News Forum - Bangkok is 4th best place to live in Southeast Asia, according to expat survey

[Thaiger]

Bangkok has come in at number 4 in a survey ranking the best places to live in Southeast Asia. And the Thai capital has come in at number 11 out of 57 cities in the global rankings. This is a big jump on last year’s result, when it was ranked at number 30 out of 66 cities. According to a Bangkok Post report, the Expat City Ranking 2021 poll was carried out by InterNations, a global expat network with over 4 million members. The findings were released yesterday, with Bangkok coming in behind Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Ho Chi Minh […]

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[Pinetree]

A nonsense report

[Shade_Wilder]

I used to LOVE Bangkok. It was vibrant, exciting, and held wonderful surprises around every corner and in every nook and cranny. Moreover, the people there were magnificent! A barrel of laughs, creative in ways that I had never seen before, and able to turn on a dime to have fun. A truly glorious place.

Then, after the coup, the military decided to leave their mark on the place, and it shows.

I try to keep away from the place now; it seems to me to be just like an old Army base, but without the charm and ambience.

 

[Pinetree]

1 minute ago, Shade_Wilder said:

Then, after the coup, the military decided to leave their mark on the place, and it shows.

How does it show?  Disregarding for a moment Covid and all its impacts, what has changed, barring getting rid of that crook Taksin and his cohorts?

[Pinetree]

1 hour ago, Pinetree said:

How does it show?  Disregarding for a moment Covid and all its impacts, what has changed, barring getting rid of that crook Taksin and his cohorts?

To those who have put an angry emoji on my post, why not answer my question? I would be interested to read your contrary opinion.

[Stonker]

1 hour ago, Pinetree said:

To those who have put an angry emoji on my post, why not answer my question? I would be interested to read your contrary opinion.

So would I - I've not been for a long time, apart from for one night to renew a passport, but apart from the changes for Covid what's changed? What ?

[Stonker]

3 hours ago, Thaiger said:

Bangkok has come in at number 4 in a survey ranking the best places to live in Southeast Asia.

... and FWIW, it wasn't 4th best place but 4th best city.

Compared to beautiful Issan and it's lovely people, no city's even in the running .....

[Robbie_Flyer]

1 hour ago, Pinetree said:

To those who have put an angry emoji on my post, why not answer my question? I would be interested to read your contrary opinion.

I didn't put an emoji on your post but I suspect I know the sort of thing they mean. As a regular visitor rather than a resident I notice the way the feel of the place changes from one year to the next. The government seems to be trying to tidy up the city and make it more "efficient". They probably think it's the way to go "up market" and make more money. What they are actually doing is tearing out its soul and making it the same as any other vast anonymous metropolitan centre. An obvious example is the clearance of informal street markets, like there used to be every evening on Sukhumvit. They put thousands of traders out of work and sterilised the feel of the area, just to speed up the traffic a bit and make it look tidy.

As a visitor, a lot of the attraction and charm of Bangkok is the vibrant bustle, untidiness and humanity of the place, but to anyone used to the order of a parade ground that's probably undesirable.

This is just my view as a visitor who loves Bangkok, and feels for the people who live there, irrespective of who is in charge.

[AlexPTY]

it is the best, why would i live here otherwise!

[Jason]

I'm sure expats who live in Thailand think it's the best place in the world

[Pinetree]

3 hours ago, Stonker said:

So would I - I've not been for a long time, apart from for one night to renew a passport, but apart from the changes for Covid what's changed? What ?

not a lot at all. 

[Pinetree]

31 minutes ago, Jason said:

I'm sure expats who live in Thailand think it's the best place in the world

It sure is one of the best 

[Rain]

6 hours ago, Pinetree said:

A nonsense report

Of course it is.

Rather predictable. 

Consider the source.

[Rookiescot]

They didnt ask this expat.

Biggest issue for me is the traffic. Its relentless. Then there is the smog and air quality.

I am definitely happier away from the place.

[JohninDublin]

8 hours ago, Pinetree said:

A nonsense report

A couple of years, I saw one of these surveys which claimed that TH had the 6th best healthcare in the world. There were several criteria applied. I can remember all of them, but I do remember some such as Cleanliness, Infrastructre, Ease of access, Cost and competence of doctors.

They were awarded a maximum of 100 points in each category and the rankings were then based on the highest score. There were about 80 countries sampled. TH did well in all categories scoring 80+ in most of them, except for one: competence of doctors where they scored 15pts. 

