What made you decide that you wanted to live in Thailand, how long have you lived here, and do you have any regrets ?

[Salerno]

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

?

He's saying the same as you basically.

[OneMoreFarang]

This is a longer answer. Roger arrived in Thailand after a long bus trip from Europe.

[zzaa09]

21 minutes ago, Salerno said:

He's saying the same as you basically.

All too common here, albeit subliminally. 

Disconnections seem to be majority. 

Edited November 7, 2021 by zzaa09

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, 473geo said:

I don't think I have ever seen a previous OP detract from a simple thread so much by pursuing off topic tangents in the first 2 pages ????

It's all relative your honor, I agree its not as black and white as you would like, however I am trying to establish that there is just cause ????

 

 

[Will B Good]

2 hours ago, Lemsta69 said:

£180k? rookie numbers ????

????

[bikerlou47]

I came for friendly women.

I stayed for 17 years because I found the love of my life

I regret that Thailand's government is so F**ked up

[vandeventer]

Hey, what can I say? It's a great place to retire! When my brother came from the USA for a visit 5 years ago he could not believe the freedom I had and how good the Thai people are. We all have some regrets but fewer ones by living here.

[HAPPYNUFF]

I retired at age 55, and lived off my own savings, investments in  the so called nanny state, which I found  quite nice actually. (And I laugh  at those using this phrase, .they want everything for free and complain because  it isnt) Had a nice house, car, travelled around nationally. Came to Thailand first time in 1988,   caught little orange buses everywhere throughout the country, had a hilarious time.   Kept coming back annually for  2 or 3 months at a time.   Eventually  relocated here  in 2012,  met a good woman, married, bought a house/car /farmland.     I was lucky,  she is from  a poor but good family, dont hassle me, dont ask for money, son in law  works  the farm on a share basis.   My  regrets?,  age creeping  up on  me (and the wife),  immigration hassles  (no  agents in our area to  go to) attitude of  government officials in general, expressing subtle  racism, and the way  same officials treat the common Thai people as if they are inferior,. cost of living   gradually creeping up, came to realise living here permanently is  far different to  merely holidaying here. but all in not too bad, miss my  home country sometimes, wide open spaces, cooler weather, but such is life.

[Expat68]

I had a Thai wife living with me in my home country and was made redundant from my job. It was a little early for me to retire but having wade up my pension and the job I could get at my age decided to bite the bullet and come. No regrets. For me when people ask me about coming to live in Thailand I always reply with the same answer, "In my home country I was existing, in Thailand I am living"

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Expat68 said:

No regrets. For me when people ask me about coming to live in Thailand I always reply with the same answer, "In my home country I was existing, in Thailand I am living"

I couldn't have summed it up better.

[shackleton]

Wow reading all the positives of living in Thailand good news for a change 

My thing is  you  make your  bed and lie in for better or worse 

Regrets  is something I don't do you can't change the past  but can the future

I  love living in Thailand with my family life is what you make it 

Enjoy 

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, shackleton said:

My thing is  you  make your  bed and lie in for better or worse 

My wife always made my bed for me.

(Not always the same wife)

[hotchilli]

Born and raised in the UK 1959... age 16 did a 5-year aviation apprenticeship at British aircraft corporation now BAe.

After 10 years I started to do agency work, and traveled through Europe on yearly contracts.

Eventually started to get tired of it, got into simulation work and that also took me around the world doing retro fits to existing sims.

Came for work to Thailand in 2000-2002.. during that time I met and married my Thai wife,

Relocated back to UK for 5 years with the missus.

She stated to pine for her family and I was tired of the UK, so we packed up and came here to open a business that she could work in and I could start to relax.

This was in 2008... I was aged 49.

Private pension kicked in at 50 [started to save early]

Still here in 2021, never returned to the UK in all that time... do I miss it? NO

Do I like it here.. Yes, if you can put up with the few wrinkles it's a good place to be..

Just waiting for my UK pension at 66 and I can sit pretty for a long time.

 

[Pravda]

The only regret I'd have is if I never came. I would probably be sitting back in Canada feeling sorry for myself because I never had the guts to buy a plane ticket. However, I am a strong believer in personal choices and things change all the time. If you like it here and it works for you then great. I am moving back because it will be a different world and rules after covid.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, NONG CHOK said:

Hi all, I met my Thai wife in 2000, we married one year later. Everything went ok for many years. We have several properties that I paid for, a good car and unlimited food on the table. In recent years I get the impression I'm a nobody. More to the point I'm her sponsor rather than her husband. I'm sure YouTube has had alot to do with that. She only speaks to me when she wants something. Even her adult children at times have a go at her the way she speaks to me, I'm now going on 77 yo so I'm through with moving on. If I owned the properties in my name I would've kicked her out 4-5 years ago.

By the way my wife is 65 yo.

Not necessarily anything you did, but at 77 I'm pickin' that you ain't the hansum man she married.

Women change their minds. I know someone that divorced a very nice man because she found him boring.

I know it's a movie, but Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love encapsulates the modern woman for me. They can get the goodies without staying married now, so game over for mere males.

 

Not to be nasty, but you must have known that the properties would be legally hers, and you didn't have to buy them.

However you didn't do anything hundreds ( ? thousands ) didn't do before you and many will do after ( unless it becomes too difficult for farangs to stay in LOS, and the whole farang /Thai marriage thing falls over for good.

 

I hope it works out for you eventually. At least you are still in paradise.

