Turning Down The Full Expat Deal In Thailand

[Neeranam]

Lucky I always work for people from my home country that does not have anything to do with country I am in.

I can tell you the guy who worked 30 years as chemical engineer will get a retirement around $40K+ a year.

My old buddy from OZ moved here when he was 62, after over 30 years working on oil rigs al over the world. Evry time I saw him, he said, "I wish I'd moved here sooner" he was on 200,000 baht a month. He died when he was 63, poor sod - 30 years of torture for 1 year of heaven.

[garro]

BTW GH

I hope you don't mind me asking but I seem to remember you providing a lecture a few months back about why Thailand was such a bad place to raise kids in one of the threads. I disagreed with you but accepted that some of your points made sense. I got the impression that your children's quality of life was a major reason for leaving LOS. Has your opinion changed or do you really believe that SA is a better place than LOS to raise kids?

[thaihome]

..I'm pleased to say, my wife thought the same (and yes I did ask her for her opinion before I signed).

Wonder if you should her this video first?

WARNING: Very Graphic UNDER 18 Do Not Enter

Paul Johnson

TH

[bingobongo]

SA not on your life. Mark my words - bad things are coming there - just have a feeling about it.

ok, i'll mark your words, and i am sure that everthing in thailand is just rosy (read as denial), despite the junta and general economic malaise......hmmm......SA has oil and LOS has som tham.......i'll bet on the oil producing country

[samran]

SA not on your life. Mark my words - bad things are coming there - just have a feeling about it.

ok, i'll mark your words, and i am sure that everthing in thailand is just rosy (read as denial), despite the junta and general economic malaise......hmmm......SA has oil and LOS has som tham.......i'll bet on the oil producing country

Saudi is an economic basket case. Even with all the oil, its GDP per head is two thirds of what it was in 1980 and if it wasn't for such high oil prices, it would be around half.

http://econstats.com/weo/C136V015.htm

You don't find many examples of a country p!ssing its wealth away and not training and educating its young properly. Saudi arabia is one of those places however...

I'll take Thailand.

[Maigo6]

ok, i'll mark your words, and i am sure that everthing in thailand is just rosy (read as denial), despite the junta and general economic malaise......hmmm......SA has oil and LOS has som tham.......i'll bet on the oil producing country

So you're in Saudi Arabia or Thailand ?

[samran]

ok, i'll mark your words, and i am sure that everthing in thailand is just rosy (read as denial), despite the junta and general economic malaise......hmmm......SA has oil and LOS has som tham.......i'll bet on the oil producing country

So you're in Saudi Arabia or Thailand ?

where ever he is, he can't count, that is for sure...

[Neeranam]

BTW GH

I hope you don't mind me asking but I seem to remember you providing a lecture a few months back about why Thailand was such a bad place to raise kids in one of the threads. I agreed with you but accepted that some of your points made sense. I got the impression that your children's quality of life was a major reason for leaving LOS. Has your opinion changed or do you really believe that SA is a better place than LOS to raise kids?

ALL the guys I know would sacrifice a huge pay cut to be able to work in Thailand. I went from a high paying job as a condition monitoring engineer for Elf Enterprise in the North Sea to work for peanuts in Thailand because of my love for the country and my personal happiness.

I think the OP may be a workaholic -putting his own career in front of the happiness of his loved ones and probably even himself, so he can boost his ego by writing about it on internet forums. How much money are you getting in Saudi? I'm sure you can't wait to tell us. Seriously, you should think about if your work is costing you more than money.

[jing jing]

Since we have been given no details of either choice, how are we supposed to give any useful input? I guess that wasn't the point.

Hmmm, I've just read the OP & Poll questions (again) and it doesn't appear that GH is asking for our opinions on his decision (which has already been made).

He's asking what you would do in a similar situation. But yes, more information would be required in order to make such a decision. Each individual would have different reasons for making their decisions (wages, situations, family, etc).

I think the big question people would want to know, is if the job in Thailand (with the Full ExPat deal) is still open !

