To become an expat in Thailand - that is the question
[QUOTE=FreebieFan;1362857]Thailand is high on the list of places I'm looking at for my golden years.[/QUOTE]Thailand is on my short list too. In fact I can't think of a place that checks off more boxes. LOS has it all. It can offer an affordable life style along with great food, relative safety, girls, lots of things to do, good condo rentals and location, location, location in South East Asia. Thais do discriminate against foreigners, but compared to a lot of other Asian counties, it is a pretty easy environment to cope with.
PI is cheap enough, but too dangerous / third world for me. I could not see myself living in AC, Manila or Cebu City. Also the cuisine sucks except for fresh seafood. The PI does have great beaches and friendly girls. If I had a Filipina GF (non pro) I might consider living on the beach somewhere otherwise it is only a 3 hour cheap flight from BKK and a good place to visit. I wouldn't want to live there.
Cambodia is an interesting choice and cheap. It has good food and nice girls but maybe too off the grid for semi-permanent residence. I think a Farang would stick out like a sore thumb. Like PI I think it is a nice place to visit, but long term residence is questionable.
HKG is a great town. I would never get bored here, but it is expensive to live here in western style. I also think the Government is trying to clamp down on the bar scene which I see in decline.
Macau has the girls, no question about that, but renting a modern condo is fairly expensive (roughly Miami prices). I think that living here full time would become boring after a while, but the location is great for visiting other Asian destinations.
Singapore is a great choice except that any centrally located apartment / condo I would want to rent would be sky high expensive. Still, the city has a lot to offer in great food and a great assortment of girls.
So that leaves really only one choice: Thailand. The question then is where in Thailand. I think it depends. If single, my choice is BKK. It has everything and I would never get bored here, plus only 90 minutes to Pat and the southern islands. With a Thai GF (non pro) things change and I could see myself living on some island or possibly up north.