garyk

What gripes me about Thailand is that you cannot prove you have the funds they want your funds in their banks basically. In most latin American countries I can show funds in the bank and be granted a retirement visa. In Mexico where I am thinking of setting up a permanent retirement visa. I can show 150K in the bank and be issued a permanent visa. Here in Colombia it is dirt cheap, just showing the funds in the bank. In Thailand it is just a money scam IMHO.. They don't care if you have money or not. Don't care if you spend it to improve the lives of the Thai people, the government just wants it in the banks or being channeled in in 65K/mo. chunks. No offense, if they can get away with it then more power to them. I am not a fan of setting up and depositing large sums of money in a foreign country. Look at Malaysia, how insane is that! Another country that has gone off the deep end..

Same here, I am in Colombia at present. Scenery will take your breath away. Would love to expore Ecuador..

Wow, bet that was a cool trip. Lived in Tbeng Meanchey birding about 3 years ago, the last time. Logging was out of control. While birding the logging goons came to pay me a visit to make sure I was not an activist.. Guns, the whole nine yards. Scared the <deleted> out of me. Slash and burn. I drove my truck from Thailand. All along that area all the way to the Vietnam border was horrible. There is still jungle but it is fading fast..

I agree, but Thailands retirement rules have been sketchy at best. One year extensions, no land ownership what so ever. I mean it was set up as a con game from the beginning.

IMHO, China and the current regime will put the stop to mass western retirees in the near future. For me the air pollution, and constant hassle from immigration was to much to put up with. My vote it will get assimilated slowly and tourism and retirees will slowly die out. I lived their full-time for 10 years and 5 or 6 years before that, visiting for months at a time. What a change, hard to imagine back then I would be writing this. The current regime wants the money that comes with tourism of old, but want to make it miserable for people that come here... haha. Hard to imagine. Thailand is living on publicity of old. They push it and it attracts new comers. But, as with all false advertising it is catching up with them and cannot last. That being said as a westerner.. Now, Thailand will push China and the others to come. And I expect some success. But, for me as a westerner I cannot think of a more miserable place than Thailand.

Anyone ever visit this area?? I lived there for a few months. Logging has decimated the area. A day late and a dollar short should be the headline for this story..

This is like going to a fortune teller at the lowest point in your life and the fortune teller says I predict things will get better in the next few months..

The people that run Thailand will never let it return. Insurance on arrival will increase, These guys run the government. Every hi-so with their hand in the kitty will make sure it is a nightmare to visit Thailand not to mention live there.

If this keeps up we may have a military coup in Thailand soon.

What a relief, I was thinking there would not be any action..

Got to hand it to Thailand, they know how to keep a S.H. looking like a pink rose on the internet.

If there was a tourist olympic game, these guys would win every year. Gold medal to TAT again. Of course they would have the Gold medal taken away for testing positive for drug use.

China has to be in love with this guy. I certainly would not be hanging my hat there.

This is going to be an interesting thread!

Strange, I came to Colombia when it opened it borders and NO restrictions. Oddly enough when they opened the borders the cases were spiking like crazy. Now the cases are dropping like a rock and everything is fully open. The town I am in is so clean, the people are really taking it serious. All with masks and wiping everything down pronto after you leave. Not sure what the difference is but it seems to be working here.