Beachlover
March 16th, 2012, 00:32
Do you know of any big communities of Thais outside Thailand?
I got back to Sydney in time to catch the end of the Thai festival at Darling Harbour on the weekend.
After the non-stop mayhem of the last week abroad and on the road, it was nice to be outdoors on this gorgeous, sunny weekend afternoon, relaxing with my perpetually smiling, cheerful Thai boyfriend.
Blinking in the bright sunlight, we wondered from stall to stall, munching on tasty noodles, skewers, durian with pandan sticky rice and coconut ice cream. His Thai friends mingled with my Aussie and Asian friends. The city skyline gleamed in the background. Life canтАЩt get much better than this... a very content moment of peace in a fast-paced life. Times like this, I think getting old (not far from 30 now) will be quite nice. :happy7:
As I washed it all down with a cold, frothy beer later, I wondered where else?
Where else in the world there might be a massive expat community of Thais as large and developed as the one in Sydney? They have certainly changed the face of this city.
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g419/beachloversphotos/Misc%20Posts/Thaifest/Thaifest1.jpg
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g419/beachloversphotos/Misc%20Posts/Thaifest/Thaifest2.jpg
Thaitown, Sydney
The Thai population has been steadily growing over the last 10-15 years. But in the last 3-5 years the growth has been exponential. TheyтАЩve really filled up the city.
At the centre of this is тАШThaitownтАЩ. Thaitown is in the central business district, adjacent to Chinatown and threatening to outgrow it. It consists of a few streets packed with Thai restaurants, Thai bars, Thai supermarkets, Thai massage shops, Thai DVD shops and other Thai amenities.
The Thai bars are buzzing until 3-4 am 7 nights a week with Thais тАУ unlike the Aussies who tend to restrict their тАШbig nightsтАЩ to Friday/Saturday nights. They have live Thai bands playing Thai songs every night. They serve whiskey and other drinks by the bottle, as is common in Thailand/Asia.
My boyfriend commented that sometimes he forgets heтАЩs not in Bangkok anymore. Right after I had the same thought myself. Sitting there at 2am on a weeknight with all these Thais, speaking Thai and hearing the band singing in Thai was almost disorientating. I had to look outside to remember I was still in Sydney.
But it isnтАЩt just Thaitown where the Thais have changed the face of Sydney.
Changing the face of the city
For decades, the most visible contribution Thais had made to Sydney was the ubiquitous Thai restaurants and takeaways found in most suburbs. Now thereтАЩs much more. Thai massage shops have opened up all over Sydney. And I mean all over! Even some quiet suburban shopping villages will have 3-4 Thai massage shops open within a 2-3 block radius.
I love it. Whenever I have an hour to kill during the day, I can pop into the nearest Thai massage shop, which is never more than 5-10 minsтАЩ walk away, anywhere I am. I can get a nice foot massage while thumbing through e-mails and missed calls on my phone. YepтАж theyтАЩve definitely improved the quality of life to be had in Sydney!
The quality and availability of Thai restaurants in Sydney has also improved dramatically. The simple, bare bones restaurants seem to be almost going extinct. A new generation of Thai restaurants has taken over, featuring sophisticated branding, clean, open kitchens and trendy interiors with upmarket furnishing. The most successful Thai restaurants attract lines of people waiting up to an hour to get in every night. No wonder newspapers are commenting that the best Thai food outside of Thailand is to be found in Sydney.
The Thai entrepreneurs behind these and other successful Thai businesses are talented, savvy, hard-working and highly-driven. After a few years, add multimillionaire to their attributes. Some of these immigrants achieve more in just a few years of hard work than most Aussies will achieve over a three or four decades of complacent mediocrity.
Push factors now sending Thais abroad
There has always been the pull factor of higher earning potential attracting Thais to move abroad to Australia.
But over the last couple of years, IтАЩve noticed the push factor has gotten stronger. Dramatic events and the resulting economic consequences are driving more and more Thais out of Thailand.
