I like my house, my housing estate, the shops nearby.

I like the weather, the mountains, the lakes, jungle and waterfalls.

My kids are happy at the schools and universities nearby.

We have a nice swimming pool 100m away that serves food and beer all day.

I even like the 25bht Moo ping and sticky rice breakfasts from outside my local 7-11.

 

Can't imagine anywhere in the world being a better place to live on my pension.

Just saying.

 

 

Good. I agree.. lovely place. I live in San Sai Chiang Mai. 

 

Many things I love about the place, but I HATE the hot season when the air is so polluted with all the idiots burning everything. 

 

Planned to start to go back to UK to escape the pollution season here after finally having enough of it after 14 years, but with the virus restrictions and problems getting back here looks like we will have to put up with it again. ????

So far, I like Thailand as well.  Except maybe the getting pulled over once a week for my color.  But even that is not so bad lol.  $6 toll and I'm back on the road.

I've come to the view Chiang Rai is a better place for me now, have sussed out the good restaurants and food sources. Not that I am knocking Chiang Mai, I lived there for ten years. The bus and car trips to my GF's village got to be too tiresome. The 118 is a clusterf##k around Doi Saket, and through Phrae took an hour longer.

The private hospitals and dental clinics here are adequate, not as big a range.

Food is definitely cheaper in the markets, I pay less for pineapple, potato, carrots etc. Supermarkets are not as good as Rimping in terms of range.

I'll visit Chiang Mai every three to six months to meet friends and do various errands. IMO the condo I am in now is just as good as the one I had in Chiang Mai, and distinctly cooler.

Enjoy it until the smog sets in. Hopefully this year not as severe as previous years.

10 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

Enjoy it until the smog sets in. Hopefully this year not as severe as previous years.

Don't hold your breath.

 

On second thoughts when the smog returns do just that.

2 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

Good. I agree.. lovely place. I live in San Sai Chiang Mai. 

 

Many things I love about the place, but I HATE the hot season when the air is so polluted with all the idiots burning everything. 

 

Planned to start to go back to UK to escape the pollution season here after finally having enough of it after 14 years, but with the virus restrictions and problems getting back here looks like we will have to put up with it again. ????

Aw  shame ! Nuthin like a  good lungful of  burning plastic and  latex  condoms generated  by the  wonderful  western model of social success  blame excused  by the  annual smoke emissions  of farming practices  centuries old. The combination of  local and  high altitude pollution resulting from the  benign and hitherto complacent participants  in what was considered to be perpetual or  life long satisfaction is rapidly becoming an unwelcome infliction?

From the top of a high platform of  money the air is  clear/er and things  far way  can be seen or imagined.

Those at  ground level zero have  no chance, time, vision beyond survival.

How  many  in between care  beyond  complaint?

 

 

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I even like the 25bht Moo ping and sticky rice breakfasts from outside my local 7-11.

Does sticky rice cause you guys constipation?

 

It just seems so gluey.  

 

I sometimes eat like 1kg of riceberry in one sitting.  I'm afraid that if I eat that much sticky rice, my next dumpout won't come 'til COVID-119.

Okay. 

Agree, you could hardly survive in your own country on that money.

Still have no idea why people choose to live in a place where the pollution levels make it unlivable and dangerous to your health for several months a year. Been there, not worth the health problems, many other places to lve with clean air. But to each their own. Enjoy the smog.

When does the smoking season start?

29 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Agree, you could hardly survive in your own country on that money.

What money?

Might I suggest a pool party with some cuties in bikinis?   free mama cup to first 50....  suay mak mak!

Great place. Can't beat the setting and most everything else (must've done a couple thousand cycling miles on that mountain)... but, better 20 years ago.  Just found it got a bit too crowded with all those moobaans thrown up. Always love going back.

