From Thailand to Spain with no regrets!
Once a person wrote to me in the comments that, just like me, I was sick with Thailand, but then became disillusioned with it and decided to move to Spain, where everything is much cheaper, more comfortable, tastier, more welcoming, etc. This topic worries me very much, because if we do not find someone to work with Egor with in Thailand, then our next stage is Europe, we will look for opportunities to live there. Therefore, I decided to interview Tatiana and ask in more detail what is better in Spain than in Thailand. The answers turned out to be very, very interesting, albeit controversial.
You have to understand that everything in this world is subjective, and I, for example, have a completely different vision of Thailand and other data on the culture, sincerity of Thais, prices, food, and other points. I will not expound them here, because in this case the opinion of the respondent is interesting, not mine. Moreover, I was in Spain only once, when I was still a schoolboy and as a packager, so I cannot compare Thailand with it. Ideally, you always need to draw your own personal conclusions regarding any country, because what is a plus for one, then another is a minus. This has happened more than once, holivars even arise about which beach is better / worse, what can we say about countries for life.
Tatiana Bedareva and her family
The content of the article
From Koh Samui to Spain with no regrets!
Tatiana, tell us a little about yourself, who are you and what you do? And how did it happen that you first fell ill with Thailand, and then your opinion changed dramatically after a trip to Spain, and finally and irrevocably?
Not so long ago, I had several types of business, the largest in Russia and Europe School-Studio of Handicraft and much more, but after the birth of my daughter, I realized that I had already earned enough to be able to devote myself to my family. So I sold all my business and my husband and I decided to move somewhere from Russia. Now we are back and I am more engaged in my family, I am waiting for my son to appear, I blog about life on Koh Samui, travel and creativity www.teddy-love.com, and also create collectible toys.
As for Thailand and Spain - everything is learned by comparison. Once upon a time I really liked Tai, I was there several times, but never lived longer than a month. When my daughter was born, we spent the summer in Spain, and then decided to leave «for good» to Thailand. Due to the fact that in Spain in winter «cold» +17, and Tae is hot. However, in my opinion, Thailand has changed a lot for the worse over the past 5 years. The main advantages in choosing Thailand over Spain were «eternal summer», cheapness, good food, the sea ... But comparing, for ourselves, we determined that the temperature regime is better in Spain, besides, it is cheaper there, and food is better, and water for bathing ... And there are no fevers, insects, heat allergies. children ... In general, let those impressed by Thailand forgive me, I am very disappointed in this country. After the trips and the first half of my life, I was completely delighted, everything seemed wonderful to me, but in the next six months my eyes began to open up to many things, especially to the true attitude of Thais towards foreigners, the myth about the cheapness of this country, climate features and much more..
I love Spain for its greenery and the most diverse nature
Lodging
In Thailand, for 15 thousand you can rent a good condo, renovated, good furniture, modern appliances, with 1-2 bedrooms, large in size, sometimes with a swimming pool and a gym. Yes, such condos are not everywhere, but in this case, we can already talk about a house. For 20-30 thousand we get a modern and new house. And if we talk about annual contracts, then the possibilities are still expanding. What do we get for this money in Spain?
These are all Thai prices relative to certain places and luck. In a good location, by the sea, with developed infrastructure - prices will be much higher. In addition, it is very problematic to rent something in autumn and winter during the season, smart foreigners (and ours too already) book their favorite houses in advance for two or three years for the winter. As for the quality of housing - «renovated» I would not name it, almost all housing - «thaistyle» with concrete «furniture». Finding what we are used to in Russia - with a good kitchen, oven, washing machine, etc. - is almost impossible for this money. Hot water will only be in the shower, the stove will be a gas burner ...
