Oct. 14, 2025
Avoiding the Newbie Drama: Are Long-Term Expats Just Lucky? [S8.E16]
![Avoiding the Newbie Drama: Are Long-Term Expats Just Lucky? [S8.E16]](https://getpodpage.com/image_transform_gate_v3/AwksRrG-kHyLasDeVV6huF5IU0ZYH0p-_nKAckJjz5A=/?image_url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.libsyn.com%2Fp%2Fassets%2F1%2F3%2F6%2F3%2F1363a85c014a16e816c3140a3186d450%2FBKP8_EP_LOGO_16_big.jpg&w=1200&h=630&fill=blur "Avoiding the Newbie Drama: Are Long-Term Expats Just Lucky? [S8.E16]"){kind=logo}
We’ve all seen the incredible amount of drama that can go down if you don’t run a tight ship in Thailand - everything from visa worries and bank problems to relationship blow-ups and trouble with the law. But it seems that a huge proportion of this drama is reserved for people relatively new to Thailand. Greg and Ed discuss why, as long-term expats, they seem to miss a lot of this drama. Is it something they did? Or did they just age out of the baggage train?
As both have been in the country for effectively a quarter of a century, the guys have solved a lot of problems and overcome a lot of obstacles to the point that they are each happy with their somewhat stable, undramatic lives. Many expats in the first few years of their life in Thailand experience CRAZY amounts of drama and adaptation, most which are way in the rearview mirror for Greg and Ed.
First, Ed brings up obvious contrasts: early stayers almost always have to deal with visa, work permit, and address-reporting issues. Beginners have to sort that stuff out in the first place, which really isn’t that easy, but then have to worry about complying for the months and years to come. Border runs at first may actually seem like a version of a holiday, but they QUICKLY become a stressful annoyance due their cost, complications, and inherent uncertainty.
Second, Greg mentions more current problems, such as the Thai government’s crackdown on money laundering, which seems to have cast an absurdly wide net and effectively shut down the bank accounts of many short term expats, but has left most (but not all) long-termers alone. He reiterates his old advice: if you are here more than a few months, you should step-by-step become more legitimate ON PAPER, such as by getting the proper visa, work permit, bank account, driver’s license, credit card - anything you can. Every little bit helps to build your credibility as a serious person that the government is less likely to trifle with.
The boys conclude with a vow not to dunk on those suffering short-timers and to remember when they themselves were wee-little expats too. :)
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Greg 00:00:05 On this episode, we ponder a deep question. Our long term expats more immune to Thai struggles than newbies.
Ed 00:00:12 So if you've ever wondered why all the hands like us never seem to get caught up in the expat drama, you'll love this episode of the Bangkok. Taka.
Greg 00:00:36 Sawa the crap. This is the Bangkok podcast. My name is Greg Jorgensen, a Canadian who came to Thailand in 2001 with nothing but the traditional Canadian Explorer kit, a bucket of maple syrup, a tuk, and a backpack full of Canadian flag pins.
Ed 00:00:50 I get the maple syrup. What the heck is that? Tuk?
Greg 00:00:52 You don't know what a tuk is.
Ed 00:00:54 Of course I don't know what a tube is. Let me know what a tuk is.
Greg 00:00:58 There uncivilised rest of the world. It's like a it's like a woollen hat with a, like a long.
Ed 00:01:03 Oh yeah.
Greg 00:01:03 Long thing. Like a, like a with a pointy, pointy hat. When you're. When we were kids in school, we used to joke, laugh, giggle at each other, run around asking people if they were a tuk or a helmet.
Greg 00:01:12 Oh, I think so.
Ed 00:01:13 Okay, I know what that is. I didn't know it was called a tuk tuk. Yeah, I'm from Ohio.
Greg 00:01:18 Yeah.
Ed 00:01:20 And I'm an American who came to Thailand on a one year teaching contract over 25 years ago, fell in love with stunning Bangkok sunsets that I later realized were primarily due to the air pollution. So I never left.
Greg 00:01:34 Hey man, beauty is all about what you see with the eyes, not what you breathe with your lungs.
Ed 00:01:38 That's right. I'm with him. All right. We want to give a big thanks to all of our patrons who support the show. Patrons get every episode a day early, behind the scenes photos of our interviews, a heads up to send questions to upcoming guests, and access to our discord server to chat with me, Greg, and other listeners around the world. But best of all, patrons also get an unscripted, Uncensored bonus episode every week, where we riff on current events and Bangkok topics on this week's show.
Ed 00:02:05 We each have a dilemma with my broken television after my big move. Greg's decision to attend the 2025 vertical marathon at the Banyan Tree Hotel in December, which he invites everyone to join, by the way, and a challenge to our listeners. Find and photograph three different Bangkok Podcast stickers on your journeys out and about in Bangkok and send them in to us, and we'll send you a little gift to learn how to become a patron and get all this good stuff. Plus full access to over 800 bonus and regular back episodes. Click the support button at the top of our website.
Greg 00:02:41 You really leaned into that out and about. I would say out and about. So it really comes out there. That's right. And if you have a comment, show idea or just want to say hi. Head to Bangkok podcast.com. Click the little microphone button on the bottom right. Leave us a voicemail. We'll play that on the show. Right. Then on this episode, we are taking a cue from the online forums lately where we are seeing lots of news about expats in Thailand having their bank accounts frozen or outright suspended.
Greg 00:03:11 Our buddy Justin had a bit of drama with that today on Facebook. He was posting about pair that with the evergreen headlines of foreigners lacking insurance for motorbike accidents, getting scammed by bar girls stuck on visa runs or generally getting the runaround from Thailand. So Anna and I were talking about this and we realized that, comparatively speaking, we have fairly boring lives. None of this drama has ever befallen us. And we wondered, are we just lucky, or do you, as an expat, build up a certain amount of legitimacy or Thai street cred, or immunity from these weird little speed bumps that can turn into major issues? Is it us, or is it just the fact that we've both spent nearly half our lives living in Thailand? So this is a little bit of a rhetorical question, but I think we can ponder it a little bit and bat it around a little bit because I don't know about you, but most of my friends, we have a lot of friends in common, but most of my friends are in the same boat as me.
Greg 00:04:06 I've never really known anyone here who's been long term, that has gotten in any crazy dramas or insane amounts of trouble. A few people here and there, but they're definite outliers.
Ed 00:04:17 Well, I think that the kind of genesis of this show idea was, you know, me, me realizing that when you talk about the expat experience in Thailand, it's almost like there's two different experiences. There's there's really life as an early expat. And then and then you cross into the void or you cross the line, you know what I mean? Because you.
Greg 00:04:41 Know. Yeah, but it's a it's an invisible, unknown line. Yeah.
Ed 00:04:44 Well, you know what I realized, you know, like you mentioned about, you know, checking out forums or, you know, I watch a lot of YouTube videos of expat YouTube videos and, I what I realized is they're caught in these, like, intense dramas that they're talking about, you know, the video, what they call life in Thailand. And I'm like, okay, you know, this is my world.
Ed 00:05:02 I want to hear what what other people are saying. And they'll just be talking about x, y, z. You know, this, that, whatever. And I realized, wait, none of that applies to me. Yeah. Like like so so what? Their life in Thailand is actually due to the fact that they've they haven't been here as long as we have. Like, we we like, we like. The bottom line is we just have solved problems over time. And so once you get, you know, once you get off a tourist visa, once you get, you know, your first proper work permit, there's all these, all these, almost like checkpoints or mile markers, like when you get your work permit, it's like, damn shit. I got a work permit at.
