Upshifting for a programmer in Thailand
Judging by the comments, the article “Downshifting for a programmer? Cambodia, the experience of survival and the experience of life " caused the interest of the Habrasoobschestva and wanted to share their experiences.
Probably, to many, the act of “quitting everything and leaving to live in Southeast Asia” seems reckless and even dangerous. Among us, IT people, there are many solid people, pedantic to trifles and willing to calculate every step, every trifle, know all the risks, plan every detail of their lives. I am also such a person, I would even say that I “sin” by this much higher than average. Even before I left for Tai, all this caused me to have a subconscious fear: quitting a good job, leaving family, friends and leaving without a return ticket. This went beyond my state of comfort and was multiplied by a lack of understanding of close relatives. However, the whole idea turned out to be absolutely not terrible, as I had initially imagined, and for almost a year now my wife and I have been living comfortably in Tae. I want to write about various aspects of life here, understanding of which could help you get rid of such fears.
In recent months, citizens of the Russian Federation have attended to questions of legal stay in Tae, since the immigration authorities began to tighten the screws in the visa-wounds. For us, citizens of Belarus, absolutely nothing has changed - we have no opportunity to enter the Thai stamp. At the same time, from my point of view, the vizarans were, are and will remain an occupation extremely dubious in terms of material gains.
')
The visa issue is solved very simply with money. In order to enter the country, you need to make a double or triple visa in advance. In Minsk there is an office that makes such visas in Stockholm without personal submission and any documents other than a passport. A double-entry visa gives the right to stay in Thailand for up to 6 months from the date of its issuance. At the first entrance you can stay for 2 months, then for $ 60 per person you can extend for another month. Then you need to leave and re-enter - the second type of visa will begin and again you can be in the country for 2 months + 1 extend. Accordingly, a triple visa gives you the opportunity to live in Taya for almost 9 months, although you will have to leave the country 2 times, but this can be combined with tourist purposes.
This visa is ideal for hibernators, but for a longer stay you need something more reliable. This can be obtained at a language school by enrolling in a Thai, English or other language course, or even a Thai boxing course. The cost per person may be different, depending on how much you want to reduce the cost of your time:
- Training costs 500 $ -800 $.
- You can spend about $ 200-300 for going to Laos to get such a visa. In fact, previously there was an opportunity for $ 500 more to get this visa on the spot, but now with the change of power, this opportunity seems to have hidden behind. We still had time to use it in March.
- By default, the visa is given for 3 months and it must be renewed every 3 months at a local immigrant (in my opinion, it costs $ 60). But in our school we had the opportunity to pay $ 400 from the nose and extend it for 12 months immediately, without the need for further visits to the immigrant.
In total, we used the maximum package of services, did not go anywhere for a visa, made an extension for 12 months and paid $ 3 for two. Considering that this makes it possible to stay in Tae for 15 months (3 months at once + 12 months renewal), as well as to leave and enter any number of times, a person received $ 100 per month. Which is almost comparable to the cash costs of the permanent vizarany from the Russians.
As for learning, we chose Thai and walk 2 times a week for 2 hours. I chose a short course, it lasts six months and cost $ 500. The wife chose the full course, it lasts a year and cost $ 800. As you can see, if you wish, you could save some more. Classes are not stressful, it is even interesting to talk with a motley audience from around the world.
We decided not to risk Belarusian insurance due to their complete meaninglessness. Russians, as far as I heard, love to use the Accord, which has good coverage in terms of active sports and motorbikes. But I also heard that, more recently, Consent changed the coverage from International SOS to something else and the quality of the service went down. In addition, it seems like they have banned remote renewal. In general, on this issue I can hardly say for sure - but I think that if not already, then the Russians will soon face the same problem of choosing insurance as the Belarusians.
What can happen in Thailand? The most frequent problems are:
1) Fall from a motorbike
2) Dengue fever (in Cambodia, add here also malaria, which is much worse, which in Thailand is only in regions close to Cambodia)
3) Urgent surgery - such as appendicitis, but this is not directly related to Thailand
Practically no insurance will insure against problems 1 and 2, or it will insure very limitedly. Therefore, we decided to take the local (international) insurance BUPA. BUPA has about 6 plans, different in cost, which differ in the range of services and amounts of insurance compensation. We, trying to foresee everything, took the most expensive plan, which even provides for evacuation by helicopter from anywhere in Thailand, since plans had a lot to drive. But as we already understood, it was not worth overpaying for it.
Total for insurance, we pay about $ 110 a month for two. The contract is for a year, payment in equal shares every month - they just withdraw this money from your account in a Thai bank (more on that later). What this gives in general - 2 personal plastic type cards with which we can turn to any of even the most expensive hospital in Thailand and must be given all the necessary help. Next, the hospital understands the insurance itself, we do not need any letters of guarantee or confirmation from the insurance. I did not have to contact me and I hope it will not be necessary By the way, insurance has coverage worldwide.
As for medicine in Thailand, different people characterize it differently, but I think there is no point in reckoning with the opinion of the packagers from whom they are trying to tear off as much as possible. With more in every major resort city there are several hospitals, from cheap local to expensive Bangkok Hospital. In the city where we live there are 3 large hospitals: Hua Hin Hospital - state. clinic, the cheapest, all Thais go there; San Paulo Hospital - private and average for the price and standard Bangkok Hospital Hua Hin - a space five-star hospital with the same space prices; as well as a small number of private practices, such as ENT, dentist, and so on.
As a rule, a fall from a motorbike ends with bruises and abrasions, perhaps even extensive. With such a problem, you can contact the state. a clinic where first-aid patients will be provided for inexpensively, wounds will be treated and any injection of tetanus will be given.
