Are There Any Expats Living In Northern Thailand

[ampursong]

I retired a few months ago...my wife(who is thai) and i will be moving over to thailand around Jan. 07....She comes from a town up north ...its called Phrae.....about 50 miles south of Lampang.....She wants to live there since its close to her family....I,m not so sure...maybe its better to live in chiang mai or lamphun...or lampang....thats something we will have to decide very soon....what I would like to know if there are any expats living up north that could give me an idea of where they live and the reason that they decided move there.....give me some good points and bad points if you can.....I really don,t care if i,m around alot of farangs....Just a few would be nice.....

Thanks

[Ulysses G.]

If you want a big city with lots of good restaurants of all types, English movie theatres, great English language used book stores, night life, internet, etc., Chiang Mai is the place. However, there is also pollution and traffic jams (not like Bangkok though).

Chiang Rai is more like a small town with some of the same positive things and much less of the negative, but not a lot of action there.

[Misplaced]

Lampang would be my personal choice. You're be 1.5 hr from Chiangmai and 3-4 hrs from Chiangrai. There are many good restaurants to choose from. One of my favorite is The Riverside Hill, the restaurant is owned by an American who has settled there many moons ago. You'll be able to eat any western food you're so desired. Ofcourse, there are the typical McDonald, Pizza Hut & KFC .....The night life is a bit on the boring side but if you're not a Bar hopper, and you love the sound of crickets and frogs during the evening hours than its perfect for you. The city itself is Thriving with land and house prices begining to climb but still very affordable. You can purchased a very nice home for less than 2 million Baht or a 2 bedroom condo for 800,000 Baht ($22,000 approx).

I'm not an Expat but I used to lived in Lampang for 14 years of my life. I enjoyed living there tremendously and still visit when ever possible. As a matter of fact, I was just there in Lampang and Phrae a few weeks ago. To be honest Phrae is not for me. Like the old saying goes, Its a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there .....

[Ulysses G.]

Lampang would be my personal choice. You're be 1.5 hr from Chiangmai and 3-4 hrs from Chiangrai. There are many good restaurants to choose from. One of my favorite is The Riverside Hill, the restaurant is owned by an American who has settled there many moons ago. You'll be able to eat any western food you're so desired. Ofcourse, there are the typical McDonald, Pizza Hut & KFC .....

Sorry, but I am guessing that Lampang doesn't have McDonalds, Pizza Hut & KFC, and very few Western restaurants. Am I wrong about this or are you saying that he can drive to Chiang Mai for these things?

[Misplaced]

Lampang would be my personal choice. You're be 1.5 hr from Chiangmai and 3-4 hrs from Chiangrai. There are many good restaurants to choose from. One of my favorite is The Riverside Hill, the restaurant is owned by an American who has settled there many moons ago. You'll be able to eat any western food you're so desired. Ofcourse, there are the typical McDonald, Pizza Hut & KFC .....

Sorry, but I am guessing that Lampang doesn't have McDonalds, Pizza Hut & KFC, and very few Western restaurants. Am I wrong about this or are you saying that he can drive to Chiang Mai for these things?

Don't be silly! Ofcourse there are Mickey D, Pizza Hut , KFC and other fast food available in Lampang, so there's no need to drive to CM.

[chanchao]

I know at least one expat who lives in Phrae. There's actually a few of them, according to him.

And Phrae is a very nice town. Not much to do there, but hey, some people say the same about Chiang Mai.

I'd just stay in Chiang Mai. It's really close enough to Phrae. You can drive there in 2 hours if you push a bit.

[Ulysses G.]

Lampang would be my personal choice. You're be 1.5 hr from Chiangmai and 3-4 hrs from Chiangrai. There are many good restaurants to choose from. One of my favorite is The Riverside Hill, the restaurant is owned by an American who has settled there many moons ago. You'll be able to eat any western food you're so desired. Ofcourse, there are the typical McDonald, Pizza Hut & KFC .....

Sorry, but I am guessing that Lampang doesn't have McDonalds, Pizza Hut & KFC, and very few Western restaurants. Am I wrong about this or are you saying that he can drive to Chiang Mai for these things?

Don't be silly! Ofcourse there are Mickey D, Pizza Hut , KFC and other fast food available in Lampang, so there's no need to drive to CM.

I didn't know that it was so civilized.

Any Arby's or Aurthor Treacher's Fish and Chips?

[svenivan]

Go in and read about both Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in their forums and there you can also ask about Phrae.

I have avery good friend here in CR that lived in Phrae his first year in Thailand but it was a little bit to quiet for him. But he is also a golfer and he found golf up here was so much better.

Yes, I know there are more golfcourses in CM but they are invaded by the Koreans Oct - February.

Welcome !