8 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

I see an American getting frustrated with someone in another country because they don’t speak perfect English.

do most Americans for that matter ?

8 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

Just like how 90% of the guys who post here are enjoyable to read. Don’t let the trolls ruin it. Just mute. 👍

or learn just to get over with posts you don't like. I survived 13 years here without placing anybody on 'ignore' although it needs to be said for quite a while because I did not know how 😃

By muting we may miss bad stuff along with good. Even most annoying and useless posters like that asshole vinapu sometimes may say something of use or interest or both

2 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

I’ve lived near beaches for a good chunk of my life and rarely went.

Funny you should say that.

I live right across from the ocean. Friends used to ask me why I have a swimming pool when I could just walk across the road.

First of all, you can't swim in winter, but you can in a heated pool.

But my main reason is that I'm afraid of sharks. Everyone just laughed

They don't laugh now.

Yesterday a guy was mauled and killed by a shark very close the where I live. He was only 15 metres off shore!

I went there today to lay some flowers and there were lots of people crying. It was so sad.

And just last week another guy was mauled but luckily he survived.

I've never heard of someone being attacked by a shark in the sea off Pattaya, but I'd never go swimming in the ocean!

10 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

.... But not so much on the experience. It was about as exciting as a dentist office waiting room.

I dropped 2000 but more importantly an hour I’ll never get back in my life. Maybe they are technically in CM, but it felt like a distant suburb. The distance wouldn’t have been so much a thing had it been a good time.

I feel like I’ve given them more publicity already than they deserve so I’ll just leave the photo and say avoid avoid avoid.

I

Telling people to avoid a venue without providing any reasons from a first time Thailand and Chiang Mai visitor is pretty strong in my humble opinion. What was it about the venue that you didn't like? What were you expecting from the "experience" and would have made it a "good time" for you?

25 minutes ago, vinapu said:

or learn just to get over with posts you don't like. I survived 13 years here without placing anybody on 'ignore' although it needs to be said for quite a while because I did not know how 😃

By muting we may miss bad stuff along with good. Even most annoying and useless posters like that asshole vinapu sometimes may say something of use or interest or both

What is mute?

25 minutes ago, vinapu said:

or learn just to get over with posts you don't like. I survived 13 years here without placing anybody on 'ignore' although it needs to be said for quite a while because I did not know how 😃

By muting we may miss bad stuff along with good. Even most annoying and useless posters like that asshole vinapu sometimes may say something of use or interest or both

Vinapu is not an asshole! He's one of the best guys I've met!

On 9/18/2026 at 1:35 PM, a-447 said:

I read this report and immediately fell into a deep depression.

At first, I was hoping you were right when you put your experience down to it being low season. But then I read Hank's follow-up and suddenly lost the will to live!

I understand and are you going to commit seppuku at dawn to relieve yourself of all that misery? I can't think of a more honourable way for you to go given your strong affiliation with Japanese culture. Let me know; I'll be happy to set it up for you. No, no, no need to thank me - what are friends for. 😘

31 minutes ago, a-447 said:

I've never heard of someone being attacked by a shark in the sea off Pattaya,

Sharks have more sense than humans when comes to quality of water perhaps ?

32 minutes ago, a-447 said:

But my main reason is that I'm afraid of sharks. Everyone just laughed

why laugh ? didn't you have Prime Minister in Australia who was eaten by shark ? Holt ? Holden ? don't recall name exactly

18 minutes ago, jason1975 said:

What is mute?

ignore

17 minutes ago, jason1975 said:

Vinapu is not an asshole ! He's one of the best guys I've met!

You must be living in very remote place, lol

30 minutes ago, mauRICE said:

Telling people to avoid a venue without providing any reasons from a first time Thailand and Chiang Mai visitor is pretty strong in my humble opinion. What was it about the venue that you didn't like? What were you expecting from the "experience" and would have made it a "good time" for you?

curious minds also wonder what 2000 charge was for and why it was wasted money.

