Lots of points to answer here.

First lets establish I have lived here for 16 years and have been married for 15 of them to my Thai wife.

Yes I was musing about my past in the UK and the years I have lived and worked here in Thailand.

It was not cost effective to rent in the UK,well not when I first entered the property market there. I just did what most of my contemporaries did, took out a mortgage based on my job security. The norm. I had not the life experience I have now.

Life was a straight forward series of events for me and most of my friends, in those young far off days. Good secure job, getting promotion, having the car, later cars, wife, children and just getting on with a regular life.

Then I thought of the changes in myself here. Yes I came here following a very nasty divorce, so correct the key, but that was over 17 years ago. Yes I fell for the place and went through the rosy coloured stage. Believe me I am well past that, by at least a decade.

What my musings were about was how easy it has been for me to find various jobs, many different opportunities in Bangkok without any major upheavals. One position loses its spark, time to ignite it by finding a more satisfying occupation. Financial security allowed me this. Not having a mortgage allowed me to move to suitable locations near my work, as is the case of others who replied here.Changing jobs, relocating is so easy in Bangkok. That is not or was not the case in England.

As for that sense of community, no I will never be a Thai, but then I was never a native of any of the places I lived in in England. My roots were severed once I left home for university; I never returned to live in my "home town", Of the three places in England I lived and worked in in England, two are remembered with happiness, where I felt a sense of belonging, the third was as I wrote was a disaster.I did not belong. As a non Thai resident of Bangkok I have regained that sense of this is where I love to live.

I admit it would not be the same without my wife, son, step children and extended family.I like to think I am accepted by them as a non Thai member of the clan, we have been relatives for 15 years with all the ups and downs inevitable.

My neighbours, we have lived in our house for 10 years now,accept me as the non Thai member of our little community.

A good outcome from the lowest point of my life 17 yearsago to the present.

I hope this answers the cynical replies.

Congrats and give yourself a big pat on the back. But you haven't made your case that job mobility is necessarily easier in Thailand than in the UK. (Posts from job seekers and expressions of job dissatisfaction in Thailand are quite common on this site, not to mention any particular forum.) In the desperate effort to do so, you make some nonsensical statements such as "you cannot buy until you sell." You admit you didn't have to have a mortgage in the UK. Contrary to your assertion, it was never too expensive to rent--esp. as you can always find someone to share the rent. And, yes, the UK also offers a wide variety of accomodation. Many types of work, for example, technical contracting or consulting, offer a very high degree of mobility and many expenses are paid by the employers. Between jobs, unemployment benefits keep one afloat; and NHS takes care of medical expenses--which you'd not get in Thailand.

Now, it happened that you found yourself a stable wife and family in Thailand and THAT's why you're happy. Yet a fairly recent survey says that 78% of UK men are "very happy" in their current marriages. (Shocking, I know.)

http://www.acop.com/...arried_couples/

My point is that it is quite possible to happy w/ marriage and a family in the UK and in fact large numbers are. Moreover, complaints about unhappy marriages and relationships in Thailand are constant here on the forum.

You only lived in three places in England but were happy in two of them. The fact that you found one place where you were not happy is no reason to condemn the entire country and imply that Thailand offers all of what England doesn't. Again, complaints of non-acceptance and discrimination against farangs abound on this site. It's a constant theme!

Hence you're still wearing those rose-tinted glasses.

And so the issue seems to boil down not to Thailand vs. the UK, as you claim, but rather you, your particular attitudes, and your luck. Unspoken is the question of payments, direct or indirect, to your Thai family to, uh, "facilitate" the overall happiness, the "connection." We'll assume, by contrast, you were not paying your UK wife--until the divorce. Farangs commonly pay in divorce settlements here as well--in addition to all the payments during the marriage/relationship. I'm excluding the many farangs being supported by their highly educated wealthy Chinese Thai wives of course.

Sorry, a misunderstanding, I meant I did have a mortgage in England and of course do not have one in Thailand.

As for maintenance, I paid it.

More details are private..

I am a primary school teacher, was in the UK am still in Thailand, that means I work in international schools. Not to be confused with Language Instructors.International schools offer short term contracts, enabling movement.

A contract with an education authority in England expires on retirement. It becomes difficult to change schools as the higher up the scale you are the less marketable you are.

Enough personal details.

Farangs commonly pay in divorce settlements here as well

Really? Just to be nice guys, or were they tricked into thinking they had to?

I am intrigued at the OP's repeated contention that changing jobs as soon as one is bored or dissatisfied is quicker and easier for a foreigner in LOS than it is back where they come from. Is there a unique occupation for foreigners legally working in Thailand that is blessed thus?

I would like an answer to this as well.

Farangs commonly pay in divorce settlements here as well

Really? Just to be nice guys, or were they tricked into thinking they had to?

I am intrigued at the OP's repeated contention that changing jobs as soon as one is bored or dissatisfied is quicker and easier for a foreigner in LOS than it is back where they come from. Is there a unique occupation for foreigners legally working in Thailand that is blessed thus?

I would like an answer to this as well.

Short answer above, in my previous post.

Slightly more detailed one , I have worked as a consultant for re educating Thai teachers..The teacher training gave me great flexibility as I was not confined to one school and a fixed daily programme.

More details are not for a site like this.

My mistake in my OP was I was musing and forgot the medium I was writing down my thoughts on. On a one to one conversation these mis understandings would not have arisen.

I was just expressing my thoughts, not opening myself up for an attack and character assassination.

My main point was that life in Bangkok has been good for me.

I am intrigued at the OP's repeated contention that changing jobs as soon as one is bored or dissatisfied is quicker and easier for a foreigner in LOS than it is back where they come from. Is there a unique occupation for foreigners legally working in Thailand that is blessed thus?

That would be us - fraudsters and knaves.

SC

Ahh... I didn't quite make knave status but I do have an O-level in Ne'er-do-well.

Farangs commonly pay in divorce settlements here as well

Really? Just to be nice guys, or were they tricked into thinking they had to?

I am intrigued at the OP's repeated contention that changing jobs as soon as one is bored or dissatisfied is quicker and easier for a foreigner in LOS than it is back where they come from. Is there a unique occupation for foreigners legally working in Thailand that is blessed thus?

I would like an answer to this as well.

Short answer above, in my previous post.

Slightly more detailed one , I have worked as a consultant for re educating Thai teachers..The teacher training gave me great flexibility as I was not confined to one school and a fixed daily programme.

More details are not for a site like this.

My mistake in my OP was I was musing and forgot the medium I was writing down my thoughts on. On a one to one conversation these mis understandings would not have arisen.

I was just expressing my thoughts, not opening myself up for an attack and character assassination.

My main point was that life in Bangkok has been good for me.

Oh... just another teacher. I see. Sorry.

amazing how many divorced western men suddenly gain an interest in temples and Buddhism.

And why not ?

Oh... just another teacher. I see. Sorry.

Why apologise?

There is nothing special about being a teacher; nothing special about any profession, millions of people in all of all of them.

Do you have a problem?

What are you a just another ..

It is of no particular interest to me, but perhaps you would like to share with others here who are interested in such things.

Edited April 29, 201214 yr by buhi