Tag Archives: retire in chiangmai

Retirement

Why Retire in Chiangmai?

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Thinking of Moving Overseas?
As more and more boomers reach retirement age, the age-old question of where to live out their golden years comes into play. Every year, a growing number of retirees and their spouses are opting to seek warmer climates and inexpensive life-styles abroad. As a result of easy access to flights and a growing internet social network, the world has become much smaller. It is no longer difficult or expensive to stay in touch with family members from anywhere around the world. My wife, Nancy, and I took the plunge this year and retired to Chiangmai, Thailand. This article will describe the pros and cons of moving to this beautiful, historic city that has received so many great reviews over the last few years. Read More

Explore

A Walk Around the Hood

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We are definitely not in a tourist area!  The photo above was taken from the end of the little lane that heads down to our house, about a five minute walk from our front door.  The area is bustling by six in the morning as vendors put out their morning treats for the passersby.  In Wuhan, the morning breakfast normally consisted of hot, dry noodles.  Here in Chiangmai, the local morning fare is barbecued pork on a stick with sticky rice. It costs about a buck for enough for the two of us.

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In the photo to the left, you can see a few sticks of pork on the right.  I am really not sure what is in the banana leaf to the left but it could be sticky rice.  My Thai is coming along and eventually I will be able to find out exactly what some of this stuff is.  There is one food vendor after another the length of this street in both directions, interspersed with some actual little restaurants.  At the end of our lane, there is a small cafe owned by a young French woman and her partner.  Eating out will not be difficult and certainly won’t be expensive if we go local.  After six years in China, our addiction to street food can continue with the wealth of items on display within a few minutes of our front door.chiang-mai-market-2

There is a great market that is also just around the corner.  Yesterday morning as I was out grabbing some stuff for breakfast, I saw small pickups dropping off fruit and vegetables so I know everything is very fresh!  We picked up some basic kitchen items this morning to get us started on a little cooking at home.  With the price of food in the local eateries, it is debatable how much we will actually be preparing in our own kitchen.  Time will tell!

streetfood2It is the monsoon season here so it has been raining at some point every day.   Sometimes, it is an incredible downpour that blows through the area in a matter of half an hour or so, and other times, it just rains constantly for hours on end.  Last night and tonight, it has been the latter!

So our first week in Chiangmai has come to an end and our new house is slowly coming together.  Our next quest will be a framing shop for all the art we brought with us.  In order to move it here, we got rid of the frames and stuck everything in a cardboard tube.  Now we have to reverse the process!  But I can say right now that it will be a hell of a lot easier than China, since almost everyone here speaks enough English to understand what you want.

That’s enough rambling for one day.  I will end with a photo of the entrance to a temple just down the road from us – Wat Chang Kian. There is one on every corner of this city and this happens to be the one in our neighbourhood.  Until next time…

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