Hope after initial upset dissipates OP ( original poster ) will shed some light.

24 minutes ago, mauRICE said:

Are you going to commit seppuku at dawn?

personal questions belong to PM or DM (personal message or direct message for people who don't digest abbreviations). Otherwise we risk upsetting thread creator with derailing thread

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

do most Americans for that matter ?

💯

Subject verb agreement is so sexy. European guys with their cute accents and nearly flawless English drive me wild!

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

or learn just to get over with posts you don't like. I survived 13 years here without placing anybody on 'ignore' although it needs to be said for quite a while because I did not know how 😃

By muting we may miss bad stuff along with good. Even most annoying and useless posters like that asshole vinapu sometimes may say something of use or interest or both

You do you, I do me. If someone annoys me and one click can make them go away, I'm all about it. Wish it worked that way in real life. 😜

I find nothing more irritating on boards like this when 2 keyboard warriors hijack a discussion so they can play tough. Mute/ignore is way easier. Lets them think they won.

1 hour ago, a-447 said:

Funny you should say that.

I live right across from the ocean. Friends used to ask me why I have a swimming pool when I could just walk across the road.

First of all, you can't swim in winter, but you can in a heated pool.

But my main reason is that I'm afraid of sharks. Everyone just laughed

They don't laugh now.

Yesterday a guy was mauled and killed by a shark very close the where I live. He was only 15 metres off shore!

I went there today to lay some flowers and there were lots of people crying. It was so sad.

And just last week another guy was mauled but luckily he survived.

I've never heard of someone being attacked by a shark in the sea off Pattaya, but I'd never go swimming in the ocean!

I do get the appeal of beach life though. I like being near one even if I don't go often. That's why De Nang, Samui, Pattaya and Hua Hin were all on my radar at one point. But my thinking now is, if I live in Bangkok or Chiang Mai, those are all within an easy weekend flight away.

10 hours ago, hank75 said:

Yes you are absolutely right. I’ve met guys who are effectively trilingual (the English is a bit of a miss but hey their English is far better than my Thai) yet their reading literacy is borderline.

For a long time I was puzzled by why a regular guy refused to go to the cinema with me since he spent most of his time watching movies on his phone. There were some good ones like the latest Avengers or similar which I thought he would enjoy. Finally it dawned on me that subtitles was the issue, as he couldn’t read fast enough. On a side note I have actually sat through a non-subtitled Thai movie with zero idea about what was going on. It was a rainy day in Pattaya, we were at a loose end on how to pass time, and the boy was anxious to see some newly released blockbuster that all his friends had seen. Just looked it up, it was Khun Paen Begins with Mario Maurer. A Thai historical film which also contained fantasy and slapstick comedy. I’m sure I would have enjoyed it very much if I could understand any of it.

I dealt a lot with Japan, when I was working full time. Interestingly, the situation therewas the reverse. They are taught to read and write English, but not to speak it. Hence, at my first meeting with a senior lawyer at Kawasaki, who had communicated in excellent English, I found his spoken English was remarkably poor.

Saturday night update...

Today was a productive one. Visited a few new areas of Chiang Mai. Had a great breakfast at an American-style diner near my Airbnb. Then it was off to roam around the city. Had a very authentic Japanese lunch... a little too authentic. My belly was doing cartwheels for a bit. Those charcoal pills at 7 Eleven worked their magic. Finished the day off with a massage at Aqua. Not the fanciest place, but I enjoyed the hour I spent there. Staff was nice. Therapist list was about 2 dozen deep. 1700 baht all in... I still tipped the kid another 200. My review would be rather useless as we didn't do an actual massage. Once the manager told me my guy is straight, I have a thing I like to do with straight guys... not going to get into it here (sorry)... it's my personal thang. But he was accommodating and we had a fun hour.

