Hi. I would like to hear about some of the downsides, one does encounter while living in Thailand (or SE Asia in general). Apart from feeling like an 'outsider', what other, major downsides are there?

having eight past full developer

A lot of the misery he describes can be avoided if you go MGTOW.

Since doing away with women, I have only really thought about how to achieve greatness. I'm not sure how I will feel about it in 20 years, but as of now, it seems to be the most important positive change I have ever made to my life.

I think this is true about anywhere but the US. We are such a puritan culture, that misery seems to be deeply engranded in the middle class. The whole reason I love to travel is the attitude of just having fun. When you go out abroad, the WHOLE city is out and about. No one is worrying about breaking laws, looking a fool, and "trying to be seen". It's just going out to have fun.

I always suggest people travel outside of the US & turn off the fkn tv, radio & newspapers/mags. (Travel doesn't mean a corporate ran beach resort or cruise).

It's like breaking out of the unhappy matrix if you pay attention.

I have been in Asia three years now. One in Taiwan and now two in Shanghai. One more maybe two and I will return home. Mainly to finish my PhD in something I absolutely love. I may or may not find a gig in the USA after, but I can always return to Asia or try someplace new. SH is a big city, lots to do. It is a great place for jumping off to SE Asia and Pacific Islands. Depending on what you are looking for China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam all are great options.

I moved to Peru when I was 19. I see a lot of people asking about how to go about something like this, so let me throw out a few pointers from my admittedly limited experience (one country =/ all countries)

1. Research. I spent about 3 months deciding which Spanish speaking country I'd go to. I knew a bit of Spanish already, so I figured that would help (it did). You should consider climate, cost of living, economy, visa policies (this matters less if you have more money), tourism, and food.

2. Don't worry about language. Force yourself to live in a part of town that doesn't cater to English speakers. You will learn by necessity. I'm mistaken for a Peruvian now when I speak Spanish.

3. Mingle with the expats early on. They will help you make valuable contacts and can get your foot in the door for jobs. Also, it'll ease the transition since they'll speak English and can orient you on some of the nuances of the country. But don't rely on them forever.

4. Get an Apostille seal for all of your documents from the USA. This can be a pain. HS diploma, Degrees, Birth certificates. Get it done, you'll thank me later if you choose to stay long term.

5. Jobs outside of ESL can be hard to get. This depends on country. Some countries have policies stating that foreigners can only occupy jobs that have a legitimate need for a foreigner due to a shortage of available local population. In Peru, the exemptions are mainly for ESL and mining company work for engineers.

6. Try to have about 6 months to a year's worth of cash to live there, and go with the intention of staying. I bought a 1-way flight, packed a big suitcase, and moved, but you could get a round trip several months apart.

7. Ignore the people around you. Americans are ridiculously xenophobic. They will all tell you that what you're doing is a huge mistake. They'll say you'll come back crying like a baby in a few weeks, missing the good ole' USA. Ignore this shit. Family will try to guilt you. Don't listen to the naysayers, go be your own man abroad.

8. Let go of your preferences. You will need to adapt. You can't adapt if you're constantly comparing things to the way they were back home. I can eat almost anything now, including giant grubs, because I simply let go of my US inculcation. I can sleep just about anywhere. Don't try to re-create your US life in another country.

If anybody is ever curious, PM me for more info. But I cannot agree with the content of this post more. The US is a corporation, and you are just one shareholder with the illusion of voice. Go start your own business somewhere else.

The "grey machine." This post reminds me of a B. Kliban cartoon: Wasted & Useful Lives

TREMENDOUS POST

I agree with this and resonate heavily. I think it's possible to still live and enjoy life even if you are in the machine. I was in a high paying sales job and fucking despised it. One day last week at 11pm before I headed on my 90 minute bus ride back home I stopped at a pizza place to get a slice because I was starving.

There were 3 eastern men one of which worked there chilling serving food, watching TV and joking arround with each other. they were HAPPY AS FUCK - the place was quiet and I can't imagine they make that much money. There I was in a fancy suit having made 5K this month, a stress knot in my stomach and borderline suicidal. I quit the next day. Now I'm unemployed (comp sci degree ) Still figuring out how i'm going to balance living in the machine.

Reading posts like this make me appreciate the pace of life and sense of community where I live in rural Appalacihia. "The Machine" has certainly embedded itself here as well in a variety of ways, but it hasn't to the extent it has in other areas of the nation. When compared to NYC, LA, or other large metro areas it often times seems like a foreign country.