As GH seems to be no slouch, we must assume he's made the best possible decision based on the information he had at his disposal -- most of which information we are not privy to.

I do wonder whether the OP has spent time in SA already and knows for sure what he is getting into. Saudi is a far cry from Thailand or Italy in almost every conceivable aspect, which - who knows - may be part of the attraction for him.

For me, the prospect of living in an Arab country is a nightmare I'd rather not subject myself to, and if a "full expat deal" with a "very comfortable" compensation package was available in Thailand as an immediate alternative -- lacking any other extraordinary incentives to move to the closest place to he!l on earth my decision would be made in a nanosecond.

In any event, best of luck to you and your family GH, and let us know how it goes.

[bkkmadness]

so he can boost his ego by writing about it on internet forums.

The whole point of this thread isn't it? Showing off about what kind of work he can turn down.

[Neeranam]

so he can boost his ego by writing about it on internet forums.

The whole point of this thread isn't it? Showing off about what kind of work he can turn down.

I don't actually believe a word he says. He's got sour grapes that he was sent to Italy and now Saudi.

http://www.saudiarabia.alloexpat.com/ go ask them here if they'd rather be working on a full expat package in Thailand.

Maybe you should spend more time there than here- you already know all there is to know about Thailand.

[lazeeboy]

so he can boost his ego by writing about it on internet forums.

The whole point of this thread isn't it? Showing off about what kind of work he can turn down.

I don't actually believe a word he says. He's got sour grapes that he was sent to Italy and now Saudi.

http://www.saudiarabia.alloexpat.com/ go ask them here if they'd rather be working on a full expat package in Thailand.

Maybe you should spend more time there than here- you already know all there is to know about Thailand.

for as many people who dislike los theres just as many who love it as i do..

[GuestHouse]

Neerham, you've had a few cracks in this thread - It would seem to have rattled you, if so please accept my appologies.

I think the OP may be a workaholic -putting his own career in front of the happiness of his loved ones and probably even himself, so he can boost his ego by writing about it on internet forums.

You think wrong.

How much money are you getting in Saudi? I'm sure you can't wait to tell us. Seriously, you should think about if your work is costing you more than money

No I'm not going to tell you, nor am I dieing to do so.

I don't actually believe a word he says. He's got sour grapes that he was sent to Italy and now Saudi.

Believe, or don't believe what you will.

[Tinkelbell]

What Tinkelbell didn't say, and what Ben@H3-Digital may not be aware of, is that an employee of Aramco, living in Saudi Arabia in Dhahran, enjoys the finest expatriate living conditions in the whole of Saudi Arabia. It is not living in the desert at all!! This is absolutely the top end of the market there and Tinkelbell's half-brother certainly wasn't living in any hardship. It's not at all surprising that he chose to stay there for almost 30 years (as my wife and I did for 18 years).

The Saudi Aramco compound (really a company city) at Dhahran contains the company headquarters departments plus housing for several thousand employees and dependents. It is about 4km across and is like a giant country club in terms of its facilties - to mention just a few: 18 hole grassed golf course, several 25m swimming pools, all manner of sports fields and pitches, libraries, schools, movie theatre, 500-bed US standard hospital, clinics, shops, restaurants, vibrant employee-generated social life, women are allowed to drive cars (still not allowed in Saudi Arabia outside the Aramco family compounds) etc. etc. All these things are free. It's not a hardship posting. Restrictive customs that apply generally in Saudi Arabia are much more liberally applied there and the company takes care of any brushes that an emploiyee may have with any of the Saudi authorities outside the compound.

No wonder that Tinkelbell's half-brother chose to stay for almost 30 years. He's earned good money, had a comfortable existence, with ample opportunity for periodic vacation travel world-wide, and probably stayed at the cutting edge of his technology and professional field in the world's largest oil-producing company

As I said, this is one end of the spectrum, and Guesthouse is not going to enjoy such luxury on his assignment there, but. depending on the location and the residential compound where he lives, he may well have quite a reasonable life for 15 months and collect good money and career experience in the process. The critical thing in Guesthouse's case, in my view, is that he is embarking on this for a limited time frame.

