MockingJay
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Posts posted by MockingJay
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Beer made in Thailand by locals is rubbish! Belgium and Germany rule, when it comes to beer making. Thus, whenever I can afford, I opt for German or Belgium beers. There are some micro breweries around, one here in Jungceylon, which serve tasty home brews as well. All of them have foreign partners (professional brewers) involved. Never order a pizza in a Chinese restaurant
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This poll is useless - the "all of the above" is missing (most likely the majority of clicks).
What pisses me off living here is that we (the "Farangs") are and always will be 2nd class citizens with no, or very limited, rights but a huge pile of responsibilities. As long as we have money to spend, we are welcome, as soon as we run into problems, it's "good bye!" Given the actual social and economic developments in this country, I fear that things will not become better for us but worse, far worse. Forget new foreign investors, Thailand, you managed to either scare them all off or estrange them to such an extend so they would turn away in utter disgust!!!
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I read between the lines that this sinister incident must have been very traumatizing for you, hence my advise to you is to seek professional medical help before this unbelievable tragedy will mutate into chronic illness, or worse - post dramatic stress disorder.
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I live on Phuket and don't see it."One can see the rolled down window and the erected middle finger more often these days, I see road fights, drivers cutting each other off on purpose, arguments that get out of hand and a decrease in general friendliness. To me it seems, that the old land of smiles that I knew, is quickly fading."
I've only been here 15 years and
Never have seen a rolled down window with the erected middle finger;
Never have seen road fights;
Have seen one or two drivers cut each off purposefully BUT far less than I've seen in the West;
Never have seen arguments that get out of hand
Not saying it doesn't happen........Guess I live in a different Thailand than you do
A few years of living at or close to Phuket will teach you a different lesson. Maybe you are living somewhere in Udon-Ruralistan where everyone still rides on buffalos or bicycles...
Good for you then, Stevenl, good for you!
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"One can see the rolled down window and the erected middle finger more often these days, I see road fights, drivers cutting each other off on purpose, arguments that get out of hand and a decrease in general friendliness. To me it seems, that the old land of smiles that I knew, is quickly fading."
I've only been here 15 years and
Never have seen a rolled down window with the erected middle finger;
Never have seen road fights;
Have seen one or two drivers cut each off purposefully BUT far less than I've seen in the West;
Never have seen arguments that get out of hand
Not saying it doesn't happen........Guess I live in a different Thailand than you do
A few years of living at or close to Phuket will teach you a different lesson. Maybe you are living somewhere in Udon-Ruralistan where everyone still rides on buffalos or bicycles...
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Due to the latest Hua Hin incident and my own findings, I am interested to see what other TV members feel in regards to a possible increase of violence in Thailand.
I live here for over two decades and am under the impression that the Thai people in general are more prone to violence and that the treshold where Thais lose their temper and get violent (especially on today's roads) is sinking lower and lower by the year.
One can see the rolled down window and the erected middle finger more often these days, I see road fights, drivers cutting each other off on purpose, arguments that get out of hand and a decrease in general friendliness. To me it seems, that the old land of smiles that I knew, is quickly fading.
I find it rather frightening and it worries me a lot. Since I have a family (Thai/foreign) here, I wonder what future my children will have in a country, where local people can kill or harm foreigners and are always getting away with it, while the rules and regulations aimed against foreigners and foreign investors alike are tightened by the week...
What is your opinion on this one? -
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I would be back on track within 7 days or so with a proper running business and frequent stream of income. I am a selfmade man since '91 and never have been an employer ever since. Being an employee and living on a stash of cash without doing something is for losers. Full stop!
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Usually, the answer I always get (living in southern TH) is, "Have in the Bangkok!"
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Sorry for having to break this to you, but Obama is involved in this somehow... It was a US black op! They dropped billions of those earwigs here to confuse the expat population in LOS in a frantic attempt to drive them back into their homelands, so they'd finally could stop boozing and messing about with Thai girls and do something useful, like joining the army, or the marines, and doing drone strikes and stuff...
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O.P. - well spotted!
What I can say to add my 2 cents is that most of the dinosaurs, (like me) who made it through the 90s in LOS, and were able to set up a business and work themselves up to a certain standard, are still around. We all mostly will stay since most of us have house, wife, job/business, kids, etc. and basically are (and have the backing to support that) comfortably numb... Plus have we lost the "connection" to our native homeland... We would simply not fit in anymore...
