newnative

Been here 14 years. Still love it--everything I have posted about on other threads. As for farangs leaving Thailand for somewhere else, I don't know a single one who has done so. At 72, I still find plenty to interest me and keep me engaged here, including finishing the construction of a new house with my Thai spouse, which we have been working on since February.

Less than I had planned. Biggest single monthly expense these days is probably health insurance.

Sounds a bit like my spouse and myself. In our 13 years here in Pattaya we have lived in everything from a 48 sqm studio condo to our current house, a 3-bedroom on the Darkside. Like you, they all 'felt about right at the time', and for our financial circumstances at the time. We are just finishing construction on our next house, a bigger 4-bedroom with one more bathroom in the same area. We decided we wanted a home gym and more room for visiting relatives. As we've gotten older we've chosen more space and privacy over an ocean view.

Age, 72, married to a Thai, been here 14 years and live in Pattaya. There's not too much I would do differently. We started on the beach in Rayong and, in a do-over, we should have settled directly in Pattaya from the get-go. After living here about 3 years, we sold our condo in America, no regrets on that except we should have held it longer, but we needed money to buy more property here. As others have said, I, too, haven't felt the need to learn Thai, which is good since I am awful with foreign languages. Moving to Thailand, I would say only bring things you can't replace, things that have meaning that you want with you. I should have brought more of that and fewer clothes. Once here, I would take some time and try to get signed up to the best health care plan you can, at the most reasonable cost. I should have done more research before I signed up with both the plan I have and the health care company. I initially had hospitalization and outpatient but I have switched to just hospitalization as outpatient costs are so reasonable here. I now know there are cheaper alternatives but I have been with the company so long now that, at my age, I am sticking with it.

She lost the cursed Electoral College to Trump. The actual voters preferred her to Trump by 2.8 million votes. Not a ringing endorsement of Trump by the actual voters. He, of course, did even worse in 2020, losing by 7 million, and the Electoral College couldn't save him.

You got one thing right in your ridiculous, inaccurate post. Yes, this 'permanent Farang resident of Pattaya knows why he lives in Pattaya'. This Pattaya resident wants to live in a beach town, to start. Always wanted to, now I do. This resident wants to live in a city that's not too big and not too small, with easy access to both a major airport and a major city. This Pattaya resident wants access to very good dental care, eye care (just has SuperSight), and regular health care. And, excellent shopping for all he shops for, whether it is an automobile, furniture, housewares, clothing, food, wine, electronics, appliances, antiques, whatever. All available here, along with hundreds of restaurants of all kinds, movie theaters in English, and all sorts of sports activities accommodated. This Pattaa resident wants to live in a city with a wide mix of expat local residents. I know expats from the US, Ireland, China, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, England, Israel, Holland, Italy, Australia, France, Canada, and likely some other places I've forgotten. Plus, Thais, of course. Almost everyone I know is partnered and not living here just because of Pattaya's 'sex industry'. Do some indulge? Probably--but sex is available anywhere in Thailand in a city the size of Pattaya. This expat also chose Pattaya for the wide variety of neighborhoods to live in and, especially, the very wide variety of housing available at all price points, whether you choose to rent or own. My spouse and I have lived in everything from a 48sqm View Talay 7 studio condo right on the beach in Jomtien to our current home, a 4-bedroom pool villa on the Darkside. In between, there were other stops in Jomtien, Pratamnuk, Pattaya Beach Road, and Wongamat. We liked them all, and Pattaya had all our housing needs covered, whatever we needed at the time. Whether you want a smal highrise condo on the beach or a 10MB to a 100+MB pool villa in one of Pattaya's numerous, and growing, luxury housing projects, the choice is there for you. For this expat and my spouse, Pattaya simply checks far more boxes of what we are looking for in a place to live than anywhere else in Thailand--and, we have been to a lot of places. We are not alone--far from it--which explains why Pattaya has grown so much in the 14 years we have lived here, and continues to grow tremendously. May I conclude by inviting you to join the Just Can't Quit Pattaya Fan Club. I notice many members have been actively commenting on this thread. As the name indicates, it's made up of folks like you with Pattaya envy and, apparently, no outlet for that envy except negatively posting on any topic involving Pattaya. Now hundreds strong, but there's always room for one more. Our two newest members hail from Haystack, Iowa and Queen's Breath, England. (Should they change that to King's Breath, I wonder?) A big Pattaya welcome to you both!