Hi Filer,

Truely great post, well, afterall this thread was writen by someone who'd been living in the Aramco compound in Saudi for 18 years.

Yes, my brother and his family do enjoy all the finest expat living conditions: The house, the neighbor are resemble of living in the any US subburb. He and his family ( wife and 2 children) got to fly back to visit his in-laws in the US on annual leave (with vacation paid 6 weeks a year). He even brought his family and spent a summer vacationed with my family in DisneyWorld once. In 2001 (a month before WTC attacked), both our families vacationed together in China.

A week after 9/11, after news of 19 hijackers,....most of them from Saudi. We were calling him, some e-mailing him, asking him to consider to ask Aramco to move him back to the US at no avail. Seems he truely love living here and felt no threat. As you can see he still working here afterall. His children came back to the US to start colleges and now graduated and working as a productive citizens.

Some post stated that....."He would get his retirement around $40,000plus a year. I think he knew what's coming a long time ago,.... never depend your live on the retirement fund alone, that explains in the way he saved-saved, invested in real-estates, stocks, in restaurants in all these year, he did it with the paychecks from working in Saudi.

[Maigo6]

so he can boost his ego by writing about it on internet forums.

The whole point of this thread isn't it? Showing off about what kind of work he can turn down.

Turning down a 30 Month Contract in Thailand on a Full expat package to work in Saudi Arabia on a 15 Month contract seems a bit strange, but each to his own.

[Suszzy]

sometimes change is good.

if i were you i would go for it

it's only 15 months. why not?

good luck!!

[Khun ?]

Some are just not man enough to give up some comforts to better their familes future life and are of very shallow mind.

[Khun ?]

Lucky I always work for people from my home country that does not have anything to do with country I am in.

I can tell you the guy who worked 30 years as chemical engineer will get a retirement around $40K+ a year.

My old buddy from OZ moved here when he was 62, after over 30 years working on oil rigs al over the world. Evry time I saw him, he said, "I wish I'd moved here sooner" he was on 200,000 baht a month. He died when he was 63, poor sod - 30 years of torture for 1 year of heaven.

I guess your friend was fine all over the world until he lived where? Must of been poor hygene or just the general over all condition of the place that caused it.

[meemiathai]

Lucky I always work for people from my home country that does not have anything to do with country I am in.

I can tell you the guy who worked 30 years as chemical engineer will get a retirement around $40K+ a year.

My old buddy from OZ moved here when he was 62, after over 30 years working on oil rigs al over the world. Evry time I saw him, he said, "I wish I'd moved here sooner" he was on 200,000 baht a month. He died when he was 63, poor sod - 30 years of torture for 1 year of heaven.

I guess your friend was fine all over the world until he lived where? Must of been poor hygene or just the general over all condition of the place that caused it.

Agreed with you. He should have had himself stayed where he could get tortured further hopefully extending the time of being tortured.

[Neeranam]

Must of been poor hygene or just the general over all condition of the place that caused it.

You know, some people die of old age and/or sickness.

Khun ?, you're getting on a bit - better have at least 5 showers day if you want to make 76. One dodgy bowl of rice and you could be history.

Edited August 7, 2007 by Neeranam

[uptou]

which countries in the middle east would you definitely not travel to/around at the moment or near future?ive met many a traveller who told me that iran was their favourite country,for its people & hospitality,after travelling overland to se asia.

[samran]

which countries in the middle east would you definitely not travel to/around at the moment or near future?ive met many a traveller who told me that iran was their favourite country,for its people & hospitality,after travelling overland to se asia.

I've heard that. I've been to Syria, where the hospitality and the kindness of strangers is overwhelming. Then someone told me that if you think Syria is friendly, wait till you go to Iran. That, plus the scenery which is very diverse.

My wife and I would love to visit there at some stage.

