The Ideal Retirement Haven You'Ve Never Heard Of

[MALJR]

Stil haven't decided where to retire to in Thailand. We lived in Bangkok for three years back in 2000-2003 and really enjoyed it. Visited Hua Hin once and enjoyed it as well, but couldn't make a real accurate assessment based on a four day visit, ten years ago. Wondering how accurate is this article?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ideal-retirement-haven-youve-never-162657501.html

Thanks,

Mike and Somsri

[jingjoe8]

I would suggest the 1100 a month quoted for a good lifestyle in retirement,would be per person with a couple sharing all costs,otherwise 35000bht(converted from usd) is a bare to the bones lifestyle in hua hin.I'm moving to hua hin in a few months,i currently live in the southern thailand.

I don't know what other countries accom/lifestyles were like before they moved to thailand,but my criteria for leaving oz was to live in similar accom and better lifestyle for less money,not to live in some bedsit or one of those 2 bed houses with concrete gardens that look like its been transplanted from a gangster movie based in the bronx,limited food choices and having no worthwhile hobbies.

Hua hin is the place to live if you have a decent income,plenty of good restaurants to enjoy,great golf courses,good quality houses and condos.

Plenty of cheaper places to live in thailand on a budget and the money will go further without the temptations to overspend and overspending is the major reason people blow there budget and leave thailand all bitter.

[darrendsd]

I live here and would say it;s the 3rd most expensive place to live in Thailand after Phuket and Samui.

[mythril]

We don't live in Hua Hin (yet), but we have bought a villa there and will be moving in next month, albeit only for a holiday at this time and have visited on numerous occasions over the last 6 years. Based on our experience, I would have to sy that the lady who wtote the article was definitely looking through rose tinted glasses granted most of what see describes is true (otherwise why would we have bought a villa and be looking to move there eventually), however she does write as if she has a contract with the Thailand Tourism Authority and as jingjoe8 also mentioned the quoted budget of $1,100/month would really be cutting things pretty much to the bone.

[crazykopite]

Koh Samui and Koh Phangan were deemed the most expensive parts of Thailand to live I have lived on both and still live on Samui have got my own house so no rent to pay and we live a very acceptable lifestyle on 30,000 bt and sometimes less per month, however I do not smoke and very rarely drink although the wife likes a little tipple. If I wish to go on holiday then of course this would be more but hey every day is a holiday when your living in paradise !!!!!!

[darrendsd]

Unless I am reading it wrong she doesn't say a budget of $1000 a month would be sufficient she quotes that price for renting a house on the beach.

[tom21]

Unless I am reading it wrong she doesn't say a budget of $1000 a month would be sufficient she quotes that price for renting a house on the beach.

" A couple could live a fully-appointed, rich, and interesting life here on a budget of as little as $1,100 per month." then it goes on later about $800- $1000 for a beach house

[darrendsd]

Apologies you are correct, although doubt that most couples could actually live on that in Hua Hin unless they didn't have a social life.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

You notice she does not mention any of the problems with living in Hua Hin. The biggest in my opinion is the traffic, which continues to get worse each year. We live in Cha Am (15-20 min from HH) and only go into HH if absolutely necessary. That is due to the pain in the butt traffic.

Cha Am has much nicer beaches than HH and the cost of living is lower, it is growing rapidly and more people all the time. I like it the way it is, but then nothing stays the same.

All in all it is a very nice place to live, have been here for 5 years now. Forget living any decent kind of life style on $1100 a month. But the cost varies with the life style you choose. If you are happy in a studio apt and modest meals you may be able to do it. On the up side the medical care is good, the people are friendly and you can get along with very little Thai, as most people do have some English. The beach is nice and long and very clean. The police are no more or less corrupt than most of Thailand. The weather is good (if you like it hot) and crime is not bad. But I do prefer Cha Am over Hua Hin. But then I don't do the bar scene or night life. It's about 2 1/2 hours to BBK +-.