But let's be honest - LOS is not the fun place it was used to be. As (talking to people who started here in the 90s) if all those coups, violently extinguished student protests, civil unrest and bombings in the south, the carnage(s) Thaksin was responsible for, the tsunami, the following yellow vs red disasters, airport seizure, civil war alike scenes in bkk, flood disaster in bkk, shut down bangkok idiocracy, and on and on goes the list...
As if all this was not enough to destroy the common westerners illusion of "paradise of smiles", we got overfishing, destruction of reefs by fishing fleets, speedboats, and jet skies, we got lazy and greedy park rangers, trashing Thais, murdering island mafiosi, murdering taxi drivers, in broad daylight tourist executing policemen, gang shootings, unexplained tourist "suicides" by the thousands, 2nd worldwide in traffic accidents per capita, a whole generation of useless drug-addicted Thai youngsters, jet ski scams, pickpockets wherever you go, sun bed and sun umbrella ban on beaches, destruction of highly profitable beach club areas, a corrupt and highly inefficient legal system, a corrupt police force in limbo, inefficient, corrupt and lazy officials wherever you look, an education system that never was good but now turns worse with native English teachers being driven out like in a witch hunt... oh man, where should I stop??? This could fill a book!
As if all the aforementioned points wouldn't be enough to destroy that illusion, we got more for you: Crackdowns on part foreign owned businesses whenever a Thai tourist related company screws up, crackdowns on visas, crackdown on foreigners in general, or (what we also had recently) police and/or army simply checking and padding down any tourist they might run into at a local 7Eleven, ever changing laws and/or regulations all purely focused on making the life of a foreigner living and working here as difficult as possible, the general anti foreign attitude many locals still reflect in their behavior, the selfcenteredness of the Thai people with their "we are the greatest, we were never occupied, never colonized, (never civilized?), nobody can beat us, nobody can tell us what to do!" attitude, etc. along with all those scams and ripoffs in private Thai/foreign partnerships that we all know just too well...
Man, if all of that is not enough to destroy your illusion of the "paradise of smiles" you either are a complete nutter, a LOS dinosaur (feeding on all those sweet memories of the long gone good times), or both...
I believe I am the latter as much too often I am asking myself "what the fffork am I doing here?"... I believe many of the oldtimers here will share my sentiment...
Yea, I wonder the same thing, why the fffork are you here?"
You have taken all the negatives about Thailand and collated them into one big heap. You could do that with any country. If that`s how you feel that Thailand has only negatives to offer and nothing good going for it, then why the fffork are you here?" The same goes for anyone else that feels the same way you do.
I am not sure that I can agree with your summary of what MockingJay has observed during his time here.
I can't see how you can conflate the changes he has seen during his stay, with 'heaped up negatives about Thailand'.
If all the changes he has experienced are of a negative nature, then surely that indicates that these changes are pushing Thailand in the wrong direction.
Make a list of all the positives of Thailand that have occurred since the 90s and I would say there would be not much of a comparison.
This observation is based on changes. Collate all the plus and minus points, and I know which side the scales will tip.
I concur that I have also had spells where I think what the hell am I doing here, I am sure the vast majority of people reading this have also asked themselves the same question at least a handful of times. It is no validation of a reason to jump on a plane and get the hell out of dodge, and even more unreasonable an action if you have a house, car, wife, family in situ.
For all of Thailand's woes, I look across the world daily through the media and view a Europe changing far faster than Thailand and in extremely negative ways, in fact a real civil war could break out there, as all the signs are showing. So I ask myself 'what the hell am I doing here' and then I realise that compared to what is happening in my own region, I am blessed to be here.
Well written, Brewster, thank you!
Indeed there are very few positives to list. The way I see it, negatives increase by the month, while the positives disappear slowly, almost unrecognizable. The one negative that blew the lid for me was the need for any foreigner, tourist or expat to register within 24 hours with immigration upon arrival at any destination here, even if you move from one district to the next just for a short vacation.
I wish this new rule would have resulted in mass cancellations, travel warnings and international uproar proposing sanctions against Thailand, to stop these idiots from destroying the last bit of freedom in this country. But nothing happened.
The only feasible reason I can come up with (despite the fact that my kids were born here and technically are Thai) is that in my home country it is not any better at the moment, since all immigration laws suddenly seem to be overruled by an erratic, most likely insane politician called Merkel, pumping 1.2 million illegals into the country in 2015 alone (2.5m is my wild guess for 2016).
