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Old 02-08-2019, 02:55 AM
 
13,498 posts, read 18,121,438 times
Reputation: 37885

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tominftl View Post
No thanks, I’ll stay right in the US. It must be torture to be in a country looking for someone you have something in common with and someone you can communicate with. The grass isn’t any greener on the other side. Sorry.
Torture? Sorry, no way.

Rather a wonderful experience meeting who did not pop out of the same muffin pan as yourself. I've lived in two foreign countries -neither of them Thailand, however - and meeting people popped out of a different muffin pan, learning enough of a new language to navigate a new terrain, etc. has been one of life's greatest experiences.

It isn't about grass for beginners.
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Old 02-08-2019, 02:59 AM
 
1,140 posts, read 1,199,750 times
Reputation: 1628
Quote:
Originally Posted by elnrgby View Post
Well, if someone is looking hard for sex trade, I am sure one can find it in Thailand or in Iowa or anywhere, but to a regular person who is not looking for that, who is not frequenting a very limited number of "special" bars in very small areas that comprise less than 0.000001% of Bangkok, sex trade is not in any way apparent in that city. The "stories" probably describe something that is indeed going on in the deep underground of the city, but you will not encounter it unless you actively search for it.
This is actually not true at all. I have nothing against Thailand, but the sex trade is in your face when visitors go to most popular tourist destinations. Phuket, Bangkok, Koh Samui, Pattaya among other places, shove the sex trade and lady boy thing in your face. I'm not talking about some out of the way neighborhood or down some side streets and alleys. It's right on the main streets of these cities and it starts early, say 8pm or 9pm. I've arranged weekend visits to Thailand for my U.S. colleagues when they come over to Asia for business and its embarressing to check into a hotel with female colleagues and have the employee of the hotel brief us on "visitor fees" for our rooms.


Do most expats get involved in the sex trade while living in Thailand? I would say most do not, however you can't tell me Thailand's sex trade is hidden or the same as in Iowa....lol. Most places in Thailand actually do not have hookers walking the streets, but there are way too many places, popular places that do. Its akward going out for ice cream with my daughter and having to see what goes on at 8:30pm at night on the streets in some places. I'm not overly conservative or religious, but let's not pretend that the sex trade isn't a real thing in Thailand.


I've been to Thailand many many times and have visited many expat friends who have moved there. Beautiful country ( and yes with good healthy food Stealthrabbit lol) but the hooker and entertainment thing they got going is kind of gross. I won't even get into the live shows that go down in Thailand.


I don't have a major issue with prostitution in general, and if people want that, fine, but it should be more discreet and away from the main tourist areas, where many families are there for beach vacations.
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Old 02-08-2019, 05:28 AM
 
8,267 posts, read 4,305,850 times
Reputation: 11875
In terms of Thailand, I am very familiar with Bangkok, but not with coastal tourist resorts. I don't go out for nightlife, and my experience or encounters with "in your face" sex marketing or prostitution in Bangkok is zero. If one doesn't live that lifestyle, if one is not obsessed with looking out for "ladyboys" or whatever, it seems to me one is unlikely to notice them.


It is a wonderful city for quiet people who like tropical weather. You can go to Hays Library or buy English language paperbacks on Khao San Road. You can go to Passport bookstore for more books and tea. You can sit quietly in one of the million temples and think about your life. You can get lost browsing the million stalls in Chinatown markets or in the enormous Siam Square mall. The food is wonderful. Thais are pleasant, polite, and accepting of foreigners. The Skytrain and river boats are very convenient for transportation. And you can live that way on a budget which is a small fraction of the cost of living in any city in the US. Also, I travel widely, and Bangkok strikes me as one of the safest, possibly THE safest large city I ever visited, in terms of absence of street crime.


I am not necessarily planning to live there, because am unlikely to run out of funds to live in the US. But if I should run into financial problems, or ever need substantial help with basic personal care, I definitely would move to Bangkok.


