why the hell would you want to work in thailand


ps how are the riots going? im suppose to arrive again on july 1st , are the worse or better since march?

Ok, few questions. I'm looking at living abroad, Thailand is on my list of interests.


1- I hear decent apartments are like, $150 a month. Is this true?
Depends on what you would consider decent. I can see you getting a decent studio apartment in Chiang Mai for this amount of money

2- How hard would it be for a 19 year old guy to get an apartment there, after walking off a plane?
Easy, just stay in a hotel for a few days while looking

3- How safe is it there?
Very safe for tourists. If you stay in BKK just stay away from the protest areas

4- Anyone know the laws on firearms by chance?
:S, I think there is some discussion this a few pages back. Search the thread

5- How would I cash pokerstars checks there? I just checked, and I can't cash out in Baht.....
Banks here will take cheques denominated in USD, the rate is suppose to be good too but takes 30 days to clear afaik.

there was some talk of this last week. and I'm gonna agree with almost everyone else who posted- It would be really dumb to own a gun in Thailand.

i started that firearm discussion-just forget about getting a gun here

he is still sleeping at 3am

^^^ thanks a lot for that, that post was pretty helpful. is the ease of getting a place similar in all the cities most of you guys are in? ie Bangkok, Chang Mai, Phuket. Is it easy to get short term leases so I could say live in say bkk for a month and Phuket the next?

Also, do you need to get a lot of money converted asap or could i use a Chase debit card to withdraw from ATMs easily. Recommendations for other ways to handle the currency thing?

Best place to be if you dont plan to make much effort at learning thai language?


I know these things have prob been answered but its a lot to sift through, thanks for your patience.

If you want to dance like crazy and hang around with farangs, then go to any of Green Mango, Sound, Solo, Black Moon party, etc etc.

If you want lady bars head to Soi Reggae.

Then of course you can always head over to Koh Phangan (sp?) for the Full Moon Party if it coincides with your visit.

NTB currently has a place that is @ 10k/month. it's two bedroom, pretty comfortable, a little on the outside of where most 2+2'ers stay.. but accessable. (that's in phuket) In bkk i have a friend who has a 9k/month apt on Petchaburi Soi 10. it's a single br no kitchen but the neighborhood has my favorite food in thailand, and it's dirt cheap.

if you want an apt in those price ranges, you'll make some sacrifices, but it'll be decent living. min six month lease for either of those places, i think.

Last few questions, how do I get prescription drugs there? Is it like Mexico, where there are just shops to buy them, or like the US, where I have to go to pharmacies?

And how easy is it to get NON prescription drugs?

Hey,

Been lurking the thread a little more, because I don't have any cool stories to tell. Wed to Friday was orientation/training meet and greet with our asst teachers and headmaster. Thai Headmaster saw me when we got introduced, comes up to me and instantly says "So young, no have experience" (I have 2nd most exp points WRT teaching, but I look about 20-21 still, which I get reminded a ton of) I didn't know Thailand or Teaching Engrish = srs business.

We also took written tests about TEFL-stuff, (which they all have, I don't) and I outscored everyone but the guy who just got back from a year teaching in Korea, (and he edged me by one point). Lols to them.

Our agency head tells me not to worry, but I responded by doing some reading and overdoing my sample lesson plans, (I should have a month or so already planned out so that's nice). Presented like I was on the Apprentice or Dragon's Den or something. Overdid it, which was the point so they won't be on my back as hard and I'll fall in with the other teachers. I feel like I suceeded in doing that; I may not have got the THM to feel excited about hiring young-"you look like our high school exchange students"-farang, but sort of an "Ok, I won't get fired over this guy, Mai Ben Rai i have a million more important things to do right now"

NOTE: I just write the language out phonetically, I can't speak the language in what would even qualify as nit-noy. Super ty to the ones who posted resources, I'm gonna go to town on those, and have Thai Desk Ladies who love to work with me on it. Thai FB would certainly help with this, she's comin!