Dengue fever is something like our flu epidemic every year, most common in the rainy season (summer and autumn), but you can get sick in the winter. Fever is carried by mosquitoes, or rather by their special species, which are very well distinguished by whites, I would even say, as if by luminous spots, on the paws and the body. We saw them in one of the campaigns in the jungle, as it seemed to me they are larger than ordinary mosquitoes and white spots stand out very well on them. Such mosquitoes are bred in stagnant water and are usually wielding in the daytime around 20 meters from the place of their withdrawal. To protect yourself in campaigns, you need to wear clothes covering the body and use repellent with the active component DEET in the composition. If you live in a house, then you need to ensure that rainwater does not accumulate on your site (pots, any containers in the street). As for natural reservoirs, I am not sure that there is a risk, since There are villages of houses where canals are laid right in the village. It is unlikely that mosquitoes are infested there - most likely a fish lives in the canals that feeds on mosquito larvae.
If you get dengue, then the likelihood of complications is low. We did not get sick, but our friends on Samui got sick. Sick hard, more than a week. Hospitalization may be necessary in case of severe disease, when the level of platelets in the blood decreases and there is a risk of hemorrhage. There is no vaccine yet, but there is hope that it will appear in the coming years. In general, it seems to me that in our society, people perceive tropical fevers as something almost deadly. The media publish horror stories as tourists fell ill in Thailand or somewhere nearby and then came and treated for a long time. In fact, dengue fever is very common in this region and local doctors know everything about it. Severe dengue fever is sick exclusively locals due to periodic re-infection. Compared with the flu, the death rate from dengue specifically in Thailand is lower. In order not to be afraid, you can read this article .
We have not encountered any other health problems or risks. The serpent was not seen alive, only on the roads in a crushed form. Any scary insects too. It should be understood that the farther you are from the city, the higher the risk of meeting different animals, including snakes. By the way, the number of deaths from snake bites in Thailand per year is measured in only dozens of lives.
The issue of housing varies considerably in different cities. With more you can select 4 types of housing:
1) Condo - an apartment in a high-rise building, usually furnished, as a rule, you can use the communal swimming pool and gym, which depends on the house itself, of course. A condo is ideal if you do not have pets. Prices vary greatly, but we can say that this is the best option by the price / quality criterion. If you compare with the same Minsk - the prices are much lower, the quality is much higher. Prices - say from $ 200 to $ 1000 and above for every taste and color. Pets are strictly prohibited, unless it is served as a feature of this condo. We spoke with the agent about this - hiding even a hamster is not an option. If someone sees from the tenants, 100% will learn and you will be asked to remove the animal or to go away.
2) Townhouse - as a rule 2-storey house with several two-level apartments, each has a separate entrance and common walls with other apartments of this house. Townhouse is the cheapest option, some can be with animals. Because of the cheapness, there are usually Thais living there, no sound insulation, and Thais love karaoke very much - so this is not a very good option for a long life.
3) Home - there is nothing special to write here. The house, the fence, can be a small or even a very large green area, your pool. As a rule, the price of the house includes maintenance of the pool and gardener. Houses can be both within the city and in the suburbs. Understandably, in the suburbs it is cheaper and you can count on your good territory, but less infrastructure around. Prices for homes from $ 200 to infinity.
4) House in a gated community (moo-ban) - these types of houses are most often found in Bangkok and Hua Hin. The village is usually fenced with a high fence, at the entrance of the barrier and round the clock security, video surveillance. There is a communal pool and gym. The price is slightly higher than a regular house. The settlement in the local understanding does not mean a separate settlement, it is just a fenced territory with its name and a group of houses in the same architectural style. The settlement can be located both within the city and in the open field.
Some nuances of rental housing:
- Usually requires a deposit in the amount of monthly rentals. The deposit is returned after eviction and checking the condition of the property. Also, if stipulated in the contract, then a certain amount is deducted from the security deposit for cleaning the house after departure.
- If you rent directly from the owner, and not through a real estate agency - be prepared that the deposit may not be returned. In this case, you should not leave the house just before leaving somewhere, but it is worth going for a week to some guesthouse. Then you can tell the owner that you are moving to another house / condo and he will not “be late” to bring you a deposit, and you will not be in a hurry on the plane.
- Having a house with a private pool is not very advisable, since as a rule such a pool is small, i.e. a splatter and you will not swim in it. But if there is a filtration system there, it will eat a lot of electricity.
- Rental prices in winter are higher than in summer. Often, when renting for a period of a year, you can achieve a significant discount. As a rule, a lucrative offer can be found in the spring, when all tourists / winterers disperse and an excess of supply appears on the market.
For many, Thailand is probably associated with a hot climate, stuffiness and other “delights” of tropical life. However, this is not quite true. The nuance is that after a while the body gets used to the high temperature and the climate is already beginning to feel quite differently. I myself endure the heat. When we arrived in November - it seemed unbearably hot. Air conditioning had to be turned on at night to even fall asleep. The rainy season was coming to an end, the “cold” season was beginning by Thai standards, naturally far from ours. When December came, it became a bit cooler. Toward the end of December, the temperature at night began to drop to 24-25 degrees and here we began to freeze. From the end of December, all of January and almost all of February, we didn’t use air conditioning even during the day. Despite the clear sky, the temperature in the daytime did not reach 30, at night we closed all the vents, otherwise it was cold to sleep. It must be said that in Hua Hin in December and January there is a season of strong wind, therefore it was specifically blowing into the vents. We forgot about the pool for almost 2 months because of the cold, as it seemed to us, water. About the sea almost too. True, the Thais say that this winter was abnormally cold for these places.
