GreenSnapper

Baan Arjarn's on Soi Rangnam. Full Thai menu (food to die for), wonderful low volume jazz in the background and intimate seating in the rear. Prices? Moderate, not Sukhumvit rip-off rates. Open daily - just off of Rachada Prarop on Rangnam Road. Not to be missed.

Tel: 02.245.2775

It's ok food, not that special but tasty and 90% full with tourists who read somewhere "not to be missed".

You can immediately test it with tethering to your mobile phone via USB or Bluetooth. Cost is 1 Baht/minute.

If that works, buy a cheaper monthly package.

I have DTAC here and can receive incoming international calls just fine.

Are you sure the thing you are talking about is called "eyebrow" in English?

rent one of those babies i see them 80 year old cambodian beggars are always hanging around with. run down to the party screaming with the baby in the air. look as frantic as possible and shout "baby can't sleep, BABY CANNOT SLEEP!".

do this. every night.

Great idea.

Then he won't hear the neighbor as the baby makes more noise.

Use soap when showering and deodorant once you're dry. In Thailand, 2 showers per day might be required if you sweat a lot.

2 showers may be enough if you do not sweat at all. Otherwise several more -- as Thais do regularly.

They smile more and are a lot more pleasant than most people in Western countries.

Fully agree. There are still lots of pleasant Thais, and the overall bitterness of the West is not that prevalent here.

But then, whenever I travel to some of the neighbouring countries, I notice the difference, how much more friendly the people there are. But that is not a new development in my experience.

Contact your nearest men's rights group as a first step. They have lots of experience with greedy ex wifes and their advice is usually free.

Next, get a divorce as soon as possible. Offer her a modest amount of money if she does it on consent.

Earplugs!

The only solution in the noisiest country of the world.

True in BKK was broken this morning. High rate of package loss, but things have settled in the afternoon.

I've said it many times before an I see no reason to change my mind - Thailand is importing a welfare disaster.

Thailand is not importing anything and it's certainly not their disaster.

Well, Phuket has 40 older Farangs in government hospitals who cannot pay their bills.

I asked my motorbike driver what he thinks about that, and he answered:

"Yes, it is a disaster, it will ruin Thailand, the Baht will go through the ceilings, our exports will collapse and Suvannaphum will end in a swamp..."

So it must be a disaster, I believe and Thailand should set up a task force to prevent it.

Good post Guesthouse and I dare say you will get a lot of flack, but there's no getting away from the reality.

Too many farang belittle the Thais for living for the day, but in many cases that is the proverbial pot calling the kettle black.

There are lo-so Thais and lo-so farangs here. The lo-so Thais certainly outnumber the lo-so farangs thousandfold.

Those here at TV, who regularly bitch about lo-so farangs who they think "should not be here" or spoil their paradise, do have some serious issues, I believe.

cambodia much better, pay $20 at immagration and stay the rest of your life for free !! no hassles !! no worries !!

Cambodia may be easier for visas (is actually) but it doesn't rate at all for a retirement destination as it doesn't offer decent medical care. Anything at all complicated and you have to evacuate to Thailand, if you can.

Exactly. The infrastructure, including shopping and medical service, is much better in Thailand. Retiring in really poor countries (this includes the Philippines) is short sighted. Cambodia is fine for a holiday, but not much else.

Why not go to Singapore, get a real job for real money?

It is first world, serious culture, and the chicks have education and can speak English.

As a young man in TH, you are wasting your time.

Unlike you I was never a millionaire with a beach front property, just a normal bloke with a normal cold, ugly and bitter UK wife.

There is no question, sarahsbloke, that the wife-standard (or GF-standard) here is light years ahead of Western countries

But otherwise I wasn't talking "millionaire", but middle class standard what me or many of my friends got used by living in the West. Just the normal hard-working people who pay their mortgages 30 years and when they retire, want to have some living standard equal or better than during their working life.

I am Thai-Chinese, my husband is American. My family never accepted him. Not because of some misbehaviour but because his income is less than a million Dollars a year.

I can feel with you.

Some men are really poor.....

I live in a furnished 3 bedroom house 20km from CM .....7,000bht a month (near Doi Saket)

Moving to a furnished 2 bedroom house next month 10km from CM ..... 5,000bht a month (about 2km from Huay Tung Tao)

I looked at a new unfurnished 2 bedroom house ......... 2,500bht a month (12km from CM near Bo Sang)

The local restaurant near my new home (100yds) charges 25bht a dish (inc rice)

Everybody has his own preferences and I don't criticize that.

But retiring after a life of work, I wouldn't want to live that far out in the boonies and eat 25Bt meals.

