witold

It's very simple and comes down to one simple point.

White guys in Thailand simply can't get the same sort of quality Western woman.

How many 50+ year old guys do you see in the US "dating" or marrying 20-30yo women? Very, very few. We don't even have to go that far... How many 30 year old guys do you see dating 23 year olds in US? Again; very, very few.

In other words, it doesn't matter one bit which country has hotter women. It only matters who *you* can get.

In the US, regulations and enforcement are stringent in the sense that you can't circumvent rules the same way you can in Thailand. Govt officials in US will not look the other way. For ED Visas, rules and enforcement became more stringent after discovery that 9/11 terrorists were taught to fly planes in a Florida school.

Instead of trying to do things 1/2 way by sort being in the US legally on ED Visa, it's probably preferable to just be totally illegal and under the radar. US has a ton of illegal immigrants living fairly normal lives.

I don't understand why every time there is a red shirt topic, people come out of the woodwork criticizing anything redshirts do. They could be solving world hunger and some people on this board would leave some bitter and spiteful comments. Why so much anger?

Any links to pictures of the final work?

I generally stay up the night before - packing, etc - and when I arrive at my destination I have zero jet lag.

I am not sure how people get 'exhausted' on a flight. All you do is sit. I think it may have something to do with constant noise, which is why I bring earplug headphones that eliminate almost all the outside sound and I have peace and quiet and listen to things I want to listen to. It makes a big difference.

The article is missing the name of the motorcycle business they are running. How could the reported possibly leave that out!

They charge big bucks to supposedly improve the lives of tigers. For many years now, they say they need the money to buy some land and build some moat so tigers have more space. Last I checked, they have made little to no progress to this end... again... despite miking tourists for big bucks...

The numbers just don't add up.

Land in Kanchananburi is not *that* expensive.

Tiger Kingdom outside Chiang Mai doesn't pretend to be something it is not and my experience there was very positive. I recommend Tiger Kingdom.

I don't think the point of this thread is to get into the weeds of SS. No one here cares whether some American gets 2% adjustment this year or not. The point of this thread is to get a *general* idea what sort of government pensions people in different countries receive, and at what age.

Any other foreign nationals care to share a bit about their countries?

In USA, the amount you get depends on how much you paid into the system. The more you paid in and longer you worked, the more you will get back.

A rough chart can be found HERE.

From the chart above, a person who has been making about $65K/year will receive $1,236/mo, $1,609/mo, or $2,253/mo - depending on whether that person retires at 62 (early), 66 (typical) or 70 (late). The amount is prorated for retirement ages in between.

The information above about COLA is incorrect. Social Security benefits are based on a federally mandated formula which is very similar to Consumer Price Index (CPI). (I presume you guys know what CPI is.) If CPI doesn't go up, SS benefits don't go up. If inflation is high and CPI goes up, Social Security benefits go up as well.

Actually, it is a lot better to not get SS increase during deflationary period because SS benefits will not decrease but buying power will increase. In contrast, CPI related increase that doesn't do anything than keep up with inflation.

couch surfing? honestly, <deleted>?????!!!

who in their right mind would hook up with some random stranger on t'internet then kip on their couch - speak about weirdo magnets. all sorts of freaks must be signed up for that gig.

besides, this thread smells of troll-age.

You might be right, especially about the troll part.  But I can tell you that even though I generally stay in 4* hotels where available, I think I would try this.  I have been curious about that site for a while.  I often travel alone, and I'm always curious to meet the locals and see how they live.  I think it adds a lot to the travel experience.  From what I see on the site, most offer a bedroom and a bed in their place, not literally a couch.  That said, I could be one of the weirdos. 

I've always been fascinated with the whole Couchsurfing thing so I find this report interesting.

It sounds like you have done more couchsurfing in the past. Any particularly positive or negative experiences?

Even if all that is true, then so what? Places get more expensive. Either suck it up or move, I think those are the options.

I think the point is that a lot of people come to LOS with expectations of living the high life on $1000/month, etc, after reading all the info on the Internet raving about how cheap Thailand is and every post giving the same tired example of cheap 'food' (street vendor).  

Thailand is a great place to visit.  Possibly a great place to live.  But I would not call it cheap.  

The only thing cheap in Thailand is food and sex.

Many farang are in denial in Thailand.

I guess if you are coming from central London, it is cheaper. But you don't have to go to Thailand to lower costs.

Come to USA and you find many things are comparably - or lower - priced than Thailand.

100,000 USD house? You can have that in many parts of US, including Florida and 25 miles outside of my city, Washington, DC.

Cars and vehicles? Waaay more expensive in Thailand.

Comparable education? Appears to be more expensive as well.

Any sort of goods - electronics, clothing - almost everything is more expensive in Thailand.

there is no IRS in Thailand and property tax does not exist. tell us how much property tax and income tax you pay, how many servants are working in your house and garden, what is your heating oil consumption and then we can discuss the topic again. until then stay put where you are and let us enjoy life in Thailand.

p.s. the Greatest Nation on Earth™ has no provision for retirees walking its holy grounds.

Property tax for the 100K house assessment will run you $400 to $2570/year depending on location.  (Places with higher property taxes tend to have lower income taxes.)  In Florida and other Southern states, heating will not be a major cost.  I acknowledge your point that there is additional carrying cost in the US - but I would not consider $1500/year (avg) to be a huge additional burden - particularly in light of the fact that just about everything is more expensive in LOS.  Go to any Western department store in Thailand and tell me what you can get cheaper in LOS than in US?  Just about nothing, from my observations.    

