CygnusX1

That’s certainly the only reason I spend my 179 tax free days per year in Thailand, though I’m not entirely sure that my 3 terminally Woke sisters believe me…

Just to recap what others have said on page 224, my interpretation of the pension supplement is, for a single person per fortnight, - Basic supplement $28.90, which is paid even after more than 6 weeks overseas - Total supplement to $44.80 minimum to $83.20 maximum, pro-rated by the amount of part pension received, the part of which is on top of the basic supplement ceasing after 6 weeks overseas - Energy supplement of $14.10, which ceases after 6 weeks overseas Couldn’t find any information on whether the basic supplement is pro-rated by part pension, so I’m guessing it isn’t. (If overseas for more than 26 weeks, different rules apply for those who haven’t been long term Australian residents. I think these rules would only affect those who emigrated to Australia as adults, wouldn’t affect those who’ve spent most of their lives in Australia.) Apologies if I’ve made any mistakes here, just trying to do my best, and of course as others have said, contact Centrelink if you need definitive information. System wouldn’t let me post the links to Services Australia. Bing searches for “Australian age pension supplement” and “Australian age pension supplement overseas” took me to the relevant Services Australia pages (I can’t use Google search while running my VPN, which I always do while using hotel WiFi)

There’s probably an internet forum in Russia similar to this one with something like the following post - “Phuket and Jomtien? Both great spots in which to spend a Siberian winter. Phuket has nicer beaches, Jomtien’s cheaper. Only issue I have is with the hordes of sleazy looking pensioned off men from Western countries who infest both places.” As a pensioned off Western man who’ll be back in Jomtien in a couple of days, I’m going to have to fire up Google Translate to refresh my Russian for “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Russian”.

No, I’m not a bot - but that’s exactly what a bot that’s trying to pass the Turing test would say, isn’t it?

Very funny comedy, zero relationship to a Thai soap opera. First season was better than the second, in my opinion. A third series set in Thailand will attract a huge audience, great for business owners in Koh Samui, maybe not so good for expats living there.

It’s just a small proportion of bikes that are the problem. I’m in Bangkok at the moment, and notice that as a light turns green, there’s sometimes a swarm of a couple of dozen bikes accelerating away, but a single one of them is easily 10 times louder than all of the rest put together. Even in nanny state Australia, home of some of the world’s most draconian road rules, nothing seems to be done about bikes that clearly far exceed any reasonable limit on noise, so there’s no way the problem will ever be solved in Thailand.

Please correct me if I’m wrong here, but from what I’ve found on the internet, the pension supplement seems to be a fixed amount added to the base pension, and is the same amount for those receiving the full pension and those receiving a part pension. In other words, it isn’t reduced on a pro-rata basis for those on a part pension. That’s why it has to be separated from the base pension. It is reduced to a basic rate for those overseas for more than 6 weeks. Not explained very well on the Services Australia website. Apparently you also lose the concession card after 6 weeks overseas, but it’s automatically reactivated upon your return to Australia.

OK, thanks, didn’t know that, but as I’m a stickler for following the rules, I’ll continue to inform them in advance of all my many future travels.

Sorry, not sure what you mean here. I do think it’s important to inform Centrelink of overseas travel, as you’re not paid part of the supplement while outside Australia, and Centrelink apparently checks with Dept Immigration’s database. So, just in case it was lost in the system somewhere, I kept a record of the fact that I’d informed them of the dates of my forthcoming absence from Australia.

Sorry, had no idea this number had been posted before by somebody else, just noticed it on this page (no. 223). It’s obviously an important number for anyone on the OAP in Thailand to know, so I don’t see any issue with it being reposted from time to time. I’m not going to read through 222 pages of posts to discover who posted the number originally, maybe if you know who first posted it you could let me know, so I can thank him. Also have no wish to be drawn into a flame war between posters.

Just letting you and others know that my age pension application was indeed successful, thanks for your help. Apart from having to verify my identity at the local Centrelink office, I did everything online in an afternoon. Centrelink said that the application wouldn’t be approved until late December, but everything was done in 2 weeks, and the first payment’s already in my account. When it came to declaring my Thai condo, to the requirement of attaching a scan of a Council rates notice, I just scanned an electricity bill (all in Thai!), with a handwritten note explaining that it was impossible to attach a rates notice, as there is no Council tax in Thailand. They raised no objection to this. The only problem that did arise with the Thai condo was that after the application had been approved, I noticed that my assets had been greatly inflated, as the condo had been double counted. I tried to correct this by deleting the second entry, but questions about how and when I’d disposed of the property arose - don’t want to go there, I thought, so rang Centrelink. Only waited 15 minutes in the queue, but it took the unfortunate employee an hour to fix things, no doubt having to find someone who could get directly into the database. I just declared the condo’s value as the total I’d paid for it in Thai baht 6 years previously. They didn’t try to increase its value with inflation, and used a surprisingly generous exchange rate that valued it at $A7,000 less than my estimate. Just after the pension approval I flew to Thailand, and was careful to save the proof I’d informed them of my travel. Thanks KH for posting Centrelink’s toll free number from Thailand. They told me another option to contact them from overseas is to compose a letter, and upload it on their website. So far at least, I give Centrelink 5 out of 5 stars.

