in the morning, coming home from work in the dark in the evening!

3) The FRIENDLY THAIS!

4) LIVING IN A TRADITION-CONSCIOUS MONARCHY!

I can only echo Sargeant's: GRATEFUL TO BE LIVING IN WONDERFUL THAILAND!

"Mike the Fritz"

P.S. I almost forgot:
5) Being able to make friends with a couple of decent chaps on this forum!

[PeteC]

I agree with all the above, except the climate. Yes I love it here, but there will come times in the future Mike when you and all of us creatures born to four seasons begin to miss just that. I was itching last Christmas to jump on a plane with the family and head for Japan or Korea, or anywhere with snow. Anyway, let us know in about 3 years how you feel about the climate here and if you indeed begin to miss the colder climes. Pete

[Spitfire]

Yes, agree there MajorBN, and also that it is just slightly a bit too hot by maybe a 5 degrees range perhaps but nothing to get flustered about.

As for why Thailand, then one reason would be to look around at all the other previously popular places to live in the sun and quite a few of them are no longer the paradise they once were. Many have got too dangerous or suffer from political or religious conflict problems to the point it's no longer tenable for westerners to go for long term residence.

Europe, well, we all know the problems in places like Spain, Greece and other sunny destinations there. Africa, Middle-East and South America are either too dangerous or getting so, Mexico forget it (nobody is too keen to go to Tijuana much now).

When you look at it objectively compared to most other places, Thailand has it all for expats despite some shortcomings/misgivings (that are well documented) but so do most places have them too.

It not the deal it once was here but it still has it 'hands-down' on most other places, especially these days. Sadly, this is probably why so many criminals come to LOS too as they aren't up for most of these other places either these days.

There are other possibilities like Costa Rica etc but they are nothing on the diversity of Thailand with what's on offer.

[PeteC]

Yeah SF, but you can jump over to Khao Yai quickly, smell the cool, crisp air filled with nature's best etc. It does work for us too, especially when we're all wearing sweaters at 16C., and sitting around an open fire.

When we've done it though I always feel like I'm on a cattle drive rather than a Christmas retreat. Pete

[MajorBloodnok]

Prcscct,

actually my wife used to suggest that for exactly that reason

some day we might feel like going to Korea or Japan in the winter!

And she is a native of the Philippines, but has lived in Germany for

37 years.

So I am not gloing to answer: 'Never!"

When I was young, I used to have fun in the snow, even marchingeveryone! on/through it
as a soldier, but hardly with my prosthesis and two crutches!

Good night everyone!

"Mike the Fritz"

I agree with all the above, except the climate. Yes I love it here, but there will come times in the future Mike when you and all of us creatures born to four seasons begin to miss just that. I was itching last Christmas to jump on a plane with the family and head for Japan or Korea, or anywhere with snow. Anyway, let us know in about 3 years how you feel about the climate here and if you indeed begin to miss the colder climes. Pete

[TingTongJohn]

I find it funny because alot of us complain me included but still we live and go. Its like the old military saying. If everyone is grumbling then then must be doing something right. And its time to worry when no one is muttering about how bad it is.