Launchpad Co-working Space Bangkok

Posted on July 31, 2013 by koomatzu

Still relatively new, Launchpad launched it’s 800sq meter co-working office space in Bangkok, Sathorn, towards the end of 2012. As far as I know, there are currently only two co-working office spaces in Bangkok, the other being Hubba in Ekkamai. If you’re new to Bangkok and keen to meet some people, get some work done in a professional environment or simply just itching to get out of the condo, these shared offices are definitely worth a visit.

A day at Launchpad Bangkok

Greeted by two Thai receptionists, I paid my 220baht for the day, then proceeded to try mastering their fingerprint entry system. Upon your first visit you must register a fingerprint which becomes the lynchpin of your identity at Launchpad. Used by the doors for letting you access the various areas and for recalling your details on subsequent visits. After the 5th or 6th attempt to register my fingerprint, it began to look like gaining access just wasn’t meant to be, however after some special finger powder from the staff the scanners finally let me though.

Launchpad has 120 work-desks, five meeting rooms, a large recreational area with beanbags plus a games room with gaming consoles, pingpong table and various breakout spaces. Unlike HUBBA (another co-working space in Bangkok’s Ekamai district), I wasn’t given a tour nor had much opportunity to ask questions. The Thai-English language barrier seemed a lot more apparent at Launchpad than at HUBBA, which made asking questions more of an exercise in poorly acted charades than anything fruitful.

The desk space was good with plenty of room and, although I didn’t have access to a UK socket, there were spare adapters available if needed. The chairs were excellent, some kind of decent replica of a Mesh chair, with great lumbar support.

The environment seemed a little less expat friendly though. Most of the guys there were Thai, pretty young and mainly male with more technical type roles. Although the atmosphere was laid back and not particularly ‘office-y’ or stuffy, many seemed fully engrossed in their work; perhaps the illusive recreational area would have provided more conversation.

The overall feel was clinical and precise, a little like working in cubicles, minus the walls. Where compared to the contrast HUBBA’s organic friendly style it was a marked difference. I would recommend Launchpad as somewhere to go and get things done without distraction. However if you like the feeling of working in a more diverse and energetic, creative environment, I may point you towards HUBBA (Review pending).

How to get to Launchpad Co-working Space

Launchpad can be found on Thanon Pan just a 400 meter walk from BTS Surasak in Sathorn. It’s easy to find with it’s large ‘LAUNCHPAD’ stickered name on the window.

Address: Launchpad, Sethiwan Tower – 139 Thanon Pan, Bangkok, Thailand 10500

About the Author

Guest blog written by Mark from Fifty Shades of Mark, a blog documenting the ventures and misadventures of online dating.

Volunteer In Thailand

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Happy

Volunteer In Thailand For Free

Surprisingly enough, there are a lot of charities in Thailand and volunteering agencies around that charge volunteers who want to volunteer for them. Understandably charities in Thailand desperately need donations and have to get funding however they can, but I just can’t help but feel a little mugged off at the thought of forking out extortionate amounts of money to lend a helping hand volunteering in Thailand. Some people really don’t have excess money to make substantial charity donations – all they have to offer is their time to volunteer.

If you look hard enough though, there are plenty of amazing charities that genuinely need people for free volunteering in Bangkok, without expecting donations in return.

No Cost Volunteering In Bangkok

Teaching English. GoodWill charity in Bangkok help disadvantaged women, usually from hilltribes, learn valuable skills to increase their work opportunities and avoid life in the sex industry. They often need people to volunteer in Bangkok to teach english or IT skills a couple of hours a week. Hill Tribe Education Projects charity helps support and educate children in hill tribes in Thailand, who have few rights and little support from the government.

Or check out Bangkok Volunteer Teaching on Facebook for an interesting mixture of teaching volunteer work in Bangkok on offer, such as teaching guitar, for various charities.

Mercy Centre, an orphanage and centre for disadvantaged children in Bangkok, often have volunteer openings for art, music and language teachers or general fundraising and office work.

General volunteer work. In Search Of Sanuk & Foundation for Slum Children help support poor families from the Bangkok slums by educating on parenting and taking care of the children. Thai Craft help support village artisans and their Thai crafts, volunteer work for them varies greatly from simple ‘checkout bagger’ positions, to skilled photography position.

Meetup Bangkok Volunteers is a simple community group of expats and Thai locals who meetup and take part in volunteer work in Bangkok. It’s quite an informal group so it’s especially useful for people who want to volunteer in Bangkok without making a commitment. You can sign up for a range of volunteer days with Meetup including making books for school children or road tripping on jungle trips to help provide medical care for Thai hill tribes.

Where to volunteer in Thailand

Active Aid International is a very useful, free directory of grassroots organisations and community projects. It is a very useful website to search for honest charities to volunteer in Thailand for free with.

