Blackandwhite

This is Iysha's she tells me she has her mothers looks, I think she looks more like me fat and white !!!!

Have you moved to Thailand from Europe or America ect with children and schooled your children ?

How is it ?

Do you feel it has been good or bad for the child, Children ?

Do you or you children feel let down by the schools ?

Do the Thai families in you town or city or village accept you into the community ?

Also if you feel you can allow the personal info, let me know what school your child goes to and the cost, PM me if you don't want to post on forum, also if you think it is none of my business then cool ?

Sorry if it seams I am grabbing info but I am researching this topic with a view of moving to Thailand with my family.

Thank you

During my various posts about the chance of us moving to Thailand at some point, there seams to be many people that really do have some big issues with Thailand and the people in it, I am very interested in what you dislike about Thailand or what the reasons there are some you might regret moving to Thailand.

Hello,

We have bought a home near Hua hin, any advice in how to secure our home from robbers and criminals ?

Please see attached file for location. Do you think it's a good location ? We stay 7 KM from Hua hin center, is just 10 min drive.

Thanks.

You could try, 9ft Steel Palisade fencing and razor barb, then got to dogs and train them to kill,

Failing that, build a high wall with nice areas of clear or colored glass block, secure top with razor wire or similar.

A dog helps as does going to the local cop shop and drop off a donation to them to just keep an eye on the house from time to time.

Other than that get a burglar alarm.

Up to you

From what I see during regular visits as in holidays to this area, it is going mad, the area is very sought after, the King has a Palace just up the road in Hua Hin so guess what is good for the kind=g is good for the people. Lots of Thais holiday in this area so our low season is their high season.

Like the OP, my Thai wife and I are thinking of moving over to Thailand later this year. My family currently live in London. We're not of a dissimilar age to the OP (I'm 41) but we do differ in that I've worked for the past 20 years in a way/occupation specifically so I could have the chance of emigrating to a country at an "early age" with a lower cost of living without having to work whilst living in it. It has been a "dream" of mine for as long as I can remember, rather than a reflection of a moment in time (which seems to be the OP's situation), and now I think the "dream" can become a reality. Again, like the OP, I'm expecting to subsidize our living via property letting income and other savings and investments, and based on my calculations (and a lot of help from forum members) I reckon this will all be quite feasible - including an annual pilgrimage back to the old country to keep in touch with relatives plus a certain budget for Asian travelling.

Of course, other than balancing the books, the two big issues facing such a dramatic move for those in a similar situation to the OP and myself are the impacts on career prospects for the adults and education for the young one (s). My industry would probably "welcome me back" if I dipped out for six months or so, but any longer - I think I can forget it. This is what I would caution the OP to think long and hard about abandoning his job if this "move" has not been his motive for working in the first place. I have no idea of the industry the OP is in, but mine is especially fast moving and changeable and my skills/business network would look very dated to future employers very quickly were I to "drop out". Therefore, my wife and I are treating the whole emigration process very much like a day-by-day experiment, and once we make the move, would not find it shameful to return back to the UK six months later, safe in the knowledge that we tried, but it wasn't for us. This is why I would not dream of purchasing any property until we were sure we were settled (and had the right location for school) nor make any other financial commitments such as even buying a car etc. until we were 100% sure.

With regards to education, and going back to why I think the time is right for my family, unlike the OP, our child is below both Thai and UK compulsory school age. I am satisfied enough time has been spent in the UK for the basics of learning English, but I would also like the basics of Thai to be learnt too. I think this will be a distinct advantage to all in the future. And, because school has not been started, I am not risking the potential damage dragging the child in and out of different UK or Thai schools. For the OP, I have no evidence that any damage can be caused by this, but to me it just feels right not to get started with UK schooling, then introduce Thai, and then revert back to UK if things turn out sour. I would also add that I am having considerable difficulty in deciding whether to send my child to an "international" or "private" school in Thailand. Forgetting costs, it is my understanding that, by definition, an "international" school does not give the child benefits of learning the Thai language or access to Thai business connections (for e.g.), something I think is a disadvantage. We also have a neighbour in London (who is also Thai and of a similar age) and she is currently completing a PhD at a London University. She was educated "privately" in Thailand and sends her own daughter to a private, rather than international school too. I digress!

