Kite Life Retirement Locations in Asia

[magnusod]

It seems the assumption is made that you can just go to any of these places and stay for an indefinite amount of time. Is that the situation ? I stay in Mozambique and after more than 20 years here it is still a bit of a struggle to keep my resident permit and associated documents updated.

For Thailand you get a 30 day visa on arrival and as long as you pop over the border every 30 days you perpetually get a new one. If you go down to Malaysia you can get a 60 or 90 day visa at the Thai embassy there but it's a bit of a pain.

Thailand also makes it very easy for 5 year retirement visas if you are over 50 years old (your spouse can be under 50 and be on the same 5 year).

You don't need to pop over every 30 days in Thailand. After your 30 day visa on arrival is close to the end you can extend it 30 more days in an Immigration office. In Hua Hin the Immigration office is in the basement of the Bluport shopping mall and it's really convenient to extend it there. The cost is 1900 THB so usually cheaper than traveling abroad.

[lightandfrost]

Reference comments on Thailand.

The general weather patterns:

There are two(2) monsoonal flows and two(2) doldrums periods in the Kingdom.

There is a dry NE monsoon(NEM) from Nov thru April and a wet SW monsoon(SWM) from June thru September. May and October are doldrums periods when the monsoon changes direction. The hottest month of the year is April and the coldest is December.

The best year round region in the Kingdom for wind is Pattaya because it can get wind from both monsoonal flows and it has a large land mass behind it which can bring about attenuated sea breezes. Rayong/Pattaya area is known as the East Coast.

Huahin versus Pattaya

HuaHin

Huahin sits on the west coast across the Bight of Bangkok from Pattaya

The best two periods for Huahin are the NEM months of Nov thru January when the wind blows across the open waters of the Bight of Bangkok(BOB) producing a general NE cross onshore flow. In late January temperatures begin to rise over land. Anytime the NEM weakens temperatures rise. The large land mass in the Bangkok Korat area then develops heat lows which attenuate the afternoon sea breeze and cause a southerly flow up the BOB allowing a strong cross to cross on wind along the Hua Hin west coast as well as Pattaya to the east.

Once the Southwest monsoon arrives in late May to early June, the wind produced is Southwest offshore to cross offshore making the west coast and Hua Hin unusable until the Northeast Monsoon begins again in Nov/Dev. So about half the year this coast is unridable.

Pattaya

In Thai Language Poetic Forms the word Pattaya is used to mean Southwest Wind.

Pattaya sits on the east coast and can get wind all year round, a southwest direction during the SWM and North to North northwest direction during the NEM. In the winter months Nov thru mid Jan, the wind technically blows cross offshore from the NE. However due to a local effect caused by a building sea breeze, the NE wind is pushed northerly causing a North to North-Northwest wind to develop along the coast, normally between 11:00 thru 16:00 hours. This effect requires clear skies to occur.

Wave Riding - 80km away from Pattaya is Haat Mae Rampeung which produces waves during the SWM. There is even a surf school there.

https://magicseaweed.com/Rayong-Mae-Ram ... port/1282/

TIDES

Both Pattaya and Huahin are along the BOB, one on the east coast and one on west coast. Both are subject to the same general tides. From Oct thru Feb there are NO low tides in the daylight hours. All low tides occur during the hours of darkness

In Huahin hardly any beach is available during the Oct-Jan period during the day although there are beaches to the south that have open beach. Pattaya is subject to the same high tides however some beach does remain even at full high tide and the government is expanding the beaches at present allowing for large areas of open sand.

There are other places like Phu Khet. To ride this island generally you go to the south end Rawai/Chalong etc during the NEM and the west coast from Kata/Karon to Nai Yaang in the SWM. Good wave riding can be had in Nai Yaang, Kata and Karon. There is a surf spot called Kalim on the north end of Patong.

[lightandfrost]

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