Do you have ambition to live or retire abroad?
I mean i agree with you but just chose to start my post with my knowledge of it. I don’t exactly know the history of when Thailand became a place for retired military guys to retire . Sorry man, please let me know the exact date
After Vietnam. Thailand was and probably still is more popular with Australians and Europeans. When I was there it was mostly people from those countries, with some Americans, but that number has grown.
The Philippines used to be extremely popular, especially when we had a bases there, but 39 ended that so now it's a lot of the older crowd who is still around since then and others who have moved over. There's also a lot of Australians there as well. Koreans have a huge presence in the Philippines mainly for some of the Universities. If they can't get into one in Korea, they go down to the PI, especially the Bagio area.
The Koreans have quite a few businesses in the PI as the Americans have moved out after the base closed in 1991 when Mt. Pinatubo erupted. The Filipinos like it better when Americans had a larger presence and businesses as they money would go back into the local economy, the Koreans take the money back to Korean.
I am retired AF and can live at my compound for minimal cost since we already own it. We choose to live in the US right now b/c we have good jobs and all of the kids are in the states, if we move over there, I highly doubt they'd visit due to the cost and time off requirement. My wife really misses her family there around the holidays and nobody is getting younger, so I do think we'll be there at some point, whether it is full time or not is TBD.
We've thought about Thailand and Vietnam as well, but with us already having a place in the PI and her family is there, it makes sense just to go there.