I realize the OP can do nothing about their daughter's age, but so long as the OP seriously considers the impact on career and education and can afford to support his family (I do not see any cost of living expenses from the OP, so not sure how the OP could be clear on this issue...) then I too would suggest "go for it". However, reading the OP's posts, it is obvious that the OP is looking for approval/justification for a decision he has already made. I feel this is "cart before horse" and would suggest OP thinks harder before making such a bold move, or at least has a contingency. His rose-tinted view of Thailand as presented is, I'm afraid, a bit laughable and shows a real misunderstanding of what he will be letting himself into should he move full time to Thailand, and will I'm afraid, result in great disappointment.

However, you never know until you try...

Thank you for your long and frank thoughts, Yes this is a real tough one, you are right I have made the decision about moving to Thailand, but paramount in my thoughts are my daughter. We have choices and they would be, meanwhile while we start to make the plans for our lives and the decisions on behalf of my daughter we do regularly visit Thailand to keep or toe in so to speak and my daughter speaks near fluent Thai and my wife is slowly teaching her the Thai alphabet.

Leave Uk now and pose a fairly large risk on my finances collapsing here in Uk, disrupting my daughters junior school years, but we would know sooner that later how it would work out.

Wait till my daughter goes to high school, then assess the situation including schools being the main point that would need to be consider and the decision then again would be based on my daughters abilities at school and the education available to her,

Final option wait until my daughter finishes school as in finishes high school, with a view to moving to Thailand then, at this point she could have a year out and maybe study in Thailand for a year or so while she chooses what she want to do with her life from there in.

The plan and finance

Within the next four years we will be free of a mortgage on our family home so we could rent that would give us enough money to live a carfull but afluent life in Thailand, there would be a house to return to in the Uk and I have another property in the Uk that is rented ready to go into my daughter name when she is 21. My daughter also has a saving fund that I pay into that will mature in 13 years with a fund that will give her a very good start in life. I have a business that would fund me travelling home every 8 weeks to work for around three weeks at a time, this would mean I could also keep an income and a business going that if all did fail and Thailand become a place I would rather go on holiday to then we could return and get stuck in again and simply move back into my home here in the UK. If things were all good then I would simply buy a house in Thailand but that would of course have to be after a year or so of being comfortable and happy in the environment we were living in.

Just such a hard thing this is, the last thing I want to do is hurt or jeopardise my daughter or her precious life in any way.

My daughter is what is of most importance in all this, I do agree with you I do see Thailand through rose tinted lenses but there is many good reason to leave the Uk and many good reason to leave the Uk to live in Thailand, equally there is many reasons to do neither of these things, sit back and follow the crowd and appreciate what we have here in England

I guess this post is a way of me hearing other people justifying for me what I want to do,

Please be assured I am no fool, I do not take things lying down and even though I have always had life stacked against me everything I have done in life has been a huge success, I do not intend to make any hasty decisions about this, just do sometimes think, it will happen one day so why let it wait, so much to think about, can make you start to go a little Ding Dong !!!

We went out his afternoon for a meal, here in the Uk, another child asked my daughter why she had slanted eyes and brown skin, then ran away from her makes you wonder, it only comes from the parents, good old England great place for kids.

One advantage is that your children growing up in Thailand could help in building their self-confidence and self-esteem as less subject to "putdowns" and told to "go back to where you came from", which arises a lot.

Western education for its masses has evolved over a long time, and it shows, no doubt about that.

While in BKK I noted that a couple of UK school brands have been set up.

