gearbox

From what I can see these are only proposed changes, which are not legislated yet, they are not on the ATO residency test web pages... correct me if I'm wrong.

In Macro Samui there is feta cheese 145 baht for 200 grams, also some imported brands as well. Maybe in your area there is no market for it and they don't stock.

Nothing wrong with Jetstar if you have right expectations. One needs to expect cancellations and delays and plan accordingly. The flight attendants look like age sixty plus unemployed on a work experience. Small bottle of water $4. However I flew with Jetstar Sydney to Phuket last November with 54 kg baggage only for $300 AUD including charges for oversized baggage. Would cost me a fortune with full service airline. As low cost airlines both AirAsia and Scoot are way better than Jetstar, but until recently none of them had direct flights from Thailand to Australia.

This is only valid if you use the phone app. For proper internet banking from a laptop you need a 2 factor authentication with a SMS code in many cases. I had to do bank transfers a few years ago and always had my dtac roaming activated. You can mostly avoid the need of roaming with the mobile app, but lose your phone and your banking is gone.

AFAIK there is neither of these in Samui. I changed money with Superrich at Swampy a few months ago, very competitive rates.

I was in Phuket last week, have never seen so many people even pre-covid. Many restaurants in Patong were packed as late as 10:30pm. Finding a spot to park was a nightmare. At Karon beach probably 80+ percent were Russians. Once the Chinese start coming expect the prices to go up even more.

I have relatives visiting me now and had a look at the exchange boots along Chaweng beach road to exchange a few hundred USD....most of them are buying at 32 and sell at 35. Haven't seen such wide margins before. The greed is taking over Samui.

Medibank Private sells travel insurance, pet insurance etc....if you are a member you'll get 20% discount.

Yeah, sure... https://www.smh.com.au/national/speed-camera-fines-hit-200m-as-experts-push-for-30km-h-limit-in-city-20220512-p5akm0.html 200 mil only from speed cameras, only in NSW. 30 km speed limit in Sydney? That would be 3 hours end to end.

Why do you think that you are entitled to a cheap insurance at the age of 75? The insurance companies are businesses and need to turn a profit. They employ actuaries and statisticians who calculate premiums taking into account multiple factors, the primary one being the age of the insured. I'm just below 60 and paid around $460 aud with Medibank Private for medical only cover for 5 months.

Hmmmm, do you feel outpriced? The Chinese are also coming and is going to get worse. The businesses in the tourist areas like Phuket and Samui are doing quite well now, the hotel prices are higher than pre-covid, bikes to rent are hard to find and expensive, long term rentals are way up, domestic airfares are getting higher and higher. The low class from the West living in these areas will be slowly squeezed out, they either need to find ways to make more money or find greener pastures. Isaan is calling.

For me emergency is anything which prevents me flying out...as simple as that. If we could fly out any time we have medical issues very few people would buy an insurance.

There are not enough flights, it takes time for the airlines to get permits and add capacity. AFAIK the first direct flight from China to Samui is supposed to happen this Sunday, 26th. In other news Air France is squealing that the Chinese airlines have unfair advantage as they have access to the Russian air space, which makes the fly times between Europe and China/East Asia up to 3 hours shorter. China Eastern and the others are ramping up capacity to take advantage and increase their market share

The reopening of China coupled with growth of the Indian and the Middle East markets could beat Thailand's pre-covid tourist numbers as soon as the next year.

The OP is an American, in order to retire in Oz he'll need much more than 5 mil baht.

The Aussie beaches are cleaner but you can't retire there with 5 mil baht. This is a Thai beach.... plenty of good beaches here as well.

Taking into account your financial situation in your OP IMO there are a few risk factors for you which can cause depletion of your funds: * Emergency health issues that you can't cover. * Relationship with a wrong woman * Getting into a business in Thailand that you don't understand As long as you can manage and sort out these IMO you have enough money to live here.

The Hungarians were never friendly to Russia, they are just looking after their own interests. So do the Swiss, the experts in money laundering, the blood and crime money are always welcome, most dictators and mass murderers have Swiss bank accounts and real estate. Oligarchs Central.

None of the Thais I know has mentioned Ukraine or the war there in any way. They don't even show much interest in the Thai politics. The sheeple in the West is getting prepped for a new war, and a bigger one. War,war, war, this is what you hear every day. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-21/china-us-war-what-would-conflict-look-like-taiwan/101998772

Pattaya, no sex, 2k usd per month...you are going to be ok financially. The main issue looking forward would be health insurance. The older you get the more expensive it gets, and from your OP you don't have the money to self insure.

The drawback of the yellow book is the amount of time to make it....I think I've done 3 trips to Nathan and paid 1K baht for translation of my passport in Thai. If you can't read or write Thai you'll need a Thai person to help you with the forms. You also need a "witness" to say they know you for a while. Once you have the yellow book the pink card takes 30 minutes to do but as far as I remember had to go back to Nathon to pick it up. My DL was renewed with the yellow book but still has my name in English. AFAIK you can use the yellow book and your passport for DL, the pink card is not needed. The pink card is mainly useful in the national parks to pay Thai prices.

Yep lots of misinformation...I'm halfway through my second retirement extension and today submitted my first ever 90 days report online. Got an approval email 1-2 hours later. I was either out of the country every time before the 90 days report was due, or the Samui immigration was resetting it when the extension application was approved.

As far as I remember the Samui immigration resets the 90 days reporting date when issues a new retirement extension. Which makes a lot of sense as the extension requires a proof of current address paperwork.

Where is this racist fear mongering in Thailand? Only coming from a bunch of low class rejects from the home countries, and nobody pays any attention. It is business as usual everywhere, Koh Lipe looks packed at the moment.

Not necessarily, I have a foreign card which reimburses all ATM fees. However I rarely use it these days as I can take out money with my Thai cards from my Thai accounts.