Where would be the best place to live, South America or Thailand?

IM CONTEMPLATING GOING TO SET UP A BEACH BAR AND DIVING SCHOOL SOMEWHERE WHEN IM QUALIFIED TO BE A DIVE MASTER, WHERE WOULD YOU RECOMMEND indeed thats what i meant, well ive been to thailand but i havent been to south america yet, so open to suggestion there to That def helps, hard to choose a best answer out of them, i think its helped to think of thailand to do the relevant courses and then go to south america, any suggestions on places to consider

Public Comments

1. Thailand is a wonderful place once you get out of Bangkok and there are many wonderful islands you could set this business up in. South America is a huge continent. I think you'll have to be more specific if you want decent answers. Incidentally, don't you need to get to at least instructor level to run your own dive school? I'm not sure Dive Master is high enough.
2. business wise, it would have to be Thailand. one of the islands. i recommend KO Tao island. as its one of the best places for diving and one of the more popular islands. i recently clocked up my dive hours there. people work for free ( they just want a free dive etc ) handing out flyers and getting customers for the dives, and taking them out in the day. i looked at prices for property and beach fronts and it all seemed reasonable, plus the people so friendly, dont know about south America!! sorry
3. Don't think its going to be easy , there are many people with exactly the same ideas as you. Take into consideration visa's , and look into the restrictions. If your willing to put everything in someone Else's name it may work, or not. Koh Toa is also one of the cheapest places in the world to do your dive qualifications. and there are probably about twenty or 30 schools there , so loads of competition.
4. I would think it would be easier to live in South America just because of language/cultural similarities. Hope for the best and expect the worst. One pays $100K+ to go to a 4 year university with no guarantee of success.
5. Having been to Thailand, I would have to say the tropical Islands to the south, are the most fantastic scuba diving places among the islands of the Andaman Sea, Phuket Island, just a short flight from Bangkok, I had the best holiday of my life their so far... More remote venues, such as the lovely and unspoiled Ko Ngai in the Andaman sea off the coast of Trang, make it possible to escape the more touristy resorts. Islands in the Gulf, like Ko Chang, are great for family orientated holidays, then their are the backpackers, they love the wild parties on Phangan Island off the coast of Surat Thani. For scuba enthusiasts such as myself, exotic Ko Tao is amazing. But I would have to say Phuket's glorious coastline is the place to go.Thailand's without a doubt southern island of paradise! Phuket Island has a wide array of attractive beaches and idyllic islands surrounding it, so you'd have loads to choose from for day trips etc for your diving school. All you need is a good boat and you'll be laughing! The underwater world has amazing life with well-preserved hard corals in both shallow and deeper waters off to the Racha Islands. Racha Yai Island has clean, powdery white beaches like those of the Similan Islands and on the east, at Ao Kon Kae Bay, is a coral reef where the diving is excellent! South of Phuket, its about 1& half hours by regular passenger boat, or less than an hour by express boat, though you should avoid Racha Yai and its sister island Racha Noi during the monsoon season as its very dangerous! The monsoon season is in October and usually it rains for a few hrs a day non stop, sometimes even only an hr. Its the only month of the yr the weather is bad. You should also check out Patong as its a real magnet for night life and entertainment for island travellers. So you would never be short of business... Best of luck, I hope this helps....