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Welcome Fiona!
Definitely take a trip to Thailand if you haven't done so already. It's not for everyone.

Many westerners love to live in Thailand or China or Philippines or Indonesia or Vietnam or Cambodia due to lower cost of living, freedom to do as they like as laws are not strictly enforced.

Today is so much different from yesteryears as getting a teaching job is not that easy. Besides salary is not like before, for they squeeze you dry.

Teachers who gets good salary are in well known International schools. They are employed because they are qualified and had experience. Besides most of them are employed in their home country before posted here.

Best for you is come over to survey for yourself first before making that leap.

Don't be surprised to see some westerners living here on shoe string budget from their retirement funds. They have to see the foreign exchange is favorable to them or not. Enjoying a good steak can be difficult for them.

The grass is always greener on the other side of fence. Get over there first to experience then you will know.

All the best to you.

thank you for your opinion.  reads to me as an attempt to dissuade from the expat lifestyle in Asia alltogether.  I wonder if i will get any positive constructive feedback here.
Of course I would visit first.  I'm a mature independent woman of 40.

I don't see that as an attempt to dissuade anyone. As a westerner, I've known dozens of friends turned off by the idea of spending more than a weekend in a "third world" country. For instance, a friend of mine (mature and independent btw) lived in the Philippines for years, met his wife there, and they live in the states, with no intention of returning to the PI. They've had enough of the tropics.

ok fair enough.
so are you suggesting you don't know any that have been happy with the experience?
this is why i read it as such.

Hey there girl, Thailand is far from being  a Third world country. We have lived in several 3rd world country's, and here is not.  Here in Chiang Mai they have the best malls I have ever seen all over the world. I can understand your issues with Canada right now. Certainly Thailand has foreigners, but they do not have the wide diversified people as the states or Canada.  Thailand people are  wonderful. Very kind, and very polite. Bangkok is a little different, because of the hustle and busyness of  people and there jobs. Certainly , your not going to get rich here if you take a normal teaching job. But, foreigners come in heaps here to get teaching jobs. Just to be able to live there life style here. The perfect profession here would be a nurse, or Chiropractor.   We really like it here, and we are involved with both the foreigners , and the locals.  A lot of activity s, we like sports, so we are involved with Pickleball here, and we play with both the foreigners like us , and Thais.  The expat community is large, ranging in age from 30 to 100. We found a lot of really , fun , nice, expats that like to do things here. The Visa cha cha is tough . But, it gets done. Good luck on your  dreams. If you need any more feed back, please feel free

Thank you!

We have been living here over 5 years here in Chang Mai and we love it. It has got a bit more crowded and we just bought a second home a little further out of the city. Staying in the heart of the city is great for when you first come here but Chang has some great outer lying areas also.

Thank you, Sujoge, I use "third world" in quotes because I know every country is different, but like it or not, many folks from the West think of Thailand as a "third world" or "developing" country. I've been in my share of different countries, and I don't think of Thailand as "backward", just different.

Hi Fionaseeker,

My wife and I are living just up the street from you, in Nanaimo, and will be retiring in Chiang Mai in early December.  I am 63 and my wife 48. We have done our exploring and our research and are really looking forward to the move to enjoy the people, the food and the golf in the area.  We have booked short term accommodation and plan to rent for the first six months, discover which area around Chiang Mai we want to settle in, then likely buy a condo.

Dave