WHonestly hated the place. When I first came to thailand I found myself walking towards hua lamphong station and realising I could not understand a word that I heard as I walked through the bustle. When I was on CM all I heard were screechy yanks and all the restaurants were co run by westerners and I did not feel like I was in thailand. I enjoyed the hiking and all that stuff but the yank voices were just awful. Truly awful.

Far as I'm concerned all Thai towns/ cities are as bad as each other. Had it been same cost to live on the islands I'd have done so, but they are too expensive, and retirement extensions seem even harder to get than in C M.

I lived in C M but only because it's cheaper than Pattaya, and anywhere in LOS is better than back home, IMO.

51 minutes ago, Jack Hna said:

WHonestly hated the place. When I first came to thailand I found myself walking towards hua lamphong station and realising I could not understand a word that I heard as I walked through the bustle. When I was on CM all I heard were screechy yanks and all the restaurants were co run by westerners and I did not feel like I was in thailand. I enjoyed the hiking and all that stuff but the yank voices were just awful. Truly awful.

I met a lot of western tourists in C M and none of them were American. Every restaurant I used was staffed by Thais, so ownership is irrelevant.

10 hours ago, BananaBandit said:

Does sticky rice cause you guys constipation?

 

It just seems so gluey.  

 

I sometimes eat like 1kg of riceberry in one sitting.  I'm afraid that if I eat that much sticky rice, my next dumpout won't come 'til COVID-119.

Agree, sticky rice is like quick-setting cement in my digestive system. I stick to noodles and pasta, plus plenty of vegetables and fruit. Rice very occasionally, unsticky.

My Thai GF eats sticky rice with the neighbors, then wonders why she's drinking a local herbal laxative every one or two days to get herself mobile.

using Tangent Maths....I think you are about 100,000 kms from those mountains

 

CM but no mountains is like Pattaya and no women

 

or Isaan and no SomTam

 

I guess you could take a plane there... lol

Indeed - the past few days make it feel like we're in heaven!  No sense losing the moment by projecting into the future (or the past.)  Gather ye rosebuds...

8 hours ago, Ron jeremy said:

Still have no idea why people choose to live in a place where the pollution levels make it unlivable and dangerous to your health for several months a year. Been there, not worth the health problems, many other places to lve with clean air. But to each their own. Enjoy the smog.

Good point, mainland SEA is a dead zone for three months with pollution levels that make it "unlivable and dangerous". But it has been that way for centuries and until 2 years ago, expats and westerners were basically ignorant of that fact.  

I live in CM, and while it suffices my lifestyle very well, I hate the burning season that goes unabated every freaking year, with nothing done about it by the province governor.

 

If I hadn't settled here on a housing estate, I'd rather return to my Khanom paradise in Nak Sri Tham - Google it.

3 hours ago, Jack Hna said:

When I was on CM all I heard were screechy yanks and all the restaurants were co run by westerners and I did not feel like I was in thailand. I enjoyed the hiking and all that stuff but the yank voices were just awful. Truly awful.

I'm feeling your pain but, when were you here? Sorry in your 'pisstake' when do you claim to have been here? More yanks now than ever before , but not in the restaurant trade. Maybe that was back in Vietnam war days?!  ... There you go.

8 hours ago, Ron jeremy said:

Still have no idea why people choose to live in a place where the pollution levels make it unlivable and dangerous to your health for several months a year. Been there, not worth the health problems, many other places to lve with clean air. But to each their own. Enjoy the smog.

While what you say is valid, I just run the aircon occasionally and two air purifiers flat chat, adds about 300 baht/month to my power bill. Most of the time, I'm breathing air that has a PM2.5 of 20 ug/sqm.

9 hours ago, Ron jeremy said:

Still have no idea why people choose to live in a place where the pollution levels make it unlivable and dangerous to your health for several months a year. Been there, not worth the health problems, many other places to lve with clean air. But to each their own. Enjoy the smog.

It’s not several months of the year, suggest you getting confused with Bangkok.

