pomchop

The only part of using an agent that was a hassle was the going to bkk bank and sitting and waiting and waiting for them to print and have me sign piles of forms...mostly seemed to be for usa tax/irs folks....take your pic a dozen or so times and put $$ in and out of the bank account...total time from start to finish with two separate visits? first visit 4 hours...second visit...2 hours. So be prepared for that...silly me thought that would be in and out in a few minutes. So be aware that you will likely spend a lot of time sitting and waiting there. Both visits the bkk branch office was packed and appeared that every single person was there to get retirement visa.

For the OP...It sounds like you and I are a couple of very lucky guys? I was walking down the street in Pattaya last night and all sorts of girls were saying "hello welcum hansum man"...many of them were grabbing my hands and a few even grabbed and squeezed my butt...but one real looker grabbed my "wedding package" and gave it a good squeeze so I sat down to chat with her. She told me in broken english she is from Udon and has only been in the bar for one night. She did not speak much english but panomined that she was thirsty so I bought her a few drinks. She kept rubbing my legs and told me that she loved me. She said she was 22 and no kids and no boyfriend. Her friends came over and since they spoke more english I bought them all drinks and they helped to translate. They said she had no boyfriend and no kids and that she loved me. They said she said that she wanted to go my room with me because I was such a nice man and her room no good. All i had to do was pay some barfine of a few hundred baht. She kept rubbing my manhood and before you know it we were in the elevator of my hotel and into my room. Well blow me down within five minutes we were in the shower together and she kept rubbing my stomach which admittedly is rather large and asked me if i have babies? What a joker. I do love her sense of humor as well as her gorgeous young body. Next we did the deed and wow oh wow i can tell she really does love me a lot even if i am a few decades older. She has already asked me to come with her to Issan to meet her mom and dad , cousins, aunts and uncles and assorted other family members all of whom she says are very poor and have no jobs and no money. I think I must be the luckiest man alive to have met such an honest and sincere beautiful gal 1/4 my age that obviously loves me for who I am and wants me to meet her family. So I have cancelled my hotel and we will leave tomorrow. What could go wrong?

either you have never been to america or tyring to make some kind of joke... it is total BS

it is total BS

same in vietnam where no helmets especially in cities is extremely rare because if you don't wear one you do get caught and do have to pay a fine...so nearly 100% compliance.

if the op is even real which i doubt the chances of him thinking through your very sound advice with his big head instead of the little head are likely slim to none....a 20 year old thai gal can easily do that to most any man especially one that is old enough to be her great grandfather and thinks he and she are in "love".

The Ban Phra Sub-district Administrative Organisation chief later insisted to Channel 7 that officials checked the classroom security cameras and found no evidence of the abuse the boy described. The teacher also told the sub-district officials that the day the boy claimed the incident occurred was a day off. So let everyone see the video tapes, interview the officials who viewed the video, and check the work schedule? It certainly is not impossible that the kid somehow hurt himself playing or maybe another kid kicked him in the nads...maybe a good idea not to hang the accused teacher before a deeper investigation?

Chiang Rai flower festival around xmas time is a sight to see.

Avoid the bible beater types who are here to try and convert a bunch of poor Buddhist Thai kids to jesus loves you land....and many of them use the pics and online sites to raise $$ from the "christians" back in farang land...all well and good til you see the bible beaters driving around in a mercedes. The kids are props. Had one idiot farang up north who was supposed to be an english teacher but spent most of his time trying to teach the kids to sing jesus loves you songs and telling them if they did not forget buddha and accept jesus they were going to hell....caused a huge stir when kids went home and told their parents teacher says they go hell etc....Idiot was soon fired as it was beyond his comprenshion that he was to be a teacher not a preacher. My guess is he also had pics and tried to use them to get donations to his "cause" of spreading the "gospel". Disgusting piece of crap.

Have you ever heard of chain smokers? They light one off of the old one. I should know as I used to be horribly addicted to fags and spent most of my time thinking about my next cig even when smoking one. Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs known to mankind. I could not be happier to be done with them for over 20 years now. Nasty habit that is now also an expensive habit and frowned upon more than ever. As to guy on balcony my advice is first get a fan to blow it away from your balcony at least a bit and 2 move as soon as you can as he is very very unlikely to quit all of a sudden.

How much time do you suppose the average farang who lives in thailand full time or say six months a year spends in actually studying thai vocabulary or attempting to learn at least a few hundred words? It never ceases to amaze me how many farangs have been here for decades and would have trouble with counting to a hundred or knowing a few basic phrases like ...i understand, i do not understand, do you understand? Yes it is tough language but a very basic knowledge is really not that hard to learn but you do have to actually study it at least a bit. And i have found the Thais to be very kind in trying their best to understand my Thai as much as i may mangle the tones etc. It is actually fun for me to joke with them a bit about it all.

The owner of a usa company where I worked had an accounting degree from USA university. We would often be in meetings where something math related would come up...he would always punch it into a calculator but i could normally figure it out as it was simple math in my head and give him the answer...he always seemed amazed and asked me how i did it? an ACCOUNTING major....i used to think WOW are you kidding me? And he went to school back when we all had to learn add subtract multipy divide without using a computer. Today i sort of get it that they seem to think why should i learn all that stuff when i can just let siri give me the answer. Sad i think as i sort of enjoyed figuring suff out in my head. Are computers making people more aware/smarter or dumber?

exact opposite of my experience of over 25 years around thailand. I have found over and over at 7/11 etc when they make a mistake it is nearly always they give me too much change...and then when i point it out they seem confused as they don't know what to do or how to adust it on computer etc ....overcharge i am sure happens in some bars and a few places but as said not my experience.

I am not sure the cult can be broken even if maga are lined up with a tin cup in a bread line.

