51 minutes ago, Hummin said:

That is why I have said many times on this forum: do not go all in with all your assets or cash.

yeah, but not going all in means what? not everyone can afford a big mistake and bounce back.

also, we simply don't have statistics. how many guys build a house out there and get divorced and/or regret the decision to move out there because they don't like village life?

we simply don't know.

57 minutes ago, Hummin said:

I have said many times on this forum: do not go all in with all your assets or cash.

Yeah that's one of the classic phrases in Thailand people quote, personally i don't like losing/wasting anything

11 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

we simply don't know.

AND ... simply don't care. Why do we need to know about other's failures or successes. They don't help us in any way, unless you know all the facts, and can actually listen to and take advice.

If still asking at our ages, then you failed at listening and taking advice the past 40 or 50 yrs of your life, and haven't learned a damn thing from others or your own experiences.

FFS, we are all adults, by the time we come to TH to retire. All been through our own trials & tribualations, relationships, divorces, (2 for me, 1 after I got here, TH ) and hopefully learned something the past 30 or 40 yrs of adulthood.

Especially if arriving around 60 yrs old, and that gives you 40 yrs of adulthood to learn how to function in the real world.

To get back to the OP .... "But otherwise, the influx of so many expats in areas of Pattaya is raising the standards of Thailand. It's way better than "the real thailand" ...

Not so sure the type of expat that heads straight to Patts, is raising the standard of anything. My first visit was to Phuket, as a true, non sextourist holiday, and Patts wasn't even on my radar, since purpose of trip was scuba 1st, then recon TH as retirement location, since here, though thought I had already had my top 3 choices picked, in the Americas.

Edited July 13Jul 13 by KhunLA

36 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Yeah that's one of the classic phrases in Thailand people quote, personally i don't like losing/wasting anything

Thailandtravel guides

Wasting money one way or another, we all put our finances where they suit us best.

If I liked playing golf, I'd probably play at least four days a week. What would that cost for 18 holes at a decent club?

I like work and what I do, and I need something meaningful while I'm in Thailand. So I'm not only investing in my wife, I'm investing in myself.

Trust is everything. If I didn't trust my wife or her family—the latter being just as important—I would never have done it.

Right now, I can't think of anything that could replace the lifestyle I have. When I'm 70+, I might think differently.

51 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

yeah, but not going all in means what? not everyone can afford a big mistake and bounce back.

also, we simply don't have statistics. how many guys build a house out there and get divorced and/or regret the decision to move out there because they don't like village life?

we simply don't know.

How often do you hear about the success stories, and how often do you actually meet happy men with happy wives living outside Pattaya or in Isaan?

On 7/10/2026 at 11:20 AM, save the frogs said:

I'm surprised no one has started a thread making fun of sexpats in Pattaya in the last 72 hours.

The other thread about family members murdering each other over a property dispute in the boondocks got me thinking.

Pattaya is way better than any remote part of Thailand.

Beaches& Islands

Sure, you get some thugs who behave badly -- but it's mostly in the bar scene or drug scene. You can avoid it.

Discover more

opinion

Geographic Reference

Standardized & Admissions Tests

But otherwise, the influx of so many expats in areas of Pattaya is raising the standards of Thailand. It's way better than "the real thailand".

The "real Thailand" is regression. If you move to these villages, you need to regress yourself to the mentality of villagers. Why would anyone want to do that when they come from a Western country?

I ain't ever moving to these villages. You'll have to shoot me dead first.

I don't want to regress. It's better if village Thais catch up to Western civilization than me forcing myself to regress to their hillbilly mentality out there.

Troll post.

Should be removed.🙃🙃

14 minutes ago, Hummin said:

How often do you hear about the success stories

not too often

23 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Not so sure the type of expat that heads straight to Patts, is raising the standard of anything. My first visit was to Phuket, as a true, non sextourist holiday, and Patts wasn't even on my radar, since purpose of trip was scuba 1st, then recon TH as retirement location, since here, though thought I had already had my top 3 choices picked, in the Americas.

