3 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

Rather than going for the big adventure in Thailand, they are better off saving and preparing so that they don't end up like the OP.

Boring.

3 hours ago, sanemax said:

You could have found yourself a nice little village in Thailand to retire too , if you befriended a lady from a village ,an older single lady with a family , they would welcome a felang who would be willing to financially help out and to become"one of the family" , stay in the house for free and spend the money that you save on accommodation on buying food for the family ."Adopt" a kid and give parenting a go , give you something to do and a purpose in life 

Gosh yes!!! Thailand and these forum pages are simply chock-full of such success stories. Someone should franchise the concept. The bahn norks will soon be full of happy, hobbling, coffin dodging sponsors (for want of a better word).

 

It's still God's waiting room.

7 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Gosh yes!!! Thailand and these forum pages are simply chock-full of such success stories. Someone should franchise the concept. The bahn norks will soon be full of happy, hobbling, coffin dodging sponsors (for want of a better word).

It's still God's waiting room.

There are many older people living quite happily in the villages and have no need to moan and complain on here

5 hours ago, sanemax said:

Tell me exactly where that drain was and I will go and have a look now and take a photo of it and post it on here to see whether the drain really was full to the top with dirt .

   Name the exact location and I will go now and be back withing an hour

But it does beg for an answer to the universal question...

 

Is the drain half empty or half full?

1 hour ago, tryasimight said:

Hot in Australia in winter?? 

My apologies. I thought he was from the UK. 

i don’t  feel quite as much sympathy for him now. ?

4 hours ago, Maradona 10 said:

But with 'saving and preparing' it don't always work out like that does it, illness or even death or any other unforseen event can stop these plans from ever occurring, and in the meantime you have missed out on the fun, when you are younger and healthy, 'coz you are saving for a rainy day that may never come.

Why not do both: 

 

Have fun when you are younger and healthy.  Get some experience.  Try different things.

When in your late 30s to early 50s .  Work hard, save as much as possible. You are more likely to be successful in that age range and with your wild fun out of the way you can concentrate on being successful.

 

In your early 50s (if no divorce or family commitments) you should have enough money to live on for the rest of your life.  Time to enjoy again and have fun!   

2 minutes ago, THAIJAMES said:

Why not do both: 

Have fun when you are younger and healthy.  Get some experience.  Try different things.

When in your late 30s to early 50s .  Work hard, save as much as possible. You are more likely to be successful in that age range and with your wild fun out of the way you can concentrate on being successful.

In your early 50s you should have enough money to live on for the rest of your life.  Time to enjoy again and have fun!   

If you have no work experience at anything , you probably will not be able to get a well paid job at 35 years old and you will probable be working just to make ends meet .

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

There are many older people living quite happily in the villages and have no need to moan and complain on here

one of the saner things you've posted .   

15 minutes ago, sanemax said:

If you have no work experience at anything , you probably will not be able to get a well paid job at 35 years old and you will probable be working just to make ends meet .

Well no one will survive until 35 without some work experience.  The point being that fun and experiences should have priority over planning and saving or trying to be successful.

 

I personally didn't start working full time until 37.  Before then I was travelling and getting experience.  Surviving on odd jobs here and there.  Earning money in rich countries spending it in places like Thailand.

 

Now in my late 50's I no longer need to work.  My company (that I own) pays me a salary but I don't actually do any work.

 

I do agree that working at a job in Chiang Mai will not allow you to do that.  You need to have your own company or have worked overseas or possibly Bangkok at a good job.

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

There are many older people living quite happily in the villages and have no need to moan and complain on here

But may be have a good health insurance or become a burden.

The OP left because of personal circumstances. The complaining about CMs development or non-development is just an excuse and not worth to be discussed here.

1 hour ago, bermannor said:

The OP left because of personal circumstances. The complaining about CMs development or non-development is just an excuse and not worth to be discussed here.

Often moaning and complaining and looking for things to get annoyed about and looking for someone to point a finger at as to why hes so unhappy *Its the people who dont clean the drains out properly is the reason why theres flooding *

    No  it isnt , the drains are cleaned out regularly and its sheer amount of water that causes the floods .

   Its no big problem anyway , the water goes withing 30 minutes  .