As for Spain, at least in the region where we lived (Calahonda near Malaga), a normal studio apartment (bedroom + living room the size of a room, kitchen and everything you need, with two balconies) cost 200 euros, for 300 euros an apartment with two bedrooms and a living room, two bathrooms, three balconies ... Moreover, the quality of housing cannot even be compared with Thai !!! There is also a closed courtyard with greenery, good grass, a huge swimming pool. And the Internet is certainly not like Thai. (For us, the lack of normal internet and constant blackouts on Koh Samui was a terrible problem). All this is within walking distance from the sea. By the way, on Koh Samui you can find housing near the sea, but in Hua Hin for the money you specified, houses will be better, but only to the bathing sea you can only get there by transport. In Phuket by the sea, prices are higher, and in many places in Tae the sea is, in principle, not swimable ....
As for Spain, for 500 euros, even for a month, they saw wonderful apartments in two-storey houses just a few meters from the sea and overlooking it, of course. And, by the way, the prices for completions are lower than in Tae. And just the other day, my friend was looking for a place to live in Spain, and she had some kind of requests, so on the websites of the Spaniards I found luxury houses for 2-3 bedrooms with all furniture, appliances and utensils, with a swimming pool in 5-10 minutes walk from the sea for 500-800 euros. Now, for the sake of my personal interest, I looked at the first site I came across to find excellent apartments on the beach for 300 euros in a large assortment. Moreover, Thai houses for the same money can not be compared! By the way, there were 23 Russian TV channels in the apartment we rented! After a month of our life, it made us happy. And in Tai only Thai TV. And within a week we had many Russian friends from among the emigrants, whom we visited in the evenings. In Thailand, off-season, you will not always find someone with whom you can communicate, especially nearby. Of course, prices in different regions of Spain will differ, just like house prices in Chiang Mai or Phuket in Tae, for example. Somewhere more expensive, somewhere cheaper ...
Our apartment in Spain was accompanied by an adult and children's pool in a closed area for 3 houses. And there is plenty of room around with live grass for tanning
How difficult is it to rent a house in Spain? In Thailand, I just arrived in the area I needed, went to the reception of the condominium, and if there is an apartment, then I moved into it in 5 minutes. It's about the same with houses. That is, no pre-registration and preparation, no legal restrictions, I want for a month, I want for a year. And also the choice of housing is simply huge, you can just walk / drive around the area and review a bunch of housing. In the same Russia, for example, renting an apartment for a short time is very, very difficult, plus like this from the street you will not enter the apartment and you will not recognize.
Housing in Spain is more difficult to shoot. If you are lucky, then on the spot you can meet those who speak Russian, in Spain there are a lot of both ours and Estonians, etc. Through local housing you can find the same way as in Tae. There is a lot of housing for rent, often there are phone numbers in the windows, although, I suppose, you need to know at least a little English, it is not so easy to explain on your fingers how in Thailand. We rented in advance over the internet a little more expensive through the Russians. Overpaid, but we were met at the airport, told everything and did not have to look with the children. Although, if you book in Tai through ours, it will be much more expensive.
I will argue about the lack of decorations in Tai. Thais in this regard are cunning people, for them the pride of cheating a foreigner. So my opinion is that a contract must be concluded. So why our first owners were rich and decent, as we thought, although we lived with them wonderfully in the first two houses for 6 or 8 months in a row, and those «forgot» about the bail at check-out and tried to cheat us with payments, I took a good picture of the counter. And such stories are very frequent, so everything must be recorded. Otherwise, when you leave, the deposit is yours «disappear», and the cost of electricity can be quite astonishing ...
The Spaniards are good fellows in this regard - they prescribe everything in the contract thoroughly, they did not take a deposit from us. In every house in the resort areas there are cafes, agencies, shops, their owners usually either have apartments in this house themselves, or they know all the tenants and will prompt whom to contact. In general, you need to study Spanish sites, shoot on them for the first time. And even more so, we were offered to send in advance a signed agreement for everyone for the consulate, if necessary. And they also make temporary registration for the duration of the contract, this is considered in the order of things.
This beach was next to us. When buying juice or something in a cafe - sun loungers are free. However, we bought ourselves umbrellas, bedspreads and sunbathed mostly just on the sand
More crowded beach for tourists!
