If you know that your salary is low, and just accept that you will continue to work in Thailand earning a low salary, then I hope that the "I do it because I love the lifestyle" argument has much substance to it, because it sure seems that the reasons people stay here are silly and often selfish reasons.

Foreigners working in Thailand, mostly as teachers, will often say that the low salary is okay for them because they love the lifestyle and love living in Thailand. It is an old, recycled argument that true believers will continuously fall back on. I hear things like "My salary might be low, but it's enough to support my lifestyle and still save a little." Great. Good for you. I'm proud you believe that.

I would love to see a list of 10 or so things about this "lifestyle" that people keep referring too. Sadly, when I ask, people are taken aback and quickly scramble for a greatest hits generic list that often starts like this: "Well, the people are nice, the food and transport is cheap, travel is cheap, the beaches are amazing, and culture is fascinating , etc." Ughhh....

To which I reply: "How many countries have you been to?? There are load of places with "nice" people, cheap, food and transport, fascinating culture, etc. There are literally thousands of nice beaches in the world. You know you have been in Thailand too long when you keep revisiting the same cities, the same islands, and the same "hotspots"

It seems that a bunch of the "stuck-in-the-mud-with-no-options-and-nowhere-to-go" types here (and there are lots of them) have just given up. Being away from family and friends and meaningful relationships so you can pretend you are younger than you are and go to full moon parties, Khao San Rd or Cheap Charlies on weekends (before it closed - oh, the the hundred of comments I read about it closing and how people were absolutely gutted...lol) or sit in an air-conditioned cafe in Chiang Mai with wifi for hours on end updating your Facebook status with selfies and check-ins to share with everyone (often people they haven't seen or talked to in years) about their "amazing" travels.

Yes, it is an amazing journey from the air-conditioned guesthouse to the air-conditioned cafe.

Jeff