rsokolowski

I considered 50/50 but upon review it just does not add up. You become a resident of nowhere with a considerable outlay of $$$ ie no place to call home.

I will be playing everything by ear, I might not want to come back if this works out right.

Aloha - Sawasdee Khrap

What island?

I live on Maui with my Thai wife and we split time between here and Thailand.

Have condo in BKK but stay at her "Homeland" (Tha Bo - 35km west of Nong Khai) about half the time.

If you live on Maui let's get together and talk !!

Best wishes to you.

P.S. I used an Immigration Attorney (extremely experienced) on Maui to help me with

wills, bank accounts, etc. Maybe consider.

I live and work on Oahu (North Shore Waialua). I don't get over to Maui very often, but I do get over to Kona 3-4 times a year to fish on a friends boat.

Oh, sorry! One more thing. Don't bring all of your money with you to Thailand. You might want to stay invested in US Dollars! ...and the ACH transfers via BKK Bank in New York take only only two to three business days to clear to your account in Thailand

We plan on leaving the bulk in our US bank account, and transferring as needed.

I don't know about the US education system, you say your son is half way through college....one concern would be completing his education. How old is he, does he have Thai nationality yet? Was he born here or the US, I believe if he wasn't born here you will require documentation from an embassy in the US to obtain it when he is here.???

As stated, always best to keep some banking ties to your home country, apart from that happy retirement

He was born in the USA in Hawaii and is 19 years old. He is living in the dorm and we have the funds set aside so that he can finish. He may come to visit, but I don't think he will want to live there. At any rate I am not planning on supporting him after college (he will have to make his own way).

We use Bangkok Bank for money transfers and it has worked well (my wife has a bank account that we transfer money to every once i a while to show activity). I will probably use my sister's address to collect my mail, but I need to think on this a bit more.

My wife and I just retired here two months ago and getting the drivers license for her has been a pain. These new rules are tougher than before and next year the questions go from 50 to 100. I used Paypal to transfer $ on multiple occasions to Bangkok Bank. Just let the manager know you will be using this service. The fees are very reasonable and it only takes a couple days.

Having health insurance is a must as there are no social services like we have back home. If you trip on the sidewalk or ? you will need to pay your way or get no medical service. Even though medical is cheaper, it can still get expensive depending upon what you need.

I am on Veterans medical stateside, but over here I don't really know how I will deal yet. Still thinking on this.

I've found dental care is exceptional over here and have been using a dentist both states sided and over here for years now. It's actually cheaper than my out of pocket for dental from insurance in the states. Ditto for eyeglasses. Just watch the frames, they can get expensive.

We've got ourselves a larger used Isuzu MU-7 that gives us the room we are used to stateside and I am looking for a auto scooter so the misses can also use that.

Found BKK to be way too busy for my way of life these days so we are considering Chiang Rai and will be going up there next week to snoop around.

So far it seems that buying property here is risky for a number of reasons, not the least of which is making sure whatever you buy is done the legal way with all papers triple checked by attorney to make sure you don't end up on the short end. We originally planned on buying about a Rai up in Chiang Mai and then building on that, but that plan has changed to now we will most likely either rent or lease and save our $$ for now.

Immigration can be a real hassle depending upon how you approach it. I was lucky to have been directed to a visa service in Chiang Mai which handled everything for me on a retirement visa. I had to pay for this service, but in my mind it was well worth it, especially when I was shuttled into Promanada and out in 7 minutes, then shuttled over to Airport and out of there in under 40 minutes while others hung around for hours and sometimes days as I remember speaking to one person who didn't get his paperwork done the right way the first time. Of course this means I will need to report (my passport at least) to Chiang Mai Immigration every three months, but that's fairly painless using express mail from wherever. The only pain will come if the mail gets lost but I have to say I'm impressed so far with the Thai mail system.

Speaking of mail, I actually filled out a change of address (written form - not online) back in Bellevue, not thinking it would actually work, but surprise surprise - I've been getting may first class mail forwarded over here. The amazing thing is I forgot to add a /30 to my address and the Thai postal still figures this out and delivers my mail. Very impressed indeed. Course this is only good for 1 year then you are on your own. I figure by that time I will have an actual address and can contact all my necessary connections back home so they can mail direct to me if needed. So far e-mail works pretty good.

Brought over my VoIP phone system and have yet to hook that up, but understand that it should work from here. I used Phone Power back home and the charges for calling Thailand were 1c per minute with 60 minutes free every month. This means I should be able to call through-out the US and Canada for free and any Thailand calls I will be billed 1c per minute. Still a lot cheaper than my cell plan.

Did buy a VPN service for one year and have to use that to watch my Netflix or Amazon videos. So far I have had spotty internet service, not what I'm used to and that bothers me a bit. Some days are definitely better than others.

Both my wife who is Thai and I find the heat almost unbearable in BKK. Mostly stay in A/C and rarely venture out into the sun for long. When I first got here in 79, I used to walk all over the place - miles and miles and miles. Great weight loss system - walking and sweating. Now, I'm older and even though I was walking every day back in the states, I just don't do that here. Where ever we end up a good club will be essential to keeping in shape.