Visa issues
A Schengen visa is granted for a maximum of 90 days in six months. Getting it is somewhat more difficult than Thai, which is given to absolutely everyone. What difficulties I see: you need to have an official source of income, a decent amount in your bank account (50 euros / day per person), confirmation of your accommodation reservation. For example, I did not have any of the above for a long time, and for a Thai visa, nothing of this is needed. And what if you want to live more than 90 days, or even a whole year? In our conversation, did you mention that there are some loopholes? Are they legal? As far as I know, the issue can be resolved only with a work or student visa, as well as the purchase of an apartment for 500 thousand euros. I do not consider investments and starting a business as unrealistic. And in Tae, there are many ways to live long and legally. Yes, some of them are expensive in terms of money, others are more time consuming, but it is available to everyone, and with some approach, you can generally spend 500-1000 baht / month on this..
I will not tell you about the long terms, since 90 days were enough for us. However, before it was possible to live 90 days at the end of one half of the year and 90 at the beginning of the next, and this is already half a year. As far as I know, horror stories about obtaining the Schengen are already a thing of the past. At least all my friends from Moscow received a Spanish visa without problems and refusals. Documents to receive - no more than to receive the same Thai. There, too, is a list of documents. In my personal opinion, there are more problems with the Thai visa, all these extensions, trips to the emigration office in Tae, obligatory departures from the country at least once every three months ... -for solving the visa issue and the need to make a new visa, we spent more than living on the island itself.
By the way, from January 1, 2014, an additional tourist tax is introduced in Tae for each entry. And to Spain, since we ourselves are from St. Petersburg, we traveled on the Finnish Schengen. For Petersburgers, obtaining it without any problems at all and, in principle, without any information. But now the rules in Finland have changed a bit and, alas, not for the better for us. If earlier it was possible to spend six months in Europe, then from October 18 over the last 180 days you cannot spend more than 90 days in any European country on a Finnish visa. However, I think there are always ways and ways out, we just haven't looked for them yet. After all, a huge number of Russians live in Spain all year round and somehow solve visa issues. I think you can search on Russian forums and find loopholes.
On walks in the evenings and nights they had fun as they could)
Food
As far as I understand, you don't like Thai food, and that's why you had to buy expensive European food? If so, tell us what you got in this regard in Spain, perhaps even then it is worth comparing with Russia, because the food there is more similar.
Not that we don't like it, we ate almost every day in Thai Europeanized restaurants, or rather, my husband liked it, but I started to feel sick from rice pretty quickly, well, once a day, you can eat something local at most. In addition, Thai food is terribly harmful, Thai lovers simply add incredible amounts of sodium glutamate, various additives and the like to every dish, which is often prohibited in civilized countries. And almost no dish is prepared in Tai without the addition of their favorite sauce of preservatives, dyes and rotten fish, if they have not cooked with it, they will put it on the table. In general, you cannot feed a child with this. Well, it's a little scary to take freshly squeezed juices, because even in shopping malls where they are made right in front of you, they never wash fruits, this is not customary. Who can eat from a tray on the street, when food hangs under the flies all day (or maybe more than one), and salads can get in the way with his hands, he will really eat for a penny.
If you stock up in supermarkets, it can be cheaper than in Russia, but more expensive than in Spain. Let's say meat, chicken is more profitable than ours. As for the products we are used to, they are simply golden! Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes - everything is imported and is more expensive. Fruit is the same - if you buy something local, such as mango, durian, papaya, it is cheap (although more expensive than seasonal fruits here). But I, for example, can try it once, but not every day. Apples - from 15 re a piece, pears and others «our» even more fruit, pamper your child with cherries - 400 re kilo, watermelons are three times more expensive than ours. Well, what is especially familiar to us - bread, butter, milk, cheese - Thais simply do not eat, so it costs accordingly, only foreigners buy. Average cheese 700 re, a can of sour cream 100 re, if you still find it. Rice, of course, is cheap. But pasta or cereals for a child for porridge is worth its weight in gold!