Jobs in Thailand

Posted on June 17, 2013 by koomatzu

Since moving, I have seriously struggled to earn money and find jobs in Thailand. Unless you are lucky enough to have been transferred from a job at home to Thailand, or you can work from your computer as a programmer or web designer, the work restrictions for foreigners in Thailand can make life difficult. There are still a few other ways to earn money in Thailand though…

Earn money in Thailand

Writing online

Anybody can do these jobs in Thailand, although it doesn’t pay so well for the lesser skilled. You can either write content and blogs on websites such as Hirewriters or Textbroker, or you can write reviews for Reviewstream.com. There are also many websites that will sometimes advertise jobs writing product descriptions, for example, game descriptions and hotel descriptions for travel sites.

Hirewriters are not so fussy with the skill of their writers, but I have had trouble in the past actually signing up because they put a block on IP adresses from certain parts of the world. Textbroker pay better but are a little stricter – I actually, rather embarrassingly, was declined to join after submitting my writing sample to them. Ouch… but I’m not bitter or anything. (Puck you TextBroker! You ain’t gettin’ a link here, Puck You! *Sniff*)

Review Stream are easy to use to earn money in Thailand – you just need to write 200 word reviews for any product you choose and you can earn up to $3.50 each time. Their guidelines are very strict though and if you do not meet their criteria in your review, you only get about 50 cents… not so good. For the more creative people, try Squidoo or Zujava to write your own articles and earn money in Thailand.

Freelance

If you have any kind of skill like translation, writing, designing, drawing, programming, music; try signing up to one of the many freelancing websites available for other jobs in Thailand. You can try Guru, Odesk and PeoplePerHour. It takes some persistence to establish yourself at first but it’s worth a try if you have the skills – people charge good money on freelance websites.

I don’t have any skills in particular myself, but I managed to nab a small but stable, long-term job in Thailand on PeoplePerHour. I just spend a couple of hours every morning updating somebody’s website and Facebook page with daily offers. From this, I earn about £15 – £20 (average 800 baht) per day from it – which is really helpful. I spend the rest of my time doing courses on Udemy.com so that I can learn new skills to earn money in Thailand on freelance websites.

Another more random website is Fiverr where you can charge $5 for just about absolutely anything you want. Alternatively, make use of your new found knowledge of Thailand with e-Curator, a new travel advice service that relies on expats for accurate and local tips. For a 30 minute Skype conversation with a traveller hoping to travel to your area, you will earn $6.50.

Acting

Randomly enough, there is a demand for foreigners to work in extra and acting jobs in Thailand. Extra jobs in thailand don’t always pay so well though, particularly jobs for the Thai and Bollywood film crews, but Extra work pays the bills nonetheless. You need no previous work experience or skills to do Extra jobs in Thailand but it helps to be persistent in requesting work and getting chummy with the agents. Sucking up to people is something that is not my forte though… Click here for more info on acting and extra jobs in Thailand.

Teaching

Teaching jobs in Thailand are the most popular and well-known ways to earn money in Thailand. It is much easier if you have a degree and/ or TEFL teaching certificate. There are ways to get around this – build contacts to find jobs in Thailand without these requirements or find agents that can help find suitable teaching jobs in Thailand for you in kindergartens, for example.

Some agencies that might be able to work around a lack of degree in Thailand are Time2Talk, Super English, The Language, BFITS, and Malthus. If you struggle finding jobs in Thailand the honest way, you can always buy fake diplomas either online or on Khaosan Road. Teaching camps usually don’t require a degree and pay around 1000 bath per day for typical three day camps around Thailand. Check out Teaching jobs in Thailand for more info.

More on how to make money while living in Thailand

For a more comprehensive guide on how to earn money and jobs in Thailand, you may be interested in the e-book below. From all the books I’ve seen on making money while living in Thailand so far, this one seems the most honest, realistic and genuine – it’s not a dodgy get-rich-quick scheme but it does cover the most logical means of earning a modest amount of money to get by in Thailand. You can buy it for £$19.77 here.

Buy the eBook for £$19.77 here

Jobs In Thailand – Acting

Posted on April 19, 2013 by koomatzu

As I have whined about enough in my recent posts, lately I have been low on work and am struggling to find ways to earn a living in bangkok. When I was out a few nights ago, I received a phone call from a Bangkok agent I had applied for Extra work with a few months back. As this was the first time I’d heard from this agent yet, I wanted to keep them sweet, and so agreed to go to a casting for an acting job in Bangkok – I normally decline attending castings as I am well aware that there are plenty of other professional actors kicking around… and me – I’m completely clueless and uncharismatic with that sort of thing… Not to mention I hate being the centre of attention.

To be honest, I wasn’t just doing it to get on the good side of this new agent… life in Bangkok has been kind of uneventful recently and I’ve been starting to go a little stir crazy. I also decided to investigate acting as a career in Thailand and take one for the team, for the all-of-about five people that ever actually read my blog. Or anybody who happens to want to know what they shoud expect at a casting in Bangkok. I’ve got nothing better to do anyway, I’d just waste my time mincing around eating fried chicken and bubble teas otherwise.

