How does Thailand compare to other places you've been an expat?

[Hal65]

Living in Thailand I sometimes wonder what life would be like had I chosen PI, Costa Rica, Bali, or one of the other popular expat destinations.

Where else have you guys lived? How does life compare between there and where you are now?

[Weblo]

Costa Rica is expensive

[jarrcbb]

I lived in Korea.

Korea:

Food is good, but gets boring.

More Racist

I can't really have Korean male friends.

Girls are better looking, better educated and more open minded, but difficult.

Seoul is safer, more organized, better public transport.

Expats are mostly English teachers.

Internet is awesome.

Winter is horrible.

It's relatively difficult to be an expat. I might need assistance with (Apartment, phone, food delivery etc)

Thailand:

Better food

Less racist than Korea

I can have Thai male friends.

Girls are overall worse, but easy.

Expats are varied and interesting.

Better beaches.

Cheaper.

It's too hot 9.5 months out of the year. (in Bangkok)

It's easy to be an expat. (Apartment, phone, food delivery etc)

Edited November 2, 2015 by jarrcbb

[Aussieroaming]

Indo....if you get away from Bali it's a great country. I worked in Sulawesi Province and on Sumatra. Good people, good food, cheap, easy language to learn.

Africa..I have worked in three african country's there and lived in another one. I hate the continent as a whole and would happily never return there. However some of my colleagues love it there.

Philippines..I worked in Manila and it was great, again nice people, cheap and entertaining, though quality accommodation in Manila isn't cheap.

Vietnam...I worked there and found the people and food excellent but communication was difficult outside of the city areas. Maybe that was because I was in the North, but I would work there again. Hotels and food are good value, French style bread is exquisite and they actually have some damn good red wines at reasonable prices.

PNG..I grew up there and then worked there. I loved it as a place to grow up but it isn't cheap or particularly safe, so I wouldn't go back there again.

Peru....I've worked there twice now and I absolutely love the joint..great people and food and cheap. If you like good food and wine it's a great place to be for a while. However it was the capital I loved and I think it would be more challenging to live in the smaller rural areas in the Andes. Accommodation is reasonable, shopping options are good and beer and spirits are cheap.

Thailand I like, but I only live here because my wife is here. Take her out of the equation and I would prefer a coastal area in Indo ( not Bali as I think it's a cesspit)

If I could drag Peru closer to Asia I would choose to live there, but it's so far away and damned expensive to fly too from here.

[Amusements]

Costa Rica is expensive

Can you expand on that a little? Costa Rica is my plan B if Thailand goes tits up.

I tried Teneriffe and that was extortionatly expensive and a complete shit hole.

[Lampang2]

Indo....if you get away from Bali it's a great country. I worked in Sulawesi Province and on Sumatra. Good people, good food, cheap, easy language to learn.

Africa..I have worked in three african country's there and lived in another one. I hate the continent as a whole and would happily never return there. However some of my colleagues love it there.

Philippines..I worked in Manila and it was great, again nice people, cheap and entertaining, though quality accommodation in Manila isn't cheap.

Vietnam...I worked there and found the people and food excellent but communication was difficult outside of the city areas. Maybe that was because I was in the North, but I would work there again. Hotels and food are good value, French style bread is exquisite and they actually have some damn good red wines at reasonable prices.

PNG..I grew up there and then worked there. I loved it as a place to grow up but it isn't cheap or particularly safe, so I wouldn't go back there again.

Peru....I've worked there twice now and I absolutely love the joint..great people and food and cheap. If you like good food and wine it's a great place to be for a while. However it was the capital I loved and I think it would be more challenging to live in the smaller rural areas in the Andes. Accommodation is reasonable, shopping options are good and beer and spirits are cheap.

Thailand I like, but I only live here because my wife is here. Take her out of the equation and I would prefer a coastal area in Indo ( not Bali as I think it's a cesspit)

If I could drag Peru closer to Asia I would choose to live there, but it's so far away and damned expensive to fly too from here.

Nice to hear about Peru.

If I ever quit Thailand I will take next plane to Peru.

[White Christmas13]

So I guess all the countries listed are countries for ex-pats who got no money

and relay on their pension just to scrape by on their monthly payments

Am I right ? What about all the other ones who got some money to spent ?

Would they choose Thailand I guess not they are many beautiful countries

in the world to many to name here, now you can all hate me

[JAFO]

So I guess all the countries listed are countries for ex-pats who got no money

and relay on their pension just to scrape by on their monthly payments

Am I right ? What about all the other ones who got some money to spent ?

