Juntaa

1 hour ago, toughlove said:

Why even ask the question. It's clear you prefer Malaysia.
I find the woman far less attractive but you going to disagree of course.

Buddhist vs Islam. Not a difficult choice
Allahuuuuu akbarrrrrr!

Enjoy

I find men far more attractive in Malaysia. So we do (partially) disagree :D

This does not relate to you post, but the open discrimination against gay people has been highlighted by others, which I have not encountered so far. The very first day in fact the (all straight) people I was hanging out in KL suggested to go drinking in a gay bar, which we did. I think if you stick to major cities like KL and keep your profile low and do your own thing, you will be just fine.

I don’t think that homophobia will ever go away and can be encountered from places like the Netherlands and in Thailand. I never liked Silom anyway with its in your face attitude. And that is coming from a gay guy.

47 minutes ago, tonray said:

Fantastic ! Send us a postcard from Malaysia when you are settled in (for 90days that is) and let us know how you are getting on.

I am leaving the country way before the 90 days. Not planing to return anytime soon. The point I was trying to make was, if someone had the choice between TH and MY, what are their respective benefits and why. Glad we discussed it.

19 minutes ago, tonray said:

Everyone does NOT speak English. A significant % of the population cannot communicate in English (perhaps you only spent time in tourist streets in KL)

 

The MysecondHome retirement Visa is much more complex and has greater financial requirements than those of Thailand

 

Rents are about 25 to 40 % higher in most cities

 

KL is a nice place granted and has a sense of order that Thailand never seems to get but it is not easier for long term expats to stay there simply for financial requirements and using 90 day entries will not get you far as the government has strict policies about long term 'players' abusing the system.

Everyone who is significant and who I so far interacted with spoke English. Literally everyone apart from one employee from one of those 24-hour convenience stores (not 7-11) spoke fluent English. I had long conversations with shop owners, street food vendors, Grab taxi drivers, barbers. It is SUCH A PLEASURE I have to say to be able to talk to locals and be understood by them. Tell them what you exactly want and not like in Thailand speak to them like you speak to a wall. Of course, we are the ignorant ones as we should be learning their language and not the other way around as we are visiting their country. But who can blame us for not making an effort to learn a language so different to our mother tongue.

Oh did I mention Malays use the Latin alphabet? Another benefit.

I appreciate your input, especially if it comes from someone who lives or lived here, I am only a tourist. But going through various articles online I found KL to have cheaper rents than Bangkok. Here is just one source https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_price_rankings?itemId=100

Bangkok 4,319 USD per square metre, KL 3,273 USD per square metre.

Abusing Thailand's 30 day entries will not get your far either. At least in Malaysia you have triple leeway and who says you have to return to Malaysia same or next day. Stay somewhere for a few weeks (for instance Thailand) and then return back, which should not be as obvious to immigration.

19 minutes ago, HampiK said:

The Muslim country is a problem, as for example in KL you will sometimes wake up 4 clock morning because of the praying.

I am surprised, that you not mention this behavior as this was the main problem for me in this country!

Not at all. I stayed in Malacca, KL and Penang and in neither of the cities I had an issue with the praying. In Malacca the mosque was just down the road and I may be wrong but they didn't do any (noticeable) morning praying. Maybe because it was a tourist area. In KL I stayed in a nice apartment and a mosque was nowhere to be seen. When renting a property one can always check out the area beforehand. Generally speaking I am very oblivious to mosques here.

25 minutes ago, StreetCowboy said:

So there we have it.  The main reason expressed why people preferred Thailand was their own prejudice against Muslim-run countries.  Alcohol is more expensive, and there are no ‘go-go’ bars.  Some people believe pork and hookers are hard to find, but I can assure you their faith would be sorely tested in KL.

That was my theory as well. After all our sex drive is the dominant force, Mother Nature compels men to thrive for reproduction. If only she knew how much we have refined that process.
As to alcohol and bacon, I'm not sure but I may have had pork at one of the countless Chinese places in Penang. I didn't miss it yet, but then again I always preferred lamb to pork. Beer is more expensive yes but can still be bought at every 7-11.

As I'm heading to Thailand soon and since the ATM fees have gone up since my last visit, I would like to withdraw money at the counter of a Thai bank. I read that if you withdraw money at the counter, you don't get charged the 200-250 baht per withdrawal. But as some staff may not speak English or pretend not to speak, as apparently Thai banks prefer you to use the ATM instead, I came up with the idea to print the following and show it to their staff:

"Hello, I want to withdraw Thai baht at this bank counter. I don't want to use an ATM. I want to withdraw money at the counter. I consider this a free service. If you charge an additional fee, please let me know in advance. Thank you very much."

As per Google Translate:

สวัสดีฉันต้องการถอนเงินบาทที่เคาน์เตอร์ธนาคารนี้ ฉันไม่ต้องการใช้ตู้เอทีเอ็ม ฉันต้องการถอนเงินที่เคาน์เตอร์ ฉันคิดว่านี่เป็นบริการฟรี หากคุณคิดค่าบริการเพิ่มเติมโปรดแจ้งให้เราทราบล่วงหน้า ขอบคุณมาก.

Could you proofread it and correct any mistakes?

I'm deliberately using "want" and not "would like to" as the back-translation from Thai into English comes up with something illogical.

Should there be a more polite way to phrase it, feel free to change it. Feel also free adding things like "I hope you are doing well" or some other polite Thai phrases. I want to come across as nice and polite and not like a stingy farang who only wants to avoid the ATM fees.

Thank you :D

FYI, I have decided against it. I have taken many things into consideration why not to go for it. Firstly the offer comes at a very bad timing, I've been traveling for six months now (yes I'm a backpacker) and almost depleted all my savings. I started to wonder how I'll even manage to save enough money for my eventual flight back home with those 35k a month. Strangely enough the pessimists here had an impact on me, including the guy calling people like me a loser. Although I don't agree on the loser part, the question why taking such a low paid job (after you earned almost 3 times more just a few months ago back home) would seem legitimate. For my part it makes more sense to go back home, build up some proper savings again and book that one way flight to BKK. It appears it's very easy to become a teacher in Thailand, I mean hey, you don't even have to actively look for a job, evening shopping at Tesco will do the trick as well.

As for being able to teach kids properly without having previous experience in that field, I can now confidently say that this won't be a problem. I followed the advice of one poster here who suggested to sit in on the other English teachers' lessons to get a feeling whether I could manage. I did that yesterday for an hour and also spent some time in the teacher's room where students regularly show up to discuss tests they failed. It was a bit shocking to learn that some of the students couldn't even answer the most basic questions like 'How old are you' 'Where are you from'. And those kids where matthayom 5! What I've learned is that the Thai teachers do the grammer and other rules with them, the foreign teacher's part is indeed to have a conversation with them and play games. To be honest I doubt I would have much or any impact on the students in terms of improving their English proficiency as I'd have around 800 students to teach, with 20 classes a week, so on average 40 students per class. So each student would see me once week for 50 minutes, together with the other 39 students. So I'd be able to focus on one student just about one minute per week. Also, I'd have to be at school at 7.30am, even if my schedule says that my first class is at 10am.

Considering all this I thought it might not be right job at the right time. It might not ever be the right job, but at least if I decided to consider it again, I will have savings to enjoy Bangkok fully without having to worry how to afford my flight back home.

Obviously I need the money as well. If I had the choice I would do a different job, but I don't have a choice right now. I did not fake my CV or told them things about myself which are not true. The thing is they offered me the job knowing I have no or very little experience teaching English. So I presume it must be common for newbies to start such a career in Thailand. My research online confirms that theory too.

Skills with double L