Living in Bangkok

DH's brother (a civil engineer) went to live in Thailand with his 2nd wife. He dumped her for a bar girl he met with his running club.

DH describes it as being a bit like the early days of the wild west.

Bil has been stopped for speeding a few times and just paid the policeman a fine which went straight in the policeman's pocket. He was accused of causing a road crash which resulted in a man having brain damage. He paid the man £8000 and no more was heard.

And, so it goes on.

Not a country I'd like to live in. Drive-by bag-snatchers a speciality.

DS lived on Phuket for two years. It has a seedy area, but he never had any particular problems and local people were very friendly.

Like every city there are poor areas and wealthy areas. Safe areas and risky areas.

Help in the home is easy to come by. People are pleasant and helpful to your face but don’t take anything at face value. Everybody does what is needed to look after and protect their own family so morality can have a very different look from western values.

I have an acquaintance who lives half of his year in Thailand.

He works in the building trade, and started going out there after the Boxing Day tsunami. He went to help with the rebuilding, and being retired had just kept doing work out there.

He enjoys his time there, and has had no problems.

Thanks for the replies.
We'll just have to wait and see. Eldest son will be 60 in 3 years time, so will be thinking of retiring. DiL is younger.
I can't see me going to visit them there though.

Son had an apartment there some years ago, he was single with no responsibilities and enjoyed traveling so why not.

We traveled there at a different time, it's like any other large city.
You need to aware of pick pockets.
Take multi copies of passports and credit cards
Use money belts.
Don't use Internet cafes if at all possible. If you need to use the Internet use the business section of a good hotel, it's probably more secure.
There are some amazing sites in and around Bangkok and it's well worth the extra caution.
A lot of it is just common sense, the only time I had something stolen was in Quito Ecuador, a top which I had folded over the straps of my backpack. It was so quick these people are professionals at stealing.
Go see your son and enjoy the visit.

Why wouldn’t you visit it’s a beautiful country and friend.y people no worse crime than in many places U.K. included