*All the pavements are collapsing*

No they are not , some are just a bit uneven

21 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Often moaning and complaining and looking for things to get annoyed about and looking for someone to point a finger at as to why hes so unhappy *Its the people who dont clean the drains out properly is the reason why theres flooding *

    No  it isnt , the drains are cleaned out regularly and its sheer amount of water that causes the floods .

   Its no big problem anyway , the water goes withing 30 minutes  .

*All the pavements are collapsing*

No they are not , some are just a bit uneven

Why are you so obsessed with the drains? You know as well as me he left because of money got tight. If he would have enough drains could be swimming pools and he would not care less.

Very sad for you that things have not panned out as you hope. Keep posting and keep visiting when you can. Good luck.

5 hours ago, THAIJAMES said:

Why not do both: 

 

Have fun when you are younger and healthy.  Get some experience.  Try different things.

When in your late 30s to early 50s .  Work hard, save as much as possible. You are more likely to be successful in that age range and with your wild fun out of the way you can concentrate on being successful.

 

In your early 50s (if no divorce or family commitments) you should have enough money to live on for the rest of your life.  Time to enjoy again and have fun!   

 

''In your early 50s (if no divorce or family commitments) you should have enough money to live on for the rest of your life;;

 

Yes, as a gay man.

That`s one less to queue behind when I visit immigration.

TBL, why cease TVF involvement if not living in LoS?

We all have a different perspective on Chiang Mai

It is always the same can not please everyone 100% of the time

I enjoy what i have the same as many others who have decided to live here

 

With Entertainment there is so much

Steve from Citylife  has a list every Monday

Maybe you did not live in the centre but lived out side somewhere

 

 

11 hours ago, bermannor said:

Why are you so obsessed with the drains? You know as well as me he left because of money got tight. If he would have enough drains could be swimming pools and he would not care less.

He left for medical reasons. If the money was tight here, it would be like a garrotte in Australia.

Good luck with the next chapter of your life chap....

26 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

He left for medical reasons. If the money was tight here, it would be like a garrotte in Australia.

I don't think TBL is an Australian.

Without any insider knowledge-other than a few posts he made on a long forgotten thread-I always assumed that he was a kiwi who spent most of his working career in London.

On 7/30/2018 at 9:59 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Nothing exciting. Having too many health problems and no Thai health insurance, it's time to go back home.

If I've learned anything in life, it's that everything ends, and the better it is, the sooner it's over.

Thailand was my life and my dream for 30 years- if I wasn't there, I wanted to be and when I retired I wanted to stay there till I passed. An unfortunate marriage changed that, and I really had no choice but to leave. I could not get the pension from my own country in Thailand, and without the family home to live in, it became too expensive to live there on savings alone.

That's sad and good luck. A warning for anyone thinking of marrying a Thai  'it won't happen to me' and, often, it does. 

On 7/30/2018 at 9:59 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Nothing exciting. Having too many health problems and no Thai health insurance, it's time to go back home.

If I've learned anything in life, it's that everything ends, and the better it is, the sooner it's over.

Thailand was my life and my dream for 30 years- if I wasn't there, I wanted to be and when I retired I wanted to stay there till I passed. An unfortunate marriage changed that, and I really had no choice but to leave. I could not get the pension from my own country in Thailand, and without the family home to live in, it became too expensive to live there on savings alone.

Sorry to see you go. Thank you for your honest and balanced views on Chiang Mai. Health, matrimonial and resultant financial issues will affect many of us sooner or later. Postings such as yours are greatly appreciated. Best of luck to you back in UK. 

3 hours ago, transam said:

Good luck with the next chapter of your life chap....

Seconded.

 

56 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Sorry to see you go. Thank you for your honest and balanced views on Chiang Mai. Health, matrimonial and resultant financial issues will affect many of us sooner or later. Postings such as yours are greatly appreciated. Best of luck to you back in UK. 

Agreed. TBL's opinions were based on his life experiences augmented by a decent amount of time spent chasing, living or trying to sustain the dream here in LOS. I may not have necessarily agreed with some of what he posted but there's no real point in broadly discounting his or anyone else's opinion and experience just because it's different from my own.

