So any big mistakes

[JimmyBoy]

Ive recently posted about my pending trip back to England after 15 years away and my time in Thailand , this is yet another thought that Ive just had. If I asked you to name just one thing that in your mind you now know has turned out to be a big mistake you have made while in Thailand , what would that one thing be , how about getting married , building a house , loaning a family member money, paying for the wife's boob job, moving to the wrong area , starting a business , buying a Mitsubishi Triton , trusting people too much . So any big mistakes that you can share , so we may learn from them ?


Personally , loaning money to a Thai .

I loaned the girlfriends brother some money to start a business , and just accepted his word as being ok, no paper work , just a gentlemen's agreement , now I know he's not a gentleman , rule of thumb , the word loan translated from Thai to English , turns out to be '' Gift " , how does that old saying go, once bitten , twice .

[Albert Shagnastier]

being nice just for the sake of it.

here, 9 out of 10 see kindness as weakness.

[Kwang]

once bitten , twice

Stabbed in the fukkin throat for takin the piss

[rawlins]

Too many mistakes to mention.

1. Nup

[AUSSIE EXPAT]

Lending money is a no no.

When the shiny but older ATM arrived in the village a few years back my wife went from a faceless person in the crowd to the ultimate authority on lending money and at interest rates that would make Barclays jealous.

Long story short - most Thais in the sticks barely make enough to feed themselves so there is no way any loan will EVER be paid back. If you feel the need to assist some poor deserving soul, look on it as a gift. There will be exceptions, but rare.

The immediate family were the worst because they were special I believe.

[Smug Farang Bore]

^^^only time I got stabbed in Toyland was by a Scotsman.

[nigelandjan]

Biggest mistake I made was wasting the first 30 years of my adult life not in Thaialnd

[dobella]

Hooked up with a great guy last year Scottish feller, proffesional classical guitarist that had married a girl he met in Pattaya then set her up with a £70,000 pig farm up in Isaan with her family and after 2 yrs. of marriage he developed cancer (terminal) , and thought it best to advise her of it and within a week she had told him bluntly that they had 'no future' so she was getting out of it all.
These mixed cultural marriages can be extremely testing especially when MONEY is the prime asset, not love.

[Hampsha]

Lending money is a no no.

most Thais in the sticks barely make enough to feed themselves so there is no way any loan will EVER be paid back.

And they are always looking for more. This place is doomed.

[Hampsha]

Staying more than a year or two. I can't prove it was a mistake in my life story but we will see. Just hard to leave the wine women and song.

[Marmite the Dog]

I lend my SiL money all the time and always have it repaid on time. 'Tis no big deal.

[benbaaa]

I have a feeling that posting my biggest mistakes online would be one of my biggest mistakes.

[Mr Earl]

They aren't mistakes; just learning experiences. The mistake is in not learning from them.

[kmart]

Probably not buying gold when it was something like 5,000 /1 Baht weight, back in the day. I could have fukcing retired now..

As for other mistakes I have made; too many to mention.

[terry57]

If you had mentioned the subject matter being outside Thailand I would suggest you don't have enough time left in your life to listen.

Actually not that bad, I've made some monumental fuk ups but not regarding Women or business hence why I still have a pot to piss in. .

Oh well I'm no orphan that's for sure.

I just hope that I don't fuk up once again.

[Hampsha]

Your're probably too old and seasoned to fup now terry.

[9999]

Moving too close to extended family. Thank fuck it's not gonna be forever.

[Hampsha]

Agree with that, 9999. Stay away and be okay, Youngsters.

[Bettyboo]

you now know has turned out to be a big mistake you have made while in Thailand

I never planned to stay, was on my way to somewhere else and decided to stay for a couple more months... In retrospect, if I'd planned to stay, spent time in England getting an expat job or setting meself up in a job/self-employment of my choice before I came then I'd be much better off financially... Effectively I've had to spend half a dozen or more years building anew career when I had a successful and much better paying one already. My error was that I thought this would just be an extended holiday then I'd go back to the bucks as per usual...

Anyone who is young and plans to come out here to stay should not just turn up, they should spend some time planning and enabling a decent lifestyle.

Having said that, I've seen much more of Thai culture/people/places then I would have otherwise done.

[PlanK]

Lending money to an Aussie.

[Hampsha]

Trying to get Boonme to join the hippies

[koman]

Giving large cash gifts to the wife's relatives and being pestered relentlessly to accept repayment with interest.......

[FlyFree]

Everybody's got a sad, 'I've been screwed' tale or twenty to tell.

That's life. You can adopt the cynical 'trust nobody' philosophy and live in a shitty, dog eats dog world, or you can be philosophical about it and refuse to descend into that miserable world.

You know and I know everybody's not the same. And when people do screw you, they are not always bad. Sometimes they simply have no choice. Sometimes your attitude actually prompts them into thinking 'why the fuck not'. Yes and sometimes they're just fuckin flotsam.

So why sink down to the lowest and let the flotsam dictate the world you live in.

[Hampsha]

Nice philosophy. Wouldn't forgive everyone out there. Forgiving and ignoring the evils still out there is good for the moment of happiness but someday this philosophy or 'apathy' may turn on you. I'm torn between forgiving and mercy killing, myself. If there is forgiveness it should be directed at yourself. The problem is bad people forgive themselves too much! Anyways lets get back to the topic, big mistakes. Sorry.

[FlyFree]

Nice philosophy. Wouldn't forgive everyone out there. Forgiving and ignoring the evils still out there is good for the moment of happiness but someday this philosophy or 'apathy' may turn on you. I'm torn between forgiving and mercy killing, myself. If there is forgiveness it should be directed at yourself. The problem is bad people forgive themselves too much! Anyways lets get back to the topic, big mistakes. Sorry.

Where does the forgiving bit come from. Forgiveness, hate and grudges I leave to the religious and self-righteous.

The world, and life, is what it is. You'll run into the good, the bad, and may I say, the fuckugly.

You can't live your life on all these levels, so you choose how you want to live it.

I've chosen to be realistic but continue to believe in the basic 'goodness' of individuals. (Mobs and nations are a different story). I've not lived a sheltered or isolated life, yet I betcha I've been ripped off and screwed far less than your average cynical, trust nobody wanker.

Few would admit that the vibe they create attracts similar.

The fact that I don't like sweet-talking, loud bullshitters helps.