In February, it became a little warmer. From the middle of March, the temperature began to rise rapidly, and by the beginning of April it became hot. It was no longer possible to go out into the street, not a cloud in the sky every day. The water in the sea has become very hot, I would say in shallow water above 33 degrees. In the tropics darkens at about 6 all year round. In the spring, everything usually comes to life after 5 pm, markets open up, and more people are getting outside. The heat lasts throughout April and almost all of May. In mid-May, the weather begins to change. If before the clear sky from morning to evening, then from mid-May afternoon clouds appear. They close the sky closer to 4 pm, it may rain a little rain, which however does not bring coolness. By night, the clouds stretch.
Since June, there are more clouds, the heat gradually recedes, many places in Thailand begin the rainy season - but not in Hua Hin. There is some kind of enchanted place, probably due to the peculiarities of the landscape (from the west of the mountain, in the east the bay). You can often see a picture of black clouds gathering and lightning in the evening over the mountains or over the sea, but there is no rain in Hua Hin and a blue sky overhead. There are days when the sky tightens like in Minsk - gray and dark.
Further July, August, the beginning of autumn - we will not know what will happen next. But already felt the coolness in the air, it becomes comfortable to be on the street. The air conditioner set for 28 only works during the day, at night it turns on only occasionally. The active rainy season in Hua Hin is August and September.
What makes Thailand so good is the opportunity to travel a lot and safely. There are more than 100 national parks in the country, where there is a lot of interesting things. Actually, I had never traveled by car with the right wheel. It was scary. And then we ordered the car immediately from the airport, and I realized that we did very correctly. The road from the airport to Bangkok is the best road to learn from. 4 lanes, few cars. During this time, you can get a little familiar with the other controls. About switching the turn signals, forget at least up to 2000 knurled kilometers - all the same you will often turn on the windshield wipers on the machine. But in general, after 2 hours of unhurried driving along the highway, you already get used to it. On the first day in Tae, I drove 700 km behind the wheel, a week later - another 900.
The tracks in Thailand are organized in such a way that you practically will not have the opportunity to turn around and go on the counter. If you need to turn right through oncoming traffic, then as a rule you need to go further, turn around and returning to turn left, where you immediately go into your lane. There are places for a turn on the tracks almost every 5-10 km, for a turn, as a rule, a pocket is created on your lane and on oncoming traffic. Turns have one big minus - in the right lane (the fastest) there are often slow-moving trucks, lorries, etc., which go to the nearest U-turn. Because of this, often to advance it is necessary to rebuild in a slow lane.
The movement itself, especially in cities, I would call calm (although I did not go by the BPC itself). Thais are unhurried, this is caused by both the mentality and the presence of a huge number of bikes on the roads, which everyone is trying to miss and in general their attitude to bikes is completely different than ours. It is safe to say that every Thai is both a driver and a biker at the same time, because a bike is the most convenient form of transportation in cities. In general, with rare exceptions, they do not make sharp maneuvers and rebuilds, they do not interfere with each other. But they love to ride on the counter verge, including by car. You also need to be prepared that Thais can greatly reduce the speed up to a stop in the lane near the curb, move very slowly (20-30 km / h). Due to the large number of bikes and on the slopes, and in cities, the curb is wide, almost like 3/4 lanes - most of them are riding bikes.
Car rental itself does not carry any problems if you rent from large offices. For rental is better to use the rentalcars.com service. We came across a variety of offices and no one had any problems or nagging scratches. As a rule, your card is blocked by a $ 300 or $ 600 deposit, which is automatically unlocked anywhere from a week to a month - I don’t know what it depends on, but there were different terms. It is worth considering when renting a car, that part of your available money can be frozen for up to a month. And in no case do not require anywhere to leave any documents as a pledge. If someone asks for documents from you as a pledge, you may be diluted. The offices we used: Thai Rent a Car, Budget, AVIS. All offices include insurance with a deductible (called CDW or Collision Damage Waiver), where, if anything happens, you pay a small amount, the rest is paid by insurance. We did not encounter, so I will not say how it works. In large offices, you can take the car in one direction, take it in another city. It costs more, but sometimes there is no other option. On average, renting an inexpensive sedan on a machine for the weekend costs $ 70-100. I expected that in the off-season prices will go down, but it did not happen.
Infrastructure on the roads is very well developed. At many network gas stations there are convenience stores 7/11, cafes, coffee shops, shopping malls. The quality of the road surface is the better, the closer to Bangkok. Route number 4 from Bangkok to the south, the only road on which you can get to the south of Thailand, after Hua Hin, has obvious problems with the road surface. Traffic is intense even on weekends. Sometimes I get the impression that Thais work seven days a week, because on any day of the week there are a lot of trucks and trucks there.
Navigator (can be rented with the machine) may be needed in Bangkok, because there are not very obvious multi-level interchanges. For the rest, above the roof, there are enough Google maps.
What are the nat. parks? This is the area around some natural sights, or several, if the park is large. For example, a beautiful mountain range and several karst caves in Khao Sam Roi Yod Park, a coral reef in Hat Wanakon Park , several stepped waterfalls in Erawan Park, a lake in a karst rift in Khao Sok Park, etc. Each park has a so-called. headquaters, which usually have a small exhibition of photographs or exhibits from the park, informational posters, showers, toilets, rental houses, a cafe, a parking lot and a camping ground. In some large nat. Camping parks can be organized in several places, near popular attractions. The campsite always has toilets, showers and a cafe. Use your BBQ is not prohibited. It is also usually possible to rent for 5 dollars a tent, sleeping bags, mats and pillows. You can buy a tent and sleeping bags in any large Tesco - we did so, and we take pillows from the house. If someone thinks why sleeping in such a heat - wait. We were in April in the hottest season in a camping on the sea and at night we got into sleeping bags together. On weekends many people come to the parks with tents. Thais behave culturally, drunken screaming cattle like we do not.
