Is Chiangmai becoming a ghost town?

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

 

[Rockhopper]

Well, another friend, Steve, has moved to Vietnam due to all the new rules (or enforcement of old rules). That's 2 expats who are financially secure that will be spending their money elsewhere.

[mikecha]

7 hours ago, Sandy Freckle said:

Turning into a ghost town..., surely you jest..., long way to go before that comes about.
Unless you're referring to the quality of expats getting around 'gods waiting room' in the North ?

Whats gods waiting room in the north  

[Destiny1990]

Sorry to say but based on what he showed the place looks totally dead.

 

 

 

[Bundooman]

Well, Brett, like I haven't like noticed like no-one around like. It's a bit like this forum, Brett, like this - like that. Do you know what I mean, like?

I've been here 15 years and never noticed one ghost!

Or that CM is a ghost town.

 

Oh, god - he's now chuntering on about the rain.

It's rainy season - it rains!

He's now telling me the Baht is overvalued. 

As if I really, really really, didn't know that...…………..

[Bundooman]

54 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

Sorry to say but based on what he showed the place looks totally dead.

 

 

 

If I posted a video of the end of my Soi - that looks dead too!

 

but out on the main road its similar to death race 3!

[PETERTHEEATER]

17 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

what happened to his head?

Possibly it's the result of his brain departure?

 

 

[Destiny1990]

1 hour ago, Bundooman said:

If I posted a video of the end of my Soi - that looks dead too!

 

but out on the main road its similar to death race 3!

Supermarket were dead too.

in his clip 17 minutes long was not a single foreigner 

Hey if you say things are booming then all the best to u.

[Big Gary]

Each visit over the past few months I have noticed less and less " people " walking around the city and found that driving is easier also. The Hotel we always stay in said that quite a few hotels have closed for good and a lot of others have closed to ride out the storm. If you are are a regular you cant deny the drop even Chinese. Remember the days when no Chinese were here and the city buzzed all year around. The Visa restrictions and the low baht has a bit to do with low numbers of Falungs about.

[bkk6060]

4 hours ago, Rockhopper said:

Well, another friend, Steve, has moved to Vietnam due to all the new rules (or enforcement of old rules). That's 2 expats who are financially secure that will be spending their money elsewhere.

Nothing to be proud of in my book. In fact embarassing to move to a 3rd world culture and environment.  What a downgrade in life I hope they are happy and also doubt their money will be missed.

[cmsally]

Definitely very quiet. Still quite a few Chinese around but not the numbers of previous years.

Also never seen as many for sale or for rent signs as in the last few months. There are a lot of factors at work in the Chiang Mai economy: bad world economy, lower levels of tourism, exodus of locals from the city centre, bad domestic economy and then next year they will be increasing local taxes. What could possibly go wrong!

[The Theory]

I moved out of Chiang Mai sadly for a few reasons. Chinese tourists caused a chain reaction during last 10 years that caused more pollution of different kinds. Chiang Mai was a great city about 10 years ago, but nothing more than a mini Bangkok now. 

[FolkGuitar]

I think there must be two Chiang Mais...

I find the one I live in to be just as nice as it was 18 years ago when I moved in. Sure, there is more traffic, but that's hardly a major problem. Sure, many of the shops now have Chinese signs in their windows. And that's because there are so many more Chinese walking the streets these days. And starting October 1st there will be a major influx of them as the Chinese Golden Week holiday begins. This is September. There are ALWAYS fewer visitors in the city in September! That hasn't changed. Why would rational people plan a vacation in the rain? There are still as many, or in fact, even more things to do in the evenings in town. New hotels are opening every week, and more and more are being built. Do you really think that the investment groups are so stupid as to spend millions of dollars to build these places without checking out the market? Some do close, just as some restaurants and bars close... more because they are poorly run than lack of customers. Other places manage to stay viable...

I'm not sure where this other Chiang Mai is, that has become so horrible that people are moving out. I'm glad it's not the one where I live.

[amykat]

10 hours ago, LukKrueng said:

 

Never heard of immigration issues / hostility towards legitimate tourists. All the "reports" we get here on TV are of people trying to stay here long time by circumventing the system.

Circumventing the so-called system, WAS the system for a lot of people, legitimately.

[EricTh]

1 hour ago, FolkGuitar said:

. And starting October 1st there will be a major influx of them as the Chinese Golden Week holiday begins.

Well, Oct 1 is only 9 days away. So could somebody take photos then to see whether the situation has changed from 'ghost' to 'benefactors'.

[McTavish]

8 hours ago, cmsally said:

Definitely very quiet. Still quite a few Chinese around but not the numbers of previous years.

Also never seen as many for sale or for rent signs as in the last few months. There are a lot of factors at work in the Chiang Mai economy: bad world economy, lower levels of tourism, exodus of locals from the city centre, bad domestic economy and then next year they will be increasing local taxes. What could possibly go wrong!

You infer the CM economy AND domestic economy are bad?  IMHO it's only the oversupply of accomodation houses and restaurants who really struggle in the off season, especially with few Euro tourists coming.  GDP isn't looking so good due low rubber exports and a dwindling new car market ... But that's both domestic and export.  The whole world's in a financial slowdown.