Life in the West (North America, Developed East Asia, and Western Europe) is a very peculiar thing. There is a cult of work that exists that everyone has to buy into lest they be deemed a "fucking loser." It's a point of pride when people say how they're working 60 hours a week. And as the guy who wrote the OP said, who are they working for? Ninety-five per cent of the time, their working for their rich boss who puts in maybe 25 hours of real work a week (making calls, sending e-mails, reviewing things). People are so caught up in day to day shit (working, studying, etc) that they've lost sight of what is actually important in life.

On top of that, everyone who drudges through the grim and soulless world of the modern economy thinks that one day "I'll be able to finally live for the present, after I've made that promotion and or found a new job, I'll finally be able to enjoy life.

It's shit like this that makes me sometimes resent the insane work ethic of places like Germany who look down upon the "lazy Mediterranean countries" like Italy where people actually take time to enjoy life, be with their family, and enjoy what their beautiful cities have to offer.

I do respect cultures that emphasize working your ass off, and persevering, but there's a limit to that type of thinking too.

Work to live my friends, and don't live to work.

Mmmm..you guys romanticized too much about being a expat. From what I know, if you work at Asia. You're working long hours with little time for your family and your salary is less compare to the USA.

One thing that is great about being expat in Asia. You are practically rolling in pussies if you are white. Even if you are a fat bastard. You can still score free pussies.

The love on war. Fucking exactly this. And is deeper and darker than you think.

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And what's also really difficult is that all of the experiences I had in Thailand aren't really welcome out here... I'm just shocked that nobody really wants to know what life in another land is like. Maybe I'm a bad story teller. But maybe Americans are just living in their bubble. My countrymen have little frame of reference outside of their work and TV shows. It's heartbreaking, really. So much of the world, so much to see and hear about, and nobody wants to hear about it.

I have a friend whose wife is a teacher for a German class, and she does a 2 week tour for the kids in that country. The first thing the kids want when they land is a McDonalds. And it seems like every other meal is "a taste from home" --- like if they were there for weeks on end. I doubt they'll ever have an authentic meal there.

It's fine with the parents because their biggest, overriding fear is that the kids might accidentally get a beer and piss themselves at night with visions of some reefer madness shit ensuing from that. Idk if the little brats ever meet a normal, everyday German who isn't a tour guide -- let alone talk to them in their native tongue -- or see anything that isn't some monument or museum.

This isn't limited to kids btw. A lot of people, when vacationing out of this country, just stick to the hotel, those amenities, and the safe tourist crap nearby. Might as well go to Disneyland in a lot of cases just to make the corporate packaging complete.

We Americans are in a country with Freedom of Speech, but hardly anyone has anything interesting to say irl, they're all so scared of losing their jobs for having anything not resembling your run of the mill milquetoast opinion -- FoS but the government loves enforcing a lot of ridiculous discrimination lawsuits and the like via the judicial system.

Similiarly, a lot of interesting stuff can't be done because of how normal lawsuits have become and everyone freaking out about liability and all the rules are designed to cage in the lcd retards out there.

As a society, we're living an increasingly sheltered existence. Those who are curious about the world get a swat team called on them for shit that would have been seen as innocuous and inventive 50-60 years ago. This isn't even that out of the ordinary, I inquired about some common chemicals at a freaking hardware shop for some work I was doing, and the saleswoman was interrogating me like I was the next unabomber -- and then pretended she had to by some bogus law when I told her to cut that crap out.

No one wants to stick out, the tallest blade of grass gets cut. It's only going to get worse with the tumblrina generation who do nothing, produce nothing but criticism and vitriol, and yet somehow will have a career of busy work and be provided for by the system in one way or another.

Great post. Most people who have lived abroad experience reverse culture shock. I became depressed when I returned to University from South America. I couldn't articulate the losses (there are many), but this post have given me some more helpful insights.

The reaction was more like an obese person who briefly chokes on their tongue, grunts, rolls over, and slips back to REM sleep sleep apnea.

ftfy

Ive got an old friend who went to tailand 3.5 yrs ago for business, took his family with him and immersed himself in the culture. We stayed in touch via FB and we'd share info about this and that. When his contract finished up, He moved back here. Less than 3 months being back he said fuck this place and moved back to SE asia permanantly.

Currently in Thailand training Muay Thai. I like a lot of things about it, and some aspects I dislike. The pro's beat the cons hands down however.

This is why I preach about living below your means.. I work in a high paying job. Most of my coworkers live in huge houses with two brand new cars in the driveway.. Guess what? They work overtime to pay for it.