I'd be a foreigner and 2nd class citizen in my own country, thus, I may as well remain here... :-(
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Doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in this topic - unsurprisingly.
I think this is mainly, because there's a similar discussion going on here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/890918-less-farang-living-in-los/
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O.P. - well spotted!
What I can say to add my 2 cents is that most of the dinosaurs, (like me) who made it through the 90s in LOS, and were able to set up a business and work themselves up to a certain standard, are still around. We all mostly will stay since most of us have house, wife, job/business, kids, etc. and basically are (and have the backing to support that) comfortably numb... Plus have we lost the "connection" to our native homeland... We would simply not fit in anymore...
But let's be honest - LOS is not the fun place it was used to be. As (talking to people who started here in the 90s) if all those coups, violently extinguished student protests, civil unrest and bombings in the south, the carnage(s) Thaksin was responsible for, the tsunami, the following yellow vs red disasters, airport seizure, civil war alike scenes in bkk, flood disaster in bkk, shut down bangkok idiocracy, and on and on goes the list...
As if all this was not enough to destroy the common westerners illusion of "paradise of smiles", we got overfishing, destruction of reefs by fishing fleets, speedboats, and jet skies, we got lazy and greedy park rangers, trashing Thais, murdering island mafiosi, murdering taxi drivers, in broad daylight tourist executing policemen, gang shootings, unexplained tourist "suicides" by the thousands, 2nd worldwide in traffic accidents per capita, a whole generation of useless drug-addicted Thai youngsters, jet ski scams, pickpockets wherever you go, sun bed and sun umbrella ban on beaches, destruction of highly profitable beach club areas, a corrupt and highly inefficient legal system, a corrupt police force in limbo, inefficient, corrupt and lazy officials wherever you look, an education system that never was good but now turns worse with native English teachers being driven out like in a witch hunt... oh man, where should I stop??? This could fill a book!
As if all the aforementioned points wouldn't be enough to destroy that illusion, we got more for you: Crackdowns on part foreign owned businesses whenever a Thai tourist related company screws up, crackdowns on visas, crackdown on foreigners in general, or (what we also had recently) police and/or army simply checking and padding down any tourist they might run into at a local 7Eleven, ever changing laws and/or regulations all purely focused on making the life of a foreigner living and working here as difficult as possible, the general anti foreign attitude many locals still reflect in their behavior, the selfcenteredness of the Thai people with their "we are the greatest, we were never occupied, never colonized, (never civilized?), nobody can beat us, nobody can tell us what to do!" attitude, etc. along with all those scams and ripoffs in private Thai/foreign partnerships that we all know just too well...
Man, if all of that is not enough to destroy your illusion of the "paradise of smiles" you either are a complete nutter, a LOS dinosaur (feeding on all those sweet memories of the long gone good times), or both...
I believe I am the latter as much too often I am asking myself "what the fffork am I doing here?"... I believe many of the oldtimers here will share my sentiment...
Yea, I wonder the same thing, why the fffork are you here?"
You have taken all the negatives about Thailand and collated them into one big heap. You could do that with any country. If that`s how you feel that Thailand has only negatives to offer and nothing good going for it, then why the fffork are you here?" The same goes for anyone else that feels the same way you do.
He's here because he has been here for a long time and has built a life here. Nevertheless the place has changed in ways that are not positive and it makes him wonder if it is still worth it. Ever heard of the concept of people having mixed emotions? It's pretty much covered in his post. What part of it did you not understand?
Tell us cyberfarang, could you fill us in on how you could possibly be so judgemental of the opinions of those with a far longer experience of this place, including of an era that you did not experience?
Thanks, Charmonman! Couldn't have put it any better myself!
Best to describe this feeling would be the metaphor of the frog in a cooking pot...
Excerpt from Wikipedia: The boiling frog is an anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of threats that occur gradually.
I came here with almost nothing two and a half decades ago and back then it was (like someone ever said in this forum) Wild West, paradise, Hades, all mixed together. I had tough times, yes, but all the positive things about LOS weighed out the bad ones by far. Nowadays, after I build up a family, life and business here, I realize in shock that the place I love so much is slowly changing into the opposite of what I found back then.
