How has your life changed in Thailand

Good question, Priscilla.

I came to Thailand for a two week holiday back in 2009, and never returned to the UK.  I was made redundant a week before I came.  I was only renting a flat and the lease was running out.  So I had nothing to rush back for.  So I ended up staying here.  At the time I thought I'd stay here for a few months, then it was getting towards a UK winter.  So I thought I'd wait until the following spring ...  And I'm still here.
Some of the changes from the last eight years.  Well, things I used to do a double take on, like five or six on a scooter, twenty packed in the back of a pickup, I see as the norm now.  Not having to get out of my car to get gasoline, having someone blowing a whistle at me to help me park my car ...  All normal to me now.  The warm weather all round, a huge factor as I get older.
Financially, I'm suffering like a lot of British people with the Brexit induced poor exchange rate.  But it will recover in time.


The secret of living a happy life in Thailand is simple.  Always remember the poor driving standards, the immigration red tape is never going to change.  Accept how things are here.  Go for a swim in the sea in January and think what you'd be doing back in your home country on a cold January morning.  Go and eat some delicious Thai food and get change fro 100 baht.  I follow the Thai football, I watch my local team and pay 150 baht for a great seat, that's 90% less than I paid back in the UK eight years ago.
Enjoy life.

Trevor

Sorry ...  I should have added on a scale of 1 to 10.  My life has changed completely since living here ...  So I would say 10.

You sound like me so no need to write the same thing.
I am curious but couldn't find the link to your author page.
Keep well.
James

I would expect answers here to fall into the same two categories we always see, about Thailand being an open, welcoming, diverse, friendly, inexpensive place or about personal disappointment.  I'm closer to the first but it just seems normal now, with some pros and cons.

I didn't have kids before I moved here, although I was newly married (to a Thai, from when we both lived in the States), so that was the main change.  Having young kids is great but it cuts back free time, unless you consider covering those demands as how you spend free time, kind of a matter of definition.

My standard of living kept changing in the past depending on where I was living and working, and it changed again here.  I'm reasonably well off, with more travel options.  It seems a lot more like getting out related to heading over to the next country a few hours drive away versus the next State in the US instead, but we tend to fly instead here, or sometimes take a train. 

Socially it is odd living in a foreign country.  It's not as if everyone is automatically your friend when you live in your native country but you don't feel the same type of divide as when you are a foreigner to most people.  Based on what my family and friends say having young kids tends to narrow down social range a little, so I think some of what I experience relates to that as much as to 99% of everyone here being Thai versus American.

Related to my mood and overall rating it's hard to say.  I don't associate ups and downs with my job or marriage with being in Thailand, necessarily, although of course that's a factor.  It doesn't work well to disassociate the two.  I would rate having kids and that set of experiences at 10/10, and the rest of my life at 5/10, and for me the balance is still favorable.  I don't have any problems with Thai culture, related to negative aspects.  Thais are quite nice, and nothing is really missing here, so negatives would relate to my own circumstances or to being a foreigner, in general.

As with most things, much depends on age, education, financial and emotional stability.  If you start your expat life when you are young there are fewer memories and engrained habits, as well as more time to adjust and learn.  If you have the time, there is a chance you will reach a point where things are no longer strange and you stop talking in terms of us and them.

Any time you spend as an expat changes you, in one way or another.  For me it is impossible to imagine how my life might have turned out if I had not moved to  Thailand when I was 23.  I have always found Thailand easy but having moved here pre-internet I sometimes ponder how things are different for new arrivals these days and whether it is easier or harder to adjust.

10/10 for me.

Love your post...U just bite the bullet & did it...Ya how can my experience be worse off than u who just adapted to everything that is Thai

Life here for me and my family is pretty good but we are by no means settled. A lot of hurdles to jump and even then I expect we will not stand still.

Financially it is good although I admit we could be more frugal.

I don't really take much notice of my physical surroundings or people I mean we just get on with it, it is normal now. I just came back from hk yesterday and that place reminded me of London so I was pleased to get home here in Thailand.

A few things bother me here but I try not to think about them. Here is an example:

People paying for jobs in government positions across all agencies including medical. - that bothers me.

I drink 1 beer more a day than I drank in the UK.  I have 1 large Leo an evening on weekdays whilst I write stuff like this and it's this hour sitting on a bench relaxing with a cold one that I feel like I'm in that scene from Shaw shank redemption on the roof minus the prison. It's normal now though so I think I take it for granted.