FWIW I'm a US citizen. I'm looking to spend about 4 weeks in Thailand in the near future and also play poker. I'm a bit confused, if somebody transfers me funds to pokerstars, why do you need a bank account?

Do you mean a Thai bank account? They can be helpful if you want to trade for Thai baht with other 2+2ers/transfer money from home to avoid the withdrawal fees and poor exchange rates for overseas cards. You don't need one though if you don't want it, especially for a four week stay. I may have misunderstood what you're asking?

I have a wife and 2 yrs old daughter. We would like (maybe) try 100% poker career (I am pediatric surgeon). Do you have some tips for places in Thailand for rent? Ideal situation: good internet connection, beach not so far away (easy to get there by walk with a baby), shops (basic food ingredients for cooking, hygiene, diapers, etc.) not far away. Thx for any info in advance !

I'd say for the family life look at Hua Hin.
The beaches are far from fantastic but drive an hr or so south and there are some nice spots when you want to get away a little bit. All the stores and restaurants you need in town.

Join the hua hin rentals FB group to get an idea of prices (they're cheap).

Samui could be a possibility also

You wouldn't get the deposit bonus with a p2p transfer, and would lose more to fees trading it back to Thai baht when you want to cashout

LOL at eishundo coming in here saying terrible things about Thailand and it's people, and then act all butthurt when people call him bitter.

It's obvious something traumatic has has happened to him over here, or maybe he can't afford to live here anymore and convinced himself it's a terrible place anyway, and it better this way.

All his posts are insulting, hateful and sometimes flat out racist. Disgusting.

i don't think what he says is far off the mark.

a lot of people living in thailand become defensive about it because they've committed to living there and can't go home.

yes, in thailand you likely have a higher standard of living than in your home country. with what a lot of digital nomads live off in thailand they'd have to live in poverty back home.

weather is warm, food good, affordable, convenience, easier to have regular sex with different women, higher standard of living depending on what you prioritize.

but you can get those things all over south-east asia now.

and usually without the attitude, insults, contempt, sour faces, scams, hand out for everything, women dressed in grey/black grandma clothes, hordes of chinese tourists.

thailand has become a lot more uptight place over the last three years and especially since you know who succumbed to you know what.

and look, the attitude and insults are only a small part of my experience in thailand with most of my experiences positive, but i rarely have to put up with any of that garbage elsewhere in the region.

other places i might have to put up with an attempted scam, other places i might come across people who go out of their way to be insulting, another place might have chinese tourists everywhere, but it feels like you put up with all the bad aspects of south-east asia in thailand.

what country has less scams, friendly people, similar infrastructure to thailand? Cambo is too third world, singapore too first world, philippines only manila would really qualify but chaos to live there, malaysia or anywhere muslim too large of cultural divide if you like going out, taiwan maybe but a bit boring from what I hear, laos and myanmar don't have the infrastructure (assumption). maybe south korea? I love bali but unless you like surf/skate/beach life or veganyoga style its prob not for you. vietnam gets annoying with the constant scams but could be a contender.

imo there's a reason thailand is so huge with expats, its because its among the absolute best places on a whole to be.

They exist but are rare, first of all you need to find someone who is highly educated, and with an understanding of other cultures.. I met a girl from a hi-so family and we could discuss anything really but she didnt have a clue about the world outside Thailand, so not a lot of deep thinking , but I blame it on local traditions, they just don't want to know .

Projecting much?
I'm not one to brag about my finances. But I'm doing quite alright.
Much better than the average poker player I would assume.

The only butthurt I see is from thailand fanatics who cant stand to see someone talk **** about their low-budget paradise.

And yeah I got fed up with Thailand and left. That was really traumatizing... not sure if I will get over it.

Yeah so weird that I come here when I'm in procrastination mode to just say whatever is on my mind.
I mean who does that.

It's almost like I'm treating this place as an online forum where people talk about ****. Unbelievable.

Manila Global City comes to mind, which is nicer than any part of BKK will ever be.
Florida and Hawaii have a tropical climate and first world infrastructure
There's probably a bunch of other places. They have one thing in common though... they're quite a bit more expensive so not really popular with the Thai expat crowd.

IME the often cited "high-so" crowd is even more shallow and insufferable than the average every-day thai.
They are completely obsessed with status symbols and lording their money over others. The fact that they have some fancy university degree doesnt mean anything, since the entire thai edumucation system is a joke.