Since November, we managed to visit only 7 (out of more than 100) nat. parks of Thailand. In some parks, I want to come again, in some parks there are so many interesting places, that in one weekend they don’t see them all, the waterfalls look different in different seasons.In general, I think, especially without repeating on weekends, you can ride and watch a whole year. True, the distances are great and now we have already come to the conclusion that we have already been to all the nearest national parks; we have to plan longer trips not for 2, but for 3 days.
If you think that you can eat only rice and seafood in Taya, or only macaws, then you are greatly mistaken. In tourist cities there are many cafes where delicious Australian beef steaks are prepared at a price 2 times cheaper than in Minsk. For example, in Hua Hin Market Village there is a restaurant Sizzler, in it you can choose a steak with a side dish from $ 8 and use the huge salad bar for free.
In large grocery stores have any products - milk, yogurt, cheese, a huge selection of meat, vegetables and fruits. I would like to say something special about raw meat - there is no such choice in Belarus and there are no such prices! There is even crocodile meat. It should also be borne in mind that Australia and New Zealand are close by, from where beef and good quality dairy products are brought. In some "premium" stores you can buy the same buckwheat, if someone loves.
Mobile communication is simple as a rake - at the airport you can buy a SIM card and use it, constantly replenishing in the near 7/11. There is no subscription fee, pay only for calls or for traffic. Fixed Internet is usually provided by the owner of the property, it can be either a general wifi or a dedicated channel. We have a dedicated 12 Mbps, we pay $ 20 for the Internet.
A foreigner can open an account in a Thai bank and link PayPal to it. There are no specific instructions for opening accounts by foreigners, therefore, in different banks and even in different branches of the same bank you may be allowed or not allowed to open an account. We used the Bangkok Bank and we opened 2 accounts the first time. To open an account, you just need to come with a passport, for an hour they will issue everything and give you a non-name card and some kind of book for records (I don’t know why). After a week or two, they will send you data for internet banking and after that you can link PayPal. We also need this account for insurance; a monthly installment is withdrawn from it every month.
It so happened that in Thailand, the military often come to power. In short, in Thailand there are 2 groups of elites: close to the King of Thailand and the clan Shinawatra. The population is madly in love with the king, but the king has become old and can no longer rule the country. When the Shinavat clan came to power, they began using populist methods to distribute loot to the poor to the right and left, which attracted to their side a large part of the simple peasant population in the country (which is the majority). This was also accompanied by an increase in corruption in the country. Everything would be fine until Chinavat did not encroach on the holy of holies of Thailand - the monarchy. He was overthrown by the military and sent into exile. After some time, elections were held in the country and the clan Chinavat in the person of his sister defeated them. She continued her brother’s populist policies,and in May, after a long street confrontation between the pro-royal opposition and Chinawatra, the military again took power and sent Chinavat to resign.
The essence of the problem lies in the fact that if we hold elections tomorrow, they will be won by ... someone from Chinawat. The military, like the opposition, does not want this. Because they believe that this will continue to split in Thai society. They want to carry out a clever reform of the electoral law, so that even if the majority of the population supports the clan Xinawatra, they cannot come to power again.
What happened in the country during the protests from November to May is absolutely nothing. Life went on as usual, only in the center of Bangkok, meetings were held and traffic was blocked.
What has changed in the country since the capture of power by the military is absolutely nothing. Life goes on as usual, only now in the center of Bangkok and nowhere else can one hold rallies. For the first time, a curfew was introduced from 10 pm to 5 am. This caused some inconvenience in the fact that round-the-clock stores were closed at night, and stores that usually worked until 10 began to close 2 hours earlier. Further, the curfew time was reduced. It was then canceled in a number of tourist cities and after throughout the country.
Now the country lives under the "military oppression," but the fact is that the majority of the population are even happy about this. First, the protests and escalation of tensions ended. Secondly, the military junta voiced initiatives to eradicate many of the long-standing problems of Thailand, which interfere with both tourists and local ones. Wait and see.
If you are tired of the gray days of Minsk / Moscow / another city and you want to change the situation, change your life into a more active and interesting channel - there is no better and more convenient country than Thailand. In fact, here you can come on a regular tour. a visa with a small capital in your pocket and without unnecessary complications settle down for a year, two or more. The only thing you should not believe in fairy tales about downshifting in Thailand. It is probably possible to live in Thailand for $ 500 a month - but I would not call it a comfortable and interesting life. You constantly have to limit yourself in opportunities, in comfort, on trips, in food.
Is it worth it?This is another question, and each has its own answer. But you can always live in your native country, in a year, in two, in ten, it will not go anywhere from you. And who knows, Thailand will be as comfortable and hospitable in a year, two, ten years.