I’m guessing that many modern human females wouldn’t find the guy in the first photo entirely unattractive, especially if he were engaged in well paid employment, but they’d have to be pretty desperate to want to hook up with the one in the second shot!

I actually live in VT5 for my less than 180 days in Thailand each year (though I certainly don’t rent the place out while I’m not there, way too much hassle, and I don’t need the money). Short term rentals don’t bother me at all, and some of the younger Russian ladies provide a bit of colour to the swimming pool area in high season!). I rented VT5 short term before buying there, and I’m pretty sure that there was no change in my behaviour as I changed from a despised, delinquent Airbnb renter to an exalted owner.

Jomtien beach is very long. I prefer the northern end towards Dongtan beach and the water park, as the beach further south feels pretty isolated, though many might disagree. I’ve stayed at the 4 star ‘Jomtien Palm Beach’ hotel, which has a great pool. Avalon Beach and Welcome World resorts look good, though I’ve not stayed in them. View Talay 5 and 7 are apartment blocks near the beach, avoiding having to cross busy Thappraya road. There’s a large amount of road construction at the moment, just south of the above places. Jan 2025 is of course peak high season, so some places could be booked out.

No, afraid Citibank sold their Thai operation to UOB, so no Citibank ATM’s in Thailand any more. Same ATM’s still in Asoke, just operated by UOB now. As to whether the exchange rate is OK when using your Citibank card there, you’d have to check the exchange rates your particular Citibank account uses when withdrawing cash from overseas ATM’s, and whether there are any surcharges. I used to have a Citibank account in Australia before they sold their operation to an Australian bank, and their rates were very fair. Used to love the Citibank Asoke branch, as I didn’t even need to pay the 220 baht fixed charge levied by just about all Thai banks when using an overseas card. One thing you have to take great care with is to never accept the conversion to your local currency that many ATM’s ‘helpfully’ offer you. This is known as ‘dynamic currency conversion’, and is an outrageous rip-off. Take your time at each step of the transaction, reading everything carefully, as if you feel rushed, it’s easy to fall into the dynamic currency conversion option by mistake. Even some supermarkets try it on, if paying by card, always insist on paying in Thai baht if given the option of paying in your local currency.

I have to take an antihistamine travel sickness pill on long bus trips on winding roads, and find them so effective at inducing sleep that I fall asleep when I absolutely don’t want to, such as on a super scenic trip along the Croatian coastline. Also agree on the dry mouth and hangover. I never use these pills on aircraft, as I don’t get airsick, and I almost never manage to get any sleep on long haul flights. I prefer it that way, as I find that if I get extremely tired, I can then go to bed at the right time for my destination, and have a very long sleep, after which I have zero jet lag.

A percentage increase such as this means very little if the absolute number of accidents isn’t specified. For instance, if the increase was from 500 to 730, it’s alarming, but if the increase was from a very low base of 10 to 15, it could just be statistical variation. The 105% increase in casualties might well have been the result of a single tragic accident.

I must be missing something here - wouldn’t that make these locks worthless?

Note that Germany has reopened power stations burning lignite, or brown coal, the fuel that produces the most carbon dioxide, as a result of that country’s successful campaign by anti nuclear green activists to shut down Germany’s nuclear power plants.

Gold star for Melbourne, I’ll resist the temptation to make the obvious joke.

Took me 95 minutes to get through immigration arriving at Sydney airport, with its 100% electronic system, a couple of months back. Hope Thailand’s not going to introduce anything like that.

I’m guessing English is not the OP’s native language. Other clues in his use of words, eg ‘there are very little folk’ and ‘not to me’ instead of not for me. If that is the case, good news that there already are some Russian babes, even before high season really starts, as I’m heading there next week.

Outcast for being unmarried, or for having a place in Thailand? I find it hard to imagine having a kid, bit like trying to imagine being a bullfighter or a ballet dancer, it’s so far out. Men on a good income can afford to be married and also have an interesting life with heaps of travel, but if I’d been married, on my very modest income, I’d have had to spend every spare cent of it on a 3 bedroom house in an ugly Australian suburb, and would have missed out on all the fantastic experiences I’ve enjoyed in my travels throughout the world.

When I was employed, I’d have at least one big overseas trip every year, taking leave on half pay to extend the holiday. Given that I was the lowest paid employee in the office, there was speculation as to how I could fund such a lifestyle, but the reason of course was that I was the only one who was unmarried. Now retired, I split my time between my maximum 179 days in Thailand and Australia, but can still afford 3 months in Europe each year. In purchasing a property in Thailand, I’ve made the second most expensive mistake you can make in that country, but have so far managed to avoid making the most expensive mistake.

Yep, seems to do the job just fine. I used to think front loading machines were just a European thing for tiny apartments, but apparently they’re now ubiquitous.