Makes you think...

[Randy Cornhole]

Do any of you ever wonder about just who we are and how we ended up where we are now?

I look at the names on this forum and think to myself, what are the chances of these people meeting under any other circumstances. Myself, Buksida, Guess, Steve G, The understudy, Caller, Wanderlust, JD, Dawn, the list go's on and on...

I could never have imagined when my careers teacher at school asked me -
'Mr Wilson just what do you want to do when you leave school?'
'Well sir I want to live in a far away land, drink far too much, smoke and live under an assumed porn name'
I think he would have had me medically examined for a serious brain disorder...

What a strange bunch we all are (myself excluded of course) all from different walks of life, different ages, different problems, goals and beliefs. And yet here we all are talking about life here in the 'Land Of Smiles'

I have to say its very nice to know all of you, and Long may I continue to do so...

[richard]

Great post Randy

Yes I've thought about and it's happened to me

Bumped into someone (a poster)(no not a post!) the other day and we started chatting and as one does when the years have passed bye we started to reminisce (sp) Found out we were from the same locality and being of the same age had frequented the same bars, cafes and funfairs.

Shivers down the spine touch. 50 years on and I've met someone who I must have bumped into years ago and here we are after so many years 6000 miles away chatting

Guess it's to be more expected as the world shrinks

If I'd met anybody 50 years ago who said he was heading for Thailand I'd have labeled him as a cranky explorer or missionary

[bozzman101]

yes great post
when i was a kid watching yul brinner in the king and i
thinking what a strange place los is
even the re make wasnt too bad
then to end up here and living here !!
also being in the over 50s club having my kids visit me out here and see the gleam of excitment in their eyes having a fun time here for a few short weeks they also wishing they could live here too
a nice thought to have your teenagers living here too but reality bites couldn afford to keep them here couldnt keep up with them ....lol

[Guess]

I have thought about this too but I have lived in many places so it applies to all of them. Situations have always dictated where I live, including here.

When I left school they gave no career advice whatsoever. That was the responsibility of the parents. I do remember that I only was interested in work that involved travel. Anyway I went on the further education so it became irrelevant.

I saw Thailand in a different light. The King and I was a musical (I think) so I could not take it seriously. My parents had a view of Thailand as they had been in what was then Malaya in the early fifties.

The other view I got was from friends who were not in career type employment and were doing the Morocco, Egypt, India and Thailand trips on a regular basis. The ones that spent time in Thailand almost all ended up as drug addicts. I know at least three who died in their early twenties.

Later I came back out to Kuala Lumpur and worked for nearly six years for a company based in Singapore. I then got another view of Thailand from the Malaysians. The general opinion was that is was a crime ridden country full of prostitution, drugs and criminal gangs where corruption was rife. This was an opinion share between Malays, Indians and Chinese. The land border in those days resembled the Berlin Wall. I remember Malaysian gunships patrolling the stretch of water between Langkawi and the Thai coast.

So what does all this mean.

It means that I had to come and see for myself. That and the fact it seemed to offer the best standard of living for the price made it the place to go for me as soon as I was freed up from my UK commitments.

[HHTel]

When I first came here in 1965 and had my very first massage (never to be forgotten), I would never have thought that I'd finish up living here and marry a girl who was born the following year (1966). She was born in Bangkok, and after we met, I was dreading meeting her mother. The worst scenario would have been meeting an old friend. Fortunately, after meeting the mother, unless I had been very very drunk, there was no way on earth that I'd met her before. It did cross my mind briefly that I may be marrying my daughter!!!

The changes since 'Old Siam' are unbelievable.

The first time my wife saw 'The King and I', she laughed and asked why Chulalungkorn's dad (Yul Brynner) was wearing Indian clothes.

Hollywood!!! What a joke.

[kendo]

Nice post Randy we are about the same distance from Surin, next time i am back there if you want to have a beer and put the world right it would be a pleasure.

[Spitfire]

Yeah, good post Randy,

It's strange how much we all are a strange bunch, but it's also strange how many things we have in common.

I know know we are not all the same, or in the same situation, but it all transends to an equal plain, maybe we are all looking for something different, small world, glad to meet you and all the others.

If it weren't for like-minded people, then it would be a darker place.

[MrPlum]

Do any of you ever wonder about just who we are and how we ended up where we are now?

I have the greatest respect and utmost sympathy for anyone living off the reservation. Respect, because it takes courage to cut the umbilical cord. Sympathy, since they are usually misfits, wounded by circumstance and unable to settle for the conventional life. Isn't it both a blessing and a curse?

If there is a novel in every person, I'd say there's at least two in the seen-too-much-of-the-world, Hua Hin types.

Wouldn't want to be anywhere else.