habuspasha

I just noticed a recent Aseannow post called Phuket Rising Seas--Impact highlighting https://medium.com/@jaidar3/phuket-and-rising-seas-9682ace67890 with numerous maps showing flood levels in Phuket at various stags of global sea rise. I called attention to this problem for Hua Hin, Bangkok, and other areas of Thailand after the publication of interactive flood level maps by a scientific nonprofit called Climate Central near me in Princeton NJ. (https://www.climatecentral.org/) a couple of years ago. How quickly we forget. I wondered then how oblivious people seemed to be in seeking coastal land and sea-side homes, and here I am doing the very same thing.

I have more confidence in her driving ability than she does. I just had to curb a common tendency for new drivers (and some old ones) to follow too closely. She's the one afraid of twists and hills in Phuket. Of course no one finds it easy to do something they don't want to do.

I was 73. She was 32. She was gorgeous. I looked average. She said I seemed to have a good heart. Today I’m 81. She just turned 40. I’ve lost 40 pounds. She’s lost 15. We’re still together, planning on buying a home. No one has called me a dirty old man.

Philly, heh? I guessed LA. I hope everyone is making too big a deal of 81. I half seriously tell everyone I'm on the 140 year plan. (I posted elsewhere I was following David Sinclair's life extension regimen with metformin.) But you're right: With a 40 year advantage she is liable to outlast me and so her choice of Hua Hin has extra clout. Maybe a bit south down PKK province to Pak Nam Pran.

Neat test. I did 44. Slow I guess. I'm aware of that. Recognized it when I went back to work in September after two years of working from home. Part of the reason why I've just retired. Tried wrong-side driving in England 5-10 years ago. Scraped the left side of a BMW3 to hell on Dartmoor brambles. Also went round-a-bout the wrong way. Won't do that again. Not considering it in Thailand (I don't think). Plan is for GF to drive car I got her. But she's the one who finds Phuket roads too dangerous. Trucks and crazy drivers as well as sharp curves and mountains. She might be right.

You're confused? I thought that was my job. I agree on the Andaman beaches and Krung Thep cosmopolitan life. But for the latter I have NY, maybe May to Nov as another poster said.

Most respectfully, how can you say what you will do at 81? You got to be there to know. 80 is the new 40. My lady is from Isaan but has lived in Bangkok with her family from age 10-40. I'm supporting her for the last seven years since we met.

Thank so much Tropposurfer, for such an informed, and thoughtful response. Nai Thon appeals to me, but I couldn’t afford $1m. I’m comfortable, not wealthy. What I like about Andaman White Beach is being able to walk from the pool or villa porch directly to the beach and sea in a few steps. My GF, not much of a swimmer, likes to see the sea and listen to the waves at night. Besides being beyond our price range, Malaiwana is on the wrong side of the road for either of us I think. You were very perceptive about the home ownership issue. I owned once in suburbia. Got to dread leaders and gutters, emergency repairs, and predictable shoveling and mowing. Now I only rent, fortunately subsidized, but to such a bargain that I would never give it up. So, I share the lure of permanence. Now, with a future third wife might be the time for it. And I agree also with your willingness to pass it on to her—though I’m certainly in no hurry.

Thank you for your responses. I now see that the world between Hua Hin and Phuket is full of appealing possibilities--for a visit or a stay. KhunLA will be an invaluable tour guide for my next trip in a month or two. And I hear the consensus: No hurry to choose a place; and rent, rent, rent.

Exactly. Plus days of anticipatory anxiety, brief terror, and hours to unwind for this Isaan girl who kept both feet on the ground before I entered her life.

Good tip, but I thought Gulf waters weren't clear of northern sewerage up there. I'm even concerned with water down by Pak Nam Pran. Thought I'd have to get down to Ko Samui for clean Gulf water--which may be an idea.

Thanks for the tip on the changing surf. Just the kind of info I was asking for. Are you describing Nai Thon Beach, NW Phuket beaches, all Andaman beaches including Phang Nga? I thought this was only a SW monsoon problem (also jelly fish then). It was smooth as a lake most of last month. I don't understand this popping down to Phuket from Hua Hin. That would be a looong ride. Few times I went from Hua Hin to Phuket it was by air--and via BKK. Especially since GF doesn't want to drive, a non-starter. Thanks also for the clarification on Phuket mountain roads. I could do it, but wouldn't enjoy it as much as I used to.

