Thailand Obsession
Are you spending 50 weeks of the year in misery, only getting through each week by thoughts of your next trip to Thailand? An article submitted by a reader recently made me think that there are probably a lot of people who are in this precise situation. If you can relate to this then you really need to step back and think. This is not a life.
You are spending 50 weeks of the year thinking of how much you hate your current life. You think the women at home are too ugly, are too fat, are too loud and are way too much trouble. But can you remember when you actually last approached an attractive woman at “home”? Think hard…no, didn’t think so. Yes, there are also many good looking ladies in the West but you will probably always find some excuse for not approaching them.
You don’t like your job; you relive stories in your mind and with your friends (definitely not family) of that last trip to Thailand, of that threesome or that little 20 year old or that little 40 year old or whatever your heart desired. And you think that soon you’ll be back (well not that soon for those of you who have only returned from Thailand – wow, you're in for a long year). But is your life at “home” really that bad? Are you really that unhappy?
As you fantasize about returning to Thailand, life is simply passing you by. Remember, while Thailand is definitely real, the experiences you have there are often far from reality. You may even love Thailand so much you have the dream of one day moving there – if you can afford to and really want to try it by all means consider it, but as Stickman says again and again, actually living in Thailand is so very different to just holidaying here. You notice things you didn’t before. The land of the smiles can look very, very different after a while. In April 2007 I resigned from my job in the UK to spend a few months living in Thailand. I’m still here four months later. I’ve been living on Soi Nana in Bangkok for the past 2 months and staying near Nana Plaza I have seen a lot – I really don’t think anything could shock me anymore.
Every day I walk by the beer bars beside Nana Plaza and while the face of the customer changes the type of customer who frequent the bars remains the same. I see the guy who could never get a girl at home – the guy who works at home scrimping and saving, doesn’t bother with Western women and then comes out to Thailand and makes all his dreams come true for two weeks. The large man sits in his sleeveless vest downing bottles of Chang and is suddenly transformed into a “handsome man” as he spends his hard earned cash on his new 30 something lady friend. For the past 50 weeks he has been looking forward to this moment. He is King. This is why he comes to Thailand every year for the last 15 years – he is not here for the temples or for the tasty Thai food – but I suppose he deservers credit for making the effort to meet people (ladies) from a different culture.
For these guys, sometimes Thailand is the easier option. If you feel you are a failure at home then you come out to Thailand and for two weeks, if you have enough money, you also can be King. It doesn’t matter how you look – fat, skinny, big, small, old, or young – for the right price you can get what you want here. But the Thailand experience can be an illusion; it is a dream and it is important never to forget about reality. A dream cannot last forever. Stay in Thailand more than a few weeks and you may see that those pretty girls aren’t as pretty as you thought they were and that Thailand itself is far from perfect. But if you are reader of this website you’ll know that already! Thailand is an amazing country but try not to put your whole life on hold for two weeks of the year. I believe that life is what you make it and try to be happy wherever you are.
Stickman's thoughts:
Short but sweet. I agree with every word of this submission.
For those of us who live out here in Thailand, we have all the same pressures and stresses as people in Farangland. We have bills to pay, traffic jams to negotiate, inclement weather to deal with and all sorts of other issues. Sure, the women might be pretty – but for every advantage in Thailand, there is a disadvantage.
It's amazing, but it isn't necessarily paradise.
