Which place in Thailand to choose?

thaibeachlovers · January 10, 2015

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...

very good roads

Seriously!

They might be good if the traffic wasn't so bad. The traffic is why I go there as little as possible, and take the bypass when going north.

csabo · January 11, 2015

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.

You seem to be confused about what the OP is about. He said "I love some of the beaches in Phuket, I'd still love to be able to not live far from a nice beach". What in Buddhas name would you recommend Chiang Mai for? And you claiming you can fly to a white sand beach "anytime you want" is false, as you admit the Hua Hin airport barely has flights. You like the heat and traffic and seasonal smoke and smog of Chiang Mai. Great! When someone ask what beach town to live in you should researve comment.

Edited January 11, 2015 by csabo

Slavomir · January 11, 2015

csabo: I know you mean well, but when you think about it , your post was less useful to me (actually pretty much off topic) then those people giving the tips about CM.

I am aware than CM may not tick ALL of the boxes, but I still might consider it, because people living there long term my have more insight what's more suitable for my circumstances than I think I do.

For example maybe living near a nice beach from longer term perspective while having a wife and a daughter there as well have more downsides than I realised, as that might drive more tourists in and increase the local prices, has more crime, etc..

BradinAsia · January 11, 2015

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.