And so the exodus of quality expats begins. This time it's personal

[oldcpu]

4 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

 

I would not want to take a TukTuk anywhere, I drive my car, so why would I want to go in a death trap?

 

Patong, on no not again, 1% of the total area of Phuket defines the other 99% of Phuket.

 

 

For those who dislike Phuket, it does mostly read that they base their assessment on Patong.

 

My wife and I both live in the far south of Phuket, and we have 2 cars, so that we can each share our individual interests.

 

I recall back in 1997 to 1999 (before I was married when a few times/month I would visit Patong) that parking in Patong was difficult, but doable.  In the handful of years before COVID (on the occasional about once/year when I drove there to meet friends who were staying there) the parking was ugly and far far far worse than in 1997 to 1999.  In my last visit (after COVID) which was about a year ago - parking was just as ugly as before COVID.

 

I don't know of any expat who would want to live in Patong - yet many seem to judge Phuket by their Patong experience.

 

I concede I can be selfish, and hope that many do judge Phuket by Patong, and thus stay away from the other more pleasant (for expats) areas of Phuket.

[newnative]

On 10/29/2024 at 12:11 PM, oldcpu said:

 

IMHO it is similar with regard to Pattaya .... where many think it is only about Walking street (and a couple of other smaller areas) which are in essence RLD spots ... Where there is a lot more to Pattaya and Jomtien than such spots.

 

I have a number of friends who live in Jomtien - and its very good ... for most of the same reasons as Phuket ...  Good shopping, not too far from an International Airport (in this case @ Bangkok), lots of banking facilities ... many international schools .... and more isolated spots for those looking for such away from the main madness.

 

Obviously I prefer the relatively 'out of the way' spot I found in Phuket, but I do note Pattaya/Jomtien have some pretty good spots - with many condos with fabulous views ... close to a beach where one can go to exercise.  As noted, Pattaya is the location of choice of a number of my friends who never visit the night life areas.

        Totally agree.  I am another Pattaya resident who 'never visits the night life areas'.   You can live a very nice life here and never go to those areas.  In the 14 years we have been here, my spouse and i have lived in Jomtien, Pratamnuk, North Pattaya, and Wong Amat--and have liked each of those different areas, each with its own vibe.  

        Now, we are in a nice pool villa in yet another area, the Darkside, and we are liking it here, as well.  There's a whole different world on the east side of  Sukhumvit we are enjoying discovering.  I think there are many Pattaya residents like us who recognize all that Pattaya has to offer to full-time residents.  I've posted that I think Pattaya is actually a better place to live as a resident than to visit as a tourist and that gets truer the longer I live here.  

[zzzzz]

well it seems ALL the expats have left already as nobody has anything left to say about Phuket   
55555

[London Lowf]

Or maybe it's all been said already?

 

I'm still around, but stories of the steadily increasing traffic and hotel rates as we head into high season are not really of much interest.

 

It's been in the news elsewhere, but there seems to be a large influx of African workers hanging around Bangla and Beach Road this year.

[chercheur888]

It is the confirmation that Phuket is a nice place and everybody is living in perfect harmony👌👍

[StraightTalk]

[quote]And so the exodus of quality expats begins.[\quote]

I don't think so. I believe the situation might be the opposite. If the (imaginary) exodus were to occur, the so-called "quality expats" (especially retirees) would likely stay, while those with less education and unrealistic expectations - such as seeking voting rights, free healthcare, or free beer, or those hiding in the shadows without having contributed a single baht (other than VAT) - would eventually leave. This could include individuals who provide little value to the Thai government, particularly those who stubbornly refuse to comply with the upcoming changes to the country's tax laws. Tough titties.

[3NUMBAS]

Bear grills had a house there and sold it to move to an island of Ireland with no other humans

[ChasingTheSun]

If the tax laws change to include a new taxation of an expats non-Thai/worldwide income, regardless of if/when it is remitted, you will indeed begin to see a very serious “mass exodus of quality expats” from all over Thailand.

 

 

 

[oldcpu]

7 hours ago, ChasingTheSun said:

If the tax laws change to include a new taxation of an expats non-Thai/worldwide income, regardless of if/when it is remitted, you will indeed begin to see a very serious “mass exodus of quality expats” from all over Thailand.

 

I suspect all that will happen at most is there will be a 'changing of the guard' ... where those thriving on the current tax breaks (and worried of the future) will depart ... and those where the taxation is not an issue will very very VERY quickly fill the place of each and every one of those who depart.

