Why did you choose Thailand?

[persimmon]

First came over 25 + years ago to meet a Thai GF and was blown away by the climate , culture and just everything . Now too old to get involved with the ladies so it`s just the weather that keeps me coming back and the fact I can speak the lingo - thought about Spain , but don`t fancy learning Spanish , plus it`s not so easy now after Brexit .

[still kicking]

I choose Thailand because I met my wife of 20 years online but we both moved back to OZ after some years in LOS. My wife works as a nurse over here and makes good money somewhere around 35 to 50 dollars per hour pending on the day or hour. I guess we are lucky. Never came to Thailand for beaches (we have better ones in OZ) We are still connected to Thailand (going back twice a year) since we still have property in Thailand. So that is my story.

[GinBoy2]

Well my reasoning was complicated.

 

I had been living with my Thai wife for many years, in Shanghai and Singapore.

 

I was then posted to my company office in Taipei which didn't thrill my wife.

 

So we(I) decided that moving to Thailand, since I was getting close to retiring was a good idea.

 

We'd visited Thailand a couple of time and thought it was a good idea, fairly cheap and my wife would be close to family.

 

I must point out that my wife was strongly against this idea and wanted to move to the US, but I prevailed.

 

She said prophetically that I be bored with it within 10 years, and she was right. Damn I hate women always being right!

 

I commuted between Thailand and Taiwan for a couple of years before I finally retired. 

 

It was good for the first few years, but then I was just bored outta my skull.

 

It didn't turn out as cheap as I thought, and yes we lived the same lifestyle we had in Singapore, not living in a Thai shack, and not being able to do any work was a bummer.

 

In hindsight, I wish we had moved back to the US from Singapore. I would have worked in Taipei until I retired, and I think it would have worked out cheaper.

 

But hindsight is always 20:20

Edited November 9, 2023 by GinBoy2

[swm59nj]

Mostly because it offered a long term retirement visa.  And good health care with my private health insurance. 

[sidjameson]

Don't like cold winters. That knocks out Europe, north east Asia and North America.

Don't like thuggish crime, out goes central and south America.

Don't like complete lack of infrastructure, so Africa is out.

Don't like expensive so Australasia isn't getting picked.

 

Only really left se Asia. And long term affordable visa only really left Thailand.

 

Luckily I like Thailand.

 

[KhunLA]

33 minutes ago, sidjameson said:

Don't like cold winters. That knocks out Europe, north east Asia and North America.

Don't like thuggish crime, out goes central and south America.

Don't like complete lack of infrastructure, so Africa is out.

Don't like expensive so Australasia isn't getting picked.

 

Only really left se Asia. And long term affordable visa only really left Thailand.

 

Luckily I like Thailand

Thought out thinking vs me, I just showed up, last minute decision, without research.  Dive & recon trip, spur of the moment, as SEA wasn't on my radar.   Too far and my only considerations at the time were the Americas, as Europe, too expensive and or cold/crap weather.

 

Long week dive trip Phuket Oct 1999, came back Sept 2000 & stayed.  Not really planned, but not vested much, so could leave at any time.  

 

My life here, being a complete reversal of what I thought it would be, or experienced in the USA.  All for the better, except the weather.  Instead of half the year hot & humid (Memphis, TN), it's the whole damn year now 😂

Edited November 9, 2023 by KhunLA

[Scouse123]

8 hours ago, radiochaser said:

I was in Vietnam for more than 1.5 years.   People there were trying to kill me (perhaps not just me though)!

4 months after being in Vietnam, I was in Thailand for 7 months.  People were not trying to kill me!

Ergo, I chose Thailand. 

P.S.  Earlier this year, I was in Vietnam for 4 days.   No one tried to kill me.   Such a welcome change.   And the coffee was very good!

 

 

I like the Vietnamese and I like their directness.

 

I have been many times and will be there again on the 24th, I can't wait.

 

Better than a load of false smiles, tits and teeth.

[Lucky Bones]

Because Bob Smith and BigKnob....errr...

.BigNok claim to enjoy living here.

They are my heroes.🙃🙃

[Shop mak]

On 11/8/2023 at 11:22 AM, Flyguy330 said:

Why did you choose to live in Thailand rather than any other country?

