I would never pay for that volunteer visa, just not worth it unless one really needs to be in Thailand. That's just sad. Thailand's economy grew fast because of tourism, they will surely regret this in the end.
I think other countries are just as awesome, and you can always come back. I'll just do a one month extension :)
I know that my fear of moving to another country was motivated by being here for a long time. I got comfortable even though there was never really anything holding me here after I sold my business. I had just been here so long that it seemed like home so if i was going to put a silver lining on this cloud I would say that it kicked me in the ass to get moving on to a new destination... and that is precisely what is about to happen.