Thousands of expats & tourists in Thailand could head to Malaysia soon

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, Hummin said:

Cost of Living Comparison Between Pattaya and Penang
You would need around 66,256.32฿ (8,484.48RM) in Penang to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 79,000.00฿ in Pattaya (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Cost of Living Plus Rent Index to compare cost of living.

 

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Thailand&city1=Pattaya&country2=Malaysia&city2=Penang
 

 

Cost of Living Comparison Between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur 

You would need around 75,458.55฿ (9,662.88RM) in Kuala Lumpur to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 110,000.00฿ in Bangkok (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Cost of Living Plus Rent Index to compare cost of living

 

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Thailand&country2=Malaysia&city1=Bangkok&city2=Kuala+Lumpur&tracking=getDispatchComparison

There is more to choosing a place to reside than just the cost of living. Thailand is sanuk, but Penang is IMO boring and a dump. I can't speak about elsewhere in Malaya, but if the tourist island is IMO a boring dump, I can assume the rest of the country isn't much better.

[The Hammer2021]

19 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I doubt it was wonderful for the poor Thais, but it was wonderful for me. Yes, Thaksin destroyed the previous political system, and his stooge Purachai destroyed the farang bar scene. Unless one was there, I doubt anyone would know how fantastic it used to be for us farangs, and how far it has fallen since.

Er..Thanks in was the democratically elected leader of Thailand with over 24 million voters supporting him. He did not destroy the political system - that was done by ultra royalists and the military.

The 'bar scene' hasn't been destroyed but has changed mostly by Covid The idea of a golden age of the past owes more to nostalgia than reality.

The generals and the BMA did have a dreadful effect on Bangkok including nightlife but the rot set in also with the growth of ecstasy and the party drug scene. Pattaya, because of its independent system of local governance was immune to the changes in Bangkok and elsewhere until the army took over here about 5 years ago.

[thaibeachlovers]

11 minutes ago, JustAnotherHun said:

What's so funny about my post, @thaibeachlover? The facts you do not like? ????

 

That anyone would consider Thaksin to be less corrupt than subsequent rulers based on some organisation's publication. I presume that it refers to the country as a whole and not just the PM. Don'ty forget that there are a lot more people now than then, so more corruption is probably inevitable. However, Thaksin elevated corruption to a whole new level, never seen before, IMO.

[Hummin]

4 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

There is more to choosing a place to reside than just the cost of living. Thailand is sanuk, but Penang is IMO boring and a dump. I can't speak about elsewhere in Malaya, but if the tourist island is IMO a boring dump, I can assume the rest of the country isn't much better.

I have enjoyed travelling in Malaysia, and also the driving culture in comparison to Thailand is a dream. Disciplined traffic and good roads. 

 

Kuala Lumpur is one of my favorite big city, and have one of the worlds best international kitchen to an affordable prices. Not so impressed by Penang, but on Pair with Hus Him in many ways. Thailand just a border crossing on a motorbike. 

 

Still Thailand have been a great country for me, and I believe the best place to live during covid.

 

I see no reason to change my opinion about Thailand for a long time still, but I'm ready to make a move if I have to.

 

Bars and gogo is not what keep me in Thailand or any other destination I would choose. It is food, basic living cost, travelling in the destination as well travel to and from my home country. In few years the last will not be so important anymore.

 

Sometimes or most of the time you only focus on the negative aspects in the topic, very little positivity to read in your posts.

[JustAnotherHun]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

That anyone would consider Thaksin to be less corrupt than subsequent rulers based on some organisation's publication.

I did not claim Thaksin was less corrupt than others before or after him.

 

[quote] I presume that it refers to the country as a whole and not just the PM.[/quote]

That's exactly what I wrote ????

[thaibeachlovers]

8 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Er..Thanks in was the democratically elected leader of Thailand with over 24 million voters supporting him. He did not destroy the political system - that was done by ultra royalists and the military.

The 'bar scene' hasn't been destroyed but has changed mostly by Covid The idea of a golden age of the past owes more to nostalgia than reality.

The generals and the BMA did have a dreadful effect on Bangkok including nightlife but the rot set in also with the growth of ecstasy and the party drug scene. Pattaya, because of its independent system of local governance was immune to the changes in Bangkok and elsewhere until the army took over here about 5 years ago.

Thou joke assuredly. The farang bar scene was destroyed many years before covid, and by purachai, but he must have had thaksin's approval to do so.

