After nearly 10 years, I have taken a job outside of Thailand and will start next month. I will still be in Asia, only an hour flight away and the wife and kids are staying in Thailand for now, so I will be returning frequently, but still I approach my new position with mixed emotions.
I really enjoy living in Thailand, it has been great.
However, from a professional and financial standpoint, opportunities in other locations appear to be more attractive.
Once gone, I don’t know if I will ever return on a full-time basis, although I do have a “plan” which will allow me to return in a few years in a way that is financially feasible.
It has been a great ride, I have worked teaching English at a three-letter language school, as an area manager for an export company, as a business/economics instructor at numerous local universities and as a manager in an NGO. I have also done a bit of writing.
Looking back at my start here, 220 an hour as an English teacher, I feel pretty good about what has come after. But, I made the decision it was time to move on.
Anyway, Thailand, Thais, and expats, thanks for the ride, it has been the best chapter of my life so far.