My Thai Expat Experience & Observations

Thanks for your post. My partner and I are planning to retire to Phuket as soon as all our loose ends back in Australia are concluded. Nice to here how much you love Thailand and some of those reasons. Cheers from Gayle

Gayle,

I hate to be the first to burst your retirement location balloon, but have you actually inter-acted with other expats, Aussies included, re: Phuket? Presumably you've already visited Phuket, as a "tourist". Perspectively speaking, day-to-day, long-term living on Phuket is very different cup of coffee.

There are no organized public transportation systems, and/or organizations anywhere on Phuket. 

Please pursue the "due diligence" research yourself, prior to relocating to either Phuket, or any other island locations in Thailand.

Yes, we do love Thailand, and the lifestyle that we've been privileged to create for ourselves, as a result of what the Thai Immigration Laws have accorded us, as guests of the Kingdom.

However, we view Thailand with the jaded eyes of native-born and raised Americans, from the high-crime vicinity likes of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Houston, USA,............not Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, etc., Australia. There is a huge difference in life experience, and perspectives, between those two, very different, English-speaking worlds.

However more, as all the fingers of the hand are not the same, so goes it with Thailand. Please check the crime statistics for Phuket yourself. You'll discover that the vast majority of Thai crimes, committed against foreigners, were committed in either remote, or isolated locations of Thailand.

For a comparative example, the worst Thai neighborhood street in Bangkok, is by far, a safer place for a foreigner to walk alone @ night, than many sparsely populated, and isolated locations on Phuket, Koh Samui, or Krabi, etc., to cite a few examples.

Despite being under the central governmental Rule_of_Law in Bangkok, ALL island locations in Thailand (and the rest of SE Asia, as well) have their own jurisdictional rights of authority, controlled (totally) by some local Thai family of fathers, uncles, brothers and cousins to the fourth generation deep.

Thus, the island locations are plagued with "idle-minded" Thai-teenage motorbike gangs of both boys & girls, who have assaulted (just for the pleasure of it), mugged and robbed @ knife-point, defenseless, elderly foreign men & couples, and occasionally have murdered their foreigner victims (with impunity), despite the police having full knowledge of whom the perpetrators actually were, by name. Welcome to the flip-coined reality side of Thailand.

Please consider alternative beach city locations in Thailand, where there are diverse pockets of western expats (with whom you can readily communicate with, for guidance info), e.g., Hua HIn, Jomtien, Na Jomtien or Bangsaray areas.

Certainly, you may believe Phuket to be a better, overall deal, from a financial investment point of view, but considering that many veteran Phuket, and Kho Samui expats are now selling their property holdings, at tremendously discounted sale prices, for a "reason", is well-worth looking into.

Many westerners, Aussies & Kiwis included, have come to Thailand with their bank accounts, and retirement "dreams". Many again, have also lost their entire life savings, as a result of their own arrogant refusal to listen the advice provided by veteran expats, or even their own (paid for) legal counsel. Go figure their reasoning@$#&^*&%#^&* 

The Australian Embassy should have a location list of approved, English-speaking Thai lawyers (solicitors), with very affordable consultation fees, prior to investing your hard-earned money, in the Kingdom of Thailand. 

Also, sign-up for a subscriber membership on Thaivisa.com/ They provide a comprehensive discussion/information platform forum, for practically all lifestyle flavors, or interests. 

Hello kRuben,
Thank you so much for your reply. One of the reasons I joined this forum was for real information from expats who have local knowledge of Thailand.

Yes, as you said we have had lovely holidays in Phuket, but do not know any expats living there. We had read that many expats were in Kamala beach area, so that was where we were thinking. Your rely has my partner Steve and I rethinking our choice. I appreciate and value your "insider" knowledge of the realities of Island life. We are not silly enough not to heed your advice, as your only motive to reply to me is to inform and help. I would like to be somewhere that has a good strong expat community for advice and friendship as we are social people. I did not know that Phuket does not have an organised expat association.

Earlier we had considered Hau Hin, with its beach and life style, so it is now back on the strong possibility for our retirement first choice. We are trying to gather as much information as possible for our relocation, but often only a pretty picture is painted and not the problems or some of the negatives. So again I value your response and information. We feel a little wiser now.
By the way, where in Thailand are you living at this time?
Thanks again
Cheers from Gayle and Steve

Do you like people do - Take an exploratory for maybe 4 weeks per city that you would like. I have heard that there is an expat club in Phuket. I also heard of an expat group in Hua Hin, called RIPERs. In a way, don't committ until you are ready to committee.

Thanks Bill for your advice. We will look at spending some time in Hau Hin before deciding to settle there.
Cheers from Gayle and Steve

There was an interesting short discussion on the "expat cafe" part of this forum about why some expats are hostile towards others that say anything negative about their local culture.  I like Thailand, and Thais, so in general I wouldn't have much negative to say if I wanted to, but cultures each have their strengths and weaknesses.  This original post was interesting for being one person's balanced take, not just one side or the other.

The discussion of why people have those protective attitudes seemed to stem from how they see integration, per my take, expressed there as follows (I typically overdo it, as there):


Those two ideas come up a lot, about dual pricing, and that if an expat doesn't like some aspect of local life or culture they should just go home.  Of course the inconsistency is that then an expat would need to love or be neutral about every aspect of local culture, which is a strange place to leave off.  It doesn't follow.

One more idea connects with those, related to a third issue that comes up, learning the local language.  It's about integrating versus remaining a part of a foreign culture, just based locally in a foreign country.  In general the "integration" supporting perspective maps onto being positive, and the tendency to remain separate but connected in limited ways with being more negative, or at least balanced, expressing likes and dislikes for different aspects, versus completely positive. 

But there is no reason why those ideas would need to connect in those ways.  Someone could be in favor of fully integrating--learning the language, eating only local foods, possibly adopting the local religion, etc.--and critical of negative aspects.  Or they might have an interest in remaining active in foreigner-themed local ties, or eating Western foods often, and not interested in becoming language fluent, or not want to wear flip-flops in a tropical environment, and still be very positive about the local culture.  It seems obvious enough why sets of ideas pair up though.  Without integrating someone would always be a bit outside the local norm trying to balance that, and taking up most aspects of the local culture would lead to a more natural positive experience.

About that knee-jerk "like it or leave it" reaction, it seems like those expats are really defending both "their" adopted culture and their interpretation of how to best relate to it.  It's odd that it pushes into not leaving room for any criticism, in the most normal form, but then people don't tend to generally think through their underlying perspectives on most things.

I had a few experiences that I would like to share.

A few weeks ago I as driving my motor bike and a Sungtao did the usual, he whipped over into my lane and knocked my down. I had to go to the hospital because there ended up being a small fractures with multiple bruises, includes my ribs. I spent two nights in a hospital and walked away with a sling for my arm. So be it and adjust. It did completely take away my ability to drive my motor bike.

The other day I asked a neighbor If they could pay my water bill (with my money) because I couldn't drive over there. About a week ago I walked up to a little neighborhood shop to buy some beer, which I frequent. She drove me home and gave me her telephone number. She said that if there was anything that I needed I should just call her and she would help me. I called her today for some beer. She said that she wouldn't be there for an hour. I said okay. I then walked to my neighbor and gave them a present in appreciation for helping me with the water bill. When I returned home I found the beer inside my house, since the door was unlocked. I had even left the money to pay for the beer on the table and she didn't take it. There are many flip sides of the coin about this is Thailand. Some are quite beautiful. I wish the US could turn back the clock to the 1950's and resume a real and pleasant life style in which people help and care for each other.