Ordered Grab for dinner. Getting way to addicted to using Grab... so easy and cheap. I love that they use a rating system... it hasn't let me down yet. And I can't get over how quick they are both here and the other Thailand places I've visited. Those motos get the job done.

Tonight I started off at Connections. Last night I got there way too early so tonight I dropped by shortly before 10. Still not a single customer in the place... about a dozen guys outside on their phones. If I had my buddies with me I normally travel with, I'd hang for a bit. I hate the awkwardness of being the only customer. So I moved on to New Circle Pub. Really nice clean professional place. Sadly only about 8 or 9 customers... about the same number of performers. Couple of cuties. I exchanged numbers with one. I liked that they had some variety too... if you like muscle, there were a few gym rats.

Headed out around 11:30 and since Adam's Apple wasn't far, and some were concerned after my post the other day, wanted to give 'em another shot given that it's Friday night. (Don't know how much difference that makes here.) It was a little busier. Probably about a dozen customers. Most seemed to have chosen their companion for the night. The mamasan let me know they were closing at midnight so I didn't hang. But for the Adam's fans... there was life! Fear not!

Alright fellas... long day. Just looked at my app... 12K steps. I'm averaging about 10K a day... my normal is 2K lol. This is one of things I'm excited about with this move. All my clothes are feeling looser. The idea of never owning a car again is so appealing to me. But I'm beat so I'm gonna crash. Have a great weekend!

19 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

I dealt a lot with Japan, when I was working full time. Interestingly, the situation therewas the reverse. They are taught to read and write English, but not to speak it. Hence, at my first meeting with a senior lawyer at Kawasaki, who had communicated in excellent English, I found his spoken English was remarkably poor.

When I was at school in Tokyo we were just taught English grammar - It was treated as an exam subject, not for practical use. The teacher couldn't speak a word of English!

We spent a lot of time reading very difficult English texts and analysing the sentences.

There was much hilarity in the class when I actually failed my English tests!

'How is that possible? You're a native speaker!'

I only did elementary school in Australia and we didn't learn anything about grammar, just lots of spelling tests, so it was all new to me.

2 hours ago, a-447 said:

Funny you should say that.

I live right across from the ocean. Friends used to ask me why I have a swimming pool when I could just walk across the road.

First of all, you can't swim in winter, but you can in a heated pool.

But my main reason is that I'm afraid of sharks. Everyone just laughed

They don't laugh now.

Yesterday a guy was mauled and killed by a shark very close the where I live. He was only 15 metres off shore!

I went there today to lay some flowers and there were lots of people crying. It was so sad.

And just last week another guy was mauled but luckily he survived.

I've never heard of someone being attacked by a shark in the sea off Pattaya, but I'd never go swimming in the ocean!

I read that as a result of global warming, serious jellyfish, ie really nasty stings, are now in The Gulf of Thailand. Also, and I have observed this, the sea in Pattaya is pretty polluted. Sewage spills frequently reported, all the time. You have to travel to get decent water, it seems.

31 minutes ago, aaroninatl said:

Saturday night update...

Today was a productive one. Visited a few new areas of Chiang Mai. Had a great breakfast at an American-style diner near my Airbnb. Then it was off to roam around the city. Had a very authentic Japanese lunch... a little too authentic. My belly was doing cartwheels for a bit. Those charcoal pills at 7 Eleven worked their magic. Finished the day off with a massage at Aqua. Not the fanciest place, but I enjoyed the hour I spent there. Staff was nice. Therapist list was about 2 dozen deep. 1700 baht all in... I still tipped the kid another 200. My review would be rather useless as we didn't do an actual massage. Once the manager told me my guy is straight, I have a thing I like to do with straight guys... not going to get into it here (sorry)... it's my personal thang. But he was accommodating and we had a fun hour.

Ordered Grab for dinner. Getting way to addicted to using Grab... so easy and cheap. I love that they use a rating system... it hasn't let me down yet. And I can't get over how quick they are both here and the other Thailand places I've visited. Those motos get the job done.

