Reflections

Thailand and China are the expat favourites

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Expats with children

I just took part in the 2014 Expat Explorer survey that is put on by HSBC. This survey is the largest global expat survey of its kind. In 2013 over 7,000 expats answered questions relating to their finances, quality of life and even what it’s like to raise children abroad. The questions covered a wide variety of topics and seemed to be a survey that could provide a pretty fair assessment of living overseas. After completing the survey, I had to check out the 2013 results. It was really interesting to note that the country that rated the highest among expats with children was China and, for those without children, Thailand. China only dropped to the number 2 spot when children were taken out of the picture. Maybe we are not so crazy after all!

Expats without children

Expats without children

 Go to Expat Explorer Survey 2013 to check out the complete results. It is also interesting to browse the comments, expat tips and tricks and interactive findings.

Food

A Taste of Home – Cinnabunns Cinnamon Rolls

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This has absolutely nothing to do with Thailand but several of my expat friends have been asking for this recipe which we made many times while living in China. These are definitely a little slice of home if you are living overseas. For lack of a better place to store the recipe for others, and myself, I am putting it on my blog! There are many versions of this recipe available online but these taste just like the ones at the mall. This recipe originally came from cooking.com. Read More

Festivals

Songkran Festival – aka Water Wars

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This is post #100 of this Thai Canuck blog so it is a bit of a milestone for me! We had no idea when we moved to China in 2008 that we would still be living in Asia six years later!. After over 100 postings and 2000 photographs as China Canuck on Travelblog.org, I started this blog when me moved to Thailand last summer. I would like to say thanks to all my readers that have continued to follow our adventures. Little did we know how much life we would be experiencing over the next few years as we walked up the stairs to our condo in Wuhan for the first time that dark winter night all those years ago! And the fun continues! Do I have any regrets?………wait for it………..Are you kidding?

The water carnage continued into Day 4 yesterday but I think it might actually be over today!  We have yet to see anybody that is armed!  For three or four days it has been impossible to walk more than a couple of blocks without getting soaked with water guns and buckets of water. The present day festivities of the Thai New Year are a far cry from the traditional activities that take place every April 13.  It actually has a deep meaning and that is to ask for blessings and to enrich religious intentions.

S3Housewives clean their respective houses and young individuals show their respect to elders by pouring fragrant water on their palms. More traditional Thais will gently pour water over your shoulder and back while wishing you Happy New Year. If you are lucky, you will be approached and a person will smear white face paint on your cheeks. This is one of the oldest Thai traditions and is meant to ward off the evil spirits. I felt privileged to have this done to me as I walked along the street a couple of days ago but not all foreigners are impressed by this activity!  Songkran is also a time when Buddha images from private homes and temples are cleansed with specially perfumed water. In Chiangmai, Buddha images are taken from the temples and paraded around the streets for this purpose. Also at this time sand is taken to the temples, sculpted into shapes like stupas (chedis), and decorated with colorful flags. Read More

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