https://aseannow.com/rss/44-thailand-news.xml/National and regional news from all around ThailandenI do less than 10K a year. The Vios has 207,000 km on the odometer. For the legendary 1NZ-FE engine, that's about halfway in its life. The car has depreciated about as far as it ever will, the value of your EV started dropping as soon as it left the showroom. Maybe your math works for you, it does not for me. I live mostly in a condo without solar panels. I shudder every time an EV parks next to me, batteries have far more stored energy than a petrol tank. That's why there's a ship at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. I am 83 yo. The Vios will easily outlive me. So tell me, why should I spend 700-900 K baht on a car which I will hardly use, just so I can bask in the approval of relatives, friends, and neighbors - that I don't need?Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:59:11 +0000Houses like that always have a catch, you not learned in your entire life that if things sound to good to be true they are? You will have flooding, leaking, not good working AC or no AC at al, high AC bills if having one, bad neighbors likely, noises, rats and more. Have done real estate up north for over the past 12+ years, tell me something new. If it was at least locals or people from countries where this is the base standard or already a upgrade, I could have sympathy for it. To hear it from westerners is just pathetic. Then we not go into detail that they are often positioned in the middle of nowhere, which means a lot more transportation costs aside from needing to pay for taxi's that not want to bring you that far at night or needing to drive drunk, or needing to stay at home every night. That last one adds up fast today too, you talk easily 4-5K a month in gasoline alone for those remote renters, they pay the difference in gas.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:56:36 +0000Troll post removed @Leopold Bloom discuss the topic, not other posters. That is twice now I had to remove the same post.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:55:43 +0000Tax the bastard. Use the money raised to put right the damage he has done.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:55:17 +0000DrinkingSun, 14 Jun 2026 00:54:20 +0000How much of Musk’s wealth comes from government help? Virtually all of it.https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/13/business/musk-trillionaire-government-tesla-spacex “There would not be (Tesla and SpaceX) if it weren’t for the government,” said Ross Gerber, CEO of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki and an early investor in Tesla. The federal government awarded SpaceX more than $500 million worth of grants in its early years. And that $500 million is just a fraction of what Tesla received from government grants, loans, contracts and regulatory policies.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:50:54 +0000Starlink is the only profitable company controlled by SpaceX. Everything else loses moneySun, 14 Jun 2026 00:46:47 +0000Just to comment about this. There is no 'retirement' visa per se, and the well-known visa agents in Vientiane will provide you with an LA-B2 business visa with no work permit, and tell you that this is fine. It's not! I have been arrested twice by the Lao police in the past 5 years and informed that this visa type is illegal if I am not actually employed. Fines were paid, but the 2 agents (both owned by French persons, 1 now deceased), provided no help at all and no refund (no surprises there...)Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:42:35 +0000I go 6 or 7 times a year, visa, 4 x 90 day, residence cert, reentry certSun, 14 Jun 2026 00:39:44 +0000Is this the one where the young Indian girl stole a knife near the beginning and killed her father/stepfather when he tried to rape her? Can't recall the name of the movie but sounds similar. Was quite good.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:39:34 +0000As an older guy i wouldn't want to go too far, like South America. The most important aspect is an easy retirement visa which rules out many countries, like Vietnam. Cambodia seems the best option. Fairly close, easy visa, cheap, fairly safe. Easy trip back to Thailand, as a tourist. Why look further?Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:35:31 +0000Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:33:01 +0000After more than a decade Tesla is still trading at outrageous PE ratio. Bagholding will become sudden and unannounced. Like the great depressionSun, 14 Jun 2026 00:31:20 +0000https://www.immigration.gov.la/en/services/1Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:29:07 +0000Wonder if he will be tempted to build a smart drone of his own ? Hope it's better use than the sub!Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:28:21 +0000Base yourself in Kampot if: You want a centralized base with a livelier café and restaurant scene, better budget accommodation options, easy walkability, and a wider variety of day trips (caves, pepper farms, river sports, and mountains). Base yourself in Kep if: You are looking for total tranquility, isolation, fresh seafood, and want to wake up looking at the ocean or a jungle hillside rather than a river.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:28:20 +0000It’s not just a soundbite. The US continues to provide some humanitarian aid, but not nearly as much as before. My tax dollars were directly funding the aid disbursements, usually with the cooperation of host governments. (I used to work for USAID -- specifically, their regional inspector general’s office in Singapore, tasked with auditing USAID expenditures in the region and accounting for the money. The auditors, who spent weeks on site directly where the aid was distributed, were pretty fussy about that.) Why should the US fund humanitarian efforts in other countries? Because it can. It’s as simple as that. https://www.cgdev.org/blog/update-lives-lost-usaid-cutsSun, 14 Jun 2026 00:25:31 +0000Exactly, per my previous lostSun, 14 Jun 2026 00:24:28 +0000That would lead to a retaliatory strike on Israel by Trump wouldn't it ?Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:20:41 +0000No foreign male retiree is going to qualify for citizenship. You must be working and have held a valid work permit for a minumum of three years. And if you are not married to a Thai (also for a minumum of three years before applying), you'd first have to go through the PR route, which can also take several years. So not really an option for retirees.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:19:16 +0000Underware sales have gone through the roof for the expat community in Chiang Mai this week.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:17:51 +0000Should we be happy or sad ?Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:17:25 +0000They never “chose” to live in Gaza. That’s what it’s all about!Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:16:55 +0000Rent is expensive in Vientiane (I'm not sure why). Luang Prabang is much more laid back, but leave your amateur radio gear at home(!).... My plan B would be somewhere like Kep or Kampot in Cambodia - a country that granted me an annual retirement visa 'just like that', so easy. But to be honest, Cambodia doesn't really fill me with enthusiasm, even though it's cheap, friendly, sunny etc etc. Actually, I've not really got a plan B bolthole, because the options in this region are few. Perhaps the Scilly Isles.....Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:15:49 +0000Yes, for some reason they don't just transfer the current relevant stamp, they transfer your ENTIRE history of extensions. Doesn't really make sense since it's all in the computer. I attended my local IO last month to get info from my old passport transferred to my new passport. All they put in my new passport was my previous passport info, details of my original Non-O (from 2009), my last entry into Thailand and my current 1 year extension. Took two pages all told.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:13:22 +0000