To answer your second point, US has Social Security (pension system) and Medicare/Medicaid (heath insurance) for retirees.  

Can someone clarify something for me?

When people say a job pays 40K/month, how much of that is taxes?

In the US, 40K/month job equates to 27K that you actually take home each month... Rest goes to various taxes...

They are all made in China. In the US, people import and resell. Try Ebay?

Even with import duties, it couldn't be that expensive. In the US, you can buy these for $150ish or less last I checked...

The only thing cheap in Thailand is food and sex.

Many farang are in denial in Thailand.

I guess if you are coming from central London, it is cheaper. But you don't have to go to Thailand to lower costs.

Come to USA and you find many things are comparably - or lower - priced than Thailand.

100,000 USD house? You can have that in many parts of US, including Florida and 25 miles outside of my city, Washington, DC.

Cars and vehicles? Waaay more expensive in Thailand.

Comparable education? Appears to be more expensive as well.

Any sort of goods - electronics, clothing - almost everything is more expensive in Thailand.

Subscribed.

If I ever return to LOS, it will be with 2 of my bikes; a sportbike and a supermoto. Situation doesn't look that great for someone who wants to do it on the cheap.

I was under the impression that a visa is very hard to get for Americans - at least it used to be.

For Europeans, no problem.

It will not make any notable difference in dry weather. Things mentioned above are true, but they make so little difference it doesn't matter from a practical stand point.

However, in the wet, it does matter quite a lot. I would not recommend riding at any sort of speed in the wet.

The worst one is when they just oh so slowly edge out of a side soi and you think they have seen you coming ....but just carry on edgeing out regardless,awareness of other motorists seems to be non existance...but taken to the extreme.

Or how many times have you nearly had a bump and you look at them and they just smile and shoot off!

From observing traffic, I think that the thai driving style is not based on right-of-way, left before right, etc.

While western traffic looks organized and hierarchical, Thai traffic looks more like a flow, like water.

Thais drive very carefully, although often at excessive speeds. This might seem a contradiction, but most Thai drivers have high competency in anticipating what other drivers will do.

I noticed that very often they will let others the way, like in the above example of someone edging slowly out of a soi. They will either slow down to let him pass or change lanes, and while doing the latter rpobably forcing another car to slow down or change lanes.

The western way would rather be "<deleted>, I got the right of way, that other guy better stop now or there will be a bump".

On my last trip, I put on about 10,000 miles motorcycling around Thailand.  I have to agree with this.  Thai road rules work quite well for crowded road conditions.  And Western rules work well in non-crowded conditions.  It's just different.  'slow lane' is more of a merging/anything goes lane.  In general, I think Thai people drive quite acceptably.  In US, you often have people getting rear ended at stop lights, etc, because too many people just don't look in front of them and instead hide behind the facade that says 'I had the right of way - I don't need to pay attention' - even though they could've easily avoided an accident by using a little foresight and defensive driving.  In contrast, Thai people are more practical and tend to pay attention more.  Who cares if they disregard some arbitrary line on road and lights?  I don't.  

The biggest problems on Thai roads are the speed discrepancy between various vehicle types, and poorly maintained vehicles (no lights at night, <deleted>.)  But overall, not as bas as people make it out to be.  

Yes, that was the one drawback of my last trip.  I covered so much ground and quite a few border towns, but was unable to cross any borders.  In the future, I would be using their bikes, not rental bikes, so no problem.  For some areas, I would just rent at the destination, or not at all.  

I was just concerned not to appear as if I am 'rubbing it in' or gloating with extending such invitations if it is hard for them to go anywhere.  

If - when? - I make it back to Thailand, it would be to some extent to establish a basis of operations for easy travel to other countries.  For example, have a place in BKK, but spent about 10 days each month visiting other counties/places.  I have made some ok to great contacts during past visitand but curious about how hard is it for Thai nationals to travel.  

For example, if I invite some people for a motorcycle ride to Malaysia, will they have a problem with passport/visa?  This sort of stuff.  Is this something that depends on how rich that Thai individual is?  Rough idea of countries in question would be; Malaysia, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, India, Nepal - and possibly Indonesia (Bali).  Is it hard for Thai nationals to gain entry to these countries?  Or easy?  Judging by border towns, I see a lot of Thai crossing into Burma/Laos so maybe not that hard?  Just wondering... 

For my trip around LOS, I brought my old D80+18-200VR as well as a good wide angle, and a Panasonic LX3 - supposedly one of the best P&S available 3 months ago.

LX3 can sometimes snap comparable images, but as a whole, it is still far behind a decent SLR.

Most P&S don't have a viewfinder. Usually no problem, but try to shoot outdoors in high light situations then it becomes a problem.

Start using Aperture priority and you will find problems with WB and exposure. Same with Shutter Priority. Bokeh is much worse than what I can get out of my DSLR.

I was lazy and mostly used the LX3. I find the pictures acceptable memory snapshots. But if I wanted to really take a nice picture with any sort of reliability and consistency, I would never even consider LX3. DSLRs are still way ahead of the game.

I bet there's a good number of people who have this sort of arrangement except that they are a lot more creepy about it; they post the position, hire a pretty girl, and then, perhaps after the girl works a while, start asking for more and more. This guy is at least clear and direct.

Sounds like a great deal for 170m2. Is it really run down building/condition? Good views?

"planning a trip to SE Asia."

Are you planning a trip to SE Asia, or are you planing a trip to Bangkok and Pattaya? 

With the exception of a handful of big cities in Thailand, you will not see even one hooker in most cities.