 

As for the real estate market you are correct, far more For Sale or Rent signs than ever.  Mind you, every man and his dog was building for the Chinese invasion ... 2nd rate construction dressed up with modern design and way overpriced.  Southern buyers may soak up a fair bit of that during the new year holidays.

 

Those who make sensational claims, such as video man, should back them up with a few salient points.

[Ron jeremy]

9 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Nothing to be proud of in my book. In fact embarassing to move to a 3rd world culture and environment.  What a downgrade in life I hope they are happy and also doubt their money will be missed.

Quite the opposite, leaving a third world <deleted> hole , to a more tourist friendly place with far better value, and he's actually welcomed there. 

And this coming from someone lving in the depths of Bangkok?

[cmsally]

Any real estate projects in the tourism sector at the moment are stemming from the influx of Chinese capital. These places are then booked mostly by groups from China and cash probably exchanges hands in China for those. In addition you have a percentage of the overall bookings of hotels which are done nowadays online. So 15% upwards of those transactions never enters the Thai economy.

Pretty much all the people I talk to say that business is way down. Increase in supply plays a part but some local businesses that depend on footfall and have no new competitors say business is way down.

Any doubts on their being less local residents and also less tourists, just ask the ladies that sell in Sompet market (they have been there for years).

[Sandy Freckle]

23 hours ago, mikecha said:

Whats gods waiting room in the north  

Chiang Mai..., seemingly where some older people go to spend their days before they 'pop their clogs' !

[scorecard]

On 9/21/2019 at 12:36 AM, sunnyboy2018 said:

555 Aren't you the lucky one? Im surprised you still stay here. So you got scammed into being mugged then paid a high price to be violently assaulted? 555

And you can get scanned, cheated etc., in every big (and not so big) city in the world.

 

At least mugging and violence is less prevalent here compared to many countries, including many so called first world countries.  

[fhickson]

starting to see too many vids like this with selfies walking around thailand. must be people trying to montize on youtube.

[ta158]

9 hours ago, scorecard said:

And you can get scanned, cheated etc., in every big (and not so big) city in the world.

 

At least mugging and violence is less prevalent here compared to many countries, including many so called first world countries.  

Haha based on what? What you have seen? 

 

Funny how thailand got higher gun violence and murder rate than european countries, muggings rarely make it to news, and not every shooting and stabbing incident is reported in news, and do you read and write thai? If not you have no clue about what is going on here..

 

 

 

 

 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, ta158 said:

Haha based on what? What you have seen? 

 

Funny how thailand got higher gun violence and murder rate than european countries, muggings rarely make it to news, and not every shooting and stabbing incident is reported in news, and do you read and write thai? If not you have no clue about what is going on here..

 

 

 

 

 

Please re-read my post...

 

 

[Dante99]

6 hours ago, ta158 said:

 and do you read and write thai? If not you have no clue about what is going on here..

 

 

 

 

 

What does writing Thai have to do with it?

[MartinKal]

On 9/20/2019 at 9:56 PM, fishtank said:

Nobody is coming now. They are wise to scams, high prices, rip offs, violence, etc.

Not true fishtank. What you write is untrue.

[MartinKal]

Fake news. People always denigrating Thailand and complaining. Moaning minnies who do not help. 

[cerox]

I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I am also still in CNX now.

 

CNX is certainly not a ghost town and I see plenty of farangs everywhere.

Nevertheless I noticed the amount of young people who live here going down due too many factors. Certainly getting less in my view.

[Dante99]

13 minutes ago, cerox said:

 

Nevertheless I noticed the amount of young people who live here going down due too many factors. Certainly getting less in my view.

Are you talking about young Farangs or young foreigners?

[opalred]

the last old falangs that hang around the bars /are not ghosts 

only look like that

[canuckamuck]

On 9/21/2019 at 10:28 PM, FolkGuitar said:

I think there must be two Chiang Mais...

I find the one I live in to be just as nice as it was 18 years ago when I moved in. Sure, there is more traffic, but that's hardly a major problem. Sure, many of the shops now have Chinese signs in their windows. And that's because there are so many more Chinese walking the streets these days. And starting October 1st there will be a major influx of them as the Chinese Golden Week holiday begins. This is September. There are ALWAYS fewer visitors in the city in September! That hasn't changed. Why would rational people plan a vacation in the rain? There are still as many, or in fact, even more things to do in the evenings in town. New hotels are opening every week, and more and more are being built. Do you really think that the investment groups are so stupid as to spend millions of dollars to build these places without checking out the market? Some do close, just as some restaurants and bars close... more because they are poorly run than lack of customers. Other places manage to stay viable...

I'm not sure where this other Chiang Mai is, that has become so horrible that people are moving out. I'm glad it's not the one where I live.

I moved out in 2011, when I go back everything seems different. Harder to notice when you are there I suppose. Coming in to the city and getting around used to be much easier, We plan our trips to Chiang Mai around the fact that we will only go into the central portions as a last resort. We pick away at things from the ring roads and then go back home.

Edited September 28, 2019 by canuckamuck