SpokaneAl

 
 
I would say yes....
 
There are transport options as you cross into Cambodia (invariably, touts with mates who have a car etc).
 
How many of you are traveling?
 
I can put you in touch with someone with a Lexus (max 4 people) or minibus (max8/9)

On 1/6/2018 at 7:32 PM, Jip99 said:

Your research is about right.

 

Parking is easy (then 10 Baht motorcy taxi to the border or 300 m walk).

 

 

Are you sure a hotel will pick you up ?  Not come across that before.  A private minibus will be circa $85/90 each way.

 

A decent 3 star hotel with pool will be $40/50 per night.

 

I personally prefer visiting the temples by tuk-tuk rather than car or minibus.

 

Recommend The Haven Training restaurant for a meal one night.

 

Beers @ 50c a glass in Pub St are a must and perhaps a Tomb Raider cocktail at the Red Piano bar.

 

 

Oodles of things to do depending on your tastes and budget.

 

 

If late March it could be very hot and humid..

Do we need to arrange for a private mini bus before arriving at the immigration point? 

This seems like a non issue for US citizens who already declare income and pay necessary income taxes each year to the federal government.

http://www.thailawforum.com/articles/taxleeds.html 

$2,192 X 12 = $26,304 X 35 = $920,640   No taxes in this calculation.  No provision for inflation, health care, abode, transportation, insurance, entertainment, telephones, clothing  savings etal.  Keep this in mind as your read on.
 
My wife and I play golf about three times a week, eat at home nearly all the time and watch TV for entertainment.  Including all costs mentioned above except medical care we spend on average about $2,100 U.S. per month which eats up your $2,192 not including some kind of income or VAT taxes and savings.  I expect we'll have to quit playing golf in a few years and my wife will begin drawing her own Social Security income of about $1,400 a month in two years, which should help pay for our future medical expenses.
 
Sounds great until you add in a place to live as the above doesn't include the cost of that, medical care which has averaged about $6,000 a year for only me the past twelve years, transportation which should be an automobile, not a motorcycle, travel back and forth on occasion to wherever you came from, furniture, new appliances every 7 to ten years, a replacement of the car mentioned above at least once every ten years, clothing, shoes, TV and phone bills every month,.......oh and food and drink every day of every year.
 
These figures don't include everything as one cannot ever be that good at these calculations but clearly paint a picture you should be able to see.
 
We retired here in August 2006 with over $900,000 in our bank accounts.  That is not a boast, it was cashing in everything we owned plus a $500,000 company pension which took me forty five years to earn.
 
We bought a house for approximately $,180,000 and a car for $35,000, shipped our household goods and furniture over here, and settled down for the first six years of our retirement.  This was in August 2006.  I'm thinking you are old enough to have experienced 2006-2008 and what it did to everyone's net worth so I'll skip the details until later.  In 2007 we sold the house we had bought as it was built by a guy from England who it turns out knew crap about building......got about $115,000 down and carried a first mortgage which gave us an additional Baht 40,000 to live on until the purchasers went broke and couldn't pay for two years......the house is now rented at baht 45,000 a month and for sale.   Maint. costs and mgmt fees are approx Baht 15,000 a month.  We got really lucky and found a big seaside condo for about $190.000 in 2007 which we still live in.  Oh, our savings have always been in a variety of mutual funds selected by my employer's Stock Broker who has become a good friend over the years.
 
In late 2012 I got an offer from my former employer to come and help him put the admin part of his business back together after suffering the above mentioned financial meltdown.....which was a blessing because our savings were down to about $75,000 plus the approximately $2,200 a month I get from U.S. Social Security, and until the past two years the Baht 40,000 a month from the house sale.
 
Taking the job cost me about $35,000 in moving costs, buying the wife a car etc.  We left our condo as it was because I didn't want renters ruining it, and for the next three years came back for an annual one month vacation.
We were very lucky to be paid well and managed to save just about an even $200,000 in the three years we were back in the States. Without that opportunity we would by now be living in the sticks  and probably not playing golf or having much of a life.....because since I think about 2009 I've had five major surgeries that cost, on average about $12,000.
 