As for Spain, when we went there, I was afraid of the high cost. However, everything turned out to be much cheaper than ours. And most importantly, everything is familiar to our stomach and everything is fresh! Fruits, vegetables - they are not in boxes like ours, a heap with rot, and each is neatly wrapped in its own piece of paper. Seafood is generally cheap and freshest! By the way, on Koh Samui, fish and seafood can only be bought in fishermen's villages in the morning, since all this is brought to supermarkets from the mainland, and not in refrigerators, but filled with special solution ... I will not talk about the composition. Meat, cheeses, sausages in Europe are also of excellent quality and also cheaper than in Russia. Anyone who loves wine - even a bottle for one and a half euros - does not dye, like ours for 300 re, that is why it is Spanish wine. Somehow it turned out that in Spain we had food for ourselves with my husband, a child, and even two grandmothers in addition, without denying ourselves anything, arranging constant holidays and overeating daily with strawberries, watermelons and other fruits, even with a visit restaurants were spending less than in Thailand for three, not particularly chic. Well, even less so than in Russia.
By the way, about restaurants. It is clear that in Tae there are bakeware where you can buy a whole lunch for 60 baht and eat it on the street. However, there are also good restaurants, mostly owned by Europeans. Good ones are just like ordinary cafes here, I don't mean something chic. But on the other hand, there will be a good piece of meat that is habitually prepared for us, and not peppered scraps on rice. And the average bill in such places per person without alcohol is 600-1500 baht-rubles. In Spain, there are many great places where you pay 9-10 euros to enter and there is not just a buffet, but something unimaginable! Mountains of fresh seafood, meat that will be cooked right in front of you (poke your finger into any pieces, the cook will fry right in the hall), lasagna - lick your fingers, ice cream, cakes, sometimes fruits .... and eat as much as you want! This is heaven for me!
By the way, I asked my fellow vegetarians how much they spend on food in Tai. And they usually came out the same as ours! But in Spain, fruits and vegetables are really cheaper than here or in Tae, not counting some Thai locals, who are very fond of. Only bananas are really cheap in Tai. As in Russia in the summer, approximately)
For some reason, food for five in Spain took less than three in Thailand ...
Is it possible to buy yellow mango, papaya in Spain? I don't ask about durians, because I think they are definitely not there. These fruits are fundamental for many. For example, apart from the above, we do not like anything, therefore it is very problematic to eat in Russia. Only cherries and persimmons save, but their season is short.
To be honest, I didn't. Just because I adore strawberries and watermelons, cherries and peaches, I love apples and pears, kiwi, I bought all this. What made me especially happy was the avocado, which was not in Tae. Papaya was there, I definitely didn't see durians) I'm allergic to mango, but it seems that they bought it somewhere - I don't remember. In fact, in Spain the same fruits and vegetables as in Russia, only of a completely different quality, cheaper and all year round. We started feeding for the baby, by the way, it was there.
There was enough fruit in Spain
Saving
Is it possible to save money in Spain as well as in Tai? For example, to live on 15 thousand rubles a month and travel? For example, a simple housing costs from 5000 baht / month with kondeya and the Internet, but an ordinary backpacker does not need more. A ticket for a comfortable bus from one end of the country to another - 500-1000 baht, a plate of Thai food or fresh juice 30-60 baht, motorbike rental 2500-4000 baht, a T-shirt or shorts 50-100 baht.
Yes, not just eat, as I said, Spain is much cheaper than Tai. An apartment not in a resort place and not by the sea can be found at all for 50-100 euros per month, of course with kondeya and a high-quality Internet (which is rare in Taia). And with a pool, furniture, etc. Travel on comfortable buses with kondeem from city to city (!) Is cheaper than on Koh Samui on a tuk-tuk open 5 minutes ride. We had 60 cents to the neighboring city, until the next two forty ... By the way, they go without a break and according to the schedule, and on Koh Samui after 18-00 all tuk-tuk become sharply «taxi drivers» and charge from 400 baht for short distances! And the taxi drivers are generally impudent. There is simply no such thing in Spain. Yes, and it was more convenient for me with a stroller in Spain - a special door opened and I just got on the bus. But in Tae, try to get into a tuk-tuk. And the mentality of the locals - the Thais will never lift the stroller up, they will not guess, and the Europeans themselves are in a hurry to offer help, raise a child.
