After 40+ Years in Asia, without a break, I am now Toying with: Returning to America, and Becoming a Hermit in Trumpland!

[JohnBarleycorn]

As I age, I realize that the single and sole thing providing me purpose in life is teaching.

Also, Thailand, once a quiet sanctuary for those of my ilk, is increasingly taking on many of the unwholesome characteristics of the West. For example, this evening, I was subjected to sounds of some young Thai girl pretending to be a Farang training for the Tour de France. She had her balcony door open wide, her Farang music blasting on her Farang loudspeakers, and she was shouting and screaming at herself to push harder. Push, push, push!  “Is she giving birth?”, I wondered?!

It is little things like this, Thai people adopting stupid Farang odd behavior that makes me wonder just how much longer I want to stay here.  Someday, Chiang Mai will become like Ohio, one of the worst states among the 50.

And so, while sitting on my balcony this evening, I began to think about a return to America. My return to America will be simply epic for me. Even triumphal, maybe.

I am not joking here, and this is truly not an idle post.

What I am seriously considering is a return to America, but in a way that will still preserve my ties to Thailand culture and the many friends I have made here in this great land.

Knowing myself well, I realize that I possess the capacity to return to America, yet continue to live a hermit’s life, and live separately from American culture, if you can even call it culture without laughing. These days, with Gbps internet, I could try to find a place in America where I would rarely bump into Americans. And, I could continue to spend my days just as I do now, contentedly teaching on line the many students here that I have taught since before the Wuhan Virus hit.

I have no doubt that if I were to teach about 18 to 20 hours per week, and if I selected my students well, mostly from Chiang Mai, but also some from Cambodia and Burma…..Well then it really would not matter where I was, physically. I could still live and enjoy my life much as if I were located in Chiang Mai, but without the visa problems, and without the terrible noise problems caused by the Chang Beer festival at Prasertland which inevitably rears its ugly head several times each year beginning in November and  persisting thru the end of March.

If I were to return to America, I could still eat Jasmine rice and drink Sichuan Tea, and I might be able to hire a local girl from a Thai-American restaurant to cook meals once per month to store in my freezer.

Life could go on as usual for me, even if I were not still in Thailand.

Also, for another thing, I have now been celibate for 8 years, and loving it, after my Chinese girlfriend, in 2012, tied my cajones in a knot.  One thing is for sure, I no longer require female companionship living in my house, even though I still love girls. My love of females will not change, but I have decided to never again share with them my essence.

So here is what I am thinking about:

Where in America should I go?

*Someplace with superfast and reliable internet connection.

*Few Farang that I might bump into.

*Ultra-low living costs.

*Someplace with birds and snow.

After so many years in hot climes, I miss the snow.

What I am dreaming about most, I guess, is solitude with pine trees, birds and fallen snow in the winter months, but a village embodying a small-town feel, and neighbors who do not intrude or make noise.  And cops who are polite and do not kneel on your neck.

 

I am NOT joking here.

This is NOT just an idle post.

Where should I go in America to find what I am looking for?

I have moved so many times during the past 40 years that I am now sick and tired of moving.

 

The reason I post this now is that, during the past two months under lockdown, I have found true happiness with the sudden peacefulness and stillness present every evening. I feel that I cannot go back to life as it was before the lockdown.  What kind of a life is that for a man….Anyway?

There must be a place for me.

Surely…..

[Old Croc]

Why not simply move away from CM and find a Thai rural setting with no Americans, but the old style culture of Thailand.

[JohnBarleycorn]

2 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

Why not simply move away from CM and find a Thai rural setting with no Americans, but the old style culture of Thailand.

OK.

But then...what about the internet connection??

 

I cannot function without internet.

AND...from my experience, even for places quite near to the university, still the internet is NOT stable.

Just a few miles outside the city, and the internet becomes unstable at unpredictable times, and for extended times, sometimes, too.

[Old Croc]

10 minutes ago, JohnBarleycorn said:

OK.

But then...what about the internet connection??

 

I cannot function without internet.

AND...from my experience, even for places quite near to the university, still the internet is NOT stable.

Just a few miles outside the city, and the internet becomes unstable at unpredictable times, and for extended times, sometimes, too.

See my thread about internet access in remote areas:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1135051-internet-access-remote-areas/

 

My conclusion from this was that Thailand has brilliant internet almost everywhere.

 

[JohnBarleycorn]

17 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

See my thread about internet access in remote areas:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1135051-internet-access-remote-areas/

 

My conclusion from this was that Thailand has brilliant internet almost everywhere.