Tonight I started off at Connections. Last night I got there way too early so tonight I dropped by shortly before 10. Still not a single customer in the place... about a dozen guys outside on their phones. If I had my buddies with me I normally travel with, I'd hang for a bit. I hate the awkwardness of being the only customer. So I moved on to New Circle Pub. Really nice clean professional place. Sadly only about 8 or 9 customers... about the same number of performers. Couple of cuties. I exchanged numbers with one. I liked that they had some variety too... if you like muscle, there were a few gym rats.

Headed out around 11:30 and since Adam's Apple wasn't far, and some were concerned after my post the other day, wanted to give 'em another shot given that it's Friday night. (Don't know how much difference that makes here.) It was a little busier. Probably about a dozen customers. Most seemed to have chosen their companion for the night. The mamasan let me know they were closing at midnight so I didn't hang. But for the Adam's fans... there was life! Fear not!

Alright fellas... long day. Just looked at my app... 12K steps. I'm averaging about 10K a day... my normal is 2K lol. This is one of things I'm excited about with this move. All my clothes are feeling looser. The idea of never owning a car again is so appealing to me. But I'm beat so I'm gonna crash. Have a great weekend!

If you are losing that much weight, you must also be eating less! Either through will power, or jabs!

1 minute ago, Keithambrose said:

You have to travel to get decent water, it seems.

Aaron mentioned Hua Hin.

I don't know how true it is, but I've heard that the water there is clean and isn't polluted at all.

33 minutes ago, aaroninatl said:

Saturday night update...

Today was a productive one. Visited a few new areas of Chiang Mai. Had a great breakfast at an American-style diner near my Airbnb. Then it was off to roam around the city. Had a very authentic Japanese lunch... a little too authentic. My belly was doing cartwheels for a bit. Those charcoal pills at 7 Eleven worked their magic. Finished the day off with a massage at Aqua. Not the fanciest place, but I enjoyed the hour I spent there. Staff was nice. Therapist list was about 2 dozen deep. 1700 baht all in... I still tipped the kid another 200. My review would be rather useless as we didn't do an actual massage. Once the manager told me my guy is straight, I have a thing I like to do with straight guys... not going to get into it here (sorry)... it's my personal thang. But he was accommodating and we had a fun hour.

Ordered Grab for dinner. Getting way to addicted to using Grab... so easy and cheap. I love that they use a rating system... it hasn't let me down yet. And I can't get over how quick they are both here and the other Thailand places I've visited. Those motos get the job done.

Tonight I started off at Connections. Last night I got there way too early so tonight I dropped by shortly before 10. Still not a single customer in the place... about a dozen guys outside on their phones. If I had my buddies with me I normally travel with, I'd hang for a bit. I hate the awkwardness of being the only customer. So I moved on to New Circle Pub. Really nice clean professional place. Sadly only about 8 or 9 customers... about the same number of performers. Couple of cuties. I exchanged numbers with one. I liked that they had some variety too... if you like muscle, there were a few gym rats.

Headed out around 11:30 and since Adam's Apple wasn't far, and some were concerned after my post the other day, wanted to give 'em another shot given that it's Friday night. (Don't know how much difference that makes here.) It was a little busier. Probably about a dozen customers. Most seemed to have chosen their companion for the night. The mamasan let me know they were closing at midnight so I didn't hang. But for the Adam's fans... there was life! Fear not!

Alright fellas... long day. Just looked at my app... 12K steps. I'm averaging about 10K a day... my normal is 2K lol. This is one of things I'm excited about with this move. All my clothes are feeling looser. The idea of never owning a car again is so appealing to me. But I'm beat so I'm gonna crash. Have a great weekend!

My Czech father in law introduced me to charcoal pills. I think they are really useful.

3 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

Totally fair question. Pattaya just never struck me when I was back home. The runner-ups that I didn’t end up booking time in were Hua Hin and De Nang. I’m sure I’m slaughtering the spelling.