 

Tested out a few countries in SEA, Thailand Won. Was cheap here in the 90s, low living cost,

Traffic was moderate, immigration was ok, ladies was into relationship then,

Sun and beaches, Western food available,

Much fun to be had.

Ooohhh the memories.

[gomangosteen]

Why did I choose Thailand?

 

By accident. I'd been full-time in triathlon and ocean swimming, won a travel voucher and went to a travel agent with the intention of off-season (May, NZ winter) training in Tahiti.

 

Agent said her parents had just returned from a holiday in Thailand, recommended the same 21 day flights and accommodation deal, why not I thought.

 

Returned August that year, happy ever after...

 

[The Fugitive]

11 hours ago, radiochaser said:

I was in Vietnam for more than 1.5 years.   People there were trying to kill me (perhaps not just me though)!

4 months after being in Vietnam, I was in Thailand for 7 months.  People were not trying to kill me!

Ergo, I chose Thailand. 

P.S.  Earlier this year, I was in Vietnam for 4 days.   No one tried to kill me.   Such a welcome change.   And the coffee was very good!

The coffee is calling me! Nothing I have yet tasted in Thailand tastes and smells as good as the coffee in Portuguese cafes.  Want to visit Vietnam to sample their's so keep trying to persuade the Mrs to go on a short break to Saigon. 

[radiochaser]

2 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

 

I like the Vietnamese and I like their directness.

 

I have been many times and will be there again on the 24th, I can't wait.

 

Better than a load of false smiles, tits and teeth.

Vietnam has its problems, but I would like to go back again to check out a couple of places that I was working at.    Not the last place, while the Phu Bai airbase, now airport, is still there and is now the Hue International Airport (still in Phu Bai), the base just across the street, 8th RRFS, is now an industrial area.   

Before being at Phu Bai I was assigned to a detachment away from the company I was assigned to and worked on the north perimeter of Phu Cat Air Force base, is now the Quy Nhon Airport - Phu Cat Airport - UIH.  I was there 7 months.   Looking at google earth, the area of our communications intercept site may still be there.   It would be fun to look around, if the officials would allow it.   Using google earth you can see the bomb bunkers on the north end of the airport and I worked about 100 - 150 yards north of those.   

Besides, the coffee was good when I went there in July of this year and I would like to try more. 

[radiochaser]

21 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

The coffee is calling me! Nothing I have yet tasted in Thailand tastes and smells as good as the coffee in Portuguese cafes.  Want to visit Vietnam to sample their's so keep trying to persuade the Mrs to go on a short break to Saigon. 

It was my wife's idea to go.  Some of her friends were going there on a 3 night 4 day tour (read, 4 days of going to places that was selling stuff) and she asked if I wanted to go.   I said yes.    I didn't get much chance to sample the coffee shops because of the shopping tour!   

The shopping was centered on Danang and the tour bus took us to different places each day.  Before or after the shopping was done, we had a big meal at restaurants that seemed (to me) to be set up for tours.  I did not see anyone off the street going into the restaurants, but there were groups of people that were herded in and sat at their assigned room/area of the restaurants!  The food was good, but still, people that were not in our tour group or the other tour groups did not eat there.   They were patronizing the restaurants that were next door, across the street, up and down the street, etc.

The 2 or 3 coffee shops that I did get to had, I think, good coffee.   Even a small take out coffee shop on a beach had good coffee. 

[kingstonkid]

18 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Sorry, one more, only for you.

 

Might have to change hospitals Which one is this?  BNH nurses are cute but definitely not dressed like that my stay might be short due to cardiac arrest but man what a way to go

[The Fugitive]

8 minutes ago, radiochaser said:

It was my wife's idea to go.  Some of her friends were going there on a 3 night 4 day tour (read, 4 days of going to places that was selling stuff) and she asked if I wanted to go.   I said yes.    I didn't get much chance to sample the coffee shops because of the shopping tour!   

The shopping was centered on Danang and the tour bus took us to different places each day.  Before or after the shopping was done, we had a big meal at restaurants that seemed (to me) to be set up for tours.  I did not see anyone off the street going into the restaurants, but there were groups of people that were herded in and sat at their assigned room/area of the restaurants!  The food was good, but still, people that were not in our tour group or the other tour groups did not eat there.   They were patronizing the restaurants that were next door, across the street, up and down the street, etc.

