newnative

So, I'm not sure I'm understanding your post. For me, it's not a question of whether one place is 'better' than another place. For me, it's what place has more of what I want in a place to live, knowing that no place is going to have 'everything', including the place I do live, Pattaya.

I think you need to distinguish between an interesting place to visit vs. a place you would want to live year-round. It can be a big difference. For me, from your description, Koh Phangan would fall into a place I'd probably only enjoy for a visit, since I don't ride motorbikes or dive ,or do much hiking or paddling. None of those activities would appear on my needs list when I am looking for a place to live year-round. I have visited a half-dozen islands and did enjoy the short visits but for year-round living? Not for me, but, perhaps, just the ticket for someone else. A place having 'better diving' doesn't count for much if you don't have any interest in diving. On the other hand, I eat 3 meals a day and love to eat out so a place having lots of different restaurants does count for much. For me, it comes down to checking the needs boxes.

That's the great thing about Pattaya. It can accommodate lots of 'different views and check lists for a good quality of life'. You'll have your view and checklist, and I'll have mine, which likely is far different, but nothing wrong with that. What floats your boat. When my spouse and I were younger and first moved to Pattaya, like you, we wanted a location to live at with a beach view. And, preferably oceanfront. We're in a beach town, we want to be on the beach, right? And, we got it. We started with an oceanfront 1-bedroom condo at VT3. Then moved to a 2-bedroom oceanfront at Lumpini Park Beach in south Jomtien, followed by a 3-bedroom oceanfront condo in Wong Amat--with a number of other condo stops in-between--not all oceanfront but all with ocean and beach views. It was great for that stage of our lives. As we got older, we found we wanted more privacy, more space, and more bedrooms to accommodate visits from family. Again, no problem with Pattaya accommodating one of our changing needs. We are now in a large 4-bedroom pool villa on the Darkside, which fits where we are now in our lives. Although our housing need changed, other needs didn't. We still like to see movies in English. I still like good and interesting shopping choices--I have several favorite Japanese import stores I like here and I bought a beautiful antique Japanese wall scroll this weekend. We've been car shopping this year and we appreciate all the many car brands we now have to choose from in Pattaya--and, good to not have to go a long distance for service. We're both trying to stay in shape so we like that we are able to have a membership to use the very nice gym at one of Pattaya's big resorts. We love to eat out, that didn't change, so, of course, we like the extensive dining choices Pattaya has to offer, with new restaurants opening all the time. Spouse still likes to play badminton and there are 3 or 4 courts, maybe more, in Pattaya, including one less than 5 minutes from our house. We still like the good health care Pattaya has and being close to both Bangkok and the airports when we travel. As I said in an earlier post, Pattaya checks more of the 'needs' boxes we have, and it can still check them when some of the needs change.

Thanks, Mike. I didn't realize it has now become a problem--and it was working so well! Darn.

What a total crock. When Asean Now gets around to reviving the sorely missed Dumbest Post of the Year Contest I call dibs on your post to submit. I'm sensing a sure win. (Sorry, chiang mai, I know you responded before me but you forgot to call dibs.) If 'most expats' have 'left already', I wonder why Jomtien Immigration had to expand and build a big annex in the parking lot. If 'most expats' have 'left already', shouldn't the immigration office be shrinking instead of expanding? And, if most have left, why was Jomtien Immigration an absolute zoo when I did my 1-year renewal in June, supposedly a slower period with the snowbirds not back yet? If 'most expats' have 'left already', I wonder who is buying all the thousands of new houses and condos being built--in Pattaya alone, not to mention all the other popular areas of Thailand for expats. In my new housing project we have expats from USA, Israel, Italy, Holland, Ireland, Russia, Britain, China, Dubai, India, and likely others I haven't met yet. It was the same in the other two housing projects I lived at--expats from many different countries living in the majority of the homes. Still here. If 'most expats' have 'left already', I wonder why there isn't foreign quota now available at condo projects in Pattaya popular with expats. Northshore condo, for example, super popular with expats, hasn't had foreign quota available for years. If 'most expats' have left, that would mean few expats left at Northshore and foreign quota should now be abundant there. Not the case--there and at other projects that drew so many expat buyers that foreign quota ran out. Expats are still there, foreign quota is still not there. If 'most expats' have 'left already', I wonder why Pattaya needs all the new car dealerships that have opened in the past few years? Jeep, BYD, Deepal, MG, Kia, Peugeot, BMW, Mini, Mercedes, Audi, Hyundai, plus multiple new Honda and Toyota dealerships and others. Tourists normally don't buy a car while on vacation. Didn't all these dealers get the word that 'most expats' have 'left already'? I, myself, don't know a single expat who has left. Nor do I know any who are even thinking about leaving. 'Most expats' are still here. Including me.

