The Time has come to pack in it

[Guest Isaanlife]

19 minutes ago, In Full Agreement said:

 

Steve that's not uncommon for North Americans  who live in extreme cold  weather locations.   They're sometimes referred to as snowbirds.

 

Very true.

 

Even in Florida, from Nov to April 1st each year, snowbird pricing goes into effect.

 

Golf prices will rise 3X+ times as much during the snowbird season. Even local residents don't get a break.

[habanero]

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

That would be covered under awesome political division. For example often people complaining about "cancel culture" are very quick to hypocritically support final cancelation of people they don't like. Perfect example of such a target is Dr. Fauci. 

 

"A house divided against itself, cannot stand."

Lincoln

Why are you trying to make this post political? 

[grin]

5 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yeah awesome.

Awesome economic inequality.

Awesomely crappy crumbling infrastructure.

Awesome racism.

Awesome lack of affordable housing.

Awesome political division.

Awesomely dysfunctional government.

Awesome inflation.

Awesome lack of public transportation.

Awesome homelessness.

Awesome seniors living in cars.

Awesome criminalization of poverty.

Awesome book banning.

Awesome retreat from democracy.

Awesome corporate power.

Awesome rejection of science.

Awesome incarceration rates.

Awesomely poor access to health care at awesomely high costs with 

awesomely poor outcomes.

Awsomely high covid deaths coupled with an awesomely stupid antivax death cult.

Awesomely high rates of gun violence.

Awesome burritos.

Awesome lists on github ????

[Walker88]

You have the financial wherewithal to do as you please. I'm in the same boat, though perhaps younger. Flexibility is good.

 

If I may toss out a cliche, it's a big damn world. I have had the good fortune to reside in a good many nations, and experienced quite diverse cultures built upon all the world's major faiths (I am without any faith). Like most professional expats, I have learned to adapt, and while I can see faults most anywhere, I prefer to concentrate on each place's positives.

 

I bought a company in Thailand during the Covid Era, so I will remain for a while. I suspect that at some point another port will call, and I will head there. Again, having financial flexibility is a major plus. Perhaps after some time in FL or NH you, too, will be called to another place. (Few places on Earth beat NH in Autumn. Absolutely spectacular.)

 

The adventures are there waiting. Life is far too short to be anything less than content with where one is. I think you know that well.  Travel well and enjoy.

[Meat Pie 47]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

You are in a good position owning real estate back there. For most, the inflation in the US makes a potential move back there prohibitive. Was there recently, and nearly everything is grossly overpriced. 

 

You are amongst tens of thousands of expats leaving Thailand. A mass exodus is taking place. 

A friend of mine uses a foreign lawyer in Bangkok, who is one of the top attorneys around. He said his office cannot find enough hours in the day to meet with expats who are leaving, with their Thai spouse or family, and dealing with legal issues, and wills for their remaining Thai families, properties, etc. 

He said he has never seen anything like it, in the 30 years he has been in practice here. 

 

Woe is Thailand. Where is the hope for the future? 

The dinosaur creeps are moving this nation backwards at a breakneck pace. Truly regressive reptilian leadership.

 

1. Overall, a declining quality of life. 

2. An oppressive government that was not sincere about letting go of power. Ever. 

3. High prices on most import goods and wine. Crappy selection of beer. 

4. Rampant xenophobic on the part of the goons and immigration. 

5. A nation in reverse. No hope for a better future here. 

6. Extreme timidity and destruction of the economy, many lives and businesses. Please, don't blame Covid. That is only one element. 

7. Little in the way of good education available for kids. 

8. The sanitization of Thai society, the elimination of anything that resembles character, and the tired, insincere, increasingly fake purity campaigns. 

9. The continued environmental destruction and worsening air quality, coupled with no intent of effort to fix anything. 

10. The worsening dependence on China. Will Thailand eventually be a communist colony? 

Shall I go on?

Then I have to ask you the question "why do you still live in Thailand?"

[jerrymahoney]

5 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Then I have to ask you the question "why do you still live in Thailand?"

Uh-oh. Cue the /very lame/I have issues/discerning mind/ canned response.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 2/20/2022 at 2:15 AM, Isaanlife said:

One fear I have is that it may revolve into the same routine as in Thailand?

Yes.

 

If you were not satisfied in LOS, from where you could have explored SEA, why would life be more "interesting" anywhere else?

It obvious that you were not so poor that travel was not an option.

[thaibeachlovers]

12 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yeah awesome.

Awesome economic inequality.

Awesomely crappy crumbling infrastructure.

Awesome racism.

Awesome lack of affordable housing.

Awesome political division.

Awesomely dysfunctional government.

Awesome inflation.

Awesome lack of public transportation.

Awesome homelessness.

Awesome seniors living in cars.

Awesome criminalization of poverty.

Awesome book banning.

Awesome retreat from democracy.

Awesome corporate power.

Awesome rejection of science.

Awesome incarceration rates.

Awesomely poor access to health care at awesomely high costs with 

awesomely poor outcomes.

