Who Lives in Your Apartment Block ?

[Gaybutton]

We know of at least one place in Pattaya that had such a system, but it's no longer working.

Why does that come as no surprise . . . ?

[gerefan]

Time and time again over the years I've seen many farang, no matter how Thailand experienced they are when in Thailand for short or long term holidays, find out living in Thailand is a whole different experience.

I have heard this many times. I stay for 3 or 4 months each winter and maybe another month or so in the summer.

Would some of you expats be good enough to explain exactly the difference?

[Gaybutton]

Would some of you expats be good enough to explain exactly the difference?

When you have been going to Thailand, what have you been going for? You are on a holiday, which is a far cry from actually living there.

[Harald]

A condo where I currently live has both key card to enter the building and some facilities and a face recognition to use an elevator. An effective way to avoid daily and weekly rents.

[Dodger]

Would some of you expats be good enough to explain exactly the difference?

The big difference for me is that there was no more "End Date".

I semi-retired when I was in my 40"s...spent 6 months a year in LaLa Land (two 3 month holidays/year) for 20 years. I would often tell people that I worked in the States and lived in Thailand. This being the case I really didn't think things would change much after I retired.

When I was here on holiday I was living the dream but always had that awful lurking feeling in the back of my mind that on a certain predetermined date it would all come to an end. So I made the most of every day and night knowing that the clock was ticking and I didn't want to miss a beat while in the dream phase of my life. Like most gay visitors my ambitions were always aimed at being totally submersed in boys...bars...sex...and more sex, regardless if I was planted in PTY or traveling around the Kingdom. My time was simply too precious to be concerned with much of anything else.

After retirement it hit me like a brick wall that THIS WAS IT...I was here...I wasn't leaving...there were no more end dates as long as I remained among the living, and that endless cycle of joy (when I arrived) and sorrow (when I departed) had finally been broken. I wasn't living the dream temporarily anymore - my dream became reality.

Now that I had so much more time on my hands (without that dreaded end date) my lifestyle evolved into spending much more time taking care of my heath by exercising in the early morning hours versus crawling out of bed mid-morning with a hangover...spending more time on other hobbies (other than only sex), e.g., writing, crafting bamboo furniture (a work in progress), practicing Tai Chi Quan, cooking Thai (another work in progress), bouncing around the islands with Jai, and of course bouncing around the condo with Jai...555.

So the main difference between being here on holiday and living here to me is that the scope of the things I do which bring happiness and fulfillment have expanded considerably, and I truly believe that I would be spending much less time in the bars even if I didn't have a full-time partner for the mere fact that there's just so much more to Life in Thailand when there aern't any time limits.

I can't say that I know a single expat who hasn't changed his lifestyle after retirement to some degree. Several expats I know went from living in the bars and chasing boys like I did - to spending more time away from the scene while enjoying hobbies and catering to their "Boy Specials".

Other Considerations:

Financial: The average punter on holiday spends a lot more money frolicking with the boys in LaLa Land than they would back home, which, in-and-by-itself, creates a lifestyle change after retirement for many.

Health: I've seen guys retire here who still look like Spring Chickens...then a few years later they can be seen hobbling down the soi at a snails pace hunched over like Walter Brennan. This reality, like it or not, will inevitably create other lifestyle changes. My good friend South Carolina Jimmy had us all laughing at dinner one night when he said "When my dick stopped getting hard I just rolled over and took it in the butt. Then I had problems with an enlarged prostrate so I just stuck to giving them blowjobs. Now I've lost my dentures and have a God dam gum infection...

Happy Sailing.

[Gaybutton]

Dodger put far more thought into his post above than I put into mine - and I fully agree with every word he wrote. My short version is living in Thailand is simply not the same as being in Thailand for a holiday, no matter how short or long that holiday may be.

[Jun]

A condo where I currently live has both key card to enter the building and some facilities and a face recognition to use an elevator. An effective way to avoid daily and weekly rents.

Thank you.
So presumably they have some policy to limit the rate at which people are added to the facial recognition database ?
And it's not circumvented by people bribing the security guard.

[Harald]

A condo where I currently live has both key card to enter the building and some facilities and a face recognition to use an elevator. An effective way to avoid daily and weekly rents.

Thank you.
So presumably they have some policy to limit the rate at which people are added to the facial recognition database ?
And it's not circumvented by people bribing the security guard.

It has nothing to do with security guards. Face recognition is set up in juristic office based on lease agreement which by law should be at least one month long.

[christianpfc]

Where I visit people in UK apartments, I press the button for their apartment number, speak to them and they open the door remotely to let me in. We know of at least one place in Pattaya that had such a system, but it's no longer working.

Yes of course, that's how we do it in Germany. I have never seen such system in Thailand. In Germany, when the person I'm visiting knows I'm coming, I ring and he just presses the button, without speaking. But a code (single use, valid only for a specified time) would save the owner the effort (or consider being in the bathroom when the bell rings, or dirty hands during food preparation) to go to the door to press the button.

[KeithAmbrose]

They use a code system in Sweden.