My family have been here now for just over a year. I have left SE Asia but brought all the belongings with me. The kids are thriving at school where they have received so much extra English schooling that they are both the best readers in their classes. They love sport,can hit a golf,cricket and tennis ball and swim like fish.
We harvest green mangos off street trees in the season and tamarind as well. My partner is a problem child making the most of a party town where there are two million domestic tourists a year alone. The place rocks every night of the year. I have a little red sports car now so we spend a lot of time cruising through the rain forests and around the beaches.It's like having a powerful moto but not getting killed.
It is a small town so traffic is minimal, clothes for the kids are cheaper than Cambodia. We shop for ourselves at op shops and the missus buys dresses for a few dollars apiece that look sensational.
Schooling is not free, $450 for the first year of high school next year plus an Apple laptop to buy. I drink cheap German beer $33 for 24 stubbies, she drinks $10 cab sav. Most people are fine but we do cop shit sometimes.
There is a large market three days a week in town with every possible tropical fruit and vegetable. Heaps of fresh fish, prawns, crabs and squid. But of course nothing is cheap.
I may not be here forever, I want to live on Koh Chang.

Back in OZ a week now.

People are friendly and it feels like we are living in a bubble away from the real world.

Beerinthemorning wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:49 pm Back in OZ a week now.

People are friendly and it feels like we are living in a bubble away from the real world.

Ah, you must be in a town called Alice.

willyhilly wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 5:21 pm
Schooling is not free, $450 for the first year of high school next year plus an Apple laptop to buy. I drink cheap German beer $33 for 24 stubbies, she drinks $10 cab sav. Most people are fine but we do cop shit sometimes.

It's probably better that you're living in the tropical part of Australia and not freezing in Van Diemen's land or something! Sure, that schooling isn't free but it's very cheap considering the facilities I'm guessing you get? I wish I only had to pay that much!

Beerinthemorning wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:49 pm Back in OZ a week now.

People are friendly and it feels like we are living in a bubble away from the real world.

Well that's what usually happens when you live in a big/ important enough country. I lived in London for about 15 years and although I traveled a lot in that time it often seemed like the rest of the world didn't exist because there was so much going on there.

OK, you want to know ,,,Who t

Duncan wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 8:29 pm

Beerinthemorning wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:49 pm Back in OZ a week now.

People are friendly and it feels like we are living in a bubble away from the real world.

Ah, you must be in a town called Alice.

You sure its called Alice ?

willyhilly wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 5:21 pm Schooling is not free, $450 for the first year of high school next year plus an Apple laptop to buy. I drink cheap German beer $33 for 24 stubbies

Not sure where "here" is mate. But if you are talking about Oz then - I paid a LOT more then that 30 years ago for my kids to go to public (high) schools and in April this year, a carton of generic beer ( VB, Tooheys or XXXX) was over $45 in Dan Murphy's.

Kung-fu Hillbilly wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 4:15 pm Questions like, what do you do for a living? Where did you grow up/go to school? Been married, got kids....?While it could be argued these are normal inquiries from people wanting to get to know you, I perceive them as mostly individuals trying ascertain your status or trying to gauge you in some way. Perhaps this has more to do with me than them.

There is an old, old joke, that being an Ozzie I'm sure you have heard before!
A Victorian greets you by asking what school you went to. A New South Welshman greets you by asking how much money you earn. A Queenslander greets you by asking you what beer you drink and then offers to buy the first shout.
I take it you haven't moved to Queensland.