FWIW I used to date an architect chick from Chiang Mai who built skyscrapers in Singapore. I don't think I've ever see her pick up a book (unless it had lots of pictures) or have an original thought during our time together. That goes for pretty much all thais btw. I mean name one thai philosopher or deep thinker right now
And yeah Thais in general couldn't care less about anything outside of their homecountry. That's something that goes through all social classes over there. Compare that with the philippinos who have on average an even lower IQ than Thais... but are very curious about the outside world.

Personally when i stop liking something in my life i dont waste energy and time on it anymore i switch my focus on other things. I dont go on multiple forums for years where people like said things to post negative things about what the forums or thread in forums are about.

For example i stopped playing wow many years ago. I didnt go on the forums to tell everybody how the game sucked now and their wasting their lifes. I just stopped thinking about it and talking about and focused on other things i enjoyed. No need to spread negative energy out just because i grew out of that phase of my life.

Maybe eishundo secretly loves Thailand and is just trying to deter more farangs from entering this low cost paradise.

It's like being on a super juicy poker site and everyone keeps talking about how soft it is but you just want people to stfu.

I see what you're doing and I appreciate your mission, carry on sir.

Is a bit weird as to why one would put the even the minimal amount of effort into making those types of posts. The ego is a terrible, terrible thing.

i like thailand just fine but this has to be a troll

I think my previous post sounded harsher than I intended it to be. If you don't like Thailand anymore, all good mate. Regarding boliver and the scams, I don't even remember the last time I got truly scammed in BKK. That only really happens around the tourist spots, or with hookers/cabs at night. So if you compare to other SEA countries (and as far as actually living there, not tourism), it's quite low. Vietnam seemed completely awful in this regard.

huh? I'm kinda including crime and being ripped off.... but I cannot think of a single 3rd world country, somewhat popular with expats that is safer overall than thailand (okay minus the whole most dangerous place to drive thing). granted ive spent most time in latin america so everything asia is just a breeze, but most of all thailand.

being an idiot and talked into buying emeralds or a custom tailored suit doesn't count, nor does paying an extra dollar here and there to taxi drivers.

Serious question: I haven't bought 1 but what is wrong with the custom suits? I thought at some places they were considered decent quality and inexpensive.

Edit: I just read the Thai Tailor Scam on Wiki and did a little google research. It appears some shops are more reputable than others and some shops on Sukumvhit Rd may have decent options.

different definitions of 'scam' i guess. to me scam implies some element of trickery. i don't consider being mugged a scam. taxis/tuk-tuks nickle and diming you everywhere, places charging higher farang prices, the suit thing, even the gem thing though i agree it's pretty dubious, still annoying having to deal with people hoping you're a complete fool and trying to take advantage of you (realize the irony of saying this in a poker forum but w/e). like someone said it's mostly in more touristy areas but it's still there, and most people will spend at least some time there.

that said i agree it's not a huge deal and you learn to live with it, but Thailand is one of the last places i'd think of as being low on scams (haven't been to other places in SEA). i'm surprised you consider Thai people more friendly than people from Latin America too. they're more polite maybe, but at least in S. America i found the people to be more genuinely friendly than Thais.

There are lots of good tailors but they aren't the ones paying tuk tuks to bring in rubes. If you want a good tailor, I recommend George Custom Tailors on Soi 15.

My problem with the complaints about Thailand thus far is that they're not backed by any real experience or evidence. I'm all for gathering as much information as possible, but when it's just vague complaining, it's not even worth reading.

If you've really been scammed, please detail the encounter. If you're really experiencing negativity on a daily basis, talk about the where's and why's.

But if you're just spreading negative energy, of course nobody wants to listen to you.

EDIT: There's also the extremely ego-based strawman of "only poor people like Thailand." The cost of living is cheap. That's a huge positive, OBVIOUSLY. Does anyone really prefer spending more money when they don't have to? Florida? No thanks.

you don't have to be scammed to dislike people trying to scam you.

no-one loves their ruler more than the thais love their king. say anything that could be construed as negative and you're thrown in jail for 10 years, say it in public and a mob of thais will beat you up.

yet at the entrance of the grand palace (the original royal palace) operates a long-running scam aimed at naive western tourists.

they can't even stop scamming tourists at the royal palace of all places...

i have had shirts, pants made up for years. do your research.

Anyone grinding poker on some Thai island? Like KohSamui for example? Please PM me !

Did anyone else get that promotion from booking.com with 15 euros off for every booking through a referral link? PM me, we can swap links.