February 7th in Eastern Isaan and already it feels like a hot day in April, with 38 degree celsius in daytime, and 26 as a minimum in nightime! 

 

And we are still supposed to be in winter... not that we had any winter anyway, with the temperatures dropping at most to 19 during the "coolest" nights last month. 

 

We are very far from the 13 to 15 degrees at night, for weeks at a time, that used to be the norm not so long ago. 

 

How is it going to be 10 years from now? 

Unbearable I am afraid, and easy visa or not easy visa, we will have to move North to avoid the fate of the boiling frog. 

 

Maybe we should encourage the Chinese to come to Thailand after all, so that they would leave a lot of free space for us in their former country... the border with Mongolia should be just fine by 2030...

Be the first to move to Siberia...

Spare a thought for Australians. 38C would be a welcome relief.

To answer your question, IMHO the tipping point for many expats will be if Thai health insurance becomes a mandatory part of the visa system.

Weather in Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai is quite tolerable with the occasional spot of aircon.

Edited February 7, 20197 yr by Lacessit

22 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

February 7th in Eastern Isaan and already it feels like a hot day in April, with 38 degree celsius in daytime, and 26 as a minimum in nightime! 

Your mistake ....... living in Eastern Issan.

I heard from an informed source that the world as we know it will end in twelve years. Not much point in moving now...

 

I've been here a while and it seems like it has always been hot.

2 minutes ago, Liverpudlian said:

Will any one EVER get the spelling right !! its freekin Isaan.

Did you mean to anyone? 

When I leave it will be the heat and humidity I will be most glad to get away from. Closely followed by the very expensive and very poorly stocked supermarkets here.

 

My retirement extension is a very minor irritation once a year and as far as I know Thailand is still one of the easiest places on earth to retire to, paperwork-wise. If Brexit actually happens it could even be easier for Brits to retire here than to retire to Spain or Portugal, as far as the paperwork is concerned anyway.

1 hour ago, Brunolem said:

How is it going to be 10 years from now? 

The baht will rise faster than the temperature I'm afraid, with many already starting to feel the heat from that surge like a blowtorch on their butts.

1 hour ago, Liverpudlian said:

Will any one EVER get the spelling right !! its freekin Isaan.

And Esarn. When will you learn spelling in the English alphabet of Thai words is optional, and the only non-variable spelling of Thai  is in Thai script?

38 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

The baht will rise faster than the temperature I'm afraid, with many already starting to feel the heat from that surge like a blowtorch on their butts.

The baht will only rise for as long as the Chinese ponzi economy will hold... which is not that long... they already have their fingers in the holes in the dam, but they have only so many fingers and new holes are opening regularly... 

 

35 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

The baht will only rise for as long as the Chinese ponzi economy will hold... which is not that long... they already have their fingers in the holes in the dam, but they have only so many fingers and new holes are opening regularly... 

 

China has about 2.3 trillion US dollars in foreign reserves, which are the world's largest. It bought Smithfield Foods in the USA for 4.7 billion dollars, so it owns the world's largest pork producer. It is the world's leading producer of gold. Also 95% of rare earths, critical in every smartphone and computer. It produces 11 times more steel than the USA.

Somehow, that doesn't sound like a Ponzi economy to me.

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

And Esarn. When will you learn spelling in the English alphabet of Thai words is optional, and the only non-variable spelling of Thai  is in Thai script?

 

Yeah,  I love driving from BKK to Pattaya and seeing it spelled about half a dozen different ways, even on the road signs. The first time I made the drive, I kept wondering if I was going to end up in the right town.

 

29 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

China has about 2.3 trillion US dollars in foreign reserves, which are the world's largest. ....

Somehow, that doesn't sound like a Ponzi economy to me.

 

That's about $1,500 for each citizen.  Not much...  And if you research how they got those foreign reserves (and how much info from the CCP you can trust), it's even less impressive. 

 

Meanwhile, they sit on millions of empty apartments that nobody can afford to rent.  But the rich keep buying them because there's no other safe place to hide their ill gotten gains.   And that's what drives the GDP growth- vacant real estate.  Makes the 2008 sub-prime mortgage fiasco look like small potatoes. 

 

$2.3 Trillion could disintegrate in a heartbeat.

 

Edit:  BTW, you mentioned steel.  They make a lot of it.  But the vast majority of their steel industry would be considered bankrupt and shut down if they weren't State Run Enterprises, propped up by the government.

 

Edited February 7, 20197 yr by impulse

3 hours ago, Brunolem said:

How is it going to be 10 years from now? 

Unbearable I am afraid, and easy visa or not easy visa, we will have to move North to avoid the fate of the boiling frog. 

Maybe not in 10 years but 25 IMO. North...the effects of climate change will force millions to migrate. Immigration to Europe will be pushed to limits and then full stop...just think when South Asia, South East Asia, India etc. starts on the long walk North due to drought and crop failures.....better start planning for departure already.

7 minutes ago, Felt 35 said:

Maybe not in 10 years but 25 IMO.

