An Old Asian Hand Speaks

An 'Old Asian Hand' speaks for many of us here.

You ask me why I do not return to the USA?

I'm an American and from U.S.A. where we are over-taxed, over-regulated, and any slip up will land you in jail. A mere greeting at a female to say hi and they think you're molester or that you are sexually harassing them and will report you. When you walk out into public it’s like you have to put on this front of being proper and correct and don't step out of line or you’re going to get nailed for something.

I find the freedom of the Philippines and Thailand breathtaking and therapeutic. You can drink outside and talk to women you don't know. Piss on the street. Buy sex without fear of getting arrested, have somebody killed for 20 dollars, drive a vehicle that wouldn't pass any stateside standards. Hit on shop girls all day long and girls at the mall. Drink on the beach. Fit a family on a motorcycle with no helmets. Drunk driving? No problem. Pot holes that swallow cars. Women wearing short skirts up to their rear end waving at you as your driving by blowing kisses. Con men trying to get your money, vendors chasing you, smoke anywhere you damn please. Beer is so cheap at 40 cents, cigarettes even cheaper. Food is cheaper than anywhere back home. The air is shit. Heavily armed security guards hoisting M-16s and shotguns everywhere. Casinos. Massage parlours and bars full of women you can have a good time with for the price of a pizza back home. Men driving around wearing masks so you don't know if they are going to rob you or sell you something. Small stores and shops crowd out into the street blocking traffic. Gambling on the streets. Transvestites walking hand in hand. People are poor but smiling like they don't have a care in the world. Being a slob is OK, no dress code whatsoever.

All the above gives the Philippines and Thailand its unique flavor and risk and adventure and excitement, because you really don't know what the hell is going to happen from one moment to the next. It gets the blood going and adrenalin rushing.

If you have the money you can literally do anything you want in this country. Good or bad, like it or not. Girls will work in bars to make money. That will never go away. The best we can do is treat them nice and not abuse them physically or knock them up and destroy their lives unless we are willing to pay for that baby, but even that is up to you.

I choose living here with all the dirt and crime and corruption. I like it. I find it better than the dull, boring, predictable, expensive US. I can be at the ocean one week, then the mountains the next. Go to Manila or Chiang Mai and meet all new people who want to know me because I'm a rich white handsome American and age doesn't matter.

Guys who live and work or visit Southeast Asia are a different breed. We don't go by the norms of society. We are outside the regular hustle and bustle of the bullshit that our different cultures have rammed down our throats growing up. We yearn and live for excitement and different cultures. We're not happy unless we are being challenged by new and exciting venues to see what we are really made off. What I learned in the Philippines helped me in Cambodia and Thailand. That’s the beauty of it all. We can take all of our experiences and mix and mash it all together to go to other places in Southeast Asia and survive on our own.

For me I'm proud of my life and what I have learned from Asia and Angeles City and Thailand and more places to come. I don't regret it and I'm not ashamed of being with bargirls or going inside bars or having fun at 3 in the morning screaming on the beach acting like an idiot. You can't buy these moments for any amount of money. When you're old and on your death bed you will always remember how crazy you were in Asia and all the fun and stupid things that all of us have done. No regrets. What I will NOT remember or think about is the money-grabbing self-centered women in my own country or how hard I worked at my job. It's a reality I don't have to deal with anymore. I care about brown exotic women in Southeast Asia.

That’s what makes me happy and free. And to hell with anyone who thinks I'm a bad person or needs to "grow up." I wouldn't trade my life with anyone.

Stickman's thoughts:

Have someone killed for $20? What are you thinking (or drinking)?

Pissing on the streets ok? Frankly, that's just crass.

Drink driving ok? Sure, it happens, but I personally think it's shameful.

You're having us on, right?

Please don't say all this shit is the norm in Thailand. Drink driving happens but is not admired. Pissing in the street is only from a certain subset of the populace and frankly, unless it is done once in a blue moon, it shows a complete lack of class. I've never been to the Philippines so cannot comment on that country.

It's funny really, I think many US based folks reading this would think to themselves, "I hope he doesn't come back." It's all very well turning your back on your homeland but citing the ability to have someone murdered for less than 1,000 baht as a good reason to live somewhere makes you sound like one warped character.