wensiensheng

I'm not sure if I am too late to add my experience to this thread, but thought I would do so anyway as it may be relevant.

I retired at 50 two years ago, to live in Thailand. I was previously living in Singapore for 10 years, so knew Aisa generally, and Thailand specifically, quite well.

My decision to retire was based on two factors:

1. I no longer enjoyed the career that I had persued for 35 years (banking), in fact I was growing pretty bitter toward the company for which I worked.

2. I calculated that a combination of investment income and future pension, enabled me to financialy afford to retire.

There were other options open, I could have tried to change career, change employer etc etc, but I decided I had worked enough and since I could afford to retire, I would do just that. BUT, I did not retire immediately upon decideing that it what was I wanted to do. I worked out that if I worked one more year, that extra 12 months was worth a lot to me financially (this was when the banking business was booming remember).

My advice is that if you want to retire to Thailand, then do it. BUT, wait until the time is right. Right for you personally and right for you financially. Thailand will still be here in 1 year, 2 years, so if now is not the right time financally for you, wait until it is. From your post, it seems a recovery in UK house prices is key, but maybe you can rent it out and use the rental income to cover the mortgage? But that's going into detail that only you can work out.

If you are desparate to get yourself here in a short space of time, my advice is to think very carefully about what you do. far reaching decisions taken on an emotional basis, can become a millstone around your neck...sometimes. To follow these theme a bit, I think you say that your UK existance is humdrum and that Thailand is exciting (I am paraphrasing). But beware, when you live in a place day in and day out, the excitement can fade. IMHO, excitement shouldn't cloud you practical judgement.

Despite was it often written in this forum, Thai people are as friendly as people in other countries that I have lived and although some Government laws/practices seemed aimed at doing down the ferang, mostly they are trying to protect their own people. THAT happens in all countries I have lived. I can't buy land here, I couldn't buy and live in a house in Jersey, Channel Islands, even though I lived there for 20 years. In Singapore I could buy a condo but not landed property. So, yes, there are restrictions on foreigners, and it is the norm for many countries, certainly most in Asia.

Well, some thoughts for consideration. Enjoy your retirmeent, just make sure you pick the right time for you financially. Most countries/places are fun....if you have money.

My scariest POTENTIAL encounter with a snake was when I came home in the car and saw a snake half way out of the underneath of the seat of my moter bike, which was parked in the driveway of the house. When I approached the bike, he slid all the way back under the seat. Had to take the bike half to bits to get him out.

But the thought that if I hadn't seen him half way out when I got back, I might of got on the bike and then later had him slide out from under the seat, right between my legs, has stayed with me since...

Money talks. You're going to have to offer some cash to one of our BIB to make up for his having to divert some of his valuable time to your theft. Just to make him feel a bit better, of course

Oh the muddle that is Thai politics. At the outset, ObaMark has no option but to work within the existing system....muddle that it is. Whether he can gradually week out those ministers appointed for reasons other than ability and skill sets, we will have to see. For sure, given ObaMarks relience on his coalition partners, it will be a very slow process. And in the meantime, the new Gov't could fall pretty much at any time, if there is the slightest upset in a delicate balance of power.

But, as it was, is how it is and how it will be.

If I can make a suggestion, why not pick a village that is fairly close (10-20km) from a town like Udon or Ubon? You will still get all the characteristics of a small village (everybody knowing each other and their business etc) but also have some of the benefits of civilisation, like internet access. In addition, if you want to go to town once a week to interact with some ferang, you can do so very easily.

I'm not sure if you feel there is a need to be in a village that is pretty much cut off, but I find my wife's home village is a very small rural community (85 houses), yet only 12 km from Udon.

I quite like it...for a few months a year.

There's no train from Vientienne to Luang Prabang (obviously ), so I believe you will have to book a seat in a minivan to make the journey. I've never done it because when I went, I drove my own car across. But I would think it is possible to book in Nong Khai. People there are quite geared up for tourists who want to visit Laos in general and Luang Prabang specifically. One of the many agents hanging around by the immigration office should be able to help.

Sorry, that's the only part of your journey I know anything about

IMHO, there are always rising property prices in Phuket, and I think Thailand in general, because in the good times prices go up, and in the bad times....nobody sells. Certainly the locals will never sell for lower than the last price they had in mind. So there is never a down turn, just a period with no transactions.

