walker

And look, I ended on a preposition...

to paraphrase Churchill..this is some up with which we shall not put!

I'm not sure that Ms Lenox was right about the "anymore" part. All an act, a form a "trollism", if you think about it......

it was Chanchao, at fotopages. A ton of really superb information. He ought to get a paycheck from the Chiang Mai tourist organizations.....

Yohan is absolutely right. Visas/car registration are nigh onto impossible in Iran and are impossible in Burma. The Russian/Chinese route might work, if you could get the paperwork lined up (expensive and time-consuming)but would probably take six months of travel....a lot of waiting in places you don't want to be. I gave some thought, a few years ago, to a motorcycle (Benelli 650) trip from Italy to Thailand, and found Burma to be an obstacle impossible to deal with. A car would be much, much worse.

It is anticipated that you will need more money to support yourself and wife (farang)(retirement visa) than it would cost to support a Thai wife.

Where do they get that thinking from ???

Mabe they've met my wife?

I live in Phuket, if you already have a non-immigrant type "o" visa or "b" and your over 50 you can get a 1 year retirement visa, ( extension) in 15 minutes for 1,900 baht.

you need to show them a medical clearence (cost 60 baht)

your bank book with 800,000 in it and a bank statement from the bank saying the same ( cost 200 baht from bangkok bank where my account is)

2 pics and copies of your passport pages

Re-entry permits are 1,000 for single entry or 3,900 for mutipile re-entry

I just got my 3rd 1 year exptension last month no problem.

PS, your wife, ( whatever nationality she is) and any kids, can get the same extension as you with the money in your account even if she is not 50!!! I have many friends that have done that.

Phuket Richard, Thanks for the info. Question: Do you know what happens if you get a single entry visa and due to unforeseen events, need more than one entry? Question 2: Did you get your retirement classification in Phuket? Question 3: Did you wait to get your retirement classification until it was within 30 days of expiration? Thanks again.

Soon to be ChiangMaiRichard

So Gaz, what is it you do (if anything, vocationally) in CM? Your history is spot on from my limited (english only) readings. Just curious.

Sorry for not being more specific. We have our "O"s and are over 55 (just), and only need the retirement category change & extension to a year. What I'm most concerned about is the timing of my personal effects arrival. I believe I need the Retirement categorization for a "reasonable amount" of duty-free used effects. My wife is not Thai. It was my understanding that I could obtain the retirement category in Chiang Mai, receive my goods in Chiang Mai and live happily ever after. Is this only an illusion? Thanks for the help

PTE: You seem to say, unequivically, that the "O" I currently have can not be given a retirement categorization anywhere except Bangkok. Next week, we (the wife & I) are off to Chiang Mai to move in. I somehow had the notion in my head that the categorization could be obtained in Chiang Mai. Not true?? One more question: How long should/must I wait prior to getting a retirement classification. I only care because I don't want to have to pay any more at customs than I have to (I'm shipping a 7'x7'x4' container of personal effects, all used), which I can time the arrival of. Thanks walker

Can I take my IQ test next week? This week I'm busy studying for my urine test....

Including the statistic that 2/3 of all statistics are lies?

Highly recommended, honest, nice person, decent English, clean, new car

Nared 09 954 7672

Does Nared have an hourly/daily/half day fixed cost? Thanks

Thaiquila is right...there is certainly a smug, self-righteous ring to the original post....nonetheless, a person should follow their own siren, and if that's a semi-monastic siren (an oxymoron, if I've ever heard one), swell. I'm living on about a third of what I was in the states and I drink a beer almost every day and the occasional Thai gin (surprisingly ok) & tonic. I guess the cost would run to 500-600 US dollars a year. If I can't afford that, I should go back to work......and as to volumetric quantities of cash, I keep mine in a silo, not a shed.