If you think Pattaya bar scene was "immune", you obviously were not there before Thaksin. I saw the police sent from Bkk to destroy it with my own eyes. It was never the same after purachai was finished.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, JustAnotherHun said:

I did not claim Thaksin was less corrupt than others before or after him.

 

[quote] I presume that it refers to the country as a whole and not just the PM.[/quote]

That's exactly what I wrote ????

So, what was the point of posting it? We were discussing thaksin, were we not? I certainly was.

[The Hammer2021]

Malaysia is OK for a short holiday and OK for a married couple, half dead to retire to but it's not a patch on Thailand. But it has potential.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 minutes ago, Hummin said:

I have enjoyed travelling in Malaysia, and also the driving culture in comparison to Thailand is a dream. Disciplined traffic and good roads. 

 

Kuala Lumpur is one of my favorite big city, and have one of the worlds best international kitchen to an affordable prices. Not so impressed by Penang, but on Pair with Hus Him in many ways. Thailand just a border crossing on a motorbike. 

 

Still Thailand have been a great country for me, and I believe the best place to live during covid.

 

I see no reason to change my opinion about Thailand for a long time still, but I'm ready to make a move if I have to.

 

Bars and gogo is not what keep me in Thailand or any other destination I would choose. It is food, basic living cost, travelling in the destination as well travel to and from my home country. In few years the last will not be so important anymore.

 

Sometimes or most of the time you only focus on the negative aspects in the topic, very little positivity to read in your posts.

Sometimes or most of the time you only focus on the negative aspects in the topic, very little positivity to read in your posts.

 

I often write positive things, where they are deserved, but a thread like this is about the negative from the get go.

If you should care to dispute that, you only have 43 thousand posts to sort through to prove it, and you should take care not to post personal erroneous opinions about other posters without proof.

[JustAnotherHun]

10 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

So, what was the point of posting it? We were discussing thaksin, were we not? I certainly was.

Even if you reduce the corruption of a country just to the leader you have no proof Thaksin was more corrupt than the military clowns after him.

 

For the people and us expats it is more important, how corrupt the country is over all. And about that the transparency numbers show a clear picture.

Edited February 13, 2022 by JustAnotherHun

[thaibeachlovers]

23 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Er..Thanks in was the democratically elected leader of Thailand with over 24 million voters supporting him. He did not destroy the political system - that was done by ultra royalists and the military.

LOL. Voters usually vote for the politician that will give them the most goodies. Getting elected doesn't mean that the politician isn't completely rotten.

However, in Thailand it's often about more than the purely political promises, and while I'm not going to put in writing what I mean, anyone lived in LOS knows what I'm talking about.

[The Hammer2021]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Thou joke assuredly. The farang bar scene was destroyed many years before covid, and by purachai, but he must have had thaksin's approval to do so.

If you think Pattaya bar scene was "immune", you obviously were not there before Thaksin. I saw the police sent from Bkk to destroy it with my own eyes. It was never the same after purachai was finished.

You are completely wrong. It is not destroyed or finished. It exists. Before covid Pattaya  had OVER 70 GO GO bars and over a thousand bar beers with girls. You are talking nonesense. The bar scene EXPANDED and from 2005 Soi Buakhao and LKM OPENED twenty GO Go bars and hundreds of beer bars. Three years ago 12 new BJ Bars/ G Clubs opened around SB which continues to expand - tree town etc.Your talk of destruction is simply wrong. Yes there have been changes in Bangkok to dress codes and opening hours. But you are wrong, as I have explained about destruction of the bar scene. My understanding is you lived in the dull as ditchwater, back water of Chang mai and know nothing of Bangkok and Pattaya.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, JustAnotherHun said:

Even if you reduce the corruption of a country just to the leader you have no proof Thaksin was more corrupt than the military clowns after him.

 

For the people and us expats it is more important, how corrupt the country is over all. And about that the transparency numbers show a clear picture.

I read the newspapers AT THE TIME. I was always surprised how free they were to publish details of political corruption, and they had a field day during thaksin's time.

 

Wasn't important to me at all. I was never affected by it, other than having to use the disaster zone airport. I never even had a wiff of corruption when dealing with the cops, or immigration.

The people I knew that did have a problem were those foolish enough to try and go into business in LOS, or own property. As I did neither, I had no such problems.

[Caldera]

If I had to leave Thailand right now, or just wanted to have a change of scenery nearby, I'd head to Cambodia.

 

Malaysia is so far down on my list of "must repeat visit" countries that I doubt that will happen anytime soon, if ever - Covid or not.

