just wondering if is it getting crowded than before..

Yes, it is more crowded. Immigration is a nightmare.

with retirees?

There's an oven type crematorium just within the ringroad near SanSai, it's a very weird thing but anyway then you haven't go trough all that Thai style cremating in open air including taking the body out of the coffin after it has been in there for almost a week. (sorry if this was a bit 'too much of an answer' to your question)

eden8,

Welcome to Thaivisa and, yes, it is getting more crowded each year with expats, Thais from Bangkok, and tourists, especially Chinese tourists. But the growth seems to be "outward" in areas like Maejo, Mae Rim, Hang Dong, etc. It is still a great place to live.

So you're saying CM's a good place to die rubberduck?

eden8 ... What an articulate post!!! Care to share a bit more of your thoughts??

So you're saying CM's a good place to die rubberduck?

No I already erased Chiangmai from my memory. And prefer a more safe, quiet, beautiful and peaceful place to live my last days.

You better go to Chiang Rai or Mae Hong Som, very nice places and more relaxed, without the hassles of a big city. And far too many farangs now at Chiang Mai. I don't like the place anymore, but some friends live there.

Yes, it's more crowded than before.

Depending on your point of view that can be either good or bad.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to come to Chiang Mai for anything but a holiday. Too polluted now, not just the burning, but the fumes from too many cars in a bowl of a valley. Too much uncontrolled development. Too much noise pollution. There are beautiful places to visit, at the right time of year, but, to be honest, any newbie thinking of settling here needs his / her head examining. And costs are sky rocketing both from inflation within Thailand & the strength of the baht. Mind you, if any newbie wants to buy my wife's house, "Go for it"

There's an oven type crematorium just within the ringroad near SanSai, it's a very weird thing but anyway then you haven't go trough all that Thai style cremating in open air including taking the body out of the coffin after it has been in there for almost a week. (sorry if this was a bit 'too much of an answer' to your question)

You mean herefrom come the often read smog alarm over CNX ? I was living 6 month in HangDong it was not bad but in hot days go to CNX was laboriously to breathe

I wouldn't recommend anyone to come to Chiang Mai for anything but a holiday. Too polluted now, not just the burning, but the fumes from too many cars in a bowl of a valley. Too much uncontrolled development. Too much noise pollution. There are beautiful places to visit, at the right time of year, but, to be honest, any newbie thinking of settling here needs his / her head examining. And costs are sky rocketing both from inflation within Thailand & the strength of the baht. Mind you, if any newbie wants to buy my wife's house, "Go for it"

Are you recommending another country than Thailand.

Op, it has gone from something like 10,000 expats 10 years ago to 40-50,000 today, the Ruskies are opening bars and there are tremendous murmurings from China. So yes, it is busy, but it makes a nice holiday destination at the right time of year.

A great place to live if you don't care about your lungs.The air quality is very poor.I could feel it as soon as I got off the plane.

I am a country boy, raised on a 4,000 acre (10,000 rai ???) wheat and cattle ranch. I lived in a city only once when a bank transferred me into downtown where their headquarters was. I lasted two years and found a job with another bank which was headquartered in a much smaller town. That was the end of me and cities.

Thailand is wonderful but IMHO the real Thailand is not in the big tourist and expat cities. It is not in the ones with the filthy air, either.

I just did a quick one month tour of Isaan in a rented car and I'm down to three places I saw so far, that I could live. They aren't the hottest or rainiest parts.

Chiang Mai is great for a visit, but it has hotels for that. I like Chiang Mai but I don't plan to live there.

$.02

Thanks you guys for the feedback.

yes, i prefer to live in the countryside while earning money from internet. That is my plan. if there is an alternative place i can check it out, don't mind sharing.

Anywhere except Chiang Mai (and the North). I'd actually look at the greater Pattaya area, and then be a little outside of the main tourist areas.

Perhaps consider Chiang Rai and then escape the March-May slash 'n burn/heat. You'd also be close to the border at Mae Sai in case you don't have the right visa yet.

There's an oven type crematorium just within the ringroad near SanSai, it's a very weird thing but anyway then you haven't go trough all that Thai style cremating in open air including taking the body out of the coffin after it has been in there for almost a week. (sorry if this was a bit 'too much of an answer' to your question)

If they waited and stockpiled until march and april , then they could do all the burning then and it would just mingle with all the other air pollution !

