Do You Know Any Nice Thai People In Auckland Nz?

[NiceFarang]

Hi.

Our family including Thai wife and our young children are moving to Auckland in NZ near Albany.

We would like to be introduced to some Thai people in Auckland.

Preferably university educated but not obligatory provided they are nice bright people.

If anyone knows anyone it would be great to at least get an email so we could say hello.

Also any other info on 'Thai' in Auckland area would be welcome

Thanks

[steveromagnino]

Hi.

Our family including Thai wife and our young children are moving to Auckland in NZ near Albany.

We would like to be introduced to some Thai people in Auckland.

Preferably university educated but not obligatory provided they are nice bright people.

If anyone knows anyone it would be great to at least get an email so we could say hello.

Also any other info on 'Thai' in Auckland area would be welcome

Thanks

There are plenty of nice Thais there as well, there are also a bunch of scum, most of whom are women and the both Thai and non Thai guys hanging around that set.

I would strongly recommend checking out:

- Thai temple in west Auckland

- meet some of the people in the higher end restaurants e.g. Thai House, Tusk

- Go to annual Songkran celebration

- offer assistance as homestay for student studying at Massey perhaps.

- eat where Thai people actually eat - Food Alley, etc (i.e. not fancy Thai restaurants!)

If your children are 1/2 Thai, then I strongly recommend that you get them learning Thai/continue learning Thai. The temple has an associated Ajarn (who if I am not mistaken is actually a Kiwi guy with close on perfect Thai speaking;-0) who can do that. Also, once you hook into the Thai community at places like Food Alley and the other food court in Queen St, you'll find that you can get all Thai TV on video as well. It is a lot easier now than 30 years ago.

For the most part, without knowing you or your wife, you'll find uni students tend to stick to their own age group. Given that a few of the Thai students graduating from NZ include the son of the PM, some of the CP family kids, Purachai's family, etc; they have the money and no real requirement to live life much differently to how they do here; you probably wouldn't be mixing with kids of that age here either so it isn't that different in NZ. I think you'll find the middle aged group who have moved to NZ with their kids/for their kids education to be the more interesting ones to talk to.

Be careful about getting sucked into hanging out with the Thai wife/white husband groups just because they are Thai/western relationship; it probably isn't enough to maintain a friendship and you may end up putting your wife in a awkward position given the nature of 90% of these types of relationship (put very euphamistically) given that presumably she isn't from the same background.

Apologies if any of this is insulting to anyone; but this is kind of how I see it.

Get your kids into a decent school as well; makes a big difference. e.g. Kings, Auckland Grammar, St Cuths, etc.

Hope this helps somehow :-)

[NiceFarang]

Thanks stevero for such an informative and interesting reply. We really appreciate it and I understand where you are coming from with your warnings etc.

I certainly expect we have no interest in the Thai 'society' rich types as there morals and outlook on life would generally be awful to us. Also the type who had worked in the naughty industry in Thailand would normally not be the type we would mix with (but I am not demeaning those people)- we just would not have anything in common with them.

When I say university educated I generally mean went to uni in Thailand and had a decent education.

[steveromagnino]

I certainly expect we have no interest in the Thai 'society' rich types as there morals and outlook on life would generally be awful to us.

When I say university educated I generally mean went to uni in Thailand and had a decent education.

True words, although don't assume that just because someone is rich, that they don't have morals; Purachai for instance is great and will perhaps one day be a privvy councillor; however I just don't think you'll have the chance to mix much with him or his family. I think you might be surprised how many of the families worth respecting here have a history linking back to NZ; it is a pretty popular place for retirement/second home/education these days, and with the economy dropping there and the dollar slumping, I think you'll find more and more investment going down that way.

As I said, I think you'll find the temple to be the best place to start. My mother has a lot of Thai friends from the Takapuna Flea mArket on a sunday as well; but not sure how many of these are genuine friends and how many are just people she says hi to.

[kiakaha]

Hi.

Our family including Thai wife and our young children are moving to Auckland in NZ near Albany.

We would like to be introduced to some Thai people in Auckland.

Preferably university educated but not obligatory provided they are nice bright people.

If anyone knows anyone it would be great to at least get an email so we could say hello.

Also any other info on 'Thai' in Auckland area would be welcome

Thanks

There are plenty of nice Thais there as well, there are also a bunch of scum, most of whom are women and the both Thai and non Thai guys hanging around that set.

I would strongly recommend checking out:

- Thai temple in west Auckland

- meet some of the people in the higher end restaurants e.g. Thai House, Tusk

- Go to annual Songkran celebration

- offer assistance as homestay for student studying at Massey perhaps.

- eat where Thai people actually eat - Food Alley, etc (i.e. not fancy Thai restaurants!)

If your children are 1/2 Thai, then I strongly recommend that you get them learning Thai/continue learning Thai. The temple has an associated Ajarn (who if I am not mistaken is actually a Kiwi guy with close on perfect Thai speaking;-0) who can do that. Also, once you hook into the Thai community at places like Food Alley and the other food court in Queen St, you'll find that you can get all Thai TV on video as well. It is a lot easier now than 30 years ago.

For the most part, without knowing you or your wife, you'll find uni students tend to stick to their own age group. Given that a few of the Thai students graduating from NZ include the son of the PM, some of the CP family kids, Purachai's family, etc; they have the money and no real requirement to live life much differently to how they do here; you probably wouldn't be mixing with kids of that age here either so it isn't that different in NZ. I think you'll find the middle aged group who have moved to NZ with their kids/for their kids education to be the more interesting ones to talk to.