 

Thank you. I will consider this.  However, from my experience, internet connection outside major cities is still not stable, and can go down for days without explanation.

In these areas, even phone connectivity is disrupted for hours and for days.

 

Also, at the moment, I have 250/250 Mbps, and it is stable. But, I am located near a university.

Edited May 28, 2020 by JohnBarleycorn

[tlandtday]

49 minutes ago, JohnBarleycorn said:

OK.

But then...what about the internet connection??

 

I cannot function without internet.

AND...from my experience, even for places quite near to the university, still the internet is NOT stable.

Just a few miles outside the city, and the internet becomes unstable at unpredictable times, and for extended times, sometimes, too.

You can work with a sim card with 10 meg down connection which is fine in many rural areas.

[Paiman]

I did lots of travelling in Thailand before finally settling. First I toured the South, enjoyed the beaches but the climate was just too hot. So I explored the higher altitude areas in the North and settled in Pai. 

You might have been there.

It has a bit of a backpacker / Hippie reputation, but there is space enough to live in solitude and it is not expensive.

Hot in the daytime, enjoyable in the nighttime. The coldest we ever had was 4 C, 39 Fahrenheit. 

Off course there is the Smog issue.

It could be an option. The internet surely can be arranged.

You could try and test it for a few months. Just my thoughts. 

[AlexRich]

Lockdown can be an unsettling experience, and perhaps a decision like that is best made a month or two after we are back to normal. After such a long time in South East Asia I wonder how well you will adapt to life back in the mother country? 

[northsouthdevide]

How about a new inverter air conditioner, and double glazing? 

Seriously, I bet if you weighed up the pros and cons of living in the US or cm, cm will win hands down, I can tell this even though I don't know you. 

You haven't lived there for 40 years for a reason, even if you never realised it. 

Add to that, that it's probably gone down hill since the good old days, and homepro are doing a sale with interest free finance on all patio doors while stocks last. 

 

That bit I made up ????

[JohnBarleycorn]

17 minutes ago, AlexRich said:

Lockdown can be an unsettling experience, and perhaps a decision like that is best made a month or two after we are back to normal. After such a long time in South East Asia I wonder how well you will adapt to life back in the mother country? 

Yes, surely you are correct.

BUT, during the past few days, I have found myself using Google Voice to actually call coffee shops in Maine, USA.

What I have found from calling these coffee shops is:  I get a recording stating that the shops are not open at this time, presumably due to the virus.

 

However, this does not stop me from wondering about my moving to Maine....

I have been there before, even though I have never lived there.

 

YET....YET....These days, I just wonder what it might be like to live up in Maine, such a very beautiful state, and live in a land with thousands of lakes, billions of pine trees, and enough snow to satisfy anyone's desires.

 

Google Voice is great.  I applied for Google Voice a few years ago so that I can call any phone in the USA at no charge, or almost no charge.

Maybe when the coffee shops reopen in Maine, then I will call them to sort of shoot the sh..t, and maybe strike up a friendship.

[Why Me]

Leave for the US when you live in Thailand and presumably can continue to do so? Lordie, I would ask the mods to move this to the Health and Meds forum.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Why Me

[JohnBarleycorn]

5 minutes ago, northsouthdevide said:

How about a new inverter air conditioner, and double glazing? 

Seriously, I bet if you weighed up the pros and cons of living in the US or cm, cm will win hands down, I can tell this even though I don't know you. 

You haven't lived there for 40 years for a reason, even if you never realised it. 

Add to that, that it's probably gone down hill since the good old days, and homepro are doing a sale with interest free finance on all patio doors while stocks last. 

 

That bit I made up ????

I just bought an inverter AC, Panasonic.

Panasonic ACs are the best.

But I do not use double glazing.

What I do is to take all the shipping cartons that I used during my many moves, and tape them to my windows.  Shipping cartons provide excellent insulation from the sun and from the heat.

Normally, I keep my room at about 23 degrees when the temp outdoors is 38 to 39.

If I did not have this Panasonic AC...then I am sure I would be dead by now.

This is also not a joke.

Deader than a doornail.

[JohnBarleycorn]

3 minutes ago, Why Me said:

Leave for the US when you live in Thailand and presumably can continue to do so? Lordie, I would ask the mods to move this to the Health and Meds forum.

Yes!

I do know that I am crazy even for considering moving back to the USA...

But...as I told you at the beginning of this post....

The noise level here is now beginning to pick up markedly after the lockdown is now a thing of the past.

And so, I am just thinking of moving due the increased noise, and for no other reason.

