Discover the vibrant Thailand culture and traditions. Learn about festivals, customs, and more in this comprehensive guide to Thai heritage. Every year, many people move to Thailand to live here for the rest of their lives. For some it’s possible and some find it difficult. I’ve shared a few tips and lessons below to decide whether it is a good place for someone to set up a home here.
Climate: Thailand’s climate is known to be tropical. Summer and rainy seasons are two major seasons one can find in Thailand. Summer is from March to May and Rainy is from June till October. Rainfall is quite heavy during rainy seasons in most parts of Thailand. Winter is not a longer season in Thailand and remains only for a few days during November and December. However, if you go to the northern part (Chiang Mai), the winter can be felt as it’s a bit colder in the northern part.
The average temperature in Thailand is between 18 degrees to 38-39-40 degrees. This is an acceptable temperature to live here though looking at climatic conditions in other Southeast Asian or APAC countries.
It’s usually hot in the daytime but it’s normal in most parts of Thailand. By evening the atmosphere becomes cool.
Language: Thai language is spoken in Thailand. Thai is a little difficult because it is a tone-based language. There are 5 tones that are used for various and similar words to generate meaning. Little bit of practicing as well as following will be required to master this language. If you have a girlfriend in Thailand, it becomes easy to learn most parts of the language but anyways there are Thai language schools that teach Thai language. Language may be an obstacle for a foreigner to lead a day-to-day life as most of the shopkeepers do not speak any other language than Thai.
Accommodation: World class infrastructure has made it possible to provide comfortable accommodation. Condominiums (known/spoken as Condo) are the best option for foreigners to live in Thailand. Apart from that one can rent apartments at cheaper cost which are normally rented by Thai people. Apartments are mostly not high rise and don’t have many facilities whereas Condos are mostly high rise with all facilities like a swimming pool, gym, restaurant, and convenience store (seven 11 7/11, 7 11, Lawson etc.). The third option to live is houses but foreigners mostly don’t opt for it as Thai people don’t rent houses to foreigners until and unless you are accompanied with a Thai person (female/ lady/ girlfriend especially).
Cost of Living: Cost of living in Thailand is low as long as you get habituated to local practices. If you are in Bangkok, use BTS/ MRT for transportation most of the time. If you love Thailand food, that will cut the cost of food and another option to save money is self-cooking of course. If you can party in local bars instead of clubs and pubs that will definitely save you a lot of money. If you are in Bangkok, take a bus instead of a taxi and you will save at least 1500 THB each trip. If you like to shop brands in shopping malls, then it will burn your pocket rather go to Kauchak and you can save a lot of money. Few practices and habits may save you a lot of money and make life easy in Thailand. The link below will give you a fair idea about how much you may need in Thailand to lead the same kind of lifestyle that you had in your country.
Culture: Thai culture is a calm and sober culture hence no one will ever get hurt by the culture. It is guaranteed. As a foreigner, you will love the culture and must respect it when you are in Thailand. It’s the same thing that everyone follows in other countries. Sometimes you may feel people mix their personal convenience with the culture to take advantage. It is advised to learn and understand the culture if you are planning to live here for a long time.
Employment & Business: If you are doing a job here in Thailand, it is well and good but as an employee you have very limited options if you are getting lower salary. If you are making a bigger salary that may be more than 150k/ month then you can lead a good life. As a foreigner, if you decide to do a business, it’s going to be tough. Though it is said and explained as easy to do business, actually it depends on the kind of money you are going to invest here. So ultimately it is not easy for a foreigner to start a business with low investment. In fact a low investment is going to add many other expenses as you go through the process of forming a company. language translation fee, yearly accounting fee, quarterly renewal of company certificate etc. are additional expenses. Moreover, you need to hire a local Thai speaking professional to take care of all the above tasks who will be charging you additional. There are of course few more hidden additional charges/ fees/ payables.
Own Asset: There are ways that help people to live here permanently enjoying all the features that a citizen gets. As a foreigner you have limited choices to own assets like buying land or buying a house etc. However, recently the government allowed wealthy foreigners to buy land (only residential) in limited areas.