I haven't been paying too much attention to this thread lately, since my 90-day online reporting has been working well, so perhaps this discussion is referring to a specific IO branch. If that is the case, ignore my next comments. I don't think it is correct that you always have to report in person to do the 90-day after leaving the country. At least, that has not been my experience. I have traveled out of the country several times in the last couple of years, most recently to China in 2023, and I was still able to do my next 90-day report on-line. With the China trip, I returned to Thailand Dec. 4, 2023 and I did my next 90-day report on-line in January 2024. I use the Jomtien IO branch.

+1!

Yes. They come to Pattaya, stay a few days, rarely venture beyond a small area, and then cluelessly and endlessly post on AN whenever any thread shows up remotely related to Pattaya. I love the ones that start, "The last time I visited Pattaya in _______ blah blah blah . . ." Fill in that blank with a year at least 10 and sometimes 20 years or more ago. My favorite, though, is the poster who always says he's never visited Pattaya, has no plans to ever visit Pattaya, but still must throw his two cents in.

I wonder when you were living there that it took so long. My spouse and I live near Lake Mabprachan and we can be at Terminal 21 or Index in about 20 minutes or so, Jomtien in a half-hour. We are on the side of the lake near the Motorway so perhaps a much shorter distance to town than where you were. We jump on the Motorway near the Gems Mining Resort and from there its only about 3 minutes to Sukhumvit. If we go left on Sukhumvit and use the Underpass there isn't even a traffic light until we get to Big C South Pattaya. Twice a week we exercise at Centara Grand Resort in Wong Amat and it's usually only about a 30 minute drive, going down North Pattaya to the Circle and then using side streets to Centara. We go in the morning and drive times can be longer at busier times, such as weekends and holidays, which we try to avoid. One thing that surprised us living in our area of the Darkside was how quickly we could get to many of the places we frequent often--Index, Home Pro, lotus's, T21, Big C Marina, Boonthavorn, etc. We used to live on the beach in south Jomtien at Lumpini Park Beach and it could take as long or longer from there getting to some of the places mentioned.

You might consider having a consultation with Dr. Somchai at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital regarding having lasik done. I looked into lasik in the US but I was told I would still need to use glasses, either for close-up or distance. Since I wanted to get rid of glasses as the whole point of having lasik, I didn't have it done. When I came to Thailand I checked again regarding lasik with Dr. Somchai. He told me he thought he could do the lasik in such a way that I could see both distance and close-up without having to wear glasses. And, he did just that. (Nice when that happens!) I ended up with great vision for both distance and close-up. This was back around 2011 or 2012 and I had great vision until just this year, when, at age 72, I noticed my distance vision remained great but I was having trouble reading the tiniest print on my health watch. I probably could have just continued with the slightly poor close-up vision but my spouse and I both decided to have Dr. Somchai do SuperSight lens replacement. (Spouse had also had lasik when I did.) And, again, very happy with the results. I can now see all that tiny print on my watch telling me I need to get more sleep. SuperSight is expensive and involved an overnight stay at the hospital, with more after surgery stuff to do than with lasik. With your case, lasik might be an easier, and equally good or better option. Dr. Somchai is very professional, takes his time, and is very patient in explaining things, with good follow-up care. As I said, it might be worth having him check your eyes and see what he says regarding your treatment options.