Greg 00:05:40 Yeah, right. I'm legit, you know?
Ed 00:05:42 Yeah. And but and then each time, each like, extra step you take, you just kind of blend in. I guess we're assimilating or, like, as you said, you you build up street cred.
Ed 00:05:53 But I don't know, I thought it would be interesting to talk about That in a way, it's it's things that we're missing. Which is, I guess, kind of good for us. But since you want her trying to explain the what it's like to leave her with an ex bad, we have to kind of be honest that you and I are kind of over the over the hump, so to speak.
Greg 00:06:10 Right, right. And it's a good point that you mentioned when you're when you're in your early days, things can go a bit off the rails and get wild. And we both certainly have had insane stories and gone spent evenings with crazy people and done nutty, nutty things and had these things happen to us. But, but but those were like way in the past. That's right. We're old.
Ed 00:06:29 World.
Greg 00:06:31 But when? But when I watch Idaho, I don't spend as much time on YouTube as you do. But when I'm watching sometimes these tie videos of these guys and it's like with titles like got kicked out of my apartment, please help, or.
Greg 00:06:43 That's right. You know, girlfriend stole all my stuff or. Yeah, yeah. Or, you know, drama stuck at the border in Cambodia. Like, without a way to get back in. Like, on one hand, I'm like, boy, I kind of miss those exciting days when you're flying by the seat of your pants. But on the other hand, I think, like, Jesus, man, like, none of this stuff happens to me. And is it just because, like, why? Why what do I why am I so lucky that I don't have to deal with any of the dramas that these, these people sort of seem to deal with on a regular, recurring basis?
Ed 00:07:15 Well, it's a little bit of a tricky topic. So one issue that I have noticed can actually last a long time are like these are runs and border runs. What I've noticed about exports is there's certain there's certain problems that you can solve in six months. But you and I both know a lot of people who who have done visa or border runs for many years.
Ed 00:07:37 Some people do them for almost like a decade.
Greg 00:07:40 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ed 00:07:42 and it's always, it's always complicated because there will be a new government or new limits and it'll be like, okay, you can't go to Cambodia anymore. You got to go to Singapore, you got to go further away, or you got to go back to your home country. so that's I would say that's a, classic found. If you can get rid of like, whatever, you know, get the right visa or in my case, you know, getting permanent residency or if you can get over the visa thing, that's a giant accomplishment.
Greg 00:08:09 Yeah, I think so. And this is something that I say a lot, a lot too, and I've said it for the entire run of the podcast is my advice for noobs when you want to sort of stake your claim in Bangkok and legitimize yourself. Start getting the bank books or the book banks or whatever the stupid banks call them. you know, your driver's license, a credit card, a work permit, a hospital card, a pink card, and then you work your way up the hill, like to the top of the volcano, and then you're looking at permanent residency.
Greg 00:08:37 And then the ultimate golden boy is citizenship. But the more legit you can make yourself. It seems to me that the stench of Nube kind of drops away over, over time.
Ed 00:08:51 Yeah, no, that's the thing. It's like, it definitely does sound like your experience here just becomes completely different. And, you know, like I said, that the reason I thought of this topic is that I just felt detached. You know, so I'm watching these videos of these expats, and these are not the tourists who who got here last week. You know, that's another thing these were people with. You know, after you've been in Thailand six months, you actually know a lot of stuff. I mean, you shouldn't act like you know everything, but once you put in six months, like, you've absorbed a lot of stuff about Thailand. Yeah. For sure. Like those? Like, if you're here six months, like, I give you some, some props, but they tend to be dealing with, like, just problems that we're not dealing with yourself.
Ed 00:09:37 So I just I feel very detached. I feel like I feel like very detached. Like looking at their lives, and it, you know, it's it's tough, like, I mean, you're actually you're. This was actually pretty good. It's it's like like when you first have to deal with a Thailand or or when you, like your or your first relationship or like that, you know, dealing with, like, nightlife and there's just these classic, dramas, as you put it. And I'm like, man, it's been a long time since I've had to do with any of it.
Greg 00:10:09 Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I wonder though, like simply existing in a place for X number of months or years, it's, there's got to be more to it than that. Right. Because I'm not I'm an idiot. I haven't done anything special. Right. But just simply being able to sustain your life at a certain level in Thailand, like, is that does that give you enough propulsion to launch you over the fence of new.
Greg 00:10:34 I'm going to keep bringing up this, be bringing up that topic. You know, I'm thinking back to my, my, my early days and I was I was dating, you know, girls. And the only thing they wanted to do was get pregnant with a foreign baby and moved to the farm, like, like, how many bullets did I dodge? Right. And I I've, I've done some crazy visa runs where I've had some not cool experiences and, you know, and been forced to do this and that and sort of wiggle my way around a bit, but I haven't, like, happened upon a grand solution to this stuff. It just seems that the longer you spend here that it slowly just falls away. And I don't know why.
Ed 00:11:11 Well, I think I think you're right is like all those all those small, like, legitimacy steps. I think you're right. Like it's not there's nothing official about it. But you know, once you like you said, like you get a bank account, you get a credit card, you, you know, get, you know, you get off a tourist visa and you have a proper, like, nonimmigrant visa, and then you get a proper and then you get a proper work from it.
Ed 00:11:38 It all seems to add up somehow. Oh, you know, the other thing I want to mention is, you and I are, are very honest about our level of tie. We make fun of our tie all the time. But the simple truth is, you and I both have basic tie. Like, more. More than your typical guy who's been here a couple of months for sure. and, and, that's also this thing, like, if you just know some basic type, type people, type people treat you completely differently, like they they realize you're not a tourist.
Greg 00:12:05 Yeah.
Ed 00:12:06 You know what I mean? Like, like you just gotta be like, if you if you have. I don't know what. I don't know what the cutoff would be. Honestly, if you have 20 words with Ty that are not horrible, you actually reach a different plane of how Thai people treat you.
Greg 00:12:21 Figure out the shortcut. If you if you say sing instead of saying ha and Souvanna Boom instead of Suvarnabhumi like immediately, you're ten steps ahead.
Ed 00:12:27 Because when Thai people approach you as a foreigner, they assume you're a tourist. And if you say no, they they know what Mil means. But but that's a sign. But that's a sign that you don't speak Thai and you're a tourist. You have. So if you say no, that's that's not the magic word. Like the magic phrase is like my o or my O cop, or so you're saying, like, no thank you in Thai.
Greg 00:12:48 Right. That's that's how I feel, too. And they and they, they've either got a kick up their game a little bit or just be like, oh, forget about this guy. He's not a tourist.
Ed 00:12:57 That's right. And, so anytime I'm dealing with, you know, anyone in, like, a formal capacity, I always flash whatever documents I have. Like, you know, half the time they hand stuff back to me. But this is, you know, just along with what you're saying, if I'm dealing with the bank or business renting something, it's like I put my passport down.
Ed 00:13:19 My my my my permanent residency. You know, I have a pink like, national ID card. I have my university. I have my university ID. I just like I'm just like, bang, bang, bang, bang.
