Useless Conversation

[WayAbvPar]

I had a guy send emails to both of my current addresses, then call my home phone, then my cell phone (twice!) before finally leaving a message, all within about 5 minutes. I am guessing if they want me that bad the job must be awful.

[HaemishM]

Ask him for twice as much as you are paid now and see if he blinks.

[schild]

I can help.

Bangkok, Oriental setting - and the city don't know that the city is getting. The creme de la creme of the chess world In a show with everything but Yul Brynner. Time flies doesn't seem a minute since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it. All change don't you know that when you play at this level there's no ordinary venue.

It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or this place.

[WayAbvPar]

I am not sure I am tough enough to tumble.

[Abagadro]

I get my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine!

[01101010]

Got a buddy who is an ex-pat. Was living in Singapore and hated it, moved to Phuket and has never looked back. He adores it out there, but it's not Bangkok. I can ask him about it.

[Cheddar]

I love you guys 

[Teleku]

Uh, it’s one of the best cities to be an expat in, period.  The country is cheap, but has access to everything.  No worries about not finding any particular product you want (though obviously western goods are marked up).  It has an endless amount of awesome restaurants and bars for night life, that puts most cities to shame.  That’s on top of the always great street/local food joints.  Want to learn fencing?  Rock climbing?  Painting?  Underwater basket weaving?  You can find some place to teach that to you at prices far below what you’ll ever find in the west.  Afraid you’ll feel isolated?  It’s god damn foreigner central.  That’s honestly a downside for me, but if you are worried about going full Lost in Translation, don’t.  You can hang out at multiple brittish bars filled with nothing but brittish expats all night if you really want (thats just a joke of an example.  The expat community is massive though, you can hang out with an endless amount of people from around the world).

Having said that, I do know people who haven’t liked it.  Now, mind you, most of that is because they are either picky, or have families (I don’t think either applies to you).  But, one of the biggest problems are traffic/transportation.  Where you live can matter a lot.  They have a nice train system, but if you are trying to go to some place not next to one of the stations (and its a huge sprawling city), you can expect to be stuck in traffic, possibly for hours (this is somewhat mitigated if you are brave enough to take motorcycle taxi’s, as they give no fucks and drive between the cars and up on the sidewalk.  It’s fun!).  Any idea what kind of expat package they are offering?  Because again, you’ll want to make sure you are near some sort of public transit.

On that same note, it can be super crowded in the center areas, with narrow/crumbling sidewalks, with a bunch of street vendors hogging the limited space thrown in.  Meaning even walking can be a stressful and draining task sometimes (though this is limited to certain areas.  Of course, if you are working in one of those areas...).

Finally, pollution has gotten bad.  I’ve never noticed it on my past trips, but the city has grown so much, they’ve started to have days where they pass Beijing on the pollution index.  It’s always been nice when I go, but my friends who live there have started to complain about they weeks where it gets painful.  So keep that in mind.

Other than those things.... fuck, its one of the greatest places to be an expat, as long as you aren’t a super picky asshole.  You can do anything and eat anything.  The airport is also a massive hub, and you can get cheap direct flights to practically anywhere (a really big bonus).  Mind you, I love living in Asia, and have about 10 different places I’d bid on living next over anywhere in Europe (and I like Europe).  But trust me, moving to Bangkok would not be nearly as ‘out of your comfort zone’ as you might think.

That’s if this offer isn’t a scam though.  

You can PM me any time with specific questions if you want.  I practically live in Thailand currently, so can give you the low down.

[IainC]

<many useful words>

Thanks for all of that. The office is in Watthana which seems pretty central. I had a quick look around at some apartment letting sites to see what kind of place I could afford within walking distance +2 metro stops, and liked what I saw. I'm not one of those assholes who goes to live in a foreign country and insists that everything be the same as back home, I definitely like to blend in (as much as a tall, pasty white dude can in a place like that) and experience the local food, culture, etc. The dudes I'd be working with are mostly British or Americans and they assure me that being able to speak or read Thai is completely optional.

[Ironwood]

Just noticing the question and my mate was in Bangkok for a year in a management role.  Ahem.  He was of the same opinion as Teleku, so let me know if you need to have a chat with him.

For someone like you, I see no issues.

[Teleku]

Exactly.  I’d focus more on the job and how much you think you’ll like it.  Because all work situations aside, based on everything I’ve ever know about you in this community, this is a hard yes, and you’d have a blast.  Also, lol, Watthana is the area that pretty much contains 70% of the best bars/restaurants.  Get shit faced at Iron Fairies after work. 

[RhyssaFireheart]

I gots nothing to offer re: living in Bangkok (I've literally never lived outside Illinois), but the whole "expat" thing made me think of this - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/13/white-people-expats-immigrants-migration

Happy Good Friday! (to those who celebrate and others like me at work anyways).  Although is "happy" really the right adjective when talking about the day the central figure of a major religion was crucified?     Also, it's supposed to be barely above freezing here on Sunday.  I really do need to live somewhere else other than Illinois.

