Mexico v Thailand

[KhunLA]

1 minute ago, bignok said:

Chiang Mai has plenty of culture. Udon does not.

Wasn't talking culture, though that's subjective.   More just cost of living.

 

Been to both, CM & UT, and same same, not much different, culture wise...

...IMHO

 

As is the whole country actually.  Very minor differences, unless deep south, and that's simply on a religious level.

[Mavideol]

Mexico = corruption + cartel/mafia + easy killings/kidnappings/extortion

Thailand = corruption + RTP cartel/extortion

 

easy to chose but up to you  555

[save the frogs]

not sure, but i think you can apply for mexican citizenship after 5 years of permanent residency.

which means access to health care.

there's around 1.6 million americans living in mexico. how bad can it be?

 

[bignok]

3 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Wasn't talking culture, though that's subjective.   More just cost of living.

 

Been to both, CM & UT, and same same, not much different, culture wise...

...IMHO

 

As is the whole country actually.  Very minor differences, unless deep south, and that's simply on a religious level.

Old city vs nothing much in Udon. CM kills it. CM has 10x more major temples, Lanna food, more international food, mountain resorts, hilltribes. Not even close. Udon is pretty much boring after 2 days. Loei has more culture than Udon.

[HappyExpat57]

21 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

The seafood was in Ensenada. The prices are in pesos. About 17.8 to one dollar. Amazing seafood for the money. That would be a highlight for me. And the food is gorgeous. 

That was the only thing I found very decent in Zihuatanejo. The seafood was amazing! Frequently a fisherman would bring a huge tuna up to the top of the beach and let people take pictures. And almost every night a woman would cook up two huge cauldrons of tamales, 7 for a US dollar. People lined up about 30 minutes before she started selling them and they were well worth the wait (if you were in the mood for tamales).

[Furioso]

6 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

 

there's around 1.6 million americans living in mexico. how bad can it be?

 

It can be really bad. Hundreds of thousands of American's live in the Philippines, doesn't mean it's a great place to live.

 

And, from what I've seen of both Mexico and Philippines they are pretty much dumps.  

[save the frogs]

4 minutes ago, Furioso said:

And, from what I've seen of both Mexico and Philippines they are pretty much dumps.  

I don't know ... I think this forum is biased towards Thailand since pretty much everyone has settled here.

If I find a Mexico forum and I can probably find a bunch of expats there who think Mexico is better than Thailand.

 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, KhunLA said:

That would be a top choice for me now, with hindsight.  Especially for anyone with any health issues, anything elective, and you can just hop right back over and use your Medicare, if having.

 

I would say the cost of living is very comparative, depending where living.  Thumbs up for the food.  Thai can be a bit boring after a while.

 

Much larger country to explore, as TH is so small.   Advantage with all the islands in the Caribbean.  

 

Settled, too old & lazy to move, but as stated, would be my top choice.  Added plus of visiting the USA, to see all the things I didn't while living there.  Mostly National Parks, and with the ol' folks discount/FREE, what's not to love.

What about visas?

[KhunLA]

10 minutes ago, scorecard said:

What about visas?

Haven't a clue, though can't be that hard, with so many Yanks retiring there.

https://eagernomad.com/american-expats-by-country/

Edited June 4, 2023 by KhunLA

[scorecard]

1 minute ago, KhunLA said:

Haven't a clue, though can't be that hard, with so many Yanks retiring there.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/american-expats-by-country

I guess Jingthing might have some details on this aspect, hopefully he will share his thoughts.

[steven100]

i LOVE Mexican food .....     but that's as far as it goes     !!

[JustThisOnePostOnly]

1 hour ago, save the frogs said:

not sure, but i think you can apply for mexican citizenship after 5 years of permanent residency

Yeah, I'm amazed nobody has brought up the visas.

 

You get Residente Permanente by showing income/savings, and once you have it, it's the easiest visa in the world to maintain.  You have to report address changes.  That's it.  No re-entry visas, no 90-day reporting.

 

Bonus!  People in the U.S. will complain mightily about the process to do this because they have to deal with their local Mexican consulates and these are by all accounts understaffed and very busy, but if you have the long-stay visa here in Thailand, you can just hop over to the Mexican embassy in Bangkok and use them instead.  I found the process to be super easy; my first email query to them was answered in like five minutes, every interaction thereafter very prompt and helpful.  Had to go into the office twice (drop off passport/pick up) and then of course you have to present yourself at imigracion in Mexico upon arrival.  My port of arrival was Mazatlan which proved fortuitous as there was a little office next to imigracion that could handle a lot of the paperwork for you for a small fee; other imigracion offices further away from tourist zones aren't as well equipped.