Danang is in Vietnam.

3 hours ago, aaroninatl said:

Pattaya looked like a good place to have a fun weekend, but it didn’t strike me as a place where I’d want to spend my day to day. That quick 24 hour visit I did last month gave me mixed feelings about that. I really liked Jomtien. But the parts of Pattaya I saw were less inspiring. But again, I was only there for 24 hours and most of those were spent drinking lol.

But that's just it. What are the sort of activities that you do or would like to do in your day to day? We know you like going to the 7-11 and eating junk food but you can do that anywhere in Thailand. (Try the markets where you can find a huge variety of sweet snacks and fried foods - then you can say you've gone Thai.) You also enjoy drinking - again not a problem in Thailand.

You said you're looking for safe neighbourhoods, good healthcare and good weather. All the major cities and towns in Thailand viz Bangkok, Udon Thani, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, Pattaya and Hatyai have these and, with the exception of Hatyai, have sizable farang retiree communities. None of them have perfect weather all-year round but I'd say you'd get agreeable weather nine to ten months of the year.

You also mentioned that you were looking for a place that would offer quality of life. So, again, what is it that would lend quality to your life in your retirement or semi-retirement? Do you even know? It's a very subjective question which requires a lot of self-introspection. I find that many farang, already unhappy back home, come to Thailand with some vague notions of a sunny paradise that'll make them happy, without really knowing what is it that's going to make them happy and/or realising that happiness also comes from within and that they have to be pro-active in the production of that happiness. They're lazy and expect other people to do the work for them and get all bitchy and whingy when things aren't happening FOR them.

I'll give you an example. I know myself. By this I mean I know my advantages, limitations, what my boundaries are and what I would like out of life if I were retired. I would pick a university town because intellectual and cultural pursuits are very important to me and universities tend to have these kinds of activities almost all-year round. I will try to get involved and not just be a spectator. Thai campuses outside Bangkok tend to be very green with lakes and cafes which I love. I also love gardens and animals. I will continue with my charities and spend more time writing, exercising and cycling. I've got other skills which would benefit any community that I'm in which I won't share here for privacy reasons. My biggest advantage is that my Thai is fluent. Sex will no longer be as important to me by that time (it isn't that important to me now) and frankly speaking one could find sex anywhere in Thailand.

Your needs and wants will be different but don't move to Chiang Mai when you'd really like to be in Supertown ogling at those Sunee Intimate Bar cuties (and boy are they cute) and drinking yourself to sleep everynight, which would be totally fine. You keep protesting that proximity to sex venues isn't important in your decision where to live but your actions suggest otherwise. And what's funny is that you attribute your protestations to the nature of this forum saying we only discuss sex tourism here. No, we don't. Perhaps that's been your focus but we also discuss food, culture, language, health, Olddaddy, eyecare - just to name a few topics.

Just be honest as to what you want but you have to know yourself first before you can figure out what you want. Then you'll have a happier time in Thailand or anywhere else in the world for that matter.

33 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

My Czech father in law introduced me to charcoal pills. I think they are really useful.

These pills are the most popular in Japan for stomach upsets; they've been around for years and are called seirogan.

They are very effective but the smell is overpowering. They stink the whole house out.

50 minutes ago, a-447 said:

I only did elementary school in Australia

I see. Now everything makes sense. Thanks for the clarification! 😘

5 hours ago, a-447 said:

These pills are the most popular in Japan for stomach upsets; they've been around for years and are called seirogan.

They are very effective but the smell is overpowering. They stink the whole house out.

Yesterday was the first time popping one. I think I only knew of them through those cheeseball YouTube clips for Thailand tourists. But within an hour, I felt great. Better than I have the whole trip. Slept better tonight too. Fortunately these ones don't stink. 😜 One thing to note is they say don't take one within 2 hours of taking medication.