Would they choose Thailand I guess not they are many beautiful countries

in the world to many to name here, now you can all hate me

@ White Christmas13, I do not find the places listed as the only places expats go. Those are places they went, some for a job, some for fun and I know many that have money and still prefer Thailand and Vietnam. So its not all about it being cheap(for some)

I think Aussieroaming did a nice clean concise write up. I have lived in a few of the places he listed for a few months on business and I agree with his assessments albeit I think he was a bit to nice about the Philippines. The place is terrible. The food is horrific and bland and its expensive for what you get.

I would guess if an individual had copious amounts of money they would likely live where they want. I personally do not care for high value areas much anymore. Very vanilla to me. I think everybody wants the best bang for their dollar to relax and have fun.. IMHO the best way to swing expat life is to keep yourself out of being trapped in any one location.

[bermondburi]

Been in Saudi Arabia for the years now. For peace and just doing our own thing I prefer it here. Unless you've lived here you can't really comment because you have no idea what it's like. Or quality of life is much better here than in Thailand. My wife and kids are in Thailand at the moment after an extended stay and they can't wait to come back.

Social life is much better in Saudi, and the expat community is a lot more integrated for obvious reasons.

Wouldn't bother me if we never went to Thailand for a few years and we've got house and land there. Don't miss it one bit.

[anotheruser]

Tokyo Japan:

Local food and international food is way better than Thailand.

Some xenophobia but I would say less than Thailand over all.

Had many friends there and found it easy to make friends with Japanese and expats alike.

Girls and guys are less likely to be money grubbing gold diggers.

If you speak the language the locals can hold a conversation on most any topic.

Interesting variety of ex pats from around the world. Less dodgy than the ones found here.

Internet obviously better than Thailand.

Four seasons with a pretty mild winter that doesn't last that long.

Can be somewhat difficult to accomplish day to day things if you do not speak the language.

Bangkok is like a little version of Tokyo with less to offer. I found the neighborhoods had much more variety and charm in Tokyo.

Very expensive.

Nightlife more varied but also more expensive.

Transport system very cheap and really convenient.

Convenience stores that are the best in the world.

More sophisticated city over all.

[Ace of Pop]

I loved England in the late 50s but it's let in too many Islamic Nutters .Still feel more FREE IN USA .

[DoctorG]

Have worked in Thailand, China, Cook Islands, and Marshall Islands.

I think it all depends where you are in your personal life at that particular moment. The Marshalls had the best expat community as far as I was concerned.

[craigt3365]

Very interesting thread. I've been here about 5 years now full time. Thailand has pros and cons, as we all know. Value for money is great. Weather is not the best a good part of the year, but at least it doesn't snow! Driving is difficult, getting quality work done is difficult. Shopping is getting much better. Easy to make friends.

We spent a month in Costa Rica. Great as a tourist, not for us as a place to live. Too expensive and too much crime. We loved Argentina, but don't think I could live there. No way for the PI either. Japan would be great, but very racist, expensive and have to know the language.

I've heard great things about Indonesia, outside of Bali. But never been. In Myanmar now. No way.

I'd hate to have 2 homes, but maybe that's an option. Leave Thailand when the weather is bad? Just getting to hot for me now.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Then the other factor that comes into the equation for anyone who's retired, as opposed to working, is the available longer-stay visa status of any of the abovementioned places.

Thailand, despite its many faults, makes it relatively easy and not financially burdensome from a retirement visa perspective, despite the authorities' seemingly constant messing with lots of other Immigration details. The other countries mentioned above, I suspect, not so much.

[TheKnave]

Indo....if you get away from Bali it's a great country. I worked in Sulawesi Province and on Sumatra. Good people, good food, cheap, easy language to learn.

Africa..I have worked in three african country's there and lived in another one. I hate the continent as a whole and would happily never return there. However some of my colleagues love it there.

Philippines..I worked in Manila and it was great, again nice people, cheap and entertaining, though quality accommodation in Manila isn't cheap.

Vietnam...I worked there and found the people and food excellent but communication was difficult outside of the city areas. Maybe that was because I was in the North, but I would work there again. Hotels and food are good value, French style bread is exquisite and they actually have some damn good red wines at reasonable prices.

PNG..I grew up there and then worked there. I loved it as a place to grow up but it isn't cheap or particularly safe, so I wouldn't go back there again.

Peru....I've worked there twice now and I absolutely love the joint..great people and food and cheap. If you like good food and wine it's a great place to be for a while. However it was the capital I loved and I think it would be more challenging to live in the smaller rural areas in the Andes. Accommodation is reasonable, shopping options are good and beer and spirits are cheap.

Thailand I like, but I only live here because my wife is here. Take her out of the equation and I would prefer a coastal area in Indo ( not Bali as I think it's a cesspit)

If I could drag Peru closer to Asia I would choose to live there, but it's so far away and damned expensive to fly too from here.

Great post, thanks.

[1FinickyOne]

Interesting thread - since i have only been an expat here - no comments -

Where is PNG?