" QUOTE (Trichiliocosm @ 2008-10-24 23:55:46)

"I think 1997 made us very aware of the role that risk management has to play," said Kosit Panpiemras, executive chairman of Bangkok Bank, speaking of Thai banks in general. "I think we have also been very careful about liquidity, particularly here at Bangkok Bank. Our loan-to-deposit ratio is something like 90 percent -- only 90 percent of our deposits have been lent out."

Only 90 percent? Since when is 90 percent not much? Perhaps he meant to say "only 10 percent..."

From BOT:

Commercial banks are required to maintain liquid assets no less than 6% of the reserve base (deposits, foreign borrowing maturing within 1 year, other borrowing with index linked returns or embedded financial derivatives.)

The current required reserves ratio in the US is 10%. "

As many have intimated, lending out 90% of a banks deposits is very low. The modern world learned to live off leverage. By definition, that means lending out MORE than you have on deposit. In the case of some US banks, 30 times more.

Thailand has escaped this particular crisis because of a) the high propensity of the poor and middle class to save what they can. Individually it's peanuts, collectively it insulates a bank from a run; slow decision making and domestic focus meant they never got caught up in the sexy instruments peddled by the Capital Market divisions of foreign banks.

The econmic problem for Thailand is going to be living with others mistakes. Slower FDI, less tourists, relatively strong baht. 2009 is not going to be fun economically, but other developed countries will suffer more

I share the amazement over the strength of the baht. I can only think that international investors have become immune to the chaos which is Thai politics and economic policies (if there are any) and are just treating them as SNAFU.

Lets see now. The Thai armed forces conduct a review of the hardware most needed to protect it's borders and settles on........submarines. It will be interesting to see how they could be deployed to sort out this problem! Actually, I dont think they have completed the purchase uet, so maybe that particular piece of ego mania will get cancelled.

So who now will be the poor unfortunate take the helm of Thaksin inc?

Whoever does so is putting their future on the line. It probbaly wont worry an old has been like Samak who has nothing to look forward to but the names being put forward may not want to spend the rest of their days in exile or worse if things go wrong and not a lot has gone right for the PPP recently. Someone will have to take a long hard think before accepting the position of PPP head.

I wonder how Newin and the red guards will take this? Newin doesnt usually take defeat very well, and he was the one trying to get Samak back as PM at all costs.

Well right now there is an opening for compromise. However, compromise is a disaster for Thaksin's plan so I doubt we will get it unless his party does start to split away from him.

Ok this is cynical- but I agree Hammered- whoever the PPP puts up, will be tainted in the mind of the PAD. the PAD has fought two major battles in two years- won them both. But there are more battles to fight. So maybe its time the PAD just appointed a government,.

Right. Lets not bother with this democracy stuff. It's too time consuming when the PAD has to kick out the Government all the time. Easier to just let them appoint who they like. On the bright side for Toxsin, no need to spend money to buy votes for a government that the PAD then kick out.

Unless of course they can continue the entertainment for us to enjoy?

Talk about embarrassing for Thailand! On the 4 pm BBC World bulletin everyone including the

Southeast Asia correspondent as well as Jonathan Head in Bangkok were shaking their heads

in disbelief that the prime minister of a country has been brought down by a cooking show !!

They even used the word " bizzare " to describe such a situation.

They admitted that they've even given up speculating how this will work out eventually

but he was concerning that Jonathan Head commented there is a risk this will not

resolved peacefully this time.....................................

It really does look dreadful that a country that has attracted so much foreign investment in the past

appears to be in such a muddle !

This is a fun place to live but it just reinforces my belief that it's too risky to invest

one satang in this Disneyland !

"Thailand has had its fair share of crises recently, but this is one that even the Thais are baffled by, our correspondent says."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7605838.stm

Thailand has exposed itself it has outgrown the path to democracy into a real

BIZARRE BANANA REPUBLIC

The whole world is laughing and even Hollywood and Bollywood couldn't have written such a script.

Can anyone imagine what the world leaders are talking about today to each other ?

Poor Thailand, they lost face to the whole governance world; what's next ?

LaoPo

loose face NO NO No !!!

I believe this will be set as an example that in Thailand even the PM is not above the law. and when a PM does something wrong he pays for it with his JOB...

or do you prefer other "world leaders" who have not lost positions when they did something wrong. and never even faced a court..

Well done Thailand... the first country in the world to show that even on simple matters the PM is not above the law..

its now becoming a world trend to have politicians understand that they are not above the law and that good honest citizens will not take anymore sh*t , corruption and leaders who utilize the position for personal gain.

the last examples are

Israseli PM on charges of bribe

Irish Pm payment scandals

candian Pm leaking scandal

finland PM sex scandal

and the least goes on.....