[thaibeachlovers]

5 minutes ago, The Hammer2021 said:

You are completely wrong. It is not destroyed or finished. It exists. Before covid Pattaya  had OVER 70 GO GO bars and over a thousand bar beers with girls. You are talking nonesense. The bar scene EXPANDED and from 2005 Soi Buakhao and LKM OPENED twenty GO Go bars and hundreds of beer bars. Three years ago 12 new BJ Bars/ G Clubs opened around SB which continues to expand - tree town etc.Your talk of destruction is simply wrong. Yes there have been changes in Bangkok to dress codes and opening hours. But you are wrong, as I have explained about destruction of the bar scene. My understanding is you lived in the dull as ditchwater, back water of Chang mai and know nothing of Bangkok and Pattaya.

You should stop digging the hole while you can still get out of it.

I can only assume you were not visiting Nana gogos before thaksin to actually know the difference.

 

Your understanding is as wrong as your opinion of the destruction of the farang bar scene. I never said there were no bars any more. I was saying that compared to before, they are pants now. More than pants- IMO just rubbish.

I did live in Chiang Mai for a year, but I also lived in Pattaya, and spent many visits in Bkk right next door to Nana, in the excellent Dynasty Inn, and in Uncle Charlies when that place existed. My first Thai girl friend worked in Tilac Gogo on Cowboy.

Perhaps you should accept that you don't actually know anything about me, and not make silly statements about other posters.

[JustAnotherHun]

8 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I read the newspapers AT THE TIME. I was always surprised how free they were to publish details of political corruption, and they had a field day during thaksin's time.

And because now the media is censored much more than during the Thaksin years you think there's less corruption because you don't read about?

[Hummin]

1 minute ago, Caldera said:

If I had to leave Thailand right now, or just wanted to have a change of scenery nearby, I'd head to Cambodia.

 

Malaysia is so far down on my list of "must repeat visit" countries that I doubt that will happen anytime soon, if ever - Covid or not.

Seems like a good poll where the only option if relocation, Malaysia or Cambodia. 

 

For me, no doubt Malaysia. 

 

If we added Philippines, My choice would be Philippines. If we added Vietnam, Phil still my Choice with Malaysia on a good nr 2.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, JustAnotherHun said:

And because now the media is censored much more than during the Thaksin years you think there's less corruption because you don't read about?

To continue would be far off topic and become political, so rather than post stuff that will be deleted I'll pass.

[Caldera]

1 minute ago, Hummin said:

Seems like a good poll where the only option if relocation, Malaysia or Cambodia. 

 

For me, no doubt Malaysia. 

 

If we added Philippines, My choice would be Philippines. If we added Vietnam, Phil still my Choice with Malaysia on a good nr 2.

 

Yes, it would be an interesting poll. Vietnam would be my #1 choice, but as of now, unfortunately that isn't an option yet.

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

5555555555555555555

Of course any discussion about Thaksin is about corruption. IMO he was the most absolutely corrupt man I ever knew of.

I seriously doubt he was more corrupt than Trump, Marcos, Amin, Gaddafi, Suharto, Abacha, Milosevic, Duvalier, Cheney, Sese Seko, Fujimori, and many others, including the current leader. 

 

How short our memories are. 

[JimmyJ]

On 2/11/2022 at 6:28 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

Perhaps some would prefer Malaysia to Thailand, but I did a visa run to Penang a few years ago and it sucks very very badly IMO. Had to pay waaaaay more for a tiny bedroom in a guest house than I'd pay for a better hotel room in Pattaya or Chiang Mai, the place was completely boring because bars and such are obviously not allowed. Even Maccers in the shopping mall was a joke- I had to pay extra to eat in the restaurant, and satay, which I had hoped to eat while there was way too expensive. The beaches were rubbish and horrible. People complain about dual pricing in Thailand, but try going on the cable car and you'll never complain about Thailand prices again. If I couldn't live in LOS I'd never consider Malaysia as an alternative.

I was disappointed with Penang (Georgetown) also.

Mostly different reasons but yes pricy compared to ThaIland, and yes seemed like it could quickly become boring.

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, spidermike007 said:

I seriously doubt he was more corrupt than Trump, Marcos, Amin, Gaddafi, Suharto, Abacha, Milosevic, Duvalier, Cheney, Sese Seko, Fujimori, and many others, including the current leader. 

 

How short our memories are. 

In short, probably most politicians in certain countries are corrupt, BUT, we are talking about Thailand, and we shouldn't even be talking about Thailand because the topic is about Malaysia.