My conclusion from this was that TH healthcare was excellent for a number of reasons, until they actually started to practice on you,

I wrote this from memory, and though it is not 100% accurate the thrust is generally correct. I looked for the original article to compare it with my memory: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1746289/thailands-healthcare-ranked-sixth-best-in-the-world

Extract: Thailand received an overall score of 67.99 out of 100. Breaking down the figure into categories, the country was given a score of 92.58 for its healthcare infrastructure, 17.37 for professionals' competence, 96.22 for cost, 67.51 for medicine availability and 89.91 for government readiness. 

So what this survey really comes down to, is that if cost is important, TH does have excellent service, as long as you don't place too much reliance on TH doctors actually curing you.

 

[JohninDublin]

7 hours ago, Pinetree said:

To those who have put an angry emoji on my post, why not answer my question? I would be interested to read your contrary opinion.

WADR, I would not place too much value on reactions from likes, etc. If you want to be popular, tell the people what they want to hear. Whether you believe what you are posting in order to get good reviews is between you and your conscience if you do that. There is one particular poster on this forum, who is an anti-vaxxer,  who always puts a sad emoji on my posts. I get it. The guy doesn't like me. I am not here to win popularity comps from a bunch of complete strangers. If people want to hide behind an emoji, then maybe it's best you judge them on that.

OTOH, I've used the sad emoji a few times, and usually, but not always, because the content is sad, and not because that is what I think of the poster.

[Rain]

^ for those who speak/understand acronymese.

[JohninDublin]

5 minutes ago, Rain said:

^ for those who speak/understand acronymese.

I presume that was a reference to my post. Just to say that there are plenty who would recognise these, but if not, it only takes a few seconds to google them.

It's the world we live in nowadays with new buzzwords arriving weekly. I am sure there are plenty on here who can recall when "Vax" was the brand-name of a vacuum cleaner. Most people use shortcuts to make their points, and these are soon understand while becoming part of that new language "Internetese".

[BigHewer]

4th best place to live in South East Asia. Hardly warms the cockles. Kind of like “4th best color to paint your shed”.

[King Cotton]

24 minutes ago, BigHewer said:

4th best place to live in South East Asia. Hardly warms the cockles. Kind of like “4th best color to paint your shed”.

And there are thirty sheds of grey to choose from 

[Rain]

40 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

I presume that was a reference to my post. Just to say that there are plenty who would recognise these, but if not, it only takes a few seconds to google them.

It's the world we live in nowadays with new buzzwords arriving weekly. I am sure there are plenty on here who can recall when "Vax" was the brand-name of a vacuum cleaner. Most people use shortcuts to make their points, and these are soon understand while becoming part of that new language "Internetese".

The world that WE live in? 

Which world might that be? 

 

[King Cotton]

54 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

It's the world we live in nowadays with new buzzwords arriving weekly.

Not, unless you're a smartphone user, @JohninDubin . . . as I'm not and I don't think your 'Google them' suggestion is worth its few words . . . complete as they are.

[Marc26]

7 hours ago, Robbie_Flyer said:

I didn't put an emoji on your post but I suspect I know the sort of thing they mean. As a regular visitor rather than a resident I notice the way the feel of the place changes from one year to the next. The government seems to be trying to tidy up the city and make it more "efficient". They probably think it's the way to go "up market" and make more money. What they are actually doing is tearing out its soul and making it the same as any other vast anonymous metropolitan centre. An obvious example is the clearance of informal street markets, like there used to be every evening on Sukhumvit. They put thousands of traders out of work and sterilised the feel of the area, just to speed up the traffic a bit and make it look tidy.

As a visitor, a lot of the attraction and charm of Bangkok is the vibrant bustle, untidiness and humanity of the place, but to anyone used to the order of a parade ground that's probably undesirable.

This is just my view as a visitor who loves Bangkok, and feels for the people who live there, irrespective of who is in charge.

I sort of agree with you

 

Although I am more than happy they did away with all the crap sellers on lower Suk

 

But I lament them doing away with the food vendors late at night, those were fantastic

But like anywhere in the world, things move

 

Bangkok is much more than lower Suk and I believe there is still a very vibrant vibe

 

I much prefer Thonburi across the river or the riverside on the Bangkok proper side

Still vibrant yet laid back over there

 

My wife and I were just talking how we can stay at the Sheraton, Shangri-la or Hilton and still walk outside and eat street food across the street

[JohninDublin]

4 hours ago, Rain said:

The world that WE live in? 

Which world might that be? 

 Lame response. But if you are on a different world to the rest of us...please let me know?

[oldschooler]

what an obvious crock….any large Asian city a polluted dystopian nightmare during any pandemic…rural base way better.

cant imagine why any farang with means would even remain there during covid…let alone vote it a great place to live !