I will try to talk much less about teaching/teachers, because I doubt it's very interesting unless I get into classes and are eaten alive by the nutso-crazy Thai high-schoolers.

Can we do a little thai game-spit phrase check? (dashes and stuff follow the letter its meant for)

-Bye Nai' Krap? = Where you going?
-Su~ai Cang = you're beautiful
-Se'ksi^i Cang = you're sexy
-Ben Ajan Passat Angrit = I'm an English Teacher, only to be used on the poor-looking ones or I LOVE AMERICA I WANNA LEARN THE ENGRISH ones.
-Ha^wm Cang = you smell nice, a classic
-Buo tur-uh sahp arai? = Digits?
I know this one is wrong but I've been just handing over my phone to the hot girls that stare and giggle. This has actually been my best line by far, 3/3 including below story. Going from there seems more difficult, but tonight I'll try much harder.

Definitely a little lost in this town and so far out of the loop. Friday night went to the same bar that was a blast last week until I got a lil wasty, it was dead as **** from 9-11pm, and then I think they were closing. 2/4 bounce so it's me and the 42yo aussie, Peter. Great guy, just didn't really open up until a 1 on 1, likewise for me. So we decide to leave and I called the only farang girl I knew here, went and met a bunch of other teachers, (better than nothing, cool guys that know the town have been here 1yr+ I feel these guys are key in the beginning)

It's 1am or so and we're semi-tired but more just over it and start walking to a motorbike taxi place. I see an outside street restaurant that is like just opening up for business, wtf? All i can read from the sign see is 2300-0600, so sweet hours I make a mental note. Peter goes "What do you wanna bet that would be the best food we've had yet in Thailand" I like where your heads at Pete. We walk up to the super-intense chef-guy just slaving away, no english at all, he looks a little po'd cuz he's like prepping or something shows some bag to us which I guess means, "This is all I can or am going to make you guys right now, take it or leave it" Chai Chai, two please. Peters right, and it's not close, so that was pretty cool.

People are just coming by and picking up to-gos on their motorbikes so I guess that's the restaurants main function, we're the only sitdowners, (getting more than a few looks). Throw a few 'Bye-Nai krap?'s out to no avail, (not that I would have any idea where to go from there except to follow lol)

We are talking about how we know the Thais are partiers they just know where to go and we know a total of- A Thai massage place, KFC, Carrefour and 2 Farang bars. Thai people are walking down what looks like just a nothing alley, groups of young people, hot girls, and we of course got to follow. It is a pretty big open-air bar/restaurant with a stage that is preparing to do some live music. Almost full, 100% thai, not an english letter to be found except on the Beer labels. This is exactly what we've been looking for, people super happy to see us, come over and do handshakes. I hand over the mobile to the waitress who is up there with Thai girls I've seen, snap-call. I ask for a business card or some sort of address, no dice, so we think through the route and swear to come back. Leave at about 3am, which still seems early for these ppl, find a random dude to give us 100bt ride home. He is kind of being weird, knows only a tiny english but is doing the blow-job motion and then thumbs up, question mark face expression "GIRLS?". Not tonight bro. He really wants to get my number, I get his, he keeps saying things like "Chauffer" "America Chauffer", not sure if he wants to be our Chauffer or just saying he's not a chauffer, does he want us to pay him more? Show money, (after paid the 100) he shakes head, kinda po'd. We exchange numbers, I write mine down and hand it to him which he no joke holds up and is like YES! These are the people we gotta start doin stuff with. It's a lot easier with only 1 or 2 ppl Peter and I agreed on. Thais are just so chill. So no getting laid, no real wildness, but some good leads!

There are loads of pharmacies every where you go, It is similar to mexico as in you don't need a script for many things. Although I would say it's harder to get vallium or xanax if not impossible without a script, or benzos, but almost everything else is available otc.

