garyk

2 hours ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

Pollution is part of city life..Im tired of people moaning about it.

City only... haha.   I have had to fly out of Malaysia and Thailand when birding in the country because of the insane air pollution. It is a polluted cesspool.  And I think I am being kind... 

What a horrible way to live your retirement life!  Hard to believe.

Burn me, give a beer to all the guests, all two of them... haha, and scatter my ashes...

On 9/19/2019 at 11:25 PM, Sujo said:

I have never had insurance for anything in my life. That includes medical.

 

Dumb or not, its my choice and Im happy with it.

I am the same, well kinda. I keep a few extra dollars for self insure. I have been in a Thai hospital many times because of my lifestyle, never a problem. Colombia is the same. I priced the insurance and decided I was better off self insured when I travel.

Same with my home here in the states. Dropped it when I paid it off. Insurance is a huge lucrative business, I choose not to participate as much as possible.

Actually I have saved over 15K dollars by not insuring my home for the last 10 years, health insurance I have saved over 35K easy.  I need to start putting that money in the bank again monthly to build back up. At one time I had over 100,000 in that account. Now I have spent it, time to start over... haha

I look at it this way, I keep enough to fix broken bones, hospital stays for a few months if I have to. And enough to get me back home. If it I die, enough to bury me. If I am hurt where I am not able to move or in a coma or something, then I am better off dead. So, they can unplug me and I will be happy with that.

Not only that but on my last trip I explored nursing homes and assisted living in foreign countries. I have a monthly income as most do here to live my life in a nice place until I die.  As long as I am not in America I am in good shape. With no insurance what so ever.

10 hours ago, zydeco said:

When I was young, I remember Americans talking about the Philippines in the 1930s, which they seemed to enjoy. As for Mexico, I like it and there are spots that are appealing for a retired expat. Some are even safe. But don't forget that, unlike Thailand, Mexico is rife with gangs that like to cut people's heads off after holding them for ransom. And if you don't like being dismissed as a farang in Thailand, you're going to really dislike being the gringo in Mexico. Europeans tend to get themselves in trouble in Mexico. It's not Spain with tropical vegetation. I've never needed hospitalization in Mexico, but I've read reports of people who did that were handcuffed to their bed until they paid their bill. Mexico can be a great place to live, but you need to know how to navigate it. And it's far harder to do so than Thailand. 

You must be European?  I live in Texas and grew up on the border.

Yea the gangs are killing other gangs and it is not very safe in places. Same can be said for Thailand.

Stop watching the 10:00 news.  haha

To little too late, I will never spend another penny in Thailand. The heck with their paranoid nonsense. Let the Chinese and Indians have the polluted place.

This kinda reminds me of the opium and marijuana dealers in the mountains going up to the falls out side of Pai.  It was legal for the people to have it and to sell it but when you bought it you were arrested when going down the mountain. I used to go up and watch the dealers selling opium and pot and there would be a undercover guy sitting with them to tell the police below. Figure that out. I personally would not be caught dead with any weed in Thailand.

Good topic, I am getting older and I left Thailand. I decided Thailand was a health hazard for the elderly. Last week I returned from Lake Chapala in Mexico. I checked out assisted living places. I was blown away by the care and absolutely beautiful places. 1000-2000/month.  My plans are in 10 years or whenq time comes to sell my home and move permanently.  

2 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Comes down to the office but not usually, they may ask for proof you are staying at the hotel, then in theory they will chase up the hotel.

In CM 1.5 years ago they refused my RV because of this. I am sure some of you guys remember. At the old mall, I was told to go up stairs to straighten it out. It was so crowded I had to take a number to get fined. So it happens allot.

25 minutes ago, Longcut said:

If the hotel fails to complete a TM30 for the foreigner, is immigration going to fine the guest?

They fined me in CM. And I saved the receipt from the hotel. Because they told me the online reporting did not work! Did not matter to them what so ever.

13 minutes ago, hkt83100 said:

Exactly what I was told on the same occasion in Nakhon Ratchasima. "Only when leaving the country."

 

 

I assure you that is not true what so ever!  They might of said that but if you move around in Thailand you will get nailed and it is a major headache.

Not only that but I have been refused my 90 day reports because I was traveling?

