Stories here and here. Not bad considering this comes on the heels of all our street riots and ahead of more expected to come.
Excerpt: “Apparently civil war and dead bodies rolling in the gutter is part of the fun.”
Canada and Bahrain ranked second and third, respectively. (Yes, Bahrain.)
In addition to all of the good stuff mentioned, we also have this neat record store in Chinatown.
Serious question: I wonder if they asked expat women what was important to them.
I can’t find a gender breakdown for the survey, but I can tell you there are also quite a few female expats who like it here just fine, though. They’re even buying homes in Pattaya, that traditional male stronghold.
That first link, to The Wall Street Journal article, has suddenly stopped working. Hopefully will be back up soon.
That one link still isn’t working again, but I don’t think it lists a gender breakdown either. I do recall 4000+ expats – expat executives? – surveyed. Even Sven’s question is a fair one and not just because of how many Westerners view Thailand. It’s probably true that most executives sent abroad are male.
It’s not all bar life here. Thailand’s a great place to use as a base from which to explore all of East, Southeast and South Asia. There’s a female expat Board member here in Bangkok, Flying Rat; if she sees this, maybe she could give her impressions.
I know little about Thailand specifically, but I do know in some countries expat life is a really different experience for men and women. I’m just curious if they accounted for this at all, or if this list best reflects “the best places to be a male expat.”
I doubt if it’s the latter, as I believe this is an annual HSBC survey, or at least connected with that somehow. (Damn that other link for going down.) The categories of questions seem to be largely non-gender-specific and business-oriented, such as quality of accommodation, ease of setting up finances, career prospects and financial opportunities.
Thailand is an easy country for businesswomen. The head of the Bank of Thailand, the local version of the US Federal Reserve, was female until she retired last month, and all of its other top officials at the BOT are still women. I’ve seen statistics showing most businesses in Thailand – and I mean a large majority – are owned by women. (Some say this is because the men are such drunks that the wives have to look after the family affairs. Sad to say, there could be a grain of truth in that.)
The women expats I’ve known are extremely pro-Thailand, sometimes to a ridiculous extent. We have friends in Connecticut, and the wife was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the South in the mid-1980s. She’s about my age, 50s, and her dream is to retire to Thailand. And while it’s nice that she thinks so highly of the country, I have to say hers is quite a pollyanna attitude. In her eyes, EVERYTHING about Thailand is good. NOTHING is bad. She brought her husband and three young sons over here for a visit some years ago, and she practically ordered them to love Thailand. She even had a Thai fiancee back in the 1980s, but as often happens with long-distance romances, it did not last long after she went back to the US, as she never managed to move back here like she had intended. But even though they both ended up marrying other people, they kept in touch and remain good friends, so much so that when she brought her family over on that visit, they all stayed with the old fiancee’s wife and children.
I also recall this one South African lady who had been here for years and was preparing to start the tortuous process of applying for Permanent Residency. I’ve lost track of her. Wonder if that ever worked out.
We had a bit of a school reunion recently. One of the guys lives most of the year in Thailand but works in Australia and has for many years. He comes back and works a couple of months in Queensland and then returns to his Thai wife for the rest of the year. He lives in some little town out near the border and is the only “white” man around. Tourists never go there. He says the locals like him because he speaks fluent Thai and it can take him all day just to go shopping because they are so friendly. He told me that living there has made him realize that the Western social system is just grinding people down.
Yeah, I’ve done that bit before but don’t think I could again. I’m old enough now that I want my urban comforts. But the thing is it’s there if you want it. You can go native and live in the sticks if you want or you can live an all-Western lifestyle in Bangkok and even a couple of other municipalities or settle for something in between.
And don’t forget that Canada came in at No. 2. But then, we all know how easy those Canadian sluts are. 
That’s why I’ve gone native.
Is gender reassignment common in Thailand? 
(I know what you meant, but I couldn’t resist creative misinterpretation)
Brian
Funny you should mention that shop, I walked in front of it yesterday morning, I didn’t take a picture of it though… but I took a photo of the shop next door. 
I could never be happy in a country that is as ridiculous about censorship as Thailand is. I enjoy being able to ridicule the king of Thailand as much as I want to.
American ‘expat’ in Canada here … somehow I feel like I got a raw deal. It’s cooooold.
You won’t see me revealing where I plan to retire. Don’t want too many of you yahoos and preverts moving there and spoiling it for me.
Oh, the censorship, I have a lot to say about it.
What I think about censorship in Thailand is that the ▓▓▓▓▓ are a bunch of ▓▓▓▓▓ that should ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓. What’s more I ▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ klaxon ▓▓▓▓▓▓ and ▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓ before releasing the marmots.
▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓ biscuit barrel ▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ which reminds me of the time my grandma ▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓ trampoline!.
In resume ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓ Stockholm ▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓ ▓ ▓▓▓▓ train whistle.
That’s all I have to say about that.
Bahrain?!
Funny you should mention that. House Hunters International just did a show from there and, although I have never been there, the landscape made surrounding areas from Las Vegas look lush in comparison. Talk about dismal dust, dirt and sand…wow. Granted, the shopping area looked like it might be fun for an afternoon, but from the glimpse of Bahrain they showed, you wouldn’t get me to move there anytime soon.
I have heard from lots of people that Thailand is a great place, although as others have mentioned, the rioting and dead bodies might take a bit of the bloom off the rose.
I can totally understand Canada being on the list - went to Vancouver years ago and fell in love with the place. Very European feel, really nice people and even the weather there is not what people might expect - fairly mild in all seasons.
Indeed. If you can’t get a couple of iceback bints to drop their knickers for you by waving a chocolate bar at them, what’s the point of going to Canada?
Perhaps I could have worded that better. 
I’ve seen that shop. The old Gramophone has been sitting there for a long time I think, and I’m always tempted to buy it.
More on businesswomen in Thailand: The prime minister’s commerce minister is also a woman, Porntiva Nakasai. Her father owns one of the lagest brothels in Thailand, Poseidon Massage Parlor. Amid the troubles earlier this year, someone car-bombed it. Story here. Just a brothel bus driver injured, no deaths. However, it was never determined if it was due to politics or a business conflict, and believe me, it could easily have been either one.
Are you sure the name is spelled with a “T” not a “D”? It would seem fitting; after all the “t” and “d” letters in the Thai alphabet are nearly identical, ด and ค respectively…
Bahrain? I live thirty kilometers from Bahrain and only go there to use the airport. Too crowded, too expensive, too busy.
