khunPer

I use an ice cold shower to stop temptation from girls and something that looks like girls...

Samui Immigration accepts income affidavit according to their list of documents for extension of stay, both based on marriage and retirement. You might find more about it the pinned thread in the local Samui-forum, link here is for the last page... The scan hereunder is the documents required for extension of stay based on marriage at Samui Immigration – document collected in the office yesterday, March 1st 2024 – set 2 is the same in Thai language for the wife to read...

Yes, as parent – and the child can be a foreigner – many international schools will help you with the process.

It's been 22:00 for the last 20+ years; i.e., airport closed between 22:00 and 06:00. However, delayed flights are permitted. During the 2004 tsunami chaos, night flights were permitted, as tourists could not enter Phuket.

To my knowledge you need to be registered in a Thai House Book to be eligible for a Thai ID-card; i.e. living/resident in Thailand. You probably needs to be mature – i.e., 20 years or older – to apply for anything without parents or a guardians acceptance; I'm not sure of there is a lower age for ID-cards. You don't need a Thai ID-card to staying long term in Phuket. You needs either a long-stay visa and extension of stay when using your British passport, or get a Thai passport. With the latter you enters Thailand as a Thai national and there is no limitation of the period you can stay in the kingdom.

My advise would be to hold some level of funds in Thailand for both easy access and avoiding currency exchange rate fluctuation. A safe possibility is a "rainy day" 12-month fixed account – funds can be withdrawn without notice, but with loss of interest for the last 12-month period – up to 1 million baht in bank deposit is guaranteed by the government. You can have accounts in more than one bank. Some security money should always be places in a normal extra savings account, preferably with an ATM-card, for easy access in case of emergency; keep it apart for the daily transaction-bank account – where for example retirement pension or whatever other income flows to – so you don't mix up the funds. Another possibility for deposit funds in Thailand is so-called "fund books", which many, if not most, banks offer. It's mutual funds with numerous possibilities. Selecting "fixed income funds" is pretty safe. They are normally accumulating, which means that the interest/outcome is added to the value. When in need of capital you sell out whatever needed. Cash will be available within one to three bank days in the associated savings bank account. There is no loss of interest, as the fund are accumulating. I've been using that in several years for both safety-fund and other long-term savings, for example for the next car or coming major property maintenance. In general the gain is a tiny bit higher than interest from a 12-month fixed account. Investment in the Thai stock market is a bit different story. It's my experience that the Thai stocks lives a bit of their own life, but still partly follows international trend. They are mainly dividend paying stock rather than accumulating value. The dividends however, can easily be in the four to six percent level, or even higher, and with only 10 percent withholding tax it's quite good. Furthermore, you avoid currency exchange rate fluctuation. Capital gains from SET-listed (SET = Stock Exchange of Thailand) stock are income tax free. I have some funds invested in the Thai stock market, but would name is a more risky zone, mainly because it's for a forreigner more difficult to know and follow the game. Investing in one's home country – my major funds savings are in mu home country – has the benefit that you knows better what's going on, than in the Thai stock market. For Western countries the investment also mainly follows the World market and it's sectors. Also in case of returning to one's home country – for whatever reason – there are some safe fund there. It can of course also be in an offshore account a safe place. The only downside is currency exchange rate fluctuation. Most countries have a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) with Thailand, including taxation of stock dividends. Any fund transferred into Thailand that are not covered by an DTA or savings from before 1st January 2024, might be eligible for Thai income taxation.

Could theoretically also be people searching for posts in former Twitter...

I'm 74 years old and normally don't have sleep problems. I'm mainly B-human – sleeps late and wake up late after an excellent sleep – but I follow my body, or "listen" to my body, and sleep when tired, and wake up when I wake up, not by an alarm clock. Some times I take a nap in the afternoon, if my body needs it; it would be around 45 minutes. I'm former from music business, so my sleeping pattern might originate from that. I take a Central multi mineral-vitamin once a week, and extra B-12 complex once a week – B12 since I many years back had vision nerve infection, and B12 keeps me free of that infection – furthermore, I take a 1,000mg daily vitamin-C. I enjoy a glass of wine (about 12.5cl) or two with my dinner, but otherwise hardly drink any alcohol. And yes to change of sleeping pattern. Where I before to my awake knowledge would sleep all night of 7-8 hours through, I now wake up a couple of times – seems like 1½ hour patterns – now being aware of my exiting dreams; it's actually a quite nice experience to know one's dreams.

To my knowledge it's quite normal that young Thai girls have relationship with toms, as they are still "virgins" when they find a boyfriend or a fiance. Furthermore a tom-relationship might be less difficult than a boyfriend. And of course, they likely won't get pregnant with a tom.

Lucky you...😀

It might be depending on the individual countries you visit. You Thai GF can get an international drivers license from the Land Transport Office – check which branch in the province, as not all branches issues one – which will make her Thai DL eligible all over Europe. However, the Thai DL has text in both English and Thai, which might make it legal – it for example clearly says "Private Car Driving License" and shows icons on the back. I was in Denmark/Europe 2022 and checked if I could use my Thai DL, which I could and I could also rent a car using that; I checked in advance with the car-rental company in question. If a major car renter in Europe accepts a Thai DL, then it's legal and with car insurance cover.