About «comfortable bus» from one end to the other - well, it's just a fairy tale) We once drove only from Koh Samui to Bangkok on a VIP bus with a child (for 1500 baht from the nose) and almost died on the way. The seats are not comfortable, the whole back hurts, the child is exhausted, the air conditioner - like in the freezer, someone went to the toilet - it lasted for the front seats, but most importantly, all foreigners dreamed of sleeping, but Thai drivers stopped every two hours all night, went into salon and shouted loudly so that everyone went to eat. Thais, on the other hand, are constantly eating something, and they do not understand at all that at night people just want to sleep, although everyone present explained this to them all the way ... And they shouted right over the child's ear. As for Spain, buses are definitely more convenient there, there are also trains, ticket prices are very nice. For example, from personal experience in Europe - a train ticket from Paris to Germany cost me 29 euros on some super high-speed train, a night in a compartment from Vienna to Venice - 91 euros for two, and I didn't buy it in advance. As for Spain itself, acquaintances traveled from Barcelona to some of the resorts by taxi for 4 or 6 hours, I don't remember, for 100 euros, and we from Bangkok to Hua Hin for 4,000 rubles - exactly the same, only the taxi is filthy and you can't put things in the trunk, the Thais have a gas cylinder in the same place ...
Here is an example of a restaurant with a buffet, entrance is 9 euros, in the photo there is a table with appetizers, on the second side there is the same amount, then there is a table with hot, soups, a chef's counter, and there is also a counter with sweets and ice cream separately. Eat as much as you want!
By the way, it is worth considering that a Tay-back ticket from Russia costs about 30 thousand, for two - already 60! A good company on a normal plane is even more expensive, but you don't want to fly with a child with a bunch of long transfers for a little economy. Even if you order in advance, but Europe is much cheaper. A ticket from St. Petersburg to Spain-back, bought 2 months before departure, cost us 6700 per person, and by the Germans. And when there is an opportunity to think over everything and book strongly in advance, 4-6 months or more, then I took tickets to European capitals (Paris, Berlin and many large cities of these countries and Italy, Spain and others) for the early booking promotion from the same Germans for 49 euros one way. By the way, inside Europe you can hitchhike for free..
As for the rental of transport, I did not know about a motorbike in Spain. Cars were offered to us for a long time from 300 euros, for 400 they are generally excellent. In Thailand, prices are the same and even more expensive, an average of 16,000 per month. But the main thing is that in Spain our rights are valid, although with a long stay you need to get local ones, and in Thailand our rights are not at all in the law, if something happens, the foreigner is to blame in any case. And something often happens in Tai, because the Thais drive crazy, and there are a lot of drunk tourists behind the wheel and the most unpleasant thing, because of which I could not get behind the wheel in Tai - right-hand traffic.
As for the clothes. What is sold in Tae from stalls in the markets is mainly second-hand, although they are not recognized, therefore the price is the same. In cheap supermarkets like Tesco Lotus, T-shirts are mostly from 199 baht, on sales from 99, but the quality is not a fountain. Really cheap and more or less quality you can dress in Bangkok. And good things are also expensive and you can still find them figs. As for Spain, you need to know the places. There are expensive stores, but I often came across stock stores where branded clothing was from 1 euro! In one of the cities, I came across an excellent three-story store, children's, women's and men's floors, where all the luxurious quality things were on average a few euros, outerwear was more expensive, but we dressed the whole family for a long time, spending a small amount, and dressed the child for a couple years ahead! The prices are also normal in the markets, all sorts of T-shirts are definitely not more expensive than Thai ones, but they do not stretch out after the first wash, like Teskolotov's. Women will be pleased with bags made of genuine leather for a penny. You don't need to spend money on warm clothes in Spain either, in winter you can wear the same slippers. In general, you need to look for stores, as in any country, according to your taste and wallet..
