nigelforbes

It might be possible to use existing assets as collateral, either here or overseas, for the loan, as long as they can be assigned. You said you built a house in the village, could that be used perhaps? I do know people who have taken out Thai mortgages using overseas assets, including foreign pension funds.

Bat stew is not an uncommon dish in many parts of Asia, it was served to us at 5 star in Mauritius some years ago.....far too many small bones for my liking.

In that case, I think if it was me, I might either fill the hollow part with concrete or cap the blocks with a row of something or other, just to keep water out. Those blocks are pretty sturdy so they are unlikely to be effected too much by weather. The key issue will be, what force of water will the blocks have to hold back, if it's a lot then I might infill them. If you wanted to get really sexy you could buy some waterproofing paint/liquid and coat them, but I doubt that's really necessary. Lastly, make sure the water can't find a way under the blocks/wall otherwise you'll have problems.

Hollow side up. What are you building and how, how high do you plan to go, what support exists for the wall? Those blocks can be used as infill as long as they are supported at each end or by another face of blocks, but you can't go very high because they are so narrow. Whether or not you cover them with a screed when finished depends on what you are building.

I wouldn't know, I've never studied the subject although granted I haven't met anyone else who has done similar. But it is very common for Western expats who lived and worked in HK to eventually settle elsewhere, mostly back in the UK. With the benefit of hindsight, leaving was a smart move. I was there during handover and afterwards and the writing was on the wall.

Well, let me see if I can help you understand. I came here because I used to live in Hong Kong for many years and I decided to retire at an age where I could still enjoy life. HK was too expensive for retirement plus I'd had enough of the place, and I didn't want to go back West after being in Asia for over twenty years. Thailand was an attractive proposition because it is nicely located for regional travel and has good links for international travel. I also like the beaches and the climate, not so much places like Pattaya but the Gulf and Andaman coast. After a few years of enjoying those things I met my wife and we've been happily married for over twenty years. We own a home here and also one in the West that we try to visit every year during the pollution season and we rent it out through agents for the rest of the time. I will never go back to the West to live full time, Asia is in my blood. And now I understand how countries such as Thailand work, I can live within the system and not get upset, the pluses far outweigh the minuses several fold. People, attitudes, cost of living, climate, healthcare, they are all far far superior. If I get sick I can walk into any of a myriad of private hospitals and have tests and treatment immediately by Western trained medical experts, Bumrungrad, Siraj and Bangkok Hospital are three of the best in the region, NUH in Singapore is one of the very best. Of course if I was in the UK I wouldn't be eligible for free health care because I'm not resident, but if I were I could get good quality health care, as soon as my position on the waiting list came round.

I personally wouldn't try and have a holiday here on 2,000 baht a day but I'm older now and am used to a good standard of living. When I was 17 I frequently hitch hiked around Europe and slept on beaches for much less than that and it was great fun. Younger people can easily do it, so can people who have not been accustomed to living the same way that we do. I think that's the whole point of this discussion, there is no fixed amount, it's variable based on a range of factors.

That's quite different from saying it's not possible to holiday here for 2,000 baht per day.

The figures are far too generous and are not realistic at all, I don't care who compiled them.

If a single person's estimated monthly costs are 16,647 Baht, without rent, that means at least 50% of the Thai population can't afford to live in their own country! Those figures are for Westerners and are the product of western perceptions of how much westerners need to live in Thailand, maintaining a semblance of their Western standard of living.

Indeed, I would not say condo either and if the poster were to be truthful, neither would he! Rooms for 2,500 baht a month? There are thousands.

I'm sure they are. But how many renowned Cambodian doctors and specialists are there or do patients have to wait for a good one to travel from Bangkok!

I own neither the house nor the land, my wife owns both....what was your point in the context of spending each month?

So get sick but not too sick, that sounds like a plan....not!

A really nice condo in CM for 2,500 baht month, do you really think I just got off the boat!

Living in CM on 20kbaht/month and doing quite well, you mean just surviving. It's one thing for a Thai person to live on 20k but it's something else entirely for a westerner to do so, unless they have lived at that same level back home all their life.

In each of your examples the real estate element is still owned by Thai people, albeit there is a distant indirect link to a foreigner. Thai companies require a majority of Thai shareholders, women who live with foreigners and have never worked are still Thais, and so on. That's very different from a foreigners' name appearing on the chanotte.

Withdrawing the proposal was the only sensible way forward, almost everyone saw it as the money grab that it really is and now even Thai people are embarrassed.

Indeed, but it's embarrassing when Westerners do it, I mean come on, if you can't afford you can't afford.

I agree. We don't try not spending and we have plenty of cash reserves if we need them. But our 50k a month lets us eat out four/five times a week, support a niece at university and run two vehicles. Our utilities cost 2,500 a month and we own our home.

Good luck when you get sick in Cambodia and need a decent hospital.

I have, 50k a month works for us most months.

Price?

I was half expecting to see a counter headline saying, "Foreigner retiree sector to propose alternative to foreigners spending money in Thailand".

You can't sensibly compare the cost of living in two countries that way, just on a few items, you have to compare lots of cost of living expenses. For example, if in the UK you have to pay Council Tax, there is no equivalent here. And comparing Tesco UK with Tesco Thailand for the cost of food purchases seems silly when the same but fresher products are available at markets at a much cheaper cost. If I compare say Leicester UK and Chiang Mai Thailand, the numbers show that Chiang Mai is 37% cheaper, if rent is included Chiang Mai is 43% cheaper. https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&country2=Thailand&city1=Leicester&city2=Chiang+Mai