[ChasingTheSun]

9 hours ago, oldcpu said:

 

I suspect all that will happen at most is there will be a 'changing of the guard' ... where those thriving on the current tax breaks (and worried of the future) will depart ... and those where the taxation is not an issue will very very VERY quickly fill the place of each and every one of those who depart.

i doubt that there will be a “changing of the guard.”

 

Low income expat pensioners cannot replace an exodus of wealthier expats.

 

[oldcpu]

1 hour ago, ChasingTheSun said:

i doubt that there will be a “changing of the guard.”

 

Low income expat pensioners cannot replace an exodus of wealthier expats.

 

 

I think those expats with an LTR visa (such as myself) would beg to differ.

[ChasingTheSun]

4 hours ago, oldcpu said:

 

I think those expats with an LTR visa (such as myself) would beg to differ.

As long as they dont start to include worldwide taxes on those visas you would be safe. 

[oldcpu]

10 hours ago, ChasingTheSun said:

As long as they dont start to include worldwide taxes on those visas you would be safe. 

 

As long as Thailand continues to respect the DTA  for the worldwide income for a number of us (where we have already,  consistent with the DTA of our income source countries PAID income tax), then even if the LTR tax exempt status (per Royal Decree) were to be cancelled, it would have minimal effect on us. 

 

Frankly, IMHO,  the risk of taxation on expatriates to Thailand is MUCH more likely to affect the expatriates who live from pay check to pay check,  than it is to affect the more wealthy expatriates. 

 

The more wealthy know how to manage their tax strategies and are not likely to run away at such taxation concerns without first investigating their options.

 

So I would argue its those who are borderline (paycheck to paycheck) who are more likely to depart due to taxation, than it is for those who have the wealth to come up with alternatives permitting them to spend a good portion of their time in Thailand - and FURTHER, currently we are seeing just that. 

 

More and more expatriates are flocking to Phuket (where these new comers ARE wealthier)  in comparison to those departing.  Ergo the title/premise of this thread is flawed.

 

Having typed that,  from a selfish perspective of one who lives in Phuket,  I would be happy to see the numbers decrease like the topic title suggests,  ... but I from what I can see day to day - such is not happening.  More wealthy are coming to Phuket.

 

[Tom100]

On 2/9/2024 at 5:39 PM, Lacessit said:

IMO Chiang Rai probably has one of the lowest costs of living in Thailand. Property prices and rents simply don't seem to move.

Chiang Rai has three private hospitals, an army hospital, and two government hospitals. It's not as if it is short on infrastructure.

Thanks Lacessit. Well said.

I moved from BKK to CNX after 2 years b/c BKK was crazy. CNX is far better. If it gets too busy I may go to Chiang rai too.

[DonniePeverley]

It's not just the sheer number of tourists, but the quality of the tourists. I have never met horrific people like this in my life. 

 

It's like you take the worst set of Arabs, the worst set of Indians, draft dodging Russians, and the Benidorm Brits and bring them here to create chaos. 

[zzzzz]

its not just the tourist numbers ( those dam african french are out in mass now) and agree the quality of years passed is way down
BUT the uncontrolled building going on < dust in the air, trucks on the road, the noise!!!

[Expat68]

7 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

It's not just the sheer number of tourists, but the quality of the tourists. I have never met horrific people like this in my life. 

 

It's like you take the worst set of Arabs, the worst set of Indians, draft dodging Russians, and the Benidorm Brits and bring them here to create chaos. 

These people only go to tourist places (thank heavens). That is why I chose to live where you still have all the amenities without the dross you are talking about 

[DonniePeverley]

7 hours ago, Expat68 said:

These people only go to tourist places (thank heavens). That is why I chose to live where you still have all the amenities without the dross you are talking about 

 

 

Where is the utopia where you can have amenities but without the Benidorm Brits ?

[Brian J]

On 2/9/2024 at 4:52 PM, Galong said:

Six of my very good friends have had enough of Phuket and all six are leaving because of traffic. Another friend and his family of four just bought a house a relocated here from the UK. After just a few months, they are already looking for ways to leave. 

How many of you have lost friends due to the 'progress' going on in Phuket?

I went there for 3 days recently ...what a godforsaken hole. It's expensive, dirty and the attitude of most of tourists and non locals is abysmal. Fat, shirtless Slavic featured men make the average brit tourist from yesteryear look like angels.

Yuck!

