I know a lot of expatriates (westerners / foreigners) living in Thailand and Indonesia have and do help travellers out on these forums, but I always felt expats were often an underused commodity. I also thought about running "my" own expat forum(s) as some I have frequented have been a bit badly managed (e.g. On the so called Expat Forum the owner and some of his users once actively discussed how to "hack" and spam travel forums with hate messages).
Osama

As a former expat in Phuket, Thailand myself, I often fealt travellers asking other travellers on travel forums where were the best places for this and that were missing a much more knowledgeable and up to date source of information. Also when impending visitors to Thailand or Bali wanted information, they often ignored replies given by expats. Why? Because I think expats gave them answers they did not want, for example:

Tourist question: I am going to stay at the Holiday Inn in Patong, where can I get the best shopping buys and Thai food?

Expat reply: You are best to take a taxi out of Patong (get your hotel to phone for an aircon metered cab, don't use a tuk-tuk) and go to Phuket Town.......... For food, getting good, fresh authentic Thai food without MSG and at a sensible price is really hard, but the New Moon Restaurant between the two hotels in Nai Harn (Beach) is superb, and Friendship Beach in Rawai serves great food on the beach with some of the best views you can hope for.

But it was often the other tourist replies such as "Micky's T-Shirt Parlour just round the corner from your hotel has a great selection of things and we really liked the seafood restaurant "Tom Car's Guy" that serves king prawns" (for 500 baht per 100 grams when you get 1 kilo if you know where to go), were often the answers tourists responded to and therefore wanted. I could never understand that myself. I knew Patong better than most tourists and apart from a few exceptions would never spend more to get less there. Actually, to be candid, I would not stay in Patong except for two nights maybe just to experience it.

It occured to me there were two main types of traveller, those out to experience and get the best / most out of their trip, and those out to enjoy the brochure / perception / safety in numbers and total R and R. There is nothing wrong with the later type, but I could never truly relate to such people. So I thought what a good idea it would be to have an expat forum where both expats and travellers can come and chat amongst themselves, separate from the main travel forum, because a) expats know to chat in expat forums themselves, and b) true travellers would see the chance to get someone with a lot more area experience's views.

Also hopefully this can be a useful place for expats to talk amongst themselves (no I don't mind some ads either).

Good idea?

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There are two categories of travellers, those that experience a country and those that take their home with them wherever they go.

Be warned, as with any forum, picking a fight with the admin guy is not recommended!

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

I suppose i was an expat for about 7 years in Thailand,and now back in Melbourne for the last 6 years. Every morning and everynight for the last six years my heart mind and soul is still in Thailand. Everyday I think of my life in Thailand like a past life experience, the memories, the way of life ,the people, and the difficulties of living in a foreign country. Everyday i wish i was still there, i know i wont be happy again until i go back to Thailand to live again, its like Black Magic is placed on you by the Thais.I have have seen the black side of Thailand but still would go back for more.
Other people must feel the same about Thailand,
ok my question for current expats or anyone really is

How long is too long to stay in one spell in Thailand without going troppo? Can you stay to long? Do we wear out our welcome?

ie.I found that living in Thailand for 7 years and only leaving during that time twice, 4 months in Aust and 3 months in Europe, and otherwise visa runs to Malaysia, was too much and looking back would have left to return to reality a bit more often, maybe every year.

being an ex-expat. Don't get me wrong, I loved and still love Thailand, but unless you can distance yourself from the niggles of living there. I also love the 4 seasons and European lifestyle, so for me having long breaks there is ideal. We (my wife and I) are actually talking about buying somewhere nice in Malaysia sometime; we chose Malaysia though because of land ownership (also price and title dispute) laws, plus visa regulations. We may well buy but not even get to go there for a couple of years or so until our youngest (now 18 months) is a wee bit older. We have really fond memories of living in Thailand and of our friends still there, but I do not think personally I would want to move back there on a full time basis. 2 or 3 months of the year, around February to April when the rain still keeps off but the tourist numbers are down; now you are talking.

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There are two categories of travellers, those that experience a country and those that take their home with them wherever they go.

Be warned, as with any forum, picking a fight with the admin guy is not recommended!

I have not lived there and do think that you can have an idealistict view of a place. The reality as always is doing it.
I like the luxury of the hotels and i know that takes me away from what a lot of purists would see as the real Thailand

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Re your first post in this thread Mark...not sure if enough expat regulars use this forum to make it work?

The majority of posters who used your other forum seemed to be occasional visitors to LOS, just interested in a couple of weeks away from home...shopping spree in BKK, "luxury" hotel on a beach on Phuket or Samui, spa treatments, upmarket restaurants and possibly an elephant trek in Chiang Mai if they're feeling adventurous.

As you pointed out, holiday-makers like these tend to be very resistant to advice from expats....the suggestions expats and long-term travelers make seem far too difficult and complicated to bother with and, as far as they're concerned, are a waste of precious holiday time. I get the impression they're far happier getting tips from people like themselves. Fair enough, expats and longer-term travelers don't do the same things as them as a rule anyway and can't really help with 5* hotel comparisons because they don't stay in them that much.

The amount of money Jaxw said she spends in two weeks is enough for me to travel in SEA for two months, get off the beaten track, see exceptional places, have exceptional experiences and meet people you'd never cross paths with back home. Far more worthwhile memories when you're on your deathbed and reviewing what you did in this life IMO but that's just my take on things. I know Thailand and a few other places in SEA quite well now but a lot of the info I could give just isn't asked for very often. Maybe when the forum takes off things will change and there will be a wider spectrum of users.

still here and will be staying till the last BBQ, mine. in udon thani if anyone is in or coming to the area. excellent active forum and websit for udon at : udonmap fill in the rest www and com or link off my homepage. i like that emotion, so does.........oops, family forum.

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LA
http://www.geocities.com/laphanphon/hp.html

With retirement approaching (Ten years away but that's not far when it comes to retirement) I am using my trip this year no so much as a holiday but as a recon.

Big question is wether to buy a condo or not. So on the real estate search I go. Would love to buy in Phuket but it's most likely out of my price range even with Thai prices and may have to settle on Jontiem.

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Mai Pen Rai

I love Thailand but foreigners have real problems with owning anything and maybe the visa issue will get worse in time. Have you considered Malaysia's "Second Home" visa? Check it out; 2 years (then another 3 years I think it is, then you qualify for automatic residency), can stay as long as you like, can own land and house, can work for overseas company and not pay tax in Malaysia, can bring your own maid, can bring your own car. Some lovely parts in Malaysia, often with Thai style food and only a short plane trip (or even rail or road trip) from both Singapore and Thailand.

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There are two categories of travellers, those that experience a country and those that take their home with them wherever they go.

Be warned, as with any forum, picking a fight with the admin guy is not recommended!

Thanks for the heads up I'll look into it.

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Mai Pen Rai