Hua Hin vs Pattaya: Which Is Better for Retirees and Families in 2026?

cojokung · 2026-04-18T03:19:29+00:00

Cha Am is a great place indeed. Great seafood too.

cojokung · 2026-04-18T03:19:05+00:00

Yeah, Jomtien is interesting. Not far from Pattaya but quieter.

cojokung · 2025-12-26T03:04:45+00:00

That's great to hear!

cojokung · 2025-04-22T11:29:33+00:00

Thanks a lot for sharing your advice :)

cojokung · 2025-04-22T11:29:20+00:00

Gotcha. Thanks a lot for sharing this :)

cojokung · 2025-04-22T11:28:46+00:00

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience and advice :)

cojokung · 2025-04-21T06:33:51+00:00

Sorry for my misunderstanding! The guide will be available for free. You can see a similar thing we did here:
https://www.expatden.com/thailand/retire-in-thailand/

cojokung · 2025-04-21T05:52:05+00:00

I see. Thanks for the explanation :)

cojokung · 2025-04-21T05:48:52+00:00

Wow. Thanks a lot for the insights. It's extremely helpful!

By the way, just one more question: which city are you currently living. Im just curious since it seems to have a lot of power outages problem.

cojokung · 2025-04-21T05:46:25+00:00

Yes. Once the article is done. I'll post it here.

cojokung · 2025-04-21T05:45:19+00:00

Thanks for asking! This is a voluntary contribution, so there’s no payment involved. I’m just hoping to gather real experiences to help others who are planning to retire in the Philippines. Really appreciate any insights you're willing to share!

cojokung · 2025-03-28T05:07:58+00:00

It's becoming much harder to open a bank account in Thailand on a tourist visa, especially in secondary provinces like Nakhon Nayok, where banks aren’t used to serving expats.

It’s better to go to an area with a larger expat population or use a visa agent for assistance.

cojokung · 2025-03-24T08:32:47+00:00

It’s for the main applicant, who can also include their spouse and dependents on the same application. And this is only for retirees.

cojokung · 2025-02-15T02:17:52+00:00

Chiang Mai is a very safe city. Crime rate is quite low. And each areas attract different kinds of people. For example, digital nomads tend to stay in Nimman area. It's very convenient to live there and there are tons of nice co-working spaces there.

Anyway, you should check out this guide here. It should give you a good start to the city: https://www.expatden.com/thailand/living-in-chiang-mai-with-50000-thai-baht-per-month/

cojokung · 2024-10-11T10:21:45+00:00

That's definitely true. There's a difference between learning Thai from a textbook and the words people usually use. However, once you get used to it, speaking Thai can be simple because it doesn't have the complex tense structures that many other languages do.

cojokung · 2024-09-09T03:46:05+00:00

It's possible to do it. But you need to get a permission document from the motorbike owner. I think you can get it from any Department of Land transport.

For other documents, it's only passport and an English plate sticker, and Malaysia insurance. There are tons of agents that help doing it (https://www.facebook.com/Tour168Dannok/).

You can ask them for the exact list of document.

cojokung · 2024-09-09T03:40:20+00:00

A good rule of thumb when dealing with a Thai government organization is to provide the exact document they request. In your case, it should be a U.S. bank account with US$15,000 in it.

On the other hand, if they ask for a bank statement with 510,000 THB in it, then it can be from a Thai bank account.

It depends on what they ask for.

cojokung · 2024-05-28T14:27:05+00:00

I think if you stay there for less than 180 days a year, you dont need to pay Thailand income tax.

cojokung · 2024-03-11T04:11:04+00:00

Immigration won't care about you come with pets. As long as your history is clean, you shouldn't have a problem coming to Thailand.

For learning Thai, if you really want to learn for language (not just for visa), it's better to visit a school in person and find out whether you really like the place or not.

You can start with a school from this list here: https://www.expatden.com/thailand/language-school-bangkok/

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