Acting work in Bangkok

There are many acting and extras groups you can join on facebook that advertise this kind of work in Thailand. You can just search ‘casting thailand’ and there will be loads to join up to. Agents are also quite keen to send whoever they can to castings because it simply increases the probability of one of their clients being picked, and them getting their commission from the job. You can find a list of agents to contact under my tips for extra work in Bangkok. It’s difficult to get parts, especially with no experience, but although it can seem time consuming and not worth the effort, the pay can actually be very rewarding. If I had actually gotten this particular part, I would have been paid a minimum of 20,000 baht (about $700 or £450) minus the agency fees – 15,000 baht. Minimum. For one day’s acting work.

There is a lot more pressure than when just doing extra work in Bangkok though. Although you get treated much better (e.g. you get your own umbrella-and-fan man and you get to eat the nice food), it is basically all down to you when they are shooting. If you can’t get it right, then all the extras and all the film crew – they all have to work longer because of you! It’s all your fault! Man, that would seriously stress me out, the thought of that… and all those people watching you try to act. At least when you work as an extra, it doesnt really matter what you’re doing – nobody really cares, you’re just a minion picking your nose in the background. I like it that way though, being the invisible minion with no responsibility…

But most people aren’t insecure wrecks like me, so if you are a confident, outgoing person you may consider giving acting work in Thailand a try and perservering simply because the pay is so good. A lot of other people at the casting I spoke too were not actually experienced actors either. It’s much easier than normal to obtain acting work in Thailand as the community of foreigners is small and the demand for ‘farang’ high. There are many acting workshops you can attend and I have personally heard from people who have been to them that they are very useful and helpful. Which actually surprises me. These can cost from 6000 baht to 10,000 baht for a few weekends of workshops. When you think about the potential amount you could be paid from a typical acting part in Thailand though, it seems easily worth a try to improve your acting skills.

My first – and my last – casting in Bangkok

To start with, the details I was sent about the casting itself were not particularly clear. I was told to dress like a young, affluent and successful world traveller. To dress upscale but casual as if staying at a five star hotel. To dress uniquely with style, but to not look like a model.. and no suits either! I was pretty confused by these conflicting descriptions but nonetheless I interpreted this as dressing like a gnarly, hardcore traveller with lots of money. I opted for some ethnic, leather jewellery and a casual outfit with a funky, smart suit jacket. I know, it said no suits – but I do not own ‘upscale clothing’ so it was all I could think of.

When I arrived at the hotel that the casting was arranged at in Bangkok, I got to the floor of the casting and found about three or four other male actors dressed quite smart and fashionably. I took a seat with them and then one of the Thai crew members came out and gave me a form to fill in with my measurements and contact details. I remained sat, waiting for about 40 minutes… -_- Some of the other people were taken off to a sitting area behind me and had their photos taken in various positions and situations. I heard the photographer behind saying ‘Ok now laugh, someone just did something very funny… HAHAHAHA’… then I heard the model let out an awkward, fake laugh and agonized myself over how douchey I was gonna feel when it was my turn.

Ok, I thought, no problem, this is a piece of cake, I got this job in the bag! All I’ve got to do is pretend I’m doing whatever they say – it’s easy. And I don’t have to be embarassed because everybodies in the same boat here. I think this was more to pump myself up than out of arrogance but I figured – how hard can it be? Anybody can act. Eventually, I got called into the room for the castings and took a seat on a prepared set. Two other girls entered dressed much more glamourously than me and took a seat either side of me.

Basically, I misinterpreted the prior description of the job. We were meant to play three best friends staying in a hotel who were basically rich and went on holiday all the time – not hardcore world travellers. After explaining the setting to us and telling us we would need to improvise (!) a scene of ‘three besties hanging out together and teasing eachother’, the casting woman took a look at me up and down and let out a displeased groan. ‘Take off you jacket so you look comfortable inside your hotel room…’ she asked. Then she took another scrutinising glance at me and continued ‘ok take off you shoes’. ..I was feeling a little unloved at this point.

This was when it got awkward though. I’ve never acted before let alone improvised, so I just could not think what to say. Considering my inexperience though, I think I did pretty well really. It lasted maybe 15 or 20 minutes where they took a few takes of us socialising and laughing together. At the end, the casting woman laughed hard and said to the the girl to my right ‘I feel so sorry for you, you are trying so hard and the others act so… lazy’. She carried on laughing at us while the girl kindly denied what she said and tried to defend us. And I thought I was acting quite cheerful! How wrong I was… I guess if I could pass on anything I’ve learned from this experience, it would be to just make sure to overact and exagerrate everything.

The two girls were both very nice; the other bad one turned out to not be so good at english, so she had a better excuse than me for being bad at improvising. When I left the room after being laughed at by a professional, I felt a little discouraged to say the least. Before I had a chance to recollect myself and remotivate myself, I was called upon by the photographer. This went equally as bad. He would tell me to smile and laugh… it’s actually surprisingly hard to laugh on demand when the pressure is on you. He told me to pretend I was watching funny cartoons on the TV and then said ‘oh, the cartoons aren’t funny enough for you… Ok, show your teeth when you smile’. I don’t even want to see those photographs… it must have looked so creepy watching my feeble attempt to push out an unnatural smile. I’m surprised the poor man didn’t smear grease over his viewfinder to protect his eyes… It’s painful to think about.

