Hard lessons in expat paradise

[Guest rainwalker]

From BBC News, Bangkok

 

For Britons it's a friendly Asian holiday paradise. But the reality of moving lock, stock and barrel to the other side of the world, has been a lot harder for some of the tens of thousands of expats.

 

To the holidaymakers visiting Frances Khetrat's bar on a picturesque Thai beach, it must seem as if she has the perfect life.

 

Every day she takes a wooden long-tail boat across the sea, to a sandy bay overlooked by imposing limestone cliffs. "I often think how lucky I am, when I remember all the people stuck on the tube while I'm surrounded by crystal-clear water and beautiful scenery," she says.

 

But Frances readily admits that her life is not as idyllic as people might imagine.

 

"A lot of tourists say I'm living a dream life, but they don't know the half of it," she says. "It's very different being here all the time than just being here on holiday."

 

Frances is one of an estimated 41,000 Britons currently living in Thailand, according to research by the IPPR think tank.

 

Many of these ex-pats first came to the so-called Land of Smiles as tourists, and fell in love with the beautiful scenery, friendly locals and relaxed way of life - not to mention the cheap beer and year-round sun.

 

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Bureaucracy and disaster

 

She faced challenges from the start.

 

"I had a bit of tension [when I arrived] with local people, and I had to make sure I wasn't doing things they wanted to do," she says.

 

"You get penalised a lot for being a foreigner. I've had to do things in a much more official way than Thai-owned businesses - and I had lots of visits from people checking I had the right permits and licenses, which is often quite complicated to get right."

 

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Learning the language

 

Billy Brunsdon has faced other problems. He manages the Bull's Head - a traditional English pub in the heart of Bangkok. He has had to learn how to work under Thailand's often obscure rules and regulations.

 

Like Frances, he has made an effort to get to know local people and learn their language and cultural traditions, factors he says are essential to running a successful business.

 

"I think some people who come here are quite naive," says Billy. "I've seen lots of people get into problems because they think they can just set things up with no local help. You need to gain people's trust, and that takes time. When I'd been there for a while and learned the lingo, I got so much more respect from my staff."

 

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Sex-pats

 

But there seems to be no shortage in the number of Britons willing to swap the rain-soaked UK for sun-drenched Thailand.

 

Many are professionals - especially teachers. Some are retirees, living in a level of luxury they would be unable to afford back home, having cashed up in Britain to see a modest sum worth a lot more on the other side of the world.

 

Others live near the beaches, working in bars, hotels and dive shops and renewing their tourist visas every few months - although this is something the authorities have recently started to crack down on.

 

Thailand also has a reputation for attracting another type of foreigner - the so-called sex-pats who frequent the red light districts of Bangkok and beach resorts such as Pattaya. It's an image that plays strongly in Western media - not least because of the saga of former British pop-star Gary Glitter who moved to south-east Asia after his jailing on child pornography charges.

 

"People look at me negatively sometimes when they find out I live in Thailand," says Billy. "They assume certain things that aren't true, but I've learnt to live with that."

 

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BRITS IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA

Thailand: 41,000, including

Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Samui

Vietnam: 3,800

Singapore: 45,000

Indonesia: 11,000

Source: IPPR, Totals estimates only.

 

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[Guest cialis]

From BBC News, Bangkok

 

For Britons it's a friendly Asian holiday paradise. But the reality of moving lock, stock and barrel to the other side of the world, has been a lot harder for some of the tens of thousands of expats.

 

I have read somewhere that expats from the West survive, on average, just 3 years b 4 calling it a day and returning home or trying out somewhere else.

 

My own observations in Pattaya are that many expats get bored of life here as they have few interests and are frequently dilsillusioned with the boys from the bar scene.

 

Many expats rarely go to the beach aftera year or two of staying here and are bored stiff (or limp) with the boy scene.

 

So what else is there to do-? Oh yes hang out in bars such as Memories, Montys or Rainbow with other bored expats. Daytime activities other than the beach - I guess staying in bed until Memories, Montys or Rainbow bars open again.

 

Oh by the way I still go to the beach every day and take a boy off most nights and enjoy Come Inn and Maya bars. I am not disillusioned yet.

 

(Hopefull this post will get the moderators approval as they have to approve my posts. I had the temerity to question Gay Thailands naivity once I think.)

[Guest Aunty]

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but why the hell won't you Poms stay in your own damn country?

[Guest Trongpai]

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but why the hell won't you Poms stay in your own damn country?

 

The American Indians said the same thing and see what happen there.

 

[Guest ear wig]

I have had a holiday Villa in Spain for 25 years when I first decided to live there its was a wonderful haven like Thailand, then they started to come on package deals and slowly they wanted to change it make is a little part of England the very reason we want to get away from it, when 10 years ago and before now many one "month millionaires" (people who save for 11 months to have a spend out for a month) come to Thailand to tell them to change everything as it is back in there own country.

 

You hear them all the time, moaning I dont like the Beach there's people talking, I dont like the smell, I dont like the insects they sell, They say, I dont like the way the Thai people charge me twice what they pay 10 baht on the bus, it goes on, uncaring people come from there own country with this mentality is slowly ruining Thailand like a cancer, slowly corrupting the Thai mentality in the expat towns.

 

Just look what the farangs have taught the Tha