JamesPhuket10

Thanks for the info. I am still thinking about it as I am using the non-O retirement visa extension path which can be done at the immigration once a year in Phuket, it only takes one hour. The online 90 day report can be done online in five minutes. Plus my money is in a number of cash ISA's in the UK. (Instant access) Plus it is not clear as I have seen on this blog how long the cash has to stay in a bank, some say five years, some say one year, that part is confusing. As my current visa extension is easy to get I am wondering if I should just stick with that.

Tourism counts for between 10% to 18% of their GDP. A stronger baht will hep reduce the costs of imports. I doubt if a few quid extra spending money will put off most tourists, I would not go to Vietnam just so I can save a fiver. Thailand is still dirt cheap for the average tourist.

I think it is funny when people accuse the UK of being racist. Not long ago we had a prime minister, he was not white, the current opposition leader of the conservative party is black yet we are racist, so funny. Oh and the mayor of London is a muslim and is also not white, he has been the mayor for years and a politician for decades. Now Thailand, that is racist. They call Africans monkeys, every news reader on TV are white, in fact they have to be very white skinned as do all the actors. We farangs will never be seen as locals, no matter where we come from we are the same to them, there is no difference between Russians, Americans, Brits etc, we are all farangs. I don't mind as Phuket is international and so it is good to be here, I have no problem with their racism, the airport is only forty minutes away. But I do like Thailand and the racism makes me laugh. In fact there is even a difference in Thailand depending on where you are from, people from Issan call the women in the South, Pooying Dam and the women in the south call women from Issan, Pooying Issan or just say the word Issan, or Pooying bar.

4. Documents of health insurance, social security or bank statement of 100,000 USD or above from the last 12 months that has been retained in the same bank and meet the requirements. Does this have to be in one bank or can it be split over a number of different bank accounts?

I will be 70 in seven months time. I mentally feel I am 30 years old, I have not fallen behind with technology, I write iPhone apps from the luxury of my own air con office in Phuket, I am learning new technical things on a daily basis. I can't run as fast as I could years ago, but I still walk three to five miles a day around the local reservoir. I am just fitting out my cycle with an electric motor, meaning I can go further on the bike with the same amount of exercise as the electric motor is only introduced if I pedal at a certain rate. I get around in my own car, simple aches now and then but not as you described about yourself. Life is still very fun and a good laugh. I am very happy to be alive and well. I cannot bonk a few times a day as I could in the past but a few times a week is good enough at this age. 😃 I do help myself by staying well away from other people who moan about being 70 or over as they would try and pull me down with them. It is best to let them wallow in their own self pity and negativeness as life is too short.

Does the 100k USD have to be deposited in Thailand? I have more than £100k pounds sterling in the UK, can that be used, they are in cash ISA's and can be cashed at any time?

I don't agree with the generalised comment on Western Women. My mother and father were together for decades until the father died, they were very happy together. My ex-wife was Thai, a very educated girl I met in England while she was at university, glad to get out of that one. My second son had two Thai girlfriends in England, both turned out bad. He is now with an English girl and they are great together. My other son is married to a New Zealand girl and they have a child, they are very happy in NZ. My brother and sister are married to English partners, happy together for many decades. It is a very tricky in Thailand meeting the right woman as so many are out for the cash. But I think what happens is a lot of farangs meet their women in bars, they do not move in the right circles to meet decent ones, if the woman can sell her body for money then they will not think twice about cheating on their husbands. I met my Thai partner as I hired a car through her own tourist business, a week later it was her birthday and her friends invited me along to the party, we never looked back. As far as falling off bikes go I have done it twice this year in England, on one occasion I took the skin off of an arm, it took months to heal, the second was in a park where I had to avoid pedestrians as people walk on cycle tracks in the UK. I sold the bike. 😃

That comment is just plan crap and you know it. 😃

I am in the same situation re a Thai lady, been together twenty plus years, both financially independent, still good fun together, a nice relaxed easy ongoing relationship. I saw a three wheeler bike a few years ago in Phuket, I will stay away from any motorbike on main roads as I don't mind my car being damaged as I can buy another one, I can not buy a new body at the tender age of 69 😃 (I do not feel that age, where did the years go?) On the walk around the reservoir I have seen Thai women pushing cats and dogs in a pram like contraption so I don't think a farang wearing protective gear on a bike will get much attention.