 

The big difference between Mexico and Thailand for me as a non-native speaker is, to survive in Mexico on a budget, you really got to fight for it, whereas in Thailand, the doors just magically open for you.  Compare opening a bank account there vs. here, renting a house or apartment, dealing with utilities.

 

I miss desayunos so much.

[bradiston]

7 minutes ago, JustThisOnePostOnly said:

Yeah, I'm amazed nobody has brought up the visas.

 

You get Residente Permanente by showing income/savings, and once you have it, it's the easiest visa in the world to maintain.  You have to report address changes.  That's it.  No re-entry visas, no 90-day reporting.

 

Bonus!  People in the U.S. will complain mightily about the process to do this because they have to deal with their local Mexican consulates and these are by all accounts understaffed and very busy, but if you have the long-stay visa here in Thailand, you can just hop over to the Mexican embassy in Bangkok and use them instead.  I found the process to be super easy; my first email query to them was answered in like five minutes, every interaction thereafter very prompt and helpful.  Had to go into the office twice (drop off passport/pick up) and then of course you have to present yourself at imigracion in Mexico upon arrival.  My port of arrival was Mazatlan which proved fortuitous as there was a little office next to imigracion that could handle a lot of the paperwork for you for a small fee; other imigracion offices further away from tourist zones aren't as well equipped.

 

The big difference between Mexico and Thailand for me as a non-native speaker is, to survive in Mexico on a budget, you really got to fight for it, whereas in Thailand, the doors just magically open for you.  Compare opening a bank account there vs. here, renting a house or apartment, dealing with utilities.

 

I miss desayunos so much.

Just a bit confused about your last paragraph. Are you saying it's really hard work doing all that stuff in Mexico? And fight for it how?

[JustThisOnePostOnly]

52 minutes ago, bradiston said:

Are you saying it's really hard work doing all that stuff in Mexico? And fight for it how?

Not speaking Spanish, yes.  So banks are really hard because few have English-speaking staff (I hear Mexico City is not so bad here), apartments is kind of the same, but fewer big developments and more mom-and-pop kind of places which again, language poses the barrier.

 

Mexican websites will use PNG and GIFs to relate text information, so a lot of the times things like Google Translate don't work, and except for the very big banks there is no English toggle like there almost always is on a Thai website.

 

I didn't mean fight like kung <deleted>.  Probably a bad choice of words.

[save the frogs]

2 minutes ago, JustThisOnePostOnly said:

Not speaking Spanish, yes.  So banks are really hard because few have English-speaking staff

language is a non-issue.

find a Uni student and buy them lunch to translate for you.

[JimTripper]

One good thing about Mexico is as a U.S. citizen you can get Mexican citizenship, yes citizenship, pretty easy. I think you need about 120k-150k ????????‍♂️ usd and your fast tracked in basically just extend things out for some years with minimal hassle. You can also come and go into and out of the country as you please.

 

So that balances out the “safety” factor somewhat. You won’t ever get kicked out like you could in Asian countries. That’s “safer” for a lot of retirees that may not have a place in their home country left to run to. Or if there’s some kind of problem you have rights and won’t just be jailed, etc stuff like that.

Edited June 4, 2023 by JimTripper

[dingdongrb]

7 hours ago, bradiston said:

Yeah, that's an obvious drawback. Are gringo lower in status than farang?

Unless you have been kidnapped and held for a ransom.

[bunnydrops]

Mexico was my first choice for a long time but the cost of living there went up a lot. I would not live in the big tourist areas of Mexico. Oaxaca was my choice of place to live. I do like Mexican food more than Thai. I don't really like Mexican women. They like the men wear their emotions on their shirt sleeves. Loving and kind one minute, cutting your throat the next.

[spidermike007]

14 hours ago, bignok said:

Chiang Mai has plenty of culture. Udon does not.

That is very relative. Very little live jazz. No ballet, opera, live theater, independent film, stand up comedy, poetry readings, spoken word, art museums, fine galleries, handicrafts, etc. The list goes on and on.

 

A puppet show here and there does not qualify. Thailand has a little bit of traditional culture. Not much, by international standards. 

[spidermike007]

14 hours ago, scorecard said:

What about visas?

Far easier than Thailand to get a long term visa. More options. 

[spidermike007]

16 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Spanish would be easy to pick up.  I was even fluent reading/writing.  But an actually conversation ... my brain has a hard time processing when coming at me that fast ???? 

 

When in Mexico, most went over my head, but got a rough idea what was being said or asked.

 

So much easier than the tonal Thai.

