persimmon

Good for tourism ? I don`t think so judging by the reaction of the crowd on Walking street when threatened with people throwing buckets of water - they made a big detour to avoid being soaked .

At least some of the Thais ask before a soaking - I was crossing the road last year and a Thai chap with one of those blue water pipe guns pointed it at me and said " Hey Mr. ...you want ? " .... er. let me think about this , do I want to be blasted in the face with dirty water , ruining my whole evening , or not ? 

I politely declined his offer .

OK , thanks - sounds like it might be ok as a back-up but probably too expensive to use all the time . One thing I was unsure about - Do I have to convert my £ balance held with Wise into Baht before I make an ATM withdrawal in Thailand , or can Wise do an instant xchange . ?

OK , I`m in the UK at the moment .

I`m thinking about ordering one of these as a back-up in case my Krungtai ATM card ceases to work / gets swallowed by an ATM etc . I haven`t used my KTB account for over a year now , but I sent some £ last month and checked the balance at the ATM in the UK and it was credited , so I assume everything is still ok .

Any downside to using the Wise card ?

I usually hand them a photocopy of my PP - don`t trust the real thing with anyone apart from an IO . Been accepted so far . Do they really check your PP for stamps and visas ? Are they even qualified to do this ?

I often see trucks loaded with sugar cane heading for the local factory churning out huge amounts of dirty black smoke from the exhausts , nobody seems to care . Then there`s the burning of crop residues and general rubbish . The GF wanted to get rid of an old 3 piece suite - solution , burn it generating unpleasant smoke . Nobody seems to care though ,nobody complained .

OK for those who enjoy travelling or live close to the border , not so good for those who don`t like waiting in immigration offices to do extensions . 

Still , very useful to know about as a back-up plan if the SETV doesn`t turn up in time for the flight .

11 hours ago, impulse said:

 

That's good to know for someone who may have done a border bounce in October and another in December.  They can do another in January...  Meaning that, with extensions, they can stay 8 months without hopping on a flight (if they time it right).

That said, I wonder how the IO's would perceive that.

Good question . Maybe you could ask the IO when leaving the country if there might be any problem getting back in ? 

Maybe he could be a busker - seen some of them in Patts . Or a dive instructor . 

Enjoy yourself , it`s later than you think .

It`s actually cheaper for me to live back in the UK , but the weather in Winter is usually bad - cold , wet and windy . Nowhere to go , just stay in and try to keep warm - it`s quite boring .

When I add up the cost of rent , food , travel , entertainment , visas etc , it`s more expensive in Thailand for me , but what price can you put on those clear blue skies and warm weather ?

Here`s a question - if the weather in Thailand was similar to Northern Europe , how many of you would stay here ? 

5 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

Sure, but inside 12 months the rates will be fairly similar. The one thing a retiree absolutely must avoid in retirement in Thailand is exchange rate angst which has seen huge numbers of people end their retirement here early.

Is there any way of avoiding x-rate worries though , apart from holding large amounts of Baht , which most people won`t want to do ?

As the OP said - it`s her job , so she is trying to improve her lot by  getting as much money as possible out of her sponsor . As far as she knows , her bf might be an internet billionaire , so keep on asking until she gets a refusal .

My impression is that in Thai culture , the man is supposed to give most of his income to support his familly . If she finds out the OP is not doing this , she`s going to be pi**ed off , regardless of how much she is actually getting .

10 hours ago, uttradit said:

Is it any better than any other northern city?

Not really - pleasant enough , but I think you would get bored after a week or two unless you had a reason to be there like a business or GF / wife .

Plus points for me - quietish ( not overrun with tourists ) , 3 good Jay food places , night market ( mainly tourist tat ) , near the border ( if it opens again ).

The big problem with most of these small towns is there is nowhere to walk . At least in Patts you can get some exercise and fresh air by walking along the beach .

IIRC , the minibus from Udon stops at the bridge in Nonghai before going on to the bus station . So I suppose when you come back across the bridge , you could either get a samlor to the bus station or wait at the bridge for the minibus back to Udon . Whatever , there are several reasonably priced places to stay in NK so no worries if you can`t get back in 1 day .

The easiest and cheapest solution for up to 6 months would seem to be ...

1). SETV for the 1st 60 days ( 60 )

2).extend at immigration  for another 30 days ( 90 )

3).leave the country and re-enter visa exempt for anther 30 ( 120 )

4).extend at immigration for another 30 ( 150 )

5).leave the country again and re-enter visa exempt ( 179 )

Might be a few less days due to leaving a margin of safety and the way they count the days .

There are minibuses that make the 1 hour trip to Nonghai that depart from the car park in front of Central Dept store in Udon . A taxi from the airport to Central only takes 10 mins and might cost c. bt 200 . The mini buses call in at several places before they park up in the bus station in Nonghai , the bridge area is the second stop . Lots of cheap places to stay in Nonghai , not a lot to do there , but you could easily spend 1 or 2 days - there is a night market and a touristy market . It`s quite a pleasant walk along the side of the river .

Before Covid I used Etihad LHR - BKK with a short stop over in the ME . After Covid , I couldn`t find any convenient flights ( most had very long stops ) so had to fly Thai . I like the non-stop flight - much better than having to disembark , get on a bus to the terminal , rush to join the queue for pp control etc . Only problem was the price £ 1100 yikes !

No complaints apart from the food which was poor - there were lots of raw , uncooked veg in my meal - inedible !

Would money brought in from the sale of a house be taxed ? In the UK , the sale of a domestic property attracts no CGT , so is a very good way of accumulating wealth over the long term . Not so good though if it`s taxed when transferred to Thailand .

Could there be a problem changing Bt -----> Euros in larger amounts ? It would mean every branch having to keep large stocks of foreign currency . I tried changing Bt to £ last year in Patts and couldn`t find any of the small kiosks who had any £ in stock .

1 hour ago, London Lowf said:

 

 

 

I truly believe that I am a genuine and valuable tourist 

 

That probably won`t help when dealing with immigration . We are just a number a them , another Farang , don`t expect them to be grateful for your presence in the country 

Long term studies have shown the average real ( after inflation ) return for stocks is around 5 % , so , take off say 1.5 % for costs and that leaves you with 3.5 % pa.

The average UK income is £ 35 k , so you would need around £ 1 million invested .

That would provide a sustainable 120 ,000 per month . Should be plenty .

I would guess that the budget for ladies would decrease with age - nobody wants to be the oldest swinger in town .