Khun ?

Cost, who cares as long as it is not that nasty Nestle's instant crap that 99% of th places serve in Thailand.

They even make it brewed as normal grind coffee. This is almost as bad as eating rice every day and served with Somolian chickens, alot of bone and little meat.

So how much was the coffee compared to 10 years ago?

(Just getting ready for the shock for when I have to go back).

Maybe when they get that bad, they could feel it is less they can cyphon off to her children or extended family.

Met a few that their farang husbands did not know money was going somewhere else when they could get away

with it.

30 day entry permit is not a visa, so only 90 days out of a 6 month period. ( think this what Lopburi was trying to say).

Others are visas 60 + 30=90 days as many as you can get issued will work.

Boqueta, I am aware of the place anddone some reading on it a few years ago. Property was more than U.S. price

for what you get. Just seen on CNN about Panama how developers are building the place out like they id bangkok in the early 90's.

Building a place for expats in the mountains would mainly have to be rent only places due to ownership laws.

Thais that could afford it would not ant to live in a rural foreigner enclave.

First I have heard of this but then again it was very low on the list when almost everything as far as real estate involves

a expat in it. The temp is just a bit unbearable most of the year, also Florida real Estate is cheaper now to boot and that place is a shithole. Florida a place to keep elder parents is about it as far as I am concerned and another place that has or will have severe potable water problems to come.

Take Panama off the list............

Panama is not what it was, since the election the new government has made it very clear they are anti foreign real estate investment and not welcoming expats who wish to live long term.

They are also talking about reversing all the tax incentives put in place to attract foreign investment. Visa rules have already been tightened.

I am going to check out Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Chile with a few others once I get set back home.

Urguay is one of the most stable countries in South America which is reasonable on cost but not cheap.

Read SAE ( South American Explorer) they have some info to get you started. Panama other than the area

you mention is hot like Thailand most of the year.

One of the guys that works for me lives there full time and loves it, then of course on his pension would be hard

to live else where. The other guy that works for me never has been but married to a thai that works as accountant

in the northwest U.S. He don't want to go there and she never wants to live there again, specially since they have young children now.

If you can take for granted what Ajarn-Jack mentions then living in thailand full time could be bearable even with

the 90+ temps most of the year.

I've been around it about 20 years of my working life and would like to get some honesty in life again. I need a break

from third world attitudes and unorthodox policies and disambiguation that is embbed in their culture.

Seems like everything is half-arsed specially workmanship and mai pen rai is the acceptable standards.

Lala land where everything is today and tomorrow don't matter. Great if your life is nothing but where is the

next party, but tiring if mediocrisy is the best it gets on most everything.

You seem much smarter than your friends who are a baht a dozen now days in Thailand. No doubt you will

be getting a request for help soon enough. Look back 5 years in Thailand and you can see the changes that

have taken place and then think of 5 more years what will it be. The bugs are being shaken out of the rug every day

in Thailand.

Wait for the changes and until your at least 50 to join the just get by stopped working foreigners.

You most likely will live to 80 and 30 years of living on a small budget will be plenty enough.

going back home to work is never a liked item, going when you have plenty of cash and do not need to

live cheap or in a large city can be quite pleasurable I hope. I am waiting on a guy who moved to florida and will default on 10 acreas of land on Manistee River. Not much work in the area to speak of so a couple grand an acrea

should do it. My hide away that I can boat and relax and use as a summer home base while traveling the rest of year.

Traverse city not far which is a very enjoyable summer time area. Do some RVing and just relax without being in the rat race of things but also not in poverty and traffic.

Still plenty of other areas I would like to look and maybe back to Colorado, Montana or Wyoming, don't know where

for sure. Definetly nothing that gets over 85 for more than a month or two out of the year during the summer.

Life is great

I have worked and lived in foreign countries most of 30 years so not what it use to be.

Many beautiful countries out there if money is not an issue and I plan on spending much time in them.

Looking for more moderate climate and not a predominately low income retirement resort/place.

For each their own and life goes on.

Great to hear the truth of things and it turned out well for you and family. Nothing wrong with making sound decisions

and also a great future in doing so. Problem is many wait until much later in life and to make good decisions for lack

of proper planning to start with.

Hope you do some smart investing to help you further your cause and future to live where ever you choose

being finacially secure after the drastic and dreadful changes in life. Adding to investments and savings as you are doing and making money on investments is like getting paid twice each month. The good thing is investments will not stop giving when work stops if done right.

Wish I would of made wiser decision sooner in life like you did. Lucky the last several years my work provides my

living expenses to include vehicle so I have been able to pass my retirement goal by double in just a few years and 90% goes to savings and give away about 10% helping others.

Just a fact that most fun, travel and adventure in retirement requires a well funded savings account that many will not sacrifice for. Now that money is no longer a issue I have no desire anymore for retiring in Thailand. I would rather live at home than be a 3rd rate resident in Thailand. Many places in the world to enjoy and I will keep/purchase a residence I can own and be fully mine regardless of changing laws back home.