[hhfarang]

I read that article yesterday on Yahoo news and had to laugh. Not only at the budget part but the part about no corruption, low crime rates, gated communities, etc. I guess all the burglaries which are usually in those gated communities perpetrated by the guard or other staff go mostly unreported. I chuckled to myself when I read about the beach and there was no mention of it disappearing during high tide, the poor quality of the water, soi dogs, the horse crap, nagging vendors, jellyfish, etc. And I thought the part about the good infrastructure was amusing with the frequent power outages in parts of town, flooding during heavy rains due to poor drains, lack of water and waste treatment, narrow potholed roads with heavy traffic and no place to park, and city water outages for months at a time during dry season.

And there was no mention of the fact that foreigners have to jump through immigration hoops to live here in Thailand, and that they cannot buy property, i.e., they they can only lease property for 30 years (legally), or own a condo in a building only if it is 51% Thai owned.

I thought that about only things the author got right was the weather and the abundance of good restaurants, hospitals (although they didn't mention the high cost of private hospitals), golf courses (again with no mention of the high cost to play) and the advantage of being in close proximity to a major city (Bangkok).

A couple could live here on the budget they suggested but forget the golf, and new hospital they mentioned as well as any travel on that amount of income.

It was probably written by a travel writer who spent a week by the pool at the Sofitel and then went home again to write it.

[MALJR]

Thanks to all for your comments. Definitely some food for thought. It might just be best for us to live in Bangkok as it is more centrally locared and visit places like Hua Hin on the occasional holiday.

[UKJASE]

for me, i have been to many of the tourist areas of thailand, and we lived in bangkok for 8 months, whilst deciding where we would like to live

of the places i have been, samui, ko pang yan, koh tao, krabi, phuket, lanta, chang, cha am, pattaya, trat, kanchanaburi, khon kaen, nong kai, etc.... i think hua hin is the best place to live in thailand for what my wife and i require / enjoy

its not perfect, but it is pretty good.....

when we have friends to visit, they always say what a nice place it is

[johnnyk]

This kind of uninformed crap appears all the time. Written from a cubicle somewhere in the west. She had a good howler about the lack of corruption. 555!!! Clearly her experience of Thailand is from the vantage point of expense-account 5* hotels. Note also the comment about 20% of the population are expats. Really? That would mean a permanent falang population of about 16,000. Ri-fuc_king-diculous.

[MRGTINGTONG]

Been visiting thailand every since 2000, travelled all over from south , central and north. Hua hin is the place to be, its got every thing you could possibly need and a very friendly place, i intend to live there very soon.

[MALJR]

Thanks again to all. Somsri's sister is getting married next year and we plan to return for a visit then and will scout out some places. Hua Hin and Cha Am are on the list.

[johnnyk]

Rent a house on the beach for $1000/month? Well, she has a sense of humour, got to give her that.

The houses along the beach are Thai-owned. You know, Thais such as telecom tycoons with prominent sisters.

Does the writer really think a rich Thai will rent their beach house to some falang for 30K baht a month?

The writer is stupid and uninformed but smarter than the dweebs who subscribe to her newsletter.

[jlvs]

I'm retired in Hua hin area and happy to have the new BKK hospital. It's clean, fresh and comfortable and staff is courteous and attentive. One is certainly reminded though when going there that this is open for business strictly. I found that doctor visits tend to be rushed, good clinical evaluations seldom done and physicians seem averse to physically examining a patient. This may stem from some cultural tendency to keep your distance. A good basic health assessment requires a good history taking and a close up physical assessment , ie listen to the chest, check reflexes, look at the eyes, ears, finger nails, legs etc. this only takes two or three minutes. They seem to predominately be stuck behind their desk and to way over subscribe medications.

My suggestion, prepare yourself, do some research into your suspected problem and be ready to ask questions and ask for tests that might be justified. Insist on a physical exam if you think it is needed and be careful about taking too many drugs and watch out for drug interactions as I found that they often do not. Use the Internet. After all this, enjoy the clean, friendly environment there.