Who's living abroad?

[tamdrin12]

You must be confusing me with other posters as I never complained about Bangkok that was the other guy who posted on my thread. I like it for many reasons.

1) I like simple living. Living abroad and being fairly mobile I don't accumulate a lot of possessions. I don't like materialism. Also I can subsist on a modest income. My rent is only 130$ a month in Chiang Mai. I bought a scooter. My only other expense now is really food.

2) I like Asia because of the history and Buddhist culture. I have been practicing Buddhism for 12 years. In Chiang Mai there are tons of events and Buddhist temples. If I want to I can join in with their chanting. There are also courses and teachings widely available.

3) By living abroad I escape the thick matrix of contrived social behavior and mindless materialism. The other expats that I meet are more thoughtful, traveled, and experienced in life in general than people who just live in America. I also meet people from Europe. Many of the friends I have met abroad are into the same things as me, and have a similar worldview and general interests.

4) I enjoying learning languages and meeting people in different cultural contexts. I studied Tibetan in India for 2 years total. I have many Tibetan friends with whom I keep regular contact. They are more meaningful relationships than the ones formed amongst "buddies" in the pursuit of idle hedonism. I also have many western friends who, for similar reasons, such as being able to subsist on a little bit of money, have traveled abroad in pursuit of spiritual and intellectual truths.

5) Girls: I prefer Asian women, I vibe better with them, and I have experience with a variety of women and cultures. I see it as a learning process.

NewlifeinthePhillipines. Can you please use a little heedfulness and think a little bit before you make all these assumptions and accusations to people who you don't even know. Not everyone is you. Not everyone has the same experiences and reasons for doing the things they do. I first came abroad when I was 20 years old as part of a study abroad program in University to a small state in northern India to study Tibetan language and culture. I have roots in both the east and west and maintain good connections with my family and friends back home as well.

[tamdrin12]

@tamdrin

How is your status as an English teacher in Thailand? Out of all the asian countries I want to live in (and visit to for my description) are Vietnam, China, and Ph and Thailand. I think china would be best for the pay but overall location and satisfaction.. Probably Thailand or Vietnam.

Does being an English teacher in Thailand put you on par with other educated Thai locals? Or are english teachers seen as.. Something else..

Chrissays,

In short, being a teacher in Asia will command you a moderate level of respect. Asians respect teachers in general. At least that has been my experience with Chinese, Taiwanese, and Thai's. Whenever I tell Thai's that I am a teacher they smile and say something like oh that is so good... So I have received a positive response. Yes Thailand is not the best for the pay but it is the best for quality of life versus cost ratio.

As far as being on par with other educated Thai locals. I am not sure of that. It is hard to compare foreigners with other Thais as foreigners are really grouped in a class of their own. One thing is for sure, even as an English teacher making $900 to $1000 USD a month you will be making a lot more than most of the locals. I make a considerable amount more than the Thai teachers at my school and they have studied teaching at Thai universities. I have no formal training, but some experience accumulated.

Vietnam would be somewhere in the middle in terms of pay. I think you can make decent money in Vietnam. I would highly recommend visiting the places you are considering teaching in first if at all possible. Otherwise no matter how much you hear about it from other people or read about it you could be disappointed once arriving there.

[newlifeinphilippines]

I thought it was you too you were complaining alot about bangkok and how you felt better in chiang mia. The only place you liked. You hated india. you seem to hate america too.

[tamdrin12]

No.. that was gsjackson who hated Thailand I believe. I liked India at first, then I got sick of it do to getting sick many times from bad food. Go there and you will see. I never once said that I hate America. America is o.k. for me however how I have more to do outside the American matrix currently.

[zboy1]

I'm a Korean American living in China. I plan on staying in Asia (not necessarily China, though) for the rest of my life.

[DDuana]

How many people are actually living BETTER abroad, if we are playing the odds game it should be losers abroad cause more have lost than won by going abroad.


Banano, ghost, maverick, zboy, winston, bstyle, me, Mr. S, xiangmao, hero, etc are just some of many examples of people who failed abroad and in fact ran into many disasters (getting girls pregnant, drama, scammed, cheated on, false hopes and lost money) and their life was no better or in some cases WORSE. hammanta and will n dowd seem to enjoy non c0mmittal sex and running around as their goal so im not sure you could classify them as success or failure cause they aren't serious.

The only ones ive seen who genuinely have a better life abroad are Rock, pete, davewe, mguy, taco, ladislav, falcon and maybe a few select other posters that have come and gone. Not exactly a huge number. I wouldn't put starchild in that group cause he could find a beautiful wife in india but chooses to monger so his life is better in India not philippines. Taco was miserable in the philippines and was on verge of disaster and he married an average looking single mom with baggage but i put him on the list cause he expatted back to the u.s and is gonna get his wife so i guess the story will end ok. Otherwise he would have been on the failure list too. Outwest had one failure and one success and many other failures before that so hes net neutral.

Thank you for putting things into perspective.

It is a classic case of damned if you do and damned if you don't do. If you bring them to America, you risk them becoming Americanized and trying to take you for all you are worth. If you stay overseas, in a foreign environment, you risk being scammed, and you cannot own property. So there is a very good chance the woman will also take you for all you are worth. And when you live with her family, you are embroiled in their drama. Not a good look.

[OutWest]

How many people are actually living BETTER abroad, if we are playing the odds game it should be losers abroad cause more have lost than won by going abroad.


