Job Discussion Forums

[annie733]

Does anyone have experiences or comments about jobs in the provinces surrounding Bangkok? I know there are schools aplenty in places like Nonthaburi and Samutprakarn, but tag lines like "only 12k from Bangkok" lead my suspicious mind to assume these places are more nondescript-suburb than precious-rural-gem.

Should I follow this cynical hunch and look for different jobs? Any feedback or opinions would be so helpful!

[Sheep-Goats]

I taught in Bangkae for a while, which is across the river to the south. It's technically still in Bangkok's province, but it took 50 minutes on a bus or 100B in a taxi to get to the BTS, which makes going into the city something you have to think twice about doing. And if you're living that far from Bangkok you might as well be living on the moon as far as entertainment and foreign amentities goes.

My opinion on the matter is that unless you have a dear love for a particular region due to having some first hand EXPERIENCE there, it's better to live in a small town a ways away from Bangkok than the outskirts of Bangkok, which has all the bads of a big city mixed with all the bads of a small town, and few plusses to make up for that double whammy. I prefer city life and am young enough to put up with traffic and the like, so I'm a fan of Bankok proper over the smaller towns, but I can't really see a reason to be in the no man's land that is those areas "near" Bangkok.

Places that have high teacher demand, which are touching Bangkok, but which don't offer any modern conveniences of note when compared to any small town in Thailand are numerous, but you're most likely to see the words Bangkapi and Rangsit in that reguard.

The question to ask your school is "how many minutes does it take, by bus, to the nearest BTS station?" If it's more than 20, you're living in the sticks. The MRT doesn't count, in my opinion, as there isn't much of interest along the MRT line, which means you have to constanly transfer to the BTS to get to where you want to go if you live near an MRT station. Most places in Bangkapi are no more than 20 mintues from a BTS station by taxi, but that involves taking flyovers and, on the days when you want to go into the city (Friday night) everybody else has the same idea and you'll see some of the worst traffic jams in the world trying to do that -- expect that "possible 20" to turn into "probably 50" really fast.

I'm sure someone will post a reply saying "I live in Bangkapi and there's a really big mall here!!!!" or "I live in Rangsit and there are a lot of universities here and its very modern!" Well, guess what, you can say the same things about Trat, and that's a town of about 2000 people near the Cambodian border, which is also minutes from Ko Chang and has no traffic to speak of, really. Granted, Trat's mall ain't The Mall Bangkapi, but it's good enough, and there are a million places like Trat all over Thailand.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

"I live in Bangkapi and there's a really big mall here!!!!"

I couldn't resist that Sheep-Goats.

Agreed.

The new MRT is basically only good insofar as it's fast

and airconditioned and gets you to the nearest BTS Station.

But - I reckon that will change slowly, as lines are gradually

expanded further and further out into the 'burbs.

For people who don't live here yet: The BTS lines are above ground

and run straight through the center of Bangkok,

whereas the brand new MRT lines are underground and

sort of make a big circle around the outer perimeter of the BTS lines,

intersecting the BTS at 3 points: Asoke, Sala Daeng and Mo Chit Stations.

There might be one advantage of living out in the sticks, however.

You'll likely spend less $$$.


http://www.bts.co.th/en/map.asp

[sigmoid]