International Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Anyone in Phuket, by chance?
I've seen Cambodia and KL, just wondering if anyone is in Thailand. We haven't been here long, but it seems like it's going to be difficult to find expat friends here that aren't retirees.
Re: Anyone in Phuket, by chance?
On meeting people: it can be tough and we've all been there, so feel free to ask questions and post here often.
I'm pretty lucky here in that there are a ton of expat support groups, but I still don't know a ton of people (we just moved here this summer) and we mainly hang out with the people from H's work. I have a local friend that I met in a bar. Since we first moved abroad a few years ago, those have been our two biggest sources of friends--work and people met while going out and socializing.
My husband plays poker for a living, so we couldn't stay in the US if he wanted to continue playing online. Thailand has a large poker community and low cost of living so we figured we would give it a try for a few months. We found a really nice apartment close to the beach, and I'm loving the food. I'm actually liking everything except the lack of girls to hang out with.
Before we came here, some of the poker guys were saying that it would be no problem, a bunch of them had girlfriends, some of them live together, etc... Of course it turns out they're all Thai girlfriends who speak very little English, and I speak very little Thai. Same thing at the bars we went out to, all young Thai girls and white guys. Not that I wouldn't be friends with a Thai girl, it's just that I haven't had much in common with the girls I have talked to.
I'm not working, and I'm finishing my degree online, so no luck there. I'm starting Thai language classes soon so I'm hoping I'll meet some people that way.
I love my husband, but we have been seeing an awful lot of each other lately.
I lurk a lot and figured it was worth a try. :-)
Finding expat communities in Asia can be difficult and are very dependent on the area of work that you are in, in my experience. It makes sense to me that a lot of western men expats there would have thai girlfriends/wives, it was similar in China.
I'd suggest trying to make friends with English teacher expatriate groups, they tend to travel in tight circles but you'll find more western women. As well, search out a local expat bar - shouldn't be too hard to find as expats tend to gravitate to particular non-tourist areas to hang out in Asia.
Another group to try to get in with might be the travel and tour operator groups - should be plenty of western women in that area. They would have their own hangouts - one of the best ways to find these places is to go to bars that tour groups tend to frequent, ask the bartender where the tour leaders actually go, and they should know the tour leaders well enough ( as they are giving them commission for bringing groups to their bars ) to point you in the right direction. That bar will then pretty much know where the other expat hangouts are.
Chronically hilarious - you'll split your stitches!
I wrote a book! Bucket list CHECK!
http://notesfortheirtherapist.blogspot.co.uk
My friends brother does that and he's freaking rich. Grrr, jealous. But I digress......
Question for you: What kind of visa did you get to live in Thailand? Was it difficult/expensive to get more than a regular tourist visa? I'm interested in how that worked for you.
I'm American and my Norwegian SO and I are considering our after grad-school next step in life. Thailand has come up as a possibility, which is why I ask.
Thanks and welcome to the board!
I am not in Phuket but will likely visit there within the next year. (I just moved to Singapore two months ago.) I will post here when we end up doing that and maybe we could meet up.
As far as the visa goes, I'm applying to the Thai language school here. They help you get an ed visa that is valid for a few years, you just have to check in every 90 days with a valid address and attend the classes. There is an hourly requirement every week but you have some options for how you split it up.
My husband wants to do muay thai training (ugh, men) instead of the language school. They can set you up with a similar visa. He's never fought a day in his life but thinks it will be fun and the required exercise will help him get in shape. We'll see... lol.
That said, this works for us because we have the time to commit to classes every week. I'm finishing my business degree online and poker doesn't have many obligations. I've heard of a lot of people who stay here for a long time just making a border run every 30 days. Sounds tedious to me, but some people do it.