Pattaya, the 15th most-visited city in the World, will survive, and thrive, without you.

The president can keep doing these interviews but I doubt they will help. I think the damage is just too great to be overcome. And, I say this as a life-long Democrat, who hoped earlier in the year to vote for Biden's re-election in November. Ever since the debate, every time he announces a new public appearance, I cringe. What will he do this time? You don't want to be cringing when your president announces a public appearance. I think Biden has been a good president but it's time he steps aside. Of course, should he remain the nominee I will vote for him. Better sometimes tongue-tied and gaffe-prone Biden to stark raving mad Trump.

We have a pool villa on the Darkside and we have complete privacy. Our land plot is about 110 square wah. We have a wall surrounding the property and a solid giant door and a solid sliding carport gate the same height as the wall. The main thng is to pick a house that has single-story houses around it--no second floor to look down into your property, no second story windows next door that you have to look at from your property.

What you describe is just a tiny percentage of expats in Pattaya. I don't know a single expat who starts their day like that.

Now if we can just get road construction at night, too.

Huh??? Useless. Get moving on upping the foreign quota instead.

I personally would not want $700,000 lying around all day eating bon bons and not producing any income for me. But, whatever floats your boat.

I've said a number of times that when I moved to Thailand my lifestyle did not change. The things I enjoyed in the US, I enjoy here, as well. I was fixing up condos and selling them in the US, I continued to do that here. I enjoyed movies, reading, swimming, walks, the gym, and travel in the US. And, it's the same here. The difference is I have much better weather here year-round to do outdoor activities such as swimming. Things are cheaper here and I also have more disposable income living here so I can live in a better house here and my spouse and I can afford to do more traveling.

So, the lesson here is don't be a callous idiot and hit and run.

What you describe is normal and seen everywhere there is retail. It's finding the right mix of supply and demand, with survival of the fittest thrown in, as well. Not an exact science, and certainly competition and rent costs factor in. If a Starbucks or Pizza Hut closes, perhaps there were one too many in that vicinity. In the case of Starbucks, there's an outlet just down the street. For customers wanting Starbucks, that might be enough. Pattaya has a Frost Magic Ice amusement park. Haven't been but I guess cold, snow and ice might be the theme. I can't predict if it will succeed but it likely has a better chance of doing ok here rather than Anchorage, Alaska. Using that same logic, I never understood Hooters opening in Pattaya, although it lasted for awhile.

They have built Once Pattaya condo on 3rd Road. They have a new condo project called Once Wongamat that is slated to be built up the street from Again Pattaya, near the new Ankara Hotel. Could be they are involved with Again Pattaya, a name I find about as strange as Once Pattaya. Although, if you put them together you get Once Again Pattaya. Hmm. Still not winning me. (And, yes, Pattaya has The Win, too.)

I think you're seeing a lot of retail churn in Pattaya because two things are in play. The city is growing tremendously and both the tourist and the resident demographic has also been changing a lot. Much of the old retail was, and is, just not hacking it. Much of it was, and still is, is just not up to what Pattaya's growth and changing demographics want. You can look at the example I gave of Terminal 21, a new shopping center, with a new shopping center take, replacing an old, tired shopping center. Both shopping centers, the old one was just not hacking it. It's much the same thing with all the new, large, very nice hotels that have been built, and are still being built. They are catering both to a different tourist demographic and changing tourist tastes and interests. The massive Centre Point 3 Resort, construction now getting started, I believe is being built on a large plot of land that had been an old, sleepy, rundown resort of tourist bungalows. It was not what current visitors to Pattaya want to stay at when they come to visit. Changing tastes and interests. I remember in late 2009 or 2010 coming to Pattaya for a day visit when my spouse and I lived outside of Rayong and had not yet moved to Pattaya. At the time, our Rayong burbs Index was a small, unairconditioned, unattractive warehouse. We stopped at Pattaya's Index and we were overwhelmed at how great it was compared to ours. Two floors! Beautiful displays! Aircon! So much more merchandise! It was literally night and day. Imagine my shock when, some years later, Pattaya's Index, which I thought was terrific, was torn down and an even bigger, nicer Index was built across the street. You see examples all over town of the same thing. From newer and better retail and tourist attractions to more upscale condo projects and housing developments. What no longer works for today's Pattaya is being replaced with what does. Retail churn is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when you often end up with something that is more suited to a town's changing demographics.