Thailand is sending a very clear message to the world a PM is not above the law. No One is above the law and no matter how trevial it is even hosting a coocking class.. you break the law you loose your job.

I think you forgot to add US president and UK Prime Minister (now ex Prime Minister) on fabricating reports of weapons of mass destruction, i.e. Deceit.

I took my Thai registered car accross to Laos last year and drove up to Nong Khai. To take a car into Laos you need to get a "passport" for your car in Thailand. You can do this using an agent in Nong Khai. I can't recall the cost, but it's not that much. Takes a few hours though so I saw the agent one day and got the document the next day.

You also need to buy Laos car insurance and can do that at the booth just accross the bordor. Again, not that expensive as you can do it for 7 days, 1 mth, or whatever time you need.

The roads in Laos (or should I say road, singular) is ok but pretty windy past Vang Vien and into the mountains.

I enjoyed the trip by car....my wife says she'll fly if we ever go to Luang Prabang again!

Sorry, no info on driving into Vietnam, although would like to try it myself one day.

Whatever you do, don't bring money into Thailand that you don't need to use here. Park the bulk of it in Singapore and just transfer in what you need, when you need it.

For every person who has had a good experience with HSBC, I am sure there is another who will relate a good story. Same with every single bank you can think of. Take it from a guy who worked in banks for 30 years, there isn't much difference between banks, whichever you pick. What makes the difference, is the particular person you speak to.

These days, if you walk into a bank without an introduction, you'll be treated like a money launderer, until you prove otherwise. So be ready for that.

My own view is that it's good to pick a bank that is big enough that it can never fail because it will get bailed out by it's home country central bank if it ever got into difficulties, and has a reasonable spread of branches in Asia. HSBC, Stan Chart, Citibank would fit that criteria. As would others.

Why not take a trip to Singapore and check with several banks?

By the way, one more thing, the solicitors are feeding you a bunch of bu11sh1t. It's as easy to transfer money to any bank as it is to HSBC. They are just being lazt.

Many settle, just as many become disenchanted.

What makes them keep coming, despite the hurdles?

As for the second question regarding breaking new ground in neighbouring countries I think, with certain exceptions, it is the lack of a comfortable supporting infrastructure that keeps most focussed on Thailand. Let's face it, most people like to have others of their own nationality and background at least in the vicinity so they have a source of information to fall back on when problems arise. Yes there are those that boldly go where none have gone before but they are in the minority. The other major draw is the relatively well developed infrastructure of Thailand compared with other developing nations in the region, healthcare being top of the list.

I think this about sums it up. I lived in Singapore for 10 years, but it's expensive now and I'd need to work for another 5 years to be able to afford even a half decent life. I spend most my time in Phuket and it's really only half Thai because of all the Western influence and infrastructure around.

Actually, we're beginning to enjoy ourselves more in Issan these days because it's still comfortable for a Westerner to live...but less Western!

That is fine by me! Less property sales = less development = less construction noise and lorry traffic.

Personally, I think the big trigger that killed the housing market was the FBA changes that blew away the ability for farang to own property through a Thai company.

There have been other events that have been mentioned, like Tsunami, like military revolution, like global credit crunch etc, but I htin these are just events that produce a buying opportunity. But, if I can't own my property, I don't care what the price is, I won't buy.

So for me, the FBA change is what killed the market in terms of numbers of transactions, the other "events" just push the prices up or down depending on what is going on at any given time.

Condo's are different of course.

Stangely enough, there is still a lot of development going on. In my Soi in Phuket, there are over 30 houses for sale ranging from 35 million baht to 4 million baht. All just 1 house here, 3 houses there, not one big development. But a guy has just started to build another 3 houses next door to me. Why? Goodness only knows. Everyone seems to think their houses are going to be great and sell like hot cakes.

One way is to put some cash or financial assets into a discretionary offshore trust. The trust deed can be written in many ways, so as to ensure that your wishes are followed after your (natural) death. It also enables you to stipulate whether your Mia Noi gets capital, income or a mixture of both. These things can be done quite cheaply these days, but you'd probably have to be putting half a million USD aside to make it worth while.

The other route is a will trust. Upon your death, your assets go to a trust and then are distributed, retained, invested according to your wishes.

