gearbox

You are targeting properties which are also in demand by the two week millionaires, this would make it a bit harder. Not that the two week millionaires are here, but there are some expectations that they'll return any time soon, which IMO is not going to happen. I was talking to some people here, a landlord of a restaurant on Chaweng beach road wants cool 4 million bahts rent per year for his now dilapidated property. Insane, there are a number of vacant properties around it. Greed is coming back, but prematurely???? My advice is to lower your bar and come and rent something for 3-6 months, that's enough time to have a look around and even decide if you want to stay here. Most of the foreigners living here permanently don't rent beachfront villas, there are tons of properties only for long term rental.

The beaches from Khanom to Songkhla are pretty good, however the water is far from crystal clear. Otherwise I think Songkhla is a great place, was there again 2 weeks ago. Very very few foreigners to be seen in the area. I used quite a bit the Google translator, in the small villages around pretty much nobody speaks any English.

Just post in the Samui related Facebook groups what type of property you are after, usually there are a number of replies. At the moment Samui has only a small fraction of tourists compared to pre-covid times, hard to believe they've ran out of rentals.

You are wrong, I entered Thailand two times with the Thailand pass and non-Thai travel insurance. The insurance must cover covid, there are quite a few of these now.

Sounds good.. Bangkok bank told me that 12 months statement would take a few days, they can only do 6 months or less on the spot.

That sounds like nonsense. If one has an employment contract with a Thai company, then a work permit type of visa would be available, no need for money in bank and insurance, and Thai social security and health cover would be available as well.

How long did you have to wait for the 12 months bank letter and statement? My account is with Bangkok bank and there is waiting time for statements covering more than 6 months.

OP, good public transport is hard to find in Thailand, only Bangkok has something which resembles it. You mentioned you like beaches, but what do you like - e.g only drinking sunset cocktails or do open water swimming. If you want swimming/snorkeling and clean water there are not that many places with airport nearby.

Lol...how something can be called "stable" when going down 85% in a week ????

These amounts are probably going to go upwards, not downwards. I don't think the bank deposits are the main issue for retirees, it is the uncertainty of the healthcare coverage as they get older, either too expensive or simply not available.

If you mean the government welfare OAP, true in Australia.

Finland is one of the most progressive nations in the world. They should use their EU membership to lobby to dissolve NATO and establish an EU defence pact where membership is mandatory for all EU countries. EU should focus on its own and invest in its own capabilities, it starts lagging China technologically which IMO is not good for the world. There are already suggestions decisions to be made with qualified majority (no veto), which would prevent small puppet states acting against the EU interests.

It is another proxy war... probably not the last one. US and Russia/USSR have been fighting proxy wars everywhere since 1945..the Vietnam war was in a way proxy war between USSR and US, the North Vietnamese got a lot of military aid. These 2 have enough nukes to destroy the world, otherwise IMO it is high time to start a direct war themselves without involving third countries.

Hang on! So the murderers throwing chemical weapons and napalm on the Vietnamese women and children are freedom fighters now? War is peace indeed!

Nothing to do with TAT, it is a survey commissioned by Visa, they are doing it anually. Of course the original report is getting "enhanced" by the "English teachers" turned journalists. If you read one of the original reports it is presented quite well and would be something like 15-20 pages.

It is a flawed study, or rather not reported correctly. When I saw India, UK, US above Thailand, I thought something is wrong, India gets far less foreigners than Thailand. Looking at a previous full report of the study it seems the domestic travel is also included, that explains the places US and India are taking, big countries with large domestic market.

The best ever result for Le Pen. If the trend continues eventually she'll win.

NATO is an American tool to sell weapons to "allies" and use the member countries to project American interests. It should have been dismantled after the cold war and replaced with a smaller "EU only" defence pact. EU only pact should use weaponry produced only in EU, the French manufacture pretty good stuff, and Germany is proven many times it could make excellent military hardware. No need to line up the pockets of the warmongers. Would be interesting times ahead, Macron barely won against Le Pen, and apparently in Germany the government is getting quite unpopular.

There is no checkbox when you fill in the forms of the Thailand pass which says "I live here, don't need insurance". If you don't fill in the insurance details you can't press "Submit".

How do you work without work permit? Toyota wants someone with a stable job and predictable income. My gf bought a new Hilux a few years ago, they even came to see where we live, eventually we had to put 40% deposit to get the car, as at the time her business income was not that stable and predictable. She paid the balance on the loan in full after one year, but there were some penalties for early payments, so if you intend to pay it faster check the terms and conditions.

That's Samui...I was chatting to people who got charged 400 baht for 1.5 km distance. On the way back they just walked.

I haven't read the Putin's speech, but the Chinese summarised it perfectly: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1255314.shtml If Russia have joined NATO after the cold war there would be a competitor to sell weapons, and also the European part of NATO would be too big and powerful militarily. Not allowed to happen. EU is getting poorer and less competitive by the hour, watch the centrifugal forces and the far right or left getting further ground there.

I can guess roughly where are you living ???? I was cycling in the same area around a week ago. Great place, great people. True, not a lifestyle for everyone, but pretty good in my eyes. Being close to the ocean is the main thing, it opens a lot of options. Although the water is a bit murky there ????

OP your biggest concern here would be healthcare, the older you get the more expensive the health insurance is, to the point when it eats big chunk of your budget. Have a plan B to move back and don't burn your bridges.

Great stuff, looks like good lifestyle on minimal outlay. Thumbs up.