The information on TV is not very reliable. Don't listen to immigration if you live there and don't travel. Believe me it is a major problem now.

Funny not this year but last time I got my retirement visa done in CM it was a relieving door. I was fined I think 1800 Baht because the hotel did not file one for me in BKK when I arrived.

They will land in Phuket storm the beaches and round up all the TM-30 violators and ship them to China to be prosecuted... 

I have an ex girlfriend in Thailand that I was with for years. She makes over a million Baht a year easy. Not much by western standard but she was in good shape in Thailand. As her income increased the change was unreal. I though the women in America were bad but she turned into a first class witch about money..  But, where she is from very few people make that and she was elevated to a prominent woman in the village. It went to her head... Haha.  

Actually I don't see any difference in America than in Thailand as far as money is concerned. 

The inequality is about the same IMO. 

When i first saw title I thought it said “well behaved pensioners brought out to clean sewers”.  Haha 

One other thing you need to consider is the air pollution and filth in general. If you have any health problems now? Come for a short visit when Thailand and it’s neighbors are burning. Then decide. As you age this could be a serious problem. Come with your eyes open and be smart.

I am not a business. But,one of the best decisions in my life was not to invest when I lived in Thailand. 

I am pushing 70, I came back to the US. Unless at your age you are going for the pussy? Then just get a short visa and head back home. And when you get off the plane don't loose your senses..  Have fun.

IMO it is not a good idea to feed the Thai government. Just will make it worse down the line for others.

6 hours ago, Thaidream said:

Yes , indeed, let the 3 Embassies that refused to co=operate with their own  citizens and Thai Immigration by stopping Embassy Income leters while all the other 80 still issue the letters and changed very little.   It's time to speak up about all of this nonsense and bring back the income letters and stop the TM30 chaos.

US embassy stopped issuing letters all over the place not just Thailand, not sure about the other countries. Only thing I can figure they are trying to stop the retiree's from leaving America? 

IMO if Thailand wants western expats to keep coming they should accept bank statements. The 800K, 400K in a Thai bank is stopping expats from moving to Thailand. 

Looks to me like the Thais got mad and it played into the hands of the US and the other countries that stopped the letter. 

Who knows, but it will stop most US expats retiring to Thailand for sure.

On 8/13/2019 at 5:39 AM, taninthai said:

Guy must be working 7 days a week if he travelling that much ,don’t sound like much of a life .......you get 48 hours to report ????

 would imagine his passport would be full with stamps by the end off the month too????????????

Not really believable is it.

I run into guys like you all the time in Thailand, riding their bikes or motorbikes and never really travel much. Personally it would bore me to tears. But, different strokes.

I have a hobby where I didn't even have a home in Thailand for 5 years. Moving around and living in guest houses, mostly renting a room or apt for a month at a time. For me a great life. But when they started enforcing the TM-30. It became hell for me.. GH's refusing to rent to me. Or charging me extra fees. 

Bottom line is not everyone lives the type of life you live. And surely not what I would call a life what so ever, for me!  For you yes.. So spare us all the nonsense please.

I finally left Thailand because of all the hassles of moving around. In the end I would have to locate an immigration office and take a day or two out of my schedule to deal with all the nonsense. Then deal with the guest house or apt. owners.  What a bunch of paranoid nonsense IMHO.

28 minutes ago, lkv said:

I had to rush to the toilet to puke after reading the above.

+1

Thailand will still have the old times, but new arrivals will be far and few between.

1 hour ago, Selatan said:

From the article:

Not sure why Malaysia was the exception. I suspect that the sizeable local ethnic Chinese population that could speak in Mandarin and various Chinese dialects may be a big plus point. Very few Thai-Chinese and Indonesian Chinese could speak Mandarin. In the past year or so, I have noticed that some MM2H (Malaysia My Second Home) participants from China have posted their vlogs of their interactions with the local Chinese in Mandarin, and judging from the comments of the viewers, many mainlanders were delighted to find Mandarin to be widely spoken in Malaysia.

True, I used to hang with a Malaysian, Chinese decent. And his buds from China, Singapore would come in and they all spoke Mandarin, or Chinese I don't know the difference. They were thick.