My first five trips here with wife and twice with kids. Phuket, Ayuthaya, Kanchanaburi. Came here alone in 2015 (Phuket) for two months seeing if I could live there. Answer: no.
Came back January 2016 (Chaiyaphum and Phetchabunm, Bangkok) ten days.
Move here (alone) April 2016. First trip to Pattaya was in October 2017, eighteen months later, after I had bought my car to catch up with a friend in Naklua - car still had the red plates. We didn't even go as far as the beach. I was staying at Garden Lodge I think it was called in Naklua-Nth Pattaya road, a few hundred yards up from the Dolphin Circle at the end of second road. It was bulldozed a few years later and some spaceship-looking building convention centre is on the site now. I didn't get down 2nd Road further than Toy Bar which was my friend's live band pub of choice. Two nights on the lash, and drove home. Didn't go back for another year, just after new year 2019. The smog was so thick, my car's gps lost signal, and the sky was a sick yellow. I go back about twice a year for an unhealthy amount of Heineken and carbohydrate-laden foreign restaurant food, for two or three nights, and then back here.
I could possibly live in the hinterlands up in that area behind Pattaya itself - I went for a couple of foreign-sourced grocery markets along some massive road named after a golf course or a social club I can't remember which. But it was far enough out to be relatively quiet.
But, like CM, that smog was a real turn off. As is being grabbed at by masseuses when walking along the pavement. I didn't retire with PTSD to be on high alert walking around during the day.

Where I am 75km south of Mueang Phetchabun works fine for me but it really isn't suited for a lot of people, just as being a condo surrounded by a million people doesn't suit me.

Of course, this is just my personal opinion.

20 hours ago, Rams86 said:

Where I'm staying at the moment is a 17 kms straight road that goes to highway 304. Guess what highway 304 goes straight past the front gate to my estate in Bangkok. So when her indoors drops the word we're out of here. When you compare the people who live in my large estate and the country people you would think that they come from different countries.

Living up here reminds of the movie Deliverance but i'm yet to find anyone greasing the pig. lol

18 hours ago, Hummin said:

How often do you hear about the success stories, and how often do you actually meet happy men with happy wives living outside Pattaya or in Isaan?

In a foreigner owned restaurant in Sakon Nakhon the owner told me the story of how the comment he made about a customer's lady got him in hot water. As he was taking the order he casually said "oh what a beautiful Pattaya lady" That didn't go well.

You can have land and privacy a few minutes east of Pattaya. The only difference between Isaan and Pattaya area is the cost of land.

36 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

The only difference between Isaan and Pattaya area is the cost of land.

Pattaya is a fake tourism construct.

Most women want/need to go back to the village to take care of their parents and because they are more comfortable there.

Also, cost of land is not a minor issue. People want the BIGGEST house and land possible, not just any house or land.

Go BIG or go home.

THe Pattaya area is great for finding individuals that enjoy the same things you do. Whether that is a group that gets tossed at 10am or playing badminton. Closest thing I can get to that is hitting a ball against a wall at my house or sitting alone at restaurant watching the locals fish or whatever.

Living in a village encompasses too many variations. Some villages I've lived in are depressing unless you make a concerted effort to find meaning. Others are beautiful and life just seems to glide by in a satisfying manner. Where I live now isn't perfect but it is very nice. Beautiful views and rugged topography and people. It rains too much but I can deal with it. It never rains in Pattaya/Jomtien. An exaggeration but it is the driest area I've been in Thailand. Below is what I experience after my daily runs in a village.

On 7/10/2026 at 11:45 AM, Hummin said:

The art is to adjust to any environment wherever you go and still manage to live a productive and happy life

Well that's a viewpoint... I live in Thailand since 2003 and made the effort to learn Thai, also reading and writing. When I retired in 2017, I moved to my wife's village. There, big surprise, they do not speak Thai, nor Issan, but a local dialect close to Laotian, the Loei language... I had Thai friends when I lived in Sriracha (Chonburi), that's not the case here... Over time, I can understand a few words, but I obviously don't speak that patois. On the other hand, I like living in the nature and built a house 3km away from the village, in the middle of 50 rais with rubber trees, fruit trees, a large pond, and rice paddies.

Edited July 14Jul 14 by Garouda
adding some more information...

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

In a foreigner owned restaurant in Sakon Nakhon the owner told me the story of how the comment he made about a customer's lady got him in hot water. As he was taking the order he casually said "oh what a beautiful Pattaya lady" That didn't go well.

