hotandsticky

He was free to come back and serve his 2 years.

Ah, yes. I understand. Several friends are in a similar situation. If my partner passed before me, I would not want to live in what was 'our' house.

I can certainly understand that, the whole area being a Thaksin stronghold. It doesn’t matter what I think, I am a Farang - but I think many Thais see Thaksin as a God/saviour and overlook his corruption etc because they felt he did good for them……phone boxes in every village, the 30 Baht health scheme (Abhisit later abolishing the 30 Baht because it cost more to administer than collect), mobile phone inducements, war on drugs. He was a good salesman.

It gave me an extra 7 days holiday, paid for by the Thai government. Sometimes the choice has to be the best of two evils. You need to take off your rose-tinted glasses where Thaksin is concerned. Look what happened when that nice man Khun Abhisit was put in charge.

If you need it explaining to you, you will never understand it.

I agree with virtually all of that. I also believe that you have to experience life on a budget to be able to understand the value of money. My income is 7x what it was when I moved to Thailand. I am not 7x times happier - or, more accurately, 7x more content - but I am able to do more things and have more choices. I will not be buying a sailing boat ????

Unfortunately not, as the evidence shows.

You only post nonsense ????…..and spoken like one who has lived on a small budget! I certainly agree that wit is a great advantage when making best use of time when funds are limited; I, and several friend, have done just that. However, that same wit can/should be used in the event of a windfall/improved circumstances to enhance the quality of life further. When you refer to those who ‘need’ to spend money to keep occupied, you are talking about the witless……… don’t confuse the two.

Even the Chinese are not that interested in Isaan………you should be safe there.

Additional money is of no use if you don’t have the wit, or positive attitude, to use it to change the ‘same sh!t every day’. Extra money gives the opportunity to do things that you could not previously do. Totally wasted without a change of mindset.

Your concerns are not unfounded. Thaksin had/(has?) a great ability to manipulate Thailand’s gullible citizens, whilst raping the country’s finances for the benefit himself and his family. I saw him at a rally in Siem Reap and there is no doubt that he is a good orator. Whilst the claimed attendance of 20,000 was nearer to 7,000 they were nonetheless roused by his passionate speech. Personally, I think (and hope) that his time has gone. However, many people in authority are still on his payroll. The much feared return after the death of Rama 1X never looked like happening and I can’t see a pitchfork revolution happening now. Whilst I am no fan of the Junta they do seem to have provided stability and the red vs yellow shirt battles are a distant memory.

Slightly off topic but I noticed in Spain this year that smoking is no longer allowed on many outside terraces. Specific smoking areas are provided but no longer the free for all open on one side smoke fest in Thailand. Maybe in 10 years Thailand will have followed the Spanish.

That was Plan B……

Whilst devastating, I would hate to be so dependent on one person that I couldn’t move on in the event of their demise.

One More Farang makes a good point given the destabilizing effect of such a return. It would be easy to ‘get over’ Thaksin if Thaksin’s sole desire wasn’t a glorious return to power.

There is a very simple solution to that if you are genuinely fearful for your life.

Interesting perspective on ‘dwindling’ exchange rates. Before you arrived I think they were around the 30 mark. Too many people set their benchmark when rates were around 70 with little consideration that the 1997-2007 highs were not ‘normal’. 71, on my first visit, 63 when I paid for some land then 55 a year later when I moved permanently to Thailand. I calculated longer term budgets @GBP/THB 50…………I would be happy to see that rate again.

Fallback is surely to use an agent.

Buriram, Surin, Khon Kaen (plus several others) do NOT do a check at 3 months after your application. Jomtien, for example, do.

Wrong! Read the article!

Good for you, but Irrelevant. Services were not provided

I flew SCOOT premium economy on price. I won't be flying with them again........certainly not long-haul. Budget does not work for long haul. Whilst the cabin crew were good - which prat thought up the name Scooties!; SCOOT managed to screw up my food order both ways and the internet did not work.

My flight from Pnohm Penh was checked in July, my flight from Siem Reap in August - luck of the draw. (both flights into Cambodia were fully checked). The check is for evidence of vaccination. Two shots is deemed to be sufficient and paper or digital evidence is acceptable.

Somewhat different, I would suggest - as was my situation when the Yellow Shirts blockaded Suvarnabhumi airport. This guy was the victim of SCOOT booking a flight that they never intended to honour. In the current climate a refund was never going to cover inflated flight costs. He was badly treated and posted his account as a warning to others. He wasn't all "woe is me", he didn't set up a go fund me page - he took the cost on the chin but recognised how much worse it was for a family of four in the same situation. SCOOT are the culprit here, not the OP.

I do try to look for logic and fairness in rules.............................. In this case rule ONLY helps a new retiree who has also been able to previously set up a bank account and start making pension payments into it. That makes it pretty pointless as the rule will only apply to a tiny percentage of applicants. Much fairer, and logical, is to permit 2/3 payments for any first application - with evidence of 12 x 65k required for subsequent applications.