Living In Thailand Blog
Saturday 30th June 2012
Many farangs fall in love with the easy lifestyle in Thailand after visiting for a vacation and want to make the experience permanent. Quite a few are quite young and don't have much money behind them.
Thailand is cheap, but it isn't free and prices are increasing all the time. Finding a way to fund living in Thailand can be a problem. It's tough for Thais to earn a decent income and it can be even tougher for foreigners. Most foreigners have no Thai language skills and laws in Thailand work in favour of Thais.
Teaching English is the old favourite but the job wears you down after a few years and becomes very boring. Some English speaking foreigners simply don't understand English well enough to teach it, and many have no interest in becoming teachers. It can be a lot of work and the pay sucks.
What other opportunities are there for foreigners in Thailand? If you like scuba diving and can invest some money and time for training, you can work in the recreational diving industry. The pay is lousy but you can have a nice lifestyle until it also starts to get boring.
Any kind of business venture in Thailand is risky and likely to fail. You need a lot of ability, luck and the right Thai contacts to make anything work.
Alternatively, you can borrow a pickup truck, buy some rope, and then pull out ATM machines from their holes in the wall at various locations. Once you get them home, they might be a little tricky to open but hopefully they should be stuffed full of cash.
Brits nabbed for bungled ATM thefts
Britons accused in heist attempt
This kind of story makes me so proud to be a Brit in Thailand.
It's always Pattaya, isn't it? Whenever foreign criminals decide to base themselves somewhere in Thailand, they always head to the same place.
The last time I went to Pattaya was 20 years ago and I have no plans to return any time soon. When I first went in 1987 it was actually quite a nice place. Thailand has changed beyond recognition in the last 30 years, and not for the better.
Tourism has destroyed many parts of the country. If Thais get upset they only have themselves to blame for lusting after the tourist dollars so badly. A few Thais have got very rich, but many are still poor and mass tourism has brought many problems to the country and environment.
You only have to check out a few stories at the Pattaya Daily News to see what I mean. Pattaya was once a sleepy little fishing village. Chonburi province now has the highest crime rate in Thailand.
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Thailand is an incredibly photogenic country, both for its landscapes and its people. Regardless of whether you enjoy large Asian cities, beaches and islands, or rice fields and mountains, Thailand has something for you and it is a dream destination for photographers.
One of the great things about visiting Thailand is that hotels are plentiful and a lot cheaper than in most other countries. Each link on the right will take you to the relevant page on the Agoda website where you can see photos, read reviews, and book on-line. I use Agoda to book all of my own hotels in Thailand and the Southeast Asia region. Agoda hotel rates are usually always the lowest and I have received good customer service, therefore I am happy to recommend the company to other people. Here is some analysis I did regarding booking hotels in Southeast Asia.
Booking.com used to be more expensive than Agoda, but when I have checked hotel prices recently I have found their rates to be quite competitive. Unlike Agoda, you don't need to pay at the time of booking with Booking.com - you can simply pay at the hotel when you check in. Also, Booking.com show you total prices whereas Agoda show you a price and then add on 17% for tax and service charge.
If you want to compare prices between different on-line travel agents (OTAs) for a specific hotel, you can use a company such as HotelsCombined.
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