My BF and his friends often get calls from their friends back in Thailand contemplating about moving here or elsewhere abroad and away from Thailand. I used to hear about this 1-2 years ago with another Thai boyfriend so itтАЩs not a completely new thing. But lately, this theme has gotten stronger and stronger.
Apparently things are harder in Thailand now. They say itтАЩs harder to earn a living and the mood is down over there. The government isnтАЩt making good decisions and theyтАЩre worried about what will happen when the inevitable passing of a key figure in Thailand eventually occurs.
Thais are quite a cliquey bunch. They like to be with other Thais and are fairly unique in their habits, compared to other Asians and nationalities. So IтАЩve no doubt that the existence of a large and highly-developed Thai community here along with Thai-oriented services and amenities will draw even more Thais to Sydney.
Having said that, itтАЩs not just the Thais too. Sydney truly is a melting pot of all the Asian nationalities.
I was quite surprised when my BF told me this the other day. He said Bangkok is great for visits and holidays but not good for living and earning a living. Australia is much better for both purposes. He and most of his friends have no intention of ever returning to live in Thailand.
So thatтАЩs Sydney! Which brings me to the point of this threadтАж
Where else?
Are there any other Thai communities around the world, as developed and large as the one in Sydney? It would be pretty cool to hear about other Thais communities around the world.
I hear about Thais going to work in Japan.
The UK - IтАЩm sure thereтАЩs a good number of Thais and possibly a similar Thai community in the UK because IтАЩve often heard about Thais going to live, study or open businesses in the UK.
The US тАУ IтАЩve befriended (but not kept in contact with) a few Thais who said they went or were going to the US to study.
IтАЩve also read about there being a large Thai community in Hong Kong and an area where they hang out but havenтАЩt checked it out myself yet and forget the details of where it is.
Can anyone add more details, descriptions or cities to this? Those of you who are living abroad with Thais, can you tell us stories of how they've settled in, adapted, integrated and what they've liked and disliked?
I got back to Sydney in time to catch the end of the Thai festival at Darling Harbour on the weekend.
After the non-stop mayhem of the last week abroad and on the road, it was nice to be outdoors on this gorgeous, sunny weekend afternoon, relaxing with my perpetually smiling, cheerful Thai boyfriend.
Blinking in the bright sunlight, we wondered from stall to stall, munching on tasty noodles, skewers, durian with pandan sticky rice and coconut ice cream. His Thai friends mingled with my Aussie and Asian friends. The city skyline gleamed in the background. Life canтАЩt get much better than this... a very content moment of peace in a fast-paced life. Times like this, I think getting old (not far from 30 now) will be quite nice. :happy7:
As I washed it all down with a cold, frothy beer later, I wondered where else?
Where else in the world there might be a massive expat community of Thais as large and developed as the one in Sydney? They have certainly changed the face of this city.
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g419/beachloversphotos/Misc%20Posts/Thaifest/Thaifest1.jpg
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g419/beachloversphotos/Misc%20Posts/Thaifest/Thaifest2.jpg
Thaitown, Sydney
The Thai population has been steadily growing over the last 10-15 years. But in the last 3-5 years the growth has been exponential. TheyтАЩve really filled up the city.
At the centre of this is тАШThaitownтАЩ. Thaitown is in the central business district, adjacent to Chinatown and threatening to outgrow it. It consists of a few streets packed with Thai restaurants, Thai bars, Thai supermarkets, Thai massage shops, Thai DVD shops and other Thai amenities.
The Thai bars are buzzing until 3-4 am 7 nights a week with Thais тАУ unlike the Aussies who tend to restrict their тАШbig nightsтАЩ to Friday/Saturday nights. They have live Thai bands playing Thai songs every night. They serve whiskey and other drinks by the bottle, as is common in Thailand/Asia.