Greg 00:13:30 Are you are you like me when you go to, like, someplace and they ask you, they just go passport and then you whip out, like a Thai government I.D.. Do you feel kind of like you're acting up in poker? Like you're. You're like, oh, yeah. You want my passport? That's for amateurs. How about my bike up key? How about my driver's license?
Ed 00:13:45 That's right, that's right. Yeah.
Greg 00:13:47 For sure.
Ed 00:13:48 but it it is those things. So it is the official things, but it's also small things. I think about how you act and knowing some tie like it, it's, you know, archi is legitimate now that we're not going to be ID'd as like recent expats or like we're not going to be Adidas newbies.
Greg 00:14:08 Right, right.
Greg 00:14:09 And the language thing is interesting too, because I was thinking about that and it sort of turned me on to another idea, which is I think that, like every guidebook you'll ever read says if you learn a few words, a tie, it'll go a long way to, you know, improving your life and making Thai people friendlier. And that's true. But I think that that actually is like just a small sliver of the fact that I think that Thai people place a huge amount of importance on going legit. So, like if you put in the work to give a little bit of yourself to Thailand, then they will cut you a lot of slack in, in trying to You have everything from trying to scam you to. To making assumptions or stereotypes about you. Like, I think that they. They they respect that a lot. They respect that you're based here, that you've sort of tried to build a life for yourself here. For sure that a lot of these things just automatically us. Like once they realize that, then they sort of like you, you pass into a higher sphere or something like that.
Ed 00:15:12 Agreed. Agreed. I think, Yeah, I think I think, it's funny. I think both good and bad tie people are actually doing the same thing, because I think that scammers are clearly looking for newbies and tourists. You know, it's like that, right? Like that. That's their advantage. That's their leverage, that you don't know the rules, you know. So I, you know, like in dealing with taxes, they'll, you know, oh, and this still happens to me this day. You know, I tell them where I want to go, they say 300 baht and I just be tied to them. And then they're like, oh, me either. Like. Like, you know, not always, but but but not always. Not always. But I mean, a lot of times it as soon as they just give up and they're like, okay. Neither they don't have some kind of deep game. Like their game is. I'm looking for a fool who just got here, who doesn't know the game, who doesn't know the rules, and they're not going to work.
Ed 00:16:04 They're not going to work it beyond that. Right? So they're just going to they're just going to throw off 305 and see if it works. But then if you just throw out some time, they're like, all right, just get in like meter. Like there's no it's not always a battle. Like they just give up immediately.
Greg 00:16:17 But they realize like is is is the effort I'm going to have to put in to match this guy, like to pull off a more sophisticated scam worth it? No, not really. I'll just take the thing.
Ed 00:16:27 So I think scammers like once you have some legitimacy, scammers don't want to deal with you because you're harder to deal with. Like you're more legit, like you're here. They realize you're here permanent or something permanently. Like you might have friends or you know, you know, you know, you know how things work.
Greg 00:16:43 I really want to caveat this too. And this is not only about scammers and stuff like that. I think it goes for, you know, normal interactions with bank people or bank tellers or 7-Eleven people or something like that.
Greg 00:16:54 Once they realize that, like, oh, this guy clearly lives here and knows a little bit about it, then maybe I can relate to him on a bit more of a personal level, or I can cut him a break, or I can give him a give him a short cut or something like that. So it's not all about scams, it's just about show showing that you're fitting into Thai culture.
Ed 00:17:12 Yes. Like I said earlier, I think it applies to like, both good people and bad people.
Greg 00:17:17 Well you're right. Yeah, yeah.
Ed 00:17:18 Yeah, I do think I do think Thai people appreciate people who kind of cross over from being a tourist. And it's funny, you know, I've had funny conversations with my students. Sometimes they'll ask me opinions like, why do you want to live here? You know why. Like why? Why are you staying in Thailand so long? And there's a little bit of, almost like cute surprise where Thai people, actually appreciate that we want to stay because like, you know, like like everyone, you and I have joked about this before, like, you know, when you're from a certain place, you're obviously.
Ed 00:17:58 Oh, this sucks. Like, I gotta get out of here. You know, like, you know, you're like, I'm. I'm from Ohio, you know? Yeah. Like, I gotta get out of here, you know? and like, a lot of my students, you know, they just grow up in Thailand. They grow up in Bangkok, and, like, so, like, they complain about the traffic, whatever the like. Their general attitude is, Bangkok, you know, kind of sucks, you know? Yeah. So, so so then when. So then when they realized that I've been here as many years, I have, they'll be like, oh, wow. Like, you know why? Like what's up? And then then I'll say, oh, I like this, I like that, I like type like Thai food. I like Thai people, whatever. It's like they, they they take this as a compliment.
Greg 00:18:35 Those are merit badges. Those are like Thai level merit badges.
Greg 00:18:38 Yeah.
Ed 00:18:38 Like, they they actually appreciate that we like this place enough that we build through the work of going legit, as you said.
Greg 00:18:47 And not only that too, but I remember years and years ago I got a lot of questions from my students when I was teaching, and they couldn't understand why I would willingly spend so much time away from my family and so far away from them. They're like, they're like, but why? Like, don't you? Don't you miss them? How long are you going to stay before you go home? And I'll be like, I'm not going home. I'm staying here for as long as I can. And they're like, but, but why? So if someone's willing to to put up with, with what is to them that massive barrier, then they must be worth investing a little bit of time and giving them benefit. And I should also say, too, that this isn't a blanket statement, like there are just some expats here who are for some reason just magnets to insanity.
Greg 00:19:33 You know, they've they've they've been here for 15 years, but they're still getting picked up by police and they're still getting beat up by their girlfriend's brother or motorcycle taxi driver boyfriend or something like that. So just because you've been here for a decade doesn't mean that there are people here who are immune to drama.
Ed 00:19:50 Like you read like you choose to go with it. But, you know, I guess I just wanted to say that like I do. I do have sympathy for the early part. I do. I have to be honest, I'm glad I'm not going through the drama they're going through. So we we've crossed over. We've crossed over into the other zone. but, I still want to stay in touch with them. Like, I want to, I want to I want to remember and be aware of what it's like to be your one year, you know, or nine months, you know, because. Because that's a very interesting time. Like when you're around the one between the one and two year thing, like you've actually learned a lot about Thailand.
Ed 00:20:30 You you are not a newbie. You're not right. But usually by then you haven't solved a lot of these problems. You talked about. Like you're you might still you're probably sort of like, again, I have buddies who did visa runs for, I think close to a decade. Like I'd have to have asked them, the like. You know.
Greg 00:20:49 That's crazy.
Ed 00:20:50 It actually takes years to, like, check these boxes we're talking about. Like it, like legit. But I don't think you could do it in one year.
Greg 00:20:58 No, I don't think so. To get something like, you know, like so certainly to get a tabby and bond or something like that. Well, I guess you could, I guess, but certainly, I mean.
Ed 00:21:06 If.
Greg 00:21:06 You.
Ed 00:21:07 It's possible, but it's just not the way it usually works.
Greg 00:21:10 Right, right, right. And I still know people who have been here for 20 years that are like, I don't know about I don't know about citizenship, but I'm like, why not? Like, what's the downside? Right.
Greg 00:21:22 So it's just it is that, that mental barrier to, to fully accepting that you're not going back. That might be a, that might be a part of it too, but. Right. yeah, I don't know. I don't know, but, you know, and again, another caveat. We could be saying all this. And then tomorrow both of our bank accounts will be shut down or something like that, and we'll be right back at square. Square one. You never know for sure. That's right.