Schools it seams is the thing that causes a massive amount of concern from many in these forums, schools here in the Uk are failing, I enjoy doing homework with my daughter and she seams to get a massive amount of it here. It seams she is getting less education at school and more at home as time goes on, she has two teachers they share the position of one teacher, they do what is dogmaticly called '' Job share '', involves two teahes sharing the job of one and trying to pick up the pieces the other none doesnot do during the week, that also means, 2 lots of the following, in services day, training days, sick days, maternity leave and much much more, very inconsistent and disruptive way of providing education, so in short it really is not that great anyway.

I am not sure if you have been following my thoughts over the past 2 years on where to live and send my daughters to school. But I finally decided to move back home to Australia and it was the best possible decision for us.

It sounds like you have a good life in the UK. My advice would be to stay there and give your daughter a good education. The Thai schools are not very good. Even though my daughter went to one of the top 5 private schools in the kingdom I wasn't impressed. Since coming home she has excelled and is one of the top students in her class. Her teachers give her glowing recommendations.

If you are thinking of giving your daughter a grounding in her Thai culture and language I would say forget it. She will get a far better education and end up a more rounded person if she stays in the UK.

I know it's easy to fall in love with Thailand and all things Thai, but at the end of the day it is a foreign culture that has very little to offer the world. If you send your daughter to school there she will end up with a lot of ideas that will not help her live in the world when she becomes an adult.

And as you are making a good living in the UK and you are reasonably happy there you would find uprooting your family to Thailand stressful and perhaps even bad for your financial stability. Believe me, the grass is not always green on the other side, no matter how you romanticize it.

Why not get the best of both worlds and continue taking your family to Thailand for visits? They will both get what you want for them, without uprooting their lives. It would be difficult for you to fit into Thai culture. You will never be Thai. But I imagine your wife has settled quite well into the UK lifestye...and your daughter is already British. Why try to change all that and upset the balance?

Since moving to Australia 9 months ago my family has settled very well into the lifestyle here. My wife has no desire to return to live in Thailand. She loves the cleanliness, the well organized culture, and the many activities we take part in here. When we lived in Bangkok we were confined to going to the airconditioned shopping centers, or one of the few parks. We had to drive miles to Pattaya to see the ocean, and it was always crowded, noisy, and dirty.

Here the beaches are clean without any bothersome vendors every 20 seconds, the sea is crystal clear, and there are plenty of other attractions to see as well. I know you don't have that in the UK, but why not take your family to some of the wonderful towns and sites of historical significance? Or take them traveling around the Continent? You are so close to so many attractions there. Whereas in Thailand you would be severely limited in the places you could visit.

I love Thailand but it doesn't compare to living in your own culture where you can make a decent living and enjoy a high standard lifestyle.

I am not really thinking that making a living in Thailand would be totally necessary, I would need to think of something to keep me occupied whilst my daughter is at School. Seams to me that most of the people here think one of two things

Schools are a shambles in Thailand

Thailand is n place for a child to grow up as the Thai people are not all they seam from first glance

I guess the fact I have never actually lived in Thailand leaves me no evidence to come back with any more questions to what causes the thoughts mentioned above.

There are so many things here in Uk that is such a crock there is not enough space to list it all, I think from a businessman's point of view the Uk is becoming a rather less opportunist place to be, crime is soaring, jobs are are at an all time low, business taxes are constantly going up with a rob the rich to feed the poor, small businesses are constantly being damaged by the government by the new laws and rules they are constantly.

Still hard to see the wood for the trees.

Don't know, really hard to see all sides of it as I have never actually lived in Thailand

We are looking to rent a house in Hua Hin in December for the 11/12/09 for three weeks ish, any one can help please PM me. Pool would be great

We are coming over from Uk, wife Thai and my daughter is 7, we want our family from Issan to be able to spend some time with us also so that is why we need house, must be secure and clean

Please let me know if you can help

I was only suggesting a site I had used in the past, sky scanners.net, it offers valuable information on destinations and prices. It is not crap as Kick........ suggests, your ignorant way of posting your thoughts is odd , this site is for suggestion not a service of betting your life on a suggestion, skyscanner.net is always a good bet for comparisons. As you are a newbie I guess you are not used to how you should express your thoughts in the forum.

