I’d suggest you stop reading any moment if you find my answer isn’t what you want to read… just to save your time and read others' better answers.
You and I are trapped by the lure of the exotic and the beauty of “the Land of the Free” guys! The process for any foreigners to move here is to come and see Thailand longer than you did on the last trip.
- Let’s forget about 4 nights and 5 days with a free ‘One night in Bangkok T-shirt’. You stay a long trip this time until the novelty wears out then you decide for yourself.
Rent a condo or a house for 6 months.
When the dawn breaks, just walk to the cafe you used to patronize and see if the same feeling is still there like you first watch ‘The Beach’
Go and walk along the streets of Bangkok or wherever in Thailand. This time ask if you see what you saw in “ The Hangover 2” Tell yourself if your excitement turns to irritation when seeing the mess with no improvement- a guy storing his things pile up in front of your condo permanently pushing you on the road with no rules, no frames, no police nor no one bothers.
You decide to walk a shortcut and you see these scenes, ask yourself, Does it remind you of how exotic it is resembling ‘ Deer Hunter’? In the movie, your dad told you exactly when the scene. “Russian Roulette” was played. Or you’d feel rather disgusted and fear of being mugged by Thai drug addicts from slum dwellers.
You decide to buy a motorcycle to go places for the fun of it until…
- One day the bike is gone, yes it was stolen, and you walk right in to report at the police station.
The cop asked for a CCTV. So you went back and came back to give the cop a clip. It showed the thief’s face in full view. The cop said he needed the thief’s full name to issue a warrant.
You walked out and did a detective job yourself with the help of the Condo’s macho guard who accompanied you to beat up the guy and put him in a pickup truck to that police station —just to have a ‘photo taken’ with the same cop with a ‘Thank You’ note and a salute to you— you got back your motorbike. You mumbled #%^*+ Z@ and forgot about it.
- Again, at the same police station, this time you file a case that you were attacked by 5 Thai thugs.
On the next day the same ‘police superintendent’ attended to you but instead of arresting the 5 guys, he asked you to reconsider dropping the case (for your good) and put in a scenario that you may face “4 years” in prison for trespassing but the 5 Thai thugs would only pay the fine for hurting you and go home.
Now then the scene at the police station in ‘ The Hangover 2, pops up in your mind when the 3 stooges pick up and push ‘60-year-old Teddy’ into the wheelchair to look for 18-year-old Teddy.
- You are due to make a 90-day report and extend the visa to stay on or to apply for a work permit as you find a job with excellent pay.
Now, your eyes are open to see that you are treated like ‘cattle’ by the police who manned the queue, meeting with a lady immigration police who ‘never smiled’ but asked for documents that were not even stipulated in the form like ‘the death certificate’ of your father (as you want to apply for a visa for your mother) -or all testimonial letters from the companies you worked with from your first job ‘25 years ago till the last job.’
“Hello Sweetie! “The same lady who came to cross your arm with hers and whispered into your ear, “ Hi, handsome would you take me with you”
This time she never even looked at you as you know the value of Thai Baht better now and don’t give tips or spend on her like ‘Johnny Depp’ who gave a $4,000 whopping tip after a drink at the restaurant.
Just think. If this doesn’t dig into your ears, you are unmovable to move to Thailand right now to see the sunset in Koh Phi-Phi and the moonlit night on the Chao Phraya River every other day.
Be my guest, and go and read other well-meaning answers, - Welcome to Thailand.
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