I was glad to be out of there… The casting took 90 minutes altogether and during that time alone I saw about nine other applicants. Castings ran all week and all day, so it must be pretty difficult and competitive to actually get the part for something like that. Another extra friend of mine (also new to the industry) once told me about how she attempted to go to a casting in Thailand and how horribly embarrassing it was. So with my non-existent acting skills and this prior warning, I was not so naïve that I actually thought it would go smoothly. As with my other past Thailand career attempts, I think it’s safe to say I did not get the job…

Lonely In Thailand

Posted on April 16, 2013 by koomatzu

Social Networking In Thailand

The expat community in Thailand is surprisingly small and cosy but I also believe that just living in another country instantly equips you with many common interests to meet and connect with other like-minded expats. Most people who have moved to Thailand will not only tend to share a similar attitude and outlook on life but will also usually be open minded enough to posess an interesting array of alike hobbies. There are many useful social networking websites kicking around to help you to meet other expats if you do get lonely in Thailand. In some people’s cases it can be hard to connect and meet with others and make friends in Thailand otherwise.

Social networking websites in Thailand

I have personally tried and tested some of these social networking sites myself and have found them to be very friendly and welcoming in Bangkok. It’s definitely worth a try to network with other expats in Thailand – there is nothing to lose from trying if you start to feel lonely in Thailand at least. Personally, when I am being anti-social in Bangkok, it makes me considerably more homesick also.

Meetup has an unbelievably wide selection of different groups for people to meet and either help out in the community, get some exercise or brush up on their language skills. Meetup groups in Thailand vary in size from about 5 to 30 people and include volunteer groups, beach volleyball groups, language groups, motorcyle touring, jam sessions, web developers and naturist groups! And many more! There is something there for everyone…

Chickynet is a women-only social networking site in Thailand. Personally, I think it can sometimes be quite difficult and lonely in Thailand for women, as a large proportion of expats seem to be men. Chickynet is great for socialising, hanging out and meeting with other women in Thailand. It also hosts numerous events, has a classified section and forums for help and expat advice. I highly recommend joining this community if you don’t yet have many aquaintances in Thailand.

For the fitness and beer enthusiasts, there are many Hash groups which exist around Thailand both for cyclists and runners. If you like running and biking, mixed up with some heavy drinking then give it a try. The Bangkok Hash House Bikers host many cycling events and meetups around Bangkok, or there is a runner’s Hash in Bangkok that meet Mondays, The Hash Pub in Chiangmai, Pattaya Hash in Pattaya… There are absolutely tonnes of other Hash websites to choose from in Thailand depending on your area…

Shared workspaces

For people who are self employed or similar, there are a selection of rentable shared office spaces around Bangkok which are ideal for meeting likeminded people.. or simply for those who are becoming lonely and bored of sitting at their desk in their y-fronts, scratching at their balls eating cheetos.

Hubba is located in Ekkamai in Bangkok and costs from 100 baht per day depending on which package you purchase with them. They offer a free trial so there is no pressure to join up at least. Some snacks and beverages are included in this price such as cakes from their pantry. The atmosphere is very friendly and relaxed and they can arrange meals for you very cheaply to eat and socialise with the rest of the staff.

Launchpad is another share workspace in Bangkok, Sathorn – you can read more about Launchpad here.

Expat Pubs in Thailand

Another great way to meet expats in Thailand are the western style pubs – there are many people who network and make friends more casually in this way. In Bangkok for example, you can find Irish and English style pubs along most of the main stretches of activity – Silom has many to choose from along the whole of Silom Road, Nana is also a particularly pub-filled part of the city. Phrom Pong and Ekkamai also have good selections. Check out Durty Nellys, The Robin Hood and The Black Swan. In Silom near BTS Sala Deng, The Roadhouse is a particularly social pub amongst Bangkok expats. None of these places are cheap, but then foreign luxuries in Thailand never are.

If nightclubs are more your scene, try the expat rich Levels on Soi 11 in Nana, Bangkok. For the more creative crowd I would recommend a visit to the small and cosy Jam Cafe in Sathorn (the end nearest BTS Surasak Bangkok). The Jam Cafe often hosts cult movie nights and other interesting events to get people meeting and socialising. They also make some good fish and chips, burgers and veggie meals for only 100 – 150 baht.

Sathorn Saint View Serviced Apartments, Bangkok

Posted on March 15, 2013 by koomatzu

Sathorn Saint View is both a long stay apartment complex as well as a short stay hotel in Bangkok. If you’re looking for some cheaper budget accommodation in a convenient location, then Sathorn Saint View can be a good choice of apartment to rent in Bangkok. Including the more expensive rooms, all apartments in Sathorn Saint View are open plan studios with no kitchen, just a fridge (and microwave in the better apartments). Rooms are relatively cheap and vary from between 5000 (£100 or $150) and 12000 (£250 or $400) baht per month or from 600 baht per day.