I've never closed a Thai company, but posts in these forums have been stating that is costs in the same level to close a company limited as establishing one. As @scubascuba3 said, check with your accountant about company tax of the profit, as the property was held by the company and funds from sale therefore belongs to the company.

I've been using both DHL and EMS to WEstern Europe, both worked fine and fast, and both were at the receiver's address within a week. You cannot use experience from during the Covid-pandemic, as many services – hereunder flights – were out of order during that period.

Me – and probably among several others – just 20 baht in cash can make a difference...

Always keep the deposit fund in a separate account, it makes it much easier for everybody. And if you can afford it, just place the fund in a 12-month fixed account for best interest and sleeping well, knowing that the money is always there.

I feel safe...

I have home-country friends that leaves their family for a two week Thai romance – some of them did it at some point every year – it actually saved their marriages, and was thereby a benefit for the family. I'm pretty sure the wives knew what was going on, even it was never spoken about.

Just read the OP...

Happy because I never got married...

There is to my research no official statistics for resident foreigners counting the number, it has been based on estimates that vary from 500,000 and up to a million. Migrant workers from neighboring countries are not included. According to the Thailand Migration Report 2019, based on visas issued in 2017, the number is only approximately 200,000, divided as 77,000 for family reasons (marriage, children), 73,000 pensioners, and 50,000 due to investments. However, it is unclear what exactly these figures cover, whether they are visas issued by Thai embassies and consulates abroad, or extensions of stay issued by domestic immigration offices. According to the Ministry of Labour, there are also almost 113,000 well-educated foreign workers, so the total number is 313,000 if investor visas are included. A study by Mahidol University based on 2010 figures found that 2,581,141 foreigners lived in Thailand, of which 72 percent, 1,858,000, were from Southeast Asia (mostly guest workers), with 1.3 million Burmese as the largest single group. Among the remaining approximately 720,000 so-called expats, the largest single groups were 141,000 Chinese, 85,000 British, 80,000 Japanese, 46,000 Indians, 40,000 Americans, 24,000 Germans and 23,000 French. Financial news outlet Bloomberg reported that 80,000 pensioner visas were issued in 2018, an increase of 30 percent since 2014. The largest single groups were British with 16 percent, Americans 12 percent, Germans 9 percent, Chinese 7 percent and Swiss 6 percent.

I happily never married, so "wife's friends" are not a problem to me...

Well, His Majesty is flying B737 – which can land on Samui Airpoort – and he was captain on a commercial THAI-promotion B737 flight when he met Her Majesty queen Suthida of Thailand, who was a cabin attendant on that flight. He got a B737 with same registration placed in his private park in Bangkok, the former Dusit Zoo. He also owns private B737s that he has been flying in Germany and around in Europe, probably with a valid license. Based on these facts, it's quite likely that HM Vajiralongkorn is licensed to fly a B737, and that he did flew one of those to Samui. As crown prince HM was often guest on the island and arrived in a B737, which was parked at the airport during his visits. The airport could accommodate B717-200s and Bangkok Airways did use them on their Samui route. Bangkok Airways operated B717 from 2000 to 2009 and I've personally flown in them to Samui back in 2001. The B717 was based on DC9. The manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas, merged with Boeing and the DC9 was renamed, since number 717 was never used. B717 has a take off run of 1, 905 meters and landing 1,402 meters respectively. The runway on Samui was by that time expanded to 2,100 meters. The ATR72 could operate on a shorter runway of 1,400 meters, while the airfield was originally built for Dash-8-200 aircrafts that only needed 1,200 meters. I think to remember, that the original runway was 1,500 or 1,600 meters. A B737-200 has a take off run on 1,859 meters and a B737-700 of 1,878 meters. Some B737 variants have take off run around 2,300 meters. When not fully loaded to max take off weight, an aircraft's take off run can be shorter. When THAI was flying themselves to USM they used B737s. The distance to the once suggested second airport in the southern part of the island is only 14 kilometers from USM, which might cause safety problems.

A major difference between Samui Airport and most other airports in Thailand is that it's funded by private money and the users pay for it – i.e. building the airport, maintenance and running service costs – instead of government money. The possibility of establishing another airport on the island is like zero, as there need to be a certain safety distance between two airports. There are some news articles about it, which you can find if you Google for them. Furthermore – my point of view – is that numerous budget tourists, who can still arrive via Surat Thani and using the boats or ferries like in good old time as @Tropicalevo said, might still not choose Samui due to higher accommodation rates that many other parts of the country. So, a second airport and/or budget airfares might not be enough to satisfy the budget tourists' demand. The island is already balancing on the limit of what it's infrastructure can supply. It's unlikely – especially with the present land-prices – that some will invest in numerous low-price budget hotels.

Yes, as long as somebody pays for it, it most likely reused, very few will pay for worthless stuff...

Just buy same model Mitsubishi pump again – easy to replace – 15 years in an excellent life time for a water pump in Thailand.