Which place in Thailand to choose?

[HCB]

Hua Hin because there are good hospitals, nice condo close beach, there are many nice restaurants.

[khunPer]

Islands with airports and fair infrastructure – like Internet, but shopping facilities and hospitals may be in favor when coming together with a small child – are to my knowledge Phuket and Samui.

I will think you can rent a place (bungalow, house, small villa) both places for around 20,000 a month.

Both islands have some nice beaches, but perhaps it may easier to find a quiet and nice beach area at Samui rather than Phuket; however Internet speed may be faster and more stable at Phuket (depending what speed upload/download you are looking for).

Major islands like Phuket/Samui are not that much more expensive than mainland; due to competition between super markets and chain stores, daily needs are price the same, whilst a few other products are little higer priced, for example gasoline is a few bath more expensive per liter.

If you are coming for investigation, try to visit both – or several potential – places and stay for some days or weeks to test, which one may suits you best.

Two (important) things to take into consideration are:

1) Visa, you cannot stay long time, more than 60 days tourist visa + 30 days extension, without leaving the country. Continuous so-called “visa runs” may be a problem. If not already answered in this tread, ask some of the Thai Visa experts about possibilities and what you can do.

2) Work Permit, as you officially cannot do any work legally in Thailand without a work permit – even you are freelancer and work for foreign clients – however, I presume if not many, then some does it, but they keep it “under the radar”.

Wish you good luck with your plans.

[BradinAsia]

maybe somewhere other than Thailand, a place that will let you freelance, has immigration that actually welcomes foreigners and nice polite people...

Honestly, look somewhere else...the fact that people still want to come to this place is beyond me.

Although it is third world, Cambodia is much friendlier with immigration laws and allowing you to get set up working...Internet is just as good as in Thailand, and for all the crap that it has gone through, actually seems a little bit more stable at the moment than the "Land of Smiles."

I often hear such dismal reports on TV from expats in Thailand. I have to wonder where in Thailand they've been able to find such horrible conditions.

- I've never been made to feel unwelcome in Thailand -- can't say the same for Japan, Taiwan or Philippines.

- Immigration in Chiang Mai have always, without exception, been friendly and polite to me and my family.

- I've met more nice, friendly, courteous and polite people in Chiang Mai than any other place I've ever lived.

- Referring to Cambodia & Thailand both as third world, about as sensible as saying a Yugo and a BMW are both cars. True maybe but irrelevant.

- Don't know what crap you've gone thru, but in many cases folks bring their crappy attitude with them, so they have no way to escape.

- Thailand must have some kind of attraction considering all the naysayers on TV who've chosen to live here in spite of disliking it so immensely.

Edited January 6, 2015 by BradinAsia

[steveG]

You could look at somewhere between Hua Hin and Chumphon. Absolutely spectacular beaches, not too developed internet works well. If you want the city then this is not for you but it is only a couple of hours drive away

[wilgoster]

You just told everyone you plan on working there and I bet that's you in your avatar right?

Yah, and y'know what else? I've seen him before, so I'm sure he'll be easy to spot and identify.

[Pinot]

I can't imagine living in CM or HH.

I live on Phuket, 5 minutes away from a world class beach, among a community of expats where everyone knows everyone else. It makes for a great social life and very family orientated. I pay 13,000 baht a month for an elevated 2 bedroom house with plenty of room underneath for entertaining or puttering.

I think I live in the best place in the world.

[Thongkorn]

Try Vietnam they are more welcoming and less red tape, you can still work from there, Have you thought about a work visa for Thailand.

[lumply]

wife, child I would say chiang maai. it has all you would need

What about the burn off smoke in Chang Mai. That's enough to create havoc I with an adults lungs let alone a child's. You'll regret it later in life.

[Slavomir]

Try Vietnam they are more welcoming and less red tape, you can still work from there, Have you thought about a work visa for Thailand.

Thanks for the tip.. and yes I have. But wouldn't I need a Thai company to get those Visa for me? Are you talking about business visa?

Edited January 6, 2015 by Slavomir

[bongoz]

Cambodia - Siem Reap

[bunuel]

I hope you realize that Thailand is not so easy to stay longtime and certainly not cheap anymore. It seem Cambodia is coming up followed by Myanmar and Vietnam as popular and easier locations for your kind of business. They seem to increasingly target digital nomads for workpermits and visa problems in Thailand.

At the rentals that you mention you'd better look outside the really popular areas. Probably the Eastern Seaboard would give you more variety at shorter drives than Phuket. I would start looking from about 15 km south of Pattaya to Rayong city, good beaches not just tourists but other people that live and work here. Easy access to foreign food and groceries.