You can have land and privacy a few minutes east of Pattaya. The only difference between Isaan and Pattaya area is the cost of land.

The wife will chit chat with staff at restaurant at times, about food, and then they'll ask ... "where'd you meet you husband, Pattaya ???" 😂

She's like WTF. I told her, ignorant people will always assume you were a hooker, and that's how all foreigners met their wives. Took her for a second, but she got over it, too confident in herself to let the thought bother her.

She got a condencending look from some old looking foreigner hag one time, she didn't appreciate, while having guesthouse supplied brekkie, but I told her, that her husband's look at me was like ... " you lucky bastard, I'm stuck with this old hag " That put a smile on her face, realizing she knew her husband was in regret mode.

Probably a great conversation to hear, when they got back to their room ... "why you smile at that Yank, because he have young pretty wife?"

Probably why many Thai gals avoid relationships with foreigners, don't want to be looked at as hookers. Thankfully that little tidbit didn't cross her mind, while dating in Udon, even though local forum meets up with wives, and some were ex working gals, which nobody cared about or passed judgement on.

Edited July 14Jul 14 by KhunLA

5 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

She's like WTF. I told her, ignorant people will always assume you were a hooker, and that's how all foreigners met their wives.

We don't have stats, but I'm guessing 70% of foreigners in Isaan did hitch up with a Pattaya bar girl. Or maybe it's much lower. Good luck proving it.

1/3 of women in Thailand are from Isaan, I believe.

And 95% of girls working in Pattaya are from Isaan.

xyz % of guys first move to Pattaya when they arrive in Thailand.

We don't have the exact numbers, but the odds are not in your favor.

1 hour ago, atpeace said:

THe Pattaya area is great for finding individuals that enjoy the same things you do. Whether that is a group that gets tossed at 10am or playing badminton. Closest thing I can get to that is hitting a ball against a wall at my house or sitting alone at restaurant watching the locals fish or whatever.

Living in a village encompasses too many variations. Some villages I've lived in are depressing unless you make a concerted effort to find meaning. Others are beautiful and life just seems to glide by in a satisfying manner. Where I live now isn't perfect but it is very nice. Beautiful views and rugged topography and people. It rains too much but I can deal with it. It never rains in Pattaya/Jomtien. An exaggeration but it is the driest area I've been in Thailand. Below is what I experience after my daily runs in a village.

I need to live near water, surf preferred, or river, even a lake, as always some activity going on. Seems to be magnet for socializing at, as something to look at and or simply people watching, enjoying the same.

A bar or beer garden just doesn't do it. Even adult entertainment sois are boring, since in a relationship, or even when single. Not a bar, or club scene person, and never was.

Edited July 14Jul 14 by KhunLA

I would love to do a poll where guys would answer honestly and sincerely. My primary question would be: Was moving to the boonies your choice or hers? Are you content there or is drinking your primary form of entertainment? Are you leading a fulfilling life in the countryside?

To each his own for sure, but I do know that when I spend time up there in my wife's village I am bored to tears after just 3 days, and I have a very hard time meeting interesting expats who are not drunks, or daily drinkers.

I'm not saying that that scenario is not possible I'm just simply wondering how many do it out of choice and how many simply feel compelled to follow their woman's whims and desire to be near the family?

4 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

and I have a very hard time meeting interesting expats who are not drunks, or daily drinkers.

Yeah, but thats everywhere in Thailand.

Cheap beer + too much time on your hands + bars are a meeting place for socializing = lotsa drinking going on

Regarding the wife thing, I agree. Most men pretend they are in charge, but women usually call the shots regarding where to live. It's not optional. Quite a few women have cut me off because I didn't want to move out there.

2 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

Yeah, but thats everywhere in Thailand.

Cheap beer + too much time on your hands + bars are a meeting place for socializing = lotsa drinking going on

Regarding the wife thing, I agree. Most men pretend they are in charge, but women usually call the shots regarding where to live. It's not optional. Quite a few women have cut me off because I didn't want to move out there.

I think that we're living someplace where finding a good woman is just not that difficult, so we need to call the shots and when they are demanding too much money or they're asking for something ridiculous like moving to their village, we simply have to say NO, and if they walk no issues at all, just let them walk and find someone else, or just stay single and keep life simple.

