gearbox

According to the US statistics the median net worth of the 65-74 years age group is $409k. If that seems low it is because a lot of millionaires moved to Pattaya

George's dream is totally unrealistic, to be a qualified psychiatrist in Australia minimum study between 11-13 years is required, and the entry requirements are very high. Dreaming about getting rich is much more doable. Or reinventing himself as a bar owner...plenty of others reinvented themselves that way.

George...I think you definitely need to see a psychiatrist yourself.

Thanks Mike for all the work you have done to clarify the upcoming tax issues. Myself can't be bothered with that much complexity, as long as they can't track me I'll do the minimum I can get away with. Cash in hand through the borders and ATM withdrawals are the ways to go in my circumstances.

In Australia the foreign ATM withdrawals are not considered international file transfers and the banks are not required to report them to the government. The govt can have access to them only if there is ongoing investigation. If I withdraw money from my Aussie debit card in Thailand there is not enough info for the Thai authorities to resolve definitely my entity, there is no passport, DOB or address info associated with the withdrawal.

There are definitely travel insurance policies in Australia covering motorbikes, from my memory it is only $20 extra to get cover with Medibank Private travel insurance. Of course there are rules to get valid cover, like the requirement to wear a helmet. When driving in Samui, in a 20 minutes car drive I would see probably 100+ foreigners on motorbikes without helmets, many don't even have shirts.

If you make more than X amount of $ in Australia you are going to have Medicare surcharge if you don't take private health cover. For income of $180k plus the surcharge is bigger than the private cover premiums. I think Lil Johnny introduced it.

There are plenty of good interest groups on Facebook, you don't need to have friends or post your selfies to participate. I got heaps of great advice about cycling long distances, kayaking and sailing.

You can subscribe to YouTube premium or Netflix via VPN from Turkey or Argentina, it is times cheaper than Australia.

The old, bigger and IMO safer Tigerline ferries serving these transfers were retired and now it seems all the transfers are done with speedboats. These are fairly small, I would say most are fibreglass made, with a couple of powerful engines and a lot of passengers packed in...looks like a sea bus. With high speed and high waves the boat will thrash into the water with high force, so this one probably either had a building defect, was overloaded, or was going too fast in high waves in order to break. We were early this year in the area with expedition sea kayak, we lost 5 rivet joints from constant thrashing in high waves. Hopefully they got the passengers' possessions in dry bags, otherwise all the passports and phones would be gone.

The article is about the domestic tourists, not international arrivals. The "visits" are probably the nights spent in hotels.

The Thais have much better deal than most of the countries in Europe, they don't pay anything, only collect. Compare this to Europe where millions of so called refugees from that shole Ukraine are collecting benefits for almost 2 years. No wonder the far right is rising fast everywhere there.

Why not? Bob is probably looking to upgrade his breakfast from Chang to craft beer, any new ways to make money are probably of interest.

In Australia the government cares about the pensioners within the country, not those receiving OAP overseas. Give the resident pensioners extra $5, they'll happily vote for anything which hurts the pensioners overseas. Divide and conquer.

Could you provide a link to the accident insurance with unlimited coverage? That would be a good option to consider if they do pay out.

There are providers which can insure at pretty much any location, no travel requirements attached. If his policy expired he could buy a new one immediately.

Yep the hospitals seems to pay commission to bring them patients, however mistakes do happen. My gf was involved in an accident 2 weeks ago, and the ambulance brought one of the injured (Thai) to one of the private hospitals in Samui. The hospital made quick assessment that she may not have money to pay, and she was expelled immediately to the government hospital.

I have done both of them many years ago at the same time. You need anaesthetic only once, I believe that's the main reason. It is way cheaper in the west with only one hospital admission.

Pak Meng and the surrounding beaches, south of Ko Lanta, however no western food there and very few foreigners.

May happen one day, but unlikely in 2024. The China - Laos trains move around 5000 people per day, this is around 1.8 mil per year. Expecting around 20% of the passengers to be Thailand bound tourists is too optimistic. A friend of mine was in Luang Prabang last week, said the place was packed with Chinese tourists. Makes much more sense for the Chinese to go there, easier logistics.

IMO Haad Yuan is the best beach on the east side, but hard to get to. Beer is expensive even in the shops.

There are sandflies, but not too many....nothing like Oz or NZ. The Bottle beach has them too.

It is easy to get distracted or fall asleep in bus or plane. Years ago I had my Kindle stolen during my flight from KL to Kathmandu. The seat next to me was empty, I placed the Kindle there and started taking shots of mt Everest through the window, when I turned around the Kindle was gone.

The Chinese real estate sector is in distress, which IMO is very good thing. It would be good if the Aussie government has the guts to smash the property speculation cockroaches the same way.

I saw an interview with an IMF person a few days ago, they upped the Chinese growth forecast for both 2023 and 2024, along with many of the leading investment banks. China has plenty of interesting places to be seen, and with the massive infrastructure built it is much easier to access them now. The domestic tourism is on the rise.