I don't think any place is going to be Nirvana. Just saying. Certainly traffic can be bad--I've often posted about it. Knowing that, as year-round residents, my spouse and I tend to avoid some busy areas at some busy times. We'll try to go to Central Festival or T21 during the week rather than the weekend, for example. In order to live in a place with all the things I mentioned in my earlier post, that my spouse and I want, a city needs to be a certain size. And, when a city becomes big enough to have all those things we want, it will also have some negatives. You weigh the pros and cons and make your decision. For us, the pros far outweigh the cons. The fact that Pattaya is booming points to others coming to the same conclusion. It simply checks more of our 'wants' boxes than any other place we have been to in Thailand. I will say that in 14 years living in Pattaya I have never witnessed your 'fights, stabbings, deaths, drugs, theft, etc.' Never. But, remember, I am not a tourist. I live here. I'm not drunk on Beach Road at 2am sporting a big, flashy gold necklace for all to admire--and possibly steal. Pattaya is a big city and there will be some crime, Also true for other big cities in Thailand. And, elsewhere. I feel safer, though, in Pattaya than the small city where I lived in America. Instead of being a tourist, I'm living a normal, resident life, doing the same normal, resident everyday things I'd be doing in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, or wherever. And, I am not the only one. There are lots of us, mostly not on display and mostly living away from the busy tourist spots. You can live a very nice life in Pattaya and never set foot on Walking Street, Soi 6, and the like. As I said in my earlier post, I think Pattaya is actually better as a place to live rather than to visit as a tourist. Speaking of places to live, my spouse and I also have a Bangkok condo. And, guess what? Sometimes the air is bad there, too. Sometimes, like Pattaya, there is crime in the news. And the traffic? Well, after one of our short stays we're happy to have the much easier traffic of Pattaya. Everything's relative.

Huh? You must not have read the article or your comprehension skills are lacking. It's the exact opposite of what you posted, according to the article. The high-end hotels are doing ok, the mid and low-end hotels are not. The conclusion? Thailand is doing ok with the number of higher-end tourists visiting but is not attracting enough mid and lower-end tourists to fill those types of hotel rooms. So much for all those posting by you and others saying Thailand is being over-run by 'cheap mass tourism'.

For long-term living I would choose Pattaya hands down. I often say Pattaya is actually a better place to live than as a tourist destination to visit for a few days. It has all the things you'd want in a place to live, either year-round or for shorter terms. Great selection of neighborhoods, each with its own vibe. You can choose beach side, with a number of different choices. Or, you might want the quieter, less touristy Darkside, with lots of terrific housing projects to choose from. Great selection of housing choices at all price ranges--hugely important in a place to live--whether you are renting or buying. You can, and my spouse and I have, live in everything from a studio condo on the beach to our current 4-bedroom pool villa. As our housing needs changed, Pattaya easily accommodated us. Tremendous choice. Also so important, very good health care, eye care, and dental care available with a number of large hospitals and clinics. Terrific shopping choices with two very good shopping malls, furniture and hardware stores like Home Pro and Index, good grocery store choices, a large number of car dealers offering a wide brand selection, and a huge number of different restaurants. Plus, cinemas in English, golf courses, scuba, snorkeling, fishing, badminton and tennis courts, etc. And, the added bonus of being an easy drive on the 4-lane Motorway to both a big city and two major airports. Three if you count U-Tapao. The cherry on top is the large and diverse expat community living here. You'll likely make some new friends--we have.