To give you some ideas, how much things cost here if you want something of a similar standard as back home:

I recently saw a very nice apartment in Hua Hin, seafront, large (150 m2), very modern, very tasteful furnitures, a standard rarely seen in Thailand. The only problem: asking rent was 100,000 Bt. Maybe could haggle it down to 80K. Still much more than what I would pay in my home country for a similar standard.

I live in central Bangkok and while I don't mind 30Bt street food, I often eat out at the river or other nice places. Some seafood, a jug of Heineken with the girlfriend rarely comes below 1000Bt. Or do it the Thai way: An evening out at RCA, bottle of whiskey, soda, ice, some snacks.... 2000 Bt.

A visit at villa market is minimum 1000-2000 Bt. A crap bottle of wine is 600, a small piece of cheese from France or Switzerland is 300Bt, 100g salami from Spain 200 Bt and so on....

You want Guinness or German beer instead of Leo? Count this as 200+ Bt in your favorite bar.

So is this lucrative? Yes still it is, but not what some people believe. Having a "luxury life for just few cents" as some book on retirement here suggests, is not possible.

Living Thai style at Thai standard can be cheap - but not everybody's dream of retirement.

In Thailand, you pay Sin Sod before the marriage.

In the West, you pay after marriage. They don't call it "Sin Sod", but "alimony", must often be paid for a lifetime and the total costs are rarely below 3 Million Baht.

Go figure...

I'll second some of these

Kin Lom Chom Sapan on Soi Samsen 3 was my first data favorite, always works for me. Took my wife-to-be there on the first date. Little did I know that it has a stunning view of her ex's condo across the river. She sat through the meal looking at his condo :-) Great food, nice music, wonderful views and a nice sabai sabai feel.

Maybe on a quiet Wednesday it is ok, but when I visited there a while ago, it was packed with people, the music was loud and annoying, half of the food we ordered didn't come, the rest came very late, and we finally left hungry and disappointed.

This place is not far from Khao San ghetto and always has lots of farang tourists, but Thais seem to like it due to its extended seafood menu fresh from the aquarium.

There are much better places at the river IMHO.

Over $3,000 U.S. monthly in Bangkok and no hookers. You need to take one of those classes to learn how to spend your money wisely or move to Pattaya.

Believe me, I know what I'm doing

Previously, I was living here on much less. So I know that it is possible.

But when you retire, you don't want to live a 3rd-world life. I'm still somewhat below the living standard I had in my home country.

And yep, I'm considering the move to Pattaya. But it won't be cheaper there for me. An over-average house with pool cannot be rented for 5000B.

I'm not here to save money. I'm here to have a good life. I think that is every retiree's dream. But everybody has different ideas what he thinks is a good life and what is necessary.

sexual morals were still much more victorian and calvinistic in the west then today (a taboo to talk about sex, no sex before marrying, sex only for reproduction, not for pleasure), while in Thailand not so much has changed in this respect (nothing wrong with sex, it is a natural fenomenon). So the contrast and the cultureshock were even bigger then today.

It has changed a lot in the West since 1950, that is true.

1950, you could come to prison for many kinds of sexual "offences". In Thailand one would just lough about the reasons.

2010, you still can come to prison for (different) sexual "offences". Just see the prosecution of Julian Assange.

In Thailand one would laugh about it.

To give the OP an idea about "lucrative":

I'm single and live in BKK. I live a comfortable but not luxury life here. I don't frequent hookers, so have no expenses in this field.

I do have my wine, Western food, etc. But I also eat Thai food, perhaps 80%. Often I eat outside.

I have rented a big apartment in a good area.

I spend around 100,000 Baht each month. This does not include extensive shopping or traveling. Just my normal life expenses here.

Is this cheap or not? Certainly not as cheap as some people may hope for. But one should note that you don't pay taxes here in Thailand as a retiree, contrary to your home country.

".......Yes I do wish they die! but I am not the one who will ever want to dirty my hands."

You seem bitter.

Yep... one wonders what kind of people own 8M apartments.

Or was it a typo and the OP meant 800K?

Most the folks I know do not have insurance. It's a hassle over here, so we just self insure. Eat well, exercise, drink as much red wine as you can afford ( ), and pray....

Health care here is relatively cheap.

Healthcare here is only cheap for minor cases. It is not cheap at all when things become serious.

If you have a few ten thousand dollars laying around for this case, it may not matter. But otherwise, get insurance!

The end is near

Myanmar has big problems with electricity. A single nuclear plant will solve most of that.

The problem I see here is that of general safety in a poor nation. The Western embargo is not helpful at all, but will add to that.

Anyway whatever the West will do, it is just unnecessary noise. The influential country is China.