Meeting and Connecting with Thailand Expats

In the post titled “What do YOU Want to Know About Thailand?” Cody asks:

What is the best way to connect with the local expat community 

before I move over there? (to Thailand)

Answer:

There are several ways to get to know some people and develop contacts and relationships with expats in Thailand prior to arriving there. The best in my opinion is to start frequenting some of the more popular internet forums where Thailand expats hang out. There are several to choose from and each has it’s own different character. Some of the more popular one are:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php - This is one of the oldest and largest Thailand forums on the web.

http://teakdoor.com/forum.php - Mostly English teachers here and they can be a bit jaded and lean towards drinking and debauchery. Seems the forum is looking up and has a better group of expats now.  Based on Charles’ comment I went over and took a look and really liked what I saw.  A lot of Asia news and content based on living in Thailand, building a house or swimming pool, recipes and food related information and general travelers tales.

http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/index.php - Good informative forum and I think the mod (owner?) Richard Barrow must be a great guy. I’ve even seen him offer to put people up at his place when they arrive in Bangkok.

http://www.phuket-info.com/forums/ - Large forum focused on Phuket life, but with other areas of the board devoted to Samui, Pattaya, Issan and Bangkok.

http://kohtao-community.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2 – Very small forum focusing on the island of Koh Tao which is a small diving oriented island near Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ExpatFocus/ - Yahoo group the answers questions specific to expats. Not sure if you will make any contacts here, but you can get some questions answered.

Another way to meet expats in Bangkok is to get to some of the sponsored events specifically for networking. Of course you can’t do this until you actually arrive in Thailand, but that is true of most everything related to your move to the Land of Smiles. Here are two groups you can check out:

The European Young Professionals society organizes regular networking evenings, although you don’t necessarily have to be European, young or indeed professional to attend these events! The parties are a great way to meet other ex-pats from a social as well as a business perspective. Usually they are held in a posh restaurant or hotel, are free to enter and have vast quantities of free food and drinks. You must book your place in advance though via the web site.

Networking for Success holds weekly breakfast meetings at the Pan Pacific Hotel, 23rd Floor 7.30am - 9am Every Thursday morning. Their website also has a (fairly quiet) forum which might be helpful.

Overall though the very best way to meet expats in Bangkok and Thailand is to simply go there. Once you arrive visit some of the bars and pubs and see who you meet. Bangkok is full of expats, especially around the Sukhumvit Road area so you won’t have any problems meeting expats in Bangkok if you get yourself out and about. And they will undoubtedly be a great source of current information and help to you, having been through the same things you are going through now when they first arrived.

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Internet Connections in Bangkok and Thailand

Still answering questions from “What Do YOU Want to Know About Thailand?” this post veers away from the Thai dating questions and addresses a question regarding internet access in Thailand from Cody.

Question:  How does one set up a reliable, fast internet connection? (Seems like you must have a reliable connection?)

Answer:  I’m actually going to cheat a bit on this one because part of it has been answered so well on another site.  I seriously recommend that unless you have a business need for internet you simply go with the free Wi-fi that is available all over Thailand.  First of all it’s free and second of all it comes without the hassle of dealing with the Thai Cable or Telecom providers.

For a really complete guide to free Wi-fi access throughout Thailand just point your browser to Stickmans Guide to Thailand Wi-fi.

Stickman claims that he isn’t going to list all of the Wi-fi spots on the page, but there are so many that he really doesn’t need to list them all.  Of course the list is best for Bangkok, but there are listings for other places as well including Samui, Krabi and Pattaya.

You can also head off to one of the many internet cafe’s in Bangkok where prices range from 20-100 baht per hour.

If you’re looking to get broadband access in your apartment you could face some serious frustrations.  Thailand is not noted for its efficiency and internet communication is no exception to this rule.

Currently there are just two telecoms in Bangkok for wired connections - TOT (Telephone Organization of Thailand) and True.  Both offer ADSL or you can go with one of many other (unproven?) ISP’s.

