What do you miss most from your home country when you live in Thailand as an expatriate or are on holiday here as a tourist?
There are of course advantages as well as disadvantages of living in Thailand when you are used to the conveniences of your home country.
I am happy that I relocated to Thailand myself, but there are definitely some things I miss from Denmark.
Here are some things that you may want to consider when thinking about relocating to The Land Of Smiles.
Family and Friends:
In my home country of Denmark I was used to hang out with friends every weekend and with my family quite often during the week.So it is somewhat of a change to only see my family maybe once a year when I visit Denmark or my family go for vacation in Thailand. Now I am used to emailing or SMS my friends and family and say “Happy birthday” or “Have a nice party”…and sometimes I feel a bit sad that I cannot participate.
But then again, that is life if you want to live in Thailand. And it is way more easy today with the internet and video phones than it was a decade ago…so I am not complaining.
Meaningful conversations:
Since I moved to Thailand with a language that I cannot speak and nor read, then there are limits to the conversations that I can have with the Thai nationals with limited English skills.
There are no probs ordering food at restaurants or visiting the post office and other common things.
But hey…discussing anything more in-depth is something that I can only do in English and Danish so that sets a limit on who I can discuss with.
I am unfortunately not able to learn Thai so I have to live with the limitation,but for you who has got the ability to learn, it will open a totally new world for you! So my advise is: Go ahead! Learn Thai!
Favorite foods:
I love spicy Thai food. But it has not always been the fact.
Actually when I relocated to Thailand back in 1998 I didn’t really enjoy the spicy food. In fact after 2 weeks eating rice and chilli and curry I got fed up and didn’t touch Thai food for 2 years!
But slowly I felt in love with it and today I find it is the world’s best food.
But as a Dane I do miss some of my favorite dishes from the Danish national kitchen. Luckily there are many Danish restaurants in Thailand, but even then it is hard to find a good Danish meal.
However after 15 years here I know where to go for most of the dishes I miss.
But for other nationalities it can be something of a task if you are say Belgian or Turkish…
The smooth traffic:
We all know it!
Traffic conditions in Thailand are terrible!
Especially if you come from a country with right drive like I do!
Driving in the “wrong side of the road” is one thing…but doing it while the other drivers are driving like crazy is a total different thing!
So yes, I do miss the Danish traffic and the Danish mental state of traffic safety.
Sometimes I even wonder if the Thais do even know what traffic safety means?!
I have never in my life seen so many accidents and deaths on the roads like here in Thailand. Just take the 7 days of Songkran festive where some 300 people are killed on the roads every year!
I always suggest visitors to never rent a motorbike. It is simply too dangerous!
Better rent a car, coz in the event of an accident, you are more safe than on a motorbike.
And before you place yourself behind the wheel, just remember that 50% of all Thai drivers do not have a driving license and the other 50% are underaged and don’t know the traffic rules… (He he…)
Automated payments:
Setting up your monthly bills to be paid automatically via your bank or online banking in your home country is easily done.
However it isn’t common here in Thailand. Here you must pay yourself by visiting the bank or 7 Eleven where you can pay by credit card or cash or money transfer.
However Thailand do have home banking but still need to set up the automatically bill payments.
In this connection Thailand is still a 3rd world destination.
The Four Seasons:
I guess many expatriates living in Thailand chose this destination because of the sunny and warm weather.
I did that myself.
And I did not consider the rainy season a problem and I still do not, because I am from Denmark where it mostly rain every summer. But what I did not take into consideration was that I would actually miss The Four Seasons a bit. Especially the Spring and the Autumn.
And to my own surprise (I hate cold winters!) over the years I realized that now and again I do miss the cold and the snow during the winter season here in Thailand.
(But only until I visit Denmark during Christmas, then I am set for the next few years!)
I think these are the most common things Thailand longterm expats miss from their home countries.