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  1. #26
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    It is curious to me that many feel by trying to blend in, it will be a much more enlightening experience. If you want to experience the culture, that is one thing, but to try and "blend in" or "getting involved" will never allow anyone to truly understand the culture that surrounds them.

    I know I am not the only one to have spent time in other countries, but you will never be accepted as one of them because you are a foreigner. I have always treated people the same, which is with respect if I am in their country. It is how I would like to treated by others who visit my country. But, they will never be like an American because their culture prevents that.

    Do Thais or Cambodians really care if you are trying to talk in their language? I don't think so as long as you are not working in their country and taking jobs. I have circled the world a few times and found things to be very similar with regard to how you are treated. If you respect others, they will normally respect you and you don't have to speak their language for this to happen.

    How much you get "involved" with the culture around you is an individual decision. There is no right or wrong way to live in a foreign country. It will always be foreign, so how much effort you put forth is up to you. Personally, I do not try to engulf myself with things going on around me. I take it all in and go to functions I want to see and don't go if I am not interested. I do not go because "it is the right thing to do."

    Enjoy your stay in whatever country you choose, but never believe you will be looked upon as anything other than a foreigner.

  2. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by DJ Pat View Post
    Who the hell socialises with Cambodians anyway?

    I'd safely say most 'expats' there are just male sexual predators who got bored of pattaya
    Or cant figure out to to stay in Thailand legally

    NOTE you will NEVER blend in or be accepted as a local. no matter how many kids you have or how well u speak the language . Your first an fore most a Farang/Barang

  3. #28
    Being chased by sloths DJ Pat's Avatar
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    ^And walking about in a vest, shorts and sandals showing a big belly off hardly endears the locals either

  4. #29
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    show respect and do what you feel is right for you,

  5. #30
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    Never been there, but a guy who spent some time there stated that all the expats living in Cambodia that he met where all there for the children (and not in a good way).

    Still, there has to be some exceptions.

    RickThai

  6. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by KEVIN2008 View Post
    Expatriates’ Strange Lives in Cambodia


    Though many expats have decided to base themselves in Cambodia, and many have lived here for years or even decades, it remains the case that some of the country’s foreign community have only the faintest understanding of the culture and heritage of the people that surround them. Segregated from the local population, declining to make even the most perfunctory attempts to learn the language, and subsisting on a diet of Western food, in many ways they live a life indistinguishable from their lives back home.




    Expatriates
    Culture culture culture blah blah. As if all these slant eyes would fully embrace western culture if they moved

  7. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by RickThai View Post
    Never been there, but a guy who spent some time there stated that all the expats living in Cambodia that he met where all there for the children (and not in a good way).

    Still, there has to be some exceptions.

    RickThai
    what bullshit, I lived there for 10 months and often go up there as have a Cambodian GF an have never met any expat into kids but then i guess ur friend must be a bit suspect if those are the people he hangs with.

  8. #33
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    I've been working there for the last few months and seen none of that shite either.

    Actually had a good beer with Phuket Richard too.

  9. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by RickThai View Post
    Never been there, but a guy who spent some time there stated that all the expats living in Cambodia that he met where all there for the children (and not in a good way).

    Still, there has to be some exceptions.

    RickThai
    RickThai, I'm not calling you an idiot (unlike our resident idiot Socal), but if I were you I wouldn't take the opinion of one person who's spent a bit of time in Cambodia as gospel.
    Of course the are exceptions...but then again...Kiddie fiddlers in places like Pattaya aren't exactly unheard of either are they???

  10. #35
    I am in Jail
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    Cost of living probably plays a part. I know a couple of washouts that survive in PP on a pension that's way too small to subsist here.

  11. #36
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    ^
    Isn't this the reason many expats are living in a country other than their own?

  12. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by KEVIN2008 View Post
    Expatriates’ Strange Lives in Cambodia


    Though many expats have decided to base themselves in Cambodia, and many have lived here for years or even decades, it remains the case that some of the country’s foreign community have only the faintest understanding of the culture and heritage of the people that surround them. Segregated from the local population, declining to make even the most perfunctory attempts to learn the language, and subsisting on a diet of Western food, in many ways they live a life indistinguishable from their lives back home.