Banano, ghost, maverick, zboy, winston, bstyle, me, Mr. S, xiangmao, hero, etc are just some of many examples of people who failed abroad and in fact ran into many disasters (getting girls pregnant, drama, scammed, cheated on, false hopes and lost money) and their life was no better or in some cases WORSE. hammanta and will n dowd seem to enjoy non c0mmittal sex and running around as their goal so im not sure you could classify them as success or failure cause they aren't serious.

The only ones ive seen who genuinely have a better life abroad are Rock, pete, davewe, mguy, taco, ladislav, falcon and maybe a few select other posters that have come and gone. Not exactly a huge number. I wouldn't put starchild in that group cause he could find a beautiful wife in india but chooses to monger so his life is better in India not philippines. Taco was miserable in the philippines and was on verge of disaster and he married an average looking single mom with baggage but i put him on the list cause he expatted back to the u.s and is gonna get his wife so i guess the story will end ok. Otherwise he would have been on the failure list too. Outwest had one failure and one success and many other failures before that so hes net neutral.

Net neutral? OK...o can live with that. So far as I know...I and Yoham are the only posters on HA that have wife and kids abroad.
This tends to give me different concerns than most.
Living in Cebu forum has had some men who were in my circumstances as well.

[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

How did zboy fail (or lose)? From the posts I read he's overall more happy in China than in the states and he has a better dating life..

Ghost just wrote a post about leaving the states again. Why would he go abroad (again) if he failed over there?

I guess I should define success abroad as in.. Living a better life abroad than in the states.

zboy is a racist against anyone not asia with a huge chip on his shoulder (and is communist which is why he likes china) who runs to asia to feel comfortable in his own skin and politics he had no success story there only in his mind. He had one girlfriend but it went down the drain after she went to america and saw how great life is while his broke a** is still trying to find a woman on his backpacker salary LOL. If you read closely he is a miserable asian dude with a chip on his shoulder and perpetually alone in china. Read between the lines. He only goes to asia cause he doesn't feel like an outsider but the end result is the same, hes been with his right hand most of the time and posting how he hates white people.


Ghost like the rest of us is a loser in america socially, so he figures he will have another shot since he has nothing to lose. He goes to latin america which is the worst spot to go for a guy who has failed already in asia. He may find a wife someday in china but he never got laid there before and who the heck wants to live in china forever seriously. I only look for a wife in a country where i either plan to live or i plan to import back to america. If he ever brings her back to america he will face the same dilemma as we all will, will she divorce us? its not an easy solutionf or any of us.

Zboy1 is NOT racist with ethnocentric pride. He's just very verbose about how decadent America is now; I wholeheartedly agree with him. And wouldn't you go somewhere so you wouldn't feel ike an outsider alas being happier abroad??? 2100+ posts in such terse time; I guess you speak with such panache. Piss off.

[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

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[E Irizarry R&B Singer]

You must be confusing me with other posters as I never complained about Bangkok that was the other guy who posted on my thread. I like it for many reasons.

1) I like simple living. Living abroad and being fairly mobile I don't accumulate a lot of possessions. I don't like materialism. Also I can subsist on a modest income. My rent is only 130$ a month in Chiang Mai. I bought a scooter. My only other expense now is really food.

2) I like Asia because of the history and Buddhist culture. I have been practicing Buddhism for 12 years. In Chiang Mai there are tons of events and Buddhist temples. If I want to I can join in with their chanting. There are also courses and teachings widely available.

3) By living abroad I escape the thick matrix of contrived social behavior and mindless materialism. The other expats that I meet are more thoughtful, traveled, and experienced in life in general than people who just live in America. I also meet people from Europe. Many of the friends I have met abroad are into the same things as me, and have a similar worldview and general interests.

4) I enjoying learning languages and meeting people in different cultural contexts. I studied Tibetan in India for 2 years total. I have many Tibetan friends with whom I keep regular contact. They are more meaningful relationships than the ones formed amongst "buddies" in the pursuit of idle hedonism. I also have many western friends who, for similar reasons, such as being able to subsist on a little bit of money, have traveled abroad in pursuit of spiritual and intellectual truths.

5) Girls: I prefer Asian women, I vibe better with them, and I have experience with a variety of women and cultures. I see it as a learning process.

NewlifeinthePhillipines. Can you please use a little heedfulness and think a little bit before you make all these assumptions and accusations to people who you don't even know. Not everyone is you. Not everyone has the same experiences and reasons for doing the things they do. I first came abroad when I was 20 years old as part of a study abroad program in University to a small state in northern India to study Tibetan language and culture. I have roots in both the east and west and maintain good connections with my family and friends back home as well.

You sound like you are living life and taking heed to the HA creed. #Kudos

[Yohan]

zboy is a racist against anyone not asia

He only goes to asia cause he doesn't feel like an outsider but the end result is the same, hes been with his right hand most of the time and posting how he hates white people.

I cannot confirm this, I found Zboy1's comments fairly moderate for an Asian American (better to say USA-Chinese), and he was in general friendly when replying to my critical comments about China.

I never noticed that he 'hates white people', I am white...

He is however a big fan of mainland China, he sees only what is good about China, I do not really understand why.
He ignores totally that China is not a dreamland but a hardship for many of his Chinese countrymen.

[xiongmao]

This thread's gone a bit crazy, but anyway...

I've quit my job [again] and in March I'll be living abroad again. This time I'm going to Spain. It's going to be interesting to revisit Europe and see what it's like. I've not been to Spain since I was about 15.

Anyway, I'll be there till mid-June if anyone is passing through. After that I might head up to Germany as I have a social engagement there and I guess it's possible I might be able to find an IT job there [we Brits can work anywhere in Europe, without needing a visa/work permit].