Since you are seeking a beach combined with decent IT infrastructure along with stores, restaurants, etc suitable for family use, I would also recommend the Eastern seaboard south of Pattaya, stsrting with Jomtien. You could rent a lovely house with a private swimming pool for 30,000 baht a month, and have access to shopping, restaurants, and excellent medical services at Bangkok Pattaya, which has some great doctors and dentists at very reasonable prices. We looked around for a house eight years ago, and decided Jomtien

was the best option.

While some like Phuket, it is too much of a tourist ghetto for me, and way too far from Bangkok by car. Hua Hin is certainly an option - nice town, with lots of retired Scandinavians. It also has Royal Protection, being a residence of the Royal Family, which means good infrastructure. We preferred Jomtien because it is half the distance to Bangkok and airports, and because we found Hua Hin a bit boring, frankly.

I know some TV posters like to bash Pattaya, but we never had any problems there. Its a big city with lots of things to offer by daylight - excellent gyms, golf courses and tennis courts - and a number of decent schools . There is also a substantial ex-pat community, which is now mostly Russian and Scandinavian in Jomtien.

Relations with most Thais is pretty good, provided you stay off the roads at night and avoid dealing with the police if at all possible. This is relevant, since I know stories of big problems with locals in Phuket and Hua Hin, not to mention the South Islands.

Suggest you do a websearch along the eastern seaboard. Tip: while I would not recommend Pattaya's beaches to anyone, there are a number of clean and beautiful beaches on Koh Chang nearby.

Good luck!

T

[ThePlant]

Immigration in Chiang Mai have always, without exception, been friendly and polite to me and my family.

Indeed Brad but maybe you are here legally and 'transparently' as it were i.e. you have a job and the income/documentation to support your immigration status here....

[Dannyboy666]

My favourite place is Hua Hin, still quaint in places, beach, clean, nightlife if you want it, good recreational facilities and infrastructure (internet), rail station and only 3 hours or so from Bangkok depending upon traffic. Relatively cheap aswell. Great selection of seafood restaurant, shopping centre selling western food/goods along with Thai markets.

. Cha-am is Better

[khunpa]

I am in my early 40s, with wife and small kid. We live in Hua Hin and love it here. It has it all, but is more quiet in many ways. So i would recommend Hua Hin as a good place. (I also work in the IT-business)

[MauiSteveBKK]

Consider strongly:

1. Malaysia (there are nice beaches there, too)

2. Chang Mai.

3. Udon Thani

Don't stay on or near a beach. Drive there when you want.

***** Stay UNDER The Radar With Your Work!!

[fey]

I hope you realize that Thailand is not so easy to stay longtime and certainly not cheap anymore. It seem Cambodia is coming up followed by Myanmar and Vietnam as popular and easier locations for your kind of business. They seem to increasingly target digital nomads for workpermits and visa problems in Thailand.

At the rentals that you mention you'd better look outside the really popular areas. Probably the Eastern Seaboard would give you more variety at shorter drives than Phuket. I would start looking from about 15 km south of Pattaya to Rayong city, good beaches not just tourists but other people that live and work here. Easy access to foreign food and groceries.

forget cambodia with a kid. not an option.

[Slavomir]

Consider strongly:

1. Malaysia (there are nice beaches there, too)

2. Chang Mai.

3. Udon Thani

Don't stay on or near a beach. Drive there when you want.

***** Stay UNDER The Radar With Your Work!!

Thank you for your comment, Malaysia could be an interesting alternative.. What is the visa situation there?

[gk10002000]

Technically, and this is a bit of a gray area, but won't you be here working without a permit and isn't that illegal?

[NeverSure]

Technically, and this is a bit of a gray area, but won't you be here working without a permit and isn't that illegal?

There are many freelancers in Thailand. They differ from bar girls only in that they don't work in a bar. Oh wait. He said IT.

Give the guy a break. He shouldn't have posted that but it's too late. Now he knows it's illegal.

I have no idea how to get visas for his family long term, nor would I bring a baby to Thailand or anywhere else in SE Asia. Certainly not in the North ie Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai where it gets so smokey.

He has some good suggestions he needs to check into, and some caveats. As they say in Thailand, "Up to him."

[4evermaat]

How about chumphon? More relaxed than the other venues, with beaches if you need it. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/509800-maats-guide-to-living-near-chumphon-town/

There is no central world, villa market, etc. But you can take train, bus to bangkok, or drive.

I agree those critical of the grumpy naysayers. Altetnatives like cambodia neglect to mention the lack of infrastructure, dusty roads, etc. How many times will malaysia allow back-to-back visa exempt entry?

Edited January 7, 2015 by 4evermaat

[mike324]

Consider strongly:

1. Malaysia (there are nice beaches there, too)

2. Chang Mai.

3. Udon Thani

Don't stay on or near a beach. Drive there when you want.