Re potential for political unrest, that concern is certainly greater than concerns of prostitution somehow affecting your life :-). Although I don't fully understand their political issues, there are two general groups - I think one could best describe them as traditionalists and populists - that have been clashing occasionally in the streets, and I understand the military de facto rules the country (although it is a monarchy). But my close family member was there during the worst unrest several years ago, when there were casualties, and he said both sides in the political conflict were nice and polite to foreigners, who were not affected by the unrest at all. So yes, they have political issues, but they are unlikely to affect you as a non-Thai.

Last edited by elnrgby; 02-08-2019 at 06:21 AM..
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Old 02-08-2019, 08:08 AM
 
11,156 posts, read 15,945,122 times
Reputation: 29822
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlaskaErik View Post
Ask your Swedish relatives about the moslem hordes that have taken over cities like Malmo. Ask them about the no-go zones there. I have to wonder if they'll be honest or if you'll just get that deer-in-the-headlights look.
LOL. Are there still people who believe that idiocy? You need to quit reading Breitbart. That "no go zones" thing was debunked years ago.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sw...o-zone-police/

https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artike...rtikel=6630452

What hasn't changed though is your continued use of the term "moslem hordes" which you've been since 2015.
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Old 02-08-2019, 08:34 AM
 
Location: SoCal
20,160 posts, read 12,689,885 times
Reputation: 16993
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
You can always cherry pick examples to support this POV, but I think it's mostly delusional. In America, the thing that's really killing us is the unhealthy lifestyle and garbage for food, which is why we have so much diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer. If you avoid the whole bar girl/prostitution thing in Thailand, the lifestyle over there (mostly the food) is much, much, healthier than what we eat in the U.S.

Americans just don't get that good health doesn't come from health care after you get sick. It primarily comes from the food you put in your mouth, close relationships, exercise, and sense of purpose in life. The world's healthiest populations actually use very little health care (see Dan Buettner's Blue Zones books).

Yeah, we say we understand all of the above, but most people vastly underestimate the importance of those factors. Instead, they want to put it all on genetics.
Thai food or most Asian food can be bad for people with high blood pressure. In fact I avoid it for that reason. When I was in Hawaii, another place with unhealthy food if you are not careful, I came back with high blood pressure. It’s come down since and I don’t have to take anything but salty food is also not good either.
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Old 02-08-2019, 08:36 AM
 
Location: SoCal
20,160 posts, read 12,689,885 times
Reputation: 16993
Quote:
Originally Posted by JakeinChina View Post
This is actually not true at all. I have nothing against Thailand, but the sex trade is in your face when visitors go to most popular tourist destinations. Phuket, Bangkok, Koh Samui, Pattaya among other places, shove the sex trade and lady boy thing in your face. I'm not talking about some out of the way neighborhood or down some side streets and alleys. It's right on the main streets of these cities and it starts early, say 8pm or 9pm. I've arranged weekend visits to Thailand for my U.S. colleagues when they come over to Asia for business and its embarressing to check into a hotel with female colleagues and have the employee of the hotel brief us on "visitor fees" for our rooms.


Do most expats get involved in the sex trade while living in Thailand? I would say most do not, however you can't tell me Thailand's sex trade is hidden or the same as in Iowa....lol. Most places in Thailand actually do not have hookers walking the streets, but there are way too many places, popular places that do. Its akward going out for ice cream with my daughter and having to see what goes on at 8:30pm at night on the streets in some places. I'm not overly conservative or religious, but let's not pretend that the sex trade isn't a real thing in Thailand.


I've been to Thailand many many times and have visited many expat friends who have moved there. Beautiful country ( and yes with good healthy food Stealthrabbit lol) but the hooker and entertainment thing they got going is kind of gross. I won't even get into the live shows that go down in Thailand.