Ed 00:21:47 Well, it's funny, when I mentioned, you know, earlier, I mentioned, like, dealing with landlords on the show. I talked about, like, a problem with my landlord and getting some security deposit back. So I'm certainly not immune, to to to drama.
Greg 00:22:00 Yeah. I don't think anyone is, but I don't know what it is about it. There's an intangible quality. I think that that a lot of long term expats give off. That makes them sort of.
Ed 00:22:15 Yeah, we just miss, like, we just don't have to deal. We just don't have to deal with so much stuff that that the, the short short term. I don't know where the short timers, the short term are. You're dealing with. They're just dealing with a lot of stuff that we're we're just beyond that, like a lot of it we did have to deal with. But I was in a pretty lucky case. I said I had a good job when I first came here, so I had a work permit and a visa, so I did avoid I never had to do a visa run, which is, you know, pretty incredible. Oh, man. Yeah. You know, that's pretty incredible. but,
Greg 00:22:47 Oh, dude, I had to run upstairs at one of my jobs to avoid when immigration came by to check the place out. I'd like grab my shoes and run up to the first floor. Yes.
Ed 00:22:56 That's it. That's what we're talking about. Like that? That's it.
Ed 00:22:58 That's. There's so many really expats who have those experiences and like for you and I for you and I, it's just like in the rearview mirror. It's like way back then, you know.
Greg 00:23:08 Yeah, yeah. And and we and we don't have to deal with it anymore at all. But,
Ed 00:23:12 I still have sympathy for him. I'm not, I don't, I, I, I don't, I don't say it like I'm not, I don't want to dump on those people. Like, I remember, I remember like the early drama. Like I have sympathy for that situation. And you and I like that for the podcast. I feel like we have a duty to, to, to be aware of that. What it's like to be here one and two years. Like we can't forget that.
Greg 00:23:37 No, no, no, not at all. But I am also I think we're been here long enough that like, you know, setting up a life in a new country is not easy and I'm proud of it.
Greg 00:23:47 So I think that we have earned the right to gloat in our comfortable gloat.
Ed 00:23:54 That's a little bit harsh.
Greg 00:23:55 You know what I mean?
Ed 00:23:56 I don't want to say gloat.
Greg 00:23:57 Well, maybe not gloat, but we we've earned the right to be happy that we don't have to put up with this stuff. You know, I think, well, we've earned.
Ed 00:24:04 I think we've earned some peace of mind. Like where? Like that.
Greg 00:24:07 That's probably a much better way to say it.
Ed 00:24:09 I mean, I remember I just remember having to report my address every 90 days, and I did that. I did that for seven years. And you just have to do it in person. So now you can actually do it online. Even though I, I was just reading that the online app is not that reliable, but for seven years I went to an office and reported my address every 90 days. And it's just, man, when you don't have to do that anymore. It's just, you know. Yeah.
Ed 00:24:34 Again, it's like you, you you you you move on to another level. It's like you're, you know, it's like you float. You float it.
Greg 00:24:42 Up, you transcend.
Ed 00:24:42 You transcend. Yeah. Yeah. I mean.
Greg 00:24:45 There's a there's a real Buddhist analogy here because it's like you're isn't there like stages on the, on the path. Right. You know, like stops that you make or something like that. So Nirvana would be getting citizenship and then you don't have to deal with anything anymore.
Ed 00:24:59 That's so.
Greg 00:24:59 Funny. Yeah. Yeah. But, anyway, we just thought we'd we'd ponder on this a little bit. We certainly have sympathy for people that are putting up with all the bullshit that you have to put up with when you're new, but, your advice stick around.
Ed 00:25:13 Yeah. No, your advice is well taken. I think that if you're if you've been here 1 to 2 years, even though the paperwork is bullshit, the bureaucracy is bullshit. It's worth it. I think every vice is right.
Ed 00:25:26 Like, just try to get as legitimate as you can.
Greg 00:25:29 Yeah. Every step you take to be more legitimate buys you street cred books from Thai writer. And they're worth more here than they than they are. Back home, I guess I don't know. Oh, great. All right, well, let's get into some love. Live with. Where one of us picks a particular aspect of living in Bangkok, which we discuss to decide if it's something that we love about living here, loathe about living here, or have come to accept as something that we just have to learn to live with no matter how we feel about it. And this week, and it's your turn. What do you got?
Ed 00:25:56 All right, I got something old school that has recently come up in my mind again. But actually, because of my my move. so I don't know exactly what to call this, so I'm just going to call it. Call it the wet bathroom. So the, the basic idea of listeners out there, if you don't know this, I don't know a lot of Thai homes, and maybe even some hotels, but not, not like national hotels.
Ed 00:26:23 The basic idea of the bathroom is that it's designed for the whole thing to get wet. So it's like the lack of, like, a bathroom door will be made out of, like, cheap plastic. And they'll be, you know, you'll have your host like a bum gun. And the basic idea is that, like, the entire bathroom can be completely hosed down, like at any time.
Greg 00:26:43 Right. Yeah.
Ed 00:26:44 And that's how it ends. So what I I've got some thoughts. On the on the wet bathroom. Like what? What's your take on this?
Greg 00:26:52 I, I'm all for it, man. I am totally on board with Asian bathroom trans Asians and but but but I will say that I think Thailand is really only halfway there, so let me explain. So yeah, I'm all for it. And I'm not a big like, if you want to spend an hour in the shower, then having a big like multi shower head setup is probably awesome for me. I'm in and out.
Greg 00:27:17 I don't even have hair to wash, so I don't really care if I've got like a really small shower or something like that. As long as the water is warm and I can move around okay, it's fine with me. So having a small bathroom that I can just spray everywhere. I don't need to be in the bathroom for too long. I'm in and out and then I forget about it. So I like it. But I will say that I think the Japanese have it figured out, unsurprisingly 100%, because in Japan, a lot of places, they actually have the sink above the tank on the toilet. So when you wash your hands, it goes to fill up the toilet tank which which you then flush like you use as flushable water.
Ed 00:27:56 My point is not really so much about the technology, it's just about this. I just think of Thai bathrooms as being wet. It's like they're like, because it's all linoleum, it's all tile. And then it's kind of designed just to be hosed down, like that's the.
Ed 00:28:13 And, so I just brought this up because traditionally, like, historically, I never liked this idea. Like, I never got it. I was like, you know, my, like, back in the day, my wife really like, when she cleaned the bathroom, she would just, like, hose it down and, and, you know, then I would walk in the bathroom and I'd be, like, slipping or something. And it's just, it's, you know, I want the bathroom to be like any other room. But it's like the way Thais look at it is like the bathroom is in they treat a bathroom like its like Westerners treat a shower, you know, it's like the whole bathroom. The whole bathroom is a shower, you know? And,
Greg 00:28:51 Okay.
Ed 00:28:51 I just never liked it. Yeah, but over the years, obviously, I just got more used to it. I've been here a long time. What I realized, like, now that I'm in my new place, I'm doing a lot of cleaning.
