4 hours ago, Rockyroad said:

Every country is run by politicians who create problems.

How come you never mention Siem Reap?

Very good question.

Based on my personal criteria:

Too hot

No permanent residence for retirees current system is easy but expect change

Health care not good enough

Taxation shoukd be anothet item on my criteria list.

Mexico.

5 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Very good question.

Based on my personal criteria:

Too hot

No permanent residence for retirees current system is easy but expect change

Health care not good enough

No permanent residence for retirees in Thailand either.

2 minutes ago, Packer said:

Mexico.

Clacton.

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Very good question.

Based on my personal criteria:

Too hot

No permanent residence for retirees current system is easy but expect change

Health care not good enough

Climate is the same as Thailand. Right next door.

39 minutes ago, Packer said:

Mexico.

Aguascalientes

41 minutes ago, emptypockets said:

No permanent residence for retirees in Thailand either.

Yes obviiusly

I think a common mistake is to choose somewhere as if.....that's it....done.

If and when I grow a pair and leave Thailand, it will be to move around SE Asia, the UK and possibly Turkey.

11 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

I think a common mistake is to choose somewhere as if.....that's it....done.

If and when I grow a pair and leave Thailand, it will be to move around SE Asia, the UK and possibly Turkey.

The problem is change.

You change and the country you're in changes.

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The problem is change.

You change and the country you're in changes.

...and if the change is not good........ move again......if you tire of it all you can still settle down somewhere I guess.

13 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

The problem is change.

You change and the country you're in changes.

We all change over time. What hobbies do you have?

Faro in southern Portugal or Sicily — especially Taormina — Italy's foot ball, if an alternative needs to be within EU; perhaps also Tenerife could be of interest, being an island with reasonable kind of all-year-summer weather. Bali or Malaysia might also become of interest. The least option is to head back home to utterly cold Scandinavia. I often check the B-option — returning home to my birth country — and every time it's a no-go for me: I have so far no intention of leaving paradise.

I'm disappointed though not surprised that people aren't posting their personal criteria priorities ax I did.

To me doing that is a must to make an objective evaluation of a place for you.

We have a big, lovely, old farmhouse waiting for us in Kyushu, Japan should we need to leave Thailand. Right now, only my sister-in-law is living there, with half of the house closed off. Rural village, surrounded by rice fields, persimmon orchards, and cedar-covered mountains. If I become too old to get around, I wouldn't mind finishing up there.

9 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I'm disappointed though not surprised that people aren't posting their personal criteria priorities ax I did.

To me doing that is a must to make an objective evaluation of a place for you.

Well there is not a lot to say really...

Cambodia...Easy visa, Lousy country..

Vietnam....Nice country, Lousy visa...

Burma.....No go

Singapore..To expensive

Malaysia...Not for retirees on a budget..Complicated visa..

Laos..Nice country, visa ?? good bad hard to say...Not to expensive

Philippians...Some strong positives and negatives...Visa pretty easy....pretty cheap

Mexico...Quite a few retirees seem to not even bother with a visa anymore, they are overstayers for decades...and no, I am not joking...Mexico is not so cheap anymore

Edited June 14Jun 14 by redwood1

9 hours ago, Celsius said:

They usually don't like messing with foreigners especially Americans. It's considered "blam"..... something like cringe or embarrassment. It has always been like this, I don't know why.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was related to the wars that went on there in the 90s, which were one of the most blatant and shocking examples of NATO-led interventionism and destruction. I was told that it was similar in Vietnam in the 80s, Vietnamese women seen with foreigners, and especially Americans, were shamed and called wh*ores.

10 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Another criteria that I left out -- language.

How widespread is English.

Do you need to learn the language.

Do you want to learn the language.

Is it hard.

I know French retirees who live in Portugal, they are very happy with the setting (coastal town), cost of life and safety, but language is the one hurdle. As they are older folk and not really willing/able to learn Portuguese, they almost exclusively frequent other French expats. Depends on what you're looking for but if you want a more immersive cultural experience, then from what I have gathered, learning Portuguese is pretty much a requirement.

Edited June 14Jun 14 by rattlesnake
Typo.

11 hours ago, Nemises said:

I’m choosing Vientiane, Laos. Most Pattaya expats already know the layout of the city and the local bars purely from decades of doing desperate, last-minute visa runs there anyway. It’s a seamless transition.

I was there a couple of years ago and was shocked at how developed it is now – modern amenities, electric vehicles everywhere, everything connected. The previous time I went, in 2010, it was still 'backwards' (though very charming) and you had to go to an internet cafe (with those old-fashioned rows of cubic PCs) to connect to the Internet on a per-minute basis.

4 hours ago, Woke to Sounds said:

Cambo is slowly becoming more popular with retiring farangs, (no) thanks to all the Ytube vloggers.

Vietnam has no retirement visa. It's 90 day border runs instead.

You never know when the VNese government will crack down on farangs doing endless border runs. I'd bet sooner than later. Lots of farang troublemakers infecting places like Da Nang now.

