Arctic Thais

[Bangkok Barry]

I recently came across a video about the most northern inhabited place on Earth, and it turned out to be a settlement called Longyearbyen, situated on the Nordenskiöld Land peninsula of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago. And that is way north of Norway. A political agreement means that it is visa-free and anyone from anywhere can live and work there.

 

What has this to do with Thailand? Wikipedia tells us that out of a population of 2,368 (as of 2019), Thais make up the largest population group after Norwegians. In 2014 there were 120 there. That is a surprise. What isn't so much of a surprise is that men brought their wives from Thailand during the 1970s. In 2006, most of the Thai residents worked as cleaners, and as of 2011 most stay for terms of two to three years to save funds. I can't imagine they save much from working as cleaners, so perhaps they find other ways in the remote community to put a bit away.  Apparently the Thai community is active in numerous cultural events annually and motivated the establishment of a Thai supermarket.

 

Life is full of surprises, isn't it.

 

[KhunBENQ]

2 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

I can't imagine they save much from working as cleaners

If they earned Norwegian income and live scantily they could.

 

For money they go almost everywhere.

Do you know about the berry/mushroom pickers in Finland (Lapland)?

 

[Puchaiyank]

Interesting story...the Thais are very resourceful at using their personal assets to produce income...????

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

If they earned Norwegian income and live scantily they could.

The price for anything in remote communities is usually astronomical because of the cost of getting things there. I've watched videos about such places. So even though their wage might be quite high, their expenses would be too. And as unskilled workers they'd be bottom of the pile.

 

The Finnish thing is interesting. I'll look it up. I know Finnish Lapland very well and have had friends there for over 50 years. The berries make a most excellent liquor.