[gandalf12]

Been in Saudi Arabia for the years now. For peace and just doing our own thing I prefer it here. Unless you've lived here you can't really comment because you have no idea what it's like. Or quality of life is much better here than in Thailand. My wife and kids are in Thailand at the moment after an extended stay and they can't wait to come back.

Social life is much better in Saudi, and the expat community is a lot more integrated for obvious reasons.

Wouldn't bother me if we never went to Thailand for a few years and we've got house and land there. Don't miss it one bit.

I never thought the quality of life in Saudi was very good but I didnt go there for the life style like you I went for work. Papua New Guinea I liked. dangerous in Moresby sure but out in the jungle beautiful country and very hospitable people.

I have lived in Thailand for over 30 years but also lives and worked in many countries around the world. I still think despite its drawbacks which every country has Thailand is the best for me.

[gandalf12]

Interesting thread - since i have only been an expat here - no comments -

Where is PNG?

PNG is Papua New Guinea and is North East of Australia

[Card]

My two pence worth, although lived in the first 3 countries many years ago and the African countries will have changed:

Malawi - great little place - lovely people and great weather - wonderful wildlife, great scenery in rift valley and Lake Malawi - and amazing flower smells everywhere - that's what I miss and have never smelled it anywhere since i left - they even have a winter! Food not great and now struck with AIDS epidemic and I expect crime has risen.

Zimbabwe - well it was in 1981-83! - not as pleasant as Malawi but some great natural spots like eastern Highlands, Zambezi and Vic Falls. More crime now but in the old days, Harare was a lovely place.

Netherlands - a great country, albeit too regulated. Lovely open-minded people most of the time, although their right-wing side is coming out more these days. Great for art and doing things in a strangely different, but enlightening way. make friends easily. Food boring.

London - crap, crap and crap - expensive, arrogant people and not easy to make friends.

Berlin - my next stop for a 3 month break from 13 years in the Big Mango - will report on it later.

[Farang99]

I lived in Malaysia for 8 years and loved it - but that was 50 years ago, when it was a much more tolerant place. Now I chose Thailand for general ease of living.

[anotheruser]

Then the other factor that comes into the equation for anyone who's retired, as opposed to working, is the available longer-stay visa status of any of the abovementioned places.

Thailand, despite its many faults, makes it relatively easy and not financially burdensome from a retirement visa perspective, despite the authorities' seemingly constant messing with lots of other Immigration details. The other countries mentioned above, I suspect, not so much.

I get what you are saying but if we use the visa criteria we will end up with another thread about Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines. People are already scraping the barrel with Venezuela in one of the other forum. Let's face it, no matter how the question is asked plate tectonics aren't working quickly enough to form new countries with easy visas, available sex and tolerable weather.

Most of these threads seem to be wishful thinking and end up the same. At least this one has some interesting info about countries we hear about less. I am not really interested in rehashing the easy visa country list for the 30th time. For this reason I didn't bother describing my life in Laos as people are already pretty much aware of what Laos is like. One posters take on KSA was interesting.

You want to spend a few years in Japan and get a visa? Enroll in a language school, same as in Thailand. It is much more expensive but you have to expect that in Japan. The visa is very easy to get if you can prove adequate funds and is valid for two years. Be prepared to spend 4 hours a day 5 times a week in a classroom with mandatory attendance. Also make sure you can pass the test at the end of the term every 3 months. It was around $12,000 a year for language school in Japan. You can even work 20 hours a week legally with a student visa there.

[TheRascal]

I loved England in the late 50s but it's let in too many Islamic Nutters .Still feel more FREE IN USA .

Really? How many "Islamic Nutters" have you actually met. I worked all over the UK, lived in a pretty multicultural city, worked a fair bit in Bradford and a lot in London and never met one.

[JLCrab]

I speak Spanish well enough to speak it in Spanish-speaking countries with locals that don't speak English. Same as in Thailand with Thai. I have no desire to speak Spanish every day. Also Chinese and Bahasa Indonesia but I prefer speaking Thai.

[RuamRudy]

I lived in Russia for 8 years - once (at least as a Brit) you get beyond the fact that strangers are indifferent to the point of what we would consider rudeness, it is a really fascinating place with very practical, stoic people. As you develop friendships with Russians, you metaphorically cross a chasm, moving from irrelevant stranger to close friend. Once there, you are like part of the family. Those were happy, happy days.

I now live mainly in Manila where traffic is so bad, I sometimes wish I was back living in Bangkok. Also, the rent I paid for a 2-bed apartment on Wireless Road didn't cover a 1-bed apartment in Manila. On the upside, the people are much friendlier than Thais, the level of English understanding is phenomenal, the restaurant and bar scene is really good - it just isn't Thailand.