[timendres]

There are times when I seriously miss my home in Houghton MI. It is beautiful there. The fall season is incredible. The winters are long, but beautiful. Lake Superior is incomparable. And the air is some of the purest air in the world. With Michigan Tech University in town, we get a serious influx of young people every year, which helps keep the local community and businesses from stagnating. And the culture is still very much as if the place were trapped in a time bubble of the 1970's. If I were forced to return to the US, this is one of only a few places I could accept. At the moment, I am still very happy to live here in Thailand, and I believe I will for many more years. But a return to the US would be fine, if it were in the right place. I went back to the US 8 years ago, and the first two months were horrible. It felt like withdrawal symptoms. But by the third month, I was beginning to adjust, and starting to remember what I loved about my home. By the end of the third month, you could have convinced me to stay. But upon my return to Thailand, once I got out of swampy and hit the streets of Bangkok, I was so happy to be back.

[JohnBarleycorn]

3 minutes ago, timendres said:

There are times when I seriously miss my home in Houghton MI. It is beautiful there. The fall season is incredible. The winters are long, but beautiful. Lake Superior is incomparable. And the air is some of the purest air in the world. With Michigan Tech University in town, we get a serious influx of young people every year, which helps keep the local community and businesses from stagnating. And the culture is still very much as if the place were trapped in a time bubble of the 1970's. If I were forced to return to the US, this is one of only a few places I could accept. At the moment, I am still very happy to live here in Thailand, and I believe I will for many more years. But a return to the US would be fine, if it were in the right place. I went back to the US 8 years ago, and the first two months were horrible. It felt like withdrawal symptoms. But by the third month, I was beginning to adjust, and starting to remember what I loved about my home. By the end of the third month, you could have convinced me to stay. But upon my return to Thailand, once I got out of swampy and hit the streets of Bangkok, I was so happy to be back.

Lake Superior?

Gordon Lightfoot?

THANK YOU!! for this memory!!

 

 

 

 

[timendres]

4 minutes ago, JohnBarleycorn said:

Lake Superior?

Gordon Lightfoot?

THANK YOU!! for this memory!!

Indeed. I spoke once with a ship captain who told me he would much rather be on the Atlantic than Superior. He said that both had equally frightening wave heights, but on the Atlantic you have enough distance between the waves to navigate one at a time. On Superior, your ship could be caught on top of two waves simultaneously, which is what happened to the Fitzgerald as the ship was snapped in two.

[kokesaat]

You'd move to the US to escape the noise, but not move possibly only a few km?  The generation you knew back in the US is long gone......the US is perfectly fine, but you can do what you want to do by merely moving to a new location in Thailand. I'm currently in a large city in Texas, established neighborhood......unless you have a business line, you're going to eek out 200mbps for a lot more than you'd pay in Thailand for the same speed.  In Udon, where we have our home, we live 18km outside the city, in a very small village.  No noise from neighbors and we've got a fiber optic link that can push well more than 200 mbps for a fraction of the cost in the US.

Save your money on a move to the US. Do some exploring nearby where you live.  I'll bet you'll be surprised at the opportunities that await you.

[JohnBarleycorn]

5 minutes ago, timendres said:

Indeed. I spoke once with a ship captain who told me he would much rather be on the Atlantic than Superior. He said that both had equally frightening wave heights, but on the Atlantic you have enough distance between the waves to navigate one at a time. On Superior, your ship could be caught on top of two waves simultaneously, which is what happened to the Fitzgerald as the ship was snapped in two.

And, no doubt, this ballad by Gordon Lightfoot is one of the most beautiful that I ever heard.

[bwpage3]

Western North Carolina.

 

Lovely mountainous region with light snow, tons of pine trees and birds.

 

High Speed internet is almost everywhere in America these days.

 

Friendly, friendly country folk.

 

Can still make a 6 hour trek to the beach for a few days. The Outer Banks blows away anything you find in Thailand.

 

I thought I would miss Thailand when I moved back to the USA after living there for 10+ years.

 

But I didn't.

 

Where I live in the USA, we have every kind of Thai food for sale in Asian Grocery Stores, Thai Beer, Jasmine rice, sticky rice, thai fruits you name it. Even Thai Temples. 

 

The stress of not having to deal with anything Thai at all or anything with immigration, language, not reading Thai, and 100 other things brought a real calming to my life.

 

Weather is not as hot as Thailand.

 

I have no neighbors bothering me at all.

 

In Dec 2019 I went back to Thailand for the first time since 2014.

 

Now, people that live there full-time may not see these changes as well, but to me, the country has gotten even worse. 