Since the writing of the article, the situation with visas has noticeably deteriorated and now, apparently, it affects not only citizens of the Russian Federation, but all the rest. So far, there is no reliable official information about the new rules, or rather the old rules, but they will be applied in a new way. In short, today there is such information, but it can change, so if you plan to go to Thailand and stay there you need to follow the information, for example, on this resource: thaivisa.com
Probably, to many, the act of “quitting everything and leaving to live in Southeast Asia” seems reckless and even dangerous. Among us, IT people, there are many solid people, pedantic to trifles and willing to calculate every step, every trifle, know all the risks, plan every detail of their lives. I am also such a person, I would even say that I “sin” by this much higher than average. Even before I left for Tai, all this caused me to have a subconscious fear: quitting a good job, leaving family, friends and leaving without a return ticket. This went beyond my state of comfort and was multiplied by a lack of understanding of close relatives. However, the whole idea turned out to be absolutely not terrible, as I had initially imagined, and for almost a year now my wife and I have been living comfortably in Tae. I want to write about various aspects of life here, understanding of which could help you get rid of such fears.
Visas
In recent months, citizens of the Russian Federation have attended to questions of legal stay in Tae, since the immigration authorities began to tighten the screws in the visa-wounds. For us, citizens of Belarus, absolutely nothing has changed - we have no opportunity to enter the Thai stamp. At the same time, from my point of view, the vizarans were, are and will remain an occupation extremely dubious in terms of material gains.
')
The visa issue is solved very simply with money. In order to enter the country, you need to make a double or triple visa in advance. In Minsk there is an office that makes such visas in Stockholm without personal submission and any documents other than a passport. A double-entry visa gives the right to stay in Thailand for up to 6 months from the date of its issuance. At the first entrance you can stay for 2 months, then for $ 60 per person you can extend for another month. Then you need to leave and re-enter - the second type of visa will begin and again you can be in the country for 2 months + 1 extend. Accordingly, a triple visa gives you the opportunity to live in Taya for almost 9 months, although you will have to leave the country 2 times, but this can be combined with tourist purposes.
This visa is ideal for hibernators, but for a longer stay you need something more reliable. This can be obtained at a language school by enrolling in a Thai, English or other language course, or even a Thai boxing course. The cost per person may be different, depending on how much you want to reduce the cost of your time:
- Training costs 500 $ -800 $.
- You can spend about $ 200-300 for going to Laos to get such a visa. In fact, previously there was an opportunity for $ 500 more to get this visa on the spot, but now with the change of power, this opportunity seems to have hidden behind. We still had time to use it in March.
- By default, the visa is given for 3 months and it must be renewed every 3 months at a local immigrant (in my opinion, it costs $ 60). But in our school we had the opportunity to pay $ 400 from the nose and extend it for 12 months immediately, without the need for further visits to the immigrant.
In total, we used the maximum package of services, did not go anywhere for a visa, made an extension for 12 months and paid $ 3 for two. Considering that this makes it possible to stay in Tae for 15 months (3 months at once + 12 months renewal), as well as to leave and enter any number of times, a person received $ 100 per month. Which is almost comparable to the cash costs of the permanent vizarany from the Russians.
As for learning, we chose Thai and walk 2 times a week for 2 hours. I chose a short course, it lasts six months and cost $ 500. The wife chose the full course, it lasts a year and cost $ 800. As you can see, if you wish, you could save some more. Classes are not stressful, it is even interesting to talk with a motley audience from around the world.
Insurance / Medicine / Risks
We decided not to risk Belarusian insurance due to their complete meaninglessness. Russians, as far as I heard, love to use the Accord, which has good coverage in terms of active sports and motorbikes. But I also heard that, more recently, Consent changed the coverage from International SOS to something else and the quality of the service went down. In addition, it seems like they have banned remote renewal. In general, on this issue I can hardly say for sure - but I think that if not already, then the Russians will soon face the same problem of choosing insurance as the Belarusians.
What can happen in Thailand? The most frequent problems are:
1) Fall from a motorbike
2) Dengue fever (in Cambodia, add here also malaria, which is much worse, which in Thailand is only in regions close to Cambodia)
3) Urgent surgery - such as appendicitis, but this is not directly related to Thailand
Practically no insurance will insure against problems 1 and 2, or it will insure very limitedly. Therefore, we decided to take the local (international) insurance BUPA. BUPA has about 6 plans, different in cost, which differ in the range of services and amounts of insurance compensation. We, trying to foresee everything, took the most expensive plan, which even provides for evacuation by helicopter from anywhere in Thailand, since plans had a lot to drive. But as we already understood, it was not worth overpaying for it.
Total for insurance, we pay about $ 110 a month for two. The contract is for a year, payment in equal shares every month - they just withdraw this money from your account in a Thai bank (more on that later). What this gives in general - 2 personal plastic type cards with which we can turn to any of even the most expensive hospital in Thailand and must be given all the necessary help. Next, the hospital understands the insurance itself, we do not need any letters of guarantee or confirmation from the insurance. I did not have to contact me and I hope it will not be necessary By the way, insurance has coverage worldwide.
As for medicine in Thailand, different people characterize it differently, but I think there is no point in reckoning with the opinion of the packagers from whom they are trying to tear off as much as possible. With more in every major resort city there are several hospitals, from cheap local to expensive Bangkok Hospital. In the city where we live there are 3 large hospitals: Hua Hin Hospital - state. clinic, the cheapest, all Thais go there; San Paulo Hospital - private and average for the price and standard Bangkok Hospital Hua Hin - a space five-star hospital with the same space prices; as well as a small number of private practices, such as ENT, dentist, and so on.
As a rule, a fall from a motorbike ends with bruises and abrasions, perhaps even extensive. With such a problem, you can contact the state. a clinic where first-aid patients will be provided for inexpensively, wounds will be treated and any injection of tetanus will be given.
