Hi everyone,
In an effort to make this forum a little more interesting, I thought maybe for the Expats living in Thailand we could share our stories, where we came from, how we came to be here and what our lives are like now... Please share when you have time...
I will go first... I'm 61 years of age, retired since Jun 2016. I grew up in a small town 4 miles from Baton Rouge, Louisiana in USA. My parents bought a grocery store when I was 6 years old, so we grew up working in the store. As kids, we use to get up at 5 am 2 - 3 times a week to unload the delivery truck, bring the boxes to the aisles, stock the shelves and sweep the floors before going to school. When we were old enough we learned to run the cash registers and cut meats in the meat market. I played 3 sports in high school; football, basketball & baseball. After high school, I attended Louisiana State University then hired on with The Dow Chemical Company. They had a large chemical complex about 6 miles from my hometown of Brusly. I worked there for 36 years. My parents lived in Brusly their entire lives and I didn't want to do that, so I put in for an assignment in Saudi Arabia to help build a new chemical complex for Dow and Aramco 50/50. I spent 1 year in Houston, Texas doing the engineering before moving to Saudi in Jan 2014. I came from a small town of 1,500 people and never traveled overseas except for 1 trip to Canada & a few 7 nt cruises to some Western Caribbean ports in Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras... so, I was a small-town boy going into the big world...
Saudi was an experience (that will be another story). As soon as I got my multi-exit visa after 3 mths of waiting, I was off to Bahrain for the weekend and every weekend afterwards. I met some good friends in Bahrain, an Aussie named Peter and an American professor named Jack who now lives in Chiang Mai. I ended up getting an apartment in Bahrain and spent every weekend there while working & living in Saudi during the week. I traveled to Thailand several times during my assignment and fell in love with it. So, when my assignment ended in Jun 2016, I was offered an early retirement pkg which I gladly accepted after 40 years of service and I packed my bags and moved to Jomtien, Pattaya. I lived there for 6 mths before getting bored then moved to Bangkok in Jan 2017. I currently live in a high rise with a great view of the city close to Phrom Phong BTS station in BK.
Life is good in Thailand, but I tend to get a little bored sometimes... so if anyone ever comes to BK and want to get together for beer or eats, please PM me and let me know... I have traveled to Hua Hin, Udon, Koh Samui, Krabi, Phuket, Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai... I really loved Chiang Rai with all the temples & mountains... Also, love the beaches & snorkeling at Krabi & Phuket. I've been traveling outside the country also, to Laos, Bali, Hong Kong and Japan since living here. I really like the Thai people and the culture. I find the people are very respectful and very kind-hearted...
That's about it... I'm still learning about the world and I enjoy reading and watching the History channel and National Geographic. I do miss some things about the US, mainly the good food I grew up with in Louisiana and NFL football games, but retirement is great and I like Thai food...
Hope to hear your stories when you have time...
Kindly, Zeus