The 2 or 3 coffee shops that I did get to had, I think, good coffee.   Even a small take out coffee shop on a beach had good coffee. 

Thanks for this! 4 days/3 nights is exactly the timescale we would be doing because my Mrs runs a religious goods shop so we have to work around the 'Buddha Days'. Recently hired a luxury van for a break in Laos and we were taken to a Chinese cosmetic/remedies/tea etc. warehouse obviously geared towards tourists where they sit you down to watch displays, hand out cups of tea then make you feel obliged to come away with 4 tubs of handcream costing $100 USD. Fortunately, no shopping malls! 

[Doctor Tom]

Sit having coffee in any UK Mall and see the miserable, fat, ugly people stroll by, with their snotty, crying brats, while the rain drizzles down (it cant even rain properly there) .  Then sit having coffee in a Thai Mall and watch an attractive set of ladies walk by in attractive dress,  with or without their cute kids, while the sun shines and the sea glistens, and you have at least part of  your answer. 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Doctor Tom

[radiochaser]

31 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Thanks for this! 4 days/3 nights is exactly the timescale we would be doing because my Mrs runs a religious goods shop so we have to work around the 'Buddha Days'. Recently hired a luxury van for a break in Laos and we were taken to a Chinese cosmetic/remedies/tea etc. warehouse obviously geared towards tourists where they sit you down to watch displays, hand out cups of tea then make you feel obliged to come away with 4 tubs of handcream costing $100 USD. Fortunately, no shopping malls! 

That is a close description of one place we went to.    Watched some kind of show in Thai, I think it was about bamboo cloth, healing wraps for knees, elbows, lower back, then go and buy bamboo cloth products.  My wife bought some underpants for me made from bamboo cloth (google it) and they are actually comfortable.   

I wondered how much the Thai people working there were paid, only to find out they were all Vietnamese.  They all went to Thailand for a few months to learn Thai language and were very fluent in it.  

[Flyguy330]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

For my own reasons of leaving my homeland (Ireland) for SE Asia, I'd say - All Of The Above. But to be more specific;

• Weather features highly. I always detested the cold damp climate, the early evenings and freezing mornings.
• Next, Tax. Tax. TAX. In my job I was taxed until I bled. PAYE Tax (42%+). Then VAT (26%+). PRSI (Social Welfare Charges 10%+). Outrageous Stamp Duties, Capital Gains Taxes, huge VRT taxes, Road Taxes. And they kept dreaming up new ones - Water Charges, Bin Taxes, blah blah blah.... Now I pay ZERO tax, and that's how I aim to keep it. Take heed Thai Guv.
• General cost of living. I'm based in Malaysia at the moment. Everday staples cost me a 3rd to a 1/4 of what they cost back home. Coupled with no tax, I can live like a king.
• The people - vast majority are friendly and polite. Great service culture. Everyone here speaks English! What a benefit that is!
• Safe. Never been hassled or threatened. Never been robbed. Never burgled.
• Great for kids. No drug culture. Respect for elders. No feral kids AT ALL. No stabbings every day. Good schools (if you can pay).
• Entertainment - no bar girls (well, actually there are, if you know where to look), but great pubs, restaurants, sports facilities etc.
• Food - did I not mention FOOD? Should be up top of the list. Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Indonesian, Western. Everything you could want and cheap.

I could go on - cheap petrol (40 Euro Cents per Ltr!!), and low car running costs. Decent roads, great beaches and islands, cheap flights,  improving infrastructure (MRT).

 

I'd only move full time to Thailand if the tax situation required it and was beneficial. But I have the LTR Visa ready.

 

I also like Bali.

Bit too tax-y though.....

Edited November 10, 2023 by Flyguy330

[radiochaser]

On 11/9/2023 at 11:08 PM, kingstonkid said:

Might have to change hospitals Which one is this?  BNH nurses are cute but definitely not dressed like that my stay might be short due to cardiac arrest but man what a way to go

My wife says I can't look at women like that.  So I am blocking your post!