    Expatriates
    I don't see anything wrong with living as you do in your home country if you choose to. I personally do, with a very few minor exceptions. Just because I live in a foreign country does not mean I must become one of "them." IMO

  13. #38
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    ^
    Exactly.

    Live to your comfort level, not someone else's.

  14. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    Isn't this the reason many expats are living in a country other than their own?
    Not at all . . . you make the assumptions that expats are retirees or pensioners who eke out their end of shelf life in some cheap hovel.

    There are probably more of us working expats around who earn the same or more than at home

  15. #40
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    i for one, enjoy life more in Asia than back in the states,
    Money plays no part in where i live

    I do agree with rickchoppers thou, that many live over in Asia cause it is cheaper and easier to get laid after 50

  16. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by OckerRocker View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    Isn't this the reason many expats are living in a country other than their own?
    Not at all . . . you make the assumptions that expats are retirees or pensioners who eke out their end of shelf life in some cheap hovel.

    There are probably more of us working expats around who earn the same or more than at home

    Have any actual data that compares the amount of workers vs non'workers?

  17. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by OckerRocker View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    Isn't this the reason many expats are living in a country other than their own?
    Not at all . . . you make the assumptions that expats are retirees or pensioners who eke out their end of shelf life in some cheap hovel.

    There are probably more of us working expats around who earn the same or more than at home

    Have any actual data that compares the amount of workers vs non'workers?
    Numbers are difficult to come by for specifically that purpose, but here goes:

    Singapore (my first Asian expat destination, after Europe and the US) - 1.1 million (excluding FDWs)
    Hong Kong (my second Asian expat destination) - 1million (excluding mainlanders nor PRs)
    Thailand (Third Asian expat destination) - 300.000-400.000 which includes working expats and retiree visa - purported to stay indefinitely . . . tough to find a delineation
    Malaysia (my current Asian expat destination) - ca. 50.000 working expats (non-Banglas) . . . 20.000 are on MM2H - retitiring expats

    But no - I cannot provide conclusive numbers and perhaps shouldn't have made that statement

  18. #43
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    Ageed OR.

  19. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Muffinman View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by RickThai View Post
    Never been there, but a guy who spent some time there stated that all the expats living in Cambodia that he met where all there for the children (and not in a good way).

    Still, there has to be some exceptions.

    RickThai
    RickThai, I'm not calling you an idiot (unlike our resident idiot Socal), but if I were you I wouldn't take the opinion of one person who's spent a bit of time in Cambodia as gospel.
    Of course the are exceptions...but then again...Kiddie fiddlers in places like Pattaya aren't exactly unheard of either are they???
    This guy spent a couple of months in Cambodia and then went on to live in Thailand for a couple of years. And of course it is just his opinion, but he was pretty adamant about he would NEVER want to live there because of the many expat low-lifes.

    RickThai

  20. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by OckerRocker View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by OckerRocker View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    Isn't this the reason many expats are living in a country other than their own?
    Not at all . . . you make the assumptions that expats are retirees or pensioners who eke out their end of shelf life in some cheap hovel.

    There are probably more of us working expats around who earn the same or more than at home

    Have any actual data that compares the amount of workers vs non'workers?
    Numbers are difficult to come by for specifically that purpose, but here goes:

    Singapore (my first Asian expat destination, after Europe and the US) - 1.1 million (excluding FDWs)
    Hong Kong (my second Asian expat destination) - 1million (excluding mainlanders nor PRs)
    Thailand (Third Asian expat destination) - 300.000-400.000 which includes working expats and retiree visa - purported to stay indefinitely . . . tough to find a delineation
    Malaysia (my current Asian expat destination) - ca. 50.000 working expats (non-Banglas) . . . 20.000 are on MM2H - retitiring expats

    But no - I cannot provide conclusive numbers and perhaps shouldn't have made that statement
    Ur saying that one in 7 hk residents are expats?? ( 2012 7.15 million residents

    Singapore 1 in 5 ( 2012 population 5.312)

    seems a bit high

    Thailand, i would say at least 50% ( of those i know here on Phuket) are working

    Essan probably closer to 95 % are retired

    Rickthai, couple of months ... not much to base an opinion on, an for what it worth, i prefer the expats have met online and in person in Cambodia far over those in Pattaya
    "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol or insanity, but they've always worked for me" HST

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  21. #46
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    Still assumptions and guesses about stats.

