Relocation opportunity in Bangkok

[bark]

Hi,
We are really happy to find this community site and hope to get help on a number of questions.
We have been proposed with a relocation opportunity in Bangkok from our company.
We are really exciting about it but we have no idea about the expats life in Thailand.
We have 3 children ages 2, 5 & 7.

We have the following questions which we hope you people can help us.[LIST][*]What are the renting options in Bangkok? [*]Where are the recommended places for expats with children to live? What are the best places for Expats[*]What are the renting prices and where can we find a good Internet site with information about it?[*]What is the cost of living in Bangkok for a family with 3 children? Food, clothes, fuel, schools, general? We need general idea to see if the offered package is a good one.[*]If you have a similar family size, please let us know aprox expenses per month for rent and other costs. [*] What is the level of health care in Bangkok?[*]What are the good international (preferably American) schools in Bangkok with majority of expats?[*]What are the cars prices and maybe some tips for recommended vehicles and dealers?

I know we have a lot of questions but we are confused and desperately need information to make the decision.
Moving with the family is a big decision which we must consider and look from all directions.
In general how is the experience of being an expat in Thailand?

Best regards and thanks you for the answers.
The Barks

[ktamp]

Originally Posted by bark

Hi,
We are really happy to find this community site and hope to get help on a number of questions.
We have been proposed with a relocation opportunity in Bangkok from our company.
We are really exciting about it but we have no idea about the expats life in Thailand.
We have 3 children ages 2, 5 & 7.

We have the following questions which we hope you people can help us.[LIST][*]What are the renting options in Bangkok? [*]Where are the recommended places for expats with children to live? What are the best places for Expats[*]What are the renting prices and where can we find a good Internet site with information about it?[*]What is the cost of living in Bangkok for a family with 3 children? Food, clothes, fuel, schools, general? We need general idea to see if the offered package is a good one.[*]If you have a similar family size, please let us know aprox expenses per month for rent and other costs. [*] What is the level of health care in Bangkok?[*]What are the good international (preferably American) schools in Bangkok with majority of expats?[*]What are the cars prices and maybe some tips for recommended vehicles and dealers?

I know we have a lot of questions but we are confused and desperately need information to make the decision.
Moving with the family is a big decision which we must consider and look from all directions.
In general how is the experience of being an expat in Thailand?

Best regards and thanks you for the answers.
The Barks

I would try to negotiate a "look and see" visit with the company and definetely negotiate the use of a relocation agent. We used asian tiger transpo when we came. My husband and I came for a week 6 months before we moved here and the agent showed us everything. We moved to pattaya. We looked at 30 or more houses. We visited all the international schools. She took us to grocery stores, outdoor markets.....showed us the family activities in pattaya. It made our move from america very smooth. My husband came back for a month 6 weeks before we moved and secured our house. She negotiated the rental agreement for us. My then 4 year old son was signed up for school and started within a week of moving here. She also took care of setting up the utilities for us when we moved here and in general it is very useful to have someone working for you that can take care of things.

I can't answer the questions about bangkok except that the level of medical care is good here. There are two very nice private hospitals in bangkok.

Our experience living as an expat family here has been all good. We came with the idea that this was an adventure and we would make the most of it. We've been able to travel throughout southeast asia as airfare is very reasonable. In general thailand is a very pleasant place to live for expats. The people are very pleasing. Our son goes to regents school in pattaya which also has a branch in bangkok. We have been very pleased with the school so far but it is very expensive. Almost $3000 US dollars per term.

[Serendipity2]

Originally Posted by nopq688

这是新加的空白文章37，可以在ubb可视化编辑器中，添加和修改文章内容。

nopq688 ,

Your Afghanistan message sure looks Japanese. Do they speak Japanese in Afghanistan? Sorry, I couldn't resist!

[Serendipity2]

Originally Posted by bark

Hi,
We are really happy to find this community site and hope to get help on a number of questions.
We have been proposed with a relocation opportunity in Bangkok from our company.
We are really exciting about it but we have no idea about the expats life in Thailand.
We have 3 children ages 2, 5 & 7.

We have the following questions which we hope you people can help us.[LIST][*]What are the renting options in Bangkok? [*]Where are the recommended places for expats with children to live? What are the best places for Expats[*]What are the renting prices and where can we find a good Internet site with information about it?[*]What is the cost of living in Bangkok for a family with 3 children? Food, clothes, fuel, schools, general? We need general idea to see if the offered package is a good one.[*]If you have a similar family size, please let us know aprox expenses per month for rent and other costs. [*] What is the level of health care in Bangkok?[*]What are the good international (preferably American) schools in Bangkok with majority of expats?[*]What are the cars prices and maybe some tips for recommended vehicles and dealers?

I know we have a lot of questions but we are confused and desperately need information to make the decision.
Moving with the family is a big decision which we must consider and look from all directions.
In general how is the experience of being an expat in Thailand?

Best regards and thanks you for the answers.
The Barks

Bark,

Welcome to the site. This site is a veritable cornucopia of useful [and some useless] info about living in LOS. Most of the expats are living in Chiang Mai but there is still a wealth of information you can glean by going through the various subjects or initial posts - everything from cost of living to medical care to schools for children etc. That and a feet-on-the-ground visit before you decide would be most beneficial. Your children will adapt far quicker than either of you so it's more about what the two of you can live with as children everywhere will find things to amuse them - and give their parents nightmares. All in all a great place to live but there is a notable isolation from most all you've known in terms of the language barrier. For the most part, easily handled as you develop a patois of pidgin English/Thai. Many Thai do speak some English but only barely but again not a huge hurdle so long as you're patient.

When you're on this site and see a response or responder you want to correspond with click on reply and that person should be alerted to an incoming e-mail. You will find some on this site that live in Bangkok and Pattaya and Phuket and Isaan but most in Chiang Mai. We could always use a new expat up north!

Serendipity2

[Cer]

I worked for an USA company for about 22 years of which most as expat.
The company should provide for health insurance-school costs for children (up to 18 years of age).House rental costs and relocation costs.Once a year family travel to home country.If necessary, means of transport.Costs of club membership.
Splitting the salary in home-country share and residence country share.
Be helpfull in assisting with all occurring problems.

[Dave O'Dottu]

Originally Posted by bark

We have the following questions which we hope you people can help us.[LIST][*]What are the renting options in Bangkok? [*]Where are the recommended places for expats with children to live? What are the best places for Expats[*]What are the renting prices and where can we find a good Internet site with information about it?[*]What is the cost of living in Bangkok for a family with 3 children? Food, clothes, fuel, schools, general? We need general idea to see if the offered package is a good one.[*]If you have a similar family size, please let us know aprox expenses per month for rent and other costs. [*] What is the level of health care in Bangkok?[*]What are the good international (preferably American) schools in Bangkok with majority of expats?[*]What are the cars prices and maybe some tips for recommended vehicles and dealers?

The Barks

Start by getting a guidebook to thailand like RoughGuide. It will tell you about hospitals, hotels, meals etc.

You can start by getting hotel rooms in BKK for from $6 to 12 USD. Ratanakosin Island (Banglamphu district) is a good place to live. Eventually you can find an apartment for around $200 per month there.

there will be a great range of foods and prices in that district.

To buy/sell things look in the expat newsletters once you get there. The Bangkon Post will have some listings in the classified. You might also want to check out craigslist.