I think Arsenal hit the nail on the head as well.Originally Posted by Oliver2
One of the many things I love about Thailand is that we have the options.
I think Arsenal hit the nail on the head as well.
One of the many things I love about Thailand is that we have the options.
jvt22222 (March 23rd, 2024)
Ltr not so important, the number of unfortunate balcony deaths demonstrates that.
I think it's all to do with the individuals mindset. For a start say godbye to the excitement and thrill of Pattaya as experienced by myself and say Gerefan or Latin. The adult Disneyland will lose its sparkle and if you're not very careful become a source of constant irritation.
Myself, I think a happy retirement involves doing lots and lots of little things. A rolling buffet if you will of things you do on an ad hoc basis when the mood takes you.
“Expats” = Immigrants
We might have a different idea what constitutes as "friend", but I have few to no Thai friends, but many Farang friends. Most of them gay, but many not on the forums. I have just too little shared interests with Thais to go beyond fun and fringe activities.
Dodger (March 22nd, 2024), jvt22222 (March 23rd, 2024), mr giggles (March 22nd, 2024)
You are quite right Arsenal, Pattaya was full of excitement on my first and early visits over the last 20 years.
What one has to take into account is the fact that everything is now completely familiar and can become boring. One Gogo bar is much the same as another.
Also over that time we have all got a little older, and our interests change.
I personally find a 3 month visit over the European winter and a month in the summer are sufficient and realise when it is time to go home.
If I was thinking of living in Thailand as well as the lack of things to do during the day I could not live in a condo permanently. Not after living in a house all my life!
I would need a nice place, but that would mean living a long way from the “entertainment”.
Then we are definitely living opposite lives. With my Thai friends, I have gone to:
Koh Larn x 4,
Koh Samet x 2,
Koh Chang,
Phitsanulok,
Sukhothai
Thanks to my Thai friends I have been able to participate in the volleyball events at Dongtan beach (near the Sea Rescue facility). The Thai guys that I met here were the primary reasons why I was able to travel with them to the above list of places. Furthermore, thanks to these friends I have been exposed to the Thai-on-Thai network of masseurs and escorts - which are different than the ones that we mainly see in Grindr.
Then there is my small group of Thai friends who work within the walls of Supertown - and this has been a very eye opening experience as I get to see how the Thais see us farangs who frequent the Jomtien Complex. When these guys organize small house parties - often I am the only farang in attendance.
Alternatively, my experiences with fellow farangs is almost nil as I often don't have much in common with what they want to do - in that I get bored with the "farang sit - farang drink" modus operandi.
There is so much more to do in Thailand....
bkkmfj....care to elaborate on your comment.....whats the difference..." I have been exposed to the Thai-on-Thai network of masseurs and escorts - which are different than the ones that we mainly see in Grindr."
Comparing tourists with retired expats is like comparing apples with oranges. I think it makes more sense to compare the differences between farang who retire in their home country versus choosing to retire in Thailand - because that's really where the tire meets the road.
I think any expat that lives in Thailand would agree wholeheartedly that life in Thailand beats the alternative, but what does that really mean? It's better...great...but then why do so many expats seem so bored, bitter, and depressed?
I really hate saying this because there's certainly a lot of very friendly positive - thinking expats over here - but about half of them act like they they have a piece of barbed-wire stuck up their ass. Always complaining...never a smile...pontificating...everything's wrong...they're constantly being inconvenienced by the world around them...the music's too loud...the price of eggs went up two baht...the boy who showed up at their door had a slight mustache that wasn't visible in his picture on Grindr.,,Oh My God! Why don't they just shut up once in a while and give everybody a break.
So, I guess the question is; Will you automatically have an amazing life filled with joy and happiness when you retire in Thailand? Based on everything I've seen so far you have about a 50/50 chance.
The other night I attended a gathering of 10 farang and 4 Thais at a local bar in Pattaya. In this case most of those who were there were familiar with one another unlike the "lets get together and meet-greet". Easy to arrange, just provide some food, get a semi-commitment from the attendees and, voila, everyone had a good time.
jvt22222 (March 23rd, 2024)
How I found out was as follows:
One of my Thai friends was lamenting that he did not have any customers recently.
I asked him to show me his social media profile - which was in Hornet - as he told me that is where he finds most of his Thai-on-Thai customers.
After I looked at his Hornet profile I said to him - but you need to put some words in English, Japanese, Chinese, or Korean if you want to attract foreigners as potential clients.
He replied - no - you do not understand - I only want Thai customers.
I was surprised. I asked how do you find each other in Hornet and then he showed me around 25 Hornet profiles that were Thai-on-Thai.
Then I could not resist and I said to him - but you let me be your customer sometimes - why is that? He replied, I did not meet you in Hornet I met you here on the beach at volleyball and you are a nice and fun guy so I allowed you to be an occasional customer.
But then I pushed back - but there are many more friendly farangs like me - if you would just modify your Hornet profile to some of the above mentioned foreign languages you could probably double your client base. He replied, no - it is too scary for most of us to do that as we don't know how to interface with farangs as they can be overwhelming. He said that the Thai clients already understand the Thai mentality.
So, this is how I discovered this entire Thai-on-Thai underworld.
Furthermore, it was one of their birthday's and I wanted to treat them to drinks after volleyball at my friends bar in Supertown.
Oh my GOD - what push back I go from some of the Thai volleyball guys.
They said that if they would enter into Supertown people might talk an think that they are - wait for it - escorts or host boys....
They said to me no way....
After much pleading with them and with some pushing from my other non-volleyball Thai friends - we did convince them to enter into Supertown and we had a GREAT time that night.
so, there are definitely 2 different worlds in the Thai world of how they look at and perceive things to be.....
The irony is if you meet one of the guest boys from most of the Supertown bars they generally don't have any shame to walk around with you to the other bars within the complex - but going outside of the medieval walls of the Supertown complex into the general public area - sometimes that can be a struggle.
So, you have Supertown guys who don't want to be seen with you outside of the Supertown complex walls and guys that you meet outside of the Supertown walls (i.e., like from volleyball on Jomtien beach) who dread to enter into the Supertown complex.
I find all of this amazing.
Since I want the fun of both worlds I accommodate depending on which group I am with....
thoughts?
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