    Sorry, but everyone has a thought as to how many retirees vs working expats there are in Thailand, but the numbers are buried deep in the immigration computers waiting for someone to pull them out.

    Until that happens, I will only take your word which may or may not be accurate.

  22. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by RickThai View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by The Muffinman View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by RickThai View Post
    Never been there, but a guy who spent some time there stated that all the expats living in Cambodia that he met where all there for the children (and not in a good way).

    Still, there has to be some exceptions.

    RickThai
    RickThai, I'm not calling you an idiot (unlike our resident idiot Socal), but if I were you I wouldn't take the opinion of one person who's spent a bit of time in Cambodia as gospel.
    Of course the are exceptions...but then again...Kiddie fiddlers in places like Pattaya aren't exactly unheard of either are they???
    This guy spent a couple of months in Cambodia and then went on to live in Thailand for a couple of years. And of course it is just his opinion, but he was pretty adamant about he would NEVER want to live there because of the many expat low-lifes.

    RickThai
    Rick.

    A couple of months in Cambodia? I'll take a wild guess on where he was living shall I?
    Sihanoukville? St 51 area in PP?

    Anyone who's ever spent any amount of time in those places would know they are littered with the worst washouts of human society.

    Just saying like...

  23. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phuketrichard
    Ur saying that one in 7 hk residents are expats?? ( 2012 7.15 million residents

    Singapore 1 in 5 ( 2012 population 5.312)

    seems a bit high
    According to the stats, yes . . . and I scoured the web for them, not easy to find. Working expat numbers have been on the decline in the last few years simply because MNCs are hiring locals further and further up the food chain = cheaper (in terms of overall package) and generally just as good


    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    Still assumptions and guesses about stats.
    Yup, very difficult to find outright numbers

    Quote Originally Posted by The Muffinman
    Anyone who's ever spent any amount of time in those places would know they are littered with the worst washouts of human society.
    Hence the guy knowing Rick, Rick knowing the guy

  24. #49
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    Even if you extract the numbers from Thai Immigration it would probably not give a true picture.
    If you added up all the work permits in issue, you would still be missing those who have a marriage visa and 'work' in a business owned by their wife. Still quite a few offshore workers who choose Thailand as a temporary domicile during their downtime. Plus all the illegal black economy workers on extended tourist visas.
    Time share anyone?
    My personal experience is the the majority are here as either business owners or permitted tradesmen/specialists.
    The next largest group are those on retirement visas.
    i came for the weather and the temples obviously.

    As for immersion in the culture, it is what it is. I do hate the sanctimonious bores who insist that you must learn the language and eat the food or go home because you don't fit in. When I need your advice, I'll give it to you.
    Heart of Gold and a Knob of butter.

  25. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by OckerRocker View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Phuketrichard
    Ur saying that one in 7 hk residents are expats?? ( 2012 7.15 million residents

    Singapore 1 in 5 ( 2012 population 5.312)

    seems a bit high
    According to the stats, yes . . . and I scoured the web for them, not easy to find. Working expat numbers have been on the decline in the last few years simply because MNCs are hiring locals further and further up the food chain = cheaper (in terms of overall package) and generally just as good


    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers
    Still assumptions and guesses about stats.
    Yup, very difficult to find outright numbers

    Quote Originally Posted by The Muffinman
    Anyone who's ever spent any amount of time in those places would know they are littered with the worst washouts of human society.
    Hence the guy knowing Rick, Rick knowing the guy
    Ah Okie,

    Still stinging from the intellectual whipping I gave you on the "deleted threads" thread?

    I'm not sure where the guy stayed, and to be fair, that was about 7 years ago before many countries started cracking down on their citizens who went to Cambodia for pedophilia.

    It does seem reasonable that many of the "new" expats moving to Cambodia are doing so because of the higher price of . . . uh, let's call it "living" in Thailand (you know what I mean).

    I've always wanted to visit Ankhor Wat but haven't yet gotten around to it. Maybe next year.

    RickThai

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