Happier Abroad Forum Community

Hey guys,
Haven't posted here for a while but August marks my one year mark in Thailand. I am still doing well here and am liking the country, and particular the place I reside in the north- Chiang Mai more than ever. I have a nice Thai girlfriend and a pretty sweet set up teaching English. My boss is cool as hell! This is definitely a place that I could see myself living long-term. As it suits me on so many levels. I hope to be updating more about my story in the near future.

In the meantime I have started a small online shop to supplement my meager teacher salary. Right now I am trying to build momentum and I have a few items but I will be updating more as the ball gets rolling (I hope!!!)

If you could just check it out, especially if you are interested in some nice, handcrafted, and inexpensive jewelry, thai silk, or Buddhist amulets from Thailand. I would really appreciate it.

Here is the links to the products page.

https://thailand-treasures.myshopify.co ... ctions/all

Take care and good luck with your happier abroad plans!

This is amazing! Congrats on your success. I have a few questions.

Is it easy to find products to sell in Thailand? What are the import/export laws? I could really see doing something like this when I move to Phillipines and visit Africa soon.

You are an inspiration. Also, if you need help getting your own .com website like ThailandTreasures.com or something, I can help you out.

There's a guy in Chiang Mai who is a well known entrepreneur. He has a podcast and if you can get in touch with him, he might be able to help you go further. His name is Johnny FD.

http://www.johnnyfd.com/p/contact.html
https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnnyJ3N/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyeR29 ... KCQ/videos

Gibraltar,
It is very easy to find products to sell in Thailand, and I think in Chiang Mai in particular. There is a lot of industry going on here, especially if you are into Lanna, or northern Thai stuff. There are several night markets which host a wide variety of nice items for very cheap. There is a Thai silk industry. There is a big teakwood industry, there is a big silver industry, and other Asian artifacts are everywhere.

I already got into a little trouble as I had advertised a rosary made from Myanmar Jade. My friend bought it but paypall wouldn't process the payment. Turns out the Obama administration has banned the import of Myanmar Jade into the U.S.A. So I didn't get in trouble, but I couldn't process the payment. I am amazed at how cheap some of the local products are here. I am sure there are quite a people selling stuff from Thailand, but I haven't yet looked into the import/export laws. I am only shipping really small things and very low quantity. But I should look into that. My friend, who is a policeman here said that it should be o.k. as long as I don't sell in Thailand. It's good I will look into the laws about these issues more.

I am glad I was a little inspiration to you. It took me about a year to get to the point where I could do this. I have been teaching English the whole time, and as I said that is still my main bread and butter. I think it takes a year to really get settled down in a new country and to know the place well enough to get a venture going. But I am a newbie in these areas as I have never sold anything before, so I'm sure someone more experienced could get things going quicker if that was really his mission.

Johnny- Thanks for the links, I'll check them out!

gibraltar wrote:This is amazing! Congrats on your success. I have a few questions.

Is it easy to find products to sell in Thailand? What are the import/export laws? I could really see doing something like this when I move to Phillipines and visit Africa soon.

You are an inspiration. Also, if you need help getting your own .com website like ThailandTreasures.com or something, I can help you out.

P.S. Check out my first blog post I write a little about the scene in Chiang Mai!

https://thailand-treasures.myshopify.com/blogs/news

By the way... The girl I have modeling the shawl made of Thai silk on my catalog page is my current Thai girlfriend. She is really sweet, easy going, doesn't demand money from me, and is honest to boot. Doesn't fit the stereotype of Thai girls at all.

Your girl is cute, she looks more like the Chinese girls I dated than the Thai girls.

When I lived in Bangkok there was a craft market in Terminal 21 showcasing locally produced crafts.

I'd like to visit CM some time - I've got some leave in 2015 so maybe I'll come in November.

Xiongmao, She is of Myanmar descent a couple of generations ago. You should check out northern Thailand. Its a very cool place. Hit me up if you come, I'll probably be able to show you a thing or two. I've lived here for a year now and know my way around a bit!