Or, if you want something cheap and cheerful, set up an offshore company (about USD750), open an offshore bank account and make you and your Mia Noi signatories to the account. When you are gone, she can continue to sign on the account (because the company lives on as an entity after your death)and take whatever money is in there.

The trouble with insurance policies is the high level of costs. That's why in the first few years they are worth nothing, because all the premiums paid first go toward paying the upfront costs.

It's a pity Kingdom of Thailand can't learn from history. I particularly think of the last but one presidential elections in Taiwan. An unpopular encumbent president (Chen Shui Bien) won a very close and polarising election suposedly by foul means having survived a late "assassination" attempt. Afterward literally millions of opposition supporters demonstrated in the streets. It was scary, I know because I was there. But eventually normal people have to go back to their normal lives and Chen Shui Bien toughed it out.

At the next election he was voted out of office.

The power is in the ballot box. And don't tell me that Taiwan doesn't have vote buying because it does, as does most Asian countries.

Just wondering if anyone knows the process for growing rice? We've got about 15 rai near Udon which my wife's family grow rice on. It seems to me that they throw out rice seed, let it grow a bit and then pull out the shoots and reinsert each one into the ground by hand. But I'm not there all the time so haven't seen a complete rice growing cycle. I'd also be interested as to when fertiliser is added. I've looked on the net but can't see a sort of step by step guide of the growing cycle through to harvesting.

"You have hit the nail square on the head.

A very big percentage of village people have never gotten much further than the next couple of villages. They know zip about democracy or how a democracy works.

While they continue to sell their votes nothing is gonna change any time soon. Not in my life time (nor my children's either)"

I live in a small village near Udon. You would be amazed how many people have worked not only in Bangkok, but also abroad in HK, S Korea, Taiwan etc. And by the way, you may be more surprised to know everybody has TV and watches the news ( the Bush - Gore election taught the world a lot about it) and Western made films. They know what democracy is.

Don't be a bigoted Axxhole.

The question is, if Samak does resign, has his successor been pre approved by Sondhi? If he hasn't, presuamably PAD continue until a PM is appointed of whom they do approve? It's pointless Samak resigning if PAD supporters don't go back to their normal lives, and for that to happen, Fuhrur Sondhi needs to be satisfied with whomever is PM.

I have no idea whether Samak will resign tomorrow or not. But about the only way I can see out of the mess that is currently Kingdom of Thailand, is for Samak to resign ......for being who he is known to be, and for the police/army or whoever to execute the validly issued arrest warrents for the PAD leaders and throw them in jail without bail. Similtanously of course.

Then the people of Kingdom of Thailand can start over again and no doubt repeat the whole process a few more times and perhaps throw in the odd military coup or two. But I think the military may have realised that Kingdom of Thailand is just about ungovernable these days.

Or, PAD could stop their current illegal nonsense and protest peacefully as permitted by law...well, the law without a state of emergency anyway. Maybe that will produce a change of government, maybe not, but it would be legal.

One thing IS for sure, Toxin's bid for refuge (can't spell asylum)i n the UK has been given a significant boost by the radical actions of the PAD. You can just see the argument, it's not just me, these PAD guys are violently kicking out the next elected government as well.

I have not had personal experience, but a friend of mine had a child with a Thai lady. They were not married. He was named on the Thai birth certificate as the father. Nevertheless, in order to be "officially" or I suppose "legally" recognised as the father under Thai law, he had to get to court to get that fact recognised. He went through the process because he was worried that the mother would just take the child away and he would not have any legal rights to access etc. I don't think it was a big deal to get the recognition done. More a matter of presenting documents I believe.

Just what I was told for what it's worth.

"PAD Peace Feeler

Bangkok Post

Mr Sondhi said the government must promise not to amend the charter in its favour; to observe the Constitution Court's order regarding Preah Vihear temple; to suspend all mega-projects; and to commit to political reforms and increased public participation in politics.

Mr Sondhi said the four-point demand was strictly his own proposal, not the PAD's. He had yet to put the matter to other core members.

"They must accept the four-point demand - and only if the prime minister is either Somchai Wongsawat or Surapong Suebwonglee," said Mr Sondhi."

This guy has gotten far too big for his boots; with his unilateral demands. Someone should remind him that he's not the Head of State.

If because of the protests, Samak resigns and Parliament is dissolved, Sondhi and Chamlong might proclaim that they intend to form a government.

There is no need for Sondhi and crew to from or be part of a government....they seem to think they should pretty much run things anyway!