Never before have I swum in a sea that I’d describe as hot. Warm, yes. Eye-wateringly frigid, definitely. But the sea off the south coast of Phuket, Thailand, is genuinely hot. It seems odd to surface after a duckdive and feel the 85 F air to be cooler than the water I’m swimming in.
Just a little way from my swimming spot is a tropical-style bar and restaurant called the Paradise Beach Bar. There, I meet with a fortunate expat named Jack Taylor. He points to the next table, which overlooks a pure white-sand beach studded with house-sized rock outcrops and those ever-picturesque leaning palm trees angled across the water’s edge. “That table,” Jack tells me, “is what I call ‘my office.’”
I can think of many worse places to work from. We eat dishes of chicken with cashew nut, fried Thai-style, and sip on bottles of Tiger beer as the sun dips behind a horizon flecked with the running lights of pleasure yachts and long-tail fishing boats alike. I met a bunch of very content expats across the Southeast Asian nirvana that is Thailand. Read all about them in upcoming issues.
The International Living Network
At International Living, our network of on-the-ground experts spans the globe.
OUR EDITORS OVERSEAS
Suzan Haskins
Shaskins@internationalliving.com
Dan Prescher
Dprescher@internationalliving.com
Jessica Ramesch
Jramesch@internationalliving.com
Jason Holland
Jholland@internationalliving.com
IL IN-COUNTRY CORRESPONDENTS
Laura Diffendal
Placencia, Belize
Belize@internationalliving.com
Kathleen Evans
Tamarindo, Costa Rica
Costarica@internationalliving.com
Valerie Fortney-Schneider
Basilicata, Italy
Italy@internationalliving.com
David Hammond
Montevideo, Uruguay
Uruguay@internationalliving.com
Keith Hockton
Penang, Malaysia
Asia@internationalliving.com
Wendy Justice
Hanoi, Vietnam
Southeastasia@internationalliving.com
Nancy Kiernan
Medellín, Colombia
Colombia@internationalliving.com
Tricia Pimental
Beira Baixa, Portugal
Portugal@internationalliving.com
Tuula Rampont
Toulon, France
France@internationalliving.com
Marsha Scarborough
Madrid, Spain
Spain@internationalliving.com
Donna Stiteler
Cuenca, Ecuador
Cuenca@internationalliving.com
Nanette Witmer
Chiriquí, Panama
Chiriqui@internationalliving.com