 

Good luck in the future.

On ‎7‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 5:32 PM, sanemax said:

So, there drains WERE cleaned and "filled with rubbish" drains which led to flooding is a fallacy .

   Why do yo make things up to complain about ?

Hey, are you taking the p***, blathering on about drains, long after the novelty wore off? Now, it's just irritating, though perhaps that's the point of your continual posts about them.

Have you got anything relevant to the OP to contribute? Most other posters seem able to.

5 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

I don't think TBL is an Australian.

Without any insider knowledge-other than a few posts he made on a long forgotten thread-I always assumed that he was a kiwi who spent most of his working career in London.

Almost right. I only spent the last 10 years of my working life in London. Had I spent twice as long there, the UK pension would have been enough to stay in LOS. Unfortunately, my country won't give me the pension in LOS.

The rest of my working life was in the antipodes, SEA and Antarctica. Of them, the best was Antarctica, but it was not possible to do more than a year or two there in my occupation, so a wonderful variant on normal life, but just temporary.

6 hours ago, Gregster said:

TBL, why cease TVF involvement if not living in LoS?

I have no intention of not going on TVF. It's my only remaining connection to the country I loved.

When I stop, it's probably because I died.

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I have no intention of not going on TVF. It's my only remaining connection to the country I loved.

When I stop, it's probably because I died.

Best of luck in your new location, meanwhile those of us still here, will plod on and keep you updated !

9 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Almost right. I only spent the last 10 years of my working life in London. Had I spent twice as long there, the UK pension would have been enough to stay in LOS. Unfortunately, my country won't give me the pension in LOS.

The rest of my working life was in the antipodes, SEA and Antarctica. Of them, the best was Antarctica, but it was not possible to do more than a year or two there in my occupation, so a wonderful variant on normal life, but just temporary.

So now you are back in NZ? I’m surprised they don’t send the pension to Thailand.  Has it always been that way?

On ‎7‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 5:53 PM, geriatrickid said:

From the OP's statements, it  seems to be the old age home or the undertaker's.

 

You could have sent a private message. Aside from being more sincere and personal it's classier. It would give you something to do as you have stated that you  will sleep alot as the time passes quickly when you do that.

 

Some people end up like that because they are not pleasant to be around. Others, including the older folks are awesome and fun to be around. many of the charities and benevolent groups are driven by those older people who share their energy, experience and enthusiasm with the community. 

 

There is still a significant amount of burning going on around Chiang Rai.

 

This is typical of you in the same sentence you state that you incurred a large medical expense and then you complain about the cost of insurance.

The problem with  too many expats when it comes to health insurance  is that they don't consider all possible options and then get upset the health insurer isn't going to provide 1st baht coverage. There are options and these include  structures that have self retentions, or deductibles and co-pays, and coverage sublimits. Health  insurers are open to discussion if one treats them as risk transfer vehicles. The benefit of health insurance isn't just access to a pool of money, but the access to lower costs and an audit system. Health insurers will not pay a bill willy nilly. They have set rates  which hospitals and health care providers have already agreed to. It's the advantage of group purchasing. The health insurer also looks at  the bills and  will question some of the redundant  expenses and  service charges that hospitals are notorious for.

 

Sometimes people close the doors on themselves. It's a lesson that has been  illustrated multiple times over the years on TVF. Someone upthread wrote about how one should not be concerned about  doing one's job in the boring homeland, but instead should take the risk and  go for it in Thailand. Well, that's one of the reasons so many people end up leaving, because they don't have a pot to pi$s in when they get older. Others have discussed how they prepared for their older years saving and budgeting and preparing.Obviously, it's too late for the OP, but it isn't for those who are younger. Rather than going for the big adventure in Thailand, they are better off saving and preparing so that they don't end up like the OP.

I doubt he would have taken any notice of a PM, as I think he's trying to annoy me.

Did you miss the bit where I said I can't get insurance? I only mentioned the cost of treatment for simple bronchitis as an example of what any hospital stay would cost, never mind something serious.

I saved for my retirement in LOS, but perhaps you missed the part where I explained that the ex got most of it. 

I wish people would get all the facts before launching into erroneous homilies about why other people have problems.