Fat is a type of crazy

Harry Potter has passed me by. To me he'll always be The Singing Detective.

Stayed at KC Grande trip before and probably has a better breakfast than the three others. Walked past in first week of September had had lots of renovations including gutted breakfast room so might be a bit noisy and best to stay elsewhere unless they've finished it by now.

Stayed Koh Chang August and September. Similar recommendations as above. Stayed at Santhiya Tree, Sylvan, and Kacha. First and second had the best breakfast but Kacha had a decent breakfast and staying there at the time on the beach side with sea outlook was half the price of Santhiya Tree. Breakfast at the first 2 may improve further as they get more guests approaching high season. Santhiya Tree has these cool rooms in a 4 or 5 storey building with everything wood with a nice pool on each balcony. Nice for your partner who will love it. Sylvan is spectacular in the forest with beautiful outlook. Kacha is a half a star less and it shows a bit with crappy towels and less maintenance but it is on the best beach in my opinion and good to be in town.

Your insights into living in Thailand are no doubt valuable for a potential new expat. Keep an open mind though that someone who is in a somewhat similar boat in terms of considering a move, who has spent a lot of time there with a thai girlfriend but loves life in his home country, may have something to offer. He will not only want to know if something is simply possible but whether it is worth travelling half way around the world for. When push comes to shove he may read these posts and wonder if in fact it is wise not to keep a base in his home country, to go without health insurance, and he may have a network of friends and family at home and be quite happy, and realise building networks of friends and developing new romance, will come with certain costs - emotional and in terms of dollars. He may not have thought through what it actually would be like to live in a small affordable apartment if he has spent 20 years in a house. His home country may be more expensive, but holidays in his car camping or going to the local beach where the water is clean, western food he likes, may in fact be cheaper than Thailand. Lots of things to consider. The fact that someone moves to Thailand later in life may not be a sign of weakness or of pathetic fantasising, but be due to actually having a good happy life in his home country, so a new life in Thailand has to be special, and not simply possible, to be bothered to do it. Being special might require a higher budget.

It's a pity you have to be rude all the time. I have experience in Thailand and know the lifestyle I intend to live in Thailand will cost more and it is worthwhile to work a little bit longer. Accommodation. Food. Travel. Other things mentioned. Not hi so. Not low so. Somewhere in between. You think otherwise. Have other priorities. The key point is he is outside Thailand and is asking what people think.

There may be factors that aren't relevant or important to you - maintaining a presence in the home country as I may be half half in each country , health insurance and yes $ on supporting and having fun with my lady. It's not about emulating the western life, Thailand life though is pretty capitalist too despite the Buddhist charade for a lot of people, but more about feeling you can be yourself and relax and breathe freely. Possible to do that on all sorts of incomes but having someone suggesting working for a higher income, may lead to better outcomes, is a reasonable proposition in my opinion.

Horses for courses. Fair enough. I'll leave it there.

Horses for courses as they say. I feel you are mixing two issues. The first issue is comparing having the same income in say the UK and Thailand whereby Thailand could come out on top. The second is for a potential retiree deciding how much they need for a comfortable happy free retirement and whether to, say, retire a bit early, and accept a lower income, or work a bit longer, and have a higher income with increased freedoms but be a bit older. Not shocking, or a debate that is nonsense, or absolute nonsense. If you feel on 60000 you can do everything you want to do then bully for you. But let's be honest that 60000 a month in a city, as against out in the sticks where it is a different thing, is definitely doable but can come with some significant limitations.

Have to disagree. Find your posts go from common sense to argumentative for arguments sake. He makes a fair point that living on that amount will mean living an ok life but somewhat of a limited lifestyle by western standards in a city. Not saying you can't have a good or happy life but if you want to have a life with open choices and a degree of freedom e.g. holidays etc then you simply might need more. Reasonable advice for those thinking of retiring. Saying that a westerner should feel happy as people from a different culture and circumstance consider him well off is a bit trite and somewhat irrelevant. Saying his comments are nonsense or illustrating his failings is strange and overly combative as a fair proportion of your posts tend to be.

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My ex wife was a bit upset about it the other night. She has been following them. Apparently he’s from Melbourne too. So sad. Her current boyfriend got dengue in Phuket a few years ago and it was tough.

I pay for youtube $15 a month. I did hesitate at first but I watch it a lot and well worth it. Pay $8 for Netflix. No complaints. Pay $40 a month for Foxtel in Australia. Now that is a waste but it has some things like recording and access to good aps and has good news and some other stuff so keep it for now. I am in Australia. Posting here because.

In terms of trustworthiness my girlfriend seems to see each new day as a new beginning. Things didn't turn out as her prayers at the temple said they would. Oh well. Tomorrow's a new beginning.

Then you have Thai people who believe in buddha and Ganesh and snake gods etc. I asked my girlfriend to explain how it works and who's in charge but she thinks I am being churlish.

Correct. Could be 120 baht for a thai massage and 170 for an aromatherapy. Despite much more payment to shop, and expertise of staff member to give the aromatherapy massage, not much more so they rely on tips and based on some of the replies here it's not looking good.

It's funny sometimes how we base tip on price. I might have a good cheap meal with good service but the tip will be lower than at a more expensive restaurant where the service is the same. Similar with massage possibly as if the 90 minutes was 500 you may give less even if massage same. Getting to the point 200 baht is a nice tip in my opinion. Not amazing but probably more than many would offer.

New Wes Anderson movie, new to Netflix in last few days, 'The wonderful story of Henry Sugar' makes a point that you may do meditation with a certain aim in mind but if you do it long enough you may not want the things you thought you wanted. Profound. Or not.

As a fellow public servant my advice is draw a line in the sand. The old government super schemes are good and each extra year the amount they go up is a lot especially if you had a recent promotion. But being a public servant tends to make you a bit conservative and risk averse and you can wait too long. Once not a public servant I think you might feel much freer and be happy to have more fun and wish you had have done it before. Says me who is working for eight more months.

If you join Club Jetstar and buy during sales you can get super bargains. Say less than 6000 each way. Done it 3 times post covid. Tend to think holiday starts in Thailand but rethinking that after a few delayed flights. In Thailand lots of bargain hotels in Khao Lak and Koh Chang at 3.5 to 4.5 star hotels. Phuket and Bangkok a bit expensive compared to those quieter locations which have seemed to remain quiet post covid.

I was reading your post about german music. Kraftwerk, Nena, and others were mentioned. Next songs by them showed up on my feed on youtube as well as Da Da da by The Trio and Der Kommissar by Falco. So I listened to them. And it was good.

You be like Nomadland

That's no good. Oh well back to Day 1. 2 beers is better than 10 beers.

Youtube has all sorts. Probably the pretty upbeat videos get the most views. I recall Paddy getting pretty cynical as he went through Issan feeling it was the same thing over and again. Make a video saying how much it sucks. See what happens.

No. Winter ended 12 days ago and it's now Spring. Forecast for Sydney and Melbourne pretty nice for next seven days with sunshine and almost all days between 20 and 30. Sounds better than excessive heat.

Here with have ones with separate spices, chile, etc.