I don't have a major issue with prostitution in general, and if people want that, fine, but it should be more discreet and away from the main tourist areas, where many families are there for beach vacations.
Some guy on CD who is Thai and went to a Thai massage and he reported the massage therapist touch his private part, this happened in USA.
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Old 02-08-2019, 08:41 AM
 
Location: SoCal
20,160 posts, read 12,689,885 times
Reputation: 16993
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevxu View Post
Yes, stereotypes abound everywhere. Just read the Brexit thread in the UK subforum and you will "learn" that the EU is a realm of barbarians attacking their sacred homeland, etc., etc.

I'll add my bit to the supply of Thai stereotypes. The only Americans I have met or been acquainted with who went to Thailand went to study Buddhism, or in the case of two older people, because they already practiced Buddhism and had found a quiet, affordable place to retire in after visiting a few times.

So, if you have sex-madden guys who go to boink in one pan of the balance, there are at least some religiously inclined folks in the other.
I’ll add my anecdote. My husband’s uncle who is at least 85, went to Thailand regularly for 10 years, and brought back one, I think he eventually married one, it’s his 4th wife. She’s pretty young, maybe younger than me.

Last edited by NewbieHere; 02-08-2019 at 09:34 AM..
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Old 02-08-2019, 08:44 AM
 
Location: SoCal
20,160 posts, read 12,689,885 times
Reputation: 16993
Quote:
Originally Posted by elnrgby View Post
In terms of Thailand, I am very familiar with Bangkok, but not with coastal tourist resorts. I don't go out for nightlife, and my experience or encounters with "in your face" sex marketing or prostitution in Bangkok is zero. If one doesn't live that lifestyle, if one is not obsessed with looking out for "ladyboys" or whatever, it seems to me one is unlikely to notice them.


It is a wonderful city for quiet people who like tropical weather. You can go to Hays Library or buy English language paperbacks on Khao San Road. You can go to Passport bookstore for more books and tea. You can sit quietly in one of the million temples and think about your life. You can get lost browsing the million stalls in Chinatown markets or in the enormous Siam Square mall. The food is wonderful. Thais are pleasant, polite, and accepting of foreigners. The Skytrain and river boats are very convenient for transportation. And you can live that way on a budget which is a small fraction of the cost of living in any city in the US. Also, I travel widely, and Bangkok strikes me as one of the safest, possibly THE safest large city I ever visited, in terms of absence of street crime.


I am not necessarily planning to live there, because am unlikely to run out of funds to live in the US. But if I should run into financial problems, or ever need substantial help with basic personal care, I definitely would move to Bangkok.


Re potential for political unrest, that concern is certainly greater than concerns of prostitution somehow affecting your life :-). Although I don't fully understand their political issues, there are two general groups - I think one could best describe them as traditionalists and populists - that have been clashing occasionally in the streets, and I understand the military de facto rules the country (although it is a monarchy). But my close family member was there during the worst unrest several years ago, when there were casualties, and he said both sides in the political conflict were nice and polite to foreigners, who were not affected by the unrest at all. So yes, they have political issues, but they are unlikely to affect you as a non-Thai.
The student in my art class who did travel to Thailand, she said there’s large Muslim population in the South of Thailand. It’s not all Buddhist country. I think at least 5% of the population.
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Old 02-08-2019, 08:55 AM
 
Location: Outside US
3,681 posts, read 2,384,922 times
Reputation: 5166
There are NO perils of retirement in Thailand if you plan ahead and have common sense.

Same as anywhere in the world.
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Old 02-08-2019, 10:33 AM
 
8,267 posts, read 4,305,850 times
Reputation: 11875
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewbieHere View Post
The student in my art class who did travel to Thailand, she said there’s large Muslim population in the South of Thailand. It’s not all Buddhist country. I think at least 5% of the population.
There are Malaysian Muslims in Bangkok, they are not particularly rare. I am not aware of any incidents in Bangkok involving them. Muslims are not particularly rare in New York City either, where there have been incidents, as you know.
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