Currently we still have our two homes, a two year old car and about $250,000 in cash and investments.  I am now 74 years old and the wife is 60......so surely we'll have more medical expenses to deal with.  At this point one can only cross their fingers and hope it will be enough.  We will continue to earn our Social Security as well until death.  If you don't have something like that to fall back on you had better forget about retiring or living in Thailand!
 
I didn't start this to be so open about our finances but I know how hard it is to find out how much life might really cost you after retirement and none of you know who we are anyway.  
 
If you aren't retired yet print this out and save it somewhere.  The figures are real and not over or understated.  
 
p.s. -   Bitcoin will make some of you rich and some poor.......as you make your decision remember you are buying blue sky.......nothing physical.  Be careful and good luck again.

I would gladly accept an annual ROI of 7.5% after any taxes

A 7.5% return on equity investments over a single 12 month period is hardly worth bragging about. The stock markets have been very good over the short term, but as a long, long term investor, I would never set my retirement income goals via banking on a short term return numbers.

Actually, investment professionals tend to recommend no more than a 4% annual withdrawal from retirement funds if one hopes to have a reasonable chance of not outliving one’s investments. That would provide you with $20 thousand to live on. 

Thst would be too low for me by a significant margin, and I am living up in Issan for six months each year.

Pain on the top of the foot sounds like a stress fracture. It can take 3-4 months to recover from this. I am going through the same thing at the moment and have just started running again a month ago, after 3 months off. I tried to run too early and it just got worse. In the end I had to give in and spend one month without doing any sort of lower body cardio. Couldn't even bicycle. The second month I started going for long walks and doing some bicycling. After 3 months I started adding in some short, easy paced runs. Now ramping it up a bit and feeling great, although cautiously. Bicycling a couple times per week to mix it up.

It sounds like you were on the right track with the barefoot running and working on form. It is just that you progressed way to quickly. A common mistake many make because it can feel so incredible to start making progress with running. From no running at all to running 45-60 min should be a slow progression of 6 months to 1 year. You are building up muscles and tendons in places that have never been activated before, especially if you have worn modern cushioned 'supportive' shoes for many years.

Don't listen to this nonsense about getting cushioned running shoes and buying new pairs every 3 months or whatever. Total bs brought to us by the running shoe industry. Instead, once you are healed, start very slowly by walking barefoot (or in minimalist shoes) and aim to run no more than 30 min nonstop at the 3 month mark. Maybe even safer to aim for 30 min at 6 months. In the end, if you stick with it, the payoff will be huge and you will find yourself in incredible shape with very strong legs/feet.

In the meantime, lay off your feet as much as possible. Stress fractures can get much worse and require surgery/pins, if you aggravate them.

i bought my first nike in 77 :)

Waffle trainers? I have had a few pairs of those over the years.

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I read about Brooks being a good choice.  I always thought they were a cheap brand like Gola in the UK.  I am out of touch with brands as I've always gone for Adidas with tennis.

 

^So with your injuries, what are you doing for exercise?

Brooks is a well known shoe company that makes very fine running shoes. Not any more cheap or low end than any of the many other running shoe companies. I bought my first pair of Brooks running shoes back in 1978.

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Question to the keen runners out there.
 
I am your classic molly dooker.   Left-footed, left-handed, dominant left eye, I even chew on the left side of my mouth,
 
My passion for middle distance jogging has consumed countless pairs of runners over the years.   Without exception, my right shoe has always worn out well before my left ,especially the tread.
 
I think I run in a relaxed manner with a symmetrical gait.   I often check myself when I pass by a shop window (don't we all?) and I don't seem to favour either leg.    If there was an imperceptible  difference,  I would have envisaged my left shoe pounding the pavement a little harder than my right, and so, lose rubber quicker.   But not so.  
 