Hi

I have used skyscanner.net - covers all countries and including Thai internal and international worldwide

Good luck

This is great feedback on thoughts thank you, please keep it coming it is very interesting and it does help in my thoughts to what we should be doing

Thank you again.

I will add, an opinion of mine is also that the government in Thailand are a corrupt group of people, but if you look at the government here in Uk and the way things are done it is just about the same except it is covered up and hidden for example, police in Thailand taking bribes, it happens here very day in different ways and we also have the various stealth taxes and fines the government dream up, like a fine for parking to far away from the curb when parking on the street and a fine for overloading your litter bin that you pay tax for to have emptied.

I totally get the fact bring a girl up in the Uk as an equal is great, but as mentioned British girls in this day as they are growing up do seam to have a certain Yob culture being bred into them, there is little in the way of control from the authorities and this in itself is a little frustrating.

The constant over taxation and goal post moving everyday British people are expected to reach is getting beyond a joke, kids start school at 5 years old with hard homework that takes 7 nights a week because the schools and teachers are not capable of meeting circular targets in the hours they work these day due to the fact they are always off on courses or working job shares as they are enjoying the luxury of exuberant salaries and only need to work part time. and then you are expected to from then until the are 65 years old or more in some cases as there is not enough money in the economy for people to retire on as the government have screwed things up so badly.

Please do not see this as insulting or moaning it is just observations I make and things I think about the Uk and where we live.

Example

Yesterday int he news there was a case where two 12 year old boys sexually assulted a younger boy, is this a counrty going mad and falling apart or is it just life ???

Thank you, all other thoughts would be good please

I hope you don't mind my post here but as I always listen to my Mum and what she thinks I thought it might be good to see what other ladies think I will be brief but would appreciate your thoughts on this

My wife is Thai we have been married 9 years,

Me I am 36

My wife 30

Our lovely little girl Iysha is 7 years

We live a very good life here and I earn very good money, we have a lovely house in the country, we do what we want in life without being wasteful.

We visit Thailand as often as possible and ever since the first time I visited Thailand I have been deeply in love with two things, my wife and where she comes from.

I do ask myself even though our life here would be classed as very lucky or even more, I do really think we are making a big mistake by remaining in the Uk and not allowing my daughter to grow up in Thailand and go to school there, I fully understand that things are very different in Thailand, but the standards of living here are good in some ways but in so many ways not so good, like the wonderful ways the Thais are and their general attitude to life.

I am unfortunately blinded by Thailand and the people, I love everything about Thailand and everything about it. I do see the bad but I have learnt most of the bad things are in every country.

I am in a total confused state about what is best for us all, I am not happy here with all I have and I understand the risks with uping sticks and leaving the Uk but there is something telling me I should just do it.

I could raise enough money to buy a house and have a fair income from property and business here to pay for schools and living costs, I do not like to drink in expensive bars or spend all my time chasing after girls half my age, I love my wife and daughter and that is all that matters to me.

Do we stay here not fulfilling my dream and remaining discontent with where we live or should we perhaps just do it and bit the bullet.

Thoughts please ladies

I dream of

My lovely daughter growing up in a country that is still allowed to respect the god they believe in, a country that deeply loves and respects children and older people, a country that does not put kids in nursery and elders in nursing homes, a country that where ever you go you are normally spoken to in a polite and gentle manor, to sit on a nice warm beach at weekend, where there is only one season and that is always warm, I love the saying the Thai's say, no problem, dont think to much, we can do that tomorrow, it okay don't worry about that it might not happen, up to you and many more.

What do we do please just give your thoughts if you have time I will be happy to hear the thoughts of all you ladies out there.

