Carribean, Australia, Indonesia or Thailand?

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The one thing in your original post jumped out at me: That given "recent developments" you were thinking of avoiding Thailand.

That woudl be a huge mistake, There's absolutely no reason not to come here and whether you were referring to the political upheavals of a couple months ago or the current worldwide swine flu problem, neither should impact your decision to come to Thaialnd.

The protests, while awful looking on TV, were extremely isoldated from virtually all people. Plus, you wouldn't be in Bangkok anyway. Lots of Bangkokonians wil join me in saying that while protests raged in one small area, life went on as usual elsewhere.
Yes, this is what I hear from my friends in Bangkok. Their biggest concern at the height of the unrest was access to the local Starbucks.
 
I was in Thailand for the previous coup - this sort of stuff happens all the time in Thailand. As a farang (foreigner) in a touristy area, you're unlikely to even know when it happens. The western media were full of condemnation and my parents were writing to offer me a place to stay if I needed to come home and pretty much everybody in Thailand just accepted it as regular politics. Very democratic in a way - if you don't like the person in charge, keep shouting loudly until they go away!

The airport protest was indeed a pain in the backside but I wouldn't be worried about coming to any harm. It's between the reds and the yellows, and farang don't really count as part of the population! I think they're on their 5th Prime Minister in as many years?

When I left for Thailand it was at the height of the bird flu 'crisis' - I never so much as caught a cold. The western media, in general, know jack about the Asia Pacific region and what you see on TV is nothing to worry about.

Unless you're waiting for your plane....! :D

Happy Travels

C.
 
Agree with all posts about the pros of coming to Thailand. i did my internship in Pattaya and then moved to Phuket where I work fulltime. In the high season the diving in the Similans is second to none. Last season we had lots of sharks, manta rays and whale sharks, not to mention all the really cool macro stuff, short pouch pygmy pipehorse, thousands of nudibranchs, seahorses etc etc etc. The diving around Phi Phi island is also excellent year round, and many of the local dive sites to phuket have some fantastic marine life.
Before I became an Instructor, I dived in many places throughout the world: Great Barrier Reef, Indian Ocean, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, The Med, Cyprus.

Your money goes a long way here and there are many different places to complete an internship.
Do your research and see if you think it would work for you. My 4 months has turned into nearly 3 years.

Hope this helps
 
Big thanks to everyone whos given me input on my situation. I have decided to move to thailand after all. Now I just need to figure out where to stay. Im thinking of Phuket, Phi Phi and Ko Tao.

any suggestions?
 
I trained in Thailand as a dive master then did my instructors in Thailand too, the only thing its hard to get work afterwards. Phuket has a diving season from Oct to May as the sea gets a bit chopy Koh Tao you dive all the year round but its the rainy season in Nov and a bit in Dec. Living in Samui cheaper you can get a place for about 5000baht upwards a month and still do you courses.
 
You said Indonesia and Thailand, how about someplace like Palau? Not too far from there and I've heard from my instructor who has been several times that it is incredible diving.
 
You said Indonesia and Thailand, how about someplace like Palau? Not too far from there and I've heard from my instructor who has been several times that it is incredible diving.

this is a great tip man! thanks alot! im gonna look into it. altho i feel like thailand will be my destination. But this place is amazing for vacations! maybe ill find work there once im done with my instructor course :D
 
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