A Little Analysis

There are two kinds of guys that live in Pattaya. (I'm sure that everyone who lives in Pattaya writes that at least once in their lives.)

The first is the guy who has pulled himself towards Pattaya: The one who said, "Thailand... yeah! That's where I want to be." He is always relaxed, even when he is stressed out. He is always happy, even when he's pissed off. He's always broke, even when he just got paid. He hangs out with all of the other happy, relaxed, broke fellows at his favorite bar... and will be there with his friends until the place is torn down. He speaks (or tries to speak) Thai, finds a Thai girl and settles down.

The second is the guy who has pushed himself away from someplace else: The one who said, "I can't stand it here anymore." He wound up in Pattaya because it was heads, and Angeles City was tails, when he was at the airport buying a one-way ticket. Chances are he is mad at the world, probably because the world doesn't care for him very much (probably because he is a bit of a dick once you get to know him). He's sour, even when he puts on his happy face. He's rich because he actually had a life before he lost it and found himself exiled to this place. He goes to one bar for a month or two, makes some casual acquaintances, and then finds a new place to hang before people get to know him. He makes sure he never spends more than one night with a local girl. He likes to say "I like to know I can pack up and get out whenver I want." (You hear that a lot in this town.) His Thai consists primarily of "mai ao" to the vendors, "check bin" to the waitresses, and "mai shai Cheap Charlie" to the bar girls (even though he inevitably is).

Stickman summed it up so well: You don't want to make friends with a Thai girl who has a Tattoo, and you don't want to make friends with a Farang who still can't speak a bit of Thai after living here for 5 years.

Thailand truly has some of the coolest people on earth living here as expatriates... people you instantly trust and understand. You never have to know a thing about them before they rode into town, but you still can get a perfect grasp of who they are by one evening sharing a corner of a bar at a local pub.

With a little practice, you can sniff out the other type of expatriate just as easily.