[uptou]

ive always thought of saudi as more dangerous than other countries in the middle east.dont know why that is.maybe from watching to much sensationalised western news.

[meom]

Been working in Saudi since the last 15 years and the biggest danger one has to face is probably the traffic which is worse then in Thailand.

Other than that it's not so bad. Home made booze is widely available and if you really want to push it, women are available as well.

Syria ain't to bad either and in comparison to Saudi everything (booze, girls & drugs) are widely available. The people are friendly enough but always looking for an extra buck to make which makes working there a bit more strenuous in comparison to Saudi.

At least in Saudi the job doesn't stop because the crane operator is looking for an extra hand-out like in Syria.

[percy2]

which countries in the middle east would you definitely not travel to/around at the moment or near future?ive met many a traveller who told me that iran was their favourite country,for its people & hospitality,after travelling overland to se asia.

I've heard that. I've been to Syria, where the hospitality and the kindness of strangers is overwhelming. Then someone told me that if you think Syria is friendly, wait till you go to Iran. That, plus the scenery which is very diverse.

My wife and I would love to visit there at some stage.

A friend who was working in Iraq thought it the place with the nicest people.

Of course he was there in between the two invasions.

Cheers

Edite (sp)

Edited August 7, 2007 by percy2

[terry57]

so he can boost his ego by writing about it on internet forums.

The whole point of this thread isn't it? Showing off about what kind of work he can turn down.

some people arnt able to enjoy a free life, enough is never enough, and they must work to feed there self worth.

these people work until they are unable to continue or there wife leaves them because they are never around.

they do end up with a considerable fortune, but get limited time to enjoy there wealth and are often not able to so as they know nothing except there work and chasing the almighty dollar.

myself enjoy's the middle path in life, devoting half my life to my work and the other half to my happiness.

i could continue working until im 65 but im going for early retirement at 53 and heading straight to thailand to spend my hard earned money on good times.

im a bit worried as my super will run out by the time im 100.

jezz, hope i croak at 99.

i wonder if the OP ever has time to smell the roses and have some fun.?

a rather serious fellow he is.

[terry57]

so he can boost his ego by writing about it on internet forums.

The whole point of this thread isn't it? Showing off about what kind of work he can turn down.

Turning down a 30 Month Contract in Thailand on a Full expat package to work in Saudi Arabia on a 15 Month contract seems a bit strange, but each to his own.

i think the OP has made it perfectly clear in his many posts on thailand that he does not consider it a very nice place, even though he has a thai wife.

always warning us of the horrors of living here and never a positive post about los.

would much rather be in rome or the middle east but each to there own i say.

he can stay there and all us thai pollyannas can enjoy the mighty los.

i know where id rather be.

anyway its a free world, but i do wonder what his point is asking these questions as he has already made up his mind. ?

[PhilHarries]

I think it might a bit misleading talking about a "contract" when in fact it should be referred to as a staff assignment/placement. I might be wrong and if so apologise. As a contractor in the oil & gas business I would always be more interested in the length of contract unless the financial deal significantly outweighed it. Obviously the other details like location, leave cycle, tax deal all come into play but a 30 month deal is worth serious consideration even if you blow half your money on entertainment.

Personally I'd have gone for Thailand but each person has their own chosen path and priorities. Good luck to you GH, at least with your wife thee you won't be tempted into the camel scrambles.

[GuestHouse]

i wonder if the OP ever has time to smell the roses and have some fun.?

There is at least one poster on this thread who knows me personally - I think he'd vouchsafe that I do indeed enjoy life, have a great deal of fun and I am not a work-a-holic.

I think it might a bit misleading talking about a "contract" when in fact it should be referred to as a staff assignment/placement.

I don't think I had implied it was a 'Contract', but yes you are correct it is a staff assignment (post #28 expalins some of my thinking) but if I have misslead anywone I do appologize.

[quiksilva]

Good for you GH, as someone else said before grab the money now and spend it here later. Enjoy it.