I have traveled all over Latin America, including Cuba many times, and can converse easily with the locals. But, I know the language is harder in Spain. But, I could adapt and learn. It would be infinitely more fun than learning Thai. Frankly, there is nothing about the Thai language I like. Nothing. Spanish sounds like music or poetry to me in comparison. And using the same alphabet is immensely easier, in addition to not having to deal with the ridiculous tones.
 
And the last part is the most important one. I find that throughout Latin America, when I am trying hard to be understood, people reciprocate that effort, and try hard to understand me. And I think they may be more creative, or more linguistically skilled than most Thais (able to dance in circles intellectually, to interpret and figure out an answer to an unfamiliar problem). You seem to get huge credit for trying to speak Spanish, even if it is very imperfect. I do not get any of that here. Nunca. Nada. Zero. You do not pronounce it perfectly here, we have no idea what you are saying! And there is no effort made to attempt to figure it out. Lame. Very lame. That gets very old. 
 

[spidermike007]

14 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Haven't a clue, though can't be that hard, with so many Yanks retiring there.

https://eagernomad.com/american-expats-by-country/

So, why is it that Thailand is not on the list? Surely there are more than 36,000 expats here. Why is that info so hard to find? Does the govt. here suppress it? 

[KhunLA]

3 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

So, why is it that Thailand is not on the list? Surely there are more than 36,000 expats here. Why is that info so hard to find? Does the govt. here suppress it? 

I think that list is Yanks only, not all expats.

[spidermike007]

14 hours ago, Furioso said:

It can be really bad. Hundreds of thousands of American's live in the Philippines, doesn't mean it's a great place to live.

 

And, from what I've seen of both Mexico and Philippines they are pretty much dumps.  

Depends on where uou are. There are some very nice areas in Mexico. But, the nicer areas tend to be quite expensive. Alot more than here. 

[bignok]

13 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

That is very relative. Very little live jazz. No ballet, opera, live theater, independent film, stand up comedy, poetry readings, spoken word, art museums, fine galleries, handicrafts, etc. The list goes on and on.

 

A puppet show here and there does not qualify. Thailand has a little bit of traditional culture. Not much, by international standards. 

How many times have you been to live opera or ballet in your life? Me once each. Ballet was awful, opera was great but once was enough.

[spidermike007]

1 minute ago, KhunLA said:

I think that list is Yanks only, not all expats.

Again, I ask why is that info so hard to find, about Thailand? There has to be a reason. My guess, is that there is no cooperation from the government here. 

[spidermike007]

2 minutes ago, bignok said:

How many times have you been to live opera or ballet in your life? Me once each. Ballet was awful, opera was great but once was enough.

Hundreds of times. Same applies to jazz. I adore the ballet and live jazz. Opera, not so much. Stand up comedy. All the time in the US. Museums and galleries. All the time. Independent film. Alot. The list goes on. 

Edited June 5, 2023 by spidermike007

[bignok]

Ballet was one of the most boring things I've ever done. Louis Armstrong is on youtube, enough Jazz for me. Europe would have the best museums. Stand up is on Youtube, all the greats are there. Live entertainment is expensive at the top level.

[KhunLA]

7 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Again, I ask why is that info so hard to find, about Thailand? There has to be a reason. My guess, is that there is no cooperation from the government here. 

Does seem to be top secret.   Remember Udon Thani released the number of 'long term' visa issued/extended for the province, and came in at 5000+/-, or so reported.

 

That before they no longer accepted income statements, and of course, didn't included the back to back border hoppers, as a way of staying long term.

 

Many of both those categories, I suspect, no longer stay in TH long term.

[KhunLA]

5 minutes ago, bignok said:

Ballet was one of the most boring things I've ever done. Louis Armstrong is on youtube, enough Jazz for me. Europe would have the best museums. Stand up is on Youtube, all the greats are there. Live entertainment is expensive at the top level.

I like all kinds of 'cultural' entertainment, and have attended so many types, multiple times.  I do miss art museums, live plays & concerts, though pricing was starting to get ridiculous, and that was 24 yrs ago.

 

Ballet, never & no thanks.  Opera, no thanks, especially since no subtitles ???? as I don't speak Italian.  So what's point.  Not a fan of silent movies, which is what it would equate to.

 

Jazz is cool, though I don't care for some of the 'classic', older stuff.  Many other jazz styles that are excellent:  for sax, Grover, Najee, Sanborn, even Kenny G.   Other non Jazz artists have dabbled in Jazz, ex: Jeff Beck and so many more, with their take of it.  Jazz is very varied style, most don't know about or have listened to.  Caribbean for example, way too cool.

 

TH does lack the culture I prefer, along with not very diverse.  Every museum, temple, almost always the same same, not different.  After a couple times, why bother kicks in.