Jez130

First of all well done to Thailand for gaining a couple of medals at the London Olympics! One of my mates did send me a funny text that I wanted to share though.

"Thailand have won a Silver medal in the Olympic Kayaking! However they were later disqualified after officials found some damage to the bottom of the boat that they refused to pay for"................... : )

I have just spent 12 Months at a Thai school in Thailand. I travelled all over and as much as possible and this is what I found. You can live there for 20k a month or 300k a month! Depending on where you live and what you do of course.

I think 600 Gbp a month would be very possible in one of the Northern Cities such as Udon etc. But Hua Hin is very expensive in comparison.

You can rent a 3 bed house in Udon for 7k a month and I mean a decent fully furnished place as well.

Udon and Khon Kean are great Cities much better than BKK or Pattaya I think. My g/f has a business in Udon and makes 35k net profit a month, her friends shop makes 80 to 100k net profit a month!

You are not relying on the falang high and low seasons there either as you are mostly selling to the local Thai's. More and more big industrial business is moving to Khon Kean because of the floods and uncertainty in BKK. It's got bars clubs and thousands of students! Their Central festival shopping centre is bigger and better than the one in Pattaya.

I met someone living in Karasin on 7,000 baht a month! He had been there for 4yrs!

Lets hope he rips some Thai's off then get's found washed up on Pattaya Beach.

I have just spent 12 Months living in Jomtien and 7 Months of that time studying at Walen in Pattaya. I must agree that they are not the cheapest option especially for private lessons (700 baht per hour where as some places are 200) I met a few other people who were attending other schools and compaired teaching literature and discussed teaching methods with them etc.

In conclusion i think that most schools are similar in their methods but in the end i was glad i chose Walen as the teachers there are enthusiastic and professional. They also sorted out my ED documents promply etc...

I am sure there are plenty of other good schools about and probably many who are cheaper! But Walen are professional and i really enjoyed going there.