Anywhere except Chiang Mai (and the North). I'd actually look at the greater Pattaya area, and then be a little outside of the main tourist areas.

Yes

Chiang Mai does have some problems but compared with Pattaya area they are insignificant in comparison. At least you have all the amenities that retires require without having to travel long distances.

As for 'Rubberduck's comments re cremations guess he must live in some remote area living in the past, have been to a number of cremations and never seen a body taken out of the box for burning or being burnt in the open for that matter in Thailand. Plenty in places like India etc. but Thailand has strict rules now on crematoria and they have to be certified and comply with national rules etc.

As for 'Rubberduck's comments re cremations guess he must live in some remote area living in the past, have been to a number of cremations and never seen a body taken out of the box for burning or being burnt in the open for that matter in Thailand. Plenty in places like India etc. but Thailand has strict rules now on crematoria and they have to be certified and comply with national rules etc.

In cities, probably. Everywhere else it's quite common. (Ok, actually out of the box I've only seen in hilltribe villages, but open air is very common.)

Perhaps consider Chiang Rai and then escape the March-May slash 'n burn/heat. You'd also be close to the border at Mae Sai in case you don't have the right visa yet.

I'd do Udon, Khon Kaen or Nong Khai in that case; also close to a border, no smog issues (or not to the dame degree anyway) and it can't possibly be more boring than Chiang Rai.

Edited April 29, 201313 yr by WinnieTheKhwai

There's an oven type crematorium just within the ringroad near SanSai, it's a very weird thing but anyway then you haven't go trough all that Thai style cremating in open air including taking the body out of the coffin after it has been in there for almost a week. (sorry if this was a bit 'too much of an answer' to your question)

Must be the rental boxes you are talking about. Normally they will have to be returned within 10 days.

Just attended a cremation in Mae Rim in February. Seen the body removed from the coffin after about 4 or 5 days and afterwards helped pick through the ashes for the bones. Mae Rim isn't bad, but I dreaded the cab ride into Chiang Mai if I had to go into town for some reason. I'm just not into big cities, but Chiang Mai, though a big city isn't gigantic like Bangkok (where is horrible, in my opinion, to live in).

cost of living is part of the concern..

of course, prefer cleaner air..

I wouldn't recommend anyone to come to Chiang Mai for anything but a holiday. Too polluted now, not just the burning, but the fumes from too many cars in a bowl of a valley. Too much uncontrolled development. Too much noise pollution. There are beautiful places to visit, at the right time of year, but, to be honest, any newbie thinking of settling here needs his / her head examining. And costs are sky rocketing both from inflation within Thailand & the strength of the baht. Mind you, if any newbie wants to buy my wife's house, "Go for it"

+1 on all he said

plus ...

since the past weeks its the hottest spot in thailand 40+ Celsius, no wind (at least in Hang Dong)

somedays the air is so shitty here, you are basically suffocating right on the spot you are,

I am seriosuly considering sometimes leaving thailand forever, just cause my GF doesnt want to move away / outside this hell, by all love, anybody moving to chiang mai should really gets his head examined

with retirees?

Yes, with retirees. In the past 28 yrs. I've been here, the influx of Chiang Mai "newbies" has risen the most over these past 2 years. Traffic jams are a norm and will get worse.

It's not the tourists, or farang, or newbies, or even smog that is ruining Chiang Mai. It's the influx of Bangkok money and elite. They're throwing up housing development after housing development, we're going to have 5-7 malls in the next 2 years and no real public transportation system.

The government doesn't seem to give a damn about road planning, zoning laws, or the environment. Just clear cut trees and fill in rice paddies to throw down more concrete and wonder why it's getting so damn hot here, why things are eroding, why we begin to have water shortages etc.

No, the Chiang Mai of old is giving her final death rattle as she's raped for the last bit of profit.

I am eyeing Chiang Rai and Nan, but even they may be a no go in the future as I am in my early 30's and have a ways to go before retiring.

Edited April 29, 201313 yr by BlackArtemis

Since I have lived in Chiangmai for the last 18 years and to me she is still awesome place to be! I wouldn't recommend living here though. It's sucks! To crowed! Crappy air! Most of all it is where Thaskin is from. (I had to say it. LOL)

FYI, OP, the air has been much worse this year in Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son. Not to mention Phrae and Lampang.

A quick look at SE Asia from the perspective of a satellite is enough to let you know that Chiang Mai is just one small part of a very big problem.

After a few years here, I'm considering other retirement options.