 

Costs higher, traffic worse, Air Pollution just choking me. One 2 hour stroll around Bangkok one evening and I had a respiratory issue that didn't clear for days. Coming from pure, clean air to all the air pollution was horrible. Saraburi when you have to drive past all those cement plants, you can see the sky change to nasty brown from all the air pollution.

 

I just was thankful after that trip that I wouldn't be making it again, ever.  

 

As people get older, they really need less stress and clutter, a healthy environment, access to health care, proper eating and exercise. Much easier to do here. Much, much easier.

 

I can ride my bike in the clean air with not a worry in the world of getting run over. But if I did, 911 can get to help me in minutes. I have a major hospital 5 minutes from where I live.

 

I won't be dying in the back of one of those Thai rescue meat wagons stuck in traffic because Thai drivers are too selfish to get out the way.

 

I thank God I was fortunate to get out of there and I am 100% convinced my life will be extended by NOT living there!

 

We all have a choice, no one can tell you what is best for you, except you.

 

Lots of colorful birds on our property everyday.

 

Peaceful with a waterfall we built and all the birds chirping.

 

Wife planted 40 Thai fruit trees. 

 

No stress at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by bwpage3

[bwpage3]

6 minutes ago, kokesaat said:

You'd move to the US to escape the noise, but not move possibly only a few km?  The generation you knew back in the US is long gone......the US is perfectly fine, but you can do what you want to do by merely moving to a new location in Thailand. I'm currently in a large city in Texas, established neighborhood......unless you have a business line, you're going to eek out 200mbps for a lot more than you'd pay in Thailand for the same speed.  In Udon, where we have our home, we live 18km outside the city, in a very small village.  No noise from neighbors and we've got a fiber optic link that can push well more than 200 mbps for a fraction of the cost in the US.

Save your money on a move to the US. Do some exploring nearby where you live.  I'll bet you'll be surprised at the opportunities that await you.

400 MBS for $44.95 a month USA

[JohnBarleycorn]

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, JohnBarleycorn said:

OK.

But then...what about the internet connection??

 

I cannot function without internet.

AND...from my experience, even for places quite near to the university, still the internet is NOT stable.

Just a few miles outside the city, and the internet becomes unstable at unpredictable times, and for extended times, sometimes, too.

Not always true, plenty of locations outside the bigger Thai cities with excellent/very acceptable internet speeds and no bumps. Ask here of TV for locations where inet is quite satisfactory, and in LOS not too expensive. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by scorecard

[kekalot]

I live in Phetchaburi and internet is stable AND cheap as heck, 750 baht I get 1000/1000 Fiber with 3BB,

they have promotion now 1000/300 and a DTAC sim with 10GB data per month together for 649 baht which I use for tethering if I REALLY need internet when it goes down

 

I have more worries about the electricity than the internet to be honest.

[JohnBarleycorn]

Good internet is just a means to an end.

If I have good internet connection, then I can teach.

 

The reason I like to teach is because, if I do my job well, then the students sit rapt, and they enjoy the learning experience.

 

And when the lesson is over, if I have really done my job well, and if they have enjoyed their lesson......then they actually DO say...."Thank you".

 

I bust my back every class trying to encourage students to enjoy learning and to learn to enjoy reading.

 

When I am successful, then I feel that I am better off alive than dead, which is something that sometimes I am not too sure about.

 

There are only two purposes in life.

Procreation.

And the propagation of culture to the next generation.

 

Golfing is a waste of time, by comparison.

I do not play golf.

 

[simon43]

Maybe when the coffee shops reopen in Maine, then I will call them to sort of shoot the sh..t, and maybe strike up a friendship.

 

Seriously?!  I think you have been on lock-down too long and have got cabin fever.......

[bodga]

Alaska

[bartender100]

I am not a US citizen, but have you filed your tax regular, I had a friend got in a right mess when he went back after 20 + years with IRS

[bodga]

2 hours ago, JohnBarleycorn said:

When I am successful, then I feel that I am better off alive than dead, which is something that sometimes I am not too sure about.

I surely  know  that  feeling.

[JohnBarleycorn]

6 minutes ago, bartender100 said:

I am not a US citizen, but have you filed your tax regular, I had a friend got in a right mess when he went back after 20 + years with IRS

Would you please extrapolate a bit?

........

[richard_smith237]

14 minutes ago, JohnBarleycorn said:

22 minutes ago, bartender100 said:

I am not a US citizen, but have you filed your tax regular, I had a friend got in a right mess when he went back after 20 + years with IRS

Would you please extrapolate a bit?

........

After 30 years it became an extremely huge mess with the Government !!! (sorry, couldn't resist ) !