IT Relocation. Review of the pros and cons of living in Bangkok a year later

My story began somewhere in October 2016 when the thought “Why not try to work abroad?” Settled in my head. At first there were simple interviews with outsourcing companies from England. There were a lot of vacancies describing “frequent business trips to America are possible”, but the place of work was also in Moscow. Yes, they offered good money, but the soul requested a move. Frankly speaking, if I had been asked a couple of years ago, "Who do you see yourself in 3 years?" I would never answer "I will work in Thailand on a work visa." After successfully completing the interview and receiving the offer on June 15, 2017, I boarded a Moscow-Bangkok plane with a one-way ticket. For me, this was the first experience of moving to another country and in this article I want to tell you about the complexity of the move, the possibilities that you open. And ultimately the main goal - to inspire! Welcome under the cat dear reader.

The process of obtaining a visa

First of all, I should pay tribute to the On boarding team in the company where I got settled. As in most cases, to obtain a work visa, I was asked to transfer my diploma and, if possible, letters from previous jobs to confirm the Senior level. Then began running around with the assurance of the translation of the diploma and marriage certificate at the notary. After copies of the transfers were sent to the employer a week later, I received a package of DHL documents with which I had to go to the Thai embassy to get a Single Entry visa. Strangely enough, the diploma translation was not taken away from me, so I believe that it could not be done as a whole, however, when leaving the country it is better to have it.

After 2 weeks, a Multy-Entry visa is issued in the passport and a Work Permit is issued, and already with these documents you have the right to open a bank account for salary.
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Relocation and first month

Before moving to Bangkok, I rested on Phuket twice, and somewhere in my heart I thought that the work would be combined with constant forays into the beach with cold mojito under palm trees. How wrong I was then. Despite the fact that Bangkok is located near the sea - swim in it will not work. If you want to swim in the sea, then you need to lay somewhere 3-4 hours on a trip to Pattaya (2 hours bus + hour on the ferry). With the same success, you can safely take a plane ticket to Phuket, because only an hour to fly.

Everything, everything, everything is completely new! First of all, after Moscow, it is striking how skyscrapers get along with slums on the same street. This is extremely surprising, but next to the 70 story building there may be a slate shack. Trestles on the roads can be built in four levels along which everyone will ride, starting with expensive cars and ending with home-made stools, more similar to the designs of orcs from Warhammer 4000.

I am very calm about spicy food and for the first 3 months I was always new about tom pits and fried rice with chicken. But after some time, you begin to understand that all the food becomes just for one taste and you already miss the pyreshechka and the cutlets.



Getting used to the climate was the hardest. At first, I wanted to live near the central park (Lumpini park), but after two or three weeks you realize that you will not get out there (+35 degrees) during the day, and at night it is not particularly better. This is probably one of the pros and cons of Thailand. It is always hot or warm. Why plus? You can forget about warm things. In the wardrobe there is only a set of shirts, bathing shorts, and a set of smart casual clothes for work. Why a minus: 3-4 months later “Groundhog Day” begins. All days are almost the same and the course of time is not felt. I miss walks in a cool park in a robe.

Search for housing

The housing market in Bangkok is huge. You can find accommodation for absolutely every taste and financial opportunity. The average price for a 1-bedroom in the city center is around 25k baht (on average x2 and we get 50k rubles). But it will be a great apartment with windows in the floor and a view from the twenty-fifth floor. And again, 1-Bedroom is different from odnushki in Russia. It is rather a kitchen-living room + bedroom and the footage will be about 50-60 square meters. Also in 90% of cases, each complex has a free pool and gym. Prices for 2-Bedroom start from 35k baht per month.

Your landlord will enter into a one-year contract with you and ask for a deposit of 2 months of payment. That is, for the first month you will have to pay x3. What is the main difference between Ty and Russia - here the landlord pays the realtor.

Transportation system

In Bangkok, there are several major transportation systems:
MRT - underground metro
BTS - overground
BRT - buses on a dedicated lane

If you are looking for housing, try to select BTS to be within walking distance (preferably 5 minutes), otherwise the heat may surprise you a lot.

Frankly, I have never used buses in Bangkok this year.

Taxi deserves special attention in Bangkok. It is one of the cheapest in the world and, often, if you eat somewhere in Troy, it will be much cheaper to take a taxi than on public transport.

If you are thinking about personal transport, here you will also have a huge choice. Interestingly, in Thailand there is a subsidy for the development of the argot industry and the Nissan Hilux will cost less than the Toyota Corolla. The first thing I bought here was a Honda CBR 250 motorcycle. Translating into rubles the price came out around 60k for a 2015 motorcycle. In Russia, the same model can be taken for 150-170k. Registration takes about 2 hours from strength and practically does not require knowledge of English or Thai. Everyone is extremely friendly and want to help you. Parking in the city center in a shopping center costs me 200 rubles per month! Remembering prices in Moscow City, my eye begins to twitch.

Entertainment

What is so rich in Thailand is the possibility to brighten up your leisure in various ways. First of all, I would like to say that Bangkok is a huge metropolis and the size of it, according to my feelings, is quite comparable with Moscow. Here are perhaps some of the possibilities to actively spend time in Bangkok:

Trips to the islands



“Moving to Bangkok from Spain, I thought that my everyday life would be something like this: [Wrist] Where is my elephant? Then 15 minutes later I drink cold mojitoes on the sea under a palm tree and write a code ”- Quote from one of the employees. In fact, everything is not as fabulous as it seems at first glance. To get from Bangkok to the sea, you need to spend about 2-3 hours. But nevertheless, a huge selection of beach holidays for a cheap price! (After all, you do not need to pay for the plane). Just imagine that a plane from Bangkok to Phuket costs 1000 rubles!

