Living as a foreigner in another country always has its challenges. Most people regard Thailand as the land of smiles, with beautiful beaches, food and people. Living here for any length of time makes you suspicious of the smiles, as they are mostly for show, and you forget the beaches as they are mainly for the tourists.
The food is wonderful though and after a while you learn about the regional differences and as your tolerance for chilli and fermented foods increases so does the range of ingredients you include in the experience .
The people are what is really challenging here though. Firstly we are all called Farangs… Thats the Thai word for foreigner. It takes a while to get over the racist connotations of that. Its not meant that way.
Thai language is very complicated to learn as its so tonal. The word Ma for example has about 7 different meanings. The only way to do it properly is to learn the Thai alphabet, and that in its self is challenging.
Then there is the driving . I’ve driven in many other countries, and its worse here than even in Africa. The reason is a mix of poor education, bad habits learnt from being on parents motorbikes from birth, their crazy view on loss of face when it comes to making rudimentary decisions , no vehicle inspection of any note and excellent roads , meaning everyone drives far too fast. 60 deaths a day. I kid you not.
As much as us visitors see Thailand as a beautiful place, the Thais themselves don't seem to see it. They litter, leave garbage by roadsides and throw anything they don't want out of the car window and off their motorbikes. There isn't much money spent of rubbish collections and very little if at all on cleaning streets so it just gets dirtier and dirtier. You don't see that in any holiday brochures.
If you want to spend any time here longer than as a tourist, you will have to go through the visa application, renewal and 90 day reporting rigamarole . Its probably the same in most countries, but the Thai immigration people really make it harder than it should be, rules change regularly and from district to district too.
Corruption is very big here especially with the Police, Civil Service, and Military. We encounter some version of it almost every week. Its usually best to pay up and be on your way. Again it takes some getting used to, but the good news is that you can haggle with the person if you do it right.
Anything imported is expensive. Don’t even think of bringing a second hand car here, its something like 300% duty… and at their made up base valuation too. Cars made here are actually a decent price and the second hand market cars hold their value well. When it comes to the luxuries of life, such as wine, its at least double the price here than back home, but anything made in the country is cheap and so cost of living can be very cheap if you eat local food, wear local made clothing and don't hit the bars too often.
My experience has been that its been a journey of discovery of new food, people, places to visit, attitudes and to live at a different non frantic pace. Sometimes its an incredibly frustrating place to be in, but I have no desire to leave.
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