Originally Posted by
Neverna
^ It depends on which part of Britain you live or work. There are some lovely places, some not so nice places and plenty in between.
The thing about Thailand for you is that it's a place for a holiday and you can choose where you go and for how long. In Britain, you are mostly restricted to where you work with the odd break or holiday elsewhere.
Everywhere's lovely when the sun is shining and you've got more coming in than going out.
It's a tough one... the UK and places like it is where all the infrastructure and the modern culture and the real world is... you know, civilisation... it's always tempting to want to flee the grind for the promise of perpetual holiday, but timing and location is everything. The relationships you have with people in your own country are a bit more like real relationships than the ones you form in places like Thailand where you can't always communicate or integrate well, and you can end up talking to people you never would normally back home. It can be a bit lonely, after all the whoring and holidaying.
I think Thailand's best days are behind it and it's neighbours are up and coming, but it does have some semblance of infrastructure and entertainment for the region with less of the stifling chinese influence and let's face it, lower prices... Japan is more exciting version of Thailand really, but the money and access can be more difficult... not so easy to set up a little biz or cope with japanese working culture for long, but the women are far better than the rest of asia. I'm interested in Burma now, and looking forward to surfing on it's growth - optimistic that it will supplant Thailand over the next 10-20 years... but I'm also optimistic about the UK's future free of the basket case EU, and there is where oppotunity lies in the UK being able to build links outside of the EU, and new oppos in Asia and other parts of the world for all of us who are bitten by wanderlust.
Thailand is a pool of sharks, don't big it up too much... there's a big old world out there.