mfd101

What's with all the shouting? The technology is new and evolving. It can suit some people NOW, most people NOT.

Watch it move over the next 10 years. In my case Oz is a good place to watch - huge distances between the 6 cities where 90% of the population lives, and vast areas off the main roads. There's the test of the new technology over the next 10 years.

1 hour ago, jackdd said:

Yes, seems this was scrapped, can't be purchased on a case by case basis when flying economy anymore.

 

But an alternative: https://www.thailongstay.co.th/promotion.html

They basically do everything which Thai Elite does, just for a fraction of the cost and not 20 years upfront:

Get the extension, a re entry permit, do 90 day reports and fast track.

If somebody has money to burn, sure go for Thai Elite ????

Does using this mob avoid the compulsory health insurance issue?

Part of the solution for recharging - perhaps almost the whole solution down the track, particularly in sunny climates - will be solar panels in the roof of the vehicle. Already being worked on.

I'm startled to learn there are as many as 520 charging stations here already. Has to be a good thing. In 10 years it'll be all electric everywhere, and recharge way cheaper than petrol or diesel.

All they have to do is keep the stations operating during monsoon blackouts ...

25 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Hi mfd101,

You will most probably be interested in this.

>> I just PM-ed you a comprehensive Roadmap containing all details/options on how to switch to a Non Imm O - retirement Visa and subsequent 1-year extension.  Going that road there is no need for the @#$% thai IO-approved health-insurance scam, and that's the ONLY difference between the two as the requirements/conditions for an extension based on a Non Imm O - retirement Visa are further exactly the same as for an extension for reason of retirement based on your original Non Imm OA Visa. 

Obviously it is highly recommended to make sure you are well-covered health-insurance wise, so the money saved on not succumbing to the exorbitantly expensive thai IO-approved Mickey Mouse HI policies that meet the IO requirements, can then be spend on a decent international (or thai) policy that provides real coverage.

Thanks for that. I shall read with interest. My hesitation re converting from OA-derived to O relates mostly to possible later extension of health insurance requirement to O. And then hesitations about the process of converting - but I think your message will be particularly helpful in that regard. At this stage, with 7 months till renewal, I'm keeping all options open.

Thanks once again.

The issues are actually complex for someone like me (70, healthy, planning to be here till the end, OA retirement visa originally, now on annual extension with monthly 65K+ income stream, no health insurance but do have Thai accident insurance, not poor but not wealthy).

It's the health insurance threat that is potentially the killer (though I recognize that I should have some). Renewal coming up in October. At this stage I'm thinking of trying out the approved Thai health insurance for 1 year, or even 2 to see if it works for me. Alternative is elite 5 years. (20-year elite strikes me as silly unless you're filthy rich - too many risks associated with old age & living in Thailand!)

20/24 in the 'top' list are in Asia ...

Purely indicative, I guess. Where you rank could depend on the time of day the measures are made, and the local weather at the time (wind, rain ... ).

Just now, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

are you suggesting the thai should start offering educational and financial services to the chinese?

No. Just reminding people that 'exports' is not just things shipped from Thailand to some other country. 'Exports' includes services provided in Thailand to anyone who pays for them with non-Baht currency.

And after that, the pain-in-the-butt health insurance nonsense. If they could backtrack on that in the next 2 or 3 months, I would feel much relieved.

All we need to do is get a petition together and some publicity in Western newspapers ... Now's the time for action, with help from coronaV.

The current testing regime at border posts seems to be mostly farcical. Probably catches no more than, say, 10% of possibles?

Having a high temperature is likely to be a sign of something not right, so bears followup. And that's fine.

But NOT having a high temperature tells you nothing about possible viral infections that may manifest themselves tomorrow or in 2 weeks' time.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

while relevant agencies work to refill dams along the Chao Phraya River.

A long line of underemployed people passing buckets along ...

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The lower than usual water levels in the dams is due to unusual weather patterns, resulting in less-than-usual precipitation

And their plan for if it turns out to be the new normal is ... ?

The 'Australian' newspaper says that the many research labs in the Western world say that (1) the real number of infections in China so far must be at least 100,000 (and that's from labs whose mathematical modelling has tracked the increases pretty exactly as they happened and then, as data accumulated, made what turned out to be accurate forward projections);  (2) by the time the Chinese regime 'isolated' Wuhan, the infection had already spread to all major Chinese cities; (3) the Ro number appears to be around 2-3, which, if further data bears that out, means that corona is far less infectious than, say, measles (12-13) and is around the same as SARS (2-4), which - if I understand correctly - means that new infections will reach a peak at some stage soon and then diminish steadily towards zero.

A common phenomenon: Native speakers of Language X who think that that fact qualifies them to teach X to non-X speaking people.

Pity the poor kids. Mind you, most of the Thai 'English' teachers I've encountered here in Isaan can't speak a word of English, or are too frightened to do so ...

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Sometimes but rarely, it's usually easier to just choose another hotel.

I would just say no.

 

The last 30-40 hotels I stayed at with Booking.com, Agoda, AirBnB haven't asked, and wouldn't have got.

I doubt the entire door in a Thai 3* hotel would be worth 600bht.

At my hotel in Asoke they ask for 1000฿ deposit, which they hand back to me when I check out a day or 5 later ... And the problem is ... ?

25 minutes ago, toolpush said:

I finished building my house in 1999 and installed a 80,000 baht Aussie solar water heater. It bit the dust in about 8 years. I bought and installed a local product for 55,000 baht and it lasted about 5 years. I did the same again for another 55,000 baht. Total = 190,000 baht for intermittent hot water and no hot water on rainy/cloudy days or Dec, Jan and Feb. Basically, I was an idiot. I now have an electric tank heater that has 24/7/365 hot water. I could have bought a lot of electricity for 190,000 baht.

But for your calculation & comparison to be accurate you need to factor in your electricity costs for your traditional-style hot water  - so the answer comes out: 190K - X

Perfectly normal. Covers your drinks from the fridge in case you fail to mention them when you leave.

Pigs will drown rather than fly.

It was my wunnerful tax accountant people who offered me up as a virtuous sacrifice. I didn't have any valid ground to object, unfortunately.

Sigh, that's the price of virtue. $7K isn't the end of the world (though I have stressed to my b/f that actually making some money from his fighting roosters might not be a bad idea!).

48 minutes ago, MichelleRawai said:

Oh yes that's what I'm afraid of!... What were you taxed on though? Aus income or foreign income? And what rate? Had you been filling out tax returns?

My income is and always has been entirely Australian (super + investments) paid in Oz. So no escaping the ATO.

I have been doing Oz tax returns every year of my adult life, including the last 4 years from here in Thailand but the 1st 3 were as 'Resident for Tax Purposes'. And obviously I'm not about to revise those 3 returns!

I have just had the inevitable but unpleasant experience of being declared Non-Resident for Tax Purposes by the ATO, after 4 years living in Thailand. Can't wriggle out of it, lose tax-free threshold and a few 'poor person' subsidies. Net effect: Extra $7000 to cough up, which I have just done. Sigh.

If only life in Thailand were as cheap as it used to be!

Fingers crossed. Quite apart from health matters, the whole world economy and supply trains of all kinds in all directions and in just about all countries are grinding to a halt.

We may yet have a new generation - well, several actually - who will have to learn from their grand- and great-grand parents how to raise spuds, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, beans, chooks, apples, oranges ... how to milk a cow, ride a horse ... Heavens, I feel exhausted already.