Ed 00:29:01 It is incredibly convenient. So now, obviously, I, like, you know, I take I take my towels out, but I can just blast the entire room, you know, it's like, it's just it's there's, you know, there's there's drains in the shower. There's drains in the main part of the bathroom. There's a drain by the toilet, you know, there's like three different trains. It's like the whole place is designed to be cleaned very easily.
Greg 00:29:21 Yeah. No, I think it's great. I'm on board. I'm on board. Any any any advancements in bathroom situation ology?
Ed 00:29:27 I used to I used to loathe it. I gotta say, I'm probably live with now with it, with the wet bathroom.
Greg 00:29:33 I'm a live approaching love with of live with approaching love. I think it's great.
Ed 00:29:37 There you go.
Greg 00:29:37 I do, we're due for an upgrade.
Ed 00:29:39 I guess I'm being assimilated. All right. A final thanks to our patrons who support the show. Pictures got a ton of cool perks and a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that they're helping in our never ending quest for cool content.
Ed 00:29:51 Find out more by clicking support on our website and connect with us online or Bangkok podcast on social media Bangkok podcast. Com on the web or simply Bangkok Podcast at gmail.com. We'd love hearing from our listeners and ours reply to our messages.
Greg 00:30:06 Yeah. Listen to each episode on YouTube as well. Send us a voicemail for our website in the future on the show. Hit me up on blue Sky, I am back. Thank you for listening folks. I will see you back here next week.
Ed 00:00:12 So if you've ever wondered why all the hands like us never seem to get caught up in the expat drama, you'll love this episode of the Bangkok. Taka.
Greg 00:00:36 Sawa the crap. This is the Bangkok podcast. My name is Greg Jorgensen, a Canadian who came to Thailand in 2001 with nothing but the traditional Canadian Explorer kit, a bucket of maple syrup, a tuk, and a backpack full of Canadian flag pins.
Ed 00:00:50 I get the maple syrup. What the heck is that? Tuk?
Greg 00:00:52 You don't know what a tuk is.
Ed 00:00:54 Of course I don't know what a tube is. Let me know what a tuk is.
Greg 00:00:58 There uncivilised rest of the world. It's like a it's like a woollen hat with a, like a long.
Ed 00:01:03 Oh yeah.
Greg 00:01:03 Long thing. Like a, like a with a pointy, pointy hat. When you're. When we were kids in school, we used to joke, laugh, giggle at each other, run around asking people if they were a tuk or a helmet.
Greg 00:01:12 Oh, I think so.
Ed 00:01:13 Okay, I know what that is. I didn't know it was called a tuk tuk. Yeah, I'm from Ohio.
Greg 00:01:18 Yeah.
Ed 00:01:20 And I'm an American who came to Thailand on a one year teaching contract over 25 years ago, fell in love with stunning Bangkok sunsets that I later realized were primarily due to the air pollution. So I never left.
Greg 00:01:34 Hey man, beauty is all about what you see with the eyes, not what you breathe with your lungs.
Ed 00:01:38 That's right. I'm with him. All right. We want to give a big thanks to all of our patrons who support the show. Patrons get every episode a day early, behind the scenes photos of our interviews, a heads up to send questions to upcoming guests, and access to our discord server to chat with me, Greg, and other listeners around the world. But best of all, patrons also get an unscripted, Uncensored bonus episode every week, where we riff on current events and Bangkok topics on this week's show.
Ed 00:02:05 We each have a dilemma with my broken television after my big move. Greg's decision to attend the 2025 vertical marathon at the Banyan Tree Hotel in December, which he invites everyone to join, by the way, and a challenge to our listeners. Find and photograph three different Bangkok Podcast stickers on your journeys out and about in Bangkok and send them in to us, and we'll send you a little gift to learn how to become a patron and get all this good stuff. Plus full access to over 800 bonus and regular back episodes. Click the support button at the top of our website.
Greg 00:02:41 You really leaned into that out and about. I would say out and about. So it really comes out there. That's right. And if you have a comment, show idea or just want to say hi. Head to Bangkok podcast.com. Click the little microphone button on the bottom right. Leave us a voicemail. We'll play that on the show. Right. Then on this episode, we are taking a cue from the online forums lately where we are seeing lots of news about expats in Thailand having their bank accounts frozen or outright suspended.
Greg 00:03:11 Our buddy Justin had a bit of drama with that today on Facebook. He was posting about pair that with the evergreen headlines of foreigners lacking insurance for motorbike accidents, getting scammed by bar girls stuck on visa runs or generally getting the runaround from Thailand. So Anna and I were talking about this and we realized that, comparatively speaking, we have fairly boring lives. None of this drama has ever befallen us. And we wondered, are we just lucky, or do you, as an expat, build up a certain amount of legitimacy or Thai street cred, or immunity from these weird little speed bumps that can turn into major issues? Is it us, or is it just the fact that we've both spent nearly half our lives living in Thailand? So this is a little bit of a rhetorical question, but I think we can ponder it a little bit and bat it around a little bit because I don't know about you, but most of my friends, we have a lot of friends in common, but most of my friends are in the same boat as me.
Greg 00:04:06 I've never really known anyone here who's been long term, that has gotten in any crazy dramas or insane amounts of trouble. A few people here and there, but they're definite outliers.
Ed 00:04:17 Well, I think that the kind of genesis of this show idea was, you know, me, me realizing that when you talk about the expat experience in Thailand, it's almost like there's two different experiences. There's there's really life as an early expat. And then and then you cross into the void or you cross the line, you know what I mean? Because you.
Greg 00:04:41 Know. Yeah, but it's a it's an invisible, unknown line. Yeah.
Ed 00:04:44 Well, you know what I realized, you know, like you mentioned about, you know, checking out forums or, you know, I watch a lot of YouTube videos of expat YouTube videos and, I what I realized is they're caught in these, like, intense dramas that they're talking about, you know, the video, what they call life in Thailand. And I'm like, okay, you know, this is my world.
Ed 00:05:02 I want to hear what what other people are saying. And they'll just be talking about x, y, z. You know, this, that, whatever. And I realized, wait, none of that applies to me. Yeah. Like like so so what? Their life in Thailand is actually due to the fact that they've they haven't been here as long as we have. Like, we we like, we like. The bottom line is we just have solved problems over time. And so once you get, you know, once you get off a tourist visa, once you get, you know, your first proper work permit, there's all these, all these, almost like checkpoints or mile markers, like when you get your work permit, it's like, damn shit. I got a work permit at.
Greg 00:05:40 Yeah, right. I'm legit, you know?
Ed 00:05:42 Yeah. And but and then each time, each like, extra step you take, you just kind of blend in. I guess we're assimilating or, like, as you said, you you build up street cred.
Ed 00:05:53 But I don't know, I thought it would be interesting to talk about That in a way, it's it's things that we're missing. Which is, I guess, kind of good for us. But since you want her trying to explain the what it's like to leave her with an ex bad, we have to kind of be honest that you and I are kind of over the over the hump, so to speak.
Greg 00:06:10 Right, right. And it's a good point that you mentioned when you're when you're in your early days, things can go a bit off the rails and get wild. And we both certainly have had insane stories and gone spent evenings with crazy people and done nutty, nutty things and had these things happen to us. But, but but those were like way in the past. That's right. We're old.
Ed 00:06:29 World.
Greg 00:06:31 But when? But when I watch Idaho, I don't spend as much time on YouTube as you do. But when I'm watching sometimes these tie videos of these guys and it's like with titles like got kicked out of my apartment, please help, or.