This entire string seems to have a nuance about it....it has to do with consensus; i.e., it is a bad thing to feel/think differently about different sorts of female homo sapiens. If I feel that the typical Thai woman is somehow better for me than the typical American woman, it's none of anyone's damned business (except the wife of almost 30 years), just so I don't treat one or the other preferentially in a legal context. I think that what several posters in this thread don't like is the wholesale dismissal of farang women without regard to individual traits. to those posters who are offended by this non-p.c. view: Do you think that the people with this perspective care about your thoughts.....you are either preaching to the believers or making your distracters more convinced by your stridency.

Hi, Kitty.....what you should know about teaching english is the typical rate of pay, about 250 baht/hr maximum, and 90% of the work is in BKK. It's tough, particularly if your credentials are shaky. My opinion, for what it's worth, is twofold.....visit on a budget as much as possible and continuously check English/American job opportunities in Thailand. There aren't many of the latter unless you're an engineer, but people do get lucky now and again. The notion of visiting on a tight budget is that it'll give you some idea of the quality of life you can buy for how much, which, in turn, shows you how good of a job you might need if you do finally decide to chuck life in GB. PS: an asset towards getting a job in Thailand is a rudimentary command of the language; do you speak Thai at all?

My wife was initially thrilled to see your posting, but ultimately disappointed. We are moving to Thailand permanently this month, and she was hoping that the "marine tax" would apply to me, although, technically, I'm only an ex-marine. She said that she got her hopes up that the tax would be prohibitive & that I'd have to stay stateside and just send her money.

HomePro had one a couple of months ago...really too big for a cat, though. Be careful when you install one; ensure that someone can't reach through and unlock the door. It happened to a friend of mine in Italy. He couldn't figure out how he had been robbed, but by divine intervention (Italian police make Thai police look spectacularly good), they caught the robber, as he had sold some stereo gear to a shop that checked the serial numbers and turned him in. When questioned, the culprit said that he specifically looked for homes with pet doors, and just reached up through them and unlocked the doors. With a dog, you might get some protection, depending on the breed & disposition, but I can't envision a cat that would savage an intruder.

Does this mean that color-blind folks (such as myself) can't get a license? In the US, if you fail the "book" test, they ask you you separate small pieces of cloth by color, red, green and yellow predominate this test (which I can pass). Is there something similar in Thailand? Thanks.

As a gauge, I just had my teeth examined & cleaned and it cost 400 baht...about six pounds. I would think an extraction should be about 1000 baht. By the way,the dentist, in Chiang Mai, went to Tufts University, a highly thought of school in Massachusetts.

I think we have to give RDN his due....the very least we can say is that his postings do have a sort of even-handedness about them. I would call him an equal opportunity a-hole. And there's many worse things. And he's generally right.

I'm surprised to hear the inference that three million englishmen would even admit to having sex with a woman.

I live just south of Chiang Mai; it has all the creature comforts and culture anyone could ever want. There's something going on all the time and it's really very farang-friendly. But in another ten years, I fear it wil have become a mini-Bangkok and Nong Kai, Phayao or Loei will probably more appealing to me, with Trat and Trang as longshots. Trang is actually my first choice of all, but only between November and April.....

Jim.... Opposite end; south on Hangdong Rd, then east on the somoeng crossroad. A moobaan called Tanaboon. See you sometime; keep in touch.

Yes, they can. I actually looked into this a dozen or so years ago. My conclusion was that I was too old to seriously consider it, as the payout starts 20 years after the investment. A good decision for me, I think, but depending on your age, maybe a possibility for you. The east, Issan, is where you'd want to do it, but I actually think that there is a much better agricultural opportunity in Thailand. Email me if interested in my thoughts. walker

Got our "o"s today in Denver...took about three minutes; the woman who did it is just an employee who knows very little & has never been to Thailand. 36 more days; we're packed, but will not ship until the last possible moment, as we need to have completed the "retirement" categorization before we are eligible for duty free importation of personal effects, and are trying to give ourselves all the buffer we can. Wish us luck. Jim....thanks go to you particularly for all your specific, pointed and accurate advice. Visit us sometime (particularly if you're in the hot zone, as we'll be chilling in CM!!) walker