Is pattaya the place to live for a married couple

[thaistyle2728]

I have been married to a thai for almost 33 years...next year i will retire and move back to thailand...seems to me from reading all the posts that its better to be single wait a girlfriend than to be married to be able to live in pattaya..

  does anybodt know the percent of single farangs to married farangs that live there...right now its hard to make up our minds what part of the country to live in...north or south...

[Brian]

Personally, I couldn't think of a worse place in Thailand than Pattaya to live as a married couple. (or as a single guy either for that matter) unless you enjoy being surrounded by overweight middle aged farangs leading around 20 something Thai girls..

[sevinnow]

Pattaya is only good if you employ enough girls to "bleed" the middle aged over weight farang out of his hard earned holiday cash.  

To live there (Pattaya) as a married couple without a tourist led business forget it!    Thailand is full of beauty, the islands, the north, the deep south,even Bangkok has it's moments(not many I must admit) but if you want the wild night life live in Jomitian and go to Pattaya now and then for it.

Sev

[wolf5370]

Agreed - Pattaya is not the place.

I think you need to work out what you want and then you can work out where, rather than the reverse.

Do you need to be South Central?

Do you need to be near English speaking communities (Int. schools etc)?

Would you be happy up North, Chiang Mai perhaps?

Do you need to be near relatives or her own community? etc etc

Write down questions like these with your answers on paper, and cross ref it with information about the provinces (73 of em!) - put the shortlist up here, and we will give our comments to help you.

Good luck.

[dalmatian]

Believe it or not I am a Brit married to a Brit and living in Jomtien. It does seem a bit crazy but having come here for 18 years I indeed thought the best thing was to marry a non-thai although my wife is Asian of descent. Nothing against the ladies, I have just never found one I wanted to stay with and reading your columns and those of the expat mags etc you get warned off marrying a thai lady at every turn. Probably I have never been able to meet a good thai girl outside of a bar. However it is a great place to live if you want to do more than just go to bars everyday. There is far more ability to enjoy your later years here than in my old country where I will likely be led into a field and left there. There is a good expat community and so many things to do (the weather added) that I would believe make anybody want to live here. Of course if you do ever have a blazing row and you need to get your head straight that's when it would be ideal to head for the bars!. You can't do that so easily in good old blighty. The fox and fiddle in Islington does not have the same pull as TQ 1 and 2 in Pattaya.

[pschef]

I would say, it depends on your lifestyle. Do want to play golf everyday, visit the Bars etc. I live in Chiang Rai, very quiet place but very cheap to live. I get fed up with the tranquility, I just head down country to Pattaya or Bangkok or just up to Chiang Mai city for a few days. Around here we have a small but friendly group of Farrang, never a dull moment. Tend to drink a bit too much :laugh:

[MaiChai]

It will be pretty expensive to live in Pattaya compare to ordinary outside Bangkok Thailand. Personally I can't think of a worse place to live. Why don't you go and live where you wife comes from in Thailand; thats what most people do. I live in a village in the country; brilliant. Have lived there for 8 years. If I need more excitement, I just get in my pickup and drive somewhere. To be honest, the social calendar even in our village is pretty busy and I have two kids, so there is never a dull moment for me. You need to appreciate the Thai culture and have an open mind to live somewhere similar to where I live, though. However, if you need your lifestyle to be western in Thailand, one might argue why you are coming to live here?

[lopburi3]

Even after 33 years MaiChai advise about living in the area she comes from is valid.  But if there are reasons not to live there it should be a population center such as Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phuket, Samui or Pattaya I suspect.  Pattaya would not be my choice but for those that can turn a blind eye to some really grouse looking and acting foreigners it could be ok.  Many Thai can make the trip to Jomtien each weekend without too much adverse reaction (I think).

Living in the country is not the problem it used to be as TV is available anywhere there is power and roads here are not bad for travel.  For future medical problems Bangkok and Chiang Mai are probably the best choice.

[MaiChai]

If your not sure about where you want to live, I would suggest you don't rush into buying a house/land, and instead rent. Then you can move around and live in different places until you find the area you want to live in. Then you can think about buying a house/land. Renting is mega cheap.

[Rog]

Personally, I couldn't think of a worse place in Thailand than Pattaya to live as a married couple. (or as a single guy either for that matter) unless you enjoy being surrounded by overweight middle aged farangs leading around 20 something Thai girls..

So true... so incredible true...  

[djinn]

Well  I don’t exactly agree with the content of the previous postsI will retire in LOS in 3 months.

Choice of location was between Phuket,Samui ,Bangkok and Pattaya.I visited /lived in these places for about 10 months in the last 3 years.(I visited Chiang Mai in the 80’s so I will not give any opinion on it)

Finally I choose Pattaya

-small city,everything concentrated (shopping centers,hospitals,restaurants…).

-first class hospitals .I am not yet too old but it could become an important factor

-less traffic jam than Bangkok

-air quality good

-rainy season more easy to live there .Thunderstorms but rarely 2 or more uninterrupted rainy days like in the islands in the south

-nice quite places to live around (say 20 min drive max):Naklua,Jomtien ,Na Jomtien,Pattaya East….

-cheapest cost of living of the various places visited (condos,farang restaurants,bars….)

-only 2 to 3 hours to Bangkok

-second to none available nightlife  when desired

A very important factor was having a social life.I know some businessmen in the city long time established there.They introduced me already into a network of local people.

I agree with some negative points mentioned in  previous posts,but it is different to live in a nice house/condo in the suburbs  then to be on holiday in the middle of the city

The perpective is not the same.