Travel to neighboring countries
For the year I lived here, I flew more than in my entire life. An obvious example - tickets to Bali and back cost about 8,000! Local airlines are extremely cheap, and you have the opportunity to see Asia and learn the culture of other countries.

Active sport
Almost every weekend my friends and I ride on wakeboards. Also in Bangkok, there are trampoline halls, an artificial wave for surfing and if you like to ride motorcycles that is ring roads. In general, obviously not be bored.

Moving from +1

This is probably one of the big problems of Thailand (and in general of any other country). At best, your husband or wife will be able to find work as an English teacher. One day, I came across an interesting article about the life of a plusdisk abroad. In general, everything is stated as it is.

Our company has a chat for plus alone, they often gather at gatherings, spend time together. The company even once a quarter pays corporate for them.

It seems to me that in each case everything depends on the mentality of a plus-point. Someone finds a job here, someone works remotely, someone has children. In general, not to be bored.

In the appendix add a few price tags for the maintenance of children:
The fee for an international kindergarten - about 500k rubles per year
School ranging from 600k to 1.5kk per year. It all depends on the class.

Based on this, it is worth thinking about the feasibility of moving, if you have more than two children.

IT community

In general, the life of the community here is less developed than in Moscow in my opinion. The level of conferences that are held does not seem high enough. From the first that comes to mind, Droidcon comes to mind. Also within the company we actively try to conduct meetings. In general, you don’t have to be bored.



Maybe in this aspect my opinion is slightly subjective, since I do not know about the meetings or conferences in Thai.

The level of specialists in Thailand seems to me lower. Immediately noticeable difference in the approach of thinking between Post-USSR and other people. A small example is the use of technologies that are on the hype. We call these guys Fancy guys; That is, they wildly push the top technologies with 1000 stars on the githaba, but they don’t even know what is going on inside. Lack of understanding of pros and cons. Just HYIP.

Local mentality

It’s probably worth starting with the most important thing - it’s a religion. 90% of the population are Buddhists. From here and follow a lot of things that affect behavior and attitude.

The first months were extremely freaking out that everyone was walking slowly. Suppose you can stand in a small queue at the escalator, and someone will take and stupidly stick to the phone, blocking all.
Driving on the roads seems wildly chaotic. If you eat on an oncoming traffic jam, this is OK. I was extremely surprised that the policeman said to me, “drive on an opposite, do not create a traffic jam”.

This is also reflected in the working aspects. Do not strain, take the next task ...

What is extremely annoying is that you are here - the eternal tourist. Every day I take the same route to work, and I still hear it "here - tuk - hava-yu -ver-ar-goyin - mister". A little podbivaet. Another thing is that here you will never fully wake yours. It manifests itself even on price policies in national parks and museums. Prices sometimes differ 15-20 times!

Special color adds makashnitsa. In Thailand, there is no sanitary epidemiological station and people are allowed to cook food on the street. In the morning, on the way to work, the air is filled with the aroma of food (I want to tell you a very specific aroma). At the beginning, we bought dinner for three weeks in such carriages. However, the food quickly became boring. The choice of street food is quite simple and in general, all the same.



But what I like about Thai people is more like children. As soon as you understand this, everything becomes easier at once. I ordered food in a cafe, and they brought you something else - this is ok. It's good that they even brought it, but they often forget about it. Example: a friend from the third time only ordered the correct salad with shrimps. The first time brought beef roast, the second time shrimp in batter (yes, yes, almost ...) and the third time in the apple!

I also like that everyone is extremely friendly. I noticed behind myself that I began to smile more often here.

Lifehacks

The first thing is to exchange your rights for local ones. This will give you the opportunity to pass as a local in many places. Also, you do not need to carry your passport and work permit with you.

Use the usual taxi. Straight be persistent and demand that they turn on the counter. One or two will refuse, the third will go.

Sour cream can be obtained in Pattaya

I advise you to look for an apartment at the intersection of MRT & BTS to get maximum mobility. If you plan to fly frequently, see about Airport Link; It will save money and the main time to travel.

It was very hard to find a mash up. We spent about 2 weeks looking for her. Prices for this simple item were about 1000r, eventually found in Ikea.

Conclusion

Am I going to go back? In the near future, most likely not. And not at all because I dislike Russia, but because the first relocation breaks some comfort zone in your head. Previously, it seemed something unknown, difficult, but in fact everything is quite interesting. What did I get here? I can say that I made interesting friends, I am working on an interesting project and in general, my life has changed for the better.

About 65 nationalities work in our company and this is an incredibly cool experience in the exchange of cultural knowledge. If you compare yourself a year ago with the current version, then there is some sort of freedom from the borders of the state, nationalities, religion, and so on. You just talk to good people every day.

I never regret that I made this decision a year ago. And I hope that this is not the last article about moving to other countries.

Thanks to the other Habr user for reading this article to the end. For earlier I want to apologize in my style of presenting and building sentences. Hope this article has lit a little spark inside of you. And believe me, this is not as difficult as it seems. All the barriers and boundaries - they are only in our head. Good luck in the new beginnings!