More Bang for Your Buck$

More Bang for Your Buck$ (Banking on Bangkok)

For those who at first glance are considering teaching English in Thailand and who may prefer to live and work in a place like Phuket, Chiang Mai or Krabi, you may want to reconsider, and instead focus your job search in Bangkok. “Bangkok? Why would anyone want to go there” you might ask? No doubt you have heard the stories of gridlock traffic, excessive pollution and a plethora scams and pushy people. Right? Well, yes and no. Those aspects do exist, however, like most places you may visit when you travel abroad, there are always some truths associated to those stereotypes, and there are always plenty of exceptions as well.

But what about living and teaching in Paradise? Well, if you want to come to Thailand and have your best opportunity for gainful employment, as well as Western style amenities, then perhaps studying/ working and living in Bangkok is the best place to start your English Teaching career.

 

Get Your Motor Running

First and foremost, the employment opportunities in Bangkok are second to none through-out the entire Kingdom.  If you look at Ajarn.com, the nation’s most prolific teaching employment website, you will see for yourself that over half of all the positions offered are within or near the city’s reach. Despite the downsides of living in a large sprawling modern Asian city, Bangkok does have its attributes. One of which includes a modern mass transit system that can take you just about anywhere you don’t want to drive at a very reasonable price.

Secondly, salaries are higher than in most other places not only because of the slightly higher cost of living in Asia’s "City of Angeles," but because of the sheer demand for accredited conversational  and International School and University teachers.  How much more does it cost to live in Bangkok? Well it may be as much as 30-40% more than big cities in the North and Northeast of Thailand, however, cheap eats, cheaper rent, and cheaper transportation are available depending on the kind of lifestyle you may or may not require. The overall cost of living in Thailand is about 30 to 50% of the cost of living somewhere in America, depending.

NATURE’S CHILD?

While we all desire a life of relaxation on the beach or in a mountains retreat sometimes, those locations are easily well within one’s reach if you have at your disposal  a long weekend or holiday to get out, travel and explore. An increasing number of budget airlines, train service and VIP buses are available 24/7 to whisk you away at a moment’s notice.  Bangkok is an inexhaustible place of sights, sounds and scenery that you never can completely know with 100% familiarity. Sure you may get to know you immediate area or even the expansive range of major tourist destinations. But there is always going to be more that you have not explored. For one thing, the city is constantly changing and growing. If you think New York is “the city that never sleeps,” perhaps you need to spend some time checking out the many happening spots in a city of about 10 million or so.

Feeling overwhelmed. You can easily find areas peaceful relaxation. Don’t forget, affordable Thai massage is everywhere for about 250 THB (about $8 USD) you can get an hour long massage, or join in to some Buddhist meditation for free at any of the cities thousands of temples or parks. As renowned writer and acquaintance Joe Cummings, (aka "Mr. Book") original author of Thailand’s Lonely Planet Guide commented about his relocation to Bangkok from his life in the “pristine rice fields of the idyllic North,” how it became necessary to continue for his well established and illustrious career. Due to the staggering number of opportunities to be found by making the transition to the bright lights of Thailand’s biggest city, Joe learned that there was a silver lining to living in Bangkok, namely a steady stream of quality working projects. Joe’s most recent articles include an piece I read on a plane, published last month (July 2011) for  Bangkok Airlines in flight magazine on “Praphuttaroop.” the art and mystical nature of  (Buddhist Tattoos designed and crafted by monks) believed to hold special powers by the recipient.

Joe explained to a mutual friend how much he actually enjoys living in Bangkok. You might think this was strange coming from a man who has traveled, taught English, and written inspirationally about the farthest corners, and sometimes most secluded places, of the Kingdom for roughly thirty years.  But he finds that in addition to the creature comforts, proximity to goods and services, what makes Bangkok work for him is living in his familiar neighborhood and the appeal of creating his own sub-community with whom he interacts daily.

Born to be Wild?

Similarly, for anyone who is just starting out a career in English Language instruction, Bangkok is perhaps the best location to get your cultural bearings and feet wet in terms of teaching and managing the transition to South East Asia. Prices are in fact, much lower than in Singapore or Hong Kong.  Medical services plentiful are world renown, and the nightlife is exciting and endless for those who long to explore not only  the exotic locations up and down the Chao Praya River, but the rest of the country once they have a home base and some extra cash in their wallet to indulge themselves a bit.

By remaining open and flexible in terms of the best opportunities, you may be surprised to find that places you thought were “not on your list” of desired destinations, may have more to offer than a hectic and frenzied environment. Instead you may discover that having a bit of time to develop a “bag of tricks” in the heart of the nations’ largest city might just payoff in terms of the long run and the opportunity to squirrel away some money and begin to meld with the truly multi-faceted nature of Bangkok. Who knows, perhaps you may even enjoy the process so much that you might end up staying and being quite satisfied and stable when it’s all said and done.

 

For those who don't already know, TEFL Chiang Mai offers our basic TEFL certification which is one of the most affordable accredited hands on TEFL courses offered in Asia or anywhere for that matter. (In fact the Chiang Mai course is 5,000 THB less than other Paradise TEFL locations in Thailand and about $333 USD less than other locations in Asia!)

As part of TEFL Chiang Mai's goal to increase cultural and religious sensitivity among our participants, we also offer a TEFL Buddhist Exchange program where future TEFL teachers have the opportunity not only to become certified instructors but to participate as student's of the Buddhist philosophy and tradition with daily monk chats and dharma talks to better understand the religious beliefs which permeates our student's lives through out many parts of South East Asia. For more information and registration for this, or any of the "Paradise TEFL" franchise programs, please don't hesitate to contact us today!