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, JustAnotherHun said:

No one would deny that Thaksin was corrupt. As any Thai leader before and after him.

But facts show, that the country over all was less corrupt in the Thaksin years than it is now:

Acoording to Transparency-org, Thailand ranked:

2003: 70

2004: 64

2019: 101

2020: 104

Thank you. The Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand (ACT) is one of the most feeble and ineffective of all the tools Prayuth has used to deceive the people into believing that he is fighting corruption. Who was the last high level authority, in the police, immigration, the army, or the active administration they arrested, charged, tried, convicted, and sent to prison? Nobody. Zero. Nunca. Nada. Why? Because Prayuth has had a mandate from the beginning to do the very opposite. To protect the elite, the super wealthy who are guilty, those that are connected, and those who are in power. Just think Dark Tao. Just think Red Bull. The list goes on, and on, and on.

 

Only the most naive amongst us believe he or ACT secretary-general Mana Nimitmongkol are sincere about this. 

It barely matters. These guys are above the law. Any and all laws. The only time they are arrested is when it becomes big news, or it is reported internationally, and Thailand gets a ton of egg on it's face. And even then, it normally does not result in a conviction. Very, very few current (not former) police, immigration, customs, cabinet officials, army officials, or administration officials are arrested here, tried, convicted and imprisoned.
 

[dj230]

I definitely won't be going 

[spidermike007]

The Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand (ACT) is one of the most feeble and ineffective of all the tools Prayuth has used to deceive the people into believing that he is fighting corruption. Who was the last high level authority, in the police, immigration, the army, or the active administration they arrested, charged, tried convicted, and sent to prison? Nobody. Zero. Nunca. Nada. Why? Because Prayuth has had a mandate from the beginning to do the very opposite. To protect the elite, the super wealthy who are guilty, those that are connected, and those who are in power. Just think Dark Tao. Just think Red Bull. The list goes on, and on, and on.

 

Only the most naive amongst us believe he or ACT secretary-general Mana Nimitmongkol are sincere about this. 

It barely matters. These guys are above the law. Any and all laws. The only time they are arrested is when it becomes big news, or it is reported internationally, and Thailand gets a ton of egg on it's face. And even then, it normally does not result in a conviction. Very, very few current (not former) police, immigration, customs, cabinet officials, army officials, or administration officials are arrested here, tried, convicted and imprisoned.
 

[thaibeachlovers]

3 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

I was disappointed with Penang (Georgetown) also.

Mostly different reasons but yes pricy compared to ThaIland, and yes seemed like it could quickly become boring.

I was accused of only posting negative stuff, so to be positive about Penang, it had a good public transport  ( bus ) system, and I enjoyed travelling on the ferries to the mainland ( they were still the same as when I used them in the early 1970s, and some might have been in service then ). English was universally spoken.

Sorry, but those are about the only positive things I can remember.

[bbko]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO the sex was better before Thaksin, and the gogos were certainly way more enjoyable.

That's because when there was less farangs there was less gogos and those places would/could hire only the best looking gals, now that there's so many foreigners and more gogos, the bars have to hire any gal under 30 willing to work, the quality has been watered down.  When I 1st came to LOS 20 years ago, just about all the dancers were smokin hot, not so much anymore.

[Nickelbeer]

Get a Sarawak MM2H visa.  The requirements are easy and the visa is good for the whole country, though you'll have to spend about three weeks a year in Sarawak. Certainly not a deal-killer. Sarawak has had their own retirement visa for quite some time.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, bbko said:

That's because when there was less farangs there was less gogos and those places would/could hire only the best looking gals, now that there's so many foreigners and more gogos, the bars have to hire any gal under 30 willing to work, the quality has been watered down.  When I 1st came to LOS 20 years ago, just about all the dancers were smokin hot, not so much anymore.

That's not what I'm talking about. Before thaksin some of the gogos had spectacular shows every night. You'll never see such anywhere now, because purachai stopped all that.

 

I doubt any gogo in all of Thailand today could come close to Hollywood Royale in Nana back in the 1990s. One of two gogos in Nana that went all night and only closed when all the girls were bar fined or after dawn. Fantastic shows doing things that one will probably only read about in fiction stories now.

[mokwit]

37 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

anyone lived in LOS knows what I'm talking about.

He started off promising "a million baht for every village" - that morphed into a million baht for roads for every village so that gravel hauling and asphalt laying politicians get their kickbacks