Specifications can be different if you select a different sofa type, such as a sleep sofa vs. a regular sofa, and, certainly, a different sofa series from another one. I think if you select a series, such as Vimle, the materials and specifications will be the same, comparing apples to apples. For example, Vimle makes a small 2-seat sofa for 25,990 baht. They also make a huge U-shaped 6-seat sofa for 100,000 baht. If you check the specifications, they are the same except for length. Seat depth is the same at 55cm. Seat height is also the same at 45cm. Armrest width and height the same at 15cm and 65cm. Etc. Fabric choices were the same--the two sofas I looked at both came with a fabric called Grann/Bomstad, with likely some other fabric choices available. I'm not sure all fabrics are available with all sofa configurations. Composition of the sofa cushions is the same--high resilience foam. And, of course, the overall design style is the same. My main point remains that in many cases you can use a different version of a sofa series to check quality, design, construction, fabric feel and weight, and, most importantly, how comfortable the product is for you when you sit on it.

Can't speak for Phuket but I would totally dispute Pattaya being number 2 on the list. It's a tourist town and, yes, it's popular, it has lots of tourists, but it's also large and spread out, with a number of different beaches, tourist areas, and tourist attractions, such as Nong Nooch Gardens, in different locales. The tourists aren't all concentrated in one small area so it doesn't feel 'overcrowded' to me. I would certainly rank Venice much higher. It was so overcrowded when we visited it was hard to even walk around--that's not the case with Pattaya.

With IKEA sofas, usually a model type, such as Vimle, will have a number of different configurations, from smaller 2 and 3-seat sofas to much larger configurations such as what you show above. Although IKEA stores are huge, they don't have the space to display all the configurations available, and especially the really large sofa configurations. But, you should be able to test the quality and sit comfort of a model type by checking out a smaller version, which usually is on display. The bigger types are usually just that--bigger versions of the same model. Things like seat depth, arm height, and back height and angle ( very important) should be the same. Fabric type, feel, weight, and color should also be the same. As for the OP, some good choices, such as SB Furniture, Index, and Chic Republic have been mentioned, as well as some others I would add Jas Furniture, which allows you to select fabric type and color, and Boonthavorn's Lifestyle Furniture, which also has a number of different sofa types.

Yes. We had lasik around 2012 and this year we both did the lens replacement, both procedures with Dr. Somchai. Happy with both.

Thank you.

Thanks!

If you are in Pattaya the doctor at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital is terrific. My spouse and i both had lasik done there and were very pleased with the results.

Thanks for your interesting post. I'm curious regarding the $61,750 tax-free figure you mentioned, which I am not familiar with. Is that for higher income levels? (Which I am also not familiar with, more's the pity!) In 2023, I had Social Security, Virginia state pension, and dividend income for a total of around $50,000 in income for the year. I ran my taxes with both Turbo Tax and Tax Act on-line tax preparers and they both came up with around $1,500 in federal tax still owed, on top of what I had already paid. To add insult to injury, I had to also pay a small penalty as I didn't have enough tax taken out during the year, which I have, hopefully, remedied for 2024.

Terrific debate performance for Harris. Trump was demented horrible--yaa!

Wish that were true regarding the good 'ol US of A. No tax expert but I do know I have been paying federal tax for the last 50 years on income that has never reached $60,000. My 2023 tax owed was around $1500.

No, not a lot, in my opinion. Certainly nobody I know would fit that description. They might be more noticeable than other ex-pats going about their business in less visible areas but that is perception, not reality. My Thai spouse and I live in a new housing estate on the Darkside of Pattaya, one of a very large number of housing estates that have sprung up, and are continuing to be built here in booming Pattaya. Of the 30 homes in my housing project, in the 10MB range, almost all have at least one ex-pat in residence. It was the same in the two previous housing projects that we lived at before this one. Are we visible, on display? Nope. Nobody sees or notices us. Only those down-and-out sad sack ex-pats seem to get noticed and commented on. But, for every one of those, there are dozens more living in out-of-sight housing estates or in one of the numerous high-end condo projects that have been built, and, like the housing projects, are also still being built, to handle the demand.

This is not news. We've had this same story periodically for years. News is reporting something new; hence, the word 'news'. Something new would be reporting that the high speed rail project is on schedule or, dare I say it, ahead of schedule. Odds of those two news stories are slim and none.