[IainC]

I gots nothing to offer re: living in Bangkok (I've literally never lived outside Illinois), but the whole "expat" thing made me think of this - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/13/white-people-expats-immigrants-migration

Happy Good Friday! (to those who celebrate and others like me at work anyways).  Although is "happy" really the right adjective when talking about the day the central figure of a major religion was crucified?     Also, it's supposed to be barely above freezing here on Sunday.  I really do need to live somewhere else other than Illinois.

Well yes. It's why I was a bit tongue-in-cheek in my initial post.

Anyone have any experience with living out there as a filthy, job-stealing immigrant ex-pat?

[Nebu]

I can help.

Bangkok, Oriental setting - and the city don't know that the city is getting. The creme de la creme of the chess world In a show with everything but Yul Brynner. Time flies doesn't seem a minute since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it. All change don't you know that when you play at this level there's no ordinary venue.

It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or this place.

Fuck you for putting that song in my head ALL DAY!

[schild]

I can help.

Bangkok, Oriental setting - and the city don't know that the city is getting. The creme de la creme of the chess world In a show with everything but Yul Brynner. Time flies doesn't seem a minute since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it. All change don't you know that when you play at this level there's no ordinary venue.

It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or this place.

Thank you for putting that song in my head ALL DAY!

yw

[RhyssaFireheart]

Husband brought up that song the other day and thinks that

I get my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine!

Would be a perfect 80's song clue for Wheel of Fortune.  (Suck it, we watch together while or just after eating dinner).

[Hawkbit]

I’m at SakuraCon with my kid and I have never felt so out of place in my life. So many men in anime girl costumes. So many.

I did get a signed photo of Stitches from WoW from the voice actor that did his work. So that’s cool.  But this day has gone ducking weird.

[Polysorbate80]

At the hardware store buying stuff for my current useless project, and I find a Weber Summit grill marked down $500.  Makes me feel like I should celebrate Easter by throwing some bunnies on the grill 

[Tale]

The Australian cricket team got caught cheating. The vice-captain's kids saw their mother crying. This is how she explained it to them.



Yeah kids, don't worry, it's just that Santa Claus is fucking DEAD.

[IainC]

I guess for Australian kids, telling them that Santa is dead is probably less traumatic than telling them that cricket is bullshit.

[calapine]

I just found out that the binomial name of the American Robin is Turdus migratorius.


*childish giggle*

[Yegolev]

If I ever end up in whichever city you live in, I want to buy you a drink.

[IainC]

I accepted the job in Bangkok. I'll be moving there within the next 2-3 weeks as soon as all the stuff is sorted for my visa. I'm pretty excited about it, there's just so much to do in the meantime.

[Hawkbit]

Congrats and safe travels. !!

[TheWalrus]

I put it on Facebook, and I'll put it here, too. I'm not sure about Bangkok itself but when I was in Phuket, I could not find clothes that fit me. Everything was too damn small. So if you're even mildly a big or tall fella, you may wanna pack extra clothes or have some shipped. Entirely possible things have changed, it was 20 years ago.

[Teleku]

It’s possible but can still be a pain in the ass at times.  Worst is shoes, as anything above a 12 starts getting hard to find (I wear a size 14 in Nike).  I don’t know Ians body type, but might want to stock up on some shoes/clothing before you go.  However, I’m sure your co-workers can clue you in on the best places to get western sized stuff for good prices.  I’m 6’2 though, so I’m a bit out of the norm anyways.

Also, congrats soon to be neighbor!  Will have to meet up when I’m in Bangkok sometime (also, maybe you can find some expert painter in the warhammer community down there to paint my god damn Kingdom Death miniatures cheep  ).  May even see you up here, as one of the fun things of being a Thai expat is that every year you have to renew your Visa, but you can only do it at a Thai embassy outside of Thailand.  So a lot of people do ‘the visa run’ to Laos, since Vientiane is right on the border of Thailand and the easiest to get to. 

[TheWalrus]

Ayep, I'm 6'3". Literally split a swimsuit while I was there, which was not at all embarrassing.

[Sky]

Makes it tough ordering clothes from Amazon, too. I don't even bother, it's all tiny Asian stuff.

[RhyssaFireheart]

TIL that German keyboards are QWERTZ and not QWERTY.

I can understand having different symbols in some cases (e.g. no $) but what is the purpose behind swapping Z and Y?

[Trippy]

Z is much more common than Y in German and the two letter pair 'TZ' are used in many words.

[Rendakor]

But you don't push the Y (German Z) with the same hand as the T...

[Trippy]

Which makes typing that combo even faster.

[Nebu]

Arguing efficiency with a German is always a bad idea.   

[IainC]

Most Eastern European keyboards are also QWERTZ. French keyboards are AZERTY because Q is a much more commonly used letter in French than in English so it goes on the middle row where your fingers rest, while W is almost never used at all so it gets relegated to the bottom row.

[RhyssaFireheart]