I will be dead by then - be looking for a good rest. Seems I cannot sleep at night.

1 hour ago, Felt 35 said:

Maybe not in 10 years but 25 IMO. North...the effects of climate change will force millions to migrate. Immigration to Europe will be pushed to limits and then full stop...just think when South Asia, South East Asia, India etc. starts on the long walk North due to drought and crop failures.....better start planning for departure already.

I wonder why none of the rich lefties that claim they believe in climate change move away from the coastal areas they say will be flooded in 10-20 years.

 

Beachfront property value keeps going up and up....

 

 

6 hours ago, totally thaied up said:

I will be dead by then - be looking for a good rest. Seems I cannot sleep at night.

Have you tried Codiphen? Works a treat for me.

9 hours ago, Lacessit said:

China has about 2.3 trillion US dollars in foreign reserves, which are the world's largest. It bought Smithfield Foods in the USA for 4.7 billion dollars, so it owns the world's largest pork producer. It is the world's leading producer of gold. Also 95% of rare earths, critical in every smartphone and computer. It produces 11 times more steel than the USA.

Somehow, that doesn't sound like a Ponzi economy to me.

The Ponzi economy is not about what you have, but how you got it. 

 

Behind the assets, notably the foreign reserves, hide the debts, so massive that they can't keep track of them, especially since a lot of debts are hidden by local authorities who don't want to report them to the central government by fear of consequences. 

 

To keep its economy standing, China needs to build, constantly and massively. 

 

Now that it has covered its country with cement (in the 3 years between 2011 and 2013, it used more cement than the US during the whole 20th century! How insane is that?), it has desperately embarked in its New Silk Road program, in order to cover neighboring countries with steel and cement they don't need. 

 

In the process, they also contribute to worsen climate change, since cement production is a terrible polluter...

 

Having worked in farming in Saudi for many years, long stays in China ( winters brrr... ), often traveling to many different climate zones in a single month, there is no way I could go back to living in the UK which I gladly left back in the late 1960's to continue my farming career.

10 hours ago, Brunolem said:

The baht will only rise for as long as the Chinese ponzi economy will hold... which is not that long... they already have their fingers in the holes in the dam, but they have only so many fingers and new holes are opening regularly... 

 

Sure hope you're right.

10 hours ago, Brunolem said:

The baht will only rise for as long as the Chinese ponzi economy will hold... which is not that long... they already have their fingers in the holes in the dam, but they have only so many fingers and new holes are opening regularly... 

 

If only such economic luminaries were working at the IMF or World Bank rather than wasting their talents in north east Thailand.....

8 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

I wonder why none of the rich lefties that claim they believe in climate change move away from the coastal areas they say will be flooded in 10-20 years.

 

Beachfront property value keeps going up and up....

 

 

Being rich Liberals they assume the flooding will be confined to other people's neighborhoods. Should the rising tide reach their neighbourhood they will just call the Police.

Edited February 8, 20197 yr by mokwit

1 hour ago, smutcakes said:

If only such economic luminaries were working at the IMF or World Bank rather than wasting their talents in north east Thailand.....

Facts, my friend, facts??? 

And the IMF and World Bank are certainly not the best references to bring forward, with all the damages they have inflicted over the decades... just more technocrats ruling from their ivory tower... 

Edited February 8, 20197 yr by Brunolem

3 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

Facts, my friend, facts??? 

Takes a big dog to weigh a ton.

 

Fact

It will be the steady rise of the Baht eroding remitted monies due simply to escalating demand for it = people being priced out of visa requirements and living costs escalating internally as well.

 

Hoping for a 'George Soros' event - sorry to say it. 75 baht to the pound 2006 or thereabouts....good old, good old days.

 

UK pound has been in the toilet for 2+ years thanks to the farce that is BREXIT pricing in uncertainty =20% depreciation or so to Baht. Perfect storm for the Brits needing to meet monthly amounts for retirement/marriage if they cannot do lump sum method.

 

Thai visa rule ever changing requirements are grey hair inducing.

In the words of John Cleese, the only thing left on my bucket list is to never be cold again.

I have a few British friends who have reluctantly left Thailand to return to the UK. Money has been the problem.  Costs in Thailand rising and the weakening GBP.  I don't see that changing, in fact it seems likely that the GBP will fall further.   My wife and I split our time between UK and Thailand, and Thailand is not cheap now. It seems we spend less when in the UK than when in Thailand. Medical costs are a major concern.

good idea, Brunolem, and the Europeans will go to Africa because all Africans are in Europe
To us, the huts and the gourbis and them the houses with comfort.

 

21 hours ago, Liverpudlian said:

Will any one EVER get the spelling right !! its freekin Isaan.

The shame of it, being taught to spell by a Scouser! From a fellow Scouser ????

1 hour ago, sirocco said:

good idea, Brunolem, and the Europeans will go to Africa because all Africans are in Europe
To us, the huts and the gourbis and them the houses with comfort.

 

Unfortunately Africa is South of Europe, whereas China is North of Thailand... 

 

Thailand not same... Europe is doomed, any way one looks at it...