Dengue fever is something like our flu epidemic every year, most common in the rainy season (summer and autumn), but you can get sick in the winter. Fever is carried by mosquitoes, or rather by their special species, which are very well distinguished by whites, I would even say, as if by luminous spots, on the paws and the body. We saw them in one of the campaigns in the jungle, as it seemed to me they are larger than ordinary mosquitoes and white spots stand out very well on them. Such mosquitoes are bred in stagnant water and are usually wielding in the daytime around 20 meters from the place of their withdrawal. To protect yourself in campaigns, you need to wear clothes covering the body and use repellent with the active component DEET in the composition. If you live in a house, then you need to ensure that rainwater does not accumulate on your site (pots, any containers in the street). As for natural reservoirs, I am not sure that there is a risk, since There are villages of houses where canals are laid right in the village. It is unlikely that mosquitoes are infested there - most likely a fish lives in the canals that feeds on mosquito larvae.
If you get dengue, then the likelihood of complications is low. We did not get sick, but our friends on Samui got sick. Sick hard, more than a week. Hospitalization may be necessary in case of severe disease, when the level of platelets in the blood decreases and there is a risk of hemorrhage. There is no vaccine yet, but there is hope that it will appear in the coming years. In general, it seems to me that in our society, people perceive tropical fevers as something almost deadly. The media publish horror stories as tourists fell ill in Thailand or somewhere nearby and then came and treated for a long time. In fact, dengue fever is very common in this region and local doctors know everything about it. Severe dengue fever is sick exclusively locals due to periodic re-infection. Compared with the flu, the death rate from dengue specifically in Thailand is lower. In order not to be afraid, you can read this article .
We have not encountered any other health problems or risks. The serpent was not seen alive, only on the roads in a crushed form. Any scary insects too. It should be understood that the farther you are from the city, the higher the risk of meeting different animals, including snakes. By the way, the number of deaths from snake bites in Thailand per year is measured in only dozens of lives.
Housing
The issue of housing varies considerably in different cities. With more you can select 4 types of housing:
1) Condo - an apartment in a high-rise building, usually furnished, as a rule, you can use the communal swimming pool and gym, which depends on the house itself, of course. A condo is ideal if you do not have pets. Prices vary greatly, but we can say that this is the best option by the price / quality criterion. If you compare with the same Minsk - the prices are much lower, the quality is much higher. Prices - say from $ 200 to $ 1000 and above for every taste and color. Pets are strictly prohibited, unless it is served as a feature of this condo. We spoke with the agent about this - hiding even a hamster is not an option. If someone sees from the tenants, 100% will learn and you will be asked to remove the animal or to go away.
2) Townhouse - as a rule 2-storey house with several two-level apartments, each has a separate entrance and common walls with other apartments of this house. Townhouse is the cheapest option, some can be with animals. Because of the cheapness, there are usually Thais living there, no sound insulation, and Thais love karaoke very much - so this is not a very good option for a long life.
3) Home - there is nothing special to write here. The house, the fence, can be a small or even a very large green area, your pool. As a rule, the price of the house includes maintenance of the pool and gardener. Houses can be both within the city and in the suburbs. Understandably, in the suburbs it is cheaper and you can count on your good territory, but less infrastructure around. Prices for homes from $ 200 to infinity.
4) House in a gated community (moo-ban) - these types of houses are most often found in Bangkok and Hua Hin. The village is usually fenced with a high fence, at the entrance of the barrier and round the clock security, video surveillance. There is a communal pool and gym. The price is slightly higher than a regular house. The settlement in the local understanding does not mean a separate settlement, it is just a fenced territory with its name and a group of houses in the same architectural style. The settlement can be located both within the city and in the open field.
Some nuances of rental housing:
- Usually requires a deposit in the amount of monthly rentals. The deposit is returned after eviction and checking the condition of the property. Also, if stipulated in the contract, then a certain amount is deducted from the security deposit for cleaning the house after departure.
- If you rent directly from the owner, and not through a real estate agency - be prepared that the deposit may not be returned. In this case, you should not leave the house just before leaving somewhere, but it is worth going for a week to some guesthouse. Then you can tell the owner that you are moving to another house / condo and he will not “be late” to bring you a deposit, and you will not be in a hurry on the plane.
- Having a house with a private pool is not very advisable, since as a rule such a pool is small, i.e. a splatter and you will not swim in it. But if there is a filtration system there, it will eat a lot of electricity.
- Rental prices in winter are higher than in summer. Often, when renting for a period of a year, you can achieve a significant discount. As a rule, a lucrative offer can be found in the spring, when all tourists / winterers disperse and an excess of supply appears on the market.
Climate
For many, Thailand is probably associated with a hot climate, stuffiness and other “delights” of tropical life. However, this is not quite true. The nuance is that after a while the body gets used to the high temperature and the climate is already beginning to feel quite differently. I myself endure the heat. When we arrived in November - it seemed unbearably hot. Air conditioning had to be turned on at night to even fall asleep. The rainy season was coming to an end, the “cold” season was beginning by Thai standards, naturally far from ours. When December came, it became a bit cooler. Toward the end of December, the temperature at night began to drop to 24-25 degrees and here we began to freeze. From the end of December, all of January and almost all of February, we didn’t use air conditioning even during the day. Despite the clear sky, the temperature in the daytime did not reach 30, at night we closed all the vents, otherwise it was cold to sleep. It must be said that in Hua Hin in December and January there is a season of strong wind, therefore it was specifically blowing into the vents. We forgot about the pool for almost 2 months because of the cold, as it seemed to us, water. About the sea almost too. True, the Thais say that this winter was abnormally cold for these places.
