Thailand background story

Thailand is an adventure more people experience as young people than as older.

I'd have to write a book to account for all the issues and motivations that led to the big change we undertook. There was an element of adventure certainly. We wanted to explore a different culture and a different career. Our house was empty of children and full of accumulation. So we gathered a few treasured belongings and made the leap. As a couple it's always difficult to make significant decisions like this. We didn't really entirely agree ahead - I'll be honest. I had been investigating living and/or retiring overseas. We didn't have the savings or social security benefits enough to retire comfortably so this might offer an opportunity. Ultimately I took a leap of faith and the rich cultural journey began. I had applied to jobs, mostly teaching, in Viet Nam, China and Thailand. There were constraints on age in a lot of countries. That narrowed down the options. We considered Morocco because it was close to Europe where Karen wanted to sing. Morocco is a Muslim country and Karen didn't feel confident that she would be comfortable under that kind of society.

Sites

Insights

We are a couple who had been in a relationship for 17 years at the time we left. I was a software developer and Karen is a jazz singer. We had just begun traveling overseas for vacations a few years prior. We had enjoyed visiting our daughter, Alethea, and her husband Yanni in China. Our maiden voyage overseas had been Morocco 6 months before China. So we had a wee bit of overseas experience at the git go. Alethea and Yanni had titillated a long time dream of mine to live overseas and to try teaching. My father is a teacher. It takes a huge leap to actually pursue your dreams. We had pursued normal expectations quite successfully. We had a beautiful house in Maryland in the DC suburbs. We had a close and well developed community of friends. Karen had some singing gigs under her belt and was making connections in the jazz community.

Delights

Bright lights

The experience away had a profound effect on our marriage, my political perspective and other things. We had some really good downtime. We had relationship time. We built trust in a new way. We had lots of international travel especially in Asia, made some great friends. We did miss our family. It was family that ultimately drew us back. My parents are in their 90s and were needing some help. Since returning we've been welcomed and supported by lots of family. It's like the Prodigal son story.

We had a fantastic orgy of tastes in Thailand. There is fresh fruit and vegetables everywhere, plus a wide variety of herbs and spices. Besides international foods, there are four cuisines in Thailand. Some of our favorite dishes were:

Everything seemed to have a fried egg on top. On the side there was frequently cucumbers, spring onions and cilantro. Breakfast had a whole new array of extras. Khanem jean namwa had a whole platter of spice options alone. One dish we got what seemed like potted plants in a dish on our table. It was a forest of fresh leafy goodies. For breakfast we had two favorite spots that served dim sum.

There was a lot of innovation in Thailand. One example was a motorcycle repair shop which built stools for themselves to sit on while they work. They were built of worn out parts. Many vendors used tents and tarps held down with bottles of water. Everywhere people rode motorbikes with homemade side cars. We were looking at a motorbike to buy for Karen. The motorbike with the sidecar was more stable. I thought it would be a good option to try. We negotiated a price. They said to pass inspection they would take off the sidecar and reinstall after inspection. I guess none of them are legitimate.

Then there were some features of living in Thailand that were plain irritating. So much of the construction was homemade. A common example was paved patios that were used as restaurants. They often had a small hidden step of an inch or two in height and often several throughout the restaurant. The customer would walk through the dining area and trip constantly. I would go to the same restaurant and know there were uneven surfaces. I would forget for a second and go stumbling. I'm not sure what the problem is. Possibly the floor was made over a period of time and at each stage they started it at a different level. Maybe they didn't have a level tool. Maybe they're just poor planners. Whatever the problem is it was common and annoying.








We had a lot of criteria and did a lot of research in selecting Thailand as our destination. Our daughter Alethea was living in China at the time. That was part of it. I had always wanted to live overseas. Alethea reminds me of that all the time. I wanted to teach. Very few countries will give you a work permit for teaching if you're older. For some the cutoff is 50 or 55 solar years old. They have a preference for under 40. The visa situation is certainly paramount. We didn't want to live in a country where women were oppressed like much of the middle east. We wanted to be able to live on the salary of one of us. I did a lot of research and was very happy with how it turned out.

I'd have to write a book to account for all the issues and motivations that led to the big change we undertook. There was an element of adventure certainly. We wanted to explore a different culture and a different career. Our house was empty of children and full of accumulation. So we gathered a few treasured belongings and made the leap. As a couple it's always difficult to make significant decisions like this. We didn't really entirely agree ahead - I'll be honest. I had been investigating living and/or retiring overseas. We didn't have the savings or social security benefits enough to retire comfortably so this might offer an opportunity. Ultimately I took a leap of faith and the rich cultural journey began. I had applied to jobs, mostly teaching, in Viet Nam, China and Thailand. There were constraints on age in a lot of countries. That narrowed down the options. We considered Morocco because it was close to Europe where Karen wanted to sing. Morocco is a Muslim country and Karen didn't feel confident that she would be comfortable under that kind of society.

Now we have friends to visit. It's a very long trip to get there and a 12 hour time zone change. It's easily 35 hours of traveling with the layovers and various modes of short travel at either end. The single long leg is 16 hours and depending on routing it's 4 or 5 hours from China and a few hours to the main leg on this end.

Each time you move your luggage you have to make sure you remember: the camera, phones, purse, carryon, checked luggage (each piece), laptop, clothing items, passport, other materials, food, etc. That was exhausting.

The excitement was in the planning and the final implementation when I arrived at an AirBnB in Bangkok (BKK) and went and got a meal. Or when I arrived at the school that I was teaching in and was looking for a permanent lodging. Or when I went to get breakfast at the little roadside carts that are all up and down the waterfall road. Or when we were getting/giving directions to favorite places and no one knows the names of the Thai roads. There were landmarks we used to help describe where something was. The signs were mostly in Thai. The major thoroughfare was the Airport road. I don't know what the locals called it. The there was the Phuket Patong road, the waterfall road where the school was. The map apps were helpful but you had to find the destination where most of the words were in Thai on your map

We barely learned any Thai. By the end we had a few words. Thai is very difficult because of the tones and the character set. There are 5 tones. For instance high tone for a syllable, a rising tone, a descending tone, a rise and falling tone and a standard tone.

We weren't supposed to speak Thai at school because the children were supposed to learn everything in English. So we couldn't practice Thai in school. We had a separate teachers lounge from the Thai teachers as well. There was a fairly high turnover rate for teachers, so it was hard to develop a bond with the Thai teachers. We did take some lessons there. At the market we learned the numbers. The vendors were very pleased to help us

Western socialites

Girls in Thaights