Thailand drops in ranking of best places for expats - but which country is number 1?

[1FinickyOne]

3 hours ago, 3421abc said:

Not surprised Thailand is just above Morocco

But below Kazakhstan? I know people who left there, never heard of anyone moving there... 

[peter14]

25th so embarrasing... 

[seasia]

Just now, Old Croc said:

I have trouble understanding how Italy is ranked second bottom, just below Nigeria.

So do I.

I arrived in northern Italy in July for a 4 month stay, partly a "Plan B " experiment.

I am just outside the lakeside city of Como.

Nice scenery, nice air quality. Nice fresh food.

Locals friendly, people say Hello to each.

Cars stop at pedestrian crossing ( I do not drive ) so I feel safer.

 

Quality food is cheaper. Perfectly OK wine around the 2 or 3 Euro mark ( You can pay more of course )

Coffee  in the local bar I go to is 1 Euro. Beer ( large 660 ml is 3.5 Euro.

Far cheaper in the shops though.

I bought some 660ml bottles  on promo at 68 cents. Peroni.

The food that I like is cheaper and fresher than in Thailand.

 

Labour costs/taxis far more expensive than Thailand.

I am enjoying my stay but doubt I would want to be here in the winter.

[EricTh]

Take it with a pinch of salt.

 

Thailand at 25 is still better than USA at 45 but why do so many people want to migrate to USA?

[cardinalblue]

Tell me about Vermont - going there on a bike trip for the fall colors end of this month...

 

lots of money - Santa Barbara CA

[owenm]

In the top 10 are Asian destinations of Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore.. 

 

Even Australia is rating higher at 17 than Thailand at 25.. 

 

Not cheap anymore after seeing AUD drop 30 five years ago to 20 Bht currently.. TM30, forced to keep money in the bank 12 mths, many on OAP can longer do a combo if their pension is under the 65k pm. 

Used to so easy to live here, but times are a changing.. 

[EricTh]

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

I worked in Taiwan about 12 years ago, I found them to be not very friendly.

 

Taiwan is rated number 1 for expats. Mind giving some examples of 'not very friendly'?

[wisperone]

4 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

Tell me about Vermont - going there on a bike trip for the fall colors end of this month...

 

lots of money - Santa Barbara CA

You will love it. Beautiful state...great riding...lots of hills, mountains. Hope the colors are good for you. Bring arm and leg warmers...could be cool temps. Have fun.

[wisperone]

10 minutes ago, EricTh said:

Take it with a pinch of salt.

 

Thailand at 25 is still better than USA at 45 but why do so many people want to migrate to USA?

Because the USA is a great country. I'm not knocking Thailand, but they are not even in the same league, 1st world vs 3rd world.  That's why so may people want to migrate there. 

[Vacuum]

1 hour ago, Sonhia said:

if I had no dependants, I would not bother with the place at all!

lol  But you do, and did a mistake.  Accept your mistake (I do) and stop complaining.

[NCC1701A]

2 hours ago, DrTuner said:

I dunno. Give me a banjo and a shotgun and I might like Isaan.

"you sure got a purdy mouth city boy."

[curlylekan]

3 hours ago, WeekendRaider said:

Thailand wins hands down.  rural Thailand.  show me where I am wrong.  aside from having to acquire the lower diglossia, the pluses outweigh all comers even if you have plenty of money by western standards and can choose where to live such as maybe rural Vermont, places like that.

self sufficiency.  food.  self policing.  a sense that folks treat everyone as family, generally.  where the village takes care of just about everything.    

water.  we will be okay for consumption, even during more pervasive and intense ENSO conditions.  no journal literature I have seen is not optimistic overall for northern Thailand and maybe Issan too, in a general way versus the rest of the........ planet.  to top it off,  where I live the Thai government just announced a new reservoir.  and except for the klong in my village that is lower than the exit pipe that heads out to the paddy, in recent years many improvements.  

housing is DIY or local labor, and we are able to quickly adapt for Climate Change.  no ridiculous permits needed.  and doing projects to get ready for what will come soon enough is really important now.  in 2019.  it's getting real obvious.  Rosenfeld et. al. in February Science, Mandy Freund et. al in Nat Geosci May 2019 and that July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded, and 2019 was barely above a neutral ENSO condition.

the only serous minus is that the grid probably won't hold up in any kind of serious heat wave.  what was true for Chicago in 1995, New York City in 2019 and Texas in recent weeks is likely to also unfold anywhere else.  and in my village we drop down to 170 volts quite often and have almost daily blackouts.  that's now and notwithstanding it is a local political thing and merely a new transformer is needed, it doesn't ring very good.  but grid failures are a different thing entirely. in heatwaves they could last for days or weeks and today everyone uses electric water pumps.  and fans and water will be critical.  critical.  but this one for your own family situation obviously can be mitigated.  it's that it may be a larger issue for many other folks that it becomes the only warning light I see going forward, even if we face the worst situations quite readily such as a recurrence of the 2015-2016 ENSO.  but the Thai government has done quite a few projects where I live to prepare for most of that, just not how villages will power the water pumps that fill the towers.  solar of course.  