Does anyone else here experience uneven wear in their shoes, with the less-dominant side copping more of the damage, as in my case?
 
RUNNING.   IT'S NOT ABOUT HAVING TIME.   IT'S ABOUT MAKING TIME

When I first started running, I ran bare foot as it felt more natural to me.  After my right foot started to feel bruised, I used my running shoes which I purchased over 2 years ago with the intent to run then.  I didn’t.  After switching to running shoes, my left foot started.
 
Following advice and comments here, I will be buying a crosstrainer as part of my routine.
 
I understand shoes are vital as they are in tennis, Zola Bud felt more natural at the time.
 
Pain is on top of my foot around the shoe lace area, not the ball of my foot.
 
If a detail I missed in early posts, I am not sure where the confusion is?

Duplicate.

When you get back to running again, with the right shoes of course, you may want to consider doing your runs with walking intervals mixed in. I have a 75 year old friend who does a marathon every year and does a 10/2 mix - ten minutes of running followed by two minutes of walking - with great success. Others have a mix of 3/1 or thereabouts.

This method seems to allow those of us who are more seasoned in life to continue on with this great sport.

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While I love and respect this culture deeply, it certainly is one where doing anything and everything to avoid facing any problem head on is ingrained in every fiber of their being. Such a simple solution - one of the train officials politely points out the problem, or perhaps another passenger can do the same.

i agree but its still hard to argue walking on air. do u know how many patents nike has. its ubsurd 

i agree but its still hard to argue walking on air. do u know how many patents nike has. its ubsurd 

Are your comments based on running experience or opinion?

Air cushioned shoes are merely one solution. Many prefer gel cushioned, and others prefer foam cushioned shoes. I have run in all and there are advantages and disadvantages for each. No single solution is overwhelmingly better.

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great u are getting your heart rate up. definitely for sure. what about the new info that says people that do this are hurting thier heart.  remember jim fixx

Your info is incomplete/incorrect.

Also, concerning Jim Fixx - from Wikipedia - His autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%.

He had, on several occasions, refused a checkup, which could have found the problems.

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What is your plan for a medical emergency?


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Thanks for the detailed report. Very interesting.


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I believe the correct routine for road running is to have two pairs of shoes. You only use one pair for running, keeping one "new" pair unused. About once a month you run in the "unused" pair. As soon as you can feel a difference between the two you buy a new pair and repeat.

how about cushioning shoes? i hear under armour is now making shoes. 

pounding on the body is not good.. how can one argue with running on air?  nike is a nasty company now though. i wish thier patents would be taken off so other shoe companies could utilize air technology

Actually research is showing that the jarring of running is actually good for the joints over time. Cyclists and swimmers seem to face some later aged problems because they have not had that jarring over the years.

And every running shoe, unless one goes for the totally minimal shoe, has a degree of cushioning. Is cushioning via air vs. gel vs. foam better? It really depends on the runner, the running surface, the amount of running, etc etc.

As the late great running philosopher Dr. George Sheehan told us, each of us is an experiment of one.

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Great copy paste skills, I think we have already been through all this though, I meant to say why would they change their mind and issue a request for his arrest?

 
If Interpol suddenly changed the decision they made 10 years ago to not issue a warrant for his arrest?  And why would they do that?

We flew EVA for the first time this past November from the US to BKK and will return in April. We liked the flight very much and it was nice to leave late at night and arrive in BKK in the middle of the day as opposed to our normal arrival times of around midnight.

I also do like their upgraded economy section.

One problem I have is that I find it difficult to reserve round trip tickets since we depart a bit inland from the coast. EVA is happy to make us a round trip reservation from Seattle, for instance, but then it is up to us to get back and forth, to and from Seattle.

I want to check in our baggage in Spokane, WA and not see it again until we hit BKK, and expect the same in the return flight.


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