Be careful about getting sucked into hanging out with the Thai wife/white husband groups just because they are Thai/western relationship; it probably isn't enough to maintain a friendship and you may end up putting your wife in a awkward position given the nature of 90% of these types of relationship (put very euphamistically) given that presumably she isn't from the same background.

Apologies if any of this is insulting to anyone; but this is kind of how I see it.

Get your kids into a decent school as well; makes a big difference. e.g. Kings, Auckland Grammar, St Cuths, etc.

Hope this helps somehow :-)

Auckland really is a huge melting pot of the different types of thais...good, bad, poor, very rich, educated, not educated, smart, stupid, westernized, still very thai etc....... I wont offer my opinion/observations cos I'd be typing for hours.

Instead here is some simple objective information :

You can get thai tv on satellite, it will cost you about $600 NZD for a basic setup.

There is a thai magazine, fortnightly, it is a bit trashy(i read thai), and online resources are better, but it can give you a hook into the "community".

Lots of thai restaurants and foodstalls,too many to really comment on.

Dineout.co.nz is a good resource.

I doubt you'd get into a private and very expensive school like Kings without being in the "old boy network". Public Schools (auckland boys, auckland girls) are of a very good standard anyway, but you'll have to live in the correct zone.

There is now only 1 thai bar/karaoke/pub on Stanley St, Parnell. Used to be 2, but the other one closed.

Avondale markets are good for fresh thai ingredients as is the Thai supermarket in Mt. Albert.

The "Wat" in Sabulite Rd, Kelston is worth a visit, if anything to do "reconnosaince missions" on the thai community.Spot the ex-soldier.haha.

Thai Airways are on Customs St, you can get your discounted airfares back to LOS from here.

The Thai Consulate in Auckland is on Shortland St. The embassy is in Wellington. Googleable.

But, IMHO, the less thai related stuff you do, the better,helps accelerate the integration into your new habitat So do a bunch of "kiwi" things ..go to the rugby, have a barbie, mow the lawns, eat marmite and chip sandwhiches and wash it down with L&P, take in some Maori culture, go on a bunch of road trips around the country and eat fish and chips in the back seat, go to the beach, enjoy the fresh air.

Bye.

[NiceFarang]

To KIAKAHA

'You say Thai Airways are on Customs St, you can get your discounted airfares back to LOS from here.,

CAN YOU GIVE US ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISCOUNTED AIRFARES (i presume for thai passport holders). I emailed to Thai airways in NZ 2 times and no sirprise- got no replies.

But, IMHO, the less thai related stuff you do, the better,helps accelerate the integration into your new habitat

ABSOLUTELY. WE ARE NEW PERMANENT RESIDENTS AND BOUGHT KIWI & ALL BLACK SHIRTS FROM LAST XMAS! INTEGRATION IS ABSOUTLEY NECESSAY AND MY WIFES ENGLISH IS EXCELLENT ALTHOUGH CAN STILL DO WITH IMPROVEMENT. WE WERE IN UK AND WE MIXED WITH ALL BUT SHE HAD SOME SUPER THAI FRIENDS WHICH MAYBE DID INTERFERE WITH HER 'ENGLISHNESS' AS THEY WERE HER REAL FRIENDS ETC. WE HAVE SPOKEN ABOUT MAYBE IT IS BETTER FOR HER NOT TO MAKE THAI FRIENDS FOR A WHILE SO SHE WILL HOPEFULLY DEVELOP MORE WITH THE KIWIS AND OTHERS. I EXPECT WHEN GOING TO KINDERGARTEN (our kids are very young) she will meet up with lots of other mums and make some local friends etc.. I just know it would be nice for her to have one or 2 nice Thai friends eventually.

[kiakaha]

To KIAKAHA

'You say Thai Airways are on Customs St, you can get your discounted airfares back to LOS from here.,

CAN YOU GIVE US ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISCOUNTED AIRFARES (i presume for thai passport holders). I emailed to Thai airways in NZ 2 times and no sirprise- got no replies.

But, IMHO, the less thai related stuff you do, the better,helps accelerate the integration into your new habitat

ABSOLUTELY. WE ARE NEW PERMANENT RESIDENTS AND BOUGHT KIWI & ALL BLACK SHIRTS FROM LAST XMAS! INTEGRATION IS ABSOUTLEY NECESSAY AND MY WIFES ENGLISH IS EXCELLENT ALTHOUGH CAN STILL DO WITH IMPROVEMENT. WE WERE IN UK AND WE MIXED WITH ALL BUT SHE HAD SOME SUPER THAI FRIENDS WHICH MAYBE DID INTERFERE WITH HER 'ENGLISHNESS' AS THEY WERE HER REAL FRIENDS ETC. WE HAVE SPOKEN ABOUT MAYBE IT IS BETTER FOR HER NOT TO MAKE THAI FRIENDS FOR A WHILE SO SHE WILL HOPEFULLY DEVELOP MORE WITH THE KIWIS AND OTHERS. I EXPECT WHEN GOING TO KINDERGARTEN (our kids are very young) she will meet up with lots of other mums and make some local friends etc.. I just know it would be nice for her to have one or 2 nice Thai friends eventually.

Thai citizens qualify for a discount when travelling in economy class.No subsidy for business and first class. Tickets must be paid for at the Thai airways office in Auckland.

I dont know what the exact rule is regarding non-thais getting the discount. I have only gotten the discount once myself, because usually my company pays my return business class fares.

I think the rule is if you are legally married to a thai and travelling together, you may get the discount aswell. We were only asked for our marriage cert when buying the tickets (ie: i didn't have to prove my citizenship or immigration status with regards to thailand)