Thank you so much if you have time to reply or let me know of other that have done similar to what I am thinking of doing

We can call family in Thailand from the UK for half a pence per min.

Go to www.niftylist.co.uk for all the latest number.

Anyone know a cheaper one please let us know.

Cheers

Any more info on dance, drama and ballet for kids would be good

Well,

when I first read your post I thought it was a joke but as I read on I realised the pure insanity of your questions, thoughts and remarks were that of a very insecure, self absorbed and selfish person

I have a daughter that is mixed race half Thai half English, she is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen, she has very long black curly hair, dark brown eyes, dark olive colour skin, tallest in her class and I am only 5'' 8 she is also very intelligent compared to most of the children in here school here in the Uk, she is the most popular child in her school which I add is a small village school in the middle of the country side, she also does child modelling and plays gymnastics and ballet for the county,

Maybe in America they see people differently but that is your choice to debate what the Americans will think of your child, to think some of America's most famous and looked up stars are of mixed race, Ja-loy, would be enough to settle your thoughts.

At the end of the day you can only understand what others might think based on the way you think yourself, you sound a little to shalow to start thinking about producing a new life of a person that could grow up with the same low mental capacity as you.

Get the snip is my advise

My daughter and wife are travelling to Thailand in August on the 5th ish for a month, they will be in Bangkok for one week then Buriram for three weeks, would it be good to bring some treatment in case it is needed for the swine flu ???

Like what?

I would plan to bring Tamiflu we are using it here in the Uk to treat the flu once it has been caught by the person

My daughter and wife are travelling to Thailand in August on the 5th ish for a month, they will be in Bangkok for one week then Buriram for three weeks, would it be good to bring some treatment in case it is needed for the swine flu ???

My daughter is approaching 8 we live in Uk

Still contemplating the move to LOS

Be interested to hear if anyone has enrolled their kids in any ballet, dance or singing schools, or drama anything

Cheers

Is there anyone that can help me on this topic please, I will be very intrested to hear from anyone that has or goes to any type of dance or drama schools in Hua Hin

It seams that unfortunately a beating of any type when drunk idiots get together is becoming widely acceptable, absolutely no excuse for it. I live here in the Uk and it appears it is becoming also a solution to an argument. Sad we take it with us all the way to such a lovely and quite part of the world as Buriram.

If you have a good job in the UK don’t leave it unless you get one that pays at least that much or more in Thailand. Why take a step back in your working life?

Do you run a small business in the UK? If not, what makes you think you can do so in foreign country?

TH

Hi

I agree 100% with the above without giving to much info away. I have a two houses in the Uk that have a combined value of £400000.00 with £250000.00 in mortgages.

I have a house in Issan

I run my own business that earns about £200000.00 profit per year, getting there and the plan is gradually taking shape. Looking more of a better option once my daughter goes to high school 4 years time, By then the house will be paid for here in the Uk and will rent well.

Business will sell at a fair price to enable me to take some of the funds to Thailand, as the MD of a very successful company I of course can have a fair imput in running businesses, I am a qualified chef and specialise in Pan Asian Cuisene I also as a side line offer Thai cookery lessons to English and Thai people here in the Uk.

Guess the idea is to work hard and save hard !!!!

The things that are sure is this,

I fully understand that there needs to be an out back to the Uk if I need one,

I will not sell up here in the Uk and leave to move to Thailand it will be a planned exercise using money that I might have to write off if things hit the fan in any way or it simply does not work out.

My daughter is at the very top on my list of priorities,

I would look to be very involved with local groups of other expatriates and of course any groups of friends my wife might have.

I thank you for the info and ask please keep it coming it is forming a great case study of thoughts for me to consider.

While you all enjoy the sun out the, think of us in the Uk in the cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

My mother visited Thailand and brought us home some smokes chilli powder/flakes, fantasit in rice porridge, problem is never seen it or been able to get it.

Any one help with this I would be please maybe the name of it in Thai would be good ??

Cheers