I love driving all around Thailand, if you take the Thai test and can adapt to the Thai style of driving it doesn't matter where you live.
The GF has a house and family in Phitsanulok, son in Bangkok, sister in Hua Hin, came up for a weekend 2 years ago, brought a car and have never looked back, don't speak Thai, cook all my own food and get on with the locals, if you go with the flow, life's easy, 20 mins from decent shopping, rarely see another "Falange".