First, you’re beating me to my new home. You’re welcome to call it your new home, too, though! It’s big enough.

I think the big word for Bangkok is “opportunity.” But I’ll restrict my comment to the potential of a little work on the side. This counts for a lot and I’ll put up with all the rest I can’t imagine beating the bushes, as many as there are, for some work in an Isaan village.

Although I have no immediate plans to seek work upon landing. That would be crazy!

And great luck scoring a comfy seat for the trip. A fitting arrival, yes?

Now all I have to do is follow my own advice in my blog, which you generously pointed to.

All the best Talen and I’ll see you in LOS, possibly for a beer or three.

I’m kind of stuck in a mix of city and country here in Saraburi but we’re definitely plotting a move to BKK given the opportunities.

Living in a city will also throw up opportunities, you might find a way to earn, or part-earn a living.

That said one aspect of being out of town is getting into Thai culture and improving the lingo – has done wonders for me and my Thai.

Nice that you got that upgrade, having flown both classes in the past there’s no doubt that business class is the way to go, especially for a flight that long. No way I’ll have that chance again now with 3 of us flying.

I’ll put my vote in here for Bangkok, I couldn’t possibly live in the countryside. Even though the people are wonderful I get pretty nuts after several days of not much to do and less. Chiang Mai wouldn’t be too bad either, but as something of a beach bum myself there’s no way I would want to be that far away from the waters edge (although an airplane will get you there in a scant 90 minutes).

Once again congratulations! Can’t wait to hear where you finally settle down.

BTW make sure you get good travel insurance until you get your ED visa, I got bitten by a dog today and found out to my surprise that most UK and US travel insurance companies dont cover for the full rabies course or repatriation as after the first injection you can travel and treatment is free in the home countries, crazy.

I really think where you live is a matter of personal preference and in your case also where you can find a decent language school.

I will be interested to see if you change your mind about the big city later.

While I enjoy visiting BKK I personally couldn’t live there, there is just too much pollution.

That said services are much better and I doubt the residents are on water rationing like we are.

Just one final thought, you might want to check out the visa friendly countries in Asia(getting ED Visa) since some Thai embassies are not to user friendly. Anyway my guess is you have probably done that already.