***** Stay UNDER The Radar With Your Work!!

Thank you for your comment, Malaysia could be an interesting alternative.. What is the visa situation there?

how long is staying here a bit? like many have said, Thai immigration is cracking down hard on the visa issue so you may not be able to stay here "a bit". Malaysia you can easily get retirement visa even if you are under 50 but you need to have a Malaysian reference and put in $50,000 in Malaysian bank account.

[csabo]

wife, child I would say chiang maai. it has all you would need

+1

Absolutely agree.

Chiang Mai is the nicest place I've ever lived. It has everything a family could want -- except beaches.

Having lived a year amongst the constant tourist hubbub of white sand beaches , for me Chiang Mai

offers a much better life and I can fly to white sand beaches in Cha Am or Hua Hin as often as I like.

Chiang Mai has modern infrastructure, very good roads, great hospitals, lots of good schools, world-

class shopping malls, unbeatable supermarkets with excellent customer service, a no-hassle police

force and a friendly immigration office. You would be hard pressed to find any place to compare.

Having lived 26 years in Japan, Philippines and Thailand, and having studied retirement destinations

all over Asia, I'd be interested to hear any serious recommendations from anyone who's lived at least

5 yrs in Chiang Mai and knows a better place to live -- just out of curiosity, coz I ain't leaving here...

Which airport in Hua Hin or Cha Am are you are flying into?? Or do you have an ultralight and just land on the beach?? And what white sand? Last time I was in Hua Hin, the beach was like concrete slab.

[luckynero]

Go to Pattaya, and, u don't even need to drag ur misses around.. Who's carrying water to the sea?

Lmao

[Slavomir]

how long is staying here a bit? like many have said, Thai immigration is cracking down hard on the visa issue so you may not be able to stay here "a bit". Malaysia you can easily get retirement visa even if you are under 50 but you need to have a Malaysian reference and put in $50,000 in Malaysian bank account.

That's to be determined, depending on how it is going of course.

Do you have some tips on where in Malaysia would be a good place to try?

[BradinAsia]

wife, child I would say chiang maai. it has all you would need

+1

Absolutely agree.

Chiang Mai is the nicest place I've ever lived. It has everything a family could want -- except beaches.

Having lived a year amongst the constant tourist hubbub of white sand beaches , for me Chiang Mai

offers a much better life and I can fly to white sand beaches in Cha Am or Hua Hin as often as I like.

Chiang Mai has modern infrastructure, very good roads, great hospitals, lots of good schools, world-

class shopping malls, unbeatable supermarkets with excellent customer service, a no-hassle police

force and a friendly immigration office. You would be hard pressed to find any place to compare.

Having lived 26 years in Japan, Philippines and Thailand, and having studied retirement destinations

all over Asia, I'd be interested to hear any serious recommendations from anyone who's lived at least

5 yrs in Chiang Mai and knows a better place to live -- just out of curiosity, coz I ain't leaving here...

Which airport in Hua Hin or Cha Am are you are flying into?? Or do you have an ultralight and just land on the beach?? And what white sand? Last time I was in Hua Hin, the beach was like concrete slab.

Last time (2 yrs ago) we flew to Hua Hin on SGA. Has the Hua Hin airport closed since then? We stayed at Hyatt Regency,

the beach felt and looked like white sand (see attached photo), didn't see any concrete slabs there.

Added note: I see now that SGA stopped service in Mar 2014. But the good news is that Kan Air plans to add a Chiang Mai-

Hua Hin route this month. Evidently Hua Hin airport is still operating.

Edited January 7, 2015 by BradinAsia

[csabo]

wife, child I would say chiang maai. it has all you would need

+1

Absolutely agree.

Chiang Mai is the nicest place I've ever lived. It has everything a family could want -- except beaches.

Having lived a year amongst the constant tourist hubbub of white sand beaches , for me Chiang Mai

offers a much better life and I can fly to white sand beaches in Cha Am or Hua Hin as often as I like.

Chiang Mai has modern infrastructure, very good roads, great hospitals, lots of good schools, world-

class shopping malls, unbeatable supermarkets with excellent customer service, a no-hassle police

force and a friendly immigration office. You would be hard pressed to find any place to compare.

Having lived 26 years in Japan, Philippines and Thailand, and having studied retirement destinations

all over Asia, I'd be interested to hear any serious recommendations from anyone who's lived at least

5 yrs in Chiang Mai and knows a better place to live -- just out of curiosity, coz I ain't leaving here...

Which airport in Hua Hin or Cha Am are you are flying into?? Or do you have an ultralight and just land on the beach?? And what white sand? Last time I was in Hua Hin, the beach was like concrete slab.