[StrandedBusinessPerson]

My favorite place to live in Asia, and where I live now is Kathmandu Nepal, despite earthquakes and oil blockades. It's much cheaper to live here than in Thailand, and if you are a retiree on a fixed income, this place is perfect. Food and healthcare are great, a non-intrusive small government is the way to go, and the people are fantastic (disclaimer, I am married to a Nepali). However, I do miss the beach and do spend quite a bit of time in Thailand for that reason, as well as to occasionally work. That's the downside to Nepal, it's not a place where you can both live and work. There is not much money here to go around.

Outside of Nepal or Thailand, there are few other places that I would consider living. Any developed western country is out, and Africa (as noted above) is a bit of a mess. I do however like Brazil and a few other spots in S. America, but in my mind, S. Asia rules.

I once lived in HK, but that was before the Chinese takeover in 1996 or so, and I did really enjoy my flat in Kowloon. That most resembled my childhood environment, growing up in Brooklyn. Which I think is key to me, finding that childhood spot that you can never go home to again. I remember my first visit to BKK, and thinking there were some similarities... but now all most all of the older charms are disappearing fast, and BKK has become too much like every other large city in the industrialized world for me to feel comfortable.

I'll stay where I am now, and perhaps even doubly retire out to a small village in the hills and grow rice, chickens and a few goats during the later years...

[Epsacori]

Costa Rica is expensive

Can you expand on that a little? Costa Rica is my plan B if Thailand goes tits up.

I tried Teneriffe and that was extortionatly expensive and a complete shit hole.

I have lived in CR for about 10 years, but I was happy to move to Colombia 2003 for work. CR is expensive, the TICOS market their country well as a turist destination but it is not a good place for everybody. There are no cutural roots visible, people are small minded, economy is in bad shape, money is always first, if you look for friends you will get them as long as you have money. Be careful with the girls, layers, buyers, sellers, etc.

[uptheos]

Indo....if you get away from Bali it's a great country. I worked in Sulawesi Province and on Sumatra. Good people, good food, cheap, easy language to learn.

Africa..I have worked in three african country's there and lived in another one. I hate the continent as a whole and would happily never return there. However some of my colleagues love it there.

Philippines..I worked in Manila and it was great, again nice people, cheap and entertaining, though quality accommodation in Manila isn't cheap.

Vietnam...I worked there and found the people and food excellent but communication was difficult outside of the city areas. Maybe that was because I was in the North, but I would work there again. Hotels and food are good value, French style bread is exquisite and they actually have some damn good red wines at reasonable prices.

PNG..I grew up there and then worked there. I loved it as a place to grow up but it isn't cheap or particularly safe, so I wouldn't go back there again.

Peru....I've worked there twice now and I absolutely love the joint..great people and food and cheap. If you like good food and wine it's a great place to be for a while. However it was the capital I loved and I think it would be more challenging to live in the smaller rural areas in the Andes. Accommodation is reasonable, shopping options are good and beer and spirits are cheap.

Thailand I like, but I only live here because my wife is here. Take her out of the equation and I would prefer a coastal area in Indo ( not Bali as I think it's a cesspit)

If I could drag Peru closer to Asia I would choose to live there, but it's so far away and damned expensive to fly too from here.

So take your wife to Peru.

She loves you above all else, she will follow you.

[rijit]

Some truly fascinating posts.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[hgma]

Worked 'all over the world' yet Thailand became my Home, just because i feel at Home here.

Like in any country there are pro's and con's in Thailand, but the pro's still outscore the con's in my case.

Made it priority nr 1 to being able to communicate with everybody in Thai ,and not being manouvered in a 'dependent' position where we have to ask ourselves 'what's going on' all the time.

Best move i made!!

[Andrew65]

So I guess all the countries listed are countries for ex-pats who got no money

and relay on their pension just to scrape by on their monthly payments

Am I right ? What about all the other ones who got some money to spent ?

Would they choose Thailand I guess not they are many beautiful countries

in the world to many to name here, now you can all hate me

Although I love living in Thailand, one of the things that makes it more difficult than other places is the language. (Even in Vietnam & Philippines one can read the written word).

Also, I know what you mean, but there is also the fact that so many retired expats are not nearly as rich as many Thais perceive them to be.

Thailand isn't the comparatively cheap destination that it once was. In lower Sukhumvit where I live, (non happy hour) drink prices are approaching UK levels. I find Robinson's is getting pricey, an Irish friend buys his clothes more cheaply in Dublin than he can get them in Bangkok. He is not poor, but recently, he's been spending more time in Cambodia, to save money.

(I was first in Thailand in 1985, and have lived here since 1998, so I have seen the changes).

Rant/whinge over!!

Edited November 3, 2015 by Andrew65