I jumped in to this TEFL thing 18 months ago or so, so I guess you vets can consider me a newbie to the field. Some of you teachers out there have even been teaching in Asia for years or maybe even a decade or two. My hat is off to you.

I'm wondering if you guys can help me out here.
I'm curious to know how teaching was in places like Thailand and South Korea back in the 'good ol' days' of TESOL, that is, before the '97 Asian financial crisis hit.

A colleague of mine here at my new job arrived in Thailand to teach EFL in late 1996 when the Thai Baht was 20 or so to 1 USD. In July of '97, Thailand displayed its genious and allowed the Baht to float, which started the dominoes falling. Her paycheck decreased by 60% (in dollars) in only one month when the Baht bottomed out at 53 to 1.

She only taught a few months before the crash, so she has limited knowledge of what teaching was like here before July '97. Can any of you guys tell me how was it 'back in the day' before the crash? Could you REALLY make good money in Thailand teaching EFL in the early 90s?

Also, can I, in my greenness, make this claim: "The teaching enviornments in both Thailand and South Korea have gone far downhill since the '97 crisis." ?

Thanks for any input.