I'm thinking of doing the move for various reasons and wonder if any of u guys have done the same and how u feel about it since? I know both cities pretty well, any specifics would be interesting to read. Cheers.

Cost of living in CM would be considerably cheaper as would renting or buying. HH is fast achieving a reputation as being one of the most expensive place  to live.

 

The only downside for you might be the air quality around Feb- April due to burning,doesn't particularly affect us but if you suffer from breathing difficulties you might wish you were back in HH.

 

You didn't state your reasons for a move, if you were a bit more specific might help to source information..

CM is a friendlier place, and there is a lot more to it than just tourism.  I've been to HH a number of times.....it has its positives, like being really easy to get to from BKK, and the beach, and they seem to keep the garbage picked up.  I'm always relieved to get back to CNX.  I'll take a University town over a beach town for year around living.  You could do a lot worse than HH; just look straight east...

Lived in HH for 2 yrs before almost 5 in CM now. I originally moved there to get accustomed to Thailand, get a driving licence, learn some Thai and ease into the culture in a place where there were foreigners to make the transition. I also wanted to get the beach life out of my system as I liked the vacation feel of it but knew it was not for me long term. This fact proved true more then I expected as I found many of the people kind of just sat around a lot, many who didn't even go to the sea anymore, and I became bored. 

I'm happy with my decision of moving here, which reminded me more of home with trees and bodies of fresh water. I find the people nicer, especially outside the city, perhaps in part as it's less of a tourist destination or having large numbers of expats. I also find the food more interesting and availability of different places to visit nice. Of course having access to a large city has it's on benefits like a large choice of restaurants and shopping.

I do miss the seafood but as mentioned above the only real problem here is the smokey season but it makes a prefect opportunity, if one is able, to go south to the beach then. 

 

Thanks a lot for your answers! 

 

True, there are a lot of positives in HH, but none that are of a lot of benefit to me (rarely go to the beach, don't play golf, rarely visit Bangkok, not interested in being surrounded by foreign or Thai tourists constantly, etc). The best thing about here for me is I live next to a good gym and I can escape down south easily.  

 

I do find it expensive (yes, especially rental prices), too small/infrastructure not very good (basically one congested main road with crowded, narrow off-shoot sois with no parking, no beach view unless you are ON the beach), only 1 choice for shopping locally (more coming soon though), there are not too many people here in my age group (mid-30's) that are here long term, it doesn't feel at all like 'real Thailand' etc etc. Not saying all these issues are specific to HH by the way, I am sure they are not, I think I have just been here too long! (3 year work contract just ended). 

 

I guess I should take a trip up to see how things have changed up there, not been for 2 years maybe (first trip there was 12 years ago).

 

Thanks again!

Had a friend  who used to be a regular on this forum but ill health prevents him from posting much these days unfortunately.

 

He moved from CM to HH and stayed a couple of years before moving BACK to CM

 

Guess that means something?