Wen/Wu Hao
There are many international schools in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where high-quality teaching resources and relatively low tuition fees attract a large number of Chinese parents. Many old people also come here to help their children take care of their children while providing for the elderly. In recent years, in addition to cheap and beautiful international education resources, Chiang Mai's livable environment has also made it a "pension paradise" for many people.
Go to the International School to perform Beijing Opera
The Dingdian family is from Huizhou, Guangdong Province. Both she and her husband, Wu Tao, like to travel by car. In 2013, when they were driving in Chiang Mai, they met a Thai who was selling his property. Wu Tao immediately decided to buy the property. One year later, they moved to Chiang Mai with their family and sent their children here to attend an international school. Wu Tao's mother, Grandma Fan, followed her son to Chiang Mai, where the fresh air and wide living space made Grandma Fan feel comfortable. As more and more people came to live in Chiang Mai, Grandma Fan directly regarded Chiang Mai as her retirement home. At present, Grandma Fan spends two-thirds of the year in Chiang Mai.
"When I used to work in the company, I often went abroad, traveled to 30 or 40 countries, and liked to meet new things. Therefore, I was not afraid to go anywhere, and came to Chiang Mai to adapt to the life of the children." Compared with the tense and fierce competition in China, Grandma Fan liked the living conditions in Chiang Mai very much. In her opinion, Thai people are very satisfied with life and happy.
Grandma Fan, 74 years old, was a literary and artistic worker before retirement, and later worked in the government's industrial and commercial administration department. After coming to Chiang Mai, she didn't lose her hobby. In 2016, at the invitation of the international school where her grandson and granddaughter studied, Grandma Fan performed the Peking Opera "Mu Guiying Takes Command" and "The Drunken Concubine" on the International Day, won the best performance award and dress award awarded by the school, and was also published by the local Chinese newspapers, which made her very proud.
"There are dozens of students in one class in domestic schools, and there are only a dozen children in one class at most. There are only more than 400 students in international schools for my grandchildren, and there are more than 100 teachers, which means that a teacher only needs to teach four children, which is naturally better than the domestic education environment. My grandson Ding Ding has become more outgoing and polite since he came here. ”Grandma Fan was very pleased to see her grandchildren growing up.
When the children are not around, they basically do not go out
Grandpa Shen from Jiangsu is a neighbor of the Dingdian family. The straight distance between the two families is less than 100 meters, and they visit each other every day. Grandpa Shen and his wife Grandma Zhang were both teachers before retirement. Their son and daughter-in-law worked in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively, and didn't have time to take care of their children. In 2017, when their grandchildren were sent to Chiang Mai to attend the International School, Grandpa Shen and Grandma Zhang undertook the "work" of accompanying them.
Grandfather Shen's grandson went to an international school in Shanghai before, and the annual tuition was nearly 300000 yuan. His son and daughter-in-law decided to transfer their child to Chiang Mai to attend an international school. They rented a garden villa with a monthly rent of 10000 yuan in Chiang Mai. While providing a good living environment for their children, they also let their parents, who have worked hard all their lives, go abroad to enjoy the happiness of Qing Dynasty.
Apart from the children who need to be taken care of after school, the two old people have a lot of leisure time. Grandpa Shen, who likes to touch the nature, has reclaimed a small farmland near his villa and irrigated and cared for it when he was free. When the children were not at home during the day, Grandma Zhang looked after the potted plants in the garden.
Granny Zhang said that after coming to Chiang Mai, her rheumatism symptoms have alleviated a lot. The old couple are in good health. They have been to the hospital twice in Chiang Mai. One of them was Sun Tzu's pneumonia caused by a cold. A Chinese friend of his daughter-in-law took them to a private hospital. The doctor suggested staying in the hospital for one day. "The inpatient department is similar to the hotel. The medical staff are very patient, and there are also staff who can speak Chinese. Finally, they spent 20000 baht, about 4000 yuan. It is not expensive to see a doctor here, but the hospitalization fee is very high." The two old people said that seeing a doctor in Chiang Mai is not as difficult as they thought. Most hospitals have free interpreters.
Because his children are not around and his language is not good, Grandpa Shen seldom goes out. A little farther away, his neighbor Wu Tao drives him. During this time, grandsons and granddaughters went to Europe for vacation, and Grandpa Shen and Grandma Zhang were more relaxed. When the children were away, Grandpa Shen and Grandma Zhang had to walk for ten minutes to the nearest farmer's market to buy vegetables and daily necessities. Each time, they would take their son to exchange the Thai baht in advance, and how much money they should give depends on their mobile calculator and comparison.
Grandma Zhang used to be a Chinese teacher. Every night, she would give her neighbor's son Ding Ding some Chinese lessons. Ding Ding followed his parents to Chiang Mai after graduating from a kindergarten in China. Although he can speak fluent Chinese, his reading and writing abilities are far less than those of domestic children of the same age. In international schools in Chiang Mai, English, mathematics, sports and music are often compulsory courses, while Chinese, French and Japanese are optional courses. Some schools even do not have Chinese courses. Therefore, many Chinese parents will sign up for Chinese remedial classes for their children outside school.
Language barrier is the biggest obstacle
Although the living environment in Chiang Mai is good, many Chinese elderly who come to Chiang Mai find it difficult to adapt. The main reasons are poor language and lack of friends. This is also the biggest worry of Grandpa Fang and Grandma Jiang from Sichuan.
Grandfather Fang's daughter, Ms. Fang, and her son-in-law, Guo Ming, used to work in Beijing. Two years ago, because he hated smog, Guo Ming decided to move to Chiang Mai with his family to provide his son "Tudou" with a more international education environment and a healthier growth environment. Two old people who had never been abroad also came to Chiang Mai. At present, Grandpa Fang and Grandma Jiang come to Chiang Mai every winter to get together with their daughter's family, so as to escape the cold and humid weather in Sichuan.
Grandma Jiang likes the living environment in Chiang Mai. She didn't expect the pace of life here to be slower than that in her hometown. However, due to the language barrier, the two old people could not go shopping on their own, and life was not as convenient as in their hometown of Sichuan. In addition, it is difficult for them to find elderly friends who can chat here. In her hometown, there are many relatives and friends near her home. Grandma Jiang can visit her home at any time.
After two years of communication, Guo Ming received his 81 year old mother to Chiang Mai Life in 2017. Guo Ming said that the elderly in China are generally very traditional and have a strong sense of returning to their roots. "Many friends have talked to me about taking the elderly to Chiang Mai to provide for the elderly, but the elderly do not agree to what to do? I suggest that they take it easy. The elderly are used to living in China, and they are unwilling to speak out. The houses here are in the suburbs, so it is inconvenient to walk around. It's better to let the elderly come here for a few days to feel the atmosphere of life here before making a decision. "
In Guo Ming's view, the main obstacle for Chinese people to provide for the elderly overseas is that many elderly people are difficult to adapt to the new living environment quickly, and the lack of friends abroad will also lead to a strong sense of loneliness. Guo Ming believes that pension and education need to consider different issues, and pension needs to focus on the medical environment. In China, difficulty in seeing a doctor has become a common phenomenon, but private hospitals in Thailand attach great importance to the medical experience of patients, provide almost hotel like services, and are committed to making every patient receive the best treatment, which gives him a reassurance.
Guo Ming said that Chiang Mai's pleasant climate and high-quality medical environment provide a good environment for the elderly to live in their later years, and it will gradually become a development trend to go abroad to provide for the elderly.
