Gknrd

I am here on a tourist visa, I am driving a beat up 2008 Ford. hahaha I am definitely running in the wrong circles...

China has already bought Thailand! I applaude these guys but way too late. I like it here, but the writing has been on the wall for a long time now.

Yeah right, this place tracks foreigners like they are the plague. You are looking at little China here. Then you see articles like this. A laugh a minute. But, allot of fun being here now...

I saw five of them last night on a deserted walking street where I am in Nong Kai. One a man and wife team that looked like they had not bathed in a few days... And four sitting playing on their phones...

""The office forecasts, however, that the growth projection for next year will be increased to 3.8%, due to the anticipated return of Chinese tourists in the second half of the year."" Perfect timing, if true then I will have enjoyed the dollar to baht boon for me. And I will be on my way.. Life is good. I'll let the door hit me in the ass and send me to my next port of call...

Wow, so Thai graduates are destined to work at selling clothes or working at 7/11. Interesting commet.

Problem is the Chinese and Russian people will never see this.

Same here. I had been here many years and enjoyed myself. You could see the writing on the wall before they stopped the embassy letter. I started positioning myself a couple of years before you. I kept a small home in the US, stocked with car small RV. I would go back every few years and do upgrades and make sure all was good. Best thing I ever did. Especially now that the political climate is changing. Also it afforded me to travel closer to home and check out other counties. Now I only come back once in a blue moon. Life is good.

Although I have not and would never dream of looking into it, The real question is how much interest does the Thai government scheme pay? If a good interest rate then it may be very attractive to someone committed to this area.

I treat most of the posts like this as a joke and they are for the US citizens for sure. But, with the political climate at hand. If from the west you would have to be pretty brave to want to locate here unless you had family ties. Even then if a Taiwan war breaks out I would be saving for that.

Haha, You cannot make up this <deleted>. it's like a weekly event. Not sure which is crazier the OP or the hilarious come backs... Either way it gets wilder every time .... ????

For US citizens it is not a very attractive place for retirement. I am here visiting and when I leave I will never come back ( nothing against Thailand and the people what so ever). Other places are so much better for US citizens IMHO. With legal land purchases and in some countries resident health benefits. But, I agree I think that all US citizens should be penalized 1/4 of their SS benefits the first year of retirement here. Then after that 50% and loss of all health benefits in the US. Also all Thai nationals retiring back to Thailand from the US should loose 50% and all benefits the first two years and decline 5% a year after that.

In other words only extremely stupid and rich foreigners are welcome here ... haha You stand a better chance of surviving a knife fight in an alley then escaping Thailand without getting your pocket picked... Actually I love Thailand but, you need to just come enjoy the wonderful people and good food then move on.

Funny, I was out drinking coffee with my landlady just now and she was digging as deep as she could... haha

You must be in China.. Fill us in on what is going on..

Thailand is in better shape that the countries around it.

Pretty radical, I have a hang nail I would cut.

Yeah, Thailand is facing some tough times in the tourist arena IMHO. China has a very low covid count and it would be the perfect time to bring in a GOOD vaccine to put an end to the lockdown. But, it looks like it is now a designed lockdown to last for years to come. This kind of things leads me to believe China has some very serious internal problems that cannot be solved. What an utter mess. Thailand bought into Chinas plan and it is costing them literally billions of dollars from wealthy baby boomers and western tourists. At this point Thailand can backtrack and try to win back my dollars , but I have no trust in them now and never will again. My dollars are gone for good.

Was just along the river, the water level is high and the current is crazy fast.

I just crossed the border Laos to Thailand. I was filling out my card for entry. I was meticulous with every thing , every question. A Thai guy coming from Laos asked to borrow my pen when I finished. I watched him fill out his card. He only put his name down and gave the pen back to me. I followed him in line . Not a question was asked he was let threw. I gave mine and was grilled for about 2-3 minutes. After a month in Laos, wonderful place by the way. I came back to the Thai consulate to apply for a Thai tourist visa so I could come spend a couple of months before going home. Not one Thai or Laos was refused that I saw. All the younger foreigners that I saw in line were refused. I have two bank accounts in the US I use for travel, one is a small account basically a holding account. I had about 9K US dollars in it. I had all my paperwork filled out and copy's. I was grilled about 5 minutes on the bank account. And was made to highlight my monthly income and monthly balance. They have gone a little to far as far as I am concerned. Just a pain in the A$$.

No I do not have an O visa. I usually only stay about 6 months.. But, have never had a problem before.

I am more than ticked off, I have had a 5 year license in Thailand for years. I usually come in every year or so and spend several months here and have a car here. This year my license was due to expire and I went down to get it renewed. They gave me two years. I asked why???? They said my visa expires in two years and they only give five if the visa has five years. What a crock...

Tom yom khun for all.

Unless it is transferred into a RTP's account then they will handle it..

I joke around and tell people that all the time. But, in reality it is cheaper for me to live at my home than to live here. And other countries I like to visit. But, being single living in my country at my age is the ultimate nightmare for me. I only go back home for some R&R.... haha. Every day I wake up thanking my lucky stars I prepared half a$$ed for retirement. And I don't have to stay home.