[JamesPhuket10]

1 hour ago, Brian J said:

I went there for 3 days recently ...what a godforsaken hole. It's expensive, dirty and the attitude of most of tourists and non locals is abysmal. Fat, shirtless Slavic featured men make the average brit tourist from yesteryear look like angels.

Yuck!

 

I wonder where all of these people, are,  I have been here for over two years and I have not seen this type of person.

 

Dirty?

 

Where is it dirty?

 

The facilities are fantastic, the massive shopping centers in Kathu for example, I do see some Russians shopping there (your reference to Slavics), they are well-dressed, they are normally in couples, many with children, none of the males have bar girls hanging onto their arms,  they are the ones buying the 2000 dollar handbags and other expensive items from Louis Vuitton, etc. 

 

Maybe there is some crap place in Phuket where the low-life hang around bars with other low-lives as happens everywhere in the world, it is not compulsory to go there. 

 

Phuket is 1/3 the size of Greater London, a big area and if people come here and only visit the crap places then that is up to them, but it says more about them than it does about Phuket as a whole. 

 

Take my area for instance, about 350 detached houses in a gated area, no traffic at all as the roads are private, most of the owners of the houses are Thai, and I think there is one Russian family with children. The streets are spotless, the community has a private park for the kids of the area to play in.

 

I am ten minutes away from Central Shopping Center, ten minutes away from other large shopping areas, you can not compare the traffic here to crap places like Patong.

 

I had to go to the immigration office in Phuket town which is about seven miles away, it took me a whole 22 minutes to drive there. 

 

But I do suppose outside of Phuket there are lots of places in the sticks that are cheap to live in and not at all busy, the problem with that is I would die of boredom after a week living there, and the reason they are not busy is because hardly anyone wants to go there.  

 

But Phuket is reassuringly expensive as it keeps most of the riffraff away, the ones who come, can not afford to be here and so have to make negative things up about their visit just to save face. 

 

[grumpyoldman]

On 3/5/2025 at 7:32 PM, Brian J said:

I went there for 3 days recently ...what a godforsaken hole. It's expensive, dirty and the attitude of most of tourists and non locals is abysmal. Fat, shirtless Slavic featured men make the average brit tourist from yesteryear look like angels.

Yuck!

Shirtless? You see the completely naked Ruskie going into 7 in Rawai last week? It's no wonder the Thai people are no longer nice there putting up with this s**t. No, all of the Russians have ruined Phuket.

 

So sure, stay behind your gated walls in Kathu.

[JamesPhuket10]

8 hours ago, grumpyoldman said:

Shirtless? You see the completely naked Ruskie going into 7 in Rawai last week? It's no wonder the Thai people are no longer nice there putting up with this s**t. No, all of the Russians have ruined Phuket.

 

So sure, stay behind your gated walls in Kathu.

 

I never have any problems when I go out and about daily. Even on my daily walk around the reservoir, 90% of the people there are Thai, the rest of us farangs including Russian, we have no problem, no horrible unfriendly people as you seem to meet, people smile and say hello to each other.

 

But if people go around in such a negative and unfriendly way then there is no surprise they get the same reactions back, stay away we do not want skint people with such poor attitudes here.

[JamesPhuket10]

8 hours ago, grumpyoldman said:

Shirtless? You see the completely naked Ruskie going into 7 in Rawai last week? It's no wonder the Thai people are no longer nice there putting up with this s**t. No, all of the Russians have ruined Phuket.

 

So sure, stay behind your gated walls in Kathu.

 

No, I did not see any naked men going into 7/11 as it is not a common thing to happen, there are not thousands of naked guys hanging around outside of 7/11's  here. 🤣

 

Out of around 14 million visitors a year, there are bound to be a few nutters oh and a lot of people with negative unfriendly attitudes. 

[newnative]

On 3/5/2025 at 8:40 PM, JamesPhuket10 said:

 

I wonder where all of these people, are,  I have been here for over two years and I have not seen this type of person.

 

Dirty?

 

Where is it dirty?

 

The facilities are fantastic, the massive shopping centers in Kathu for example, I do see some Russians shopping there (your reference to Slavics), they are well-dressed, they are normally in couples, many with children, none of the males have bar girls hanging onto their arms,  they are the ones buying the 2000 dollar handbags and other expensive items from Louis Vuitton, etc. 

 

Maybe there is some crap place in Phuket where the low-life hang around bars with other low-lives as happens everywhere in the world, it is not compulsory to go there. 

 

Phuket is 1/3 the size of Greater London, a big area and if people come here and only visit the crap places then that is up to them, but it says more about them than it does about Phuket as a whole. 

