Living in Thailand for an extended period of time

[TZ22]

I just came back from a 2.5 months in Thailand, my second trip, and I would like to ask some questions from anyone here who has spent an extended period of time living in Thailand if you could share your observations on life in Thailand. I've been playing around with the idea of career change for quiet some time now to change to a computer related career that will allow me to work from anywhere as long as I have access to a computer, which would open up the possibility of living in Thailand for an extended period of time, so I was hoping someone here can give me your honest opinion, the good/the bad/the ugly, about what living in Thailand is like when you're not just there for a vacation, because even after spending a total of 3 months there, I feel like my view is being clouded by the initial excitement of just being a tourist on vacation and obviously my lack of knowledge of thai language prevents me from understanding many conversations and cultural intricacies so I feel like you might have better insight. Would you ever consider moving there permanently? 

Thank you

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

I just came back from a 2.5 months in Thailand, my second trip, and I would like to ask some questions from anyone here who has spent an extended period of time living in Thailand if you could share your observations on life in Thailand. I've been playing around with the idea of career change for quiet some time now to change to a computer related career that will allow me to work from anywhere as long as I have access to a computer, which would open up the possibility of living in Thailand for an extended period of time, so I was hoping someone here can give me your honest opinion, the good/the bad/the ugly, about what living in Thailand is like when you're not just there for a vacation, because even after spending a total of 3 months there, I feel like my view is being clouded by the initial excitement of just being a tourist on vacation and obviously my lack of knowledge of thai language prevents me from understanding many conversations and cultural intricacies so I feel like you might have better insight. Would you ever consider moving there permanently? 

Thank you

 

Hi TZ22 - I've been working from Thailand online ever since Sylvie and I moved here, and it is really the only way we could have stayed. The problem with working from Thailand isn't really the connection issues - Sylvie wrote a detailed blog post on all the things you may face when trying to stay connected - but rather with having the job itself. I already was working online before we moved. I'm a Social Media marketing consultant and already had clients for several years. IF you can get dependable work online, it is definitely feasable technically. Thailand's digital infrastructure has really improved. There are of course things you can run into and may need to work around, but it can be done.

I will say, working from Thailand, online, is just like working from anywhere else. It is not a vacation. I spend very long hours inside the apartment, sometimes not seeing much outside the walls for days or weeks. I could literally be anywhere, in any room. Plus, and this depends where you live, but generally if you are going to live here long term you will find a place to stay which is cheaper, which means that it will be a part of town that is not vacation-y at all. You live where Thais live. For us this is fantastic, because we love Thailand and the Thai culture. But it is not glamorous. For instance we live in Pattaya which is notorious for its tourism of various kinds, but we hardly see any of it. We are in Thai neighborhoods, or Sylvie is at the gym. That's the way we like it. Pattaya, for this reason, is actually more "Thai" than Chiang Mai was for us, despite having a tourist reputation. The division between tourist areas and Thai areas is pretty strong.

Long term westerners have different reactions to the culture. It seems like many of them get frustrated with the Thai way. It is pretty common to hear westerners talk about "The Thais" with an eye-roll or what not. It's an ex-Pat thing to complain about Thailand. Sylvie and I don't get it. Even when we run into big difficulties, or systemic limitations, they feel okay. You learn to just roll with and appreciate everything for what it is. There is no place we'd rather be.