I have lived in Chiang Mai for the last two years. My wife has Thai citizenship, which allows me to get a one year renewable visa. Still have to do 90-day border runs (never figured out why).
Staying in Thailand for less than a year at a time is easy to do. If you want to stay on a more permanent basis you'll need to either get married (marriage visa), enroll in a Thai language school (education visa), or be over 65 and have 25 grand or so in the bank (retirement visa).
If you can wrangle something, it's a wonderful place to live. There are the well-known sights and the low cost of living, but for me it goes much deeper. I've become a calmer and more thoughtful person, quicker to smile and slower to anger just by spending two years among the Thai people.
Re: gexla's post – he makes it sound a little cavalier, but there really is a sense in Asia of "eventually this will work out somehow". There are limits and boundaries where this doesn't apply, of course, but in general I find the saying about India applies equally well to Thailand: "everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, it isn't the end" ;)
Staying in Thailand for less than a year at a time is easy to do. If you want to stay on a more permanent basis you'll need to either get married (marriage visa), enroll in a Thai language school (education visa), or be over 65 and have 25 grand or so in the bank (retirement visa).
If you can wrangle something, it's a wonderful place to live. There are the well-known sights and the low cost of living, but for me it goes much deeper. I've become a calmer and more thoughtful person, quicker to smile and slower to anger just by spending two years among the Thai people.
Re: gexla's post – he makes it sound a little cavalier, but there really is a sense in Asia of "eventually this will work out somehow". There are limits and boundaries where this doesn't apply, of course, but in general I find the saying about India applies equally well to Thailand: "everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, it isn't the end" ;)