The Area Around Sathorn Saint View

Sathorn Saint View is in Sathorn, just a 5 or 10 minute walk to the Surasak BTS sky train station. Just four stops away for 25 baht on the skytrain is the Siam interchange, the hotspot of Bangkok. Alternatively, about a 20 minute walk from the apartments is the central pier, where you can catch a ferry from about 10 baht which will take you to the old district of Bangkok where Khaosan Road and all the main areas for sightseeing are. Also within easy distance, there’s Silom Road which has plenty of choice of restaurants and shops, just about a 15 minute walk away.

A review of Sathorn Saint View serviced apartments

With this convenient location and low price in mind, you can’t have everything for nothing in life.

The downside of Sathorn Saint View:

Some of the staff are quite nice but a lot of them aren’t particularly helpful and just aren’t particularly enthusiastic or welcoming for some people’s tastes.
The professional images on the hotel website are very deceiving. The gym is somewhat ill-equipped in comparison to the these images. Personally, I’ve completely written off the gym. It comprises of a rusty old, dirty weights bench, 3 treadmills and an even rustier pull down cable bar machine. And maybe the odd dead cockroach. It’s real grubby… and to top it off, not only is it located in a boiling hot, green house stylee room on the rooftop but it’s got no aircon either. It’s pretty unbearable during midday in Bangkok. The swimming pool seems okay but it’s just a bit on the small side.
The cleaners don’t really do their jobs so well and the dirt can really accumulate after a while. They also tend to skive off on the roof and perv on any of the female guests either sunbathing or using the gym.
Directly outside the building, there are some dodgy alleys you need to walk through to get to the main road. Being a lady, I felt a bit nervous on my own after dark.. Maybe a more seasoned traveller might scoff at this and survive just fine.. but for those of a more nervous disposition such as myself, you might want to bear this in mind. Bag snatchings and crime can be a more common occurrence in the sois around here and this is particularly bad for tourists who are bigger targets and more at risk of falling victim to this.
The internet can be frustratingly slow. If you need internet for anything important, then bare this in mind. It was a big problem for us. There doesn’t seem to be a limit on the internet usage so even though you have to pay 750 baht per month for wifi in your apartment, you may still be sharing it with somebody downloading ten movies a night.
The food in the restaurant is rather greasy. The sandwiches are the only thing on the menu that I could eat. I am not a fussy person at all, but let’s just say eating here has put me off fried rice for life. Every time I think of that greasy meal I feel nauseous…

On a more positive note though!

There is a a really cool looking temple and grave yard behind the apartments – it’s nice to hear the chants from the nearby mosque and the birds singing throughout the day. It’s a peaceful area compared to staying on a main road.
The more expensive apartments are also quite nicely furnished, with a nice lobby area downstairs and a roof top garden.
There is an awesome little restaurant directly next door which is lovely and cosy, and on top of this you can buy a really tasty meal from about 40 baht to eat in or take away.
In terms of location and size, Sathorn Saint View is decent value for money for long stay residents being within easy walking distance of the BTS.
You do not need to sign a long contract. You can pay monthly to stay there and just give two weeks notice when you wish to leave.

Sathorn Saint View has so much potential, it just seems a bit neglected. For apartments to live long term in Bangkok, you can find cheaper and better value for money if you don’t mind staying further from the centre. However it is not a bad price really when considering the convenience and closeness to the BTS and Silom. If you don’t mind basically living in a hotel room then it’s a good bargain. However, if staying in Bangkok on holiday, I think that there are much better value for money hotels in Sathorn. The charming youth hostel, Saphai Pae down the road looks better value. Or Eastin Grand, complete with it’s own walkway to the sky train station! How I envied those tourists…

Jobs in Thailand – Teaching English

Posted on March 8, 2013 by koomatzu

I don’t have a degree and I don’t have an overly impressive job history to wow anybody by any means. On top of that, I’ve never done a TEFL English teaching course. I have been living in Thailand for over three months now – After my first month of living in Thailand I was fortunate enough to get a job as an Extra and earn a modest sum of money, it wasn’t much but every bit helped. Sadly, work only lasted about two months and since that time I have been struggling to acquire any more jobs in Thailand.

People had suggested teaching English in Thailand to me before but I never gave this a second thought because of my lack of higher education and experience. But desperate times pushed me to apply for a teaching job at the language school I happen to attend in Thailand – I had heard from a fellow student that students at our school have actually been considered for English teaching jobs in the past despite these shortcomings. So that’s when I decided to apply for the job anyway – it doesn’t hurt to try after all.

The Job Interview

I handed my CV in at the school and had a phone call the same afternoon inviting me to a job interview that week. I was so honoured and excited to have actually been considered for the teaching job there that I spent the whole of the next day looking for the perfect interview outfit to wear and after that, planning every key phrase ready in reply to any of his questions. Despite my background being different and maybe unconventional to many other desirable interviewees, I do actually feel relatively confident that I have a very diverse and interesting history behind me.