My boyfriend commented that sometimes he forgets heтАЩs not in Bangkok anymore. Right after I had the same thought myself. Sitting there at 2am on a weeknight with all these Thais, speaking Thai and hearing the band singing in Thai was almost disorientating. I had to look outside to remember I was still in Sydney.
But it isnтАЩt just Thaitown where the Thais have changed the face of Sydney.
Changing the face of the city
For decades, the most visible contribution Thais had made to Sydney was the ubiquitous Thai restaurants and takeaways found in most suburbs. Now thereтАЩs much more. Thai massage shops have opened up all over Sydney. And I mean all over! Even some quiet suburban shopping villages will have 3-4 Thai massage shops open within a 2-3 block radius.
I love it. Whenever I have an hour to kill during the day, I can pop into the nearest Thai massage shop, which is never more than 5-10 minsтАЩ walk away, anywhere I am. I can get a nice foot massage while thumbing through e-mails and missed calls on my phone. YepтАж theyтАЩve definitely improved the quality of life to be had in Sydney!
The quality and availability of Thai restaurants in Sydney has also improved dramatically. The simple, bare bones restaurants seem to be almost going extinct. A new generation of Thai restaurants has taken over, featuring sophisticated branding, clean, open kitchens and trendy interiors with upmarket furnishing. The most successful Thai restaurants attract lines of people waiting up to an hour to get in every night. No wonder newspapers are commenting that the best Thai food outside of Thailand is to be found in Sydney.
The Thai entrepreneurs behind these and other successful Thai businesses are talented, savvy, hard-working and highly-driven. After a few years, add multimillionaire to their attributes. Some of these immigrants achieve more in just a few years of hard work than most Aussies will achieve over a three or four decades of complacent mediocrity.
Push factors now sending Thais abroad
There has always been the pull factor of higher earning potential attracting Thais to move abroad to Australia.
But over the last couple of years, IтАЩve noticed the push factor has gotten stronger. Dramatic events and the resulting economic consequences are driving more and more Thais out of Thailand.
My BF and his friends often get calls from their friends back in Thailand contemplating about moving here or elsewhere abroad and away from Thailand. I used to hear about this 1-2 years ago with another Thai boyfriend so itтАЩs not a completely new thing. But lately, this theme has gotten stronger and stronger.
Apparently things are harder in Thailand now. They say itтАЩs harder to earn a living and the mood is down over there. The government isnтАЩt making good decisions and theyтАЩre worried about what will happen when the inevitable passing of a key figure in Thailand eventually occurs.
Thais are quite a cliquey bunch. They like to be with other Thais and are fairly unique in their habits, compared to other Asians and nationalities. So IтАЩve no doubt that the existence of a large and highly-developed Thai community here along with Thai-oriented services and amenities will draw even more Thais to Sydney.
Having said that, itтАЩs not just the Thais too. Sydney truly is a melting pot of all the Asian nationalities.
I was quite surprised when my BF told me this the other day. He said Bangkok is great for visits and holidays but not good for living and earning a living. Australia is much better for both purposes. He and most of his friends have no intention of ever returning to live in Thailand.
So thatтАЩs Sydney! Which brings me to the point of this threadтАж
Where else?
Are there any other Thai communities around the world, as developed and large as the one in Sydney? It would be pretty cool to hear about other Thais communities around the world.
I hear about Thais going to work in Japan.
The UK - IтАЩm sure thereтАЩs a good number of Thais and possibly a similar Thai community in the UK because IтАЩve often heard about Thais going to live, study or open businesses in the UK.
The US тАУ IтАЩve befriended (but not kept in contact with) a few Thais who said they went or were going to the US to study.
IтАЩve also read about there being a large Thai community in Hong Kong and an area where they hang out but havenтАЩt checked it out myself yet and forget the details of where it is.
Can anyone add more details, descriptions or cities to this? Those of you who are living abroad with Thais, can you tell us stories of how they've settled in, adapted, integrated and what they've liked and disliked?