Awsomely high covid deaths coupled with an awesomely stupid antivax death cult.

Awesomely high rates of gun violence.

Awesome burritos.

I think some of that list could apply almost anywhere in the western world.

 

Sometimes people don't realise that Thailand is probably as good as it gets anywhere now, so they imagine that returning to the country they once knew will make them happier, except the country they knew probably no longer exists, and anyway, covid restrictions have made everywhere rotten, IMO.

 

The home country I returned to live in bears little similarity to the one I left so many years ago. It wasn't so great back then, which was why I left, but it's become worse, IMO.

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

so they imagine that returning to the country they once knew will make them happier

I've never imagined that.

[Smithson]

11 hours ago, Isaanlife said:

What have you been doing in Thailand the past 29 years?

 

Working?

 

 

Yes

[EVENKEEL]

The common dominator is money. Money, money, money.  

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I've never imagined that.

I also can't imagine that.  Though they already have a residence in Hamptons & FL, so half the challenge over.

 

Thought about it a few times, and seriously couldn't think of a place I'd like to live, or could afford to live a comfortable living.   Here, I have more than I'll ever need, there, USA, I would have 'just enough', unless I got sick, then I'd be in deep sh!t. 

 

Best I could come up with, was playing tourist for a couple years, living in an RV.  That would actually be fun, since the USA is so large, with Canada & Mexico next door, it would take a few years to enjoy everything.   But then what ...  and if it got old too fast, I'd wasted the wife & kid's inheritance, or have to start trading on the market again, and make no mistake, that is working, which ends my retirement.  NO THANKS

[jerrymahoney]

18 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

I also can't imagine that.  Though they already have a residence in Hamptons & FL, so half the challenge over.

He maybe wishes he had property in the Hamptons but he says in New Hampshire.

[shackleton]

We all have choices in life you have made yours and enjoyed doing so

Here in Thailand now moving back to the USA 

Good luck to you and enjoy your future at least you know what you want 

Plus the means to support yourself ????

 

[KhunLA]

23 minutes ago, jerrymahoney said:

He maybe wishes he had property in the Hamptons but he says in New Hampshire.

oops ... my bad.  Though NH sounds better. ????  NH in summer months, and FL when tired of the snow works well.

[spidermike007]

17 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No need, most of your points don't apply to pensioners.

1. My quality of life as about as good as it could be (for a 66yo).

2. Not my government, I don't care what they do to their citizens.

3. Cheap as chips compared to the UK (I prefer wine coolers to wine).

4. Immigration is only once a year, I can cope.

5. Nation in reverse is good, the wimmin are more desperate to please.

6. The worse the economy is, the more my pension buys.

7. My kids are doing OK, happy enough, not starving, decent home.

8. Fake purity, they've always done that (the good thing is it's fake).

9. Probably the least pollution I've ever encountered in CM this year.

10. I have no problem with China, in many ways I prefer China influence to USA influence.

 

I like it here, I'm staying until they make me leave.

I am staying here too. And I agree alot of that stuff has a limited impact on us. I have begun using an agent again, to save myself from the immigration nightmare. 

 

Just making some observations. For me, if I were wealthy, I would likely limit my time here to 2 months out of the year. My Thai wife feels the same way. But, we do still love it here. And our recent trip back to the US was scary. Prices for nearly everything are skyrocketing out of control. Inflation here is minimal by comparison. 

 

So, as long as we keep our heads tucked into the sand, all good. 

[spidermike007]

14 hours ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Then I have to ask you the question "why do you still live in Thailand?"

I love it here. But, droves are leaving for good reasons. I love the standard of living. If I had alot of money, I would leave. But, I have a good life here based on limited income and wealth. 

 

Nothing wrong with complaints and acknowledgment of the shortfalls. It is human nature. 

[4MyEgo]

On 2/20/2022 at 12:15 AM, Isaanlife said:

We own 2 homes in USA, one in New Hampshire and one in Florida.

Having the option to own property back in your home country is a blessing, i.e. where I come from (the land down under), as soon as your residency status changes you do not want to own property because of all of the taxes, e.g. land tax, foreign residency tax, capital gains tax, in other words, if you hung onto property, you would be lucky to make it a 50/50 split over the long haul.

 

Moving here for me from a 3 bedroom 80 square metre place with neighbours butted up every single side of me was the pits, I sold it for 18,000,000 back in 2016 and have never looked back, also had savings and my superannuation (pension) to collect when I turned 60.

 

For the last 6 years I have lived in a very comfortable house which is 4 times the size of the place I lived in, and cost 1.5 million + some additions over the years.

 

The quality of life here for me since retiring early has been great, love the country life and just accept that Thailand is not perfect, but very affordable, and more free than the nanny state that I came from, i.e. Sydney.

 

Raising two girls here with my wife and do not have the slightest inkling of returning, enough money to leave the wife and girls to have a comfortable life here, that said, I will look at investing into something to provide them with a return for when I am gone as I am the one making the money through investments at the moment, that said, some kind of business that the girls could also run would be the way to go (self employed), they will have land and houses all paid for, something I couldn't give them back in the old country unless I put everything in and kept working 14-16 hour days 6-7 days a week.