[RachaRob]

At 44 i decided to retire and as i had been to Thailand many times before, i decided to use Bangkok as a base to explore other places to retire.

I went to Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Korea, Phillipines, Indonesia and even Panama. Could not find anything as good as Thailand so am still here since 2007.

[ruddick]

I first came to Thailand in 1986 when I was working in the middle East on a 120 day on 30 days off schedule. I came to Thailand nearly every time until 1996 when I was offered a 6 month contract in Bangkok. I was still working there until 2016 when I retired.

I married a Thai in 1988 we had two sons and we divorced shortly after I retired in 2016.

My only regret is the Thai lady I married she caused so much damage to our family it was unreal.

I now share a rented house with my youngest son and his girlfriend.

Still love Thailand even after all these years, just wish I had a more permanent existence here rather then the 1 year extension renewal which can be cancelled at anytime. Especially now that I am approaching 70 years old with all the possible insurance difficulties.

[kennw]

21 hours ago, jerrymahoney said:

The old Bob Hope line is: A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don't need it.

 

Pretty much the same for health insurance.

Just give us the self insuring option.

[KhunLA]

The self insured option if fine ... IF ... one has a nice bank balance to finance any oops.  Since foreigner have a history of being untrustworthy, that would require proof of bank savings, and access to them by the gov't / hospital, which isn't going to happen.

[Harveyboy]

23 hours ago, MRToMRT said:

Was sent by my employer. Been here nigh on 30 years. No regrets at all, well maybe not buying more property when beachside stuff was going for a song. 

 

Saying that I have decided that in my dotage Thailand is no longer the best option for me personally and am getting things lined up to leave. I was married but my wife was not Thai.

not really mate  beach side property will be underwater in the next few decades 30 years is a good innings for thailand good luck with your next move  hope it works out

[Nemises]

10 years of living a dream otherwise impossible to do back in the cold, expensive homeland. 
 

Continuously travelling the warm, friendly Kingdom staying at nice hotels/condos with different, beautiful women (who have respectable jobs) at different, beautiful beachside and other scenic locations. 

Have never been inside an immigration office or filled in an immigration form as this service is done by others for a pittance - feel a bit sorry for those who have to deal with immigration. 
 

IMO Life is too short to be stuck in the one place with the one lady for a very long time - feel sorry for those who are and are bored and unhappy about it. 
 

Regrets? Only one: not coming here sooner!
 

 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Nemises

[BritManToo]

22 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

The self insured option if fine ... IF ... one has a nice bank balance to finance any oops.  Since foreigner have a history of being untrustworthy, that would require proof of bank savings, and access to them by the gov't / hospital, which isn't going to happen.

Bank app on your mobile phone allows that.

[KhunLA]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Bank app on your mobile phone allows that.

That would require you give access to your bank account to Thai IMM, and them putting a freeze on your account, so it's still there if you have an oops.   That's just not going to happen.

 

Since just so many reports of Thai sites being hacked, I wouldn't give that info / power to anyone in Thailand.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

My wife always made my bed for me.

(Not always the same wife)

I don't see the point. It gets unmade a few hours later. I just make sure mine gets aired between uses.

[sirineou]

Here because the wife is from here. I would not know Thailand from Adan if it was not for my wife. If I ever got divorced or my wife passed away  i would probably never see Thailand again. Not that Thailand is that bad, but because other places are better for me without my wife.

  Health insurance here and requirement of it for travel  as we get older is a big concern of mine, everything else can be lived with or fixed..

   I think a good fix for the health insurance problem would be for the Thai goverment to allow long term expats to buy into the Thai goverment insurance scheme, I could actually be a moneymaker for them as most expats would go back home for major health issues and would use it only for emergencies, If they were  worried that they would not , they could cup it to a per year total use. 

[jerrymahoney]

1 hour ago, kennw said:

Just give us the self insuring option.

You are not self-insured. You just have a reserve account and when it's gone, it's gone. Rarely does a self-insured account assume 100% of the risk.

[OWAN]

To be completely honest I felt free here. To do what I want, as I want and when I want as long as I was not breaking the law. Also their mai pen rai attitude. I must admit that the decade or more that I have lived here I have also discovered many things which irritate me such as the 90 day reporting and the silent dislike for foreigners by the elite. All in all its better than the country that I came from.

[BritManToo]

20 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

That would require you give access to your bank account to Thai IMM, and them putting a freeze on your account, so it's still there if you have an oops.   That's just not going to happen.

 

Since just so many reports of Thai sites being hacked, I wouldn't give that info / power to anyone in Thailand.

My experience of government hospitals, is no expensive treatment before you've paid.

They did let me run bills for outpatient treatments (1k) but directly I was in for the night they wanted 5k deposit.

A simple transfer using my Bank app to their account soon sorted that out, and when I was out they handed me the difference back in cash.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, kennw said:

Just give us the self insuring option.

I disagree, just give me the option to refuse treatment is good enough for me.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

7 minutes ago, OWAN said:

To be completely honest I felt free here. To do what I want, as I want and when I want as long as I was not breaking the law. Also their mai pen rai attitude. I must admit that the decade or more that I have lived here I have also discovered many things which irritate me such as the 90 day reporting and the silent dislike for foreigners by the elite. All in all its better than the country that I came from.

I guess I never met any "elites" as I never experienced silent dislike. Of course I did meet the occasional nasty, but they exist everywhere, and there is no escape.