Here’s where the fun begins.  To get a phone line installed you will need a work permit.  No permit…then you will have to try to get your landlord to set up the service in his/her name, but be prepared for them to try to tack on a bit extra or even balk at the idea because they have no idea about the internet.

The cost will be between 600-2000 baht per month and speeds can be anywhere from 512k to 1Mb/sec.  True is generally recognized to be much better, but you might not have a choice.  If TOT installed the phone line then you’ll have to go with TOT.

There are other ISP’s out there, but they are so new that most of them are leasing bandwidth from TOT and True anyway.

Here’s what you’ll need to set up broadband a condo/apartment renter (courtesy of ThailandGuru)

1. Photocopy of the “House Registration” of the owner (showing who owns the property that the service is going to)
2. Photocopy of the Thai ID card of the owner, which they must sign
3. Photocopy of the lease (which links the property to you)
4. Photocopy of your passport, signed
5. A few thousand baht handy
6. A smile

You can read the rest of his article here, it goes into much greater depth than this post.

Overall I go with Wi-Fi or an internet cafe to make my life easier and cheaper, especially if you won’t be staying in Thailand long term.

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Thailand Musings 100th Post

Here it is! The 100th post at Thailand Musings! I am very excited and to commemorate the 100th post I have (finally) updated the “About Golf and Steve” page. Golf is also working on her contribution to that page.

Thank you to my older readers and welcome to the new readers. I hope to get to know you much better over the coming year.

It’s somehow right that the hundredth post comes at the beginning of a new year. I am seeing the potential here to help many and to share my thoughts and stories as well as the thoughts and stories of others. I’m very excited for the upcoming new year and expect that it will hold good things for us all.

To all of you I want to wish a happy and prosperous 2008!

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Thailand Questions and Answers

Alright you’ve asked and now the ball is in my court to respond. Already two readers have responded to my post What Do YOU Want to Know About Thailand? in the comments thread. This is great! Keep the questions coming. I will be responding to questions in posts as quickly as possible so keep an eye out for new posts, they should be fairly frequent right now.

In addition to the questions I have received in the comments I am in email communication with a guy who has begun a long distance relationship with a lady from Bangkok Thailand. I will be keeping their identities quiet to preserve their privacy, but he has given me permission to share his questions and my answers with you all. He is new to both internet dating and to Thailand and Thai women so the questions and answers will be very enlightening for many of the readers here I think. I would like to thank him here publicly for adding to the information available here at Thailand Musings.

I’m off now to answer some of your questions. Have a great weekend everyone!

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What Do YOU Want to Know About Thailand?

Today I thought it would be fun to open things up to you, the reader. I get emails all the time with specific questions about Thailand, where to go, cultural questions, questions about Thai women and dating. I like this and it’s one of the more rewarding aspects of having this blog.

All of this one on one communication doesn’t help the community though. So, I thought it would be fun to open up a post specifically for Thailand questions.

You can use this thread to ask questions in the comment section about ANYTHING at all Thailand related. Depending on the question I will either respond directly in the comments or write a full post if the question requires more detail.

This is your chance to ask any and all Thailand questions. Traveling to Thailand soon? Maybe you want to know about prices. I could do a Bangkok shopping trip to give you the current prices of common items. What about hotels? Where do I stay if I want to do [fill in the blank]. Where are some good local restaurants in Bangkok (or sushi, indian, italian…you name it)? How does Thai dating/engagement/marriages work? Do I need vaccines when traveling to Thailand? Are there business opportunities in Thailand? Where do I find them?

I think you’re starting to get the picture. This is me opening up the blog for you to tell me what you want me to write about. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of ideas yet and if you don’t give me anything you’ll still get plenty of fresh content here. I just thought that there might be some subjects/questions that people want to know about more than others and this is your chance to let me know.

So, let the questions flow. Keep me so busy writing that I get cramps in my hands and bloodshot eyes. And while you’re at it please subscribe to my feed so you can be sure to know when your question has been answered.

I’m looking forward to hear about all the things my readers want to know more about.

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