Where Else Do You Suggest !

[oswaldcassidy]

I enjoy reading all subjects on this site ,however one thing concerns me and that is the amount of readers who voice there disquiet over visa /retirement issues . I am one of those who falls under retirement or extended stay as it is called . I have chosen not to be wed to my partner of 15 years and therefore have to ensure that she has her 800 k in her Thai bank account ( for some reason Samui immigration prefer that your money is in a Thai bank account rather than an overseas one ) I am fortunate to have a UK Government pension and have had no problems in obtaining my extended 1 year stay. Increasingly I read comments such as " Had enough of Thailand we're leaving " what I would like to know is where are these individuals going to as I would like to also keep my options open but as Thailand is a relatively inexpensive place to live does anyone out there know of a hidden gem with no aggro, no corruption and is as cheap as chips. any suggestions are welcome.

[cdnvic]

New Zealand would be my second choice. The food sucks, the drivers are near as bad, but the fishing is better.

[onzestan]

Home,

onzestan

[Creeper]

Increasingly I read comments such as " Had enough of Thailand we're leaving " what I would like to know is where are these individuals going to

I don't care where they're going, I just wish they would go.

[canuckamuck]

I imagine I would go back home to Canada, if I absolutley had to leave Thailand but I have seen ineteresting opportunities in Nepal, which have got my attention. Four months ago I was convinced I would be moving there, not so sure today. I imagine that most people would completley hate living there. Very little variety of food, very little anything really, outside of Katmandu and Pokhara. The good points are climate, scenery, and the country is poised for a slow return to progress after the civil war. I imagine the corruption is rampant, and that really drains the motivation.

[jackr]

New Zealand would be my second choice. The food sucks, the drivers are near as bad, but the fishing is better.

Seconded, particularly down south

Increasingly I read comments such as " Had enough of Thailand we're leaving " what I would like to know is where are these individuals going to

I don't care where they're going, I just wish they would go.

[JR Texas]

New Zealand would be my second choice. The food sucks, the drivers are near as bad, but the fishing is better.

Seconded, particularly down south

Increasingly I read comments such as " Had enough of Thailand we're leaving " what I would like to know is where are these individuals going to

I don't care where they're going, I just wish they would go.

Vietnam: Sapa, Nha Trang, Dalit

Philippines: Baguio, White Sands

Cambodia: Sihanoukville

Indonesia: Bali

China: Zhuhai, Kunming, Sanyo

[mellow1]

Home

[bowthai]

have a scuba-diving friend living in phils and i had thought about it for a bit but easily picked thailand.

both have fine women and phils has the advantage of spoken english,but decided i would rather live in a continental country with a rich culture,rich history, and rich food than on an island country with no culture,no history,and adobo pork.

[uptou]

new zealand is my favourite westernised country.sort of like england 40 years ago,but with a good pace of life & fantastic scenery.they seem to quite like the brits aswell....or i'd like to think so. i like their old fashioned sayings like, "good as gold",& the "fush & chups" is good.

nepal would interest me for the scenery & people.not sure what length of visa you get there though.

i'm getting a little tired of doing visa runs,& not knowing whether i will be granted one or not,& have been interested in giving india a go,as ive never been before.the 6 month visa is appealing,ive heard chinese food is widely available,& thousands of miles of coast land.

i still like thailand,but maybe the mystery has gone out of the place for me,but the grass is greener on the other,& after spending 6 months in india sat on the toilet i may be running back to the land of smiles.

can anybody recommend india as an alternative to thailand.good points bad points?

[DamianMavis]

Japan all the way baby.

Damian

[ercorn]

I love all these comments about NZ at the moment I am orgainsing to return there to live after being an expat for so long.I cant wait ,nothing against Thailand I just miss hokey pokey.

[Naam]

New Zealand would be my second choice. The food sucks, the drivers are near as bad, but the fishing is better.

no retiree visa in NZ.

[Naam]

can anybody recommend india as an alternative to thailand.good points bad points?

since many years i have a home in India, including a visa which permits me to come and go whenever i please. when i arrive in India i start counting the hours till my next outbound flight. for the last three years my count never exceeded 120.

p.s. things in India have improved a lot during the last 30 years. but still...

[chinthee]

can anybody recommend india as an alternative to thailand.good points bad points?

since many years i have a home in India, including a visa which permits me to come and go whenever i please. when i arrive in India i start counting the hours till my next outbound flight. for the last three years my count never exceeded 120.

p.s. things in India have improved a lot during the last 30 years. but still...

I agree with Dr. Naam with one possible exception. As a beach resort area, Goa, south of Mumbai, is not TOO bad, but can't compare at all with ANY of the Thai resorts. I spent a few long weekends there recently whilst doing business in Bombay, and there are quite of few expats there. Again, no comparison with Thailand.

[Xangsamhua]

Penang is nice and the new Malaysian retirement scheme for foreigners is attractive if you have about 90,000+ baht monthly income.

[terryp]

I have traveled extensively to almost all of the S.E Asian Countries and without a second thought I would say Vietnam, Malaysia second (but only certain areas)

Over the other side: Aruba,Mexico then Costa Rica

29 Years based in Thailand all I see is getting very bland and far too expensive for all the Cr_p one has to put up with, never a day goes by that I don’t have a problem about something, and I’m very easy going??? Admittedly stupidity/laziness are still the Thais biggest downfalls and what irritate Me

[Khun ?]

Any place that the infastructure is not a cobbled up mess.

As far as India, from people who I have met that been there an extended time frame what most I can say

that stuck in my mind about the place is a billion people and filthy that could only be created by a billion inhabitants.