On top of all the points I mentioned, democracy as such, we can kiss goodbye (anyone suggesting otherwise is a hopeless dreamer), fun places are being wiped out one after another, common Thais' livelihoods are destroyed by stupid and erratic regulations, such as the beach cleanup (which in reality was about money - not saving nature), making Thai people become uneasy, afraid of not getting a job, making enough money, etc. which in return fuels the anti-foreign sentiment among common Thais. The increase in anti foreign sentiment can clearly be felt at official places such as immigration, police, labor dept. as well. They even start to cause problems for foreigners who are on O visas with their 800k nicely deposited as requested. Then the need to register for foreigners within 24 hours wherever they go, etc...
One must be blind to not see that they feel they have to save their butts to be prepared for the big crunch to come. And - superficial minded as a lot of common Thais AND officials are - they think best is to drive foreigners out who could be in a position to "steal" a part of THEIR cake...
I am too old and too alert to not be able to see the writings on the wall... All this makes me sad and angry at the same time. I am sad to see the good old Thailand as I knew it fade with lightning speed (still can see the tail lights in the distance) while a monster emerges that I am unable to grasp or comprehend. I always knew that - as a foreigner - I always will be 2nd class citizen, but I am not sure if I can handle 3rd class or "outcast" if you understand what I mean.
Said should be that superficial "if you don't like it, then go" posters will have no effect on me as most have no idea what they are talking about, being here for a few years or so. I believe that most "dinosaurs" are in agreement with what I wrote and that they feel the same, with various intensity though, depending on them being alone or with a family...
I put a lot of heart and soul in my posts to this topic, thus it takes more than a two sentence post with "if you don't like it, then leave!" to pull me into a serious discussion. To say this is cheap and superficial, and this topic is too complex to distill it in a mere "take it or leave it" context. Anyone who does not understand this should move on to another topic please. Thank you!
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O.P. - well spotted!
What I can say to add my 2 cents is that most of the dinosaurs, (like me) who made it through the 90s in LOS, and were able to set up a business and work themselves up to a certain standard, are still around. We all mostly will stay since most of us have house, wife, job/business, kids, etc. and basically are (and have the backing to support that) comfortably numb... Plus have we lost the "connection" to our native homeland... We would simply not fit in anymore...
But let's be honest - LOS is not the fun place it was used to be. As (talking to people who started here in the 90s) if all those coups, violently extinguished student protests, civil unrest and bombings in the south, the carnage(s) Thaksin was responsible for, the tsunami, the following yellow vs red disasters, airport seizure, civil war alike scenes in bkk, flood disaster in bkk, shut down bangkok idiocracy, and on and on goes the list...
As if all this was not enough to destroy the common westerners illusion of "paradise of smiles", we got overfishing, destruction of reefs by fishing fleets, speedboats, and jet skies, we got lazy and greedy park rangers, trashing Thais, murdering island mafiosi, murdering taxi drivers, in broad daylight tourist executing policemen, gang shootings, unexplained tourist "suicides" by the thousands, 2nd worldwide in traffic accidents per capita, a whole generation of useless drug-addicted Thai youngsters, jet ski scams, pickpockets wherever you go, sun bed and sun umbrella ban on beaches, destruction of highly profitable beach club areas, a corrupt and highly inefficient legal system, a corrupt police force in limbo, inefficient, corrupt and lazy officials wherever you look, an education system that never was good but now turns worse with native English teachers being driven out like in a witch hunt... oh man, where should I stop??? This could fill a book!
As if all the aforementioned points wouldn't be enough to destroy that illusion, we got more for you: Crackdowns on part foreign owned businesses whenever a Thai tourist related company screws up, crackdowns on visas, crackdown on foreigners in general, or (what we also had recently) police and/or army simply checking and padding down any tourist they might run into at a local 7Eleven, ever changing laws and/or regulations all purely focused on making the life of a foreigner living and working here as difficult as possible, the general anti foreign attitude many locals still reflect in their behavior, the selfcenteredness of the Thai people with their "we are the greatest, we were never occupied, never colonized, (never civilized?), nobody can beat us, nobody can tell us what to do!" attitude, etc. along with all those scams and ripoffs in private Thai/foreign partnerships that we all know just too well...Man, if all of that is not enough to destroy your illusion of the "paradise of smiles" you either are a complete nutter, a LOS dinosaur (feeding on all those sweet memories of the long gone good times), or both...
I believe I am the latter as much too often I am asking myself "what the fffork am I doing here?"... I believe many of the oldtimers here will share my sentiment...
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The big influx of westerners into Thailand occurred in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis and the collapse of the Bht against other currencies - heady days for foreigners with hard currency to spend. And spend they did.