Pathetic.

https://www.nine.com.au/world-news/vietnam-shirtless-aussie-questioned-over-cafe-rampage-in-vietnam-20260531-p602iw.html

You watch too much youtube, that is not reality. Cambodia is entirely the same. Vietnam super relative too, just gaslighting news nonsense same as Thailand does for down south. All that happens in bangla phuket with fights and stuff, this happened ever since i lived in se asia.

In fact anyone that even partied a little bit for real could testify to the fact that nightlife only has decreased in the past 10 years. Just more annoying indians and arabs in the picture today, which were chinese before that. Gogo's can't even get traction until 10-11PM nowadays.

You used to need to barfine by 8PM or all beauties would be gone. That was called busy.

Just cliche tourist drama, it's global. This is the change in how people are as people, not a Thailand tourist specific issue. This is the first generation of new 'adults' that grew up as a baby with a screen in their face, never build a fire or a hut outside, never learned consequences from a young age, this is the end product. For the first time in modern human history, intelligence went down, this generation.

Edited June 14Jun 14 by Spider5511

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

Faro in southern Portugal or Sicily — especially Taormina — Italy's foot ball, if an alternative needs to be within EU; perhaps also Tenerife could be of interest, being an island with reasonable kind of all-year-summer weather. Bali or Malaysia might also become of interest. The least option is to head back home to utterly cold Scandinavia. I often check the B-option — returning home to my birth country — and every time it's a no-go for me: I have so far no intention of leaving paradise.

I didn’t expect to see Bali because it is often portrayed as being overrun by tourists - it is a fairly big island though, maybe there are some parts that are bogan-free? I went to Amed once for a few days, decent enough though pretty small. The ruppiah has collapsed so it may actually be a good time financially to visit Indo.

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I'm disappointed though not surprised that people aren't posting their personal criteria priorities ax I did.

To me doing that is a must to make an objective evaluation of a place for you.

Easy visa

Friendly locals

Low cost

Things to do

Decent food

Safety

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I'm disappointed though not surprised that people aren't posting their personal criteria priorities ax I did.

To me doing that is a must to make an objective evaluation of a place for you.

Some criteria which may not get enough attention:

natural disaster risk (esp. earthquake and hurricane/typhoon)

public transportation

current level and outlook for future anti-gentrification sentiment

political disposition of government towards Western immigration

walkability/bikeability

homelessness/ drug dealing/addiction levels

bureaucracy (not necessarily immigration authorities) but things like banking, renting an apartment, getting medical insurance

potential for climate related or political instability induced mass immigration flows

5 hours ago, emptypockets said:

No permanent residence for retirees in Thailand either.

Correct you have to have had a job and paid tax for minimum 3 years to apply for PR. As far as i know.

13 hours ago, Jingthing said:

If you currently live in Thailand or even if you plan on moving to Thailand but are considering other options in case you need to leave Thailand for whatever reason, what are your current SPECIFIC leading locations for a Plan B backup to Thailand?

You have often posted various iterations of this simple theme.

I am not objecting to re-reading this same topic.

I agree that it is one of the most important topics one might consider.

In fact, even though most people might think I am.....JOKING.....

I am seriously considering China.

China has everything under the Sun.

Also, I love the culture, and the culture encompasses all that interests me.

China has made great progress since I first set foot behind the Bamboo Curtain.

The only question is how to find a single, detached dwelling, that might suit me.

Here in Thailand, finding a detached house with a garden is quite simple.

In China, it is not so simple.

I bet I can solve the visa problem for China.

But, health and living arrangement issues might take a bit more doing.

I would not mind living in YunNan, or Dalian.

10 hours ago, BilllyGOAT said:

After considering all the most important things like cost-of-living, accommodations, healthcare, food, crime, infrastructure, etc, I've now made my final decision. I'm leaving tomorrow!

I think you will be fine in mongolia if you speak either Russian or Korean (?). With just English, this will be not easy, at least compared to Pattaya.

Maybe not high on your list: Ulaan Bataar is not a pretty city, and weather is obviously not a plus point htere, obviously winters suck, but even the summer is horrible.

Tiniest plus: flying from Frankfurt, the flight is cheaper than to Southeast Asia, but that is about it.

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I'm disappointed though not surprised that people aren't posting their personal criteria priorities ax I did.

To me doing that is a must to make an objective evaluation of a place for you.

The problem is, that you are American, and the oppressing world-wide tax burden and growing visa hassles your nationality brings with it, simply does not apply to us.

So my criteria would be more than useless for you, where they are not reduced to culture, nature and the people.

Best example: Portugal kind of is a tax heaven, no visas needed as part of the EU, I just move off the plane and live anywhere as if at home. But how would that help you?

1 hour ago, TimBKK said:

I didn’t expect to see Bali because it is often portrayed as being overrun by tourists - it is a fairly big island though, maybe there are some parts that are bogan-free? I went to Amed once for a few days, decent enough though pretty small. The ruppiah has collapsed so it may actually be a good time financially to visit Indo.

If Bali is too touristy for you (it would be for me), go to neighboring Lombok.

The problem I see with this thread is the supposition that we can live fulltime anywhere we wish on the planet. I do not believe this to be the case. Most countries do not have long-term visas for single foreigners who have no attachment to that country.

If I leave Thailand, I will relocate to Point Loma, CA, USA