At a given point in time we have to reflect on the question who is making the decisions in our life?

12 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

We don't have the exact numbers, but the odds are not in your favor.

Nice try, but failure.

So you are just another ignorant person who assumes every expat/thai relationship is customer & hooker. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

All the gals that leave Isan, don't go to bars to work, or are hookers at a bar/restaurant, epsecially ones that aren't in financials stress, as the big cities, metro areas simply provide better paying jobs in all fields.

Many of the young, don't want to be farmers, or follow in the family business.

So if my daughter was to hook up with a foreigner, you'd think she was hooker and that's how they met. Or my wife is ex hooker, and all her friends that moved out of Isan are hookers. How about all the Thai gals from Isan that met Thai guys while working in BKK, Patts or Phuket, are they all hookers also ??? Yea, not every relationship in metro or touirst areas are expats & Thais. Thais actually meet Thais from out of home provinces. Go figure.

Maybe I was I male prostitute, as I was very poor, and left suburbia to work in the big city back in USA. Probably a dark secret from my past, please don't tell anyone.

I started dating my 2nd wife, after I met her in a bar, in USA. She wasn't a hooker. Or I don't think, although she was considerably yonger than me. Actually I knew her, as a friend of a friend sister, we just happen to meet at a bar and hit it off. But nobody would know that, and since much younger, had to be a hooker.

Some forum members really do live sad lives, been hurt and just can't get past themselves and their own misery.

Try to have a good day today. I'm sure there is some value to your life ... or not.

Edited July 14Jul 14 by KhunLA

48 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

We don't have stats, but I'm guessing 70% of foreigners in Isaan did hitch up with a Pattaya bar girl. Or maybe it's much lower. Good luck proving it.

1/3 of women in Thailand are from Isaan, I believe.

And 95% of girls working in Pattaya are from Isaan.

xyz % of guys first move to Pattaya when they arrive in Thailand.

We don't have the exact numbers, but the odds are not in your favor.

So move to Isaan and date there. Only dummies go to Patts looking for love.

On 7/10/2026 at 11:48 AM, scubascuba3 said:

A better decision would have been for people to build a house in Pattaya area, ar least you could sell it, in Isaan it's money down the drain

Is your reply from personal experience, or hear say? There are places in Isaan which would fit your bill. There are others which I wouldn't spend your money on a house. But, I think that can apply to any country in the world, almost.

15 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Nice try, but failure.

So you are just another ignorant person who assumes every expat/thai relationship is customer & hooker. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

All the gals that leave Isan, don't go to bars to work, or are hookers at a bar/restaurant, epsecially ones that aren't in financials stress, as the big cities, metro areas simply provide better paying jobs in all fields.

Many of the young, don't want to be farmers, or follow in the family business.

So if my daughter was to hook up with a foreigner, you'd think she was hooker and that's how they met. Or my wife is ex hooker, and all her friends that moved out of Isan are hookers. How about all the Thai gals from Isan that met Thai guys while working in BKK, Patts or Phuket, are they all hookers also ??? Yea, not every relationship in metro or touirst areas are expats & Thais. Thais actually meet Thais from out of home provinces. Go figure.

Maybe I was I male prostitute, as I was very poor, and left suburbia to work in the big city back in USA. Probably a dark secret from my past, please don't tell anyone.

I started dating my 2nd wife, after I met her in a bar, in USA. She wasn't a hooker. Or I don't think, although she was considerably yonger than me. Actually I knew her, as a friend of a friend sister, we just happen to meet at a bar and hit it off. But nobody would know that, and since much younger, had to be a hooker.

Some forum members really do live sad lives, been hurt and just can't get past themselves and their own misery.

Try to have a good day today. I'm sure there is some value to your life ... or not.

Opinions are just guesses. We know that 50% of people are idiots and experts are only right 40% of the time. So human error rate is about 80%.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

The wife will chit chat with staff at restaurant at times, about food, and then they'll ask ... "where'd you meet you husband, Pattaya ???" 😂

She's like WTF. I told her, ignorant people will always assume you were a hooker, and that's how all foreigners met their wives. Took her for a second, but she got over it, too confident in herself to let the thought bother her.