So after a whole day’s preparation making sure to look as anti-hippy and dashing as possible, I made my way to my job interview in Thailand. I arrived too early and so ended up taking a stroll to a bagel cafe nearby. Then I had a bright idea to get an Thai energy drink from the 7 11 to perk me up a bit for my job interview… Biggest mistake ever. I’ve always found myself to be pretty immune to caffeine in the past, but these bad boys in Thailand… they’re another story. I was waiting for my teaching job interview at the language school 20 minutes later and I felt myself feeling particularly energetic and chatty with whoever happened to be around me at the time. Come the job interview… I don’t know… maybe it was whatever the hell I drank mixed with nerves or something but all I remember is having the biggest grin ever stuck across my face, body twitching, eyes bulging and bullshit streaming out of my mouth at about 100 miles an hour. It went terribly.

I said absolutely nothing to benefit my cause, and yet I had so much planned to say. I was chattering useless rubbish at this poor man while eagerly staring at him and nodding insanely over-enthusiastically like a complete mentalist. I think it’s safe to say I did not get the English teaching job in Thailand. I do not know what is in the energy drinks in Thailand but that is some crazy drink.. just take it from me and avoid Thai energy drinks like the plague if you have an important teaching job interview in Thailand.

Total money made from teaching English in Thailand…

– 697 baht

Teaching jobs in Thailand tips

If you don’t have a degree or any experience teaching English, it is still possible to obtain work as an English teacher in Thailand. Thai state schools will still take on people without degrees and maybe if you are lucky, you may find private schools who will consider you also. You may need to ‘tweek’ your CV a little though… it is actually possible to purchase fake degree certificates on Khaosan Road too.

There are also various teaching agencies kicking around that can provide training as well as find suitable teaching jobs in Thailand for you, but they can charge steep fees and there are some untrustworthy ones around, so it is well worth thoroughly researching them before signing up to anything. One reputable company I have heard good stories about in Thailand is Essential Learning, or Ajarn is also a useful website to find teaching jobs in Thailand.

Other useful websites and agencies for finding teaching jobs in Thailand

www.teachingjobsthailand.net

www.myprivatetutor-thailand.com

www.teachingthailand.com

Time2Talk (credit to Eric!)

Super English

The Language

BFITS

Malthus

….Alternatively to teaching English in Thailand, Extra work requires no qualifications or experience.

Money In Thailand

Posted on March 4, 2013 by koomatzu

Cost of living in Thailand

How much the cost of living in Thailand will be for anybody depends on the things in life that are most important to that individual person. For example, I spend the majority of my money in Thailand on sports and exercise, and then on the extra food to supplement this. I live in the centre of Bangkok and I don’t eat street food for every meal, I treat myself more than a couple of times a week to some variation of good food in a cafe or restaurant. I like to spend money in Thailand travelling, exploring and I also like to buy clothes, but on top of this, for some reason I feel drawn like a magnet whenever I go in a Boots or Watsons, I just want to spend my money on everything. What is it with women and pharmacies anyway?

Beer isn’t that cheap in bars and pubs; just as an idea, the cost of a beer in Thailand such as Chang and Singha is around 100 baht a pint (£2 or $3), but you can also buy a bottle of Thai whisky like Sangsom for about 290 baht (£6 or $9); just half of one of these will easily do for me. Beers like Guinness or Hoegaarden will cost from around 250 baht a pint (£5 0r $7).

Anyway this month, my cost of living in Bangkok totalled 24000 baht (£530 or $800). I also made 5000 baht (£100 or $150) from extra work, I didn’t earn much money from work at all this month – I worked about 3 days altogether… my movie career in Thailand seems to be dying a slow death after it has only just begun. Sad times.

Anyway, from what I’ve googled and seen online, a great deal of people seem to say you can’t live on this low amount of money in Thailand, especially Bangkok, but I guess I have proof otherwise. Although I eat out a lot and spend more money in Thailand than I really need to, I just don’t think anyone could live much cheaper than this anyway; everybody has their vices in life. To have an even lower cost of living in Thailand, you would have to live frugally and not have much of a life I think. But of course the cost of living is much cheaper outside of Bangkok.

*Update: Please note that I have since managed reduce my cost of living in Bangkok to around 18000 baht per month (£400 or $600) simply by not going shopping and by eating mostly street food. You can read more about eating on a budget here.

Cost of food in Thailand for one month: 7900 baht (£175 or $260)

Most days for lunch I will eat Thai street food, either to takeaway or sit in, at 30 – 35 baht ($1) for a meal. It’s actually pretty good too. On evenings, mainly out of convenience and laziness, I will often eat at our apartment restaurant or the restaurant next door for around 50 – 90 baht per meal. A couple of times a week or more, we tend to cave and spend money at more expensive, maybe western style restaurants for up to 350 baht (£8 or $12) each.

Most days I will also spend money on extra snacks such as chopped fruit bags, meat sticks, dumplings, steamed buns, fried chicken, soy milk and the odd bubble milk tea; all of which cost from 10 baht per serving. 1150 baht of my spendings this month was used at 7 11s and Top supermarkets mainly on toilet roll, cereal, milk and bread. Cereal is a luxury in Thailand, one box can cost up to 300 baht… Furthermore, water in Thailand is pretty much negligible as you can buy it purified from Reverse Osmosis machines for 1 baht per litre.