Since then three significant things have happened.
- The Bht's recovery against western currencies
- The internationa financial crash
- Inflation in Thailand.
The condo in which I have an apartment, went in a period of 2 years from busy daily arrivals of new faces, followed by new Fortuna's, new white goods, and frequently new partners, to a gradual emptying, the car park no longer full, occasional 'flits', and quiet departures.
There's always a lot of discussion on this board about Thai women robbing foreign men, of course that goes on, but I know from the experiences of more than one expat I know personally, that they, and perhaps many more would have had a far harder time had they not been taken care of by their Thai girlfriend/wife.
One such guy I know is back in the UK, separated from a woman he lived with for over ten years, living in a rented flat and no real prospect of getting back on his feet. It wasn't a Thai woman that put him in this position, it was one of the Bangkok "Independent Financial Advisors" who sold him the idea that the pension he's worked and saved for all his life, would, in their hands, allow him a care free early retirement.
He, and a lot of people like him, have made a few bad choices, for which they've paid a very heavy price.
Yes there are fewer westerners in Thailand right now, and very many hard stories behind the departures.
Count your blessings, and hold on to your assets.
Quality post.
100% in agreement!
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If you want to get mugged, buttraped and killed go to Mehico! If you want a life, go to Thailand!
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House address written on a piece of paper - that's all you need!
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I remember some greedy businessman, named Al Gore, spreading an "Inconvenient Lie"... over a decade ago. Will he be held responsible? Will he ever be questioned about the 20 or so air-conditioning units in his luxurious villa??? No, because the majority of us humans are stupid, lazy and ignorant sheeple who won't deserve better than being lied at. We basically beg all those opportunist f__ks to lie to us, we love it!
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Folks, forget it - I did send this guy a personal message with a lot of info about myself and family and what ups and downs I went through with an offer to help if I get more info about him in return, so I can make up my mind, but he did not bother to reply. If it were that urgent, there should have been something in my mailbox by now, but I got zip. This said, make up your own mind if it is worthwile to invest your time and brain cells in this one... I for myself will delete my message now and block the OP.
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I don't understand the question
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And this I'd advise the OP to read and put the infinite wisdom found in that article to good use in future postings: http://thequintessentialman.com/difference-confident-man-showoff-10-ways-share-accomplishments-without-coming-across-braggart/
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This might help to figure out wht the OP's true intentions were: http://www.livestrong.com/article/116333-characteristics-narcissistic-person/
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At the end of the day, it's a bragging post - and this is due to the photos, plus will it not help anyone who is on the fence about leaving Thailand or not as financial and educational preconditions will vary vastly. Several questions of curious posters were left unanswered, so I give this post a 2 out of 10.
90 contacts outside of this forum pretty much dispute what you are saying. Are they all wrong and you are right?
Well sorry to say, it already helped someone that is trying to get himself and his wife back to the USA.
Do I win anything getting a 2 out of 10 for this post?
Well, 99% of my outside of this forum contacts, including my dog, say that it's a bragging post, are they all wrong and you are right? Your post gets a 1 out of 10 - can't get any worse than that! I repeat - the OP is a bragging post!
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I think a lot of people who commented on this thread in a less than laudatory fashion were legitimately put off by some of the comments the OP made in the process of sharing his story about his transition back to America. Because many people, some of whom I have a degree of respect for, seem to not understand why some reacted this way, I would like to say a few words in defense of “the vulture club,” even though I do not consider myself a card-carrying member of said club.
Tim Robbins in the house?
The OP makes several comments which suggested he saw his post as a sort of motivational pep talk for other expats who may have lost sight of or perhaps forgotten all that America has to offer. For example, he starts out by saying, ‘The decision to return to the USA after 10+ years living in Thailand was not as hard as what I imagined,’ and concludes by remarking, ‘For those contemplating moving back or starting over, it is not impossible.’
So far, so good. At first blush, this all sounds encouraging enough. But once the gist of the OP’s story is fully digested, the reader quickly realizes that in order to do what the OP has recounted, a person would more than likely need to be relatively young (in order to restart his career, pay off the mortgage, earn money to support his family in a suburban lifestyle, etc.), as well as have highly marketable job skills (mostly gained through higher education), and have had a way to have maintained these skills while on a 10+ year sabbatical in Thailand. The number of expats who enjoy all of these life circumstances is fairly limited, and for those who are fortunate enough in this regard, I seriously question whether they need the OP’s guidance as their self-appointed life coach in deciding whether returning to their home country is the best course of action. For those who don’t fall into this niche, they cannot easily emulate what the OP recounted. A person obviously can’t turn back the hands of time or acquire advanced degrees or in-demand job skills over night. I think that this is why some readers perceived the OP as doing something other than giving us a collective pep-talk.