I have read a LOT of books in my life. Some of the very worst were books written by farangs about their lives in Thailand. One of the few that was well written is called Karmic Ties by Stephen Long who certainly knows his stuff and is also a good writer...a rare combination.

Likely the tip of a very big iceberg of people who are pissed off at a lot of big time ceos making millions to figure out a way to screw people out of their money. Look for more to come. No violence is not the answer but in almost all of usa any idiot with a grudge and an iq in double digits can easily get their hands on an ak47 and shoot the heck out of most anyone along with their body guards on a public street in a matter of seconds. Not to mention their kids/family. An AK-47, not an AR-47, has a cyclic firing rate of around 600 rounds per minute, which translates to roughly 10 rounds per second when firing fully automatic

tipping in america is totally out of control these days...and getting worse everyday....lucky to even get a thanks for a tip...i am not a big tipper in Thailand but it sure seems nice to receive a wai and thanks here for most any tip you may leave...latest in usa of course is tip cups at just about very starbucks or self serve place . ..i went to a little hole in wall place at usa east coast beach recently..ordered at a window an overpriced basket of so so shrimp...it was $16...then the gal at counter where i also picked it up sticks a tablet in my face to see if i want to click leave a20-25 or 30% tip..or u could click no tip...so i actually i left them zero as i was offended by the entire attempt to shame me into overtipping for a self service place...then manager comes over to ask me if something wrong and i told him it is an overpriced self service place with no seats, no service, and no tip...

Like i said...yes there are negatives. It is no piece of cake to find people you like to socalize with here for sure but also can be problem back in usa with politics too busy working got wives grandkids money problems etc etc. Not to mention that for many if you say Thailand you are painted as some kind of pervert....from the people who couldn't find thailand on a map, never been here, and think taiwan and thailand are same place.

1. Healthier : Swim everyday in large condo pool. Better exercise for older folks than the walking five miles a day I did in usa. Can get frequent health checkup here for a fraction of usa costs/hassles and if you find something lurking get on a plane and back to usa where medicare and supplement will cover it. 2. Laugh more: If you learn a few thai words at least and use them to joke around with thais you will nearly always get a good laugh as thais love sanuk. Even if you know zero thai if you can smile and joke around the thais will join in. In usa try joke around with a girl 40 years younger and she will generally not be amused and maybe call the police. 3. Less $ sress: Don't have to look at every menu etc price like back in usa where a simple meal can easily be $10-15 usd ++ and then expected to give another 15-25% tip on top. Eat mostly local food which I like and it truly is a fraction of usa costs. Rent a nice condo here for a small fraction of USA cost and rent includes weekly maid as well as wifi and staff treats me very nicely. 4. Warm weather: Yes can get a bit hot but makes swimming even more attractive. Shorts ok most everywhere everyday. Laundry done as needed for few baht or do it yourself and drys very quickly on condo balcony. Can get bit rainy some places during off season but doesn't much bother me as usually comes and goes quickly and amusing to watch. 5. Travel opportunities: Overall cheap and fairly easy to travel around thailand or southeast asia without having to fly hours and hours. Tons of perfectly good hotels easy to book and very cheap especially if time visits for midweek and shoulder or off seasons. 6. Being old not so bad: Thai culture honors old people and I have found most Thais go out of their way to help "papa". Age is not nearly as big a deal in Thailand . Go into local bar in usa full of 25-30 year old yuppie types who look at you and wonder why their grandfather is in bar. Go into most local bars in Thailand as old man and nobody much cares or at least give you a smile and a welcome. Negatives? Sure there are some but everytime i make a list of pros and cons my thai pro list is way way longer than usa and my con list is way shorter than usa.

They are not alone...a fool and his money are soon parted: Key points about scam losses globally: $1 trillion estimate: This is the most widely cited figure for global scam losses annually. Source: This information comes from reports by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, which analyzes data on scam trends and losses worldwide. Increasing trend: The total amount lost to scams is considered to be on the rise due to the increasing sophistication of online scam tactics.

bit coin? seems to be the favorite of mexican drug cartels...

viet nam seems to have figured out how to convince bike riders to wear helmets....it's called enforcement

Taught a bit at a rural thai high school in north. They had a big wear a helmet push for a while...big full color signs encouraging helmets posted all along the main road in/out of the school. Almost all the teachers who rode motorbikes never wore a helmet. Great role models...and of course kids didn't wear helmets either. And i would bet that most of the teachers who drove cars did not fasten a seat belt. If you can't even get the so called teacher role models to wear a helmet or buckle up then good luck getting a bunch of teen age thai students to do it. IF IF they had been serious the teachers who did not wear helmets should have been fined or punished. I believe the campaign came from the top school department officials in Bangkok which sounded good and had a nice budget but obviously no attempt to get the teachers on board. To my knowledge nothing like any kind of reprimand or punishment ever happened and I suspect never will.

Agree...and big myth is also that you don't need to wear it when near to home. WRONG. An accident can happen at the end of your driveway. Some think you don't need helmet unless you are speeding down the road. WRONG. When your head hits the concrete it will not be a good result even if you are going 5 mph. Sadly there are many many deaths and near deaths all over Thailand every single day that could have been prevented or mitigated somewhat with a good helmet. And of course there is the "it's my business" brigade some of whom have to be taken care of by hospitals or families for decades ruining other people's lives because they could not be bothered to wear a good helmet.

Some very good advice...make it there (west etc) spend it here. Very few seem to be able to make any semi serious money in Thailand....BUT there are many places around the world that you can get paid pretty decent bucks and live frugally albeit simply and save a lot and then retire to Thailand and live quite well especially if you are getting a decent pension/social security backed up by some savings. Yes you can live very cheaply in Thailand but it will/would be much better to have an income and some savings which generally means no retiring in your 40's.