Q1. Where did you move to and when?

I moved to Kyoto, Japan in April last year.

Q2. How long did you work in Thailand?

Three years

Q3. What was your main reason for moving?

I'll be completely honest: I had a good resume and a good education. When I chose Thailand as a place to live and work, I wasn't sure how it was an escape from all my problems back home. The truth is that I just didn't think much about it at all. I thought "Bangkok is a huge cosmopolitan city, how hard can it get?"

I started self-censoring myself all the time. I didn't even know whose face I was saving or why I was becoming a pussy to please people who'll never be pleased no matter what I did.

It's not in Thai people's nature to be in-your-face aggressive but they don't really like to co-operate and you are often treated with contempt.

Pollution, humidity, bad urban planning. Life just seemed to consist of being in my condo and going to the shopping mall.

Other expats or frustrated men. There's a low glass-ceiling for anyone who's not Thai. That leaves you with a bunch of jaded and frustrated men. These people do not make good friends. I couldn't go out and bond with people. I couldn't go out and bond with nature. I couldn't go out and volunteer. I sure as hell couldn't get a promotion.

If I slacked off all day I was a "typical foreigner" and if I tried hard at work someone would try and cut me down sooner or later.

I mean none of this was my plan for Bangkok. Certainly not the social hermit part but it's how things are here and none of my positive thinking could have changed that. My good qualifications didn't change reality.

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

One of the biggest differences are is that people deliver. If I'm expected to get paid at the end of the month, I'll get paid at month's end whether P'James or P'Somchai like me or not.

In Thailand P'Gai or P'James have to *like* so all of us could work well together. There's more pressure here but people deliver what they promise. In Thailand people promise and say yes, maybe, Yes but who the heck knows how that pans out?

Q5. What do you miss about life in Thailand?

Thailand life can be very simple (because it's also very limited in terms of activity). There were mornings and days and weekends when I woke up and I felt truly at peace. I loved my big house. My wife taught me that love means taking care of each other and helping out other people.

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

Would your send your kid to work at McDonalds? The pay is low, working conditions are sub-par, and co-workers aren't very nice. How do you expect to ever get a better job when your self-esteem is zero every day?

Teaching in Thailand is like that. Maybe you'll get paid and life will go on. But will you ever be anything more? Will you be allowed to accomplish more?

And say you want to retire in Thailand after working in Thailand for a long time, who'll help out with the pension? My wife's parents depend on my wife and not on the state pension. That's how the system works.

Q7. Any plans to return to Thailand one day?

It's July and I'm back and it's still humid, hot as hell and you can't get around outside which is why I'm writing this. It's almost six months (from end of February) with this weather.

Q8. Anything else you'd like to add?

The good thing is that I'm still married and things are still going fine (my honest bit that's hard to write but I'm still doing it is also) I wanted to move on and try this out for myself because I was becoming resentful at my wife and how many opportunities she was getting and at how I was stuck despite trying so goddamn hard. I know it's not my wife's fault. It's the reality and the system whether you are from the UK, US, Malay, Burmese, Lao -- Thai people tolerate you but they also make sure that you don't succeed.

People say how they are disappointed with all the negative reviews and I'm also disappointed with positive reviews because they set up new teachers for failure and make it harder for teachers who are suffering to move on.

My experience isn't negative. It's honest. Do you think I could have made friends with that dodgy teacher from Jersey who invited me to smoke weed at his place or that (too good to be true nice) nice Kiwi teacher who stabbed me in the back at the speed of light just because he could? No. because I didn't plan for any of this. I didn't see any of this coming. I wasn't running away from my problems, I was moving to Bangkok.

If my "negative" experiences help someone move on or not make the same mistake, then at least they are worth something. I don't believe people who said they were paid 150,000 THB and who were hanging out with the "lads" all the time. I never met anyone like that in person.

If you really feel there's something 'better' in life for you than Thailand, then read these reviews. Teachers are jaded because people treat them badly. It's hard to "rise above it" when you're working in a country infamous for its poor education system.

Know that you are not alone, and try and be positive. Build your life step by step so you at least give yourself a chance of trying something new. You may fail at first but you CAN do it.