Bubble milk drinks from a street vendor

Cost of transport in Thailand for one month: 2738 baht (£60 or $90)

I spend money on the Bangkok BTS sky train on a daily basis. 900 baht (£20 or $30) of this total was spent on the MRT subway, the ferry and topping up my BTS carrot card. I spent 600 baht on taxis, mainly to get to work in Bangkok in the unsociable, early hours of the morning or basically whenever other times the BTS is closed at night. Getting around Bangkok city in a taxi shouldn’t cost any more than 200 baht a journey – taxis in Bangkok for me usually average around 100 baht per ride. A typical journey on the BTS can cost between 15 baht and 50 baht per journey depending on the distance (the MRT underground is also very similar in price). The ferry usually only costs 15 baht. I spent another 900 baht on a 460 km return train and bus journey when making a trip up north. The remaining 300 baht went on two days of moped rental (after splitting between the two of us).

Cost of rent & bills in Thailand for one month: 5500 baht, split between two (£120 or $180)

We pay 10,000 baht for a 40 sqm studio apartment which is situated 10 minutes walking distance from a BTS station in Bangkok. If you live alone, you can find a basic, smaller studio apartment from 4000 baht; for a couple you can find slightly bigger apartments from 8000 baht. It will obviously cost more money the closer you live to the centre or subway/ skytrain in Bangkok. You can find more information in my article renting in Bangkok.

Cost of clothing in Thailand for one month: 4000 baht (£90 or $130)

With this money, I practically bought about 8 new outfits from Platinum Mall and Siam for 1050 baht, at Boots and Watsons I spent about 900 baht (what the hell I spent that on other than sun cream I do not remember! Shameful), 200 baht on phone topup and 1300 baht on a ukulele. Anyway, for more information on average costs of clothing and souvenirs in Thailand you can check the prices here.

Total spent on recreation in Thailand for one month: 3400 baht (£75 or $115)

This includes 600 baht spent on booze, 2000 baht on hotels and 750 baht on a cycle tour (you can see more details on this by clicking here)

Cost of gyms and fitness classes in Thailand for one month: 1000 baht (£20 or $30)

This covers two pole dance classes costing 500 baht per class. I am also a member of a gym in Bangkok but paid for this upfront for 6 months. Technically, this would work out to cost about 2000 baht per month as well.

For more information on the cost of living and money in Thailand, you can check out more on my expenses here: Month 1 and Month 2

Protein In Thailand

Posted on February 27, 2013 by koomatzu

Bodybuilding in Thailand

For some people, bodybuilding may be regarded as a high priority in their daily lives and hence may be a concern when moving to a different and unfamiliar country like Thailand. There is more to keeping in shape and developing your body to just working out – diet is equally important. For more rigorous exercise like bodybuilding, you need a lot of protein and sometimes it’s not possible, or particularly healthy, to get this from food alone.

Unfortunately, protein in Thailand is expensive. On average you will find 1kg of protein powder to cost around 2000 baht (£40) in Thailand. You’ll get roughly 20 servings out of this. Milk in Thailand costs about 80 baht (£1.60) for a 2 litres carton of milk. So I’d say it works out to about 70-80 baht to make your own protein shake in Thailand. At a typical Thai gym, you can purchase a protein shake at the cafe for around 100 baht.

You can buy protein powders and protein bars (bars from 120 – 170 baht each or £2.40 – £3.50) from most pharmacies and Boots shops in Thailand, although none of the brands of protein are particularly high quality ones like the ones you can get in other countries. However, in Bangkok, the best place I have found so far for protein supplements and similar bodybuilding supplies is located in Silom.

Where to buy protein in Bangkok

Head west down Surawong Road from the Rama IV intersection near Sala Deng BTS. Pass the ‘Japanese street’ – Thaniya Soi 2 and you will find a local pharmacy called DD Pharmacy on the left hand side with a range of whey protein and body building supplements in the window. I have found this to be the best source of whey protein for bodybuilding in Thailand.

Meaty foods 🙂

High protein foods in Thailand

Protein shakes may be expensive in Thailand but there are still plenty of economical and natural sources of protein in Bangkok. There is plenty of street meat available, although some of the meat may not be particularly healthy. You’ll find a great deal of deep fried chicken and unidentifiable meatballs on skewers, which, although surprisingly tasty, is mostly heavily processed (and, according to recent news, possibly made from Soi dog meat). Moo Ping (barbecued pork on skewers) is a tasty source of protein but very fatty.

You can still find many street vendors in Thailand barbecuing some healthier pieces of chicken or fish though. The barbecued meat is really tasty and, as far as I know, maybe the healthiest option for street meat. Barbecued chicken typically costs from around 30 baht, depending on the size of it, and grilled fish will cost from around 80 baht, again depending on the size.