Well, we must have been on that road (out of Patong towards Phuket city?) 30 times last month and I could see how it scared her.

GF's family is in BK with her, but its proximity to Hua Hin is the point for her, particularly for possible weekend or short trips when I'm in NY. I worry more about getting around in Phuket. GF won't drive her car down from BK, but that's not the problem. We could rent but she says she would fear driving the twisting hilly roads of Phuket and I may need cataract surgery and a good deal of practice driving on the wrong side of the road before feeling comfortable doing it myself. And at 81 I'm too old for a motor bike or scooter and at 40 she's too precious.

I’m finally retiring after 60 years of work, and looking for a place to live for about half of each year. The question is where. The GF likes Hua Hin because she can drive from BKK and she fears the roads on Phuket. I prefer the cleaner waters of the Andaman to the Gulf—I fear the jelly fish. We both want privacy and beach rather than night-life. She likes stores (a Blue Port or Jungcelon). I like restaurants, cafes and bars. But we don’t need commotion. (I spend the rest of the year in Manhattan and I expect she'll eventually join me.) My favorite Thai destination is Andaman White Beach. But we almost bought a villa in Pak Nam Pran a few years ago, close to its gorgeous beach on the Gulf. I figure Phuket property sales and rentals are at least 25% higher than Hua Hin—a consideration. Getting there is also more difficult. And not having a car on the Island makes the taxi fares more insulting. So which would you choose? What am I missing? Any advice?

I have a similar problem flying back to the US Dec 29-30, but the US now requires a test the day before the flight. I don't know if that means the day before the first leg on the 29th or the final leg on the 30th. If the latter I have only a few hours at Swampy (12-6) to get test and results. Does anyone know place for rapid test near there?

I'm an 80 year-old male who lives half-time in New York and half-time in Thailand. I never worry about taking the subway or any other transportation in NY. Just a little squeamish about roads in Thailand. Feel the same for my GF.

I just got my QR for Dec 11. It also says "Exemption from Quarantine" but I'm not. I think they mean exemption from 7 or 14 day quarantine. I still expect they will test me on arrival for a one-night stay at the hotel which I had to include in my application.

FYI: My first shot (moderna) came with a QR code on the card from Harlem Hospital in NYC. The second didn't. And a question: Has anyone tried a service. I'm looking at A.Q. in.Th "full service Thailand Pass application services starting at 2,750 THB."

There's a cure for that. It's called testosterone. Works into the eighties at least.

The seminar ended, and I had an extra ten days before I had to come home. Walking back to my hotel in Sukumvit on the first free day, my eyes froze on the most beautiful girl I had ever seen as she approached me with her laughing girl friends and beckoned me to join them at Hillary 2. I couldn’t take my eyes off her for the next nine days. That was in 2014. I intentionally lost her phone number so I couldn’t see or talk to her after I returned home, in order to preserve my marriage. Six months later my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Back in Bangkok six months after that, I allowed myself to look for her again. She didn’t remember my name or voice when the woman from Hillary’s called her number, but when she arrived at the bar she ran into my arms and cried. I am overjoyed that I have been able to care for, and be with, her and my wife, here or there, virtually and in the flesh, every day since.

Thanks to George for two threads on retiring during the week I have to decide if I'm going to take the buyout and retire at 81. And thanks for the life expectation calculator, which gives me till 97. I think I'll be joining you'all soon. Who was it who said "life is what happened when you were making plans?"

I've enjoyed it enough (at 3 days a week for 50+ years) by car--trains take forever--but the driving is now too much for me with cataracts and slower reflexes at 80. And I want to see the GF more often while she's still young (and I still feel as young as she feels).

No, I didn't retire then. I'm about to retire now that I'm over 80. I have to decide by October 1.

That is a very helpful way of thinking about what I am going through. I was never a big saver but I have always thought of my savings as not to be spent down. My declining savings would mark my declining years. For me and my wife. And my wife's ever declining health could continue indefinitely and result in eventual impoverishment. Instead I imagined I could work forever if necessary. That way my savings would constantly expand and I could grow (instead of decline) indefinitely. For now, the work no longer appeals. If I have to get back to it in my 100s I'll worry about it then.