 

Take my area for instance, about 350 detached houses in a gated area, no traffic at all as the roads are private, most of the owners of the houses are Thai, and I think there is one Russian family with children. The streets are spotless, the community has a private park for the kids of the area to play in.

 

I am ten minutes away from Central Shopping Center, ten minutes away from other large shopping areas, you can not compare the traffic here to crap places like Patong.

 

I had to go to the immigration office in Phuket town which is about seven miles away, it took me a whole 22 minutes to drive there. 

 

But I do suppose outside of Phuket there are lots of places in the sticks that are cheap to live in and not at all busy, the problem with that is I would die of boredom after a week living there, and the reason they are not busy is because hardly anyone wants to go there.  

 

But Phuket is reassuringly expensive as it keeps most of the riffraff away, the ones who come, can not afford to be here and so have to make negative things up about their visit just to save face. 

 

    Loved your post.  A lot of what you said could also be applied to the greater Pattaya area where I live.   Unfortunately, 95% of the Asean Now posts regarding Pattaya are supplied by visitors who likely get to only 5% of greater Pattaya in their short stays.  Or, they were last here 10 or 20 years ago for a weekend . . .

[grumpyoldman]

12 hours ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

But if people go around in such a negative and unfriendly way then there is no surprise they get the same reactions back, stay away we do not want skint people with such poor attitudes here.

Was first in Phuket in 1993. I spent 11 years living there 2005-2016. Traffic was light, people were nice. My Russian friends were/are polite good people.

 

After some 200,000 people decided to relocate there, traffic is no longer tolerable, you must have missed the story last week of the naked Russian going to 7, and as many places in the world, "Phuket ain't what it used to be".

 

I will return to Thailand on holiday and as well as part-time residency in the future but it will be elsewhere.  You can have what is now Phuket jamesphuket10, spicybah.

[SLOWHAND225]

On 2/9/2024 at 5:31 PM, Lacessit said:

If you have never been there, you won't know what attractions it has. If you have, given your attitude, you would probably miss most of them.

Having been in Pattaya a few times, I would sooner chew razor blades than be a resident there. Phuket sounds like Pattaya squared.

 

I recently spent 12 days on my scooter exploring Chiang Rai, loved it. I'll be back.
I'll even buy you a beer ! 

[grumpyoldman]

1 hour ago, SLOWHAND225 said:

 

I recently spent 12 days on my scooter exploring Chiang Rai, loved it. I'll be back.
I'll even buy you a beer ! 

Do the same in Kanchanaburi, lovely part of the country.

 

Definitely beats living on a tropical island and spending your time in a mall. I don't get that at all.

[JamesPhuket10]

11 hours ago, grumpyoldman said:

Was first in Phuket in 1993. I spent 11 years living there 2005-2016. Traffic was light, people were nice. My Russian friends were/are polite good people.

 

After some 200,000 people decided to relocate there, traffic is no longer tolerable, you must have missed the story last week of the naked Russian going to 7, and as many places in the world, "Phuket ain't what it used to be".

 

I will return to Thailand on holiday and as well as part-time residency in the future but it will be elsewhere.  You can have what is now Phuket jamesphuket10, spicybah.

 

"You can have what is now Phuket jamesphuket10"

 

Thanks, it is a great place to be if one can afford to buy a nice house in many of the unseen nice areas. 

 

I can imagine it is not nice to live in very busy areas such as Patong, I can't understand why so many tourists go there and then imagine the rest of Phuket is like that, but that area is far from me and also away from the type of tourists who want to go to Patong.

 

Many tourists miss out on the splendours of Phuket, they ignore the 543 square kilometers of this island and instead, visit the few square kilometers of Patong. 

[JamesPhuket10]

11 hours ago, grumpyoldman said:

Was first in Phuket in 1993. I spent 11 years living there 2005-2016. Traffic was light, people were nice. My Russian friends were/are polite good people.

 

After some 200,000 people decided to relocate there, traffic is no longer tolerable, you must have missed the story last week of the naked Russian going to 7, and as many places in the world, "Phuket ain't what it used to be".

 

I will return to Thailand on holiday and as well as part-time residency in the future but it will be elsewhere.  You can have what is now Phuket jamesphuket10, spicybah.

 

You said, "I will return to Thailand on holiday and as well as part-time residency in the future but it will be elsewhere."

 

Oh no, how will this island survive without your weekly money allowance of three pounds six shillings, and sixpence! 😃