Rolling right along, 20th century just ahead.

Retail churn is found everywhere. One business closes, for whatever reason, and another one opens. Normal. Does anyone remember the old, failed eyesore shopping center that was on the large site that now houses the successful Terminal 21? New businesses can fail, of course, but they can also succeed. And, often, the new is better than the old. Something, I can't even remember it was so forgetable, was on the site that now has Centre Point Space, also a success. The constrution wall says something called Again Pattaya will be built by Dolphin Circle. I don't know if it will have a hotel component but it's a large plot to be redeveloped.

It's deja vu all over again--this time with Japanese car makers asleep at the switch, like the US car makers were when the Japanese car makers invaded. Does Honda, or Toyota, sell even one PHEV in Thailand? My spouse and I own a Honda product and we would like to buy Honda agan but the product offerings leave us underwhelmed, especially the 'new' CR-V, which should have been the 2021 model, not 2024.

You might be interested to know that the majority of Chinese tourists vsiting Thailand pre-covid were not in tour groups. Over 60% were traveling independently. I can't imagine that would have changed much after covid. There are plenty of Chinese, and Indians, with money. I am in a new housing development on the Darkside of Pattaya. About 28 homes when the project is completed. Of the sold homes, which are in the 9 to 10MB range, we have 3 Chinese families so far and 2 families from India. I see plenty of tourists from China and India at the upscale resort I visit twice a week to use the gym.

The best cheap purchase I made was my first condo, after too many years of throwing money away on rent. Just $60,000, many moons ago. Borrowed money from my Dad and, with money I had saved, finally had enough for the down payment. Paid off Dad, fixed that condo up, sold it at a profit, and bought something a little better. Rinse and repeat. Did that about 9 times while I was working in the US. Had I never bought that first cheap condo, I would be considerably poorer these days.

Yes, indeed. We are seeing a great deal of old retail of all kinds being replaced by newer and better all over Pattaya. In addition to 2nd and 3rd Road, a lot of development is going on in North Pattaya and Wongamat/Naklua. The corner piece of property you mentioned is very big--stretching around the corner in both directions with all that old ticky-tacky that was there being torn down and redeveloped. Up the street, another 'Once' condo project is being developed next to the new Ankara Hotel. Probably the biggest project currently going on in this area of Pattaya is Centre Point 3, on a huge piece of property in front of Cape Dara. Worth a look if you are in that area. The project is so big that they will not be using concrete trucks but, instead, making the concrete onsite. Centara Grand Resort, perhaps mindful of this new competition going up just down the street, has started what looks to be an extensive renovation of the whole resort. Pattaya continues to grow and change.

I think you mis-read my post, which referred to both renters and owners--who both save lots of money living here. I, too, own my house, fully paid for and bought last year. The house, a 3 bedroom 4 bath with pool outside of Pattaya, cost me 6.5MB. About $180, 000. That's less than the small 1 bedroom 1 bath condo I owned in the US, which is now worth $235,000. So, living here, I have much larger space to live in, with my own pool, for much less money. Buying my large house here, instead of that small 1 bedroom condo in the US, saved me about $55,000. Had I tried to buy a 3 bedroom with pool in the US, the savings would be even more here in comparison--in the town where I lived in the US, 3 bedroom single family homes are $500,000 and up. My response to the poster complaining about the high cost of jam and wine remains valid. Instead of laser-focusing on relatively small cost items like jam, it's important to look at the savings you achieve here on the big ticket items, especially housing. I think it's likely that your 4 bedroom house here in Thailand cost less than a 4 bedroom in your home country, and likely costs less to run each year here when real estate taxes, HOA fees, maintenance costs, and utilities are factored in. Of course, nobody likes to pay high prices on products we buy. But, it's important to look at the big picture. As I said in my earlier post, the savings you achieve on the big ticket items like housing pays for a lot of small ticket items like jam and wine.