Most of my life is pretty great here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, but there are certain things that are definitely made more complicated by living in a foreign country that I don't think most people really even consider when they are thinking of moving over here or any other part of the world.
It doesn't occur to me often, but these things can be a real pain in the butt at times. Mostly, having a rich nation's passport opens a lot of doors for you but there are some hardships that are going to come your way that you may not consider should you decide to come over to Thailand or any of the other countries around here.
Shoes... they don't have your size
it has gotten to the point where I don't really even bother to look at shopping malls when I need a new pair of shoes because even though Chiang Mai has one of the largest expat populations in all of South East Asia, the stores simply do not stock western sizes for the most part. I am not an enormous person but the average Thai person is considerably smaller than I am. I don't know many western adults who wear a size 7 or 8 US size shoe, but that does seem to be the upper limit in most stores that I have ever bothered to look in to attempt to get some new shoes.
There is a shoe company called Bata that has cheap dress shoes that are very stretchy and I can squeeze into those for my job but as far as getting larger sizes for my day-to-day life or for exercise is concerned, this is a very difficult thing to accomplish. Even when you go to an online store that services the entire nation it can be really tough to find a pair that is western sized.
Someone suggested a website called Decathlon and having it shipped to my house but I am not really a fan of ordering shoes online because are the sizes accurate? What if it doesn't really fit? Am I stuck with them?
Shoes are MORE expensive here
Despite the fact that as far as I know, almost all athletic shoes are produced in South East Asia, there is some sort of agreement that involves the government that determines that they are for export only. For example, I quite like New Balance shoes because they have the wide option but there aren't any New Balance shoes in the stores and I don't know if there is even a New Balance store in Thailand at all, there isn't one in Chiang Mai, I know that. If there is one it would probably be in Bangkok and then the prices would likely be astronomical.
I know that the prices of almost everything have gone up a lot in the past 5 years but the last time I found a pair of athletic shoes that actually appealed to me and they had my size these things were over $200. I have never paid this much money for shoes ever in my life and I don't plan to start now.
When I was living in USA I guess that is the land of sneakers because we had stores that were kind of like outlets and it was very easy to get a brand new pair of shoes for $40-50.
I'm not going to pay $200 for shoes.
I believe that athletic shoes in Thailand are kind of considered to be a luxury and and sort of a showoff product. Perhaps they are in the west as well but here they are so far beyond the financial means of the average Thai person that I believe they are considered some sort of upper-class purchase.
I know that the kids in my school are mostly not from wealthy families and when they do sports in the yard, it is in these cheap shoes that a uniform provider is probably required to offer them at almost no markup. I've never asked the kids how much they cost but I'm sure it isn't much.
For me even finding flip flops is hard even though I am willing to be a bit forgiving on the sizes as far as that is concerned.
Since I never do anything particularly hardcore in flip-flops it is ok if my heel is almost about to be hanging off the back end. Sometimes I don't have any choice. I wear a 11.5 in US size, which is an 11 in UK size and about a 46 in whatever that size is called (EU or something?)
You are very unlikely to find quality flip-flops in this size as well because let's imagine for a second that you own the shoe store: What are you going to stock? the size that 90% of the local population fits into or the size that just the fussy and mostly temporary tourist population might stop by and buy?
it's an easy choice.
For a lot of people ordering clothes online is fine but I think we enter an entirely new world when we are talking about shoes. Shoes that are slightly too small can really change your day in a bad way and this is why we like to try them on in the store.... but what can you do when the store almost never has your size?
prepare accordingly if you are planning on living here or visiting here because while finding shoes is easy as driving to the mall or Shoe Carnival in USA, it is a far more difficult endeavor over here in the Land of Smiles.
On my annual trip back to USA for a parental visit it is always something that I plan. It's very strange to me that all the shoes are made over here, but the people that live here don't get access to them.