Greg 00:06:43 That's right. You know, girlfriend stole all my stuff or. Yeah, yeah. Or, you know, drama stuck at the border in Cambodia. Like, without a way to get back in. Like, on one hand, I'm like, boy, I kind of miss those exciting days when you're flying by the seat of your pants. But on the other hand, I think, like, Jesus, man, like, none of this stuff happens to me. And is it just because, like, why? Why what do I why am I so lucky that I don't have to deal with any of the dramas that these, these people sort of seem to deal with on a regular, recurring basis?
Ed 00:07:15 Well, it's a little bit of a tricky topic. So one issue that I have noticed can actually last a long time are like these are runs and border runs. What I've noticed about exports is there's certain there's certain problems that you can solve in six months. But you and I both know a lot of people who who have done visa or border runs for many years.
Ed 00:07:37 Some people do them for almost like a decade.
Greg 00:07:40 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ed 00:07:42 and it's always, it's always complicated because there will be a new government or new limits and it'll be like, okay, you can't go to Cambodia anymore. You got to go to Singapore, you got to go further away, or you got to go back to your home country. so that's I would say that's a, classic found. If you can get rid of like, whatever, you know, get the right visa or in my case, you know, getting permanent residency or if you can get over the visa thing, that's a giant accomplishment.
Greg 00:08:09 Yeah, I think so. And this is something that I say a lot, a lot too, and I've said it for the entire run of the podcast is my advice for noobs when you want to sort of stake your claim in Bangkok and legitimize yourself. Start getting the bank books or the book banks or whatever the stupid banks call them. you know, your driver's license, a credit card, a work permit, a hospital card, a pink card, and then you work your way up the hill, like to the top of the volcano, and then you're looking at permanent residency.
Greg 00:08:37 And then the ultimate golden boy is citizenship. But the more legit you can make yourself. It seems to me that the stench of Nube kind of drops away over, over time.
Ed 00:08:51 Yeah, no, that's the thing. It's like, it definitely does sound like your experience here just becomes completely different. And, you know, like I said, that the reason I thought of this topic is that I just felt detached. You know, so I'm watching these videos of these expats, and these are not the tourists who who got here last week. You know, that's another thing these were people with. You know, after you've been in Thailand six months, you actually know a lot of stuff. I mean, you shouldn't act like you know everything, but once you put in six months, like, you've absorbed a lot of stuff about Thailand. Yeah. For sure. Like those? Like, if you're here six months, like, I give you some, some props, but they tend to be dealing with, like, just problems that we're not dealing with yourself.
Ed 00:09:37 So I just I feel very detached. I feel like I feel like very detached. Like looking at their lives, and it, you know, it's it's tough, like, I mean, you're actually you're. This was actually pretty good. It's it's like like when you first have to deal with a Thailand or or when you, like your or your first relationship or like that, you know, dealing with, like, nightlife and there's just these classic, dramas, as you put it. And I'm like, man, it's been a long time since I've had to do with any of it.
Greg 00:10:09 Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I wonder though, like simply existing in a place for X number of months or years, it's, there's got to be more to it than that. Right. Because I'm not I'm an idiot. I haven't done anything special. Right. But just simply being able to sustain your life at a certain level in Thailand, like, is that does that give you enough propulsion to launch you over the fence of new.
Greg 00:10:34 I'm going to keep bringing up this, be bringing up that topic. You know, I'm thinking back to my, my, my early days and I was I was dating, you know, girls. And the only thing they wanted to do was get pregnant with a foreign baby and moved to the farm, like, like, how many bullets did I dodge? Right. And I I've, I've done some crazy visa runs where I've had some not cool experiences and, you know, and been forced to do this and that and sort of wiggle my way around a bit, but I haven't, like, happened upon a grand solution to this stuff. It just seems that the longer you spend here that it slowly just falls away. And I don't know why.
Ed 00:11:11 Well, I think I think you're right is like all those all those small, like, legitimacy steps. I think you're right. Like it's not there's nothing official about it. But you know, once you like you said, like you get a bank account, you get a credit card, you, you know, get, you know, you get off a tourist visa and you have a proper, like, nonimmigrant visa, and then you get a proper and then you get a proper work from it.
Ed 00:11:38 It all seems to add up somehow. Oh, you know, the other thing I want to mention is, you and I are, are very honest about our level of tie. We make fun of our tie all the time. But the simple truth is, you and I both have basic tie. Like, more. More than your typical guy who's been here a couple of months for sure. and, and, that's also this thing, like, if you just know some basic type, type people, type people treat you completely differently, like they they realize you're not a tourist.
Greg 00:12:05 Yeah.
Ed 00:12:06 You know what I mean? Like, like you just gotta be like, if you if you have. I don't know what. I don't know what the cutoff would be. Honestly, if you have 20 words with Ty that are not horrible, you actually reach a different plane of how Thai people treat you.
Greg 00:12:21 Figure out the shortcut. If you if you say sing instead of saying ha and Souvanna Boom instead of Suvarnabhumi like immediately, you're ten steps ahead.
Ed 00:12:27 Because when Thai people approach you as a foreigner, they assume you're a tourist. And if you say no, they they know what Mil means. But but that's a sign. But that's a sign that you don't speak Thai and you're a tourist. You have. So if you say no, that's that's not the magic word. Like the magic phrase is like my o or my O cop, or so you're saying, like, no thank you in Thai.
Greg 00:12:48 Right. That's that's how I feel, too. And they and they, they've either got a kick up their game a little bit or just be like, oh, forget about this guy. He's not a tourist.
Ed 00:12:57 That's right. And, so anytime I'm dealing with, you know, anyone in, like, a formal capacity, I always flash whatever documents I have. Like, you know, half the time they hand stuff back to me. But this is, you know, just along with what you're saying, if I'm dealing with the bank or business renting something, it's like I put my passport down.
Ed 00:13:19 My my my my permanent residency. You know, I have a pink like, national ID card. I have my university. I have my university ID. I just like I'm just like, bang, bang, bang, bang.
Greg 00:13:30 Are you are you like me when you go to, like, someplace and they ask you, they just go passport and then you whip out, like a Thai government I.D.. Do you feel kind of like you're acting up in poker? Like you're. You're like, oh, yeah. You want my passport? That's for amateurs. How about my bike up key? How about my driver's license?
Ed 00:13:45 That's right, that's right. Yeah.
Greg 00:13:47 For sure.
Ed 00:13:48 but it it is those things. So it is the official things, but it's also small things. I think about how you act and knowing some tie like it, it's, you know, archi is legitimate now that we're not going to be ID'd as like recent expats or like we're not going to be Adidas newbies.
Greg 00:14:08 Right, right.
Greg 00:14:09 And the language thing is interesting too, because I was thinking about that and it sort of turned me on to another idea, which is I think that, like every guidebook you'll ever read says if you learn a few words, a tie, it'll go a long way to, you know, improving your life and making Thai people friendlier. And that's true. But I think that that actually is like just a small sliver of the fact that I think that Thai people place a huge amount of importance on going legit. So, like if you put in the work to give a little bit of yourself to Thailand, then they will cut you a lot of slack in, in trying to You have everything from trying to scam you to. To making assumptions or stereotypes about you. Like, I think that they. They they respect that a lot. They respect that you're based here, that you've sort of tried to build a life for yourself here. For sure that a lot of these things just automatically us. Like once they realize that, then they sort of like you, you pass into a higher sphere or something like that.