His boyfriend does not think he is gay. 😃

I know, it is a pity it can't do that as well. ☺️ I could post a picture of my MSc in software engineering from Oxford University certificate, that might address things. 🤣

We live life in a series of sections. When we were young we could go out to bars, pull women and know they are with us because we are good looking and good fun. Now If I get any attention from a much younger woman it means she is after my wallet so I don't fall for that one. We have to be careful as we get older, I am converting my bike to an electric bike, I only ride it on a paved road which goes around a reservoir in Phuket used by walkers/joggers and other bike users, no cars, I will wear a bike hat and elbow and knew protection. I go around Phuket in my car generally, I would never go near a motorbike. As I said earlier I was misdiagnosed by a doctor in a top private hospital in Phuket and his recommendations made my condition worse, it was not until I got back to the UK where a complete different cause was found and then I recovered.

I take blood pressure tablets initially prescribed to me by a doctor in the UK, I buy them from a shop called Super Cheap in Phuket, I think they cost 500 baht for 90 tablets, one taken a day, they are indeed super cheap. They sell all sorts of medicines, maybe there in one where you live.

How did you get hold of that picture of me! 😃

I suppose with nearly 9 million visitors a year not all of them will be on their best behaviour, I suppose I could pull such a report from any city in any country in the world and have similar headlines. Phuket is reassuringly expensive and keeps most of the Pattaya rabble out.

I went to Pattaya in 2019, I was out of there like a shot after half a day back to Rayong. I do not mix with the rabble.

I see very few Brits in Phuket, I have not heard any tourists speaking English for a long time. I can imagine there are a lot in Pattaya though as it is cheap, I can imagine most of the dim people from around the world go there hence it will be full of the 'lower classes' no matter which country they come from.

He is from t'Yorkshire, you have to forgive him. 😄

It is a bit of a long shot but you do seem to have a chip on your shoulder about Britain?😄 Rotherham, ey up lad, wy don't tha move to a reet better area, like t'Chelmsford like, a were there f'five months this year and it is reet nice, tha can't buy a mansion for two pawnd six shillings and sixpence as you can in Rotherham but people are reet nice there in Chelmsford, tha can walk streets any time of day and thas safe. A were born int Yorkshire me-sen but I escaped as fast as a cud when a were 15, never looked back like and I learned ow to speek proppa English as soon as a left place. A suppose t'Yorkshire Ripper was from another country, he was not a local bloke at all eh. 😃

The meaning is it free at the point of use. Even if people do not pay any tax they still get it free at the point of use, no medical bill is issued.

My car is a twenty one year old Toyota Avanza, only 90k kms on the clock and drives like new. I will keep it until the wheels fall off. When I worked in the UK and Europe I drove Mercs and a Porsche, it sounds silly but I prefer this car, it never breaks down, is comfortable and does the job, if it gets scratched or dented I do not care. Also it is best time to keep a low profile in Thailand, nothng flashy, no cheap gold around my neck, just blend in with the crowd The gold wearing guys do make me laugh though, I mean if Bill Gates etc were to show their wealth off in such a way they would have to push a wheelbarrow of gold in public plus three truck full of the stuff would have to follow them.

You are wasting your time replying to the idiot you replied to, he is one of those guys who moves in girly bar circles and thinks it is the norm, I gave up replying to him a while ago.

"This is simply a function of the circles you move in. and to be fair I imagine it is the common experience of most on this forum." In my case, professional, educated Thais do speak very good English as it is the world language, it is hardly worth us trying to learn Thai to that level, after all there are thousands of languages in the world, English being the most significant so why bother with the other languages, educated Thais seem to follow the same reasoning. If German for example was the world language then I would be fluent is that as would the educated Thais, but as I already know English there is no point. I can speak German to a certain standard as I worked in Germany for a number of years but outside of the country the language is useless, in fact it was almost useless in Germany as many Germans would speak to me in English as they felt proud of knowing the world language. Discussion on Thai politics? You are joking, my Thai partner is always on about the government and what they are up to, she never stops, well that is a bit of an overstatement but you get my drift. As far as the program being representative of the facts, it make no difference, forty million people a year have been visiting the country for decades, most are couples, groups and families and they know what they have experienced here. I see what you mean about the affront of many people on this forum, if I mention bar girls etc in a negative way I get all sorts of abuse sent my way, but it does make me laugh.

Such documentaries are not taken seriously I think. Imagine doing a snapshot of the legalised brothels in Germany which sit on industrial estates near all major cities and then making it look like it is the norm and all Germans behave in that way. Or even the brothels in Hamburg's Reeperbahn. Its 500 bars and nightclubs attract 30 million visitors a year. The prostitutes operate in the open but do not represent Germany as a whole. Same for Amsterdam. Some states in the USA have open prostituion I think?

Or North Africa or Chad etc 😀