Last time (2 yrs ago) we flew to Hua Hin on SGA. Has the Hua Hin airport closed since then? We stayed at Hyatt Regency,

the beach felt and looked like white sand (see attached photo), didn't see any concrete slabs there.

Added note: I see now that SGA stopped service in Mar 2014. But the good news is that Kan Air plans to add a Chiang Mai-

Hua Hin route this month. Evidently Hua Hin airport is still operating.

Well, I ran on that beach all last September and it felt the same as pavement not to mention the unpleasantness of hopscotching over piles of horse dung. And we are not even talking about water quality of the gulf over the sea yet. If in your wildest dreams, if you think Hua Hin's beach compares to the southern beaches then you probably also believe that Hua Hin's airstrip is a fully functioning airport with flights available on a semi-regular basis. Today for example, I did a search and found zero flights in or out. Just imagine all those airport employees standing around without a passenger in sight all day long. I would rather have a legit international airport less than a 2 hour cab ride away.

[BradinAsia]

+1

Absolutely agree.

Chiang Mai is the nicest place I've ever lived. It has everything a family could want -- except beaches.

Having lived a year amongst the constant tourist hubbub of white sand beaches , for me Chiang Mai

offers a much better life and I can fly to white sand beaches in Cha Am or Hua Hin as often as I like.

Chiang Mai has modern infrastructure, very good roads, great hospitals, lots of good schools, world-

class shopping malls, unbeatable supermarkets with excellent customer service, a no-hassle police

force and a friendly immigration office. You would be hard pressed to find any place to compare.

Having lived 26 years in Japan, Philippines and Thailand, and having studied retirement destinations

all over Asia, I'd be interested to hear any serious recommendations from anyone who's lived at least

5 yrs in Chiang Mai and knows a better place to live -- just out of curiosity, coz I ain't leaving here...

Which airport in Hua Hin or Cha Am are you are flying into?? Or do you have an ultralight and just land on the beach?? And what white sand? Last time I was in Hua Hin, the beach was like concrete slab.

Last time (2 yrs ago) we flew to Hua Hin on SGA. Has the Hua Hin airport closed since then? We stayed at Hyatt Regency,

the beach felt and looked like white sand (see attached photo), didn't see any concrete slabs there.

Added note: I see now that SGA stopped service in Mar 2014. But the good news is that Kan Air plans to add a Chiang Mai-

Hua Hin route this month. Evidently Hua Hin airport is still operating.

Well, I ran on that beach all last September and it felt the same as pavement not to mention the unpleasantness of hopscotching over piles of horse dung. And we are not even talking about water quality of the gulf over the sea yet. If in your wildest dreams, if you think Hua Hin's beach compares to the southern beaches then you probably also believe that Hua Hin's airstrip is a fully functioning airport with flights available on a semi-regular basis. Today for example, I did a search and found zero flights in or out. Just imagine all those airport employees standing around without a passenger in sight all day long. I would rather have a legit international airport less than a 2 hour cab ride away.

I never thought about whether it is now a fully functional airport. That is not really the issue. I only flew

into there once 2 years ago. Just today I found no scheduled flights then ran across the mentioned

article about Kan Air planning to start service from Chiang Mai.

You seem to have gotten all hung up on the quality of the beaches at Hua Hin. That has nothing to do

with original discussion which was about what makes Chiang Mai the best place in the world to live.

Some folks suggested Hua Hin or Cha Am with their beaches as great retirement locations.

I was making the point that for me I much prefer to live in Chiang Mai even though it has no white

sand beaches, bcoz I can go fly to a white sand beach whenever I want. That statement is still valid.

Edited January 7, 2015 by BradinAsia

[mike324]

how long is staying here a bit? like many have said, Thai immigration is cracking down hard on the visa issue so you may not be able to stay here "a bit". Malaysia you can easily get retirement visa even if you are under 50 but you need to have a Malaysian reference and put in $50,000 in Malaysian bank account.

That's to be determined, depending on how it is going of course.

Do you have some tips on where in Malaysia would be a good place to try?

I think Thailand will most likely not be a good option if you plan on moving with your family, as for Malaysia personally I have no experience only read on forums, try the malaysian expat forums, look on google.

[Chuckles78]

We are in our mid 30's and decided on Hua-Hin with our 19mth son. Love it. Close to town, close to beach and not over-run with tourists. Most of the westerns I see here are retirees or families.

[thaibeachlovers]

wife, child I would say chiang maai. it has all you would need

Yeah right! Atrocious traffic, and that lovely smoke haze that will give the child breathing problems.

I rarely go into C M proper, but whenever I do it's good to be leaving it again.