Ed 00:15:12 Agreed. Agreed. I think, Yeah, I think I think, it's funny. I think both good and bad tie people are actually doing the same thing, because I think that scammers are clearly looking for newbies and tourists. You know, it's like that, right? Like that. That's their advantage. That's their leverage, that you don't know the rules, you know. So I, you know, like in dealing with taxes, they'll, you know, oh, and this still happens to me this day. You know, I tell them where I want to go, they say 300 baht and I just be tied to them. And then they're like, oh, me either. Like. Like, you know, not always, but but but not always. Not always. But I mean, a lot of times it as soon as they just give up and they're like, okay. Neither they don't have some kind of deep game. Like their game is. I'm looking for a fool who just got here, who doesn't know the game, who doesn't know the rules, and they're not going to work.
Ed 00:16:04 They're not going to work it beyond that. Right? So they're just going to they're just going to throw off 305 and see if it works. But then if you just throw out some time, they're like, all right, just get in like meter. Like there's no it's not always a battle. Like they just give up immediately.
Greg 00:16:17 But they realize like is is is the effort I'm going to have to put in to match this guy, like to pull off a more sophisticated scam worth it? No, not really. I'll just take the thing.
Ed 00:16:27 So I think scammers like once you have some legitimacy, scammers don't want to deal with you because you're harder to deal with. Like you're more legit, like you're here. They realize you're here permanent or something permanently. Like you might have friends or you know, you know, you know, you know how things work.
Greg 00:16:43 I really want to caveat this too. And this is not only about scammers and stuff like that. I think it goes for, you know, normal interactions with bank people or bank tellers or 7-Eleven people or something like that.
Greg 00:16:54 Once they realize that, like, oh, this guy clearly lives here and knows a little bit about it, then maybe I can relate to him on a bit more of a personal level, or I can cut him a break, or I can give him a give him a short cut or something like that. So it's not all about scams, it's just about show showing that you're fitting into Thai culture.
Ed 00:17:12 Yes. Like I said earlier, I think it applies to like, both good people and bad people.
Greg 00:17:17 Well you're right. Yeah, yeah.
Ed 00:17:18 Yeah, I do think I do think Thai people appreciate people who kind of cross over from being a tourist. And it's funny, you know, I've had funny conversations with my students. Sometimes they'll ask me opinions like, why do you want to live here? You know why. Like why? Why are you staying in Thailand so long? And there's a little bit of, almost like cute surprise where Thai people, actually appreciate that we want to stay because like, you know, like like everyone, you and I have joked about this before, like, you know, when you're from a certain place, you're obviously.
Ed 00:17:58 Oh, this sucks. Like, I gotta get out of here. You know, like, you know, you're like, I'm. I'm from Ohio, you know? Yeah. Like, I gotta get out of here, you know? and like, a lot of my students, you know, they just grow up in Thailand. They grow up in Bangkok, and, like, so, like, they complain about the traffic, whatever the like. Their general attitude is, Bangkok, you know, kind of sucks, you know? Yeah. So, so so then when. So then when they realized that I've been here as many years, I have, they'll be like, oh, wow. Like, you know why? Like what's up? And then then I'll say, oh, I like this, I like that, I like type like Thai food. I like Thai people, whatever. It's like they, they they take this as a compliment.
Greg 00:18:35 Those are merit badges. Those are like Thai level merit badges.
Greg 00:18:38 Yeah.
Ed 00:18:38 Like, they they actually appreciate that we like this place enough that we build through the work of going legit, as you said.
Greg 00:18:47 And not only that too, but I remember years and years ago I got a lot of questions from my students when I was teaching, and they couldn't understand why I would willingly spend so much time away from my family and so far away from them. They're like, they're like, but why? Like, don't you? Don't you miss them? How long are you going to stay before you go home? And I'll be like, I'm not going home. I'm staying here for as long as I can. And they're like, but, but why? So if someone's willing to to put up with, with what is to them that massive barrier, then they must be worth investing a little bit of time and giving them benefit. And I should also say, too, that this isn't a blanket statement, like there are just some expats here who are for some reason just magnets to insanity.
Greg 00:19:33 You know, they've they've they've been here for 15 years, but they're still getting picked up by police and they're still getting beat up by their girlfriend's brother or motorcycle taxi driver boyfriend or something like that. So just because you've been here for a decade doesn't mean that there are people here who are immune to drama.
Ed 00:19:50 Like you read like you choose to go with it. But, you know, I guess I just wanted to say that like I do. I do have sympathy for the early part. I do. I have to be honest, I'm glad I'm not going through the drama they're going through. So we we've crossed over. We've crossed over into the other zone. but, I still want to stay in touch with them. Like, I want to, I want to I want to remember and be aware of what it's like to be your one year, you know, or nine months, you know, because. Because that's a very interesting time. Like when you're around the one between the one and two year thing, like you've actually learned a lot about Thailand.
Ed 00:20:30 You you are not a newbie. You're not right. But usually by then you haven't solved a lot of these problems. You talked about. Like you're you might still you're probably sort of like, again, I have buddies who did visa runs for, I think close to a decade. Like I'd have to have asked them, the like. You know.
Greg 00:20:49 That's crazy.
Ed 00:20:50 It actually takes years to, like, check these boxes we're talking about. Like it, like legit. But I don't think you could do it in one year.
Greg 00:20:58 No, I don't think so. To get something like, you know, like so certainly to get a tabby and bond or something like that. Well, I guess you could, I guess, but certainly, I mean.
Ed 00:21:06 If.
Greg 00:21:06 You.
Ed 00:21:07 It's possible, but it's just not the way it usually works.
Greg 00:21:10 Right, right, right. And I still know people who have been here for 20 years that are like, I don't know about I don't know about citizenship, but I'm like, why not? Like, what's the downside? Right.
Greg 00:21:22 So it's just it is that, that mental barrier to, to fully accepting that you're not going back. That might be a, that might be a part of it too, but. Right. yeah, I don't know. I don't know, but, you know, and again, another caveat. We could be saying all this. And then tomorrow both of our bank accounts will be shut down or something like that, and we'll be right back at square. Square one. You never know for sure. That's right.
Ed 00:21:47 Well, it's funny, when I mentioned, you know, earlier, I mentioned, like, dealing with landlords on the show. I talked about, like, a problem with my landlord and getting some security deposit back. So I'm certainly not immune, to to to drama.
Greg 00:22:00 Yeah. I don't think anyone is, but I don't know what it is about it. There's an intangible quality. I think that that a lot of long term expats give off. That makes them sort of.
Ed 00:22:15 Yeah, we just miss, like, we just don't have to deal. We just don't have to deal with so much stuff that that the, the short short term. I don't know where the short timers, the short term are. You're dealing with. They're just dealing with a lot of stuff that we're we're just beyond that, like a lot of it we did have to deal with. But I was in a pretty lucky case. I said I had a good job when I first came here, so I had a work permit and a visa, so I did avoid I never had to do a visa run, which is, you know, pretty incredible. Oh, man. Yeah. You know, that's pretty incredible. but,
Greg 00:22:47 Oh, dude, I had to run upstairs at one of my jobs to avoid when immigration came by to check the place out. I'd like grab my shoes and run up to the first floor. Yes.
