Q1. Where did you move to and when?

Back to England in 2013

Q2. How long did you work in Thailand?

4 years
The first year I taught at a Prathom school which was very modern and had beautiful facilities.
The last 3 years I taught at a secondary government school.

Q3. What was your main reason for moving?

I simply fell out of love with Thailand, teaching and the lifestyle.
I went through all the emotions that im sure many other teachers and expat residents have gone through.
The first year was amazing. New life, new place, new work experience etc.
Second year still enjoying new things but then after you scratch the surface in Thailand and realise a few things are not what they seem to appear on the surface you soon become frustrated, annoyed and start to dislike many things about living here.
I also was here during the yellow shirts takeover of the airports, red shirt riots in BKK and the floods where I was stuck in my condo for 5 weeks surrounded by chest high water.
I missed family and REAL friends and had enough of the laid back do nothing but smile lifestyle.
Living in Thailand slowly started to drag me down so decided it was to time to go home.

Q4. What are the advantages of working where you are now compared to Thailand?

Well im not teaching anymore but in general there is simply no comparison of working conditions of Thailand to London.
Working in Thailand is very limited for career progression, wage increases and benefits.

Q5. What do you miss about life in Thailand?

Cheap food and living.
I miss the pool and gym in my condo.
I miss the beautiful women.
I miss my motivated students who genuinely wanted to learn.

I dont miss the political BS that seems to be non stop every year with all the different coloured shirts protesting.
I dont miss trying to teach English to unmotivated people.
I dont miss wearing a shirt and tie in 35oC weather.
I dont miss being called a farang

Q6. Would you advise a new teacher to seek work in Thailand or where you are now?

Errr yes but only for a short period of time as you will only get frustrated with it.
I was there for 4 years.
2 years too much imo.
If I had left after 2 years I would probably have a better view and opinion about teaching and living in Thailand but as I said after a while you really start to see things in a different light and realise that unless you have nothing else in your life get the hell out while you still have your sanity.
Thailand can make you a very unmotivated person if you let it and get sucked in.

Q7. Any plans to return to Thailand one day?

No.
Even though I lived there for 4 years and had some great times, spent time learning the language I was still treated as a farang tourist and had to always be on my guard for being scammed and ripped off.
Normally after speaking Thai they would realise I was not a tourist and give me a normal price but having to constantly be aware of being ripped off starts to P'ss you off after a while and you soon start to fall out of love with the country and the people.

Q8. Anything else you'd like to add?

Thailand is good for a first time teacher who wants to have fun for a year or two.
Serious, qualified teachers stay away.

Finally I do worry about the future of Thailand with the current round of protests with PDRC and red shirts back on ths streets.
Having lived here through the last yellow and red shirt violence in 2009 and 2010 I would be very careful about coming to Thailand to teach right now as things can change very quickly.