The Good, the Bad, the Cuddly: Raising a Kid in Bangkok [Season 3, Episode 9]

Episode links:


My interview with the guys at This Strange Life podcast
https://soundcloud.com/this_strange_life/tsl04-tsl04-from-surviving-to-thriving-in-bangkok-with-greg-from-the-bangkok-podcast


Bangkok may be great for the childless among us, but what
about those expats who want to raise a family here? As a married
guy without kids, Ed questions Greg about the pros and cons of
being a parent in Bangkok. The conversation starts with a peek
into the insane cost and stress of deciding which school the
little angels/devils will attend, where tuition can sometimes hit
$20,000 per year for first grade (coughINSANEcough).
Unsurprisingly, it's one of the top factors in deciding how long
- or even if - an expat family will stay here.


And yes, that's Greg's kid on the episode artwork,
cunningly disguised as Batman.


But thankfully for the bags under Greg's eyes, there are
lots of other stress points to having a kid in Bangkok! These
range from the difficulty of building a social circle, how to
approach language learning, and what the hell you can (and can't)
actually DO with a kid in Bangkok. Greg also shares a bit about
the difficulties in making sure his spawn grows up understanding
the Canuck-ness of his Canadian side, and reminisces about the
wistful days of yesteryear when he was told to "go outside and
play and come back for dinner," which you definitely can't do
with a kid in Bangkok.


In "Love, Loathe, or Leave," Greg challenges Ed with the
quirky way (seemingly all) Thai cashiers return change, with both
agreeing that the most annoying part of the habit is the
insistence on giving small receipts for every purchase, something
that the late, great Mitch Hedberg summed up
perfectly.


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