Living and Working in Bangkok

Introduction

As the plane banked, I peered from my window seat over a city where everything was a shade of grey. Bangkok. Residential areas adjoined by industrial estates and a mass of drab, grey run-down apartment buildings reminded me of Eastern Europe. There were streams and streams of traffic but they didn’t seem to be moving. Thank God I have a connecting flight to Hong Kong and will be in and out of the airport in no time! Thailand hardly looked like a tropical country. My first venture into the country and everything looked so dirty. I then thought of the commercial sex industry and how it is portrayed in the Western media with millions infected with AIDS. Of course the country was famous for its food but is it a bit too hot to really enjoy? Get me away from here, fast!

These were my thoughts just a few years ago when I was flying from London to Hong Kong, with a transit stop to change planes in Bangkok. I would NEVER have dreamed that just three years later I would be going to Thailand for a holiday and that four years on I would be living there. If this trend continues, I could be living in Russia in a few years time – because I sure don’t want to go there now!

Bangkok, The City Of Angels. The name conjures up images of the Orient, intense traffic jams, unrelenting tropical heat, extreme pollution, spicy food and an energy and vibrancy that can only be found in the most exciting of all continents, Asia. Bangkok can be confusing and frustrating when you first arrive and this section of the website aims to prepare you for the mayhem that is this city – hopefully without making the same mistakes that many people before you have made, me included!

This page is presented in a no-nonsense manner. There are many sites with information about Bangkok / Thailand but too many just repeat information that is readily available elsewhere. The objective of this page is to provide practical information in an organised manner and to answer the questions that many people new to Thailand who are thinking or living and working there may ask. Basically, what I have tried to do is provide answers to all of the questions I had before I moved to Bangkok!

Remember that while the objective is to provide practical information, I am not shy to state my opinion so you need to understand that this is how I see Bangkok. You could very well see things quite differently! If you have any specific questions about Bangkok or Thailand in general, feel free to email me and I will be happy to answer them.

Everything on here is my own work and is based on my personal experiences. What is written here is all original. I do hope you enjoy this section of the site and I hope that the information here helps you to ease into life in the hustle, bustle and excitement of life in Bangkok. The bulk of this page was first put together in 1999 and 2000 and looking back over a lot of what I wrote back then, I was a bit of a minimalist back then, perhaps a bit too frugal. Hence you might find the tone to be that of someone rather tight with their money! Since then I have gone back and updated things, trying to make sure it is up to date and paints an accurate picture of Thailand today.

A lot of other information about travelling in Thailand is listed in the Travel in Thailand section of this site. Although that section was written as a bunch of hints and tips about travel around the country, it also includes a lot of information about life in Bangkok too so it may be worth skimming over too.

Please note that this page is just short of 100,000 words, hence it is actually the size of a full-length novel. It is not designed to be read in one sitting! You’re best to read one section at a time, go away and come back and read more later. If you were to read it all in one go you’d be looking at several hours’ reading!