 

Call me selfish.

 

Good luck, sounds like you have it all worked, best of both worlds.

[KhunLA]

Quote

One fear I have is that it may revolve into the same routine as in Thailand?

 

Been there, done that, seen it all after a few years?

That shouldn't be a issue, as the USA, with Canada & Mexico next door would take years to explore properly.  Thailand is one small a$$ country, my 1 con about the place.  Texas alone is larger than Thailand ????

https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTU0NjgyMzU.Njk4MjQ3Mw*MzAxNjM0NDI(NTg4ODA1Mg~!TH*MA.MTgwMDAwMDA)Mw

Though I still tend to find new things to explore, it is getting harder.  Along with much being 'same same ... not very different'

[jerrymahoney]

[Jingthing]

16 hours ago, habanero said:

Why are you trying to make this post political? 

If he was moving to Nicaragua wouldn't it be germane to mention that it is a brutal dictatorship and that there is widespread grinding poverty?

Anyone moving to the US now is moving to a country as divided as it ever was with multiple simultaneous crises. Countries can normally hope to deal effectively with one or two crises at a time. 

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

I've mentioned it before, but my Thai wife and I are both 45. We've still got about 20 years left of work in us. I'm a teacher with an MA and years of experience, she's got a great personality, work ethic, and years of hotel and restaurant experience. This translates to a lot more earning power back in the States. It really is going to waste here in Thailand.

 

We have however, managed to enjoy our time here. For being such a small country it's still a 10 hour drive to get from where we are to the beach, providing much to see along with way. It's also been an advantageous time to be away from the US, avoiding their Covid chaos much worse than Thailand's, not to mention their civil unrest. I do hope these things are now coming to an end.

 

Thus, we'll be flying back sometime next year. We both want to advance our careers and save for the future, more than we could by staying here. Of course we also want to support the fam, which we'd be in a better position to do there. If you've got years left to work, and need to work not being independently wealthy, then I see this being the clear path. But we'll be back to visit.

 

I'm also very lucky to still have supportive family from whom we'll have a place to stay, a position many Americans unfortunately, and quite visibly on the streets, certainly aren't in.

[EVENKEEL]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

If he was moving to Nicaragua wouldn't it be germane to mention that it is a brutal dictatorship and that there is widespread grinding poverty?

Anyone moving to the US now is moving to a country as divided as it ever was with multiple simultaneous crises. Countries can normally hope to deal effectively with one or two crises at a time. 

So now you're comparing Nicaragua with the USA. As stated before don't make this political, 

[Jingthing]

Read more carefully.

[CharlieH]

23 hours ago, Isaanlife said:

How many of you folks have ever been to a funeral of a relative or friend in Thailand?

 

How ever many had a relative or friend that was sick and died?

 

I am not sure how this works in the cities in Thailand, but I will relay my experience from attending several in Isaan.

 

Last year my wife's grandfather passed at age 99.

 

Went to the rural hospital, nothing they can do for him.

 

Sent him home, pumped full of morphine or whatever.

 

Family made a comfortable bed at home for him to lay in, until a few days later he passed and was cremated.

 

Even though I am moving back to the USA, I will never (or hope never), to be a resident in a nursing home or hospice. If you are aged and don't know the reasons why that is, then I am not going to explain it to you. You should already understand why and if you don't, oh well.

 

If and when I ever find out I am terminal or going down the wrong side of the mountain towards terminal, I pray to God I still have the energy to make it back and die in Isaan.

 

It is a morbid thought, however, everything in my life I have always tried to have a careful plan, good or bad. My plan!

 

I have never been one of THOSE expats that did not trust having everything in my wife's name. 

 

Careful planning and tutelage over the years, she is very well educated and prepared to handle all our affairs, properties, accounts, etc in the US and Thailand.

 

I did not spend my life working and planning, to give it all away to a nursing home or hospice.

 

While I am in excellent health, we have the means and opportunity now to do move back and have some new adventures outside of Southeast Asia.

 

There will be a day, and I accept and plan, that the end will be forth coming. 

 

We will live our lives to the fullest, (to heck with all you hating expats that can't), and I will still go out of this world on my own terms and my own plan.

 

I worked a lifetime, I earned what I earned, and the chance to enjoy life on my own terms now where ever I want to live.

 

It was/is never mentally easy to carefully plan or even think about death and I do that in care of my wife and son, who will be well taken care of when I die.

 

I have no idea why expats hate so much, people they have never met, just because they have made their own life plan?

 

We, as men, all have of our own path to choose in life.

 

Haters can hate all they want, they will not alter our chosen course.

 

There are a lot of good expats in Thailand, lots of happy men with good wives and great families.

 

I say bravo and applaud you all; enjoy your happiness.

 

Someday in the future, when you are riding down the road in Isaan and look up and see that plume of smoke, that just may be me saying adios in Thailand!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on that note........

 

This topic is CLOSED.