Hello From Thailand!

[Blackfish64]

Howdy!  Happy to be here.  I have been listening quite a bit lately to Stefan Molyneux's YouTube videos and enjoying them very much and decided to drop in and join the party!  I'm Ted, a white male, 49 years old, now living under martial law in Thailand.  (No worries.  Living here is about the same as it was before the coup, but with a lot less violence).   I have always been interested in philosophy, and especially since the Labor Day weekend of 1997 when I started reading Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged".  It was Rand who made me realize the value of a sound philosophy and sense of life.  I, too, was one of those children who grew up at the hands of an ex-military, drunken father who's main goal in life was to dress me down and get me in line, and a mother who would not stand up for us or for herself and took his beatings and nonsense for thirty years before finally getting wise enough to pull the plug.  Anyway, was nothing like Mom and I did not get in line.  I did not obey.  I am a warrior and warriors fight their enemies.  And that is all.  I was forced however to endure the physical violence, psychological abuse and maltreatment Dad liked to inflict.  I was sadly mistaken for all of my childhood and teen years when brooding over the idea that when I turned that magical age of eighteen and was a legal adult I could walk away from this lunatic and all my problems would be solved.  It does not work that way, so I have found out.  Every therapist I have ever met was worthless.  Every self-help book I ever read was worthless, too, with the exception of oneof Nathaniel Branden's books, in which I was introduced to the sentence-completion exercise, a tool which I have found tremendously therapeutic and helpful in my journaling over the years.  Not so oddly enough, I find myself identifying with the stories of those who spent some part of their lives in NAZI concentrationcamps and death camps during WWII than any and all the stuff I've found in self-help books.  That's what I really felt like as a boy and a teen, and sometimes as an adult, not only as someone neglected and abused, but like a prisoner.  I was a physical, mental, and emotional prisoner of the war my narcissistic fatherhad going on in his head; the war he tried to win with booze, gambling, womanizing, woman-beating, violence, denial, negligence and plain stupidity.  Long story short, he lost his war, I have won mine.  And Iwant to write about it.    I started writing when I was eighteen.  I am a musician (guitar picker and singer), and I love blues-based rock and roll guitar music best of all.  I got tired of all the stupid lyrics rockers and bluesmen were writing and I wanted to do something about it, so I set myself to the task of writing some songs.  While I was at it, the songwriting morphed into complete sentences, paragraphs, essays and stories, and I realized that I wanted to be a writer.  I have been doing it ever since.  I just wish I could find a way to make some money at it.That's about it for me.  Again, happy to be here and looking forward to meeting all of you!

 

It's all up to us!

[Laforge]

Hi! Ow man, sucks that you feel captive, where'r you from originally? Is Thailand's nice climate helping you feel more free? Also sucks that Thailand has been unstable for so long. Hope you don't live in Bangkok's center.What's Thailand like from a tax-farm point of view? I know the people there are quite timid. (And fairly heavily socialist indoctrinated) But how bad is the whole picture of income-tax/VAT/sales-tax compared to where you're from? I heard from someone that building permits are very relaxed but a quick online search is making that story confusing for me. 

[Blackfish64]

Hi! Ow man, sucks that you feel captive, where'r you from originally? Is Thailand's nice climate helping you feel more free? Also sucks that Thailand has been unstable for so long. Hope you don't live in Bangkok's center.What's Thailand like from a tax-farm point of view? I know the people there are quite timid. (And fairly heavily socialist indoctrinated) But how bad is the whole picture of income-tax/VAT/sales-tax compared to where you're from? I heard from someone that building permits are very relaxed but a quick online search is making that story confusing for me. 

I'm originally from the United States.  I've lived mostly in Minnesota and Nevada. 

 

As far as the climate, it has done me a world of good to get out of the desert that is Las Vegas.  I have lived there over the last thirteen years, and I think it is better for my health to be in this more humid climate.  Maybe I will go back to the Midwest when I go back stateside!  Possibly North Dakota.  My research finds a great economy up there, lots of jobs, good wages, and sound banking practices.  

 

I live in rural Nakhon Pathom, about an hour from Bangkok.  No worries about violence around here.  Even before the junta it was quiet.  

 

Foreigners can't own land here.  But they can own buildings, second stories and up, and businesses.  I don't own anything or even have a job.  My wife's family owns a resort and we live here in exchange for running the place. 

 

Yes, building permits are incredibly relaxed.  If the Thai even bother getting a permit at all, they pretty much build whatever they want wherever they want, even on public land.  Nobody seems to care.  I suppose the closer you get to the big cities, the more they care however.  But out here in the country, if you need to build yourself a hut to live in, go for it. 

 

And even though I am married to a Thai, I have to leave the country every 60 days and renew my visa.  If not married to a Thai, I would have to leave every thirty days.  But since I can show a marriage certificate, I get a thirty day visa on arrival, and another 60 days for a fee of 1,600.00 baht.  I like leaving every sixty days.  I love to travel.  I pick a new country every time I have to go.  This Friday I am going to Viet Nam for a few days. 

 

Many people come to Thailand thinking it's some kind of utopia.  That's all bunk.  It can be pretty great if you have good income in US dollars.  But if you are thinking of coming here and going to work, or if you are a broke old worker and laborer, well below poverty, like me, you will end up just like everybody else.  Stay where you are.  

 

I got here by accident.  I met my wife in Las Vegas thirteen years ago and she just happened to be a Thai.  I have been here a few times over the years.  I am going back stateside in December.  I think this will be my last visit. 

 

Thailand is some beautiful country however if you have it in mind to see it.  And don't worry about the junta.  It is peaceful here for a change and very easy to get around.  Enjoy.