Let's talk about the kind of people that really shouldn't live in SE Asia... Part 2

I write this not as a criticism of people who fail at living overseas... shit happens, I get that. However, with nearly 20 years of experience living overseas I have seen a ton of people fail in their efforts of living outside of their own country and as tough of a pill as this might be to swallow, most people actually do fail in one way or another. This can be from poor financial decisions, changes in pension laws in their home countries, or just being the wrong type of person for the level of freedom that exists over here compared to our home countries.

The last thing that I just said is a massive disqualifier for people attempting to live here in SE Asia, and I have seen it completely wreck havoc on the lives of the individual and the people around them. Therefore the 2nd group of people that I believe are a bad fit for success at living in SE Asia falls into this very easy to identify category.

People who are susceptible to addiction

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I'm not claiming a higher ground here or faking that I am somehow immune to this sort of thing. I too am a borderline alcoholic and recently I had to kind of put myself in check because of the higher-than-should-be amount of prescription (that you don't need a prescription for in Vietnam) pills that I am taking. The fact of the matter here is that these countries are extremely tolerant of deviant behavior that would not be allowed in most western countries. It is very common to see people wandering the streets absolutely hammered at all hours of the day. This same behavior in most of these people's home countries would result in at least a chat with the police, but here, you basically get to do whatever you want unless you harm another person. SE Asia has this sort of "do whatever you want as long as the only person you are harming is you" and for the most part, I agree with this role as far as government officials are concerned. I don't think it should be daddy government's job to look after you if you are an adult but at the same time I recognize that many people, if left to their own devices, are going to make really bad decisions on a regular basis.

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While drinking cultures exist around the world, most of the western world has a sort of taboo associated with people that are getting plastered in the afternoon on a Tuesday. No such stigma exists here. In fact it is quite the obvious. If you are able to be partying on a weekday you are kind of admired by the locals who are envious of the success that you have achieved in life to be financially and time-wise capable of doing that on a day that is normally reserved for working. This doesn't mean that they will tolerate you acting like a jackass because remember what I said before about how they will be OK with you doing whatever you want as long as it doesn't negatively impact the lives of others.

But the fact of the matter is that there is nothing standing in anyone's way of simply being a drunk every single day of the week. In Thailand there are some laws in place that limit the ability to just drink around the clock and there are also rather strict laws on pharmaceuticals. Here in Vietnam, there is nothing stopping any bar from staying open 24 hours a day and pharmacies will mostly just sell you whatever the hell you want without any questions. For the wrong person with that has an absence of self-preservation, this can (and does) lead to disaster.

There are so many friends of mine that have gone to the wayside of simply starting on the beers at an earlier and earlier time until it becomes the only thing that they ever do. I know that in my own life, when I owned a bar, that I was the bar's best customer as I had a policy and even made a sign copying the Liverpool Football Club's slogan and changing it to "You'll Never Drink Alone" and I stuck by it. This resulted in me being very drunk almost every day for nearly 5 years. In that time I gained a ton of weight, was hungover all the time, and eventually I took the sign down and even made a social-media post about how the "never drink alone" policy was over now, for the sake of my own well-being.

There are a ton of people that I know that lack this sort of sensibility though and in every city I have lived in here in SE Asia, there is a certain part of town and certain bars that cater to the degenerates that want to drink all day, every day. I have never been a part of this because I have the wherewithal to realize that this lifestyle is killing both your body and your wallet and stay away. There are a ton of people that lack this self-control though and while the older retired folks manage to last longer, the younger people always end up running out of options and having to run back to their home country with their tails between their legs. To me, this is even more embarrassing than the people who chose an untenable employment option over here because now their parents have to bail out there child for being a fuck-up.

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Go to any popular expat area in any of these countries and go out one night or early in the morning and you will see the people I am talking about. Passed out at a bar or even worse, on the street. This might seem like something that only happens every now and then but it is actually very common. I often go for early morning walks with Nadi (my dog) because it is the only time of day that the street isn't something you could cook eggs on, and I almost always run into extremely drunk people that are still partying from the night before. This isn't behavior that would be tolerated in the west but here, it is almost encouraged. When I was in college one of the jobs I had was as a bartender and it was my responsibility to cut off people that were already intoxicated; here in SE Asia, if you still have money, they will allow you to continue drinking forever.

The people I know that are daily visitors to the pubs are not in a good way. They are sometimes employed and sometimes retired and the ones who have jobs are constantly screwing up at work, turning up late or calling in sick until they are eventually fired. Normally these people find another job not because living in this part of the world is necessarily "for them" but because they know that they would not be able to get away with living this sort of drunken lifestyle in their home country.

I like freedom to do whatever you want, but for some people if they are given the chance to make bad decisions that is exactly what they are going to do. Just be honest with yourself and look at your own life: If you are susceptible to alcohol and drug abuse, moving to a country where these things are more accessible and acceptable than they are where you live now this is NOT the right choice for your life.

There are no rehabilitation systems in place here either unless you are willing to pay for them and I actually know one of the psychologists that works at an expensive rehab center in Thailand and she has told me that for the people that don't leave Asia after their rehab, they have a nearly 100% relapse rate. The fact of the matter is that the stuff that made you an addict in the first place is just too accessible over here and you need some serious willpower to resist. I am one of those people that as I got older I started to become a bit more concerned with my longevity of life and health and therefore cut the drunkenness out of my life unless there was a special occasion. For many of the people that I know, the bar IS THE OCCASION and this is no way to live.

If you cannot control yourself as far as these things are concerned, you aren't going to discover a way to make it happen over here. It is going to get much much worse over here. Sure you'll have a lot of fun for a few years but then you are going to be worse off than when you got here and you'll likely have a lot of regrets later in life. It just isn't worth it. Once again I am going to say that for people that are like this it is a far better idea to just stay in your home country, save a bunch of money, and go on long vacations/ holidays to this part of the world instead. Then if you want to act like a drunk degenerate at least it is only for a few weeks or a month, then get your ass back to your home country where they have rules and you'll have a much better life because of it.