 

and one trap for the unwary (unread).  air con is not an answer.  get along without that one.  it is not a good thing to lean on at all.  we need to adopt to higher temperatures.  solar and batteries drop performance wise in 40 plus C temperatures.  and the other solutions are more resilient and helpful for surviving heat.  and to be ready for both dry heat waves and wet bulb ones.  different problems and different solutions.   but those can be covered... and we will need to do that almost anywhere you live even if The Woz is your neighbor down there in whatever that island is off of Australia.
   

      


 

 

Enjoyed your first 3 paragraphs, then you went off on some tirade of, no longer about why you like living in Thailand., except for a couple of lines. I was really hoping to hear more of your positives. Thanks for the beginning

[ThaiFelix]

4 hours ago, 3421abc said:

Not surprised Thailand is just above Morocco. However I am surprised VIETNAM is NUMBER 2!!!!!!!!! My rental contract ends in mid February and I am seriously thinking of moving to HCMC. Great to see Vietnam rising to the top. I tried to move to Taiwan 2 yrs ago but visa was difficult and I am not a fan of earthquakes.

Whats wrong with Morocco.....I had a great time there, maybe the best. 

[Isaan sailor]

Take a bow, Bank of Thailand.  Your selfish hogging of Chinese hot money inflows over the last two years has finally come and bit you in the derrière.  Not only expats though.  Your tourism and exports tanking, and now you even have the most expensive rice in all SE Asia.  Still want to be best friends with the ChiComs?  I thought so... 

[ThaiFelix]

20 minutes ago, wisperone said:

Because the USA is a great country. I'm not knocking Thailand, but they are not even in the same league, 1st world vs 3rd world.  That's why so may people want to migrate there. 

Hahahaha  youre really funny.  Thanks for the joke.

[curlylekan]

I did volunteer work in Taiwan for 3 months and loved it. I can easily see why it is and has been number 1. The health system is amazing, the people are very friendly and polite (As opposed to their oppressive neighbors who claim they are a rogue nation), the food is great, the atmosphere very nice, for a tropical country, the climate does change (In February and March i was wearing winter clothes), the country is full of various landscapes, cycling is a fairly easy way to get around, and much more. Its the only country I tried very hard to find work in as an expat before finding work unexpectedly in the Netherlands.

 

As for Thailand, I agree with the love factor, but with the constant hoops one must jump through to live and work, such as banks, immigration, corruption, there compared to other countries, it is not worth it.

[LNKDES1]

6 minutes ago, wisperone said:

Because the USA is a great country. I'm not knocking Thailand, but they are not even in the same league, 1st world vs 3rd world.  That's why so may people want to migrate there. 

Agreed! I left the U.S. about 10 yrs ago. When I was back there visiting my brother in San Diego last April, I went down to the Lake Chapala/Puerta Vallarta areas in Mexico. When the retirement bs, TM30 bs, dual pricing bs gets to be too much, the wifey & I are headed there. Beautiful weather & friendly people. We'll see how the wifey likes learning a new language.

[Chongalulu]

3 hours ago, Old Croc said:

I have trouble understanding how Italy is ranked second bottom, just below Nigeria.

Given the amount of Nigerians in Italy perhaps they’re indistinguishable?

[holy cow cm]

Thailand would have been pretty close to #1 if it had listed lack of freedom.

[wisperone]

10 minutes ago, ThaiFelix said:

33 minutes ago, wisperone said:

Because the USA is a great country. I'm not knocking Thailand, but they are not even in the same league, 1st world vs 3rd world.  That's why so may people want to migrate there. 

Hahahaha  youre really funny.  Thanks for the joke.

If you can't afford it, it's not for you. Joke is on you.

[hhinhh]

This ranking is not worth looking at it and totally weird. Just forget it and never mention it again.

[Ebumbu]

I've already booked my flight to Kazakhstan, based on this irrefutable report! I do know at least one person (Borat). 

[Thaifriends]

India and UK on same path ????