33 years living in Chiang Mai,so guess I like this place,when I first

arrived here I used to cycle around town,now driving around 

can be a nightmare,how things have changed,from one small

supermarket, to several malls,supplying everything you could

possible need.

 

The first day I arrived here,there's a man walking towards me

on the street with a cut on his neck blood all down his shirt,

and I am thinking this is going to be an interesting place !.

 

I feel in love with the place,it had everything I was looking

for,the changes have been monumental ,too much traffic,

too much building,but at the moment I am still happy here,

I already have my burial plot in Foreign cemetery,so I will die

here and never leave.

Thailand and Chiang Mai have been very good to me,so thank you.

 

regards Worgeordie

 

 

 

 

I live in Chiang Mai.

 

First of all the school system is extremely poor and the schooling in Chiang Mai is undoubtedly far below the standards most Europeans expect. And I am talking about the private school I sent my kids to, I don't even want to think about what these poor kids in the Thai state schools are taught. This is not particular to Chiang Mai and is of course a Thai nation-wide issue. Education is far below the standards in other countries.

 

Air quality, and that is air quality outside of the burning season when you have to keep windows closed and run air purifiers, is well below many other countries.

 

There are lose dogs running the streets. Again a nationwide Thai issue, not specific to Chiang Mai.

 

The traffic jams are still worse than in many other European countries, though it is of course better than in Bangkok.

 

You can not order on Amazon easily like you can in the West.

 

Yes, housing is cheap and it's great to have a pool, I have one in my house and it's nice, the variety of restaurants is world class even if they're mostly cheapish places, massages, availability of girls and so on.

 

But I don't think Chiang Mai is the best place to live in the world. Simply because of the poor education, air quality, quality of life issues like lose dogs and no amazon. It's a place where you settle and it's not bad. But it's certainly not the best.

 

 

 

 

8 minutes ago, Logosone said:

I live in Chiang Mai.

 

First of all the school system is extremely poor and the schooling in Chiang Mai is undoubtedly far below the standards most Europeans expect. And I am talking about the private school I sent my kids to, I don't even want to think about what these poor kids in the Thai state schools are taught. This is not particular to Chiang Mai and is of course a Thai nation-wide issue. Education is far below the standards in other countries.

 

You can not order on Amazon easily like you can in the West.

My Thai kids both went to government school (23 and 9 now).

They are both fully bilingual, and have been happy enough at their schools/University.

and have the future prospects of employment and home ownership

 

My 4 English kids in the UK can only speak English.

They hated their schools, and now as adults cannot afford their own homes and have spotty employment.

 

There's not much on Amazon, that I can't buy on Lazada/Shoppee/AliExpress cheaper.

 

 

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

My Thai kids both went to government school (23 and 9 now).

They are both fully bilingual, and have been happy enough at their schools/University.

and have the future prospects of employment and home ownership

 

My 4 English kids in the UK can only speak English.

They hated their schools, and now as adults cannot afford their own homes and have spotty employment.

 

There's not much on Amazon, that I can't buy on Lazada/Shoppee/AliExpress cheaper

 

 

Amazon vs Lazada Shoppee or Ali Express is a rather different experience. You can get almost everything on Amazon, high quality products at a low price. Even quality fresh food can be bought on Amazon now. It's a big quality of life enhancement that is lacking in Chiang Mai. In Lazada you get mostly cheap Chinese products, many are fake, and it's just not as good as Amazon. Though you're right, you do get some quality products  on Lazada as well. I just can't rate Lazada as highly as Amazon. It's a big difference.

 

Your Thai kids being bilingual is one of the few benefits a Thai education will give them. And they will do well with it in Thailand. However, if they were to compete for jobs outside of Thailand they would have very bad cards because the Thai education system is ranked very lowly abroad. And having put two kids through it I can see why. The teaching is very poor. Kids can be happy in the schools, but that's partly because they hardly do any real demanding or hard learning. Much of the time is sitting around doing nothing. It's not a good education system and the teachers are generally disinterested and second rate.