Thread: Pros and cons of moving to a country where the people are much poorer & less educated

This is IMO the most controversial issue regarding whether Thailand is a good place for westerners to live. I know that people like Ant prefer it here because of the low cost of labour, which means that he can outbid the locals to get a nice home and can hire locals to do domestic work. In effect, it is a shortcut to becoming upper-middle class.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be upper-middle class, but it's the shortcut that causes the problem IMO. Because this shortcut involves relocating to a very different country, where the average adult has received perhaps the same level of education as the average 11 year old back home and earns 10% of the average back home. The question then becomes one of whether you like being surrounded by millions of poor and poorly educated people. For me, it is a situation that is more tedious than rewarding, but perhaps I'm in the minority on this forum. However, it is a very unusual thing to do, so I think I'm generally in the vast majority.

God, you are a tedious kunt.

welcome to my ignore list.

I prefer ERCO's record

Smeg, did you get you wee little dick caught in your zipper today?

You are one broken record.

Originally Posted by Smeg

perhaps I'm in the minority on this forum.

You're in a minority everywhere. Sad, obsessed, boring, pitiable, whining, idiots like you are still heavily outnumbered by normal people, thankfully.

that's much better.

Originally Posted by Smeg

I know that people like Ant prefer it here because of the low cost of labour, which means that he can outbid the locals to get a nice home and can hire locals to do domestic work. In effect, it is a shortcut to becoming upper-middle class.

Actually you don't know anything, you just think you do. Bit like Hollywood and reality Smeg - the two are mutually exclusive.

You're becoming a bit of a parody of yourself, very tedious.

And anyway if Ant wanted to be upper middle class he wouldnt have got himself tattooed

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Originally Posted by Smeg

I know that people like Ant prefer it here because of the low cost of labour, which means that he can outbid the locals to get a nice home and can hire locals to do domestic work. In effect, it is a shortcut to becoming upper-middle class.

Actually you don't know anything, you just think you do. Bit like Hollywood and reality Smeg - the two are mutually exclusive.

Really? This is one of your reasons for living in Thailand, according to you.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

It's simply not economically viable to have my lifestyle in New Zealand. To have a maid, gardener, nanny and all that kind of thing is out of the reach of all but the most wealthy.

Originally Posted by slimboyfat

And anyway if Ant wanted to be upper middle class he wouldnt have got himself tattooed

You're a bit hung-up on that aren't you.

FFS, Smeg. You're a boring prat. Have a red. Bye !!

Originally Posted by Smeg

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Originally Posted by Smeg

I know that people like Ant prefer it here because of the low cost of labour, which means that he can outbid the locals to get a nice home and can hire locals to do domestic work. In effect, it is a shortcut to becoming upper-middle class.

Actually you don't know anything, you just think you do. Bit like Hollywood and reality Smeg - the two are mutually exclusive.

You're becoming a bit of a parody of yourself, very tedious.

Really? This is one of your reasons for living in Thailand, according to you.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

It's simply not economically viable to have my lifestyle in New Zealand. To have a maid, gardener, nanny and all that kind of thing is out of the reach of all but the most wealthy.

Did you just say one of the reasons?

Besides which, that's lifestyle Smeg. You're the one that tacked "upper-middle class" onto that not me. Very few upper-middle class people in NZ would have maids, nannies and gardeners.

sad actually. But I like it. Why the fuck do you stay here? Warrants out back in the UK?

12 to nothing just a few minutes into the game.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Did you just say one of the reasons?

Besides which, that's lifestyle Smeg. You're the one that tacked "upper-middle class" onto that not me. Very few upper-middle class people in NZ would have maids, nannies and gardeners.

Yes, I said one of the reasons. And in the OP I said you like being able to do that. It influenced your decision to live here. So, i think it is reasonable to assume that you prefer to live surrounded by poor & poorly educated people, because you think it improves your lifestyle. But to me, this is superfical short-termism.

Originally Posted by ChiangMai noon

welcome to my ignore list.

Good on you. A few of the overly-sensitive flamers, please follow suit.

Originally Posted by Smeg

Yes, I said one of the reasons. And in the OP I said you like being able to do that. It influenced your decision to live here. So, i think it is reasonable to assume that you prefer to live surrounded by poor & poorly educated people, because you think it improves your lifestyle. But to me, this is superfical short-termism.

No, in the OP you were arsing on about my wanting to be upper-middle class. Your assumptions are based on faulty reasoning because the basic premise is flawed - you simply don't know me notwithstanding the fact you still keep trying to speak for me.

Anyways more concerning than any of that is that I'm becoming a bit worried by your stalkerish behaviour; all these questions you keep asking me. Are you book-marking this stuff, composing a dossier on me, cut n' pasting it into a file or what!?! Am I going to have to change my locks?

Smeg, do you really hang around with Thai's all the time?
I guess I must be in a minority because i dont think really hang around with thai's, just eductaed westerners (and uneducated ones like Scampy. sometimes.)

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Am I going to have to change my locks?

there are some benefits to stalker evasion.

Originally Posted by Smeg

Pros and cons of moving to a country where the people are much poorer & less educated

Understand John Galt has started a new Forum. Teakbore. Try it.

Originally Posted by Blake7

Smeg, do you really hang around with Thai's all the time?
I guess I must be in a minority because i dont think really hang around with thai's, just eductaed westerners (and uneducated ones like Scampy. sometimes.)

A select few. 90% of those I meet I find to be too thick, 2-faced and/or infantile.

Oh look, not only is Smeg a self-professed expert on Thais, Thailand and teaching us others that live here that we're in a perpetual fog of delusionment - kidding ourselves that we might actually be happy and satisfied living here (imagine that, what are the odds?? Surely you can only be miserable living here!) - not only all that, but he's now an expert on me:

Pros and cons of moving...29-08-2008 08:20 PMSmegDon't like to admit it, do ya

And for his next trick he's going to wow me by telling what I had for dinner and whether I enjoyed it or not...

^ You have time to post 50 times per day AND eat? I'm impressed

I thought Smeg would say its easier to shag being among the millions of poor. You surprised me. Have a green.

Originally Posted by Smeg

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Did you just say one of the reasons?

Besides which, that's lifestyle Smeg. You're the one that tacked "upper-middle class" onto that not me. Very few upper-middle class people in NZ would have maids, nannies and gardeners.

Yes, I said one of the reasons. And in the OP I said you like being able to do that. It influenced your decision to live here. So, i think it is reasonable to assume that you prefer to live surrounded by poor & poorly educated people, because you think it improves your lifestyle. But to me, this is superfical short-termism.

or it could be that his wife is Thai, her family live here (Thailand), she wants the support network, and Ant is agreeable to such an arrangement at this time in life.

Take it from me, Ant has one of the most exportable occupations/degrees you can have. With a good enough common law degree, you can work almost anywhere you want in the world (including China) at almost any time you decide you want to live there.

But hanging the fact that one wishes to live in Thailand because one has a maid is rather like me saying I want to live in the UK because Tesco's sells peanut-butter and jelly in a jar. It may be a reason I like living in the UK, but I doubt it's the rason I'll stay there.

In any case, anyone who has ever had a maid in Thailand will tell you she (for there are not many he) is one of the main reasons you want leave - pain in the fucking arse - the lot of them