Meatball skewers generally cost 10 baht per stick and come with a dollop of chilli sauce in a bag. You can buy deep fried chicken with a bag of sticky rice and chilli sauce for about 35 or 40 baht (or on its own for around 25 baht – thats 50 pence or 70 cents), but it’s probably a little bit fatty and greasy for some bodybuilders. Assuming most expats bodybuilding in Thailand are reasonably health conscious anyway.

7 11s are abundant in soy milk drinks to give you a protein boost. I have found the red cartons called ‘Vitamilk Big’ to be the best ones; the least sugar and 10 grams of protein per carton. These cost 10 baht each. What with 7 11s existing practically every 300 metres apart in Thailand, chances are there will be one outside wherever you workout – buy three of these fuckers and you’ve got your post workout 30g protein intake. Bam.

If you’re interested in checking out the gyms in Bangkok as well, take a look at my Gym Directory here.

Extra Work In Thailand

Posted on February 16, 2013 by koomatzu

Jobs for foreigners in Thailand

One day in our first month living in Thailand, we met up with an acquaintance of of my boyfriend’s, who invited us out for some drinks on Facebook. The next time we met up with him I mentioned that I needed work while living in Thailand and couldn’t find any suitable jobs for foreigners. At this point he suggested I do modelling or Extra work in Thailand and that he could hook me up with a friend of his who did this… In my experience, people tend to make a lot of empty offers but never really pull through with their promises, so I didn’t think anything would come of this Extra work in Thailand and took it with a pinch of salt.

Well, to my surprise the next day, I got a message from this friend, giving me the friend of a friend’s details and telling me to email her for advice. I was taken a little off guard and to be honest, absolutely hated the idea of contacting a complete stranger for help and job advice… it kind of made me cringe. But… this friend of mine who I had only met twice now, was kind enough to try and help me find work and I was really grateful. So, I had to contact this person for his sake. And I did. Long story short, I met up with this girl who turned out to be most awesome – she hooked me up with her agent and I had a job as an Extra in a Bollywood movie in Bangkok the next day after meeting her.

Extra work in Thailand

Extra work in Thailand can differ greatly from job to job, so if you like a little variation in your work then it can be a more interesting option than teaching English or working within a company in an office. Some Extra jobs can start at 4am in the morning, some can start a 2pm in the afternoon. Sometimes you will finish after 4 hours and other times you could end up working 18 hours with overtime. You could be expected to dance and celebrate at a nightclub or merely sit doing nothing in the background.

Quite often, you will be expected to literally just walk backwards and forwards over and over again. You may be taken to grand mansions set 100 miles out of Bangkok or maybe just work in an abandoned warehouse in the centre. Sometimes you get time to snooze in the sun, sometimes they really get there money’s worth out of you, barely giving you time to eat and repeating over 30 takes of the same scene. There are nice directors in Thailand and there are bad ones that don’t treat you so well.

The only downside of extra work in Bangkok is that it is freelance, so your pay will vary depending on how much work you can find. It can be good fun though, and you get to meet so many interesting people. I also still find it intriguing now to see the adverts and movies from a perspective behind the scenes, although I never actually know the names to be able to look up the finished result.

Anyway, for a standard 12 hour long work day in Thailand, you can get paid from 1500 baht (£30 or $50). It seems low at first but you do need to remember that the minimum wage in Thailand is only 300 baht for a 12 hour day, so it really helps to keep this in mind before you start getting too greedy! However saying that, if you are really lucky, you might find an extra job in Thailand that pays 3000 baht (£60 or $100), or if you get a few lines you can even earn from 4000 baht upwards.

Many people I have met, got involved in Extra work the same way as me – through word of mouth. So sometimes it really pays to be a Yes man! Life and work in Bangkok all seems to be about word of mouth, unlike in the West, you just don’t seem to find everything in adverts in papers or on google in Thailand.

Extra work in Thailand tips

Here are some casting agencies in Bangkok that I have researched and been recommended. If you are in need of work in Bangkok, then it is worth a try sending some photos and your profile through these websites and asking for extra work:

www.modelingbyus.com

www.coolmodeling.net

www.starlighttalents.com

www.tigercasting.co

Facebook: Wattnott Talent

Facebook: Orange Talent agency

Facebook: Banana Casting

Extra work is ideal for foreigners in Thailand and you don’t need to worry about a work permit. You do not need to concern yourself too much with having professional shots to send to agencies – I only have rubbishy pictures myself – but it would help if you happen to have some to hand. But the first step when starting work as an extra in Thailand is getting your foot in the door. It helps immensely if you have contacts but this is just down to luck… If you can just get one agent interested in you, it will be much easier to find work in Thailand from then on out.

After I stopped getting work with my first agent in Bangkok, I sent my details and photos to some other agencies and never heard anything back from any of them. A couple of months later in Thailand though, I had a random phone call from an agency I had never even heard of before, offering me work. I can only assume my previous agent had maybe passed my details on, I really have no idea. At this particular job that they gave me, I met an agent from yet another different company who gave me his business card – this was actually one of the agencies I had applied to and not heard back from. So it really helps to meet people personally on the set in Thailand when you have the opportunity.