I wish you well on your venture. I know we can afford to live here, whereas back stateside the costs has gotten out of hand for the average retirement.

I love the states and miss a lot of things, but we are here and so far it is working out. Abet taking longer than I would have figured.

There is a way to get Tricare to work in Thailand. You still have to pay as you go, but you can be reimbursed for charges after the fact. You will need to register and I think it is only valid a certain locations.

There are a few farangs in Lahansai, but there's not really much there. People tend to go to Nang Rong where there is a good market, Prakonchai or Ban Kruat. Buriram is the best place for shopping it has Makro Big C and several large hardware stores. Prackonchai has a small version of big C.

Hope that your move is a smooth one. Isaan doesn't appeal to everyone but I love it here. I first came 30 years ago. I live near Ban Kruat so it's quite possible that we will bump into each other some time in the future.

Thanks for the post. I have been to all of those places. I don't know if Lahansai is where we we will settle for good, but it is where we aill start. I prefer Isaan to most of the other places in Thailand I have been (Bangkok, Chang Mai area, and southern Thailand).

It is always a big step to pick up and move, it is a slightly larger step to move to a new country with an entirely different language. I adapt to other cultures pretty well. Living in Hawaii since 1983 is living in another culture even though it is still in the USA and most people speak English (sort of).

Check your Driver's Licence. If it is due to expire shortly after your intended departure date, you may want to delay your departure long enough to renew it before leaving. (I am presuming your DL is like mine, and can only be renewed in person.)

Great, we will do that.

Where will you settle? I moved here 12 years ago at the same age and have had no regrets at all. Just stay away from negative farangs and you'll be fine.

My wifes family is from Lahansai (Buriram), and we will initially settle there..

You post in the Isan forum, so I guess you are intending to settle somewhere here?

Have you visited your future place before and how long?

I have been there dozens of times over the years for 3-4 weeks at a time. We intend to initially settle there so my wife can spend time with her aging mother (her father passed away last January). The plan is to use Isan as a base and travel within Thailand for the first year or more. I would eventually like to spend about half the year on the Andaman coast (not Phuket).

I am 52 years old and retired from the US Navy with an adequate pension after 24 years on active duty. in the next year we will sell our house in Hawaii, pay off all bills and move to Thailand full time. My wife is Thai and we have been married for over 23 year and our son will be half way through college.

Some anticipation, but overall looking forward to begin retirement in Thailand. I am thankful for some of the posts on TV that make the transition a bit less uncertain.

AGW also known as climate change is a religion. The observed data does not support, but look at what the model is showing 100 years from now (have faith). As someone that has experience with a complex model with many unknown variables I can express with great confidence that the AGW models will be wrong. The reason I say this is that any model where many of the inputs are either unknown or highly variable will always be wrong. The worlds climate is not as well understood as the scientists that predict the average temperature of the planet 100 years (plus or minus 0.01 degrees) would like you to believe.

Dont forget to always get extra napkins to use for toilet paper.

I"m sure they've got squirt things by now in the U.S.A.. If not, for a couple hundred bucks a plumber can install one. Bring the package back with you if need be.

Just search google for "hand bidet" you will find plenty of selection and they come with fittings to attach to a standard toilet water supply. No plumber required if you have even basic handyman skills.

I would recommend western Oregon. Mild weather, a lot less rain than Washington state (Portland has about 100 less days of rain than Seattle). Portland is a nice (although pretty strange) city, unfortunately the close you live to it the higher your expenses will be.

You can also find them with plumbing to use hot and cold water connections so you do not need a cold surprise during winter in a temperate climate.

I bought one and I live in the USA (Hawaii). Use google and search "hand bidet" you should have plenty of results. The one I bought came with all the attachments needed to hook it up (including a pressure regulator), took about 10 minutes to get it up and running.

The post should have been titled "Life with a crazy girl".

You are 52 years old. Life is too short to be with a screwed up partner. Next time you take the trash out just keep going and don't return. It is not the fact that the woman is from Issan (my wife of 22 years is from Issan), it is the fact that she is not a very nice person. My wife and I have fought a handful of times in 22 years and all have been minor.

Start over somewhere else in Thailand far away from her, find someone you like to be around that does not make your life miserable.

I wish you the best of luck.

Every single person in the entire history of the world that has predicted the end of the world has been wrong. I see no reason to expect that this prediction will end any differently. Stuff falls into the Earths atmosphere all the time, and the world has not ended yet.

Goonch Catfish maybe,need a better photo.

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

George Orwell quotes

A very wise man.

I hate those little things, very annoying.

Everybody that has predicted the end of the world/end of humanity throughout history has been incorrect. Maybe someday someone will nail the prediction but until then do what you can to improve and protect the environment so that it will be there for our childrens children.

Autocratic rule worked well for Lee in Singapore, making it into a prosperous modern country. Not a democracy, but the good outwieghs the bad if the leader put the interests of the country first.

Democracy doesn't mean you will not end up a serf. High taxes at some point makes everyone nothing more than a serf working most of the year for his master. The only difference is the benifits are a bit better than 800 years ago, but a serf is a serf even ifit comes with meager retirement pensions.