I am a Canadian who has been teaching English in Japan (Tokyo) for the past 7 years. I am looking at the possibility of re-locating with my family (wife and 2 young kids) to Thailand for about a year. It's something we've been considering for a long time. Basically, it would be something we'd like to do before re-locating permanently to North America.

Having been to Thailand 5 times on vacation over the past 7 years, I have a reasonable knowledge of the culture and the lifestyle. I am well aware that vacationing and living / working are entirely different ball games so to speak. Anyway, it is not imperative that we go. However, I would like to make an effort to find a reasonably good work situation for myself (and quite possibly my wife, too). If I am able to earn a pretty decent living, we would certainly consider spending a year there.

Over and over, the main thing I hear and understand is that you can't earn much $$ teaching in Thailand. At present, we both have excellent work situations and earn a great living. Of course, the cost of living is extremely high here. Even still, we are able to live very well and put away a lot of savings. So, I woouldn't really be interested in spending a year in Thailand unless we could live well on our earnings. Any savings would be a bonus in my mind. As long as we could live well and not have to dip into our savings, I'd be happy.

Furthermore, we're interested in a local place (most likely Chiang Mai or another northern city). We want to avoid major tourist destinations (where we've been such as Phuket, Koh Samui etc...) If anyone has any advice as to how we could further pursue this idea, it would be greatly appeciated. Of course,if you require more information and have any questions -- fire away.

TYour question is better suited for teh teaching section, I will move your topic to there.

As for your question about your income, it would depend on your qualifications.

I would ask a little more info about the family....

1. What is the wife's nationality? Will she need to apply for an immigrant visa before going to Canada? If so, this could have an impact upon your decision.

2. How old are the children? Will they need to go to school? Would you put then in an "international school" or "Thai" school?

- this could seriously affect your living expenses - cost of decent schools may be your largest expense(for two kids at an international school it could actually be higher than all your other monthly expenses combined)

3. If not school age, will the wife also work or stay at home? If she works who will look after the kids?

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I would also list Chaing Mai as one of the top 3 tourist destinations in Thailand, so not completely off the beaten track. There are many other northern towns that I am sure could offer a more rustic and non tourist experience.

Going off the second hand information I have received from some friends have lived up in the North... (so take it as you will), the average wage is even lower in that part of the country and there are less jobs to be had. I have heard that wages are in the 25,000-35,000thb/mo ballpark.

The idea of "Living well without needing to dip into our savings" is a difficult one to answer because "Living well" is very subjective and means something completely different to every person.

Some will tell you they can "Live Well" on 30,000 thb a month others will say that at that amount they are "barely able to survive". Others would say that there is "no way they could survive" on the same amount.

So, I think a little bit of an explination about what "living well" means to you and the rest of the members of your family would be needed in order to better advise.

The difficulty that you face is that Thailand is a real crap shoot. Some people get lucky and find a good job; most people have to make a couple of changes before settling in. It's quite doable for people who are single, but much, much harder for a family.

Getting moved and set-up in Thailand can be a little expensive--finding the right place to live, getting what you need for a home etc. This is especially true the further off the beaten path you go.

My suggestion is to stay put, unless you land a job via the internet that looks like what you want. Those jobs are out there, but then so is the winning lottery ticket.

Best of luck.