She got a condencending look from some old looking foreigner hag one time, she didn't appreciate, while having guesthouse supplied brekkie, but I told her, that her husband's look at me was like ... " you lucky bastard, I'm stuck with this old hag " That put a smile on her face, realizing she knew her husband was in regret mode.

Probably a great conversation to hear, when they got back to their room ... "why you smile at that Yank, because he have young pretty wife?"

Probably why many Thai gals avoid relationships with foreigners, don't want to be looked at as hookers. Thankfully that little tidbit didn't cross her mind, while dating in Udon, even though local forum meets up with wives, and some were ex working gals, which nobody cared about or passed judgement on.

I met my Thai wife in a Beach Road bar in Pattaya. We never mention about her working in the bar. If she's asked where we met she says we met in the World Trade Centre in Bangkok as she did caual work for a friend who had a shop there. As for others the ones who need to know and the rest can mind their own business. Which I may say is very difficult for Thai women.

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

I need to live near water, surf preferred, or river, even a lake, as always some activity going on. Seems to be magnet for socializing at, as something to look at and or simply people watching, enjoying the same.

A bar or beer garden just doesn't do it. Even adult entertainment sois are boring, since in a relationship, or even when single. Not a bar, or club scene person, and never was.

I like water also and I live in arguably the wettest landscape in Thailand. Huge river and lakes. I also prefer hills or mountains around so I can see more. Wish I had your pic taking skills and equipment because loads of opportunities for great pics here.

Life is good now but if I could speak more Thai it would even be better. Probably not going to happen. I think most the locals like me but sense they think I'm a little strange. Running is not something they can relate to and they just shrug and usually give me the thumbs up.

48 minutes ago, Surasak said:

Is your reply from personal experience, or hear say? There are places in Isaan which would fit your bill. There are others which I wouldn't spend your money on a house. But, I think that can apply to any country in the world, almost.

Based on experience of what I've read and heard, you deny that's true? building a house on the gfs land with no chanote would be easy to sell?

10 minutes ago, atpeace said:

Running is not something they can relate to and they just shrug and usually give me the thumbs up.

perhaps because running is a modern invention due to sedentary office desk jobs.

since historically they worked the fields out there, running was not only not necessary but counter-productive to survival. when you need to burn calories all day to survive, it's frivolous to burn calories doing something that doesn't put food on the table.

On 7/10/2026 at 11:48 AM, scubascuba3 said:

A better decision would have been for people to build a house in Pattaya area, ar least you could sell it, in Isaan it's money down the drain

I had a house in Pattaya which was a good one, and we sold it.

We now live upcountry, an entirely different style of house without the swimming pool and similar distractions. However, it's a large and walled in compound of four properties.

The idea wasn't to make money, it was to provide security for my partner when I am gone, and generations of her family,( her wish) at least they have something for putting up with me for 30 years.

No regrets at all, we live well and certainly peaceful.

I prefer where I am, and I've been up here a lot longer than the majority of foreigners.

Edited July 14Jul 14 by Scouse123

On 7/10/2026 at 11:20 AM, save the frogs said:

I'm surprised no one has started a thread making fun of sexpats in Pattaya in the last 72 hours.

The other thread about family members murdering each other over a property dispute in the boondocks got me thinking.

Pattaya is way better than any remote part of Thailand.

Sure, you get some thugs who behave badly -- but it's mostly in the bar scene or drug scene. You can avoid it.

But otherwise, the influx of so many expats in areas of Pattaya is raising the standards of Thailand. It's way better than "the real thailand".

The "real Thailand" is regression. If you move to these villages, you need to regress yourself to the mentality of villagers. Why would anyone want to do that when they come from a Western country?

I ain't ever moving to these villages. You'll have to shoot me dead first.

I don't want to regress. It's better if village Thais catch up to Western civilization than me forcing myself to regress to their hillbilly mentality out there.

Yeah,

I suppose the bar stool at 10 in the morning discussing last night's conquests in Pattaya, is much more appealing and closer to the Real Thailand that you seek.

24 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

24 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Based on experience of what I've read and heard, you deny that's true? building a house on the gfs land with no chanote would be easy to sell?

Most foreigners I know haven't built houses in Isaarn for profit.

Might as well open a bar in Pattaya, eh?