Prague senior Ladislav commutes between Prague and Thailand
“In the beginning, I always arrived and after a week went on a motorcycle trip to the neighboring states. I enjoyed riding alone and meeting many people. I have the feeling that even twenty-year-old backpackers who travel here are suddenly different and willingly have fun with a gray-haired guy. It’s a way of life that I didn’t know before, because I went to work in the morning and left work in the evening…,” explained the Prague man in his sixties about his motives for partially relocating to the tropics.
He is said to usually look forward to the upcoming transfer between the two “stations”. Central Europe brings him variety after a relatively monotonous rhythm of life, while Thailand brings more smiles to the faces of the natives.
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“There is general malice in the Czech Republic. Everyone is angry in some way and we are all up against something. We are not for anything, but always against something. In Thailand, people understandably also dislike a lot about the ruling class and the like. If you ask them about it, they talk. But they don’t deal with it all the time, they don’t live by it,” emphasized Ladislav, who at the same time pointed out that the life of the majority of Thai residents is difficult.
“Ordinary people work from morning to night. For example, the service girls here in Hua Hin mostly come from the countryside and sleep in three rooms on a mattress on the floor. After three months, you visit your children in the village, who are otherwise taken care of by their grandmother. Then they go back to work. It’s been like this for generations. It seems, and I find this interesting, that it doesn’t alienate children from their parents too much. And respect for old age is a matter of course, which is manifested by washing the feet,” Ladislav described family life in his second homeland.
He himself knows this local cultural specificity “first-hand” through his relationship with a Thai woman who has a large family, largely farming, and in Hua Hin takes care of an eleven-year-old granddaughter who goes to school there.
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“I don’t have many relatives in Europe anymore. My parents died, I see my brother sporadically, my cousins from Slovakia practically never. When he comes to the countryside in Thailand, where my girlfriend has relatives, it is a diametrical difference. Everyone hangs out. In Hua Hin, sometimes a relative comes to visit us. No announcement. They sleep and drive on again. They don’t deal with it, they like to see each other. It keeps families together,” noted Ladislav, according to whom family cohesion in Thailand replaces health insurance and, for example, it is completely normal for children to provide for old mothers for food…
Hua Hin is one of the closest seaside resorts from the metropolis of Bangkok. It is also attractive thanks to the number of high-quality golf courses. The number of Czechs in the local “expat” community is negligible. There are only units of them. Older citizens from Western and Northern European countries are much more represented, with Scandinavians dominating.
“Most of the time, they don’t want to have a wild party like many vacationers. They want to have peace, meet for a beer or some kind of sport. I have the feeling that there are enough of such lost existences from Europe. They have cleaned up here, they have little money, but peace and they will simply survive here,” Ladislav stated, adding that most Europeans were drawn to Hua Hin anyway because they see a simpler life.
“As a result, it is sometimes very monotonous. For example, I’ve been meeting the same people in one place for three years, who always sit there drinking beer and chattering about the same thing. But there are also more active groups with different focuses – e.g. scooterists or motorcyclists who go on trips together. Or tennis players, among whom I recently joined,” added Ladislav Kuruc, adding that “life in Thailand can be pleasant and comfortable. And still the same”.