Peter4's VirtualTourist Home Page

Living in Bangkok, everyday is fascinating. If you've only passed thru as a tourist, you may find this city overwhelming: noise, crowding, pollution. You might wonder why any sane man would choose to live here.

I've lived in a score of cities, in five countries, on four continents: Sydney, Rio, Vancouver, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and others. For a retired man, Bangkok is, by far, the best city I can imagine. Reasons are many. Here are a few:

1. High quality rentals available at modest prices (but not cheap).
2. Magnificent food, also at modest prices.
3. Boundless respect and politeness from Thai people.
4. Endless variety of entertainment: from concerts and lectures to go-go bars and second-hand bookshops.
5. Everything you'd want "from home" from familiar foods to Western-size clothing.
6. Reliable and low-cost computer access: land-line or wireless.
7. Plentiful gyms and swimming pools - with reasonable membership rates.
8. A variety of other expats: middle-age men from Australia-New Zealand, UK, America, Canada, Europe and Scandinavia.
9. Countless opportunities to meet delightful Thai women.
10. Live far away from certain sour attitudes towards men that have become common in Western countries in recent years.

Put the total package together, and you may never want to leave. I certainly don't.

But it's not just enough to land in Bangkok and expect all the delights served on a platter. It just doesn't work that way here. As in the rest of Asia, the most attractive elements are hidden behind screens and mirrors. What you see on the outside is not what is available on the inside. And that works two ways.

On the surface Bangkok is dirty, crowded, polluted, noisy, and, well, there's no way around it: most of Bangkok is ugly. Ah, but once you find the hidden gems, then Bangkok opens its arms to welcome you, and beckons from behind the screens. That's the Bangkok I'll attempt to hint at here.

There are many other web pages here on the Virtual Tourist site, and on many other web sites, that refer you to the main tourist attractions and the popular areas of the city. I won't cover that same ground. Instead I'll offer glimpses of what it's like to live here, or to stay long-term; a few months or more. If that is your focus, and you have a question about something in particular, I invite you to contact me. Your questions may suggest a new topic for my travel page here.

Here are a few thoughts about living in Bangkok. My focus is the man who is of an age and stage in life where he might consider living in Thailand for "the duration". I've lived in five countries on four continents. Bangkok is, far and away, the best so far.

Service in restaurants, shops, trains, etc. is respectful and eager, especially to middle-aged men. Are you getting respectful service in your home country? Here you'll get it every day.

You can get virtually anything here that you got "back home". The size may be different, or the brand, but you'll get almost exactly what you want: Apple pie and ice cream. Vegemite. Oreo cookies. Branson's pickle. Peanut butter & jelly. Bacon & eggs. Popcorn (microwave or regular). Valveeta cheese. Lamb chops. Mint sauce. Crumpets. Bangers. Fresh bratwurst. Lingonberries. Herring in mustard sauce. It's all here, and more.

Internet service is quick and cheap throughout Bangkok. Many hotels and serviced apartments have high speed lines to every room.

There are many bookstores here, with used and new books in English. If you like to read, you need never be without a good book.

There is no end to quality entertainment. If you like symphony, it's here. If you prefer jazz, that's here, too. There are music festivals and film festivals, food festivals and craft festivals, art shows and exhibitions in uncountable variety.

If you like to eat, oh, my! Within a 10 minute subway ride from my location we have Italian, Japanese, German, Swiss, East-Indian, French, Vietnamese, Chinese, pizza, American, American BBQ, Mexican, Swedish, Danish, more Italian, vegetarian Italian, Australian, Irish pub, British pub, more Japanese, fish & chips, steak house, more British pubs, buffets of all kinds, and on and on. Oh, yes, and countless Thai restaurants, too. That's just one neighborhood. There is also home delivery with Food-By-Phone, The Pizza Company, McDonalds, Burger King, and lots of others. If too lazy to go out, my building offers room service for everything from cheeseburgers with french fries and a Coke, to grilled lamb chops with mint sauce plus Ceasar salad and dessert of home-made apple strudel with vanilla creme sauce. Room service available 24 hours.

The serviced apartments are great. Everything is provided: phone, TV, sheets and towels, plates, cups and glassware, writing paper and envelopes. In some cases a DVD player, microwave, toothbrushes, bathrobes and slippers. In my building, the maid comes in every day to bring fresh towels, wash the dishes, make the bed, empty the trash, mop the wood and marble floors, bring drinking water (unlimited and free) and generally make my life easy. She would even take my laundry, but I prefer to patronize a little, family-run laundry around the corner. If a lamp bulb burns out, the maid picks up the phone and calls the service desk. Within 15 minutes, a man arrives to put in a new replacement.

There are plenty of shops around here with a decent selection of men's clothes and shoes. Department stores have laid on Western sizes. The selection is not all you'll find back home, of course, but in the tropics, how much do you really need in the way of clothes?

In Bangkok you certainly won't need a car. No insurance, no oil changes, no snow tyres/tires: none of that. Just wave your hand and a taxi will stop. 35-100 baht just about anywhere you want to go.

A smart expat will pay a bit more to live close to a skytrain or subway station in Bangkok. Quick, cheap (to us), and air-conditioned. I rarely go anywhere in Bangkok that is not close to either a skytrain or subway stop.

In Thailand, people leave you alone. "Back there" I felt I had to watch every word, every motion - somebody might be offended at whatever I said or did. Why? Simply because I'm a middle-age white man who is educated and modestly prosperous. Those simple facts offend certain people. Here, there's none of that. In Thailand, people welcome normal men; not hate, despise, or ridicule them as so often was the case back home.

In Bangkok there's air pollution. In Chicago, Manchester, Montreal, Los Angeles and Melbourne there's air pollution, too. I don't like it, but I'll take the whole package here, rather than endure "back there".
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