In February, it became a little warmer. From the middle of March, the temperature began to rise rapidly, and by the beginning of April it became hot. It was no longer possible to go out into the street, not a cloud in the sky every day. The water in the sea has become very hot, I would say in shallow water above 33 degrees. In the tropics darkens at about 6 all year round. In the spring, everything usually comes to life after 5 pm, markets open up, and more people are getting outside. The heat lasts throughout April and almost all of May. In mid-May, the weather begins to change. If before the clear sky from morning to evening, then from mid-May afternoon clouds appear. They close the sky closer to 4 pm, it may rain a little rain, which however does not bring coolness. By night, the clouds stretch.
Since June, there are more clouds, the heat gradually recedes, many places in Thailand begin the rainy season - but not in Hua Hin. There is some kind of enchanted place, probably due to the peculiarities of the landscape (from the west of the mountain, in the east the bay). You can often see a picture of black clouds gathering and lightning in the evening over the mountains or over the sea, but there is no rain in Hua Hin and a blue sky overhead. There are days when the sky tightens like in Minsk - gray and dark.
Further July, August, the beginning of autumn - we will not know what will happen next. But already felt the coolness in the air, it becomes comfortable to be on the street. The air conditioner set for 28 only works during the day, at night it turns on only occasionally. The active rainy season in Hua Hin is August and September.
Travel by car in Thailand
What makes Thailand so good is the opportunity to travel a lot and safely. There are more than 100 national parks in the country, where there is a lot of interesting things. Actually, I had never traveled by car with the right wheel. It was scary. And then we ordered the car immediately from the airport, and I realized that we did very correctly. The road from the airport to Bangkok is the best road to learn from. 4 lanes, few cars. During this time, you can get a little familiar with the other controls. About switching the turn signals, forget at least up to 2000 knurled kilometers - all the same you will often turn on the windshield wipers on the machine. But in general, after 2 hours of unhurried driving along the highway, you already get used to it. On the first day in Tae, I drove 700 km behind the wheel, a week later - another 900.
The tracks in Thailand are organized in such a way that you practically will not have the opportunity to turn around and go on the counter. If you need to turn right through oncoming traffic, then as a rule you need to go further, turn around and returning to turn left, where you immediately go into your lane. There are places for a turn on the tracks almost every 5-10 km, for a turn, as a rule, a pocket is created on your lane and on oncoming traffic. Turns have one big minus - in the right lane (the fastest) there are often slow-moving trucks, lorries, etc., which go to the nearest U-turn. Because of this, often to advance it is necessary to rebuild in a slow lane.
The movement itself, especially in cities, I would call calm (although I did not go by the BPC itself). Thais are unhurried, this is caused by both the mentality and the presence of a huge number of bikes on the roads, which everyone is trying to miss and in general their attitude to bikes is completely different than ours. It is safe to say that every Thai is both a driver and a biker at the same time, because a bike is the most convenient form of transportation in cities. In general, with rare exceptions, they do not make sharp maneuvers and rebuilds, they do not interfere with each other. But they love to ride on the counter verge, including by car. You also need to be prepared that Thais can greatly reduce the speed up to a stop in the lane near the curb, move very slowly (20-30 km / h). Due to the large number of bikes and on the slopes, and in cities, the curb is wide, almost like 3/4 lanes - most of them are riding bikes.
Car rental itself does not carry any problems if you rent from large offices. For rental is better to use the rentalcars.com service. We came across a variety of offices and no one had any problems or nagging scratches. As a rule, your card is blocked by a $ 300 or $ 600 deposit, which is automatically unlocked anywhere from a week to a month - I don’t know what it depends on, but there were different terms. It is worth considering when renting a car, that part of your available money can be frozen for up to a month. And in no case do not require anywhere to leave any documents as a pledge. If someone asks for documents from you as a pledge, you may be diluted. The offices we used: Thai Rent a Car, Budget, AVIS. All offices include insurance with a deductible (called CDW or Collision Damage Waiver), where, if anything happens, you pay a small amount, the rest is paid by insurance. We did not encounter, so I will not say how it works. In large offices, you can take the car in one direction, take it in another city. It costs more, but sometimes there is no other option. On average, renting an inexpensive sedan on a machine for the weekend costs $ 70-100. I expected that in the off-season prices will go down, but it did not happen.
Infrastructure on the roads is very well developed. At many network gas stations there are convenience stores 7/11, cafes, coffee shops, shopping malls. The quality of the road surface is the better, the closer to Bangkok. Route number 4 from Bangkok to the south, the only road on which you can get to the south of Thailand, after Hua Hin, has obvious problems with the road surface. Traffic is intense even on weekends. Sometimes I get the impression that Thais work seven days a week, because on any day of the week there are a lot of trucks and trucks there.
Navigator (can be rented with the machine) may be needed in Bangkok, because there are not very obvious multi-level interchanges. For the rest, above the roof, there are enough Google maps.
What are the nat. parks? This is the area around some natural sights, or several, if the park is large. For example, a beautiful mountain range and several karst caves in Khao Sam Roi Yod Park, a coral reef in Hat Wanakon Park , several stepped waterfalls in Erawan Park, a lake in a karst rift in Khao Sok Park, etc. Each park has a so-called. headquaters, which usually have a small exhibition of photographs or exhibits from the park, informational posters, showers, toilets, rental houses, a cafe, a parking lot and a camping ground. In some large nat. Camping parks can be organized in several places, near popular attractions. The campsite always has toilets, showers and a cafe. Use your BBQ is not prohibited. It is also usually possible to rent for 5 dollars a tent, sleeping bags, mats and pillows. You can buy a tent and sleeping bags in any large Tesco - we did so, and we take pillows from the house. If someone thinks why sleeping in such a heat - wait. We were in April in the hottest season in a camping on the sea and at night we got into sleeping bags together. On weekends many people come to the parks with tents. Thais behave culturally, drunken screaming cattle like we do not.