In fact a asian girl, even in Thailand marrying way out of her age group woud more or less be seen in the same

fashion as a Mia Noi to most educated thais and most all foreigners. Maybe not as sever to another craddle robber

though.

i would like to say that the old fella's with the young girls ( 60's verses 20's) just use a bit of common sense and keep it purely and simply as a business deal.

its not a hard thing to do and will make everything so much easier, instead of trying to convince one's self that the poor girl could possibly love them.

i mean, this is why old fella's jump out of high rise buildings when it all goes to <deleted> as they cant handle the rejection.

just strike a deal with the said girl, keep her in a very nice life style and when you die she gets all your money for services rendered, and i must say she has earned her money just by doing the naughty with some of these fellas.

jessus,

that must be a whole lot of fun and its makes me feel a bit <deleted> crook just thinking about it.

anyway you old guys, have a think about it as its a real top idea if you are an honest punter.

thank you very much.

Not sure about the guy from Ireland, but his grandfathers marriage was more than double the average marriage

age difference for a mid 30 guy in Ireland ( 6 years for 30's) and for 20's is 2 1/2 years, it is documented but I am to lazy after a few days ago to referrence again).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honky

Honky

Same as trailer trash more or less. Maybe some dictionairies do not get into the slang of words but calling a white girl from home a Honky would be the same as refering to an asian girl as a monkey or worse.

Honky, Honkey or Honkie is a predominantly American derogatory racial slur for a white person, usually applied to males.

The word derives from an African-American pronunciation of "hunky", the disparaging term for a Hungarian laborer. The first record of its use as an insulting term for a white person dates from the 1950s.

Honky was later adopted as a pejorative in 1967 by black militants within SNCC seeking a rebuttal for the term nigger. They settled on a familiar word they felt was disparaging to certain Americans of European descent; hunkie meaning an American of Slavic or Hungarian descent.[1][2]

In Australasia and Singapore, a person of Hong Kong origin is categorised as a Honky, a term that some people of Hong Kong take offense at. They prefer to be called "Hongkongers". In fact several brochures from the Hong Kong Tourism Board makes reference to this new term.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=honky

This one is garbage for referrence as not many people had cars or horns on cars back in the 1920's.

terry57 look up honkie in the dictionary if you dont want others to be derogatory to you.

RueFang:sorry,I did make a mistake,and I did mean Khun.

Here is what gets me, most of us have only done well because of the opportunities from our home country.

I don't think any of us are a Carlos slim or Bill gates.

If we had grown up under the same laws and conditions of thailand we would be embarrassed to admit

where we were from. I don't get this slagging ones home country and now living in Thailand with it's faults

which are far worse if you had to grow up under them.

Then again many failures are moving to Thailand that done muck all back in their homeland.

Just another observation.

Ok I got it, must be Thai pride in them. Hope they keep it in mind when they report in every 90 days, never will have any rights residence structure.

Terry57

I knew it would hit a nerve and adolecent answers would be served up.

I am a bit guilty also I married a thai when I was in my mid 30's and she was in her mid 20's.

I have gotten out of relationships because of age difference. Young and hot is ok, but not long term, at least for me

anyways. I felt it was more detrimental to them than me, I am not up to rasing children while in my 50's and

60's. Work has been enough through the years and a little free time to travel and relax is needed.

They can finder a younger ATM I hope, many of them have enough boyfriends on the side already.

Thats right, Thailand does not have age or sex discrimination.

Where is the help wanted adverts again.

what I have seen and do see is a majority of abnormal age difference in foreigners relationships to any other place in the world.

This is not rocket science.

Kill the messanger when you don't like the message, right.

I sure would like to hear any reasonable answer for this. I have been in at least 20 countries for more than a month

at a time and I have never seen the same abnormal relationship age wise, not even amoungst their own population.

You hit the nail on the head in that statement. Plenty of places with sun, sand and beach but you do not see the migration

that you see to thailand married to such age differences. Why? Greece, Italy, Spain

Maybe younger Thai women are more attracted to older men than most ever other country asian and farangland alike.

Could I be wrong, please explain.

As said earlier, this kind of thinking makes those who have had to resort to buying some empty companionship in place of a real relationship feel better about themselves. Don't get angry with them. Pity them.

open your mind a bit afa Gahern. Do you not see it is not only thailand, what about mail order bride business.

Follow the yellow brick road

It is not wrong at all and more fact than a generalization. Korea use to be the same when it was a poor country, many of the younger girls married to whatever foreigner they could. Not so today, economics is the reason for change.

I am sure if thai women had a alternative to exxtremely high income (thai standards) besides marrying a foreigner there would be a ten fold decrease in elderly farangs living in thailand let alone married to thais.

Any Farang that would want to live in a flop house for $50 a month you would not want to deal with.

Then again maybe a two man tent rental business may be the thing.

I have a business idea which would cost relatively little to start up and could net a big profit for little work. I live in the bunnies and notice that there are lots of empty houses up for rent for less than 1,500 baht a month. I think there is a big demand among farang for this type of accomodation if they knew how to get it. Some people would be very happy with a holiday away from it all in the 'Real Thailand'. The Thai owner's have no idea how to attract Farang to their properties and so would be delighted with your sevices. You could charge a lot more than 1,500 month, You would also have a captive audience to rent motorbikes to and take on tours.

Your expenses would be perhaps an internet site and some advertisement expenses.

Offer a farang lady 50 times more than she could ever get on her own and let here children, family and what extra

she may enjoy have a go at it also and you would see many more farang women married at such age differences.

We all know it is not about money and that is not the reason all these foreign men end up in thailand and not

Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. For sure it is not a money issue.

I see said the blind man.

Eminem

That was his culture, not something he needed to try and act out in a advanced adolecent stage in life.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004896/bio