The rest was a success!
How expensive is life in Spain in general compared to Thailand and Russia? There is not only a need for housing and food. Is it expensive to buy a car? How much do household items, appliances, clothing cost? What are the costs of kindergartens and schools?
Again, I'm not an expert on Spain. For the child, they bought some kind of children's pots, pacifiers, diapers and the like, something for the kitchen for baking, everything was much cheaper than in Russia. We didn’t buy much, since almost everything we needed was provided to us by the owners of the apartment. Cosmetics pleased us, all sorts of shampoos, household chemicals and a half times cheaper than ours. By the way, I paid attention to children's products. Well, here, as always, it is cheaper to bring from Europe than to buy from us. Luxurious strollers were 4 times cheaper than I bought at home. And you can't compare it with Thai strollers. In Tai they are from 900 reeds, from 2500 folding reeds (there are practically no large ones, as we are used to). We bought a folding stroller for 4500, but after 2 weeks its handles were bent, and after three it just broke in half.
A cot in Spain was provided free of charge, the owners themselves ran and searched. In Tae I rented, I think, for 600 baht a month, I don't remember. It was possible to buy, but in supermarkets the quality is terrible, but in a children's store we bought a folding crib for several thousand more than the exact same one costs in Russia. A highchair in Spain was rented for some generally ridiculous money, like 15 euros for the entire period, they just asked the owner of a nearby shop with a child. In Tae, chairs from 1,850 baht are wooden and bulky, I have not seen normal plastic tables with tables, as we are used to, and there are no simple and light plastic ones like in Ikea for 699 rubles. Smart Russians take with them.
As for household appliances, there are a lot of ridiculous prices in Tai, teapots there from 250 rubles, toasters from 150 ... But I don't need such quality for free. High-quality equipment is a little cheaper than ours. I brought a good blender from Ty, but then found it in our online store for about the same price. I remember that I really wanted to buy a blender in Spain - it cost 29 euros, in Russia this was from 4000 re, but there was not enough space in my luggage. We also took a huge monitor from Samui, in Tae they bought it for 6,000 rubles, in St. Petersburg the same 12-15,000. Poppies in Tae are cheaper than ours, by 15-20 percent - from what I saw, but I especially did not look. But ordinary laptops, in my opinion, were not worth the price to drag them to Russia.
As for the last question about kindergartens and schools, they seem to be free in Spain, like healthcare. But I won't lie. When we were last summer, any foreigner could go to a doctor and get qualified help for free. But, I remember, there were rumors that the authorities were very dissatisfied with this and wanted to make paid medicine for foreigners. But whether they did it or not, I do not know. But for me the main thing is that kindergartens and schools there are at the level, more familiar to us. The Thai kindergarten did not make me particularly happy, because there was no question of any intellectual development of children, music or physical education, nature studies, educational games. Not to mention the fact that the rates of a speech therapist or a nurse, as in Russia, are not there at all. Yes, and no sanitary standards. Do you want to open a kindergarten? Discover at least at home, which is what the secrets do. And they communicate with children in Thai or nightmare English. In Spain, everything is stricter, like ours.
It was important for me that there is always where to go - famous exhibitions (visited the famous Human Body made of human bodies), went to the Argentine tango, and it was this show with these guys that we watched in Buenos Aires. Many museums, interesting places ... Not only zoos or safaris!
People
Is there a national question in Spain like ours in Moscow with people from the Caucasus, noticeable to the wintering man? In France and Germany, for example, there are too many Turks and Arabs who do not want to assimilate. I remember in Paris and Marseilles it was not very pleasant in the evening to walk along a street filled with noisy blacks ...