[Jockstar]

I started a thread quite a while back. It can be found here.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...amp;hl=Jockstar

Well i no longer live in Los as i left last year. Nothing to do with visas in Thailand. But visa for Oz. I had to keep my residence right so i moved back here. Loving it. Even although its expensive. We are in Sydney but looking to move to Gold Coast next year. Lived in NZ years ago. A truly stunning , beautiful country to vist and travel. But boring to live there and its not cheap either.

[jaidam]

1) Belize. Easy visas. Freehold land. English language. My first choice.

2) Costa Rica.

3) Camiguin Island,Phillies

4) Azores

[theseveredhead]

most likely philippines, possibly cambodia (again), i dont think youd be welcome in vietnam for years on end. viets are not very warm people anyway.

i totally agree w/ th epost above about lack of culture and bad food in phils though.

have to say - im hooked on asia and i little worried about all the crime in cent/sud america

-anywhere but america its fox news watching population.

[Neeranam]

India.

[Neeranam]

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...=31835&st=0

check out this thread

[GuestHouse]

Italy, somewhere around Lucignano - Heaven on earth.

[theseveredhead]

i cant deal with india anymore

id love to go back and live in italy, just cant afford it. heck, i bet my father being italian would even send me a little stipend. but no living on the amalfi coast for us600 a month :-(

barcelona is great though!

[Naam]

can anybody recommend india as an alternative to thailand.good points bad points?

since many years i have a home in India, including a visa which permits me to come and go whenever i please. when i arrive in India i start counting the hours till my next outbound flight. for the last three years my count never exceeded 120.

p.s. things in India have improved a lot during the last 30 years. but still...

I agree with Dr. Naam with one possible exception. As a beach resort area, Goa, south of Mumbai, is not TOO bad, but can't compare at all with ANY of the Thai resorts. I spent a few long weekends there recently whilst doing business in Bombay, and there are quite of few expats there. Again, no comparison with Thailand.

when i was a twelve year old boy India was the country of my dreams. now being a rather old man India is still the country of my dreams. i like hindu and muslim architecture, i like hindu and muslim music and lyrics, i like indian food.

now i am now dreaming of an India minus one billion Indians

[theseveredhead]

exactly dude -

even me ... india had 300 million more people than when i first visited. i think the hippies had shown the world what a great place it was - and its lived off its reputation since.

about a month ago i was there - on delhi tv, posted a question. people in delhi thought tourists were TOTALLY scammed by innkeepers, taxi drivers, wallahs. it just becomes too trying, too much hassle no and nowhere is exempt from tabo to kovalum.

something i really wish i had been able to do was cross overland in the 60s thru afhanistan. alas ... i was about 7 when all the hippies were doing that.

i dont like indian food anymore becasue im just sick of eating in dahba's. give me a korma or a great dosa or palak paneer - yum.

namaste

Edited August 6, 2007 by theseveredhead

[Jingthing]

My focus is easy visas for retirement, and more stability in visas (LONGER TERM than ONE YEAR!) and low cost and qualifying without a pension, as I am an investment based early retiree. Also some access to medical care (leaves Cambodia out). Not much choice there!

The only countries I know of that meet all these criteria:

Philipines (formal retirement visa, lasts for life, great benfits, but high fees)

Malaysia (people know about the My 2nd Home problem, excellent)

Ecuador (easy investment visa 25K, I think you can even qualify just by buying an apartment)

I also like Argentina very much but the investment visa means buying an actively producing investment like a beef cattle farm, do I look like a rancher? For those with pensions, becoming a resident is rather easy.

If you have even a small pension, there are lots of more low cost options.

If you know of any others, please speak up.

Thailand, sadly, has failed in my view to offer any stability whatsoever to expat retirees. But I love Thailand and it is always my first choice, so I will stick with it as long as I don't get tripped up by something. Which I expect will eventually happen. Then hopefully, I will be rich enough and healthy enought to change countries, or God forbid, move back to the US.

Edited August 6, 2007 by Jingthing

[Austhaied]

Darwin, NT, Australia. Asian friendly, similar climate, laid back attitude, close to work (South China Sea)..

[Dustoff]

29 Years based in Thailand all I see is getting very bland and far too expensive for all the Cr_p one has to put up with, never a day goes by that I don’t have a problem about something, and I’m very easy going??? Admittedly stupidity/laziness are still the Thais biggest downfalls and what irritate Me

Yikes! A major shot at one of my favorite countries/peoples in the world! Having been coming/living here for 41 years, I suspect that there is a difference between feeling obligated to be here and living here by choice? Gotta admit that if I had yur attitude about Thailand and her people, I would likely find another place to work/live so I could demean their people with renewed interest. I think I understand why you choose to capitalize the word "Me".

"..never a day goes by that I don’t have a problem about something, and I’m very easy going"

I put this into my computer logic program and had to leave my house due to the smoke;

It just didn't compute, I guess..

Back on topic, Moab, Utah. One of my favorite places in this world and my Thai wife has said over the many years of our life together that she has no interest in living in another country until I took her to Moab - magnificent and we are even now talking about splitting our years between CM and there.

Second only to that is Maui, Hawaii for the sheer beauty but really, and I mean really, expensive!

The Karala coast of India is gorgeous but I would have to leave once in a while to escape the grunge and find Miracle Whip.

Thought about the Flipeens but too much of a step down and greasy animal-fat food abounds.

Costa Rica but way overdone by expats already.

Lived on the S. coast of Crete and loved it but that was many years ago and the deserted beaches where we ran naked are now resorts.

Nepal remains in my heart for many reasons but after the Prince went beserk, everything changed.

Every place changes with time but I continue to hope that Thailand will be accepting of "my kind" until I am comfortably dead for many, many reasons...