Ed 00:22:56 That's it. That's what we're talking about. Like that? That's it.
Ed 00:22:58 That's. There's so many really expats who have those experiences and like for you and I for you and I, it's just like in the rearview mirror. It's like way back then, you know.
Greg 00:23:08 Yeah, yeah. And and we and we don't have to deal with it anymore at all. But,
Ed 00:23:12 I still have sympathy for him. I'm not, I don't, I, I, I don't, I don't say it like I'm not, I don't want to dump on those people. Like, I remember, I remember like the early drama. Like I have sympathy for that situation. And you and I like that for the podcast. I feel like we have a duty to, to, to be aware of that. What it's like to be here one and two years. Like we can't forget that.
Greg 00:23:37 No, no, no, not at all. But I am also I think we're been here long enough that like, you know, setting up a life in a new country is not easy and I'm proud of it.
Greg 00:23:47 So I think that we have earned the right to gloat in our comfortable gloat.
Ed 00:23:54 That's a little bit harsh.
Greg 00:23:55 You know what I mean?
Ed 00:23:56 I don't want to say gloat.
Greg 00:23:57 Well, maybe not gloat, but we we've earned the right to be happy that we don't have to put up with this stuff. You know, I think, well, we've earned.
Ed 00:24:04 I think we've earned some peace of mind. Like where? Like that.
Greg 00:24:07 That's probably a much better way to say it.
Ed 00:24:09 I mean, I remember I just remember having to report my address every 90 days, and I did that. I did that for seven years. And you just have to do it in person. So now you can actually do it online. Even though I, I was just reading that the online app is not that reliable, but for seven years I went to an office and reported my address every 90 days. And it's just, man, when you don't have to do that anymore. It's just, you know. Yeah.
Ed 00:24:34 Again, it's like you, you you you you move on to another level. It's like you're, you know, it's like you float. You float it.
Greg 00:24:42 Up, you transcend.
Ed 00:24:42 You transcend. Yeah. Yeah. I mean.
Greg 00:24:45 There's a there's a real Buddhist analogy here because it's like you're isn't there like stages on the, on the path. Right. You know, like stops that you make or something like that. So Nirvana would be getting citizenship and then you don't have to deal with anything anymore.
Ed 00:24:59 That's so.
Greg 00:24:59 Funny. Yeah. Yeah. But, anyway, we just thought we'd we'd ponder on this a little bit. We certainly have sympathy for people that are putting up with all the bullshit that you have to put up with when you're new, but, your advice stick around.
Ed 00:25:13 Yeah. No, your advice is well taken. I think that if you're if you've been here 1 to 2 years, even though the paperwork is bullshit, the bureaucracy is bullshit. It's worth it. I think every vice is right.
Ed 00:25:26 Like, just try to get as legitimate as you can.
Greg 00:25:29 Yeah. Every step you take to be more legitimate buys you street cred books from Thai writer. And they're worth more here than they than they are. Back home, I guess I don't know. Oh, great. All right, well, let's get into some love. Live with. Where one of us picks a particular aspect of living in Bangkok, which we discuss to decide if it's something that we love about living here, loathe about living here, or have come to accept as something that we just have to learn to live with no matter how we feel about it. And this week, and it's your turn. What do you got?
Ed 00:25:56 All right, I got something old school that has recently come up in my mind again. But actually, because of my my move. so I don't know exactly what to call this, so I'm just going to call it. Call it the wet bathroom. So the, the basic idea of listeners out there, if you don't know this, I don't know a lot of Thai homes, and maybe even some hotels, but not, not like national hotels.
Ed 00:26:23 The basic idea of the bathroom is that it's designed for the whole thing to get wet. So it's like the lack of, like, a bathroom door will be made out of, like, cheap plastic. And they'll be, you know, you'll have your host like a bum gun. And the basic idea is that, like, the entire bathroom can be completely hosed down, like at any time.
Greg 00:26:43 Right. Yeah.
Ed 00:26:44 And that's how it ends. So what I I've got some thoughts. On the on the wet bathroom. Like what? What's your take on this?
Greg 00:26:52 I, I'm all for it, man. I am totally on board with Asian bathroom trans Asians and but but but I will say that I think Thailand is really only halfway there, so let me explain. So yeah, I'm all for it. And I'm not a big like, if you want to spend an hour in the shower, then having a big like multi shower head setup is probably awesome for me. I'm in and out.
Greg 00:27:17 I don't even have hair to wash, so I don't really care if I've got like a really small shower or something like that. As long as the water is warm and I can move around okay, it's fine with me. So having a small bathroom that I can just spray everywhere. I don't need to be in the bathroom for too long. I'm in and out and then I forget about it. So I like it. But I will say that I think the Japanese have it figured out, unsurprisingly 100%, because in Japan, a lot of places, they actually have the sink above the tank on the toilet. So when you wash your hands, it goes to fill up the toilet tank which which you then flush like you use as flushable water.
Ed 00:27:56 My point is not really so much about the technology, it's just about this. I just think of Thai bathrooms as being wet. It's like they're like, because it's all linoleum, it's all tile. And then it's kind of designed just to be hosed down, like that's the.
Ed 00:28:13 And, so I just brought this up because traditionally, like, historically, I never liked this idea. Like, I never got it. I was like, you know, my, like, back in the day, my wife really like, when she cleaned the bathroom, she would just, like, hose it down and, and, you know, then I would walk in the bathroom and I'd be, like, slipping or something. And it's just, it's, you know, I want the bathroom to be like any other room. But it's like the way Thais look at it is like the bathroom is in they treat a bathroom like its like Westerners treat a shower, you know, it's like the whole bathroom. The whole bathroom is a shower, you know? And,
Greg 00:28:51 Okay.
Ed 00:28:51 I just never liked it. Yeah, but over the years, obviously, I just got more used to it. I've been here a long time. What I realized, like, now that I'm in my new place, I'm doing a lot of cleaning.
Ed 00:29:01 It is incredibly convenient. So now, obviously, I, like, you know, I take I take my towels out, but I can just blast the entire room, you know, it's like, it's just it's there's, you know, there's there's drains in the shower. There's drains in the main part of the bathroom. There's a drain by the toilet, you know, there's like three different trains. It's like the whole place is designed to be cleaned very easily.
Greg 00:29:21 Yeah. No, I think it's great. I'm on board. I'm on board. Any any any advancements in bathroom situation ology?
Ed 00:29:27 I used to I used to loathe it. I gotta say, I'm probably live with now with it, with the wet bathroom.
Greg 00:29:33 I'm a live approaching love with of live with approaching love. I think it's great.
Ed 00:29:37 There you go.
Greg 00:29:37 I do, we're due for an upgrade.
Ed 00:29:39 I guess I'm being assimilated. All right. A final thanks to our patrons who support the show. Pictures got a ton of cool perks and a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that they're helping in our never ending quest for cool content.
Ed 00:29:51 Find out more by clicking support on our website and connect with us online or Bangkok podcast on social media Bangkok podcast. Com on the web or simply Bangkok Podcast at gmail.com. We'd love hearing from our listeners and ours reply to our messages.
Greg 00:30:06 Yeah. Listen to each episode on YouTube as well. Send us a voicemail for our website in the future on the show. Hit me up on blue Sky, I am back. Thank you for listening folks. I will see you back here next week.