The last time I traveled to large cities in Spain, such as Barcelona, was several years ago and I don’t remember anyone bothered me, but now I don’t know. In the summer we lived in the Spanish part near Morocco, through Gibraaltar, in fact (we gladly traveled to Morocco on a ferry without a visa (for a day) for some ridiculous money). They said that there are many Moroccans living around us, but I saw them only in the late evenings - they went around selling all sorts of fake watch bags, after a couple of days we got used to them and did not offer us anything. In general, your question is more about large cities, all of this is in any of them. Even in Tai in working specialties, waitresses, etc., are not Thai, but Vietnamese, Lao, Cambodian, but we simply do not notice them. In Spain, by the way, Portuguese people work in bars, there are many young people from nearby countries, we even made friends with some.
My family went from Spain to Morocco for a day - an hour and a half by ferry for a penny!
How do Spaniards treat newcomers? In Thailand, I personally like a very friendly atmosphere and smiles, I feel very comfortable and safe. Yes, in popular Russian resorts, it is not so noticeable, but there are still places where all this is explicitly. Although even at the resorts, they smile at me sincerely, though not always. But this is differently better than gloomy faces in Russia, where people only lack an ax in their hand to complete the image..
These are all the features of their religion, they will always smile at everyone. But don't buy it. After all, Thais, in principle, by their convictions, treat any foreigners as an inferior race, and they sing about it in their anthem, and the main motive of the main political party is all about the same. And foreigners are treated worse than Tajiks in Moscow. Moreover, we involuntarily look ill-mannered in their eyes, behave not decently (few Russians bathe in Tae in clothes, for example, like locals). As for the smiles that vacationers and winterers are buying for, Thais are taught from childhood only to show their emotions in this way, because a person who even just raised his voice or swore at something, «lost face» for life ... Thais have so many kinds of smiles that they even express anger or fear with the help of them. By the way, a video is being played on Thai television, the text of which, in translation, reads: «The Thai smile brings the Thai tourism industry 300 billion baht a year. This amount is barely enough to pay for 4 months of fuel costs. To pay for energy costs, we can smile wider and wider ... Or we can save energy - and save our economy.»
As for Spain, they never asked us there, how in Tae «Where are you from?». There, this question is not at all worth it, if you behave yourself, then no one would even think to ask (all the more, to assess how much you can get rid of). Personally, we were much, much more comfortable in Spain! The Spaniards are generally cheerful and friendly people. Their culture is such that almost every man walking past me gave a compliment, they also sent air kisses from passing cars, honked ... pretty women (although, it seems to me, the Spaniards generally consider all our women of any size to be beautiful). It was funny that once such compliments were just let go to my husband!))) In general, in Spain it was not only comfortable, but also self-esteem was constantly increasing.
As for the gloomy faces in Russia, maybe sometimes you should start with yourself? Personally, people often smile at us for no reason, moreover, in Russia they all the time help with a stroller to get into a transport or somewhere else, I don't even have to ask. It's just that at the resorts, people themselves stop frowning, free themselves from their thoughts about work and problems, enjoy the sun and rest, look at the world more positively, and they smile back at them. Try to smile at the seller, doctor or a random companion in the subway in Russia as well, you will see, you will definitely smile back!
There are also plenty of exotic things in Spain!
As a summary, I want to say that personally for myself I would choose Spain for permanent residence, but let people not so deeply delve into any of my negative thoughts about Thailand. For a long time it was my favorite country, but perhaps I just ate too much of it. And instead of a clean sea-ocean, I began to see constant ebb tides and mud on the beaches, instead of the sun - the impossible heat outside the seasons and stuffiness, constantly running insects and the like. But I am sure that those who go to Thailand for a short vacation or winter stay, not exceeding six months, will be very pleased. And on my website, on the contrary, I try to help people make independent rest as comfortable as possible. I want more civilization, the opportunity to go to the theater, to the exhibition, to the opera, to travel to neighboring Europe, comfortable weather, and most importantly, development and safety for my children. So I advise everyone to compare personally and make an independent conclusion for themselves..
In Spain, we enjoyed rollerblading, which we brought from Russia. But from Thailand I had to send them back unpacked ...!
Tatiana Bedareva