Does somebody need an ego-boost?
When you set aside the OP’s claim that he was just innocently sharing his story in the hopes that it might inspire others to consider following his example, the tone of the post did strike my ear as, if not outright bragging, certainly a little too self-congratulatory, at least to my ear:
“….my own business doing quite well… huge SUV… I have an advanced education in engineering …easy to find a very high paying job in the USA…. bought my wife a brand new car… live in Florida about 1600 feet from the beach… my mother, who is a retired doctor.”
The OP also posted a picture of a youthful, attractive Thai woman who was impeccably made up (hair highlights, meticulously plucked brow line, sophisticated mascara and lipstick, perfect teeth, maybe even wearing colored contact lenses? It’s hard to believe that that picture wasn’t calculated to instill envy in viewers. I also asked myself If everyone’s so blissfully happy and adjusting so well, why no pictures of the family together? Why just the wife?
America good; Thailand bad. Americans good; Thais bad. (yawn)
The OP doesn’t have much of anything positive to say about Thais and Thailand and glorifies America and Americans in an unbalanced biased manner.
Thailand is the land of insufferable heat, floods, water shortages, power outages, grinding poverty, and low educational standards. America is just the opposite: no extreme weather, crime free, a social paradise where anyone can grow up to be President. The land of “no hardships.”
Thais are scam artists, corrupt, poorly educated, dishonest, and criminally inclined. Americans are warm, friendly, welcoming, non-judgmental, better educated, just plain smarter, hard-working, and well bred.
The OP may be fortunate enough to be able to largely insulate himself and his family from the realities of what day to day life is like for many Americans, but as we all know there’s two sides to every story, and the OP does seem to be in need of being reminded of this.
Should I head to Mukdahan to look for my next wife or not???
The OP at first describes Isaan as a mecca which anyone hoping to find a wife in Thailand should make a beeline to. But then the OP says stuff like: “Many of the people working or even owning the restaurants appear to me to be the same types as you would run into in Isaan with the same behaviors.” or “ poverty and lack of education in Isaan.” The OP also opined that: “Honesty is not a common trait in Thailand.” Isn’t Isaan part of Thailand? I don’t understand why the OP is recommending Isaan as a good place to look for a wife, when he appears to hold everyone else in Isaan aside from his wife in quite low regard. I mean, why would I look for a wife in a place where everyone behaves badly, is poorly educated and dishonesty is part of their genome???
Newsflash, OP, we’re not all emotional retards in need of marriage counseling from you.
If there’s one thing in the OP’s post which really had me gagging it was the insufferably self-congratulatory rhetoric about how the OP had “grown up” and “unlike some men saw his wife as his equal” and how it takes a “special kind of person to put his family first.”
Just, FYI, OP, what you describe here is the norm, and nothing special at all. I don’t know any family men who don’t put their family first. As far as treating your wife as your equal, I am curious to know ---beyond buying her a car and setting her up with ATM and credit cards--- the extent to which you encourage her (1) to embrace her Thai culture (music, religion, art, customs, heritage, decorating the house, etc.), (2) to develop a social life independent of you (perhaps with other Thais), (3) to improve her English skills, (4) continue her education, and (5) seek employment? That would be the real test of your true commitment to helping her fulfill her full potential, not just providing things such as a car and ATM cards to facilitate her role as a housewife. Frankly, some of the comments you made about your wife being Americanized (de-Thai-ed, if you will) and the negativity you have expressed about Thailand and Thais (which is after all your wife’s homeland) disturbed me, and I hope that you will give this a great considerable thought, for the sake of your wife and future domestic happiness.
But, again, I genuinely wish the OP and his family happiness ever after, and it was informative to read his story.
BRAVO!!! Best post getting down to the root of the OP's "problem". Well done, gecko 123 and well put!
SURVEY: How long have you lived in Thailand?
in General Topics
Posted
25+ and have to state that I never felt more uncomfortable and on the edge here than over the past 2-3 years. I arrived in paradise and now live in a kind of "yeah, whatever" land...
Sad, to say the least.