[bizboi]

3 hours ago, WeekendRaider said:

Thailand wins hands down.  rural Thailand.  show me where I am wrong.  aside from having to acquire the lower diglossia, the pluses outweigh all comers even if you have plenty of money by western standards and can choose where to live such as maybe rural Vermont, places like that.

self sufficiency.  food.  self policing.  a sense that folks treat everyone as family, generally.  where the village takes care of just about everything.    

water.  we will be okay for consumption, even during more pervasive and intense ENSO conditions.  no journal literature I have seen is not optimistic overall for northern Thailand and maybe Issan too, in a general way versus the rest of the........ planet.  to top it off,  where I live the Thai government just announced a new reservoir.  and except for the klong in my village that is lower than the exit pipe that heads out to the paddy, in recent years many improvements.  

housing is DIY or local labor, and we are able to quickly adapt for Climate Change.  no ridiculous permits needed.  and doing projects to get ready for what will come soon enough is really important now.  in 2019.  it's getting real obvious.  Rosenfeld et. al. in February Science, Mandy Freund et. al in Nat Geosci May 2019 and that July 2019 was the hottest month ever recorded, and 2019 was barely above a neutral ENSO condition.

the only serous minus is that the grid probably won't hold up in any kind of serious heat wave.  what was true for Chicago in 1995, New York City in 2019 and Texas in recent weeks is likely to also unfold anywhere else.  and in my village we drop down to 170 volts quite often and have almost daily blackouts.  that's now and notwithstanding it is a local political thing and merely a new transformer is needed, it doesn't ring very good.  but grid failures are a different thing entirely. in heatwaves they could last for days or weeks and today everyone uses electric water pumps.  and fans and water will be critical.  critical.  but this one for your own family situation obviously can be mitigated.  it's that it may be a larger issue for many other folks that it becomes the only warning light I see going forward, even if we face the worst situations quite readily such as a recurrence of the 2015-2016 ENSO.  but the Thai government has done quite a few projects where I live to prepare for most of that, just not how villages will power the water pumps that fill the towers.  solar of course.  

 

and one trap for the unwary (unread).  air con is not an answer.  get along without that one.  it is not a good thing to lean on at all.  we need to adopt to higher temperatures.  solar and batteries drop performance wise in 40 plus C temperatures.  and the other solutions are more resilient and helpful for surviving heat.  and to be ready for both dry heat waves and wet bulb ones.  different problems and different solutions.   but those can be covered... and we will need to do that almost anywhere you live even if The Woz is your neighbor down there in whatever that island is off of Australia.
   

      


 

 

Im glad I don’t have to go on holiday with you...????

[bizboi]

8 minutes ago, Thaifriends said:

India and UK on same path ????

Of course they are…they have the same race of people!!

[PatOngo]

55 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

Taiwan is rated number 1 for expats. Mind giving some examples of 'not very friendly'?

Maybe different in Taipei but I was based in Taichung, couldn't even make eye contact with people there.

[Nickconti]

Thailand still affordable and good for those looking for love ?!? 

Aahhahahahahah

yes still good to get scammed from thai girls 

Good luck to all of you who still believe in this <deleted> ! ????????????

 

[PatOngo]

5 minutes ago, Nickconti said:

Thailand still affordable and good for those looking for love ?!? 

Aahhahahahahah

yes still good to get scammed from thai girls 

Good luck to all of you who still believe in this <deleted> ! ????????????

 

Speaking from experience?

[tabarin]

Irony is that the only official reason I am still in LOS today, is because of having a baby and getting at least single entry visa's (after wasting time and money every X months), at the same time, if the baby never came, I left tomorrow by choice.

Even having valid reasons to stay, my stay is complicated as of BS with embassies in the region now. As a single guy just enjoying myself, who am I to judge them BUT as a father of a child, keeping a family together financially... To me it is the most evil government policy I encountered in life so far.

Have been here long enough to come back for brief visits from time to time, but that would be about it. And only if I planned a real holiday in the region too.
But I just wonder, what is the purpose? Where does it end? It just seems to get worse and worse with everything, almost by the day lately.

Only thing I would miss is Thai food.. But wait, no need to miss it as it can be found anywhere on the world + I know to cook it myself.

Edited September 6, 2019 by tabarin

[Percy P]

4 hours ago, sweatalot said:

What a surprise - Not?

They must have heard about TM 30

 

5 hours ago, PatOngo said:

The authorities will be pleased with that! Their plan is working!

 No problem as long as there's many tourists coming. Tourists bring the money.