I bought a modest place with cash and now work only 3-4 days per week.. The rest of the time I just goof around. American is a great country of you stay out of the debt trap

Nothing lasts forever. One thing that strikes me is the crippling fear of pain and death which guides all behavior. In one token everyone demands that "every life is equal, precious, and valuable." The system will bring down the fucking hammer on your face and career if you so much as insinuate otherwise. All the while everyone goes on a delibriate war against their own bodies with medication, inaction, and fructose.

Why does Thailand come up so much in TRP? Fuck Thailand. Why do you guys like it so much?

What do expats think of China or Japan, are they any good or are they too similar to the west?

This post presents a great argument for why you want to travel internationally, and actually live in another country if you can carve out the opportunity. It's the best way to understand your own country more completely. There were loads of things I didn't even know about Americans until I went and lived in England for a while (and used that as a jumping off point to travel elsewhere). You need contrast to see your own bullshit (and good points too).

Two people come to mind upon reading this post, Joe Bageant, who was an expat and a socialist before dying a few years back and James Kunstler, my two main literary heroes. It's because they understand why this all is the case for the West and write in beautiful prose. Both are prolific, although Bageant's main website is currently down. You can still find many of his essays online though.

I really need'nt say more. Enjoy your journey!

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I've been strongly considering doing something similar to this when I've finished my degree, and not even necessarily to stay in SE Asia. My picture of an ideal life is actually quite nomadic, never staying in the same place for more than 18 months or so.

I don't know how feasible it'd be, but ideally I'd only stick around long enough to earn enough money for the next destination, then squeeze all the enjoyment I can from the place, and leave at the next opportunity. I'd prefer a lifetime of this to packing everything into a gap year, seeing the great sights for fleeting moments then returning to the rat race.

I don't think we evolved to be sedentary and settled, at least not until we're old and tired. I want to see and do as much as I can while I have the energy.

The aspect of the west that I object to is that to is that a lot of markets are highly competitive and sown up by the big corporations and government.

Want to sell lemonade at the side of the road? You'll need a health and safety cert for that. You'll need a business licence. Oh, you'll need insurance in case your employee slips and falls over. You have to pay him minimum wage, despite the fact that you haven't sold a single cup yet.

In a developing country you make your lemonade and sit by the road and sell it. The buyer takes the risk and your business survives by its reputation.

In the west the game is rigged, and not in your favour. This is why these countries are referred to as "Emerging Markets" where the biggest gains are to be made.

The US is a big place with many different cultures. The blogger was comparing Bangkok to New York. The North East is notorious for its productivity and "assholes." I'm sure if he went to San Francisco or New Orleans he'd find more of what he was looking for in terms of work/life balance or culture.

Personally I think the problem was that we chucked our American cultural structure overboard without stopping to think that replaced it. Unlike a lot of red pill time, I look at the pre 60s America with much more sanguine eyes. A lot of people got legitimately fucked with no Vaseline back then. That said, a lot of babies got thrown out with the bathwater. Everyone was so busy fighting beaten wives and chicks getting raped on the reg that they didn't bother to build a community one the foolishness was cut off.

Now if you have money, you can build a community to your liking. The rest of us have to cobble together something without any overarching structure. In a way, the Red Pill and SJWs are operating from the same impulses. Now you can use this work to build or destroy. Where are you working?

This is a great thread. I agree with OP as I've traveled to other poor nations and felt the same way.

However, the one thing that keeps me from living their permanently is "What if I get sick?" "What if I need special medical care or an emergency happens?" I'd rather be on the grey conveyor belt when that happens to me rather than in the "fun" place. I never want to be in a hospital in Thailand. You're better off dead if that happens to you.

Yea this rings very true for me. Most of my extended family is in China, and while they are the first to admit there are a ton of problems there that make life hard, their main critique of America is basically the one OP outlined.

I see it when I go there. Pace of life is just much slower and people enjoy themselves more.

Some part of this is off-base. Strikes me as the musings of an individual that loathes work and can't discipline themselves to it.

I won't deny that the capitalist machine in the West induces all kinds of drudgery, drudgery that has yet to completely pervade the undeveloped world. It's a bit ignorant to assume that the system itself provides no value, however.

The reason America is front and center of the world financial stage is precisely because they have such a well-oiled capitalist machine. If you're skilled and intelligent you will amass wealth quickly. That opens up all kinds of doors to lifestyles you've never known. You don't have to be a 9-5 wage monkey forever, there are ways to escape that in the West.

Everyone should spend some time seeing the world. Broaden your horizons, learn how different people work. Get away from Netflix. But appreciate what you have back at home. There's a reason why the U.S. is the U.S., and Greece is Greece.