Since November, we managed to visit only 7 (out of more than 100) nat. parks of Thailand. In some parks, I want to come again, in some parks there are so many interesting places, that in one weekend they don’t see them all, the waterfalls look different in different seasons.In general, I think, especially without repeating on weekends, you can ride and watch a whole year. True, the distances are great and now we have already come to the conclusion that we have already been to all the nearest national parks; we have to plan longer trips not for 2, but for 3 days.
Domestic issues
If you think that you can eat only rice and seafood in Taya, or only macaws, then you are greatly mistaken. In tourist cities there are many cafes where delicious Australian beef steaks are prepared at a price 2 times cheaper than in Minsk. For example, in Hua Hin Market Village there is a restaurant Sizzler, in it you can choose a steak with a side dish from $ 8 and use the huge salad bar for free.
In large grocery stores have any products - milk, yogurt, cheese, a huge selection of meat, vegetables and fruits. I would like to say something special about raw meat - there is no such choice in Belarus and there are no such prices! There is even crocodile meat. It should also be borne in mind that Australia and New Zealand are close by, from where beef and good quality dairy products are brought. In some "premium" stores you can buy the same buckwheat, if someone loves.
Mobile communication is simple as a rake - at the airport you can buy a SIM card and use it, constantly replenishing in the near 7/11. There is no subscription fee, pay only for calls or for traffic. Fixed Internet is usually provided by the owner of the property, it can be either a general wifi or a dedicated channel. We have a dedicated 12 Mbps, we pay $ 20 for the Internet.
A foreigner can open an account in a Thai bank and link PayPal to it. There are no specific instructions for opening accounts by foreigners, therefore, in different banks and even in different branches of the same bank you may be allowed or not allowed to open an account. We used the Bangkok Bank and we opened 2 accounts the first time. To open an account, you just need to come with a passport, for an hour they will issue everything and give you a non-name card and some kind of book for records (I don’t know why). After a week or two, they will send you data for internet banking and after that you can link PayPal. We also need this account for insurance; a monthly installment is withdrawn from it every month.
Military Junta / Govt
It so happened that in Thailand, the military often come to power. In short, in Thailand there are 2 groups of elites: close to the King of Thailand and the clan Shinawatra. The population is madly in love with the king, but the king has become old and can no longer rule the country. When the Shinavat clan came to power, they began using populist methods to distribute loot to the poor to the right and left, which attracted to their side a large part of the simple peasant population in the country (which is the majority). This was also accompanied by an increase in corruption in the country. Everything would be fine until Chinavat did not encroach on the holy of holies of Thailand - the monarchy. He was overthrown by the military and sent into exile. After some time, elections were held in the country and the clan Chinavat in the person of his sister defeated them. She continued her brother’s populist policies,and in May, after a long street confrontation between the pro-royal opposition and Chinawatra, the military again took power and sent Chinavat to resign.
The essence of the problem lies in the fact that if we hold elections tomorrow, they will be won by ... someone from Chinawat. The military, like the opposition, does not want this. Because they believe that this will continue to split in Thai society. They want to carry out a clever reform of the electoral law, so that even if the majority of the population supports the clan Xinawatra, they cannot come to power again.
What happened in the country during the protests from November to May is absolutely nothing. Life went on as usual, only in the center of Bangkok, meetings were held and traffic was blocked.
What has changed in the country since the capture of power by the military is absolutely nothing. Life goes on as usual, only now in the center of Bangkok and nowhere else can one hold rallies. For the first time, a curfew was introduced from 10 pm to 5 am. This caused some inconvenience in the fact that round-the-clock stores were closed at night, and stores that usually worked until 10 began to close 2 hours earlier. Further, the curfew time was reduced. It was then canceled in a number of tourist cities and after throughout the country.
Now the country lives under the "military oppression," but the fact is that the majority of the population are even happy about this. First, the protests and escalation of tensions ended. Secondly, the military junta voiced initiatives to eradicate many of the long-standing problems of Thailand, which interfere with both tourists and local ones. Wait and see.
Summary
If you are tired of the gray days of Minsk / Moscow / another city and you want to change the situation, change your life into a more active and interesting channel - there is no better and more convenient country than Thailand. In fact, here you can come on a regular tour. a visa with a small capital in your pocket and without unnecessary complications settle down for a year, two or more. The only thing you should not believe in fairy tales about downshifting in Thailand. It is probably possible to live in Thailand for $ 500 a month - but I would not call it a comfortable and interesting life. You constantly have to limit yourself in opportunities, in comfort, on trips, in food.
Is it worth it?This is another question, and each has its own answer. But you can always live in your native country, in a year, in two, in ten, it will not go anywhere from you. And who knows, Thailand will be as comfortable and hospitable in a year, two, ten years.
[Update on visas]
Since the writing of the article, the situation with visas has noticeably deteriorated and now, apparently, it affects not only citizens of the Russian Federation, but all the rest. So far, there is no reliable official information about the new rules, or rather the old rules, but they will be applied in a new way. In short, today there is such information, but it can change, so if you plan to go to Thailand and stay there you need to follow the information, for example, on this resource: thaivisa.com
- Tourist in Thailand can now be no more than 90 days for the half year. If you want to stay longer, then most likely you will not be allowed to leave and enter, even if you have a valid visa.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/228105/
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