Non script, i assume you mean pot, i would recommend you DON"T go looking for it in thailand the anti drug rules are very stringent, its not worth it imo

Weed depends on where you are in thailand. IN some of the islands its stupidly relaxed, you cant exactly walk around the streets with a joint but lots of bars sell it and u can smoke it there too. Bkk is obv pretty different but still not too hard. Its often reggae bars that sell it but home smoking only ftw.

where are the protests happening? I recall reading that they have spilled into tourist areas. Surely Soi Cowboy isn't in the crossfire?

Planning on coming in 2 weeks from Singapore for bday degeneracy but don't want stuck in the hotel ..... have been to BKK 1 time before but it rained during the day and I missed out on some of the more touristy stuff like visiting the Grand Palace. Is the Chao Phraya River Express boat in full service? last time I spent a day riding that thing jumping off at a few of the docks.

i went into a drug store and aksed for something to help me sleep on the plane and they gave me 10 valiums for 100 baht.

weed is or isn't worth it depending on the situation. if you are in thailand for a while and have people you can trust then i don't see a problem. just don't be an idiot. out of all the 2p2 a lot of them smoke weed and idk of anyone getting busted.

The protest are camped around Centralworld and Paragon and stretching down Ratchadamri Road towards Silom at Lumpini Park. Soi Cowboy is still open as well as Nana. The protesters moved away from the government buildings which is in the area where the Grand Palace is located so should be able to visit unless something drastic happens. All transport services are currently running as normal afaik. The BTS and MRT have been closed for brief periods when things briefly escalate, but usually not for more than a few hours.

hey i'm lookin for a 2bedroom service appartment for a month in BKK at a good location for a good price? any good spots? i saw a post here or thailand chatter a post for 25k for 2bedroom and now i can't find it. can someone help?

So I got to Phuket on a one way ticket w/o visa from US and am about to make a visa run flying to KL. Is it possible to get a Thailand Tourist visa in malaysia then just stay another few months here?

Yeah, I've gotten tourist visas in both Penang and Kuala Lumpur. To be honest, the beaches weren't great in Penang so I'd recommend KL. Both places processed the visa in one day. Take in the application one morning and pick up the visa the next afternoon. This means you'll probably have to stay at least two nights unless there is an extremely early flight.

Yea you can get a single entry tourist visa (60 days on entry+30 days extension available from inside thailand) from malaysia.

check the KL thai embassy's website for what they need from you.

edit: loaded this page a while back but never read it. that's why i was repeating what bill said already

Ah, ok thanks guys. I was hoping for a double entry Tourist but that may just have to do anyway

Hey guys, are there any 2+2ers in Chalong?

Anyone ever got the handshake+creepy finger rub before? Don't really know how to explain it except that it's like the pedofile-type thing that'd you do as a joke to your friends. I got one last night twice from the same guy and it creeped the **** out of me. Thought it was like the creepy Thai kiss of death or something. Obv being paranoid, hopefully he was just a poof. Guy did not look gangster, huge smiles the whole time, but ya. Tried to ask the dude who ended up being my "chauffer" for the night, and he was just like no worries falang you being crazy. Chauffer guy was nice, took us around on his motorbike, I bought for him and another thai friend all night, (200bt total was my share). I gave him 500bt for everything at the end, and he assumed it was me wanting to buy sex, (which he would ecstatically hook up, and offered many times) which led on a sort of goose-chase of him calling #'s etc etc. Mai ow Krap, Kop Kuhn Krap.

So ya, for context this was at a bar where I went up and started talking to this girl, (asked if she was by herself) and it was good times, got her # and then waitress comes up and says "She friend of owners" and I'm like ok so sorry good bye. We had a couple locals with us and they weren't like "run away!" but language barrier can just make things seem way sketchy. Also, girl from little secret-restaurant night before chauffer calls and says..."Oh she from Benjama...(school I'm teaching at)...not so ok in Thailand" OOPS, delete, maybe need to turn things down a notch or two.

lol, got that handshake before i think, was weired out by it also. keep the trip reports coming, nice to hear about events out side cowboy